“Termites?” she asked.
“Not bloody likely,” Rainier said. “Termites on a pirate ship? Can you imagine? A single hole could sink the whole ship!”
She shrugged. “Must have been loose, then.”
“It’s a load bearing beam!” he said.
She shrugged again, as though she had no idea what he was talking about.
“It…It’s an important beam that is connected to the structure of the whole ship. The mizzen mast is up above it. We won’t be able to sail until it’s fixed. We wouldn’t have been sailing if it had been in need of repair.”
“It must have come loose in the cannon fire,” she suggested.
Rainier stared at her. She was so calm, so collected, considering she had just faced a deadly pirate and nearly been crushed by a beam. They were still under attack as well; the fighting up above still echoed in clangs of metal and cries of falling men above them. Why was she not more concerned?
“Did…did you have anything to do with this?” he asked, pointing his sword to the beam.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Are you…are you a witch? Tell me now.”
“No,” she said. “I’m not a witch. The Hoodoo Queen…”
“Yeah, yeah, the Hoodoo Queen wouldn’t have let you go. But there is…something isn’t right about you.”
She shrugged again. “People have been telling me that my whole life.”
Rainier grabbed her by the wrist and led her over to the ladder that went back to the upper levels. He surveyed the damage as they went. He had lost a few men, but not many, and the cannons had certainly done some damage. They would need to find a port soon in order to make repairs.
He ordered his men to round up the humans and let him know if any of them had been kidnapped or killed or if any escaped. Then Rainier took Catheryn back to the main deck.
By now, the fighting had stopped, and Lacroix’s men had retreated to her ship. He stood at the railing and watched as she pulled away. Rene was watching him as well.
We will meet again, she mouthed.
He was sure they would.
“Captain,” Mathis said as he approached. “Two of the humans were killed in the attack, and it looks like Lacroix’s men were able to steal two more.”
“And then there were four,” he said, shaking his head.
His men would not survive on so few humans for more than a few days. And the poor humans would be sucked dry. There would be no way to preserve them the way he hoped to preserve Catheryn.
Catheryn.
Once the men ran out of their own rations, they would certainly be looking to her. Even though she wouldn’t sustain the lot of them for more than a day, the men would not see reason. Hunger makes monsters of even the most rational of men. To keep her to himself would be seen as selfish, so unlike a leader.
“What are your orders, sir?”
“We can’t head to any of the pirate havens,” Rainier said. “By now, all of them will know about our humans. We will be targets for any crew suffering from a blood shortage.”
“We can head for the shoals near Revenge Bay,” the mate said. “It’s shallow and has lots of trees nearby for timber.”
Rainier nodded. “Make for Revenge Bay.”
“Aye-aye, sir!” Mathis said.
Rainier grabbed Catheryn’s hand and headed back to his quarters. He was quite distraught when he saw the state it was in.
“What the hell happened?” he asked.
“Two pirates were fighting and knocked down the door,” Catheryn explained. “Then one of them came after me, so I took off.”
“Were you injured?” he asked, looking her up and down.
“No,” she said, looking at him as if confused.
Rainier backed off. “Oh, well, good, then.” He wasn’t exactly sure why he was acting so concerned either. But part of him wanted to rip that pirate who had cornered her into bits himself. “I wouldn’t want my supply damaged,” he added quickly, though he knew that wasn’t the real reason for the concern he couldn’t place his finger on.
He sighed to himself, realizing one of the emotions he was feeling right now was one he hadn’t felt in a long time. Perhaps since he was a human.
Jealously.
He was jealous that the stupid beam had robbed him of the chance to protect her, to keep her safe. She was his property. It was his job to make sure no one hurt her.
“As long as you are in my possession,” Rainier said, “I won’t let any harm come to you.”
“Except for the harm you inflict yourself?” she asked. “You know, when you eat me?”
“As I’ve said before, the vampire’s embrace doesn’t have to be painful or deadly. You should let me show you.”
Catheryn recoiled, taking a few steps back. But she was stopped by his large bed.
“I…I’m exhausted from two solid days of fighting and hardly having anything to eat,” he said. “I need to feed.”
He took a few slow steps toward her until he was right in front of her. Her eyes were wide with terror…and something else. He could sense her heart beating rapidly and hear her shallow breaths. She was afraid, yes, but also excited.
He reached up and ran his finger along her cheek. She gasped. She turned her head away, but left her neck completely exposed to him. He could see the warm blood pulsing in her neck. He ran his finger along her neck and thought he heard her release a barely audible moan.
“Do you want me to bite you, Catheryn?” he asked.
She hesitated, but then she nodded.
Rainier lowered his head to her neck, where he gave her a couple of sweet kisses, then a lick, tasting her saltiness. When her breath hitched and a trembled shuddered through her small frame, he finally bit.
She gasped, loudly this time, but not out of pain. Her warm blood gushed into his mouth, and he sucked eagerly, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close to him as he drank from her deeply.
But then, he saw sparks.
As he raised his head, he saw not Catheryn, but the Hoodoo Queen. She and her coven of witches were scouring NOLA for humans, rounding them up and putting them into cages.
