He whistled, and Catheryn looked at him. They smiled at each other. She stood up and dusted the sand off her legs as she wandered over to help hold a plank tight while he secured it. They worked together in companionable silence for a few minutes before Rainier finally spoke.
“So, ever made love in the sand before?” he asked.
She blushed. “No. I think I’ll be digging sand out of my nether regions for weeks.”
They both laughed. Rainier was surprised at how easily they talked and worked together. There was no awkwardness like what he usually experienced with lovers the hours after.
“I know you feel like you have to go back,” he finally said. The smile ran away from her face. “But you do have a choice. You don’t have to go.”
“Are you serious?” she asked. “You think we can just stay here on this island for the rest of our lives? What would that look like?”
“Well, I have a few ideas,” he said. “First, we need to keep exploring. There is no telling what useful items we might find. It’s possible other people have been stranded here before and left things behind. We will probably find more washed up items as well. But with these tools, I can start fashioning a shelter, once the boat is done.”
“What kind of shelter?” she asked. “Some palm fronds draped over sticks?”
“I was thinking something more like a log cabin, but made out of palm trees,” he said. “You saw the types of homes the people had built in that village we attacked. They actually aren’t that difficult to construct with the right tools and the right know-how.”
“And you have the right know-how?” She crossed her arms and smirked.
“You know the great thing about a new relationship is that everything about me is new and surprising again,” he said. “I get to impress you with all the things I know how to do. I can regale you with stories my crew had heard a hundred times. Not to mention you might find all my jokes funny.”
“I’ve never heard you tell a joke,” she said. “Tell me one. Make me laugh.”
Rainier screwed up his face as he thought. “Why does it take a pirate so long to learn the alphabet?”
“I don’t know,” Catheryn said. “Why does it take so long for a pirate to learn the alphabet?”
“Because they can spend years at C.”
Catheryn stared at him a moment before she finally threw her head back and laughed. It was a melodic tinkling sound. Rainier chuckled, relieved she found his joke funny, and kept working.
“That was really terrible,” she finally said.
“Well, there’s a million more where that came from,” he replied. “I can’t wait to tell you all of them.”
“A million, huh?” she asked of no one in particular. “So, this is it, you think? This is what you want? Fix this fishing boat, build a little house, then just live happily ever after?”
Rainier nodded. “It’s not too bad of a dream, is it?”
“Is it what you really want?” she asked. “I seem to recall you telling me about how happy you were at sea.”
“That’s a fair question,” he said. “I lived my whole life at sea. I never imagined there was any other way to live. At least, not until you came along.”
Their eyes met. How he longed to know what she was thinking in that moment. Her face softened, and he thought he saw tears well up. A surge of warmth welled up in his chest. He put his tools down, walked over to her, and held her in his arms while she squeezed him tightly.
“I release you,” he whispered.
She pulled back a bit and looked him in the eyes. “What?”
“I release you,” he repeated. “You are no longer my slave, my devotee. I know it might not mean much out here.” He waved his arm toward the long and empty beach. “But I want you to stay. And I want you to want to stay. I want to know you are choosing to be here with me.”
Catheryn stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him, gently yet eagerly. “Thank you for that,” she said. “That means more to me than you know.” She stepped away from him and pulled the straps of her dress over her shoulders. The dress slid down her body, leaving her naked on the beach.
“This is the first time in longer than I can remember that I am a free woman,” she said. “This is the first decision I’ve made that is completely unencumbered by the fact that someone else owns me.”
“And what decision is that?” he asked, feeling his manhood grow hard.
She opened her arms to him. “Let’s make love in the ocean.”
She didn’t have to tell him twice. He quickly threw off his clothes and together they ran into the warm surf. The sun was setting now, giving off an orange glow. They held hands as they walked out into the water deep enough that it came to Rainier’s chest. She wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. He entered her quickly and easily. With every thrust, her full breasts bounced in and out of the water. They were mesmerizing as Rainier watched. Catheryn tossed her head back, and her dark tresses floated freely on top of the water. He watched her face as she climaxed, the way her mouth opened wide in pleasure. He held her tightly as he spilled into her, and he didn’t want to let her go.
He carried her back to land and together they laid in the sand to dry, and there they stayed, watching as the stars appear.
As they snuggled, Rainier felt a wave of exhaustion crash over him. He knew what it meant. It had been too long since he last fed. The plantains would not sustain him. Even though he worried that feeding off Catheryn was causing his vampire powers to fade, he was still vampire, and he had to drink at least some human blood to survive. If he didn’t, he would slip into a torpor state and eventually die. He hated that he had to ask to feed off her after they had connected in such a way, a new way of trust, love, and respect, but he had no choice.
“Catheryn,” he said softly.
“Hmm?”
“I…I need to feed,” he said. “I hate to admit it, but I do.”
Catheryn didn’t move or say anything for a moment, and for a second he feared she would refuse. After all, as a free woman, she could say no.
“Do you really think my blood is causing you to lose your vampire powers?” she asked.
