Sea Panther (Crimson Storm) (27 page)

K
imberly didn’t
spare a second to learn who entered the cabin. She leapt away from the ship in
a dive that built in momentum, forcing her deep into the depths.

When the downward force lessened, she swam in an arc and
glided upward. Her lungs would explode if she didn’t reach the surface soon.
She kicked with everything she had. Pressure built as she propelled through the
water. With a final stroke, she burst free and gasped for breath.

A wave washed over her head, sucking her back under.
Surfacing again, she blinked several times to clear blurry vision. Breathing
hard, treading water, she cupped a hand over her eyes to deflect the afternoon
glare and dared to take time to monitor the ship as it sailed past.

Something heavy hit the surf beside her. The splash hit her
face and water shot up her nose, causing her to sputter and choke. Without
waiting to find out what or who landed in the sea, she kicked hard and swam
toward shore as if the devil himself gave chase.

A large hand wrapped around an ankle and dragged her back.
Although she fought the hold, she ended up crushed against a hard male body.
She felt every ridge, every muscle. Pale green eyes devoured her. She’d been
caught by the
devil
.

She struggled like a mad woman, but having had little to eat
for strength against the brute force, she quickly weakened.

“Foolish wench. If you swim for shore the reef will cut you
to shreds.”

“How dare you?” Kimberly struggled more, yanked on his hair,
but made minimal progress escaping the iron grip.

“Do not try my patience, mademoiselle.”

“Let go of me, you…you, blackguard.” She had a moment’s urge
to roll her eyes. Instead, she kicked at his shins.

Captain Laroux laughed despite the anger radiating from him.
He sobered quickly though. “Do not force me to knock you out.”

The whispered words close to her ear made Kimberly tense.
She couldn’t afford to be unconscious again. She’d never manage to escape.

With her body held tight to his side by one arm, the pirate
kicked and used the other arm to cut through the water toward the longboat
rowing for them from the ship.

When they reached the rescue boat—capture boat—rough hands
pulled her over the gunwale and tossed her against one of the benches. She
scrambled onto all fours, crawled toward the edge and gripped the gunwale. Hope
of diving over the side ended when one of the crew manhandled her onto the
floor and held her down with the weight of a sweaty body. The smell of onion
breath curled her nose when the man flipped her over and got right in her face.

“Go ahead. Try again.” Missing and heavily stained teeth
made the man’s leer worse.

Eyes full of lust, he stared at her breasts. Before she
could cover the hard nipples showing through the sheer wet fabric of her
chemise, he lowered his head and suckled a breast.

Kimberly screeched and beat curled fists against his back.
The man squeezed the air from her lungs. She gasped, fighting to breathe. By
the time her lungs filled with briny air, the man had been ripped away and swam
alongside the boat.

The dripping wet Laroux glowered as if it were her fault the
mate attacked. He grabbed a piece of sailcloth from one of the men and shook
it. “Cover yourself. I will not have you causing a brawl.” He held the
makeshift cover-up to her. “If any shall have you, ’twill be me.”

Not if she had anything to say about it. Glare for glare, she
prayed to find Robert soon.

* * *

Trial by battle. Not that Robert had broken any laws. LaRoux
wanted to even the score, as he put it, for Robert blowing up his ship. The
shock of seeing Kimberly in the damn pirates clutches was a damaging blow.
Robert staggered.

His opponent’s sword slashed, drawing more blood. Stinging
fire raced from the wounds, blazing through Robert’s system. With the agony,
his system began to shut down. Releasing an anguished croak, he glanced at
Kimberly and fell to his knees. Strength gone, unable to rise, he landed
face-first in the dirt.

Kimberly screamed. The horrific sound sliced through his
delirium. He raised his head and stared through blurry eyes, burning her image
into memory. It was heartbreaking to think this would be the last time he ever
gazed upon her precious features. They’d been prisoner in the same ship for
days. Kept apart.

He had to fight to save her. He pushed at the ground with
the heel of his palms, but couldn’t raise his body more than an inch. Something
was terribly wrong. This shouldn’t be happening. His wounds weren’t that
serious. Dammit to hell.

Poison
. As Kurt surmised, Laroux had coated his blade
with a poisonous substance. Robert’s cuts rendered him helpless. He’d never be
able to save Kimberly.

His body trembled uncontrollably. Many hands grabbed at him.
Four men raised him in the air. “No!”

As they carried him over their heads, their skeletal faces
morphed, elongating into that of frightening creatures. Monsters. Zombies.
Robert’s heart stuttered, having difficulty pumping blood through veins. His
mind fuzzed. Where was Kimberly? He needed to beg forgiveness.

