by Ann Gimpel
Juan’s stomach revolted. He spat out a mouthful of vomit and hunted for the last two Vampires. The bastards hadn’t been moving this fast before. Had their slow speed been a sham to lure him into a false sense of confidence?
Recco’s wolf howled its thanks and shook itself from nose to tail tip.
Viktor lurched to his feet. “Goddammit! What a fucking nightmare.”
“This gun is loud. My ears are still ringing. Can you walk?” Daide asked Viktor.
“Yeah. Twisted my ankle good, but I’ll live. Grab the head.”
“Why?” Juan stared at the Vampire’s severed head, its eyes wide and staring.
“Ketha wanted tissue samples. Won’t be anything left of the first two Vamps. They’re still burning.”
“What happened to the last two?” Daide asked, and scooped up the head, letting it dangle by its matted black hair. At least its eyes were shut. Dark, smoking holes, they’d been filled with madness.
“Good question.” Juan stared into the grayness, seeking answers. As a reality check, he switched back to his earth eyes. “Hey! It’s not black anymore.”
“It’s not,” Daide agreed.
Viktor smiled grimly. “My money’s on the women. I bet they had some success. We have to find those Vamps, though. Before they attack anyone else.”
“Absolutely,” Juan said. “But I suspect the women are more than a match for a couple of Vampires not firing on all cylinders.”
“I’ll track them,” the wolf said and took off, its nose glued to the ground. “Could one of you bring my clothes?”
Juan bent and gathered the stack into his arms. It was awkward carrying it and the rifle. He arranged things so he could drop the clothing pile fast to free the Ruger for use.
Viktor grunted with pain, but he kept up. “I should have been more careful.” His words sounded like they were coming from the bottom of a well.
“Eh, that’s what everyone says when something goes wrong,” Juan countered. “We underestimated them because it’s what they wanted us to do. It’s why they looked so slow and stumbling when they came at us.”
Daide trotted behind them. “I can take some of those clothes.”
“Nah. You’ve got the Vampire head. Plus, I don’t want to stop to rearrange anything.” A scuffle fifty yards away made Juan hasten his pace.
“Look over there,” Daide yelled. “Recco’s herding them into the water. Smart. Vamps hate water. The closer they are to it, the more it dilutes their power.”
Juan dropped the clothes and shouldered the gun. “One of those is mine.”
“But you won’t kill it with that,” Viktor protested.
“Maybe not, but I’ll knock it into the surf. Then you can take care of it with the blade.”
“Recco. Get back,” Daide yelled.
Juan waited for a split second. As soon as he had a clean shot, he aimed right between the Vamp’s eyes and fired. The blast made his ears hurt worse, but all the target practice he’d done in case a tour group was attacked by a polar bear finally found a practical use. He’d have chuckled, but he was too busy making certain the Vamp didn’t rise from the surf washing over its limp form.
The other Vamp turned tail and tried to run, but proximity to water stymied his efforts. Since he was on a roll, Juan fired again. The back of the Vampire’s skull blew away, turning into a cascade of bone, black blood, and grisly bits of flesh. The thing crumpled to its knees and pitched facedown into the frozen dirt.
Viktor limped forward, blade ready for action. The Vamp still in the water roared and shot to his feet. Ichor streamed down his face, coating everything with stinking black fluid. It rushed Viktor, but he stood his ground and swung the blade. Medieval iron sliced through bone and sinew with a ripping, tearing sound, and the Vamp’s head rolled into the ocean. He was still screeching when his headless body toppled into the water. God only knew how.
Daide dropped the head and ran to the last Vamp who lay groaning on the ground twenty feet away. When he got close, he fired a shot directly into its back at heart level. The silver-and iron-laced bullet formed the same expanding, fire-rimmed hole it had in the other two he’d shot.
Viktor bent forward and cleaned black blood off the blade with seawater.
Juan had covered half the distance to Viktor after the Vamp leapt to its feet. He ran the rest of the way to his friend and looped an arm around his back. “Lean on me, amigo.”
