Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (173 page)

As the night cooled, Jared fell into
an uneasy sleep, caught between a captive and a corpse.

CHAPTER THREE

Tessa stepped into the parking lot.
Instinct took her between a large black SUV and a fancier white
version – an Escalade.

Recognition slammed into her as she
studied the two vehicles. That same familiar feeling surrounded the
one for sure. The black vehicle – a Nitro, according to the name on
the side – had been driven by one of the two men who'd attacked
her. She strode to the back of it and committed the license plate
to memory. She didn't know what could be done with the information,
if anything, but had heard from her friends about running plates
and such.

Studying the area around her, she saw
small groups of people hashing over the same gossip. Nothing had
changed. She tried to peer inside the vehicle on the off chance
that Jared might be inside. The smoked windows hid everything
inside. Even her vampire vision only showed the shadowy seats but
not the spaces between them. Frustrated, she didn't know what to
do.

Surely someone would come back for
the vehicles tonight? Then, she could follow them home. She
believed Jared had to be stashed close by.

Groaning, she sat down on a cement
block in front of the Nitro and buried her head in her arms.
Approaching footsteps had her hunkering lower down.

"Come on. Time to leave." The first
voice cut through the night air cleanly.

"I'm ready. Where to first?" The
second guttural voice hung heavy, thick around her.

"Check on our guests then off to
hunt." The first man's voice made Tessa's skin crawl.

The two men laughed and Tessa knew
she'd never forget their voices – ever. She slid lower behind the
block, willing herself invisible.

"What about the female? Do you think
we should track her down? Take care of her, too?"

"Nah. Chances are good she was too
injured to be of any value. Besides, there was something weird
about her, something off. And being female, she's probably ready
for Bedlam now." He laughed. "Even if she did see something, who's
going to believe her? Vampire uprising? Really."

Tessa
shuffled further out of sight. Confronting these two badasses
wasn't part of her plan. Too bad she didn't have someone to go with
her when she tracked them. But her friends were limited to a few
humans – so
not
what she needed right now. She had to follow these assholes
alone.

The white Escalade fired up, followed
by the Nitro. Good to know the men were driving both vehicles.
Tessa stayed huddled in a ball below the glare of headlights as
first one, then the other reversed and headed out of the lot. She
stood up and watched the direction they drove. Left. Away from
town.

Shit.

Why hadn't she learned to glide? Oh
right, because everyone had laughed at her so hard, she'd sworn
never to try again. Damn it. She really wished she'd tried harder
to learn. That skill would have come in handy right about
now.

Her dad was a master glider. He moved
so smoothly he floated through the sky. Cody and his father were
flyers. Tessa could only manage a weird half-crab, half-jumping
movement. She was gawky, looking like she was all limbs with no
coordination. Sometimes she could hardly get off the ground. Still,
for all her awkward style, she actually ate up a lot of mileage
doing it her way.

Taking a running start, she jumped
and landed on a fence pole. Not very high, but she hadn't wiped out
or hung herself on the barbed wire. She made it to the top of a
garage next, landing on all fours, as was her habit. She headed
down the street behind the cars. The first vehicle turned
left.

Keeping it in sight, by following the
dust cloud behind it, she cut across a field, going from fence pole
to telephone pole and the odd rooftop again to gain enough height
for viewing vantage. Her knees slammed hard on the next rooftop and
she damn near banged her chin on the roofing tiles as she fell
forward. She'd end up covered in bruises if she didn't get the hang
of this quickly.

Taking a breather, she studied the
area where the vehicles drove. It wasn't exactly the ritzy part of
town. More like a middle class area. Mostly human residences, not
vampire accommodation. Except for one. At the far end.

Frowning, she watched as they drove
into the large estate with an oversized mansion surrounded by trees
and a black iron fence. The gated entrance closed and locked behind
them. The mansion was barely distinguishable among the
trees.

With effort, Tessa made it to the top
of the neighboring house, groaning at yet another tumbled landing.
Why had she worn boots with heels? And why the hell hadn't she
driven? Oh wait…she didn't have a license yet – that's
why.

She studied the layout in front of
her. With such a large acreage, she couldn't get close enough to
see in without actually going right up to the house. She also
wouldn't be able to jump. The distance was too far.

Now what? Switching to her vampire
vision, she watched as the men exited their vehicles and headed
inside. At the back of the main house were several attached
outbuildings and sheds. Jared could be in any one of them. And if
he were, how would she get him out? This wasn't a one-person
job.

She couldn't fly him out. And what if
he were injured? Now she was back to the part where she could use a
partner in this venture.

A heavy rustling sound filled the
air.

Oh, shit. Tessa cringed, waiting for
her father's icy words to ground her for eternity.

"So,
it
was
you."

Cody. She turned and glared at him,
but his grin melted her anger. "Were you following me?"

"Of course. You fooled me once. Only
I couldn't leave it alone. When I came back, you were skulking
around the parking lot." His grin disappeared. "What are you
playing at Tessa? You know what your father and your brothers are
going to do to you when they find out, don't you?"

She tilted her chin defiantly. "Yes.
My father made it clear what he thinks of me, so I'm not going to
worry about his opinion now."

"He didn't mean it, Tessa. Your
father takes his responsibilities very seriously."

She
gasped. "So you
were
in the kitchen? I wondered. Not that it matters. He did mean
it – and more. He's just kept it hidden all these years. Now, he
doesn't have to. There's nothing like having the truth out in the
open." For all her attempts she couldn't quite keep the hurt and
bitterness out of her voice.

