Chapter 53: No Help Coming

Ted and Cody each held John by the arm as Randy led them away from their holding cells. Leaving the holding unit behind them, they crossed into a second hallway to find that the only sounds they could hear were a couple of heartbeats echoing further down the passageway.

Signaling for his team to hold back, Randy quickly went ahead, moving toward the first doorway he spotted. Peeking in, he smirked when he saw that it was the surveillance room, his smirk only getting bigger when he saw that there were only two men manning the cameras. . .

. . . And only one of them was actually awake.

Making quick work of the man that was still up, he quickly wacked the sleeping man upside his head to make sure that there was no chance he would be waking up anytime soon before signaling for the rest of his team to join him.

"Damn, this is quite the setup," Ted spoke in wonder as soon as they were safely inside. "This system looks high grade. Probably the latest model too. . . It's nothing you can't figure out, right Cody?"

"My Romanian's a bit rusty, but I can certainly try my best," Cody sarcastically mused as the two set John down in one of the empty chairs. ". . . This may take a while."

"We'll leave you to it," Randy mused as he slid out of the mustached man's way, taking the spot beside John instead. "Damn, there are so many cuts on him."

"Those he can heal from. It's the mental trauma that I'm worried about," Ted mumbled as he looked over at Randy, only to turn back around to find John's bloody face looking up at him.

He even had the audacity to grin. ". . . You have got to be kidding me."

"Aww, don't be like that Ted. It's so nice to know that you worry about me man," John grinned, his bloody face looking picture perfect for a horror movie.

Well, maybe a horror comedy. "It's good to know you care."

"Good to see you awake John, and in decent spirits to boot," Randy smirked, the two locking eyes immediately. ". . . AJ didn't mess you up too badly, did she?"

"Physically, I'll admit it. That woman is one sadistic bitch," He said, grimacing slightly. "The only reason I don't look any worse than I do now is because she got called away before she could do any more damage."

"Did she manage to say why?" Randy asked as Ted poked his head out the door, making sure no one was coming their way before leaving.

"Sorry; I went unconscious before I could really hear anything," John grumbled, wincing as he moved his right arm. "I hear blood loss tends to do that to a person."

"You didn't lose too much blood. . . If you did, we wouldn't be having this conversation, now, would we?"

"Fair point," John agreed as Ted returned with a box in hand. "Well, that was quick."

"First door I tried was a storage closet," Ted explained as he pulled up a seat next to John. "First box I checked was a full case of medical supplies . . . Maybe we'll be lucky and this box contains a vial of instant healing elixir that you can drink."

"If only we we're that lucky," Randy mumbled before looking back over at Cody. "Find anything yet Cody?"

"Well, AJ's out of the building, there's that," He mumbled as he continued to type away at the keyboard. "There's not that many people in this building besides us. Only ten, from what I can see so far."

"That's not too bad a number. Once we feed and get John all patched up, they shouldn't give us too much trouble," Randy mused as he brought a hand to his chin. "Anything else?"

"Well, here's something," Cody said, unable to hide his surprise. "It looks like this system isn't just a singular entity."

"It's not consolidated on just this building?" Randy asked, now very intrigued as he walked back over to Cody's side.

"No, it's connected to a large surveillance network, one that likely covers more than just Mr. S' shadier dealings," Cody theorized as a list showed up on screen. "Yeah, here it is! This system is connected to the Romanian Coven's main network."

"Which means he has eyes on all the important areas within his coven, like a 1984 kinda deal."

"I'm actually impressed that you made that reference Randy."

"Hey! I'm not just a pretty face you know." Randy grumbled, glaring over at Cody, but the man was too engaged with what was on screen to care.

"I'm guessing there's no English translation to whatever you're looking at on screen?" Ted spoke up, his whispering an easy thing to hear for his fellow vampires.

"All of it's in perfect Romanian," Cody called back, looking through the extensive list. "And it's a long one."

"Check them Cody," Randy advised, smirking at the slight confusion on his fellow vampire's face. "Finding out which spots Mr. S frequents will only benefit us down the line."

"If only we're that lucky," Cody threw the Viper's words right back at him, but Randy took it in stride as he went back over to the others. "Nurse Ted, how's the patient?"

"Getting better!" Ted called back as he quickly wrapped John's bicep up in gauze. "There was a witch-certified healing supplement in the kit, but so far, it only looks like it works on the shallower wounds. The deeper ones are going to need a bit more help, maybe some stitches here and there."