“Thanks. Don’t mind if I do. Ankle hurts like a bitch.” Viktor shot a pained glance at Juan out of eyes the shade of raw emeralds.
The wolf loped past them to where Juan had dropped Recco’s clothes. The air developed a familiar glistening aspect, and Recco took shape, naked, shivering, and hauling on clothes as fast as he could sort through the pile.
“I’d have helped you,” Daide said.
“By the time you figured out what was what, I’d have succumbed to hypothermia. Nice trophy.” Recco pointed at the head and sat on the frozen dirt. He dragged on socks and boots, pulling his waterproof pants down over the tops of them. Rolling to his feet, he grinned. “I admit I had my doubts when my wolf said we were shifting, but it must be a seer like Ketha. It was fun to fight in my bondmate’s body.”
“Maybe the seer part is a wolf trait.” Daide grinned back. “My bond animal forgave me. I’m so grateful and relieved, I could kiss it.”
“There you are!” Ketha called, and footsteps pounded toward them. She launched herself at Viktor, and he yelped. “What? You’re hurt. Where? Let Karin take a peek.”
“Fine. I’m fine. It’s only my ankle. It can wait until we’re back aboard Arkady. Don’t fuss over me. Look over where Daide is. He got you something to give all your new lab equipment some exercise.”
“Oooh.” Ketha let go of Viktor and trotted to where Daide stood, the head once again dangling from his closed fist. “It’s not every day a girl gets a dead Vampire head. Thank you.”
Daide mock bowed. “Any time, ma’am. Service is my middle name.”
Ketha burst out laughing and mock slugged him in the shoulder.
The women formed a circle around them, questions flying fast and furious.
Juan held up a hand. “We can trade war stories once we’re back on the ship. The unnatural cold receded, but it’s still damned chilly. Don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m up for a hot shower, hot coffee, whiskey, and dinner. Not necessarily in that order.”
Aura walked to Juan’s side. “The Vamps?”
“Well and truly dead. All five of them.”
“I’m glad.” Her nostrils flared. “As soon as we obliterated the gateway, we came as fast as we could.” She pressed her mouth into a tight line. “If we’d been on top of things, we’d have closed the portal when we were here earlier. None of us thought of it.”
Before he could say something soothing, she hurried on. “We’ve grown soft. Our ancestors never would have made such a stupid mistake.”
He muffled a snort but didn’t mute quite all of it.
“I didn’t mean to be funny.” She screwed her mouth into a disapproving moue.
“Your ancestors—mine too—made a whole lot of mistakes. People didn’t live very long a few hundred years back. Except Vampires, maybe, and they don’t count.”
“Oho! If Raphael could only hear you now.” Aura rolled her eyes.
Juan took her arm and followed the others making their way back to where they’d beached the rafts. “If he could, he’d know his indoctrination failed miserably.” Juan shook his head. “The only question I have is why anyone would welcome the transition to Vampire.”
“Two potent reasons. The alternative is death. Plus, some people get off on power.”
“Sure. I get it. Neither Vik nor I were strong enough to resist, but that was then. Knowing what we do now, I’m positive we’d choose death over being turned.”
“What was different inside you after you fed from Raph?”
Juan thought about her question. “I was tet
hered to Raphael. I felt the bond or the link here.” He patted his belly. “At first, it nagged and burned. After a while, it settled out, but I never escaped from feeling him inside me. It disgusted me, but I couldn’t do anything about it.”
Outraged yells came from the beach where they’d left the rafts. Juan broke into a run; Aura paced him. When they got there, Daide was slogging through the surf, hauling the anchor rope of one of the rafts. The other one bobbed twenty-five yards out.
“It’s okay,” Juan told Aura. “We’ll use this one to round up the other raft.”
“Someone didn’t plan on us leaving.” Her voice held a deadly edge. “Probably one of the demonic host.”
“My take too, since the Vamps came from the opposite direction and wouldn’t willingly approach water. It appears the anchor rope for the one Daide has tangled in underwater wreckage close to shore. Lucky for us.”
