Vampirates 5: Empire of Night (37 page)

Once he'd gained a little distance, he permitted himself to turn back and take one last look at the two Vampirate ships, moored side by side in the water. Then, to his horror, he spotted three more ships moored alongside. At the end of the line was
The Diablo
, the latest addition to the Vampirates' ever-expanding fleet. There was no mistaking the galleon's distinctive lines. He knew they'd taken it, but somehow he hadn't quite believed it. Now he saw it was true. He shook his head. No more, he thought. They wouldn't succeed in taking
The Tiger
. He turned away, vowing not to take another backward glance.

As he did so, he noticed a pair of hands on the starboard side of the boat. "Kally?" he said, surprised. She had said that she was heading back to
The Tiger
before night fell.

"Who's Kally?" asked a familiar voice as a svelte figure, clad in a scarlet scuba suit covering all but her face, hands, and feet climbed deftly into the light boat.

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Bart watched dumbfounded as the head of the scuba suit was peeled back. Lola Lockwood shook out her raven locks. "That's better," she said, smiling at him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked. "I'm heading home now."

Lola looked a little offended. "After the welcome I gave you, Bart, I'm a little offended you didn't say good-bye to me in person. And have you forgotten that you are still wearing my husband's clothes?"

Bart was trying to get the measure of the situation, but he was tired and hadn't reckoned on this strange turn of events. He realized that, whatever else, he had to keep Lola talking.

"Is that what this is about?" he asked, essaying a smile. "You're coming to claim your proper good-bye? To get your husband's clothes back?" He began unbuttoning the shirt, but Lola shook her head.

"Good-bye is such a final word," she said. "This is only
au revoir
."

As he continued unbuttoning Sidorio's shirt, Bart's fingers suddenly froze. He noticed the pearl-handled dagger in Lola's hand. Where had that come from? His own sword was beyond his reach.
No worries
, he calmed himself. He was a heck of a lot bigger than her. He could easily overpower her and throw her over the side. He remembered the last bout of combat training Cate had given him and prepared to defend himself.

But before he knew it, Lola had Bart in a stranglehold.

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He felt utterly paralyzed by her grasp. They were locked together in a horrible parody of an embrace. Lola's mouth was close to his ear, and she spoke to him softly now. "I thought a dashing young pirate like you would wish to die by the dagger. Yes, darling, that's right. I'm going to kill you now. But there's no need to be frightened." Her eyes gazed upon him with a strange tenderness. "I'm going to stab you very cleanly through the heart. It will be sudden and largely painless."

She was mad, utterly mad, but Bart was powerless to do anything but listen to her ravings. "You'll fall into something akin to a deep sleep," she said. "We call this state the anteroom, because it's a holding point for the next stage of your journey." Her voice was as gentle and reassuring as a mother singing a lullaby to her baby. "You'll sleep and, during that time, we'll take you back to the ships. There, my husband will complete the process. He will sire you, Bart. And you will be one of us. Connor will be so happy, don't you think? I could tell he didn't want you to leave, and now you never will. So you see, my sweet little pirate, it truly
isn't
good-bye but only
au revoir
."

As she spoke these last soft words, Lola took the pearl-handled dagger and, true to her promise, stabbed it clean through Bart's chest. But before the point even pierced his flesh, Bart Pearce knew that his big old heart was irreparably broken. He thought of Connor. He thought of Jez and Molucco. He thought of Cate. And then, nothing.

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39 FAMILY PORTRAIT

Connor pushed open the door to Lola's cabin and was surprised to find it quiet and empty. No, not empty.... As he closed the door behind him, he realized there was one other person in the room: Grace. She was standing beyond the table, in front of an easel that had been draped in red velvet. Now, as she became aware of Connor's presence, she turned to face him. At first it was a shock to see her sporting the black heart tattoo around her left eye, but then he realized that she had in fact been wearing it the past few nights--though it was only now that he seemed to be seeing her properly for the first time.

"Where is everyone?" Connor asked, approaching the table. A spread of food had been laid out for them, although by usual standards, the quantity was modest--more like a picnic supper than a feast.