"Oh no, don't you dare poke me with the needle just yet," John warned, glaring at the two. "Give the supplement some time. I'm sure it'll work its magic on the deeper ones!"

"John, we don't need your fear of stitches getting in the way right now," Randy advised as he looked down at the bloody man. "So, suck it up!"

"I do not have a fear of stitches," John argued - rather weakly - in his defense. "I'm just . . . highly uncomfortable with them okay."

"You really have been spoiled by the medics all these years Johnny Boy," Ted tsked as he pulled out a needle and some thread from the pack. "At the very least, the one on your left side is getting the stitch treatment, whether you like it or not. . . Don't worry. I'll be perfectly delicate."

"Your definition of delicate is much different than mine Ted," John grumbled as he watched the other man put on some gloves before sanitizing the needle with some rubbing alcohol. "I'm at your mercy Ted."

"Correction: you're at my tender mercies John," Ted teased as he flicked off the excess alcohol from the needle. "Brace yourself. This is gonna sting a little."

"Oh yes, I know that for sure . . . I would flinch, but I'm too sore to move much."

"Randy, you might want to come here for a second."

Randy was at Cody's side immediately, the urgency in his tone alerting him to something that he should not miss.

"What is it?" He asked as he looked around at the screens, his eyes widening as he focused on one screen in particular. "Is that. . ."

"Yep, it's some of the mercenaries from our sister base in Paris," Cody said with a grimace as they watched the Paris team get led out of a black van, blindfolded and with their arms tied up behind their back, into a dark warehouse that promised nothing good. "Hunter did say he was going to send over backup if he didn't hear from us after twelve hours. . ."

"And now that backup is heading to their deaths," Randy said with finality, already certain of their fates.

"There's no hope in saving them?" John called out, concern lacing his tone as he and Ted looked over at the other two. "Be honest here!"

"It doesn't look like it," Cody grumbled as he typed away, a new text box appearing on screen as a result. "According to this, the coordinates put the Paris team at a warehouse on the other side of the city, and judging from those nasty weapons their captors are carrying, I doubt they're meant to walk out of that warehouse alive."

"We wouldn't make it in time," Randy growled, shaking his head. "Mr. S will have them wiped out within the hour. . . I doubt he has the patience to get any information out of them at this moment in time, not when he's so close to whatever end goal he has in mind."

"Oof, Martel is going to be pissed," Ted was quick to say as he continued to stitch up John's wound. "His division prides itself on stealth. Having one of his squads go out like this within 24 hours of arriving in the city is not something he's going to take lying down."

"Rick will certainly be upping the training once word gets back to him, well, once he gets his anger over the entire thing out of the way first," Randygrumbled as Cody finally looked away from the screen. "Still though, the Paris HQ is home to some of the stealthiest men and women in the entire organization . . . The fact that they were caught so quickly; something doesn't add up here."

"Do you think there's a mole within Rick's camp?"

"It's not the craziest idea in the world Cody," Randy grumbled, thinking it over. "It's that, or Mr. S has a security team that just really knows their shit, or he is simply that proactive enough to have a lot of contingencies in place."

"You guys do know that the options you just mentioned are not good for us, like, at all, right?" John mumbled, trying hard not to grimace as Ted finished his last stitch.

"Oh, I know, but we've faced bad odds before, and we'll certainly face them again." Randy mused as he looked at the two henchmen that he knocked out. "Ted, Cody, you can have these guys to feed on. I'm going to search for other prey."

"I so love that you're such a provider Ran," Ted sarcastically mumbled as the Viper approached the door. "I'm guessing you're not leaving them to us just because you're searching for better pickings elsewhere."

"One of us must get a better idea of the environment we're currently in. The cameras only show so much." Randy admitted as he glanced over his shoulder. "I'm going to get a bite and scope out the rest of the premises. Maybe I can find our ride out of here."

T ~ S ~ O ~ J

After leaving Mr. S's office, Kaitlyn led Amanda back to her bedroom. The psychic was quick to claim the lone chair in the room as soon as the two entered, leaving the newborn Texas vamp to drop her bottom onto her large queen-sized bed.

"Well. . ." Kaitlyn mumbled as she planted her hands on her knees. "That was a lot to listen to."

Amanda let out an unladylike snort as she looked off to the side. ". . . You got that right. It was quite the story."

"Do you think it's completely truthful?" The vampire asked. "It sounded true, but then again, as a newborn in the vampire sense of things, I don't think I'm at that stage where I can consistently judge someone's truth telling well yet."