Rainier closed his eyes, shaking himself out of the vision. He released Catheryn from the embrace, but she was already asleep. He laid her on the bed and then collapsed beside her.
Chapter 7
Catheryn lay in the bed, staring at the ceiling. She wasn’t tired, but she didn’t feel a pressing need to get out of bed just yet.
When she woke, she was surprised she was laying in the bed and not on her hay bale, but she didn’t think Rainier had violated her. Well, other than drinking her blood. He must have simply been too tired from the fight to move her from the bed to the hay.
He was gone now, and he hadn’t left her any orders, not even to clean his room. Is this what it would be like if she accepted her place with him? The leisurely life of a pirate’s lady? She had been a slave for so long, she was used to being up at dawn and working until late at night, sore and exhausted from the day. She couldn’t remember the last time she woke up and didn’t immediately have to get up and start working.
At least it gave her a few minutes to think. What exactly was happening to her? She expected to feel exhausted after the vampire fed on her, and while she did pass out at first, she now felt…energized. Invigorated. Powerful. As if she could deal with any adversity standing in her path.
Could it be related to Rainier feeding on her? He did mention that after he fed on her he felt weaker when he should feel stronger. While he was sucking her blood, was she sucking his…energy? His life force? His qi?
Whatever it was, she knew her magic was getting stronger as well. She caused that beam to fall. She knew it was no mere accident or coincidence this time. But could she do it again?
She sat up in the bed and looked around the room. It was still in a disaster state, but the door had been repaired at least. Rainier must have ordered it done while she was still slee
ping.
She pointed toward a tipped over chair and willed it to right itself. “Move,” she said.
Nothing happened.
She stood and tried again. “Move, you stupid chair,” she ordered.
The chair sat still.
Catheryn grunted, annoyed. She had definitely caused that beam to fall. And she was certainly feeling stronger. But she seemed to have no control over the power coursing within her.
She didn’t feel as if she was lying when she told Rainier she wasn’t a witch. If she was a witch, she should know. The Hoodoo Queen should have known. She should be able to harness her powers.
That she had magical powers was certain, but what kind of powers exactly, where they came from, and what it meant for her were all questions she still had no answers to. Maybe she was not witch, nor vampire, nor human.
Maybe she was something else entirely.
Catheryn wasn’t going to get any answers hiding out in the captain’s quarters all day. She walked over to the door and looked out the window. Everything seemed back to normal. The sun was shining, and the pirates were going about their work. She turned the handle. To her surprise, it wasn’t locked. She left the safety of the captain’s quarters and walked along the deck.
The pirates paid her little mind as she passed them. They all seemed to have a clear job to do and weren’t staring at her like they were dying for a meal. Most of them ignored her, and the few who did look at her just put their knuckle to their forehead as a polite way to mimic doffing their hat had they had one. A few mumbled “ma’am” or “miss” as she passed. It was as though she was simply a guest.
That won’t last long, she mused to herself. She might not know much about Rainier’s world, but she knew these vampires were hungry and had little food. At some point, might they be hungry enough to turn on Rainier to get to her?
She pushed the thought away. That day was not today, and she hoped to be far away from this ship by time that day came.
She strolled to the railing and stood there, breathing in the salty sea air and soaking in the sun. As she looked out, all she could see was the blue of the ocean. No land, no other ships in sight. The ship gently rocked forward and back. It was so peaceful, she could see why some people were drawn to the sea.
She finally caught sight of Captain Rainier up on the quarterdeck with the helmsman. He caught sight of her as well. Instead of looking angry that she was out of his quarters, he gave a small smile and nod. She climbed the steps up to the helm.
“Morning, captain,” she said politely.
“Miss Catheryn,” he replied. “You look refreshed.”
“I slept like the dead,” she said, then put her hand to her mouth. “Oh, that is…I mean…”
Rainier laughed. “No need to apologize. It’s common to need a good rest after a feeding.”
She blushed, remembering the way he held her in his arms as he fed and the touch of his lips on her neck. Her fingers automatically went to the spot on her neck where he had bitten her, but once again, she felt no wounds.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “A vampire’s bite always heals when we are done. It’s a…survival trick of sorts. Back when vampires were still a secret, we couldn’t leave track marks everywhere or we would have been discovered.”
“Are you that old?” she asked. “Do you remember when the vampires and witches still had to hide themselves?”
He chuckled. “A vampire has to keep some secrets,” he said. “It’s the only mystery we have left.”
She pursed her lips, pondering the answer to her own question. How old was he? How long he had been a vampire? But he was right; she’d be wasting her time to even ask. He wasn’t going to just tell her his life story. But certainly she could get some answers from him, such as how the pirates could be on deck in the sunlight.
“The sun,” she said. “It doesn’t hurt you?”
“It used to,” he said. “According to the oldest vampires, the Berkano, before the Rift, they couldn’t go out in sunlight at all. But after the world changed, the vampires changed, too. Sunlight can be a bit irritating to some, but not really life-threatening.”
“And the crosses?” she asked. “When I held the stakes like a cross, you simply knocked them away. Did that change to?”
