We both halted, and turned around.
The vampire had lifted his head up from George’s neck, his mouth stained with blood, his black pupils trained on us. From his smooth skin and lanky frame, I surmised that he must have once been a boyish young man like George, full of life. Any trace of humanity had long gone. He bared his teeth, revealing front incisors that were elongated into sharp fangs. He slowly rose to his full height, like a cobra poising for a fatal strike.
Paralyzing fear held me rigid as his black eyes met ours, darkly similar to Lucy’s. Abe moved into a defensive stance, stepping in front of me as he took out his knife.
“Mina, run,” he whispered, his focus trained on the vampire.
“I’m not leaving you,” I protested, stepping out from behind him and moving into a defensive stance of my own as I clutched my kukri.
There was no time to for him to protest. Instead, we kept our eyes on the vampire as he began to stalk towards us, his movements oddly controlled and civilized for a creature who had just feasted on blood. His eyes swept from Abe towards me, and I detected an eagerness in the soulless depths of his eyes; a look of unbridled anticipation and bloodlust. I had to force myself to remain stock still as he drew near.
As he came within striking distance, Abe and I lifted our weapons, but before we could strike, a knife sailed past us and lodged itself directly in the vampire’s heart.
The vampire stiffened, his black eyes shifting back to a very human shade of brown, looking down at the knife now embedded in his chest before he sank to his knees and slumped to the floor.
Stunned, we whirled around. A man stood on the ladder behind us, his eyes locked on the vampire’s now still form. He was tall and broad shouldered, with light cinnamon skin that indicated both Turkish and European ancestry. With his black hair and silver eyes, he had the look of an avenging angel.
“You need to get off this ship,” he said curtly, his English perfect and bearing no trace of an accent. He barely looked at us as he descended the remaining steps. He moved past us to bend down over the dead vampire, yanking the knife out of his chest. “It has been overrun with newborn vampires. There’s a jolly boat on the upper deck. Take it to get off the ship.”
Thunderstruck, Abe and I just stared at him. He referred to vampires as casually as one would refer to the weather. Who was he? And how did he know about vampires?
I studied him closely. There was something familiar about him, though I didn’t recognize him from the shipmates we’d seen so far, and I had no doubt I would have remembered him.
“Leave,” he repeated, straightening to glare at us. “Do you want to get yourselves killed?”
Without waiting for our response, he moved past us to head back up the stairs. We exchanged a bewildered glance, emerging from our shock to dash after him.
“Who are you?” I stammered, as we made our way up the ladder towards the upper deck.
“There’s no time for introductions. You need to get off this ship,” he replied. “Your friends are up on deck as well—take them with you. I’ll distract the monsters.”
He left no time for further questions, hurrying up the remainder of the steps to the deck and leaving us behind.
We scrambled after him, a multitude of questions racing through my mind about his identity, but I pushed them aside. It was best to heed his words and get off this ship. I could find out who he was later.
When we reached the upper deck, we halted. It was as if we had stumbled into a waking nightmare.
The raging storm had turned the late-afternoon sky dark and ominous, and sheets of rain now poured down onto the chaotic scene. Dozens of transformed shipmates swarmed the deck, their eyes black and fangs elongated as they attacked and feasted on the surviving human shipmates. I watched in dazed fright as two newborn vampires crouched over a dying and bleeding shipmate, eagerly feasting from his throat. Another vampire leapt onto a shipmate as he tried to flee, tearing into his chest with his fangs. On the opposite side of the deck, several terrified shipmates leapt overboard before they could be attacked by a pursuing vampire.
Amidst the chaos, I could see Seward on the far side of the deck by the railing, protectively standing in front of a terrified Captain Harper and several shipmates, warding off any approaching vampires by firing his revolver into their hearts. All around him, other shipmates tried in vain to fight off the attacking vampires with knives, their cries of terror rising above the furious staccato pounding of raindrops on the deck.
