Cody asked, “What about the dark energy that’s poisoning him?”

  She looked up at him and smiled. “I can remove that now too.”

  And she set about doing just that.

  *

  Cody wanted to laugh. He loved it when Tessa managed to pull off a magical trick that no one else could see coming. In this case, it was gratifying to see her mom’s reaction. Rhia still saw Tessa as a little girl, and Tessa had grown well past that. In order to have good relationships with the family, he knew Rhia needed to accept Tessa for who she was, and then she needed to take that next step and accept Cody as her life mate.

  He thought his father would have an easier time of it. But there was something about that mother-daughter bond that he didn’t quite understand and couldn’t access because he was male. Rhia needed to work it out. Because Cody wasn’t giving up on Tessa.

  Then there was the disc in his hand.

  And how is it that Seth came to be implanted with one of these nasty little things? “It could be that it has another purpose and it would only blow up if it was being removed.”

  “What type of purpose do you think?” Serus growled. “It doesn’t make much sense to at all.”

  “I know, but they have done so many things that we never considered already.” Cody slipped the item into his pocket. “We’ll take it back and see what our specialist can find.”

  Ian snorted. “Are there any left?”

  There was a sad silence as everyone realized how many professionals have been killed in this process. Serus said, “I sure hope so. If nothing else, David might be able to find something.”

  “In that case,” Ian said. “I want to be there with him.”

  Cody grinned. “You just want to be involved, don’t you?” he teased his friend.

  “Especially if there’s electronics involved,” he admitted. “I love computers.”

  Serus smacked him on the shoulder. “Looks like you’re going to get your wish.”

  Cody watched as Tessa’s movement slowed. It appeared like she was almost done. “Tessa?”

  Tessa bowed her head for a moment, as if pulling in her energy and looking for a second wind. She was so capable of so many things now that everyone tended to forget that she needed to rejuvenate herself.

  “How are you doing?”

  She straightened, her hand going to the small of her back, but she gave him a bright smile. “I’m fine, especially now. It looks like I got the bulk of the energy out.” She turned to her father. “Can you carry him?”

  With a quick nod, her father stepped closer then bent down and lifted his son into his arms.

  Cody admired the ease of his movements as he picked up the man. When he was as old as the ancient, he hoped to have the same amount of strength that Serus had. In fact, Serus was damn healthy. Then the vampires tended to be a long-lived breed. Plus he’d been at the receiving end of Tessa’s healing efforts, which no doubt helped. Providing no assholes from blood farms were after them. He turned from his musings to see Tessa striding out of the room. He raced to catch up. “Hey wait,” he called. “Where are you going?”

  She spun in surprise. “I’m going down to where Jared and Goran are. They said Jill and Catherine were there. I have to go see if I can help them.” And she picked up the pace.

  Cody dashed up beside her. “Did you even consider where Beast is?”

  She came to a stop and turned. “Where is he?” She searched the hallway. “He was right beside me when I was working on Seth.”

  “No, he was right beside you up until we all broke apart and then you started working on Seth alone,” Cody said lightly. “But I think you’d like to see where he is right now.”

  She dashed back to look into the room and stopped in the doorway. Slowly, a smile dawned on her face.

  Cody stepped up behind her and whispered, “I think once Rhia understood that it was Beast’s actions that allowed you to finally kill that electronic device, she decided maybe he wasn’t quite so bad after all.”

  In fact, from what she could see, Rhia was making friends with Beast. And didn’t that do her heart good. She watched her mom gently stroke his back and his head as she whispered something quietly in his ear. Beast seemed to be receptive. Then he caught sight of Tessa and he bounded towards her. Inordinately pleased, Tessa bent down and gave him a big hug.

  Cody could hear her whispering to him. “I’m sorry, Beast, I forgot to say thank you.” She gave him another big hug and straightened and flashed a smile Cody’s way. “Thank you for letting me know.” She nodded in the direction of her mother. “It does help.”

  *

  Goran watched as Jared sat on the bed beside Clarissa.

  “Do you think she’s going to be okay?” Jared asked.

  Goran didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t given to positive sentiment, but the boy needed something. It looked to him like most of these people were relatively new arrivals, but as some were here for the second time, he wasn’t sure what their chances of recovery were. “You know they will get the best medical help available.”

  Jared twisted so he could look at his face. “That does not sound very positive.”

  “She’ll do much better if we can get Tessa here.”

  “And just why is that?” Jared asked. “The Tessa I knew in school didn’t have any of these abilities.”

  Goran shrugged. “Who knows? At the same time, why question it?”

  He watched as Jared gently stroked Clarissa’s arm. The boy had a soft heart. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe not.

  “Did you know Tessa well?” Goran asked as he couldn’t help worrying that maybe Jared was wanting a relationship with Tessa. As far as he was concerned, Tessa belonged to his boy.

  Jared smiled. “As well as I knew any girl in school,” he admitted. “She was pretty then, but she is seriously beautiful now,” he added. “Only she wasn’t scary back then.”

  “Scary?” Goran prodded. “Why is she scary?”