He laughed. “I don’t think crosses ever bothered vampires. But it’s a silly enough myth. Why not let people keep thinking it?”
Catheryn couldn’t help but smile at how silly she must have looked trying to ward him off with her sticks. She was lucky to be alive.
“So, where are we heading?” she asked.
“A place called Revenge Bay,” he said. “It’s shallow with lots of trees, so we can make repairs. But we will probably make a stop on the way. There are rumors that a new human village has popped up along the shore nearby. We can hopefully find more food there.”
“Food?” she snapped, her anger returning to her in a flash. “More humans to feed off, you mean.”
“Naturally,” he said. “Well, regular food as well. Nothing beats a good roasted leg of lamb, does it? You enjoy that oatmeal in your belly, yes? And fresh oranges to keep you from getting sick? Where do you think we get that sort of stuff on the high seas?”
“Trading for goods is hardly the same as kidnapping and feeding off human beings,” she said. “It’s perfectly possible to live a life at sea that doesn’t result in stealing and slaughtering innocents.”
“How do you know so much about life as a vampire and a pirate?” he asked. “How much time have you spent as either? How much time have you spent trying to live a life like this and be responsible for more hundreds of people who depend on you?”
Catheryn crossed her arms. “Of course I know nothing about the day to day managerial process of running a vampire pirate ship. But this way of life is cruel. And what’s worse, it’s unsustainable. You said yourself that there are not enough humans to sustain the pirates. The humans are leaving the shores. Their numbers are also dwindling. There has to be better ways of surviving than this. You need the human race to survive. What will you do when they are gone?”
Rainier grunted. “The mighty lion does not concern himself with the worries of the gazelle.”
“He might if there suddenly were no gazelle,” Catheryn responded. “But you are no lion. You are a thinking, reasoning…person.” She had to stop herself from saying human. “You need to consider the future.”
“Thank you for your lecture, Miss Catheryn,” he said. “But I also have to think about the here and now. And now, my men are hungry. Another human died in the night from injuries she received during the fight. I have over a hundred men and only three humans to feed them. It won’t be long before they turn their hungry fangs on you.”
“You stole me and made me your private food bank. Don’t pretend you are planning this raid as some gift for me, as a protection,” she said.
“You might not like it, but that is how it is,” the captain responded. “I am a vampire. I must drink blood to survive. Until you come up with a viable alternative to that fact, I think you should keep your opinions on how vampires survive to yourself.”
Catheryn huffed. She turned on her heels and headed back to his quarters.
She was mad, even if she knew he was right. In fact, they were both right. Vampires needed to feed on humans to survive, but they needed to find a better way for the humans to survive.
She had a feeling Rainier was not an unthinking beast. He knew she was right. But even if she managed to change his mind, there were countless vampires in the world. She couldn’t change the mind of every vampire in the division, or on the planet, anytime soon.
In the meantime, she’d do well to remember what brought her here. Rainier was not a lover. He was her enemy and her captor.
That night, all the lights on the ship were extinguished as it approached the human village. The pirates lowered the lifeboats into the water and silently rowed toward shore.
Catheryn watched from the
deck of the ship. Rainier ordered her to stay put. She thought about screaming or even setting the ship on fire. Anything to alert the village that the pirates were coming. But there were still some vampires on the ship; not many, but a few. Rainier said if she gave them any trouble to cage her below with the others. So for now, she stayed quiet.
It was so dark that the pirates eventually blended into the pitch black, leaving her unable to see them as they approached the shore. But after several minutes, she heard it: the first screams from the village.
In only a moment, the whole village was alert. People and vampires ran along the shore and through the houses.
The few vampires who were still stuck on the ship watched, grinning nearly ear to ear. They seemed to have forgotten their work as they laughed and pointed at the poor victims as they were captured, killed, or eaten as they tried to escape or fight back.
Catheryn was horrified. No matter how charming Rainier could be, he was just another vampire. Another monster. She had to escape. She couldn’t stay here. Rainier and his men had taken all the lifeboats with them to the village and had hidden them in a cove near the village. But the ship wasn’t far from the shore.
“Where you think you’re goin’?” one of her minders asked as she slipped away.
“Just back to my room,” she said. “I can’t watch this.”
The vampires laughed at that, but they didn’t stop her.
She went to her room and grabbed a small bag. She filled with the few foodstuffs she could find—some bread, cheese, oranges—and also grabbed one of the large pieces of splintered wood that was still cluttered around the room. Then she slipped back out of the room and went to the side of the deck away from where the pirates were watching the raid.
She clamored over the side and dropped the wood into the water below before climbing down the rope ladder and placing her pack on the board. Holding onto the board, she lowered herself into the water, then kicked herself toward the shore.
She had to stay out of the line of sight of the pirates on the ship, so she ended up in the woods a bit of a distance from the village. She would have to pass through the village to end up in the cove on the other side where the pirates had docked their lifeboats before attacking the village. She would simply sneak around the village, get to the cove, steal a lifeboat, and row herself to freedom. It was a perfect plan, right?
Pirate's Curse: Division 1: The Berkano Vampire Collection Page 5