by Ann Gimpel
Ketha straightened her spine and looked from him to Juan. “Does that mean you’ll let me leave? And not tell Raphael you found me? If not”—she skinned her lips back from her teeth—“my wolf stands ready, and we won’t give up without a fight.” The air around her shimmered with power, and a low, ominous growl rose from her throat.
“What it means,” Viktor said reining in his churning emotions, “is we need to talk. If you still want to leave after that, neither of us will try to stop you.”
He stared at the charged air, electric with promise. If he looked from a certain angle, the outline of a snarling wolf flashed in and out of view. An irrational urge to coax the wolf into the open and bury his hands in its fur rocked him to his core. He wanted the woman standing proud before him, wanted all of her with a single-mindedness that consumed him.
Viktor dragged a lungful of air deep, following it with two more to center himself and quell longing that would only get in the way. “We need to talk,” he repeated, gratified she hadn’t shut him out or told him to forget he’d ever met her.
Chapter Eight: No Good Choices
Voices dragged Ketha from sleep right before her Vampire alarm went off, shooting her heart into triple-time rhythm. Somewhere in the mix, her wolf shouted a warning.
Goddamn it.
She shouldn’t have stopped to sleep, but she’d burned through so much magic escaping and warding herself, she hadn’t had a choice. Power levied a price. If she didn’t respect it, she would’ve fallen on her face without enough magic left to light a candle, much less create an invisibility illusion.
Viktor raced up the stairs and reached for her with Juan right behind him. Fear overshadowed need, and Ketha shrank away from his touch. Backed against the wall, she shuffled through options, desperate for clues that would ensure her survival.
“I’m here,” the wolf spoke up. “Ready to shift.”
“It’s all right,” she reassured her bondmate. “Maybe, but not yet.”
At least it was Viktor and Juan who’d found her. Not Raphael and the two goons he’d had with him earlier. She sucked in air to steady herself and clear her mind, still fuzzy from sleep. It couldn’t be a good thing the Vamps were here. Surely their presence was far more than coincidence.
“You must have been hunting for me.” Ketha set a truth spell, wanting to make certain they didn’t mislead her.
Viktor nodded. “Raphael hates to be outfoxed. Juan and I volunteered to look for you.”
“Where are the others?” Juan asked.
Ketha narrowed her eyes. He couldn’t be asking about Vampires. “If you’re referring to my sisters, why should I tell you?”
“Because your options aren’t great right now,” Viktor replied. “Neither are theirs. We need to plan our next steps, but it’s too open here.”
“Well it sure as hell isn’t safe in my old home. You went there first, right? You tracked me, so you must have.”
“We did.” Juan trained his gaze on Viktor. “You know these tunnels better than me. Where can we take her and not run the risk of discovery?”
The corners of Viktor’s mouth twisted downward. “Arkady is our best bet.”
“Who’s that?” Ketha’s suspicions flared. “The fewer who know you found me, the better.”
“Arkady isn’t a person. It’s my ship. The one that wasn’t wrecked during the Cataclysm. It’s sitting in dry dock adjacent to the harbor.”
Juan scrunched his forehead in thought and finally shrugged. “I don’t have much in the way of bearings down here. How far is it?”
“Maybe half a mile.”
“Can we stay in the tunnels?” Ketha asked, still not sure she could trust the two Vamps.
“We can,” Viktor assured her.
Ketha closed her teeth over her lower lip, considering the ramifications of Viktor’s ship. “Why is Arkady safe, and what are the odds of running into other Vampires down here?”
“It’s safe because no one knows about it. Beyond that, Vamps hate water,” Juan answered. “It reduces their speed and other abilities. Even though Arkady isn’t exactly in the water, it’s close enough to discourage them.”
“Does that apply to the old ones?” Ketha asked.
“It’s worse for them than us,” Viktor said. “To address your second question, I’ve never run into anyone down here before, but I bet Raphael’s sicced his entire force on you by now.”
“How many Vampires are there?” Ketha inhaled shakily, not sure she really wanted to know.
