Twisted: Bitter Harvest, Book Two

by Ann Gimpel

  After a brief tap on her door, it opened, and Ketha stood framed in the doorway. “Mind if I come in?” A black wool top covered her to hip level, and a pair of thick navy sweats clung to her legs.

  Aura crooked two fingers her way. “Not at all. I was finishing up memorializing how the fourth unfinished prophecy turned out. Guess there are only six unfinished ones left now.”

  “Maybe. Others might have rolled through to their conclusions over the decade we’ve been out of touch with the rest of the world.”

  Ketha shut the door behind her and crossed the room to perch on the bunk that ran beneath the cabin’s porthole. She splayed her fingers in front of her, and a thin line formed between her eyebrows. “By the way, congratulations.”

  “On what?” Aura cast a sidelong glance Ketha’s way.

  “Juan. What else? You two are so well matched, it’s positively inspiring.”

  “Hang onto the congrats until he and I have a wee bit more than a couple of days under our belts.”

  “Nah. It’ll stick. He told Viktor you were the only woman for him.” Ketha made a snorting sound. “Juan must have been as big a womanizer as Vik. From the stories I’ve heard, it’s hard to tell whether those two were running a polar cruise line or a dating service.”

  Aura snickered. “Ashley Madison á la shipboard romance?”

  “Wasn’t that the online service encouraging married people to cheat on their spouses?” Ketha asked.

  “Yup.” Rather than twisting like a pretzel in her chair, Aura turned it to face the other woman. “Asking me about Juan isn’t why you’re here. What is? Everything all right between you and Viktor?”

  Ketha scraped her golden gaze up off the floor and skewered Aura with it. “Vik and I are fine. I wish everything else was so easy. We’ll sight land again soon. I felt blindsided by how bad things were in Grytviken, so I got out my glass. Sort of as an exercise, so we could be better prepared.”

  Aura propped an elbow on the arm of her chair and settled her chin into an open hand. “And?” she prodded.

  Breath whistled through Ketha’s teeth. “Aw geez. Where do I begin?”

  “If it’s going to be that bad, maybe we don’t want to stop there.” Aura hunted through her memory. “South Shetland Islands, wasn’t it?”

  “Our destination is a Polish research station. Arctowski. It’s on King George Island at the northeast end of the South Shetlands.”

  Aura grabbed a fresh sheet of paper and sketched out the map as she remembered it. “Was it here?” She turned the page so Ketha could see it.

  “More or less. Anyway, the geography isn’t important.”

  Aura dragged her chair close enough to touch Ketha’s knee. “What’d you see, sweetie? And what did Viktor say?”

  Ketha screwed her face into a grimace. “Haven’t told him yet. I might be overreacting. My visions aren’t always exact depictions of the future, plus I’m still spun out over how fast things spiraled out of control in Grytviken. I keep dreaming we missed a spot, and the gateway didn’t close like we believed.”

  “Do you really think demons took over after we left?”

  “I have no idea what my dreams signify.” Ketha turned her hands palms up. “Maybe nothing at all beyond my own paranoia. I haven’t wanted to move the lens closer. It’s not as if we’re going back there.”

  “We might someday. You haven’t told me very much yet. Only that you’re worried.”

  “Let me start at the beginning. Hang onto your questions until I’m done.” Ketha drew her scrying tool from a deep pocket. Oblong glass, it was about eight inches across and framed with antique metal. Placing a palm over its surface, she shut her eyes, murmuring, “The glass will keep me on track.”

  Aura waited. She cleared her mind so no negativity would intrude on Ketha’s concentration.

  “We dropped anchor in a bay, protected like the one at Grytviken. A long, low row of bright-yellow structures was scattered along the shore, and an old lighthouse sat atop a point. I was encouraged nothing like the Cataclysm stood in our way.” She exhaled noisily. “Guess I’ve been expecting to run into a malevolent barrier ever since we left Ushuaia.”

  Aura laid a hand over Ketha’s to encourage her to go on. The glass rippled beneath their fingers, but Aura didn’t try to see anything. The mirror probably wouldn’t reveal images to anyone but its owner.