“No shit. Otherwise, it would have been an unpleasant swim.”
He swung toward her and held her face between his hands for several moments. “The important part, Aura, is they didn’t win. Whether it was demons or Vampires, they didn’t succeed. Not this time.”
“Not ever,” she ground out.
Viktor piled into the raft and fired the engine. “Come on, mate.” He gestured at Daide. “Get in and at least pour the seawater out of your boots. Wool socks and neoprene mean you won’t get frostbite. Seven more of you get in too. Once we reach the other raft, I’ll bring it back to pick everyone else up.”
Juan helped Aura into the raft with Viktor and Daide, and then he jumped in and made his way to where Viktor sat on a pontoon in the stern. “I’ll take care of the other raft.”
“But—”
“Uh-uh. See you back on Arkady. Let Karin fix your ankle.”
Karin, Tessa, and Ketha joined them, and they motored to where the other Zodiac bobbed on the surf. The sea had settled since their inward journey, and Juan bounded into the empty raft, hauling the anchor rope after him. The engine sputtered and then caught, and he headed back to pick up the small group remaining on shore.
He’d never view Grytviken in quite the same way after today. It was far more than a sleepy, deserted whaling station and Shackleton’s final resting place. Juan made a wry face. Shackleton had always been one of his heroes, and now he’d had a chance to prove his own mettle.
Not that his years at sea hadn’t been a testing ground, but the stakes had grown much higher since the Cataclysm ran their other ship aground. The idea of earning his own chops was heady, and he turned his attention inward to his mountain cat.
“We’ve got this,” he told his bond animal.
“If you master your magic, we’ve got this,” his cat corrected him. “You made me a promise.”
“It’s one I intend to keep.” Juan tossed the anchor rope to Recco and waited while everyone climbed into the raft.
“Last train tonight,” he joked once they were underway.
He got a few smiles, but no one laughed.
“It’s all right,” Recco said. “No need to coddle us. It’s not like we coughed up fifty thousand bucks for an Antarctic tour.”
Juan’s expression turned sober. “Old habits do die hard, and entertaining passengers is a comfort zone for me. Be sure to kick my ass if I sound too cheerful.”
Zoe snorted. “Sure and I’m an expert at it. Mostly I’ve kicked my own, but I’m more than willing to practice on someone else.”
“You’re on.” Juan swung the raft around to line it up with the gangway. He was cold and weary, and he stank of Vampire, but they’d won. It was all that mattered.
“We won today’s battle.” His cat’s tone was solemn. “The war has just begun.”
Juan wanted to pin his bondmate down, ask it to clarify what it meant, but he didn’t have the energy. Clearing his mind of everything, he tied the raft to two cleats and steadied it while everyone filed up the gangway.
Chapter Thirteen: Love’s not on the Menu
Aura stood in the shower in her cabin and let hot water pummel her. She didn’t realize how chilled down she’d gotten until the pins-and-needles sensation of blood returning to her frozen toes and fingers made them ache all over again. She could have stood there until the water turned cold—if it ever did. The ship was fully self-contained with generators and desalinization backup in case they ran their fresh water tanks dry.
It was easier to let her thoughts drift than to relive the last few hours. She’d never spent any time on ocean-going vessels before, and the fact Arkady could sail from the tip of South America all the way to shipyards in Germany without stopping to refuel or resupply surprised her. The ship truly had everything needed not only to survive, but to be reasonably comfortable.
She flipped the taps off and reached outside the soaking shower curtain to snag a towel. Midway through combing out her hair, a knock sounded on her door.
“Yes?” Aura called, expecting one of the women.
“We have an early dinner underway,” Juan called through the door. “I’m letting everyone know. Dining room in half an hour.”
She set the comb down and slid a robe around herself, belting it securely. Each of the cabins had come with two thick robes made of white terrycloth with the ship’s logo embroidered over a chest pocket. They’d been full of dust, but a tour through the ship’s laundry made them good as new.
Without digging too deeply into her motivations, Aura crossed the cabin and pulled her door open. “Do you have a minute?”
