by Ann Gimpel
Recco snorted. “Mine, either. Daide and I mourned for months. We limited ourselves to rat blood when the hunger grew so overpowering it was all we could think about. Mostly, we tried to find real food. Got harder as the years went by, though.”
Juan held up a hand. “It’s okay. We don’t need to dig any deeper into trading war stories. How come you decided not to go ashore with Viktor?”
“I would have, but I was asleep. Was there an announcement?” At Juan’s nod, he went on. “Must have been out pretty good. Any chance of floating another raft? It’s not like we’re on any kind of schedule.”
“It could probably be arranged.” Juan smiled. “Let’s wait until Viktor gets back.”
“Who went with him?”
“Four of the women. Ketha, Aura, Rowana, and Karin.”
“Good. Means Zoe is still here.” Recco glanced away. “Never mind. Didn’t mean to open my mouth.”
Juan quirked a brow. “Interested in her, are you?”
“You might say that. She’s incredible with her lilting Irish brogue and those masses of red hair.” Recco’s copper cheeks developed a rose tone, but he didn’t look away. “Her eyes remind me of a doe. All soft and brown and gentle.”
“Do you know what kind of Shifter she is?” Juan asked.
Recco nodded. “Coyote. They’re sacred to my people.”
“This might be a great opportunity to talk with her,” Juan said. “Ship’s quiet. You don’t have to scream to be heard over the wind.”
“Maybe I will.” Recco angled his head. “How about you?”
“How about me, what?” Juan had understood what he meant, but the question brought up a welter of uncomfortable feelings. States of mind he hadn’t had to think about for years.
“The women. Do you like any of them?”
Juan chucked. “Why? Are you considering a double date?”
Recco’s gaze sharpened in speculation. “You’re hedging. Why?”
Heat moved slowly up his chest and neck to his face, and Juan cursed his fair skin. “Because I only have time for the ship right now.”
Recco rolled his eyes. “Spare me. We’re all working our asses off. You can tell me. I won’t blab.”
A likeness of Aura blasted into Juan’s mind, far more pleasant than his earlier imagery of Raphael and Vampires.
“Aha!” Recco made a thumbs-up sign. “There is someone. If you ever want to talk about it, I’ll be around.” Spinning on his heel, he strode out of the bridge.
Juan retrieved his coffee and drained the cup. It was cold, but it didn’t matter. He’d been meaning to find some surreptitious way to learn more about Aura, the blonde mountain lion Shifter who was Ketha’s closest friend. Like if she’d left a husband back in Wyoming. Or a fiancé. Or even a boyfriend. All he knew was she’d held a teaching post at some university and was an expert on magical prophecies.
The sway of her hips when she walked and the curves beneath her layers of clothing had caught his eye. Once he’d begun to pay attention to her, smitten followed fast. She’d become a favorite fantasy object when he lay in his bunk, but he felt guilty for stroking himself to orgasm while constructing visions of what she might look like naked. His cock swelled to fullness when he thought about her, and Juan rearranged it so it wasn’t bent at an uncomfortable angle.
Vampires were plenty capable of sex, but Juan had borrowed a page from Viktor’s book and remained celibate. The female Vamps never appealed to him, and he’d be damned if he’d take a human against her will—if he could even have located one. They’d barricaded themselves into strongholds right after the Cataclysm. Shifters had helped, hiding the locations with their considerable magic.
“One more walk down memory lane,” he muttered. Not much percentage in looking back, but once he’d kicked the door open, it didn’t close easily.
He’d wanted to engage Aura in conversation several times, but the trip across the Scotia Sea had been hard. When he wasn’t at the helm, he was either asleep or eating. And she’d been seasick, right along with many of the women. She’d get over it. Everyone did, eventually—or they gave up on going to sea.
“You should approach her,” his cat spoke up.
Juan almost dropped his coffee cup. The whole Shifter gig was so new to him, he didn’t often think about his recently bonded mountain lion. He’d had a hell of a good time shifting and running before they left Ushuaia, but since they’d been aboard Arkady, he hadn’t had spare time to do much of anything not directly involved in moving the ship from Point A to Point B.