  “We dropped the gangway,” Ketha went on. “Launched rafts. By the time we were headed to shore, about twenty people piled out of the yellow boxcar things.”

  “People? Not Vampires or Shifters?” Aura snapped her mouth shut. She wasn’t supposed to ask questions. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. Shocked me too. It’s not as if we didn’t leave humans in Ushuaia, but I wasn’t expecting anyone, let alone a crowd.” Ketha shook her head. “They were happy, smiling. Delighted to see us. After we greeted each other on the shoreline, they invited us in and fed us tea and dried meat. Not much. They were apologetic, said they were rationing everything. They’d managed to kill seals and seabirds. Without them, they’d have starved.”

  Ketha opened troubled eyes, pinched at their corners, and focused on Aura. “All of a sudden, this dark cloud descended and settled over everybody. No one seemed to notice it. People went right on chattering away, sharing their stories. At first, I thought it was an artifact—leftover negative vibes from goddess only knew where—but the black part grew denser, heavier. I couldn’t make excuses for it, and it threatened horrible consequences if we didn’t get out of there.”

  “Well? What happened, then?” Aura asked after Ketha fell silent for several moments.

  “My vision shattered. Happens sometimes when whatever powers them believes I’ve seen enough to shape a decision.”

  “Mmph. Are you certain nothing magical lurked in the shadows? Maybe Vamps who had those humans in thrall or something?”

  “Yeah. I’m at least half-certain. It was one of the first things I hunted for when I culled back through the sending.”

  “Is it bad enough we shouldn’t land there?” Aura regarded her friend.

  “I wish I knew. I don’t want to overreact, or we’ll end up at sea forever. Probably every potential port will have something wrong with it—if I examine it through my third eye.”

  “Yes, but you don’t want to underreact, either. You have to tell everyone what you told me. We’ll kick it around and decide what to do.”

  “There’s another argument for landing there,” Ketha said. “If those are truly humans, they can provide me with comparative tissue and serum markers. It might make interpreting what I found with the Vampire head easier.”

  Aura made a face. “Ewww. I suppose you still have it.”

  “You bet. In a deepfreeze, which is why it’s not stinking up the ship.”

  “What did you discover so far?”

  Ketha shrugged. “None of the men have biologic markers I found in the Vampires—”

  Aura sat straighter. “Back up. Are the men all the same? Within the parameters you’d apply to any two samples from the same species.”

  “I don’t think so, but Karin disagrees.” The words were flat, uncompromising.

  “Any idea why you’re looking at the same data but drawing different conclusions?”

  “No to that question as well. No matter how I argue it, Karin’s not as convinced as I am.”

  “About what?”

  “She believes our findings are probably an artifact of normal intraspecies variation.”

  “Maybe she’s right. It’s not as if the four men aboard are anywhere close to normal. Changing from human to Vamp to Shifter must have altered a whole lot. Beyond that, Recco and Daide have indigenous genetic material. Juan is probably descended from the Spaniards who settled in South America. Viktor is from Germany.”

  “I understand those things.” Ketha tucked her legs beneath her. “We’re starting with three distinct genetic patterns. Each of them probably reacted differently to their stint as V
ampires. And then, each heeded the call from a different type of bond animal when they became Shifters.”

  Aura laced her fingers together. “Exactly. Not a bad guess for a historian. Never have mucked around in a lab with dead things—”

  “You make it sound so attractive.” Ketha sent a pointed look skittering Aura’s way.

  “Call a spade a spade, I always say. Where I was going with my line of logic was you have too many uncontrolled variables to float any conclusions that mean zip squat.”

  Ketha made a sour face. “Same thing Karin said.”

  “See? There you have it. Two against one. What precisely were you hoping to pin down?”

  “I had three questions,” Ketha replied, back in researcher mode. “The first was whether Vampirism left lasting changes. The second was if the Shifter adaptations were an overlay or if they wiped out anything Vampirism might have left.”

  “You said three.”

  “Um, yeah.” Ketha raked a hand through her hair. “I wanted to know if having once been a Vampire, the men would be more susceptible to being turned a second time.”

