Vampire in Denial by Dale Mayer

unexpectedly.
     
    "What the––?"
     
    " Shhhh ."
     
    "What's the matter?" she hissed. He took up the entire space in front of her. She couldn't see over or around him.
     
    "I hear something up ahead."
     
    "Good. It'll be them. Let's hurry."
     
    "It's a vampire."
     
    Tessa strained her ears. Unsure of just what the strange sounds meant. "Can you move closer?"
     
    "No. There's a door. I don't want to alert them to our presence."
     
    "Right. But neither do I want them to kill Jared because we're too late."
     
    "No one takes humans anymore. Stop over-dramatizing."
     
    "Over-dramatizing?" She felt like hitting him. Who was he kidding? Jared had already been taken. Put rogue vampires and captive humans together and her first instinctive thought was blood fest. Why couldn't Cody see the danger here?
     
    Through the thick plank door, voices drifted their way.
     
    "Hey, this one's dead."
     
    Tessa gasped. Cody grabbed her, slapped a hand over her mouth and murmured against her ear, " Shhh ." The two stood locked together, frozen, as they listened.
     
    "Again? What the shit?"
     
    "Did you hit him?"
     
    "Hell no. And neither did I bite him. I like young blood; you know that. This guy is definitely mature meat. Not my style at all."
     
    Tessa bowed her head against Cody's chest, her shoulders slumping in relief. Mature meat – so not Jared. Cody squeezed her lightly.
     
    "We gotta take him out and dump him. Before he starts to smell."
     
    "Why'd he die, though? Christ, humans are so damn delicate. The potential losses are huge."
     
    "Human blood beats that synthetic crap all to hell though."
     
    "That's why the new method. As long as all those do-gooders don't know about it. If they find out, they'll holler about it being inhumane, a form of cruelty to animals or some such nonsense. Vampires are supposed to rule this species, not 'get along' with them."
     
    "Right. So where do we dump him?"
     
    "Out with the others."
     
    Cody stiffened in front of her. And finally, Tessa felt some kind of reaction from him. There, let him stew on that bit of information. Make fun of her, would he? Not believe her, huh? Now, who wouldn't believe whom? She jabbed him lightly in the stomach to make her point. Cody grabbed her hand and glared, narrow-eyed at her.
     
    The voices continued. "What about these two?"
     
    "I think they're fine. We're going to need to feed and water them though."
     
    "Right. The young man looks a little screwy though. Do you think he's okay?"
     
    "He's fine. Just asleep."
     
    "They're so stupid, aren't they? To them we're some kind of predator, yet here he is, throat lying exposed like that. Do they all just lie down and wait to die? No wonder they multiply like animals and go about their days blindly. Fucking beef is all they are."
     
    "Like I said. Time's wasting. Let's get them out of here. You take the older one." A heavy grunting sound could be heard. Tessa strained her ears to hear what was going to happen next. "We'll come back for the dead one later. He won't start smelling too bad at least for an hour or two. Let's go."
     
    Silence.
     
    Tessa sucked in her breath. She nudged Cody. "We have to stop them. We won't know where they’ll take Jared if they leave now."
     
    He reached around and pinched her to shut up.
     
    "What was that?"
     
    Shit. She'd forgotten to keep her voice down. She stared horrified into Cody's grim gaze.
     
    "I didn't hear anything."
     
    "Really? Thought I heard voices."
     
    "In this mausoleum? Don't think so. There's only us here. And the dead guy. Maybe his ghost is talking to you."
     
    "Hey, that's not funny."
     
    But apparently it was, as Tessa and Cody were treated to the sounds of raucous laughter that faded as the men walked away. They both relaxed slightly as they waited to hear if the men would return.
     
    Tessa knew better than to push Cody, but waiting for him to give the all clear had her pressing her nails into her palms as she fisted her hands