“Why might that be?” he asked his bond animal. Talking out loud to it still felt odd, but he was alone on the bridge so he didn’t have to explain anything to anyone.
“I know her cat. We’ve roamed together for a very long time. It would be a good mating for both of you.”
Juan strode to the window and glanced out at the remains of Grytviken with its collection of enormous cylindrical storage towers. Raphael had no sooner turned him than he’d force-fed him more information than Juan ever wanted about being a Vampire.
So far, he knew less than nothing about being a Shifter.
“Help me understand,” Juan said. “If I hook up with a woman, do you and her animal mate as well?”
“Not the way you mean,” the cat replied. “I have a body. You know because you’ve shifted into it, but mostly we’re creatures of spirit.”
“Just because you get along with Aura’s cat, is it a reason why she and I might...” Juan struggled to find words, but the cat saved him the trouble.
“Yes.”
The radio crackled to life. Juan vaulted to where it lived in its cradle attached to the wall and snapped it up.
“Juan here.”
“Possible Vampire sighting. Secure Arkady and come now.” Viktor’s deep voice crackled with fury.
Breath whooshed from Juan as if someone had socked him in the guts. “Aw Jesus! Really? I’ll drop the other decent raft into the water and bring Recco and Daide with me. Where are you?”
“By the barracks. Don’t waste your time stopping in the town.”
“Roger that. Be there in half an hour or less.”
“The iron saber is in the big equipment locker on Deck Three. Bring it along, and make damn sure it doesn’t puncture the raft.”
Juan sucked air through his teeth; madness trod close to the surface. He’d die before he let another Vampire turn him. “Aye, aye, Captain. Your faith in me is touching.”
“By the time you get here, we’ll either be dead or turned or breaking bread with the bastards.”
The radio clutched in Juan’s white-knuckled hand spat static. “You’re sure it’s Vamps and they’re alive?” Incredulity underscored his question.
“Affirmative on the alive part. See you soon.”
“Roger that. Over and out.” Juan tucked the two-way radio into his jacket in case Viktor needed to communicate something critical before he got there.
Running on autopilot, he pulled the keys needed to engage the ship’s engine and dropped them into a pocket. Pirates had never been a problem this far south, mostly because no pirate in his right mind plied the Roaring Forties and Fifties. They were more a scourge around Australia and Polynesia. The Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean too.
But if Vamps lived on South Georgia, they may well have been searching for an escape route for years. His muscles felt like rocks. He’d hoped to the bottom of his soul he was done with Vampires for the rest of his natural life.
“Get over it,” he muttered and pushed the button on the PA system.
“Recco. Daide. Meet me on Deck Four next to the crane immediately. We’re heading to shore. All women will remain on board. I’ll explain later.”
If there is a later...
He piled into his outdoor gear, layering a waterproof bib and jacket over his insulated jacket and pants. A pair of knee-high Wellingtons came next.
He patted the pocket with the ship’s keys, wondering what to do with them
. The hard truth was, if he and Viktor didn’t make it back, Arkady would sit in King Edward Cove forever. Perhaps a fitting end for a ship that had spent much of her life in these waters. Juan hung onto the keys. He’d be damned if he’d make it easy for anyone to commandeer the boat. After pelting down three decks, he scooped up the saber. It was right where Viktor said, but Juan would have been surprised if it wasn’t. Organization had always been Viktor’s middle name.
Sword in hand, he clambered up one flight and ran to the large crane that moved Zodiac rafts in and out of the water. Some of the newer, fancier Antarctic cruise ships had helicopters. He and Viktor had been on the verge of buying one until the Antarctic Tour Operators’ Association ruled ships had to have two. In case one ended up stranded.
It would have meant two pilots and a whole lot of expense, so the project ended up on a back burner.
Recco and Daide were waiting for him, bundled against the cold. “What’s up?” Daide asked. “Hey! What are you doing with Raphael’s saber?”
Juan activated the crane. “Viktor and the others need help.”
“What kind of help?” Recco chimed in. “If it’s bad enough you need a sword, should I bring medical supplies?”