  Understanding filled Aura. “You’re worried about Viktor.”

  “Of course. Why wouldn’t you have the same fears about Juan?” Ketha’s tone was brittle, defensive.

  Aura chewed on her lower lip. “Probably because I don’t believe you’ll find what you’re hunting for in a laboratory. The choice to drink from a Vampire who’s just finished draining you is psychological. Juan told me he’d die before he’d let another Vampire turn him. He meant it. He had no idea how bad it would be.”

  “Viktor’s said the same thing, but how much choice did they truly have?”

  “Let’s hope we never find out. Ketha.”

  “What?” The wolf Shifter met Aura’s direct stare.

  “The lab is your comfort zone. Sharing your life with a man isn’t. Believe me, I’ve been grappling with the same fears. Sometimes I want Juan more than I can fathom, more than I want to breathe, but the next moment I’m so full of anxiety and what-ifs, I want to run the other way.”

  Ketha blew out a breath, and then one more. “I suppose you’re right. And I’m not certain how we got so far afield. I need to alert everyone not to let their guard down when we land at the research station. Hey!” Her eyes lit up. “Maybe they’ll have some of the chemicals and other materials I’m missing.”

  “And maybe they’ll volunteer samples for your agar plates or petri dishes or whatever you’ve got cooking in that lab of yours.”

  “You could visit.” Ketha got to her feet.

  “No thanks. I avoided the hard sciences for a reason.”

  Ketha quirked a brow. “Yeah, because you suck at math.”

  “Go ahead. Blow my cover.” Aura laughed.

  The public-address system crackled. “Land ho,” Viktor cried.

  “Seals and albatrosses off the bow,” Juan added, sounding happy and excited.

  “Son of a bitch!” Viktor was back. “There are people here.”

  “Come on.” Aura hopped out of her chair. “They’ll need help setting the anchor.”

  Ketha stood, but her face wore a troubled expression. “We shouldn’t be here until tomorrow,” she muttered. “Not according to my glass.”

  Aura gave her friend a quick hug. “Maybe the rest of your vision wasn’t quite right, either.”

  “If I understood where my visions originated, I’d have a better answer for you.” Ketha jerked her chin toward the door. “We may as well head up to the bridge. I’ll know once I get a peek outside if it’s the same place.”

  “Try my porthole.”

  “I already did. It faces out to sea.”

  Aura grabbed a jacket from off a hook next to the door and stuffed her feet into the knee-high waterproof boots she’d appropriated from the ship’s stock.

  “Good idea.” Ketha glanced at her slippers. “I’ll layer up and meet you on the bridge.”

  Aura latched curved fingers around Ketha’s arm. “I know it goes against the grain, but try not to worry. We’ve made it this far. Maybe the goddess wants us to be out here. Earth isn’t going to repair itself.”

  “Ain’t it the truth. Thanks for the pep talk. The part about relationships was right on. My chronic independence is nipping at my heels. Viktor is the best man in the world. Sweet and kind and strong.” A soft smile spread across Ketha’s face. “But I still have this bitchy voice predicting gloom and doom and reminding me I never needed anyone before.”

  “Tell it to pound sand.”

  Ketha grinned and pulled the door open. Aura followed her through and climbed the three decks to the bridge. Everyone but her and Ketha was already there staring through the windows at a scene right out of Ketha’s vision. The lighthouse sat off to one side, and a collection of yellow prefab buildings dotted the beach.

  “Look!” Rowana pointed. “People. Just like Viktor said.”

  “Wonder if they’re human?” Recco yanked on one of two doors leading to the open deck beyond the bridge and stood staring at the small settlement.

  Juan moved to her side. His face had lit with pleasure when she walked onto the bridge. “Did you finish your work memorializing the fourth prophecy?”

  “Yes.” She wanted to talk about Ketha’s concerns, but it wasn’t her place.

  Something in her voice must have alerted Juan because he leaned closer. “Is something wrong?” His deep voice was full of concern.

  “Um, maybe. Wait until Ketha gets here. This one’s her baby.”

  “So long as you’re all right.” Juan settled a protective hand over hers. Firm, warm, solid. She could get used to him fussing over her.