As Abe and I stood there rooted to the spot in horror, two vampires charged towards us from the center of the deck. At the sight of them, we were pulled from our shock, and once again Abe moved to stand protectively in front of me.
The mysterious man who had rescued us on the lower deck darted out from behind us, moving in front of their eye line and directing their attention towards him. He turned and raced towards the ship’s mast, leading them away from us.
We raced towards Seward, slashing our weapons at any vampires who lunged towards us as we ran. We quickly reached Seward’s side, moving into defensive stances to continue warding off any approaching vampires.
“We need to leave!” I shouted, slashing wildly at the throat of a vampire as he lunged towards me. “Where’s Arthur? Lucy?!”
“I don’t know! And I don’t know how much longer we can hold these bloody things off!” Seward shouted, firing his revolver at another charging vampire.
I looked around and spotted Lucy and Arthur standing by the main hatch. Even through the heavy rain, I could see that Lucy was fully vampire now, her pale skin pulled even more tautly over her bones, her black eyes intense as she focused on Arthur. He stood opposite her, looking as entranced as Jonathan had before he was abducted at the Langham.
“Jack, take Mina and the others to the jolly boat!” Abe shouted, following my gaze towards Arthur and Lucy. “I am going to get Arthur!”
“Abe, no!” I cried, but he had already left our defensive perimeter, and raced through the swarm of clashing human and vampire bodies towards Arthur and Lucy.
Ignoring Seward’s shout of warning, I charged after him. A vampire launched himself at me as I ran, knocking me down and pinning me to the deck. He reared down towards my throat, his teeth bared, but I managed to evade him, turning my head away as I acted on pure instinct and lodged my kukri into the side his neck. Dark crimson spurted from the wound, and he stiffened as I yanked the blade out of his neck before sinking it directly into his heart.
I had never killed before, and the dark pleasure I felt at the act shocked me as the vampire went still and lifeless.
I shoved him off of me, stumbling back to my feet and dashing towards Abe, who now stood feet away from Arthur.
“Arthur!” Abe shouted, as I reached his side. “She is not your Lucy! We must go!”
I looked around the deck. Seward was holding off the remaining vampires with his revolver, but they were now focused on the other surviving humans. It was only a matter of time before they turned their attention on us.
“Arthur!” I shouted. “Please! We don’t have much time!”
Arthur stood transfixed, his eyes focused on the creature who had once been his wife.
“Arthur, my husband. Help me.”
Though Lucy spoke softly, her words somehow carried over the din of the storm and the chaos that surrounded us. Her eyes had turned brown once more, and she was looking at him with seemingly genuine helplessness. “I don’t know what is happening to me. Please, my husband. Come. Help me.”
Somehow I knew that this was a trick. Lucy was gone; the monster had taken over.
“Arthur, no!” Abe and I cried in unison, as Arthur stepped closer towards her.
Abe started forward to stop him, but Lucy turned towards us, and we were instantly put under paralysis. Forced into stillness, we could only watch helplessly as Arthur continued towards her.
Once he reached her, she wound her long pale fingers in his tawny hair, pulling him towards
her. I couldn’t bear to watch his inevitable death at her hands, but the paralysis prevented me from closing my eyes, and I was forced to watch as their lips met in a deeply sensual kiss.
As they kissed, I saw Arthur’s hand subtly drift to his back pocket, and he pulled out a large knife that rested there; I recognized it as one of Abe’s.
It happened quickly. He yanked the knife upwards before sinking it into her heart. Her eyes widened, and for a brief moment she looked human again. I saw a flicker of love and gratitude in her eyes before they fluttered shut, and she slumped to the deck, still in Arthur’s arms.
Abe and I were instantly released from our paralysis. We stumbled forward as Arthur held her close, his eyes wet with tears.
“Forgive me, my angel,” Arthur whispered rawly, rocking her in his arms. “My Lucy. May God forgive me.”
“We have to leave! Now!” Seward cried.