Uncertainty crossed his defined cheekbones and squared-off chin, but then he smiled. “Sure. You were my last stop.” Wet, blond hair had been combed back from his high forehead, and it began to curl where it streamed down his shoulders. Black stretchy pants hung off his slim hips, and a long-sleeved green shirt was topped by a black down vest. He still wore his knee-high Wellington boots.
She moved over and gestured him inside. “Take the chair,” she said and perched on the edge of one of two bunks. “How come you always wear those boots?”
Juan shrugged. “They’re warm and comfortable, but practical too. I never know when I might have to launch a raft or take part in a rescue. This way, all I have to do is layer my insulated jacket and waterproofs over what I have on.”
“Kind of like a uniform, where you always dress the same?”
“Exactly. My working garb for shipboard life. Between Arkady and Gavrill, I lived on a boat 90 percent of the time—before my stint as a Vampire in Ushuaia.” He moved to the chair and sank into it. “Nice to be clean,” he said, “although when I breathe deep, I still smell Vampire.”
“Might be from the head Daide rounded up for Ketha.”
“Nah. It’s from being drenched in Vampire blood. About the head, though. I’m glad Viktor remembered because it was the last thing on my mind. I’m interested to see what differences Ketha finds between its DNA and mine—or one of the other men’s.”
Aura closed her teeth over her lower lip, thinking. Retreating to academic mode, she said, “Too many variables.”
“What do you mean?” Juan latched onto her face with his warm hazel eyes. Damn but he was a striking man.
“A huge unknown is what changes Vamp DNA experiences when those fuckers sink into stasis. It would be a miracle if Ketha could to do a direct compare and contrast. She’ll have your DNA—except none of you are Vampires anymore—and DNA from Vamps that haven’t had anything to eat for years. I walked over and examined that one in the shallows...”
She swallowed back revulsion. “The skin was sloughing off its bones. How the hell could something so decomposed still be alive in any form?”
“I wondered the same thing, but they weren’t just alive. They were still sly, capable of reasoning.” The smile faded from Juan’s face. “Maybe Ketha will have some way of teasing out which alterations came from stasis.”
“Maybe so. She was a talented researcher. She’s modest, but she had more invitations to speak at conferences than she had time to a
ttend them all. Her first love was teaching, and she was determined to not end up in a lab full-time.”
“How about you?” Juan asked.
“How about me, what?”
“Were you more of a researcher, or did you enjoy your students? I know you’re a historian, but what era did you specialize in?” He narrowed his eyes slightly. “Before you answer me, was there a reason you asked me if I had time to talk?”
Heat rose from the open neck of her robe and suffused her cheeks. Too late to send magic to defuse her blush. “No special reason. I enjoy talking with you.”
He dragged the chair next to the bed and dropped a hand onto her thigh. “I like talking with you too.”
His nearness skewered her with desire, and heat from his fingers traveled up her leg. Her belly tightened with awareness of how much she wanted to drag him onto the narrow bunk with her.
“Now there’s a good idea.” Her cat’s voice was droll—and totally unexpected. It had never had boo to say about the occasional lover she took into her bed back in Wyoming.
Juan stroked her leg through her robe. Wherever he touched, his fingers ignited desire and need. Before it took over and turned her into a puddle of mush, she slithered out from beneath his hand.
“Did I do something wrong?” He laced his fingers together in his lap but didn’t move his chair back to its spot next to the small desk.
She licked suddenly dry lips. “No. Not at all. I, um— That is, you...” She hooded her eyes. With him this close, she couldn’t think straight.
“It’s all right. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. I still want to hear more about you and history and teaching and research, but I need to get moving. Recco and Daide were working on dinner, and I promised I’d help.”
Disappointment vied with relief. If he left, she wouldn’t have to figure out what to do about an overwhelming urge to fasten her mouth over his. “I’ll throw on some clothes and meet you in the galley.”
“Great. We can always use extra labor—and opinions.” He stood. “See you down there soon.” His tone was casual, lacking the intensity that had marked his earlier words.