  Jared shot him a dark look. “Seriously? Look at what she can do. How many people has she killed? She didn’t even think about it. It came naturally to her. And then there’s the fact that she’s really gorgeous,” he added. “That’s very intimidating. She’s capable, deadly, and a knockout.”

  He shook his head, staring back down at Clarissa. “That’s scary. Not sure I’m up for that.” He straightened and looked back at Goran. “Not that I was ever in the running. She’s all about Cody.”

  “They are a good match,” Goran admitted. “And I’d be proud to have her in the family.” An odd sound beside him had him spinning around on guard to see a flustered Tessa and a grinning Cody standing in front of him.

  Goran beamed. “There you are.” He laughed. “And make no mistake, I meant what I said.”

  She stared at him for a long time, and he wondered if he’d crossed some kind of line.

  Then she raced towards him and threw herself into his arms. Goran wrapped her up in a hug and held her close. Against her ear, he whispered “I never had a daughter but if I had, I wish she’d been like you.”

  Tessa pulled back and looked up at him, tears in the corner of her eyes. “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me.” She reached up and dropped a kiss on his cheek. Pulling back, she saw the room full of people and her bottom lip trembled. “How could our species do this to another that’s so like our own?”

  “Times are changing,” Goran said, letting her go. “But change has not been fast or easy. Many of us are used to doing things the old way. And we have very old viewpoints. Humans have only ever been food up until recently.”

  He watched as Cody walked over to Tessa and put his arm around her shoulder, tucking her up close against his chest. He was so happy for his boy.

  Cody said, “It’s up to us to show everyone else the new way forward.” He motioned to Jared standing and staring at them and said, “That you and Jared had a friendship and that we have helped the humans and didn’t slaughter them is already a massive change.” He rubbed her shoulder gently. “We need to take this one more step further. It’s not going to be that hard or that difficult, but we must purge first and then start fresh.”

  Goran added, “But doing the purge also means convincing everyone left behind that this is the best way for everyone going forward. That will not be easy.”

  She nodded. “But first we have to see what we can do for these poor people.” She turned to face Goran. “Have you heard from the army at all?”

  He nodded. “They should be here in another five minutes or so.”

  Good. She walked over to where Jared sat and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Jared.”

  “It’s not your fault,” he said, but he looked as if he was struggling to say something else when the words rushed out. He kept a wary eye on Beast but managed to ask, “Can you help her?”

  With Cody at his side, Goran watched as Tessa studied Jared’s friend. Then she reached down and gently disconnected the tube in her arm and with some kind of weird brushstroke movement appeared to be pulling something away from her arm and out from her body.

  Jared never said a word.

  Goran looked over at Cody, a question in his eyes. Cody smiled, patted his shoulder, and said, “Let her work. And better that she works before the army gets here.”

  Goran could understand that. “In that case, I’ll go stand watch.”

  And he walked up to the hallway on the other side of the surgical rooms. He checked both directions, but so far there was no sign of the army.

  He called back, “I’ll let you know if they’re coming.”

  *

  David closed the door behind Sian and Jewel and locked it. The room they were in was one of the Council’s private meeting chambers. He didn’t know whose chambers though. Neither did he care. Chances were the Councilman was no longer alive anyways.

  Sian collapsed on the couch, her hand on her belly, obviously shaken. Jewel crouched beside her.

  “Can I get you something, Sian?”

  Sian shook her head. “No, I’m fine.”

  “No, you’re not fine,” David said. “But we have to figure out what to do next regardless.”

  “How long do you think we have before they come looking for us?” Jewel asked.

  “Not long,” Sian said. “They were sent to pick me up. When they don’t return, they will know that something is up.”

  “Do you have any idea what we can do?” Jewel asked.

  “We need the other ancients. They are the ones that can help stop this,” David snapped. “They would be back here already if they understood what was going on.”

  Sian gave a light laugh. “I don’t think they have any idea how bad the situation is.”

  “Then we need to tell them,” urged Jewel. “This has gone beyond anything we can handle without them.”

  Sian pulled her phone out and tried to call Serus. But the phone just rang and rang and eventually went to voicemail. She shrugged. “This is about the third time I’ve tried. They have to be deep in the mountain because the reception cannot get through.”

  David sent text messages to Ian and Cody. “Maybe, but that doesn’t mean nothing is getting through.”

  “Even when they do get the message,” Sian said. “Chances are it would to be too late to get back here and save us.”

  “Save us?” Jewel asked. “Are you thinking they really are trying to kill us?”

  “At this point, yes.” Sian tried to straighten up in the couch then winced. She relaxed back down again, both hands wrapping around her belly. “I need to contact Taz, let him know what’s happened.”

  Jewel handed her the phone that had dropped when she’d shifted position and said, “Call Taz and warn him.”

  Sian nodded. “Right, he’s going to be in danger too.”

  “Even more so,” David suggested in a gentle voice. “He’s been instrumental in recovering as many people as possible from the blood farms.”