"It felt true to me," Amanda agreed, her face going from confused to disgruntled in a heartbeat. "But there's something about it that doesn't add up."

"And what part of Mr. S's tale doesn't add up exactly?"

"The first part, about her sister and her friend, was definitely him being honest," Amanda admitted as her eyes narrowed slightly. "But the other part, the part where he said he wanted to help me. . . There's something missing there."

"You don't need psychic powers to figure that out," Kaitlyn mused. "You think he has ulterior motives for wanting to help you."

"Well, he's not doing this out of the complete kindness of his heart," Amanda mused. "But he doesn't feel entirely malicious either."

"The fact that you just said entirely malicious is enough to send the alarm bells ringing. . ."

"Your sarcasm in the face of impending danger is always heartwarming Kaitlyn . . . But I'm being perfectly serious here."

"And so am I," Kaitlyn said in her defense. "Yeah, Mr. S wants to help you, but maybe he wants to help you to his benefit."

"Like using my power for some dastardly means?" Amanda asked, shaking her head. "He, he does give that kind of vibe, doesn't he?"

"More than I think he realizes," Kaitlyn mused, almost kissing her teeth as she spoke. "The funny thing is, I know I should be wary of him, but a part of me doesn't want to . . . It's as if I'm trying to convince myself that I shouldn't be cautious of him, even though Mr. S has given us a fair share of reasons why we should be cautious of him. . . Does that even make sense?"

"In a way, it does, and trust me, you're not alone there," the psychic grumbled. "It feels like my mind is warring with itself, with one side wanting to believe him wholeheartedly, and the other refusing to give the story any credence because he's not entirely truthful with us either. . . You saw how he shut me down at the end of our conversation."

"Like a cashier ready to close up shop before any new customers could walk through the door." Kaitlyn mused, her country twang slowly coming forth as she spoke. ". . . If a man is going to be that quick to not answer what I thought were a few simple questions, something's got to be up."

"Which means we have to be careful, though I'm sure he suspects that we suspect that something is off with him," Amanda grumbled. ". . . I'm worried."

"We should be," Kaitlyn added, shaking her head in agreement. "Mr. S doesn't seem like the guy that handles something going wrong with ease. Look at what happened to the guys that tried to take us away from here days ago."

Amanda's thoughts immediately went back to the men that dared to infiltrate the compound, lingering on the faces she remembered from that day. She had to admit that she was impressed by the sheer audacity that the four men had for such a daring operation, and it could have worked if they hadn't been caught.

She could remember the faces of the ones named Ted and Cody well enough, but it was the face of the third man, the one named Randy, that she remembered the most distinctly. His strong jaw, the way his shaved head suited him, the chiseled quality of his face, but it was his eyes - his piercing blue eyes - that truly stuck with her.

She remembered the hatred that flowed from his gaze when he looked at Mr. S, but when he looked up at her, his gaze was that of concern, as if he genuinely cared for her. The fact that he held out the longest in the face of her powers was enough to catch her attention, but there was something about his eyes, his gaze, that just drew her in.

As if he was supposed to mean something to her more than she realized.

"Do . . . do you think they're de-"

"No, no I do not think they're dead," Kaitlyn confidently declared, figuring out what Amanda wanted to ask before she could voice the question fully. "I would have felt it if they did."

"Felt it?"

"Cody is supposed to be my mate, right?" She asked, her face still, hiding the emotions inside. "If that is the case, I would have felt it if he died . . . As if some part of me was ripped away with him."

"But whatever relationship you have with him isn't a strong one . . ."

"Not yet anyway," Kaitlyn countered, smirking slightly, her tone hopeful. Amanda was quick to wonder if Kaitlyn even knew that she was smiling at this point. "But it could be, as long as he remains alive, but we won't know for sure unless Mr. S decides to fully divulge his plans to us."

"Which is something I highly doubt he's willing to do at this point. . . He suspects us more than trusts us at this point."

"After your line of questioning, I would too," Kaitlyn admitted, grinning from ear to ear. ". . . But seriously though, we must figure something out. Something tells me we're better off not staying here forever."

"I know those men said that they were trying to take us away from here," Amanda mused as she looked over at the window. "But at this rate, we may be better off trying to get ourselves out on our own rather than wait for them, but we need the facts first."

"And where exactly will we get these facts?" Kaitlyn asked, following the psychic's line of sight.

"From the person that is the likeliest to tell us the truth of course," Amanda admitted. "We need to talk to Kelly."

A/N: Please review!