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"They're all getting ready for the attack," Grace said. "There's a note here from Lola." She pointed to the table, but Connor didn't bother picking it up. "She says that she and Sidorio will be along later and we should go ahead and help ourselves."

Connor hesitated, somehow reluctant to sit down at the table.

"The attack tonight," Grace said. "It's against your ship, isn't it?
The Tiger
."

Connor nodded. "Yes--though strictly speaking,
The Tiger
is Cheng Li's ship."

Grace's eyes met his. "Aren't you worried for her and your other comrades?"

"Sure, I'm concerned," he said, "but if anyone can defend themselves against Vampirates, it's the crew of
The Tiger
. In fact, if anyone needs to worry, it's Obsidian Darke. He's the one leading the rebel attack."

Grace shivered at the mere mention of Darke. There was something unsettling about him. She stepped toward the table and surveyed the spread. As usual it looked delicious but, since she had started drinking blood, her hunger for Chef Escoffier's treats had dwindled. Grace suddenly turned back to Connor, her eyes bright. "You've warned Cheng Li about the attack, haven't you?"

Connor smiled but said nothing.

Grace nodded, piecing together the jigsaw in her head. "
That's
what Bart was doing here. You've sent a message back with him."

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Connor shook his head. "You're close, but actually Bart's appearance took me by surprise. The message went back ahead of his visit."

Grace pulled out a chair and sat down. "I envy you, Connor. Throughout all of this, you've always known what side you're on. Your life has so much clarity--you're a pirate on an undercover mission. Whatever's happened here, however much Sidorio and Stukeley ingratiate themselves with you, you've never lost sight of your mission. You were simply here to spy on the rebels and send back intelligence, and that's what you've done. And now, I suppose your mission is successfully concluded and you'll be returning to
The Tiger
--assuming it survives tonight's attack."

Connor pulled out the chair beside her. "It
will
survive the attack," he said, sitting down. "Cheng Li and Cate have been preparing for this scenario for months." He paused, his voice softer now. "But I'm not going back."

Grace's eyes registered surprise. "What do you mean?"

Connor held her gaze. "Exactly as I say. I'm a dhampir now. Of course, I always was--I just didn't know it. So now I have this constant hunger for blood. How can I possibly go back and live among normal people?"

"Mortals," Grace corrected him.

"Like I say, normal people. I'm no longer mortal. I'm a dhampir, Sidorio's son. I hate it, of course. I hate the hunger and the violence. Frankly, I hate just about everything about my life aboard
The Blood Captain
. But, most of all, I

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hate this thing I've become. I'd give anything to go back to my old life, but that isn't an option. I can't fight my true being, but I
can
protect the people I really care about--and that means staying as far away from them as possible."

"Oh, Connor," Grace said, reaching out her hand to him. "I'm so sorry you feel this way. I wish we'd talked sooner."

He shrugged, squeezing her hand but letting it go. "What's the point in talking? We'll probably get through this. We usually do."

Grace frowned. "Connor, I hate to see you like this. You're immortal now. We've both been blessed with this amazing gift. You can't just plan on 'getting through' eternity--there has to be more to it than that. We have to make our lives meaningful!"

Connor smiled bitterly. "Bart and Molucco both have this motto: a pirate's life should be 'short but merry.' I never really saw the point of it before, but when I think of the alternative--
this
alternative--I completely get it."

Grace shuddered. "Are you really saying that you'd swap places with Molucco? He's dead now, isn't he?"

Connor nodded. "Yes, and yes."

"Oh, Connor," Grace said again, shaking her head.

"Let's talk about you," he said. "Seems like you've adapted to life here pretty easily, unlike me."

"Too easily," Grace said. "Don't forget, I came here on a mission, too. Well, two missions, in fact. My official mis

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sion was similar to yours--to spy on the rebels and report back to the Nocturnals." Seeing her brother's blank face, she reminded him. "That's what Mosh Zu and Lorcan have renamed their crew."

"Yes, I remember," he nodded. "And how has your mission gone?"