“Something over a hundred. We’ve never run a census, so I don’t have an exact figure,” Juan replied.
“What happens if I say no?” Ketha edged toward her pack and slipped it over her shoulders. Leaving the bedding was a bad idea since it smelled like her, so she pushed everything down the stairs and barked a few words in Gaelic. The worn comforter and pillow burst into flames. She added to her spell, instructing it to burn fast and obliterate any trace of her remaining in the ashes.
Viktor hadn’t approached her since he’d held out his arms when he and Juan first found her. Ketha craved the comfort he offered, but anything that sidetracked her from staying alive wasn’t wise. He was a beautiful man. Too bad she hadn’t met him when he was still human.
“This ship,” she said. “The one Vamps don’t know about. How big is it?”
“It’ll hold sixty-plus passengers and twenty-five crew,” Viktor rattled off without stopping to think about it.
Breath whooshed from her. “Must be huge.”
“I’m guessing you’ve never been at sea. As ocean-going vessels go, Arkady is on the smaller side.” Viktor motioned her back down the stairs and took off at a fast clip in the general direction of the docks.
“I did plenty of sailing as a girl, but it was on lakes. That’s likely not the same thing.”
“The Southern Ocean is rough,” Juan cut in. “Viktor owned two converted Russian research vessels with ice-strengthened hulls. Before the Cataclysm, laws governed which types of ships could sail in this region.”
“Why’d you want to know how big the ship was?” Viktor asked.
Ketha aimed for nonchalance and muttered, “No particular reason.” In truth, she’d thought it might make a perfect hideout for the Shifters, but she’d be damned if she’d reveal their location until she was positive they weren’t walking into a trap. For all she knew, Viktor could be employing Vampire charm and coercion to lull her into a false sense of security.
“Of course you had a reason. You don’t trust me, and I don’t blame you. If our situations were reversed, I’d have a healthy dose of skepticism too.” Viktor placed a hand beneath her elbow and turned her down a side corridor. “Not much farther.”
Juan came to a halt a few feet ahead. Without turning, he slashed a hand downward, behind his back.
Ketha draped an invisibility spell around herself, blending into one of many stairwells dotting the passageway. So long as she didn’t move, she should be safe from discovery. Thank the goddess, Vamp magic was so primitive.
Viktor chugged around her and joined Juan. The two chatted about the jaguar they’d dressed out the previous night.
“Awesome! More hands, eyes, and fangs. You must be hunting that Houdini Shifter too. Have you found anything?” An unfamiliar voice rang from the corridor ahead.
“Nope,” Viktor called back. “You?”
“If you ask me, this ain’t nothing but a fucking wild goose chase,” another voice cut in.
“Don’t complain, dude,” the first voice muttered. “At least it got us away from Raphael for a while.”
“Shit,” Juan said. “Hasn’t that old fucker settled down yet?”
“No.” Voice Two sounded weary—and annoyed. Ketha resisted the temptation to peek into his head. She needed to keep all of herself, magic included, safe within her spell.
“How many of us are hunting?” Viktor’s tone was casual, but he was definitely trolling for information that might help them.
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br /> “Everyone who’s not asleep,” the first voice answered.
“Speaking of which, we’d best get back at it.” Voice Two made an audible sniffing noise. “I do smell Shifters down here.”
“That’s because we stumbled on their lair down thataway.” Juan made a grunting sound. “Looks like they left in a hell of a hurry. Didn’t leave much but a pile of smoking ashes.”
“Food?” Voice One asked hopefully.
“We didn’t stick around long enough to check, but help yourselves,” Viktor replied.
“Who else is down here?” Juan asked.
“We thought it was just us,” the second voice said. “Most of the others don’t much like these old sewers. They still smell like crap.”
“We wouldn’t be here,” Voice One chimed in, “but Raph was insistent. Leave no stone unturned and all that happy horseshit.”