  “Hey! They’re on their way out to us.” Zoe slapped the glass. A single, patched Zodiac with four people aboard was indeed motoring across the cove.

  Ketha swarmed into the bridge and loped to where Zoe stood next to the windows. “I don’t get it,” she said. “This has to be the right place. How many spots have yellow buildings and a lighthouse? But them coming aboard wasn’t in my vision.”

  Viktor frowned. “Vision? What vision?” he demanded. “Hurry. No time for titrated versions. They’ll be at the gangway very soon.”

  “They met us on the beach,” Ketha replied.

  “Who are they?” Rowana narrowed her dark eyes to slits.

  “Humans, I think.”

  “What’s the problem with that?” Daide asked.

  “Aye, so long as they’re not Vampires, we should be fine,” Zoe said.

  Ketha turned to face everyone. “I’ll be brief. I scryed the future and saw this place. We went ashore. Everything seemed fine for a while, but then darkness closed in, and my vision broke into pieces.”

  “Which means what?” Viktor’s question had sharp edges.

  “I don’t know,” Ketha answered. She squared her shoulders. “I need samples from them—assuming they’re human and not being driven by something we don’t yet know about.”

  “Do Vampires keep minions they haven’t turned?” Aura glanced from Juan to Viktor to Daide. Recco was still outside or she’d have included him in her query.

  “I don’t think so,” Juan said. “At least Raphael sure didn’t operate that way. There were humans he turned into food, humans he turned into new Vamps, and prisoners while he made up his mind which we’d end up.”

  “I know those things,” Aura said. “But was his practice widespread or unique to his need to control everything?”

  “Vampires eat, spit, shit, and breathe control.” Juan twisted his mouth into a scowl.

  “People.” Viktor raised his voice. “We don’t have time for this. I’m going outside to greet those folk as ship’s captain and see what they want. Unless they give me a very good reason not to, I’ll lower the gangway.”

  “We’ll all go,” Juan said. “I’ll be there as soon as I’ve dropped anchor.”

  Aura ran out of the bridge and caught up with him. “Need help?”

  “No, b
ut your company is always welcome.” He hurried toward the broad foredeck and the anchor apparatus. “Did Ketha see anything she didn’t tell us about?”

  “No. Not really. This might be fine. Maybe we have to go ashore to activate whatever spurs the darkness she sensed. Or maybe it wasn’t real at all.”

  “Darkness, eh?” Juan held a door open for her and trotted to the anchor housing, fiddling with controls. The screech of heavy chain grinding against itself pounded against her ears. “What? Like demons again?”

  “Doesn’t work that way.” Aura shouted to make herself heard.

  “There. Done here.” Juan looped a hand beneath her arm and drew her a few feet away from the noisy, clanking chain. “Doesn’t work what way?”

  “Ketha was worried because of our experience in Grytviken, so when she went into her vision state, she was already somewhat on edge. It may have colored what she found. Although, she did describe this settlement to a T. I’m not sure about anything, other than we should watch ourselves.”

  “What precisely are we watching for?” His expression grew worried, and he frowned. “Maybe you should stay in your cabin.”

  Aura wrapped her arms around him. “Don’t go all Neanderthal on me. If something turns to shit, we’re stronger with all our magic front and center. Plus, why would you think I’d be comfortable sending you out to face danger without me?”

  He grinned crookedly; it added a boyish allure to his defined cheekbones and squared-off chin. “I don’t get to play Sir Galahad?”

  “He went out with the Middle Ages. Come on. I want to meet whoever was so excited—or appalled—by our arrival they felt the need to seize the initiative and motor out to meet us.”

  “I bet we’re the very first ship they’ve seen since the Cataclysm hit,” Juan muttered. “That alone would get anyone moving.”

  Aura followed Juan around the corner and down the walkway running beneath Deck Three’s cabins. Her porthole was the one on the far end. Juan had a cool head, and he projected quiet strength. It was hard to believe anything bad could happen with him standing by, but that was a dangerous road. He’d been suckered by a Master Vampire. All the men had, which meant they were far from invincible.