Panic charged through him.
Please, God, let me save
Kimberly
.

Darkness wrapped its comforting arms around his soul. When
he came to, pain wracked his body. Every nerve. Every muscle. Every tendon
burned. Drums pounded a primitive beat. Voices chanted in ancient tongues.

He used every ounce of energy remaining to open his eyes.
Several minutes passed before his vision adjusted to the fire glow. The sight
before him was out of a bad B-movie.

Torches burned, lighting a circular area. Black skinned men
wearing short loincloths, feathered headpieces with horns, and bracelets and
anklets made from seeds and bones, undulated provocatively as they danced
around the outer edges of the circle. Their harsh voices joined by others
hidden in the dark.

They had tied him spread-eagle to logs forming an X, his
arms painfully stretched to the upper V, while his legs were secured outward at
the bottom. The most vulnerable position a man could find himself in.

Dancing continued. More torches were lit. Then he saw
Kimberly on the other side of the clearing, tied to a single stake with arms
lashed above her head and toes dangling inches above the ground. She wore a short
loincloth around the waist and only strands of beads draped from the neck
covered her breasts.

He prayed for this insanity to be a nightmare. A bad dream
that would soon end. He would wake and find himself on the bunk in his cabin on
Sea Panther
with Kimberly safe in his arms.

The rhythm of the beating drums quickened. The gyrations of
the men became frenzied. Robert’s pulse raced in tempo with the drums. He
tugged at the ropes binding him, thrashing to get free.

At the sight of Zola, he stopped struggling. The Voodoo
priestess entered the clearing. A serpent wrapped the length of an arm, circled
her neck, its head draped over one shoulder. The pet Florida panther walked at
her side. Behind her came LeRoux, wearing a smug expression. He strode to
Kimberly, fondled a breast, and said something close to her ear.

Something Robert couldn’t hear. He arched his back and
renewed the struggle against the ropes, but there was no way he could break
free. “Get the hell away from her!”

Kimberly swallowed the bile choking her, hating the touch of
the leering pirate. Hating they forced Robert to watch the man grope her.
LaRoux rubbed a nipple with a calloused thumb, causing the flesh to harden.
Unwanted sensation clenched her sex, tightening all the muscles in her body.
She hated the man. She hated herself.

“I will free you once MacLachlan is dead and make you my
mistress.” The pirate’s breath teased the tiny hairs on the back of her neck,
causing them to stand on end. “You will dress in beautiful gowns. Wear precious
jewels. Except for when you adorn my bed. There, I will free your passion.” He
brushed several fingers along the side of her face in a promising caress.

She spit in his face. He threw back his head and roared with
laughter, ignoring the spittle on his cheek.

“You will enjoy my plundering. And I will enjoy taming you.”
He forced a hand between her legs.

She cringed at the unwanted intimacy. Wanted to vomit.
Didn’t want Robert to witness her humiliation. He bellowed. The sound that of
an enraged beast.

The maddening beat of the drums quieted. The chanting
continued as the dancing men removed reeds from the center of the clearing
exposing a large ditch. Zola unraveled the snake and held it in the air with
both hands. The dancing men heaved the heavy logs to which Robert was tied onto
their shoulders as if the wood was the weight of kindling. They carried him
toward the pit.

“All powerful Da call upon your messenger Legba to open the
portal to the gods. Receive our sacrifice. Flesh for flesh. Blood for blood.
Reversed only by the blood of true love,” the Voodoo woman screamed the words.

All hell tore loose.

The wind whipped crazily. Ominous fog swirled through the
clearing, its chilled fingers brushing across Kimberly’s exposed skin, the
sensation—pure evil.

A caricature of a man dressed completely in black appeared
in a vortex within the fog. Deeply carved sockets in a face void of eyes.
Stained fangs hung from ripped flesh where a mouth should have been.

Kimberly recoiled from the surreal scene. My God. Séaghdha.

The men raised the wooden cross into the air near the edge
of the pit. Robert’s body strained. The veins in his neck expanded as he heaved
against the ropes, fighting to get free.

Kimberly knew a fear like none imagined in her most insane
nightmares. She stared at the grotesque figure of the vampire and all
peripheral sight faded. She couldn’t faint. Not when Robert needed her most.
She fought to stay conscious. Concentrating on him, she prayed.

He renewed the effort to break free and strained against the
binding ropes.

“All powerful
Da
call upon your messenger
Legba
to open the portal to the gods. Receive our sacrifice. Flesh for flesh. Blood
for blood. Reversed only by the blood of true love,” Zola repeated the curse.