“Well you can join the hunt topside once you’ve checked out the Shifters’ place,” Viktor suggested, a smidge of Vampire compulsion hiding beneath his words. “We were pretty thorough, and we’re damn near done here.”
“Hey! Great news!” Laughter was followed by, “Topside, eh? Once a sailor, always a sailor.” Ketha heard hands slapping together and the heavy tread of two sets of boots racing past where she’d hidden herself. Vamps might not be stealthy, but damn they were fast.
She waited through a count of fifty before she crept out of her alcove, but she didn’t drop her invisibility illusion. “I know you can hear me this way.” She spoke telepathically into Viktor’s mind. “You won’t see me or sense me, but I’ll be right behind you.”
After a hesitation, garbled words slapped into her head.
“Slow down,” she instructed. “Visualize the words as if they were written on a blackboard, and then push them my way.”
His next effort was much better. “How will I know if you get into trouble?”
“Because I’ll squeal like a stuck pig. Hurry.”
The next span of time blurred past. Maintaining her spell and running as fast as she could to keep up with the Vamps took everything she had. The heavy pack didn’t help, but she couldn’t very well ask one of the men to carry it. Her spell book reeked of Shifter magic. Maybe she could find a safe spot on the ship to leave her things.
Her suspicions about Viktor’s motives receded, but only a little. He’d lied to protect her back there. And done what he could to gain information that would help them. Did he have some ulterior motive? If so, what was it?
Her mental process stuttered to a halt. Were she and the two Vamps becoming a them in her mind? Ketha instructed herself to keep her guard firmly in place. She’d had a definite fall from grace when she threw herself into Viktor’s arms in her cell. She’d have to exercise care it didn’t happen again.
Not until I know a whole lot more.
Maybe not even then.
Juan and Viktor took a sharp right and started up a ladder. Must mean they were at least close to this ship of his. An inconsistency rattled around in her mind, finally taking form. Viktor had said his ship was in dry dock, which meant it might not be anywhere near the ocean. Juan’s explanation about why Vamps avoided it had been lame. How could they not know about something that big? A sinking feeling tightened her gut into an uncomfortable lump.
Was he leading her into a trap?
Maybe she’d do well to fade back into the corridor and do the best she could on her own. Ketha stopped climbing and gripped the ladder’s rungs, undecided.
“Where are you?” formed in her mind. “We’re here, but I can’t see you.” Viktor’s mind voice sounded worried, but maybe that was part of his game to snare her somewhere escape wasn’t possible. Then they’d drain her and pick her bones clean...
Ketha shook her head hard to dislodge the disquieting image. Fear left a metallic taste in the back of her mouth as she battled a desire to run as far and as fast as she could from Viktor and Juan. What she’d do after that wasn’t clear, but safety wasn’t measured in days right now. She’d take all the minutes she could collect and spin them into hours. Days would follow—if she were very fortunate.
“It’s all right,” the wolf spoke slowly, “if they were bad men, I’d know.”
Ketha wanted to believe her bondmate, but apprehension kept her rooted in place.
“Damn it.” Viktor’s voice was low. “How could we have lost her?”
“Maybe we moved too fast,” Juan replied. “Let’s go back and make sure she didn’t miss that last turn to climb into the dry dock building.”
“Crap. We’re safe for now. We need to be aboard Arkady, not out here talking, but we can’t leave her out there. Not with a hundred Vamps breathing down her ass. She has to sleep sometime, and then they’ll find her. Exactly like we did.”
Truth pinged off his words. He hadn’t said he wouldn’t hurt her, but she was vulnerable by herself—for exactly the reason he’d stated. The Shifters had posted sentries for years. One woman and her bond animal watched over her sisters, ready to alert them if a threat presented itself.
But that had been when the threat level was manageable. Ketha didn’t feel right foisting her current peril off onto anyone. Hell, it wasn’t right to compromise Viktor or Juan, but they’d involved themselves.
Yeah, and they did it for me.
The revelation broke through her ambivalence, and she dragged herself up the last twenty rungs, coming out into an enormous warehouse. Juan and Viktor were heading right for her at a trot, so she let go of her illusion.
