Read Online Vampire in Chaos by Dale Mayer - Free Book Online

knees.
    “Tessa?” Cody cried, “What’s the matter?”
    “Someone is in my head,” she gasped. “Can’t you hear it?”
    “No. I can’t hear anything.”
    You must come to me. Hurry. It’s not safe.
    And the voice fell silent.
    *
    Cody helped her back on her feet, but she bent over and took several large gulps of air.
    “Are you okay?” What a stupid thing to say. Of course she wasn’t okay. She wouldn’t be looking shell–shocked if she was. “What did the voice say?”
    “Something about needing to hurry. That we weren’t safe.” On the last word, she lunged to her feet, looking around warily. “We need to go.”
    “Go where?” Cody motioned to where the stranger had been. “He’s gone.”
    She blinked several times, then pointed. “He’s waiting for us up ahead.”
    Cody peered into the darkness. He couldn’t see anything, even with vampire night vision. “If you say so.”
    Keeping a firm grip on her arm in case she collapsed again, he walked toward the waiting stranger. A stranger who was getting stranger all the time.
    They hadn’t gone a dozen feet when the stranger appeared in the mist, his features working in agitation. “Hurry, we must hurry.”
    “Yeah, so she said,” Tessa muttered.
    The stranger looked at her shock. “You have spoken to her ?”
    “I didn’t get a chance to say anything,” Tessa snapped. “She did all the talking.”
    A beatific smile crossed his face. “Truly you are blessed to have heard her voice.”
    He reached out a gnarly hand. “Let me help you. We’ll go faster.”
    Cody opened his mouth to protest, but Tessa already spoke. “I’m fine. Let’s go.”
    He smiled again. “Indeed, you are worthy.”
    Tessa raised an eyebrow at Cody. He shrugged. He’d always thought she was worthy.
    Really?
    He snickered. Always .
    A tiny smile wrinkled through his mind. He squeezed her hand in response. How did one ever get used to that intimacy? That level of knowing someone so well that you could hear their very breath in your mind?
    Feelings overwhelmed him, and all he wanted to do was pick Tessa up and carry her away to keep her safe. To keep her with him from this day forward. Like his primitive ancestors, he wanted to find a hidden lair for just the two of them.
    Her gentle voice rippled into his mind. Shock, laughter, and was that a warm hug at his words? He hadn’t meant for her to know the depth of his feelings, but it seemed like it was almost impossible to hide it. He hadn’t closed the door between them in a long time. He hoped she never did.
    And just like that, the door slammed shut.
    Snick.
    He stared at her in disbelief. Not only had she closed it with way more force than necessary, she’d locked it. As in locked him out.
    She turned to face him, her head shaking rapidly. “It wasn’t me,” she said. “It was that same being who yelled in my head earlier.”
    “But why?” Already he was frantically trying to open it. But the door refused to budge. The stranger waited impatiently for them.
    “I don’t know,” she said. “We need to go and find out.”
    “Oh, we’ll do that, all right.” Cody glared at the stranger. “Why aren’t we there yet?”
    “We are here,” he said with a nod behind Cody.
    He spun around, immediately tugging Tessa closer. Before them sat a vampire he’d never seen before. But she – if it was a she – was so old, it was as if she was one step away from being dust.
    *
    Goran opened the door and peered around the corner. The hospital hallway was empty. Good. This place was big, like seriously big. He didn’t really expect to meet many people up here. And certainly none he knew. There were many doors on both sides of the hallway. He studied them. Should he explore? The last thing he wanted to see was more people or vamps hooked up to tubing where they were being fed drugs. Still, any number of his friends and family could be in here. Damn. Making a decision, he walked to the first one and opened it.