At his concerned look, she raised her
chin. She meant it. "Besides I'm not doing anything wrong," she
said defiantly.

He
glanced around. "What
are
you doing?"

"They drove in there." She motioned
toward the mansion with her arm. "Both of the vampires that
attacked me went into that house."

Stunned, he could only look from the
mansion, to her and back again. "You found them? And tracked them
here? Wait, I thought you couldn't recognize them?"

"I didn't think I could, but I
'smelled' them or something. I don't know what it was, but they
were familiar. I searched the parking lot and felt that same thing,
so I sat down and waited until someone arrived."

"Jesus, Tessa. Alone? Do you have any
idea how dangerous this is?"

"Of
course I do. I might be different, but I'm not stupid, Cody. They
kidnapped my friend. Was I just supposed to sit by while everyone
else makes a decision on his fate and most likely end up
with
no
decision
at that? Like hell."

"Don't let your mom catch you saying
that word," he warned jokingly.

His attempt to lighten the mood
didn't work. She shot him a withering look.

"After tonight, do you really think
swearing is something I need to be worried about?" She couldn't
hold back a bitter laugh. "I've broken so many rules, one more
won't make a difference."

She felt, more than saw, the waves of
concern flowing off her brother's best friend. That was nice for a
change, but it wouldn't help Jared.

"Look. You need to go home. Or
something." She waved him off. "I don't know. Go do whatever
vampires do at night."

At his incredulous look, she frowned.
"What?"

"You can't just send me packing. I'm
not going anywhere?" His wings tucked in and back, falling into
place so smoothly they hardly showed. She'd always wanted wings.
They either showed up at puberty or they didn't. In her case they
didn't. Her mother didn't have them either, but her grandfather
did. Such were the genetics of a vampire – at least vampires as
they were today. Only a few carried the pure genes, like Cody's
family. Everyone else was a blend of dominant vampire strains. Then
there was Tessa, the oddity.

"You need to go back,
Tessa."

"Too bad. I'm not leaving until I
know if Jared is here."

He waved
his arm in the direction of the house. "What? Do you think you can
just waltz through the place and call out his name? If these
are
vampires, they've
risked a lot to take your friend. They aren't going to care about a
stupid girl who gets in their way." He ran his fingers through his
tight jet black curls. "Look, I know you want to find him. Let's go
tell your dad. He'll know what to do."

"No. He won't, because he won't
believe me." She held out her hands. "I smelled them…or something.
I don't quite understand that myself, but I did it. My father's not
going to understand that I know what I'm talking about. Now if it
had been you, then he'd marshal an army to support your cause. Not
me. Not the damaged one." She smiled, bitterly. "He's more liable
to pat me on my head and tell Mom to give me something so I sleep
well tonight."

"Which doesn't change the fact that
you can't walk into this scenario alone. That's nuts." He fisted
his hands on his hips and glared at her.

She gave him a fat smile. "Except…I'm
no longer alone."

The alarmed look he gave her make her
chuckle. "What's the matter, Cody? Not ready to test your mettle
against a full-on adult vampire yet?"

"Oh no
you don't. I'm not falling for that ego trick. I don't know who you
think you've tracked down in this house, but
if
this is an old vampire holding,
then chances are you're looking at the home of one of the Council
families, and that's suicidal."

She pursed her lips. That would make
sense. Also helped to explain their brazen behavior. They didn't
think they'd be caught, and if they were, they weren't afraid of
the consequences. Figures.

And just like that, she'd had enough.
"Look. You have a great future ahead of you. Don't mess it up. Go
home. Forget you saw me. You won't get into trouble if you don't
know anything." She surveyed the yard in front of her. "Me? Well,
we know how little my future is going to matter to anyone. Jared,
however, he deserves a future. And not as a vampire's pet," she
finished bitterly. With that she jumped.

"Tessa," Cody hissed into the
darkness.

Tessa ignored him. She had other
things to worry about. Two other things. Both black and male and
mean, standing guard and now growling at her.

Shit.

Dogs.

She jumped again and landed on one of
the sheds. Out of biting range. The dogs barked and howled. If they
brought someone out to check on the noise and found her…well,
suffice it to say that wouldn't be pretty. Flexing her nails, she
grinned in satisfaction as they grew several inches longer. Gazing
at them critically, she realized the red color did look like blood.
Good, because right about now she was looking to shed
some.

Wings blocked the moon as Cody
swooped down to the dogs' level. Within seconds the dogs lay on the
ground. Shit. "What did you do to them?" She jumped down beside him
and stared down at the poor things in horror. "Did you kill
them?"

"They're just sleeping." He glanced
over at the dark house. "I couldn't take the chance they'd alert
anyone."

Cody and Tessa waited to see if any
lights came on. The place remained in darkness. The assholes had
probably gone to feed – hopefully not on Jared. She
shivered.

***

Jared jolted awake at the sound of
heavy footsteps upstairs. They were back. Expecting to hear their
boots on the stairs, he shrank lower against the wall. Cold settled
deep inside his bones. He'd never felt anything like this. He
waited, his empty stomach all but cramping in fear. No one came. He
badly needed a drink and to take a leak. The other man slept on.
Jared found himself wishing they'd drugged him, too. He didn't want
to remember this ordeal.

Another
weird sound.
Dogs.
Great. Even if he could escape his chains, he'd have to deal
with the guard dogs. As he leaned his head back against the stone
wall, hopelessness washed over him.