Cheng Li enjoyed the pleasing sound of her katanas slicing through Johnny’s blackout blinds and watched as the morning light burst into the cabin.
“No!” Johnny cried once more.
As Cheng Li turned around to witness his imminent destruction, she saw with horror that both her escorts lay on the floor, motionless, blood pooling around them. How on earth had he done that? Evidently, he had a rare gift for killing. But these would be his last kills. He was already trembling as he faced the light, as if he were experiencing a terrible chill—when in fact the complete reverse was true.
“No,” he cried once more, his voice obviously weaker now.
The light seemed to have rooted him to the spot. His eyes were closed, but his face nonetheless expressed the terrible pain he was experiencing. Cheng Li could smell burning. It was not an unfamiliar smell to her these days, but she would never become used to it. Stepping closer, she watched with horrid fascination as the skin on Johnny’s handsome face began to char and blister. She reached out, tentatively, to his bare shoulder and found that his flesh crumbled to ash in her fingertips.
This, she thought, was all part of the mystery—how creatures so strong in darkness could crumble to nothingness when faced with the light. She almost felt sorry for him. Then she reminded herself that he had been instrumental in murdering Molucco and was one of Sidorio and Lola’s most trusted operatives. The blood of countless pirates lay on Johnny’s hands. Cheng Li’s eyes fell to her own two fallen comrades. The Cowboy had certainly wasted no pity on them. Turning her gaze back to the desiccating Vampirate, she pushed aside any instinct of pity. She slipped her katanas back into their sheaths. Folding her arms, she watched Johnny cry out with pain as the light burned deeper into his core.
As the Vampirates claimed another of the pirates and paused to feast on her blood, Connor saw a flash of fear in Moonshine’s eyes.
“Fight on!” Connor cried. “This is your ship we’re fighting for!”
The words were enough to jolt Moonshine back into action. Just then, a greater jolt sent the ship rolling in the ocean. The battle zone was thrown into immediate confusion as the floor rose up by sixty degrees on the starboard side. The confusion intensified as pirates and Vampirates were thrown across the narrow corridor. As they landed and came to their senses, the floor shifted again, but in the other direction. At last, the ship slumped back to where it had started, but the various combatants were now scattered and squaring up to different adversaries. Nevertheless, the Vampirates resumed the fight.
Connor and the pirates knew that the jolt signaled good news. It meant that The Tiger had drawn up alongside them and it wouldn’t be long before reinforcements arrived.
The force of The Tiger ramming into The Diablo threw Cheng Li and Johnny across the cabin and—slam—into each other. Face-to-face, they were both momentarily disoriented. Johnny’s scorched hands locked around Cheng Li’s narrow waist.
She tried to push him away, feeling suffocated by the toxic smell of burning. “Let me go!”
Johnny smiled grimly at her. “If I’m going down in flames, sugar, you’re surely coming with me!”
Although pieces of his charred skin were now floating around the cabin like ticker tape, still his inner strength remained. Cheng Li was unable to break free of his grip. Now, he reached behind her and extricated the katanas from her back. “You won’t be needing these where you’re heading!” he declared as Cheng Li’s trusted weaponry clattered onto the cabin floor.
Cheng Li felt naked and vulnerable without her katanas, but there was nothing she could do. It was as if, close to the edge of destruction, Johnny was possessed with a final surge of strength. She found herself being pushed toward the glass of the vast porthole that, until recently, had been covered with blackout blinds. “No!” she cried out, drawing on all her own strength to defy Johnny. But his strength was far superior despite his injuries, and he succeeded in propelling them both with such force into the cabin window that the glass shattered around them and they fell through the broken porthole. Locked in a deadly embrace, Johnny and Cheng Li tumbled through the morning air and down into the water. He was burning and she was bleeding, and yet the ice-cold water offered neither of them any kind of release.
Connor’s momentary relief at the arrival of The Tiger was short-lived. His vision was blurred. He was seeing double. His first thought was that he must have taken a blow when the two ships had braced against each other. But, as he experienced the most violent headache ever, he realized that he was seeing two places at once, like two pictures overlapping each other—the first this crowded corridor, the second a large cabin on the corridor below.
“Which one?” asked a voice. It took him by surprise as he realized that the voice was his own.
Now, he saw Vampirates on the attack in both rooms.
“Choose, quickly!” the voice said again. His own voice.
“Down,” he answered numbly and, as he said the word, he found that he was already in the downstairs cabin, fending off an attack from two Vampirates. His headache had gone and his zanshin seemed stronger than ever, as he sent the first adversary flying and thrust his sword into the second. The Vampirate crumbled to dust before his eyes.
“Result!” said his own voice. Suddenly, he was back upstairs, in the thick of the corridor battle, dispatching another Vampirate adversary.
Just as suddenly, he was back downstairs, taking on a fresh opponent and calling for reinforcements. As he did so, he was up above, hearing his own voice. How on earth was this happening? He was in two places at once, fighting two battles simultaneously. It was disorienting at first. Both Connors felt queasy. Even to think of himself as “both” made him yet more nauseous. But from somewhere came an