Grace nodded. "I've done my bit, reporting back to them each night via astral travel." Suddenly she paused, glancing at him. "Hey, how about you? How did you send your messages back to Cheng Li?"

Connor smiled. "I sent them via a fishtail--a kind of mermaid. How else?"

Grace nodded, impressed. "Well, like I say, I've done my bit. I've told them how things work around here--Lola's blood harvests, that kind of thing. I think they feel it's been useful."

"You don't sound so sure," Connor said.

Grace shrugged. "I'm sure about their feelings; it's mine I'm less certain about. Although I came here on an official mission, I had my own private mission as well. I wanted to change the way things worked here. I thought I could use my influence, this new position as Sidorio's daughter, to change the way they did things. Naively, I actually thought I might be some kind of civilizing force."

"What happened to change your mind?" Connor asked.

"This," Grace said, sweeping her hand across the table. She picked up a tiny rose-colored macaroon and placed it

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on her palm. "These pretty little cakes--and everything else they've been feeding us from our very first night here--are laced with blood. They've been using them to stoke my hunger. Yours, too, of course."

Connor nodded. It all made sense.

"You seem to have managed to control your hunger much better than me," Grace said. "I'm out of control, Connor. I'm so ashamed to admit this, but a few nights back, on one of Lola's blood hunts, I almost killed a girl. Isn't that terrible?"

Connor shrugged, his expression dark. "There's already one killer sitting at this table," he said. "Why not two?"

Grace frowned, hating hearing him so down on himself. "You had good reasons for killing that guard. You acted to save your comrade's life. But Lola's sprees are just sport. All that blood, bottled up in her cellars, is totally unnecessary."

Connor shook his head. "Surely it's completely necessary. Everyone on these two--or rather,
five
--ships needs blood to survive, Grace. Us included."

"Yes," Grace conceded. "But there
is
another way--the way of the Nocturnals. I lost sight of that in this fog of hunger, but now I'm beginning to see clearly again." She faced Connor square on. "The thought of someone taking blood was never so terrible to me because I've seen how it can be done in a disciplined, responsible way--through the donor system." She crushed the blood macaroon in

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her fist and brushed the crumbs onto the floor. "People don't need to die for us to thrive."

Connor was impressed by his sister's sudden show of strength. "You said you envied my clarity of purpose, but it seems like you're the clear-sighted one, Grace. If you're able to accept your hunger for blood, then you know the ship you
should
be sailing on; the people you need to be surrounded with. From where I'm sitting, it looks like you have it all worked out, sis."

Grace shook her head. "It's not that simple. Connor, you know that. I like it here. I've always found the Vampirates fascinating. I love their culture and I love hearing their personal histories. It wasn't the worst thing to discover that I truly belonged in this world. I thought it was going to be horrible coming on board
The Vagabond
, but in many ways it's more fun than
The Nocturne
. I've made great new friends here--Mimma, Jacqui, and Nat..."

"And Johnny?" Connor added.

Grace blushed. "Yes, and Johnny. He's very cool. I met him before, you know--at Sanctuary. He thinks he's such a bad boy, but deep down he's just a pussycat."

Connor raised his eyebrows. "From what I hear, he led the attack on Molucco. Your pussycat may be another man's killer tiger."

Grace's face was guarded. "Johnny's very susceptible to other people's influence," she said. "He was in his mortal life, and he has been ever since he crossed over. He's been

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molded by Sidorio and Stukeley, but he's just as open to good influences..."

"Like you," Connor suggested.

"Well, yes," Grace said.

"I thought that you already had a boyfriend," Connor said.

Grace frowned. "I do," she said. "And I care deeply for Lorcan. He's been so good to me, right from the start. The last thing I want to do is hurt him, but I think I may already have done that."

Connor squeezed her hand. "You're young," he said. "We both are. We always knew we had our whole lives ahead of us; we just didn't realize we'd been granted the bonus eternity package. Grace, after everything we've been through, I think we're allowed some time to make mistakes, to find out what we believe and who we are."