Abe and I turned. The rain had tapered off to a drizzle, and Seward limped towards us. He was supporting a weakened Captain Harper, who bled from an open wound on the side of his throat. The other shipmates Seward had guarded lay dead behind them, and the deck was now still and silent, littered with the dead bodies of both humans and vampires. There was no sign of the mysterious man who had helped us.
“I won’t make it,” Captain Harper gasped, stumbling to his knees as they reached us. “Take this. It’s my observations of odd events on the ship. It may help you.”
“We’re not leaving you,” Seward said, taking the journal as he reached out to steady him.
Captain Harper waved away his help, remaining on his knees, and taking in uneven breaths of air.
“I’ll not leave my ship,” he said, meeting our eyes. “There may be more of those monsters aboard. You should leave. Quickly.”
We hesitated, but the captain’s look broached no argument. Arthur got to his feet, still holding Lucy in his arms.
“Arthur—” Abe protested.
“I will not leave my wife’s body behind. I want to bury her myself,” Arthur whispered brokenly. Without waiting for a reply, he moved away from us, towards the jolly boat on the opposite side of the deck.
I took one last look at Captain Harper as we trailed behind Arthur. He had moved into a sitting position, his eyes drooping, his breathing short and uneven. His gaze trailed over the bodies strewn across the deck before focusing on the surrounding sea, where it remained until his eyes shut for the final time, and he went completely still before slumping over onto his side.
There was no time to mourn for the kind captain we had known so briefly. As soon as we reached the jolly boat, which hung on the side of the ship by davits, we heard savage snarls behind us.
We whirled. Several vampires had emerged from the far side of the lower deck, standing by the companionway, their hungry eyes centered on us.
“I can hold them off,” Arthur said, stepping forward to deposit Lucy’s body into a stunned Seward’s arms. “Leave.”
“Arthur, wait—” Abe protested.
“Leave!” Arthur repeated, already moving away from us, using his knife to cut a jagged wound into his wrist. At the sight of the fresh blood that spilled from the wound, the vampires immediately set their sights on him.
Ignoring our cries of protest, Arthur raced towards the rear of the ship, and the vampires gave chase.
“The fool!” Abe cried, his voice trembling with despair.
“He’s made up his mind,” I said, grabbing Abe’s arm. “We have to go!”
After a brief moment of hesitation, Abe turned and pushed me into the boat, while Seward placed Lucy’s body in the center. They both began to lower it into the sea by the attached ropes, their muscles straining with effort. Once it hit the sea, they climbed down the ropes and clamored into the boat, carefully unhooking it from the Demeter.
“Wait,” Abe said anxiously, once we were all settled into the boat and Seward reached for the oars.
He was looking up at the ship for any sign of Arthur. We waited for several fraught moments, until both Arthur and the man who had rescued us appeared at the ship’s edge.
My relief was short-lived when I saw Arthur’s physical state. While the mysterious man appeared to be unharmed, though his shirt and skin was splattered with blood, Arthur looked frighteningly pale, bleeding heavily from bite wounds on his neck and shoulders, as well as the cut on his arm.
“Throw him down!” Abe cried, and with surprising strength, the man shouldered Arthur’s weight, pushing him over the side. Abe barely managed to catch Arthur, crumbling beneath his weight before lowering him gently to his back in the center of the boat next to Lucy. The man remained where he was on the ship’s edge, looking hesitant to join us.
“Come with us!” I shouted. “Quickly!”
But the words had barely left my lips when a vampire appeared behind him, yanking him back on to the ship with ferocious strength.
A second vampire perched himself on the edge of the ship, his hungry black eyes trained on Arthur and his bleeding wounds. Seward began to row away from the ship, but the vampire still eyed us, and I realized his intent with growing apprehension.
The vampire angled his body, preparing to leap off the ship and onto our boat. Seward was rowing quickly, but I knew we wouldn’t get away in time—the vampire was only seconds away from leaping onto our boat.
I reached out to yank Abe’s knife from his pocket and scrambled to my feet, struggling to maintain my balance in the rocking boat. I carefully angled the knife, and as the vampire leapt, I hurled it in his direction with all my might.