I wish it were that simple.
Juan turned to face the other men. “It appears what we did in Ushuaia didn’t eliminate all the Vampires.”
Shock and horror bloomed on Recco’s face. “Jesus. I want to puke.”
“How is that even possible?” Daide choked out the words.
“I have no fucking idea. Look. I’ll ride the raft down to the water. You two scurry down the gangway. I’m sure it’s still deployed. I’ll meet you there, and we’ll go find out.”
The men ran for stairs leading to the gangway level. Juan watched them flee as if the dogs of Hell were after them.
Who am I kidding? Vampires are worse than a whole horde of Hell hounds.
Juan laid the saber carefully in the bottom of the raft and climbed in after it. He gripped the upper end of the sling, set the crane to its down position, and waited until the raft settled onto the water. When Viktor left earlier, Juan had manned the sling apparatus, hauling it back into Arkady. For now, he unclipped the raft, secured the loose ends of the sling to a bolt, and called it good. Seawater eroded everything, but it was the least of their current problems.
Forcing a calm he was far from feeling had become second nature during his years at sea, and he borrowed shamelessly from his past life. What he wanted to do was get the hell out of this bay, but he couldn’t leave Viktor and the women who’d gone ashore with him.
Besides, the whole purpose of this trip was to assess what was left of the world. If Vampires still prowled, they needed to know about it. An unsettling thought slammed into him. If Vampires were alive anywhere, it had to mean the Cataclysm wasn’t dead, either.
Chapter Three: Collateral Damage
Aura judged the distance between them and the barracks. Perhaps a hundred yards remained. Within her, the mountain lion prowled restlessly. It wanted out. If there were Vampires to face, it viewed itself as a more capable adversary than she was.
Viktor drew to a halt and dropped the rifle to his side. The four of them formed a semicircle in front of him.
“What? Why’d you stop?” Ketha shook herself from head to toe. “Sorry. Wolf is giving me a raft of grief.”
“Yeah, my cat is too,” Aura muttered.
“We probably should wait until Juan gets here,” Viktor said. “He’ll have the saber. It’s far more effective than my rifle. Whatever’s out there still has a Vampire feel to me. Did any of you discern anything more definitive?”
Aura paid a thread of seeking magic outward. The information she’d collected earlier hadn’t changed. “Vampire, but it’s not quite right.” She narrowed her eyes and stared at Viktor. “What happens to Vamps who don’t have anything to eat?”
A blank expression washed over his face. “I suppose they’d die eventually, but I don’t know for certain.” He winced. “I was the only one who failed to pay attention to Raphael’s lessons because I was more focused on finding a way out than maximizing the hand I’d been dealt.”
Ketha elbowed Aura. “You’re thinking it’s why they feel different? No food?”
Aura swung in a circle, taking in a landscape littered with bones. Seal bones. Smaller, lighter carcasses might have belonged to birds. “Beyond Vampire, I don’t sense anything else alive here. Maybe on the other side of those mountains”—she pointed upward—“but not along this stretch of shoreline. I didn’t bother to check the buildings near where we landed the Zodiac. My cat agrees with my assessment, or it would be champing even harder at the bit to come out and hunt.”
Karin made a noise between a snort and a grunt. “I’m pretty sure those Vampire fuckers don’t die in the way we understand it. Their DNA undergoes some serious rearrangement when they’re turned.”
“What I wouldn’t give for a lab,” Ketha muttered. She cast a speculative glance Viktor’s way.
“Since you brought it up,” he said, “all the research stations have microbiology labs, but they’re mostly located on the Antarctic continent.”
Aura furled her brows. She knew Ketha well enough to intuit where she was going with her line of inquiry. “First, we have to catch a Vampire.” She leveled a pointed glance at her friend. “Then we need a way of preserving tissue samples.”
“Would beheading and dropping the whole mess into a deep freeze do the trick?” Viktor asked.
“Maybe, but I’d need a well-fed Vamp for comparison.”
“Ewww. Good luck with that,” Aura muttered. “I hoped I’d never see another one of those bastards—ever.”