“I can’t think of any other explanation,” he said. “I didn’t have any of these symptoms—these changes—until I started feeding from you.”
“Could you really live like that?” she asked. “You have already given up on being a pirate. Could you give up on being a vampire, too?”
“I…I don’t know,” he said. “I hadn’t really thought about it. So much has happened lately, and I’ve been spending so much time thinking about the changes you are going through, I hadn’t considered the changes I was facing…”
No longer be a vampire? Was it even possible? Being a vampire was who he was. It wasn’t just a life he chose. There was no “cure,” and he never had imagined there needed to be one. Being a vampire wasn’t an illness, no matter what the witches or humans thought. He knew that feeding off Catheryn was weakening him, but actually turning him…what? Human? Impossible! If he went back to feeding on normal humans, his vampire strength would return, he was sure of it.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m sure my strength will return at some point. Eventually another ship will come by or some poor soul will wash up on the shore. If I can drink pure human blood again, I am sure that someday my full vampire powers will return. I just need to drink from you for now, to get me by.”
Catheryn seemed to hesitate. He wasn’t sure why, but he was afraid to ask. He didn’t think he would like the answer. If she didn’t want him to return to being a vampire, could they really be together? If she couldn’t love him as a vampire, could he love her if he was human?
That was a possibility he didn’t want to face.
He had a feeling she didn’t either because she didn’t ask him anything further. She simply nodded and turned her head away, exposing her neck.
He leaned over her and kissed her neck gently. He caressed
her body and felt her arousal grow again. As her heart rate increased, he could see the pulse beat more strongly, more quickly. He licked his lips, and then his fangs descended as he went in for the bite.
Catheryn gasped and gripped him tightly. Her blood spurted into his mouth, and he drank it eagerly. She wrapped her leg around him, holding him closer, and she moaned. He gripped the back of her head as he sucked deeply from her. God, she tasted so good.
A light flashed. He looked up. Standing before him was the Hoodoo Queen. She was on the porch of the Hoodoo House. She was giving orders to people. As he looked around, he saw his crewmates in chains. The witches were herding them toward the slave quarters behind the house. Rainier got up and ran to them.
“Men!” he cried out. “What is going on? Why aren’t you fighting back?”
But they didn’t answer. It was as if they couldn’t see him. He reached out and shook one of them by the shoulder, but he didn’t respond. It was only then that he realized he was having another vision. But this seemed so much more real, more concrete. As if it was really happening.
He ran up the line of shackled men to the slave quarters. From inside, he heard screaming, and then silence. One after another, a man was led through the doors and never seen again. Rainier ran back down the line and realized that there were too many people. These weren’t only his crewmen who were being killed. There were many humans chained along with them, and vampires he didn’t know.
He ran back to the front of the house. The Hoodoo Queen was surrounded by her acolytes.
“Soon, my darlings. Soon NOLA will be cleansed. There is no need or place for humans in this perfect world. They exist only to feed the vampires, and vampires only to feed from humans. We have no need of either. No human or vampire will find safety or succor here in my Division. There will be only witch-kind here. Then finally we will be able to repair this broken world. We will unite the Divisions. We will fix what the vampires shattered.”
“No!” Rainier said. “I will stop you. I will make sure you pay for this wickedness you have wrought.”
The queen laughed. “You? Who are you? You are nothing. Just a weak vampire without a ship. Just stay on your pathetic island, alone. No one will miss you, and no one will weep for you when you are dead.”
“You are not as powerful as you think,” he said. “Catheryn is stronger. You are afraid of her power. She will stop you.”
The Hoodoo Queen narrowed her eyes at him. “Where are you?” she asked. “I can see the trees, the water, the little boat. I know you are marooned. But where?” She reached out a hand toward him, and black shadows seemed to reach from her fingertips toward him. “I see you,” she whispered harshly. “I will find you… Eventually, Rainier Dulocke, I will find you, and I will kill you.”
Chapter 21
Catheryn laid in the sand, watching the stars and listening to the surf as she held Rainier in her arms. He had passed out once again, but she was growing used to it. Hopefully he would be stronger when he woke and have a clear head so they could decide the way forward together.
Had she really just made love to a vampire? Twice? In all her days, she never imagined she would end up in the arms of a vampire. Did she really want to stay here with him?
Yes. She did want to stay and build a little house and go fishing and climb trees and live a simple life with him. But…
But what she wanted to do and what she needed to do were two different things. Ever since Rainier took her from the Hoodoo House, her world had changed. Nothing was simply coincidence. The visions she and Rainier had been having were more than just dreams. The vision of her sister—it had to be more than just the addles of a drowning brain.
The prospect of a simple life with Rainier was beautiful, but she knew her powers had to mean more than that. She was the last pure blood hoodoo witch. She couldn’t let her powers go to waste on catching fish and cracking coconuts.
But was she really the last hoodoo witch? If her powers manifested late in life, maybe Eva’s did, too. Maybe that was how Eva had managed to reach out to her.