Séaghdha’s image sharpened. Flesh knit together. His
substantial form loomed over those gathered. He raised his arms, and lightning
cracked.

The panther yowled and leapt into the pit. The cross bearers
dropped Robert and ran. Men darted in all directions screeching with fear. A
wide-eyed Zola threw the snake into the hole and started to run from the
clearing. Laroux fought with her, trying to drag her back. They fell into the
pit.

Unearthly screams rent the night.

A large raven flew into the commotion. Glistening black
feathers were yanked free and caught by the breeze as the vampire grabbed the
bird in a clawed fist.

Kimberly struggled against her bounds with every ounce of
strength she could call forth. With an all-encompassing effort, she thrust her
body forward. The straps holding her prisoner snapped. She smacked the ground
hard. Pain shot up her left leg. She lay there numb for a moment, a bone surely
broken. Using her arms and one good leg, she dragged herself across the dirt.
With sheer will driving her, she lunged for Robert. She fumbled, fingers stiff,
laboring to untie the ropes holding him to the damn cross.

“Hurry.”

“I’m working as fast as I can.”

“Faster. We need to get out of here. I’m too weak to fight.”

When both hands were free, Robert tried to help untie the
ropes at his ankles, but he was so weak she had to free both legs. She
attempted to help him stand, but when he leaned his weight on her, she went
down. With an awkward twist of her body, Kimberly’s head hit against a rock
with a terrible thud.

Through blurred eyes, she witnessed Séaghdha’s attack. Too
weak, Robert succumbed to the vampire’s bite.

Heartsick, Kimberly lost the battle to stay conscious.

Current Year

New Jersey

E
arly on a
cool, late April morning, Sarah woke with a racing heart. What the hell? Taking
a deep breath, she flicked on the bedside lamp with a trembling hand. Nausea
bubbled in her belly, a consequence of her so-called gift. She sat up, swung
her legs over the side of the mattress and wrapped her arms around her chest in
a reassuring hug.

As if on autopilot, she pulled on leggings and an oversized
concert t-shirt—both black. Then she slipped her arms into the sleeves of a
favorite hoodie. Dark purple, her favorite color. Well, except for black. She
always wore black. Her signature non-color—black.

A quick visit to the bathroom to brush her teeth ended with
a splash of cold water to her face. Sarah slid into a pair of purple Crocs by
the bedroom door and was off.

Driven by an insistent compulsion, she grabbed the keys to
Kimberly’s Beemer from the counter and headed for the parking garage on the
bottom floor. With a press of the key fob clicker the locks popped. She slipped
into the black leather driver’s seat and twisted the key in the ignition. The
engine purred like a content kitty even after sitting idle in the chill of the
night.

Sarah eased the car out of the exit without a backward
glance. She drove for a distance before her muscles relaxed. The digital
readout on the dash read 4:48. What the hell was she doing driving south on the
New Jersey Parkway at five in the morning on a Saturday?

Of course, she knew the reason. A sense of urgency. A
compulsion.

She glanced at the hand on the steering wheel. At the
amethyst ring. Her birthstone. The gem was supposed to bring good luck. Unlikely
when
the dreams
haunted her.

Vision dreams had disturbed her sleep for as long as she
could remember. When she’d wake, an acute need to act always pushed her to do
things she wouldn’t normally do.

She swallowed compulsively and kept her gaze on the road,
driving the same speed as the rest of the sparse traffic. Even at this hour of
the morning, cars zipped along the parkway, hurrying to God only knew where.

At the exit for Route 34, she slowed for the tollbooth, took
the ramp, and cruised onto the local highway.
Eleven miles
the sign at
the side of the road stated. She’d be at her destination in less than twenty
minutes depending on the damn traffic lights.

Great. Just great.

Only an occasional car drove by as she passed sleepy strip
malls. Green lights most of the way, so an hour after leaving the apartment,
Sarah navigated the cloverleaf and stopped at the orange cones blocking the
entrance. The park was open from sunrise to sunset, but someone had already
knocked over two of the cones. She maneuvered the vehicle around the one
remaining and entered Sandy Hook National Seashore.

A fool’s errand more than likely. What were the chances of
actually finding Kimberly where the dream indicated?

Sarah passed the entrance booths, the small buildings still
shrink-wrapped for protection against harsh winter storms. She drove the old
road, past first one then two lonely beach pavilions. She passed the parking
lot for the
Crow’s Nest
bar where she and Kimberly used to party and
pulled into the small lot for the Historical Society.