Ketha’s nostrils flared. “Makes two of us. Hey! I hear an engine.”
Aura did as well. The waiting versus not waiting conundrum had solved itself while they talked. She swept the barren landscape again, alert for anything that could help them. Between falling-down buildings and dead marine life, it was far gloomier than Ushuaia had been. At least the city had retained life within its boundaries.
Viktor waved an arm and covered the few feet between the roadway and the shore. The Zodiac veered toward them. Moments later, Juan flipped it around and threw the anchor rope to Viktor. Catching it one-handed, he dragged the craft onto the small rocky beach and tied it off to a good-sized granite boulder.
Juan, Recco, and Daide clambered out, and then Juan reached back inside for the saber. He offered it to Viktor, but the other man shook his head. “Not yet. We need to think this through.”
“I figured by the time we showed up, you’d have a plan in place.” Juan directed a meaningful look Viktor’s way.
“The plan was to wait for the saber,” Viktor retorted.
Recco tilted his head back, scenting the air. “It’s not quite right for Vamps,” he announced.
Aura nodded slowly. “Do any of you know what happens to Vampires when there’s no more food? Or blood?”
“Sure.” Juan nodded. “Viktor should know. How come you didn’t ask him?”
“She did.” Viktor set his jaw in a tense line. “I’m the one who didn’t pay any attention to Raph. Remember?” He made come-along motions at Juan. “Spit out whatever it is, so we can get moving.”
“Vampires go into a kind of stasis without food,” Juan said. “Since they aren’t exactly alive, they don’t exactly die, either. From what Raph said, they can remain viable with zero sustenance for centuries.”
“What?” Karin sneered. “Waiting for blood to show up?”
“About the size of it,” Recco cut in.
Daide frowned. “If I recall correctly, Vamps coming out of stasis are vicious. Even more so than normal. We’d do well to proceed with caution.”
“I’m not doubting Raph said that, but whomever we sense must know we’re out here.” Juan spoke slowly. “They’d have heard the boat—and us talking.”
“Good point,” Aura said. “Why haven’t they stormed
us?”
“We’ll never find out from here,” Viktor muttered. “This isn’t much of a strategy, but let’s trade.” He gave the rifle to Juan, taking the saber in return. “Are we agreed whatever we sense is coming from the center building?”
After everyone nodded, he went on. “We’ll pair up. Ideally, I’d like to approach the building on the three sides with doors, but we all need to be close to the saber.”
“How about if we form a line with you in the middle?” Juan suggested. “And me on one end with the gun. If I have to shoot, none of us will be in the way.”
“Sounds good to me.” Viktor reached into a pocket and drew out a handful of shells. Juan made a grab for them, checking the rifle to see if any were chambered.
“It’s loaded, and the safety is off,” Viktor said curtly. “I should have told you that up front.”
“Thanks, amigo.” Juan dropped the ammo into his own pocket.
Viktor eyed the women. “Can you spin or weave, or whatever the term is, protection around us if we’re spread out in a row?”
“Sure,” Ketha said, “but it might not mean much to a determined Vampire.”
Viktor moved to the center spot and took off at a rapid pace. If looks could kill, anything they ran into would shrivel up and die from fright.
Everyone else fanned out to one side or the other and ran to keep up.
Aura trotted next to Juan. Ketha was on her other side. The closer they got to the barracks, the stronger a disgusting smell grew. Vampire raised to the nth degree, but ones who’d been rolling in their own shit—and vomit. Decaying vegetation mingled with the sickly-sweet rot of putrefied meat. Rotten-egg stench overlaid everything, along with the sharp sting she associated with formalin. Her eyes watered, and her lungs burned.
“At least two. Maybe three or four,” Aura muttered.
“My take as well,” Ketha said. “Jesus, breathing is painful.”
“What I don’t get is where the greeting party is—and why they smell so godawful.” Juan punctuated his words with a disgusted grunt. “Worst Vampire sloth I ever saw was after Jorge beheaded Raphael and ended up coated in dried blood he didn’t bother to wash off.”