  “And as the father of your baby, he’s going to be one of the first they go after once they have you captive.”

  Sian shuddered. “I won’t want to live if Taz dies.”

  “We aren’t going there,” David said in a strong voice. “And neither are we going to give these assholes another chance at you.”

  “We may not have a choice,” Sian said in a defeated voice. “It seems like no matter what we do, there’s just always more of these guys showing up.”

  Jewel patted her hand and stood up. “That’s why they are making mistakes. They’re desperate,” she said. “We’ve got them on the run. We can capitalize on that. We’re almost there. It figures that it would be the Council that we’d have to take on last.”

  Sian laughed. “You are right there. The Council has run this clan since the beginning of our time, and now we’re trying to make changes. Of course they are resisting.” She nodded, pleased. “And you’re right on something else, we just have to stand strong until our own reinforcements return.”

  The phone call to Taz took longer than a few minutes but after assurances that she was fine, she hung up with a smile on her face. She shifted her position so she was lying more horizontal. “On that note, I think I will have a nap.”

  She closed her eyes and as Jewel watched, she drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter 12

  “Tessa?” Cody called. “Time to go.”

  She turned to see Cody and Goran talking with the human army that had arrived several minutes ago. “Do they have medical personnel here to help these people?”

  “They have one team here now and have just called in a second team given the high number of victims in need of care.” Cody motioned at her to come faster.

  Sensing an urgency she didn’t understand, she got to her feet, patted Jared on his shoulder, and walked towards Cody. When she was close enough, Cody asked, “How are Jill and Catherine?”

  She smiled. “I think they’ll be fine.” She nodded to the medical team that was standing and waiting. She couldn’t resist checking out their energy to make sure everybody here looking after these people were safe. They were supposed to save these people, not hurt them further. Thankfully, there appeared to be no black energy in any of their systems. Cody ushered her out into the hallway and then with a grasp on her hand moved her quickly towards where the rest of the family was waiting.

  “Oh, I hadn’t realized everyone was ready to go.”

  “Not only are we ready to go, but there’s been another attack on Sian. This time from within the Council itself.”

  His whisper was so low she wasn’t sure she heard it out loud or in her head. She spun in shock. “What?”

  “Shh.” He urged her forward. “The Council has decided that Sian is a traitor to the clan. The Council ordered her to be taken as prisoner until such a time they could deal with her.”

  “She is not a traitor,” Tessa said hotly. “That’s ridiculous.”

  “We know that, but that’s the Council’s maneuvering to get her out of the way.”

  “We have to get back there and help her.”

  “Exactly. We’re also trying to contact the other Councilmen and get them back in time. It looks like Goran might need to fly over and pick up a couple.”

  “How long will that take?”

  “Too long.” Goran growled. “They are all over the world.”

  “Can’t they cast votes electronically?” She asked. “Given the circumstances, you should.”

  “I agree with you,” Goran said. “But I only understand the minimum of this technology explosion from all of you kids.”

  Serus added, “And that is something that many ancients are missing. Councilmen tend to be centuries old with no access or interest in learning technology.”

  “We’ve come up against this before,” Cody said. “It’s difficult for the younger clan members to understand, but many of the ancients don’t have computers or cell phones and have no wish to learn to use either.”

  “In this instance, we may not have much choice,” Tessa said. “We’re out of time.”

  “Sian was working on bringing everybody back before this incident,” Serus said. “We can only hope that enough people were contacted and capable of returning.”

  It was Ian that popped up and said, “They also have to care.”

  Outside, it was still dark but dawn was coming very quickly – scarily quickly.

  “We have to hurry,” she cried. “Or we’re going to be stuck here too.”

  She turned again and glanced at all the numbers around them, but before she realized what was happening, Cody had swooped down and picked her up, already carrying her through the air.

  “No, wait,” she cried. “We have to take Beast too. He’ll try to follow us and die in the sunlight.”

  With a heavy sigh, Cody swooped back in, not quite landing but hovering just above the ground.

  “Beast…” she ordered. “Jump!”

  Beast took a flying run and jumped straight into her arms. Cody sagged in the air as he absorbed the hit, but then he recovered and was up flying stronger than ever toward the Hall. She peered over Cody’s shoulder to try and see how the others were doing. She didn’t want anyone to be left behind.

  “Forget about them,” Cody said. “They will be along in a few minutes.”

  “I just want to make sure that we are leaving nobody behind.”

  “They will work it out.”

  She turned to stare at the Council Hall coming up very quickly. “They should be able to run this distance in time anyways,” she said, feeling better.

  “Yep.” Cody landed gently on the front stairs. Immediately, Beast jumped off and Tessa was able to see much clearer with his big head out of the way.

  “Do we think it’s safe?”

  Cody laughed. “Maybe that’s a question I should be asking you,” He studied the wide-open front door. “I can smell something in the air, but it’s not strong and I don’t see the discoloration in the air that we saw earlier.”

  “The gases have dispersed.” She walked back and forth in front of the front doors, assessing the danger level. “I think it’s fine.” Boldly, she stepped inside.