The knife sailed through the air to lodge into his throat, and the vampire stiffened before dropping into the sea with a splatter.
I remained standing, reaching for the kukri tucked into my sleeve should the vampire resurface, but I could vaguely see the still form of the creature through the murky waters as he sank to the bottom of the sea. The tension in my body dissipated, and I closed my eyes.
Once my breathing returned to normal, I sat back down. Seward gave me a grateful and impressed nod as he continued to row, while Abe desperately tried to stop Arthur’s bleeding.
Arthur was deathly pale now, his breathing ragged. Abe looked up to meet my eyes, and I could tell by his troubled features that it was too late. Arthur would not survive.
“We’ll soon be at shore,” Seward said, as if reading our minds. “We’ll get you help, Arthur.”
“Abraham. Mina,” Arthur rasped, focusing his pained eyes on us.
We leaned in close. Though he was clearly in great agony, a calm had settled over his face, and he reached a hand out towards Lucy’s still body, weakly entwining his fingers through hers.
“We’re almost at shore,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady as I gave him a forced smile. “We’re going to get you—”
“Listen to me,” Arthur interrupted, holding our gazes. “You find Jonathan. Do not let him suffer the same fate as my Lucy. You— you must find this creature. This monster,” he coughed, and even through his weakness and pain, I could sense his rage. “And you destroy him.”
“We will destroy him together,” Abe said, but his voice quivered, his eyes glistening with tears.
Arthur’s gaze remained intently on ours, waiting for a response. I reached out to take his other hand, giving it a firm squeeze.
“We will,” I said fervently. “I promise.”
Those seemed to be the words he needed to hear to let go. The light went out in his eyes, and they permanently drifted shut.
13
Adrift
Our boat drifted further and further away from the Demeter. Rain no longer fell from the sky, and the fading rays of the sun painted the previously gray sky with shades of deep blue and violet. The stunning beauty of the waning day was a stark contrast to the horrors we’d just witnessed, as if nature itself wanted to wipe away the memory of those monstrosities.
I sat huddled next to Abe, my gaze sweeping from the Demeter to both Arthur and Lucy’s d
ead bodies, which lay in the center of the boat. They both looked peaceful and serene, forever linked by death.
Abe was still as a statue, his eyes red with tears as he looked down at his friend’s body. Seward continued to row, his eyes averted from Arthur and Lucy, his mouth set in a grim line.
“This . . . this is my fault,” I said, my voice breaking, as the sting of self-loathing began to stir beneath my grief. “I should not have convinced Arthur to come with us. This—it’s my fight. I can continue on alone.”
“Nonsense. No one is responsible for Arthur’s death except for the creatures who slaughtered him,” Abe bit out harshly. “Arthur insisted on facing them. He had to know he would not survive. It is my belief that he lost the will to live the moment we realized Lucy had been infected. He told me many times that he could not bear to live without her. When a man is determined to die . . . no one can stop him.”
Though I believed Abe’s words, my guilt and grief did not lessen, and I closed my eyes against a fresh wave of tears.
“How’d this happen? How was the ship overrun by those damned creatures? It happened so quickly,” Seward spoke up, rattled. “When I woke up from my nap, Arthur and Lucy weren’t in their cabin. Lucy must’ve gotten free and Arthur went after her. I went up to the deck and those things—they were swarming.”
“The captain did mention ill crew members when we first boarded,” Abe replied. “The shipmates must have already been in the final stages of the transformation—they were most likely infected at the same time.”
“Infected shipmates on a cargo ship that makes regular stops in London? That seems too deliberate to be coincidental,” I said, trying to focus my thoughts as I wiped away my tears.
“I agree,” Abe said, somberly meeting my eyes. “I assume the captain logged every port where the ship has been docked in his journal. It could help us ascertain where the sailors were infected.”
The Beast of London: Book 1 of the Mina Murray series Page 10