“There you are.” Viktor feinted sideways so he wouldn’t run into her. Relief thrummed beneath his words, and it reassured her she’d made the right choice—at least for now.
“I’ll close things up.” Juan kicked a heavy metal round over the opening she’d climbed through.
Ketha gazed around the interior of a staunch concrete and metal structure, kindling her mage light to see better. Viktor blinked, looking away from her light, and she recalled Vampires’ supernatural sensory abilities. He could see fine without extra illumination. The sound of waves crashing against walls meant the structure was partially underwater.
“See?” Her wolf was back. “This will be fine. You should trust me.”
Ketha sent warm, wordless thoughts inward. Maybe what Viktor and Juan had said about why Vamps avoided this ship wasn’t as spurious as it had sounded.
Dead center in a ramp-like affair sat a ship, rising so far above them, she couldn’t see the top. A long, low whistle escaped her. “However did you get it in here?”
“Ships float into dry dock,” Juan replied. “A set of pumps pushes water back into the ocean and exposes the hull for repairs.”
She strode closer to the ship, examining a hull that extended well above her head. “The pumps can’t still be functional. There’s so little electricity. Why isn’t this platform flooded with seawater?”
“The building is watertight and was well constructed. The pumps were converted to run on wind power before the Cataclysm,” Viktor explained. “Normally, Arkady would’ve been in Germany when the Cataclysm hit, but a hole in its hull had to be repaired before it was seaworthy enough to cross the Atlantic. That’s the only reason it ended up here. Come this way.” He beckoned and walked toward the rear of the ship where a rope ladder led upward.
“Germany, huh? Is that where you’re from? You have a bare hint of an accent.”
He nodded and tugged on her pack. “Indeed it is, but I haven’t been back for more than a handful of days at a time in years. Obviously, not at all since the Cataclysm. Let me have your backpack.”
Ketha unbuckled the pack’s waist belt, handing it over. Light flashed from the pack once Viktor slung it across a shoulder.
“What the hell was that?” Juan demanded.
Ketha snorted. “My spell book is in there. It doesn’t care much for Vampires, or any magic-wielders other than me.”
“A book made that light?” Juan raised his eyebrows into question marks.
/> “Yup.” Ketha patted the rucksack. She had no idea what the ancient tome would do next and reached for the pack, ready to take it back.
“Apparently, it’s sentient.” Viktor sounded amused and gestured for Ketha to start up the ladder leading into his ship. “Maybe if the book senses it’s following you, it won’t turn me into a rock.”
Ketha grasped the ropes trailing down the ship’s side and began to climb. She wasn’t certain her spell book had the ability to do much of anything without her guiding its efforts, but anything was possible. She clambered over a slotted railing and onto a green-painted concrete deck, waiting until Viktor and Juan joined her. Without pausing, the men ran across the deck and through a door at its far end.
She followed them into the ship and up several flights of steep, narrow stairs into a well-appointed cabin on the top deck. Inlaid with dark, polished wood, the space held a bed, shelves, a desk, and a welter of electronics that might have been navigational equipment. Everything in the cabin shone. The absence of dust said Viktor visited here often.
“This was yours.” Ketha trained her gaze on him.
He nodded, looking pleased. “It was. Juan was my chief navigator and radioman. His cabin is across the hall.”
“It’s lovely and well-kept,” she said, selecting her words with care, “but surely you gave up returning to the sea after the Cataclysm. Did the hull ever get repaired?”
“Yeah, all the patchwork was done months before the Cataclysm, but we were in the Arctic with Gavrill, our other ship. In terms of leaving, Viktor would float this baby out of here if he thought he could split the barrier,” Juan replied.
“That’s a huge if,” Viktor said. “As things stand, the magic would twist Arkady around and spit her out, like it did with Gavrill. I still have no idea how we made it across the mountains and into Ushuaia. It’s almost as if the barrier was still establishing itself those first few days. If it was anything like it is now, we’d all have died—”