Catheryn’s heart beat fast. It had been so long since she had seen her sister, that she had given up hope of ever seeing her again. But as she thought about how she could use her powers to find her sister, tears came to her eyes. The Hoodoo Queen had reached out to Catheryn and talked to her through the mirror. Eva had called to her when she was in the sea. It had to be possible for Catheryn to reach out as well. She needed to call out to Eva. They needed to find each other…
“Ahhh!” Rainier gasped and coughed as he sat up, thumping his chest.
“Are you all right?” Catheryn asked, propping herself up on her elbows.
Rainier looked at her, his eyes wide and his face paler than usual. “Sure. Sure. I’m fine.”
He stumbled down to the water and splashed his face.
Catheryn followed him. “Are you sure?”.
He washed up a bit more and then nodded his head. “Yeah. I’m fine. I’m fine.”
Catheryn crossed her arms. He was obviously not fine. When he drank from her in the past, he had visions. He must have had another one—one that upset him greatly.
When she didn’t say anything, he finally glanced up at her.
“What?” he asked.
“I’m just giving you time to process whatever you saw before you tell me,” she said.
“I didn’t see anything,” he said. “Just, you know, your blood always leaves me feeling…weird.”
“Usually because you have a vision,” Catheryn said. “Tell me.”
“Look, it’s nothing,” he said again, more firmly this time. He stood up and turned away from her, heading back toward the boat.
Catheryn’s heart sped faster. “Don’t lie to me, Rainier,” she said. “We are supposed to be in this together. I can’t trust you if you won’t tell me the truth.”
“Will you stay?” he asked, turning back to her.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Will you stay with me, here on the island, if I tell you?”
Catheryn’s hands dropped to her side. “I can’t promise that. I don’t know what you saw.”
“Then I’m not going to tell you,” he said.
Catheryn felt a strength burst forth from her chest. He was not going to keep secrets from her and try to control her. She stomped forward and grabbed his shoulder. She turned him around and pushed him up against the boat with a preternatural strength beyond what he possessed in his weakened state.
“Tell me!” she said firmly. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll leave anyway because I’ll not stay with someone who would keep secrets to try and manipulate me.”
“Fine!” Rainier yelled.
She let him go, and he straightened his coat.
“Fine. You want to know?” he asked, his glare hitting her own gaze with the sharpness of a dagger. “That bitch queen is rounding up anyone in NOLA who isn’t a witch and is killing them.”
Catheryn reeled back and put her hands to her mouth.
“The vampires and the humans,” he said. “She’s going to kill them all. She called it a great cleansing.”
“No,” Catheryn said. “We have to go back. We have to stop her.”
“Why?” Rainier asked. “How? You can’t control your powers. Your blood has left me a shell of the vampire I once was. What have the people of NOLA ever done for us? Stay here, Catheryn. Stay. We can live in peace here.”
“Peace?” Catheryn asked. “You could live in peace knowing what is happening not far from here? Knowing that thousands of people are being exterminated? Besides, after she is done cleansing the mainland, what is to stop her from coming to the islands? To keep her from coming after us? We can stop her before it’s too late. While there are still people to save.”
Rainier shook his head, and a bitter smile overtook his features. “Yeah, we should have known better than to even pretend we could have a future together.”
“What’s that supposed to m
ean?” Catheryn asked, trying to steel herself against his cutting words.
“You’re a witch. I’m a vampire. We can’t be together,” he said. “I can’t turn you into a vampire. Witches can’t be turned. And I’m still a vampire, even if I am weak. I can feel it in the deepest parts of me. I am vampire.”
“We were still witch and vampire when we were talking about forever,” Catheryn said. “That hasn’t changed.”
“We were just being stupid. Foolish. We can’t ignore our basic instincts.”
“We can still be together,” Catheryn said. “Come with me back to NOLA. Fight with me. If we win, if we stop her, then we can come back here and live in peace.”
“That will never happen,” Rainier said.
“Why not?”
“Mainly because we won’t win,” he said. “You have these innate powers, but they are still new, still raw, still untrained. She might have learned her craft, but she has honed it well. And she has the most powerful, most well-trained coven in the Division. You can’t fight all of them. If we go back, we will die.”
Catheryn let out an exasperated sigh. “Where is this coming from?” she asked. “Why are you so defeated?”
“I’m just a realist,” he said. “It is something you learn as captain. When to take risks and when to fall back. I’m telling you, as a strategist, you need to pull back.”
“I can’t do that,” she said. “So come up with a new strategy.”
Rainier laughed. “It doesn’t work like that,” he said. “When the odds are against you, there’s no point to it.”
“Then stay,” she said. “Build your little hut and catch your little fish and just stay here. I’ll go alone.”
Rainier gripped her wrist. “And you wonder why I didn’t want to free you. It’s been barely an hour, and already you are running off.”
“Why shouldn’t I?” Catheryn asked, her glare dropping to his hand.
“Because…because I love you.” They both stood in silence for a moment. His grip on her wrist loosened, and then he let her go.
Pirate's Curse: Division 1: The Berkano Vampire Collection Page 14