Nuts
. Certifiably. She dropped her head on the
steering wheel. She had to be nuts to have made this trip. What were the
chances of finding her missing sister on a beach in New Jersey when Kimberly
disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle a couple weeks ago?

Sarah got out of the car, the noise from the closing door
overly loud. The only other sounds were the cackle of gulls and waves breaking
on the beach. She kicked off her shoes and walked across the cold sand to the
water’s edge as the sun crested the horizon with white-yellow light. All around
her was sand and water and beautiful sky. She glanced up and down the beach.
Why had the compulsion brought her here?

She took a deep breath of salty ocean air and walked along
the beach, the view of the New York skyline across the water becoming more
evident with each step. She stopped and scanned the sand, the dunes, and
continued her trek.

Movement further ahead on the beach attracted her attention.

Oh my God! She ran.

* * *

The white light drawing her nearer exploded into fragments
of blue glitter then vanished. Gray mist encroached, swirling around Kimberly,
whirling close, invading her mind. Her chest tightened as she plummeted,
freefalling through a dark abyss.

Kimberly jolted eyes wide as she landed on all fours. Wet
sand squished between fingers and toes. Lapping waves wrapped spume around her
body. She wanted to roll into a ball and cry.

Robert was a vampire once again.

She wasn’t sure how long she stayed huddled on the beach
with tears flowing down her cheeks before she heard her name shouted from a
distance. Shivering, she managed to stand on unsteady legs. The wet fabric of
the torn gown clung to weak limbs. Bright light from the early morning sun
reflected off the water, blinding her.

Torn gown? The last thing she was wearing—

Pain throbbed. She rubbed her temples. What was she trying
to remember?

“Kimberly?” Someone called her name again, more earnest now.
Closer. She shaded her eyes with a hand and searched the dunes then the beach.

Long silver-blond hair fluttering behind her, Sarah jogged
across the sand toward her. Kimberly took a shaky step and fell into her
sister’s outstretched arms. Thank God. She’d returned to her own time.

But without Robert? It didn’t matter if he was vampire. She
wanted him.

She pulled away from her sister and frantically scanned the
beach, the dunes, and the water’s edge. Oh, shit! He hadn’t made it back. They
had failed to stop Séaghdha. Robert would be a vampire forever. A panther
forever. And she would be alone, without the love of her life. Forever.

“Where have you been? I’ve been worried,” Sarah said.

“Lost. In another world.” Kimberly sobbed the words.

“I had a dream I’d find you here.”

A tremor wracked Kimberly’s body.

“You’re freezing.” Her sister removed the hoodie she wore
and held it out.

Kimberly slipped it on, but the sweatshirt didn’t provide
much warmth. It would take a lot more to crack the ice that encased her heart.

“Let’s get you home.” Sarah tugged on her hand and led her
across the sand toward the parking lot without asking more questions. Although,
she must have a ton. Kimberly certainly did.

She glanced back to the beach. How would she live without
Robert?

A large flock of laughing gulls scavenged along the shore.
From within their number, a single black raven called to Kimberly with a
drawn-out croak before flying out to sea.

* * *

White light flashed, leaving Robert blinded. Séaghdha threw
him back against a tree. Pain exploded in his head. His body convulsed. The
bite sent fire rushing through his veins. His vision spun. By the time the pain
lessened, and his vision cleared, Kimberly had vanished.

Séaghdha flew off, Raven clutched within his grip.

The ache in his heart debilitated Robert more than any
wound. He stared at his palms. Blood from Kimberly’s head injury, mixed with
his blood, covered the fingers. He touched the hands to his face. Bloody hell.

Tears combined with blood.

A healing blue glow wrapped around his body, radiating heat
inward. He shuddered as the pain and grief eased. He inhaled several deep
breaths and his heartbeat regulated to normal. Energy and strength pulsed
through his veins.

Kimberly’s blood healed him.

Robert surveyed the remains of Zola’s botched spell. Little
remained except a crater of scorched earth where the pit had been. Laroux and
Zola and all their minions were gone. Hopefully, to hell.

Robert stood and stared into the crater. The scene that
caused the devastation flashed through his mind. Raven? He hung his head. His
dearest twin was doomed. His chest tightened with anger, but there was nothing
he could do for her. She owned her fate.

Releasing a sad sigh, Robert strode through the trees to the
beach and began the long trek to the harbor and his ship. As he walked, all he
thought about was Kimberly.

Reversed only by the blood of true love
.

Kimberly’s blood had been the key all along. Combined with
his blood and tears, her blood had healed him. Their bond of love was strong.
He would find his way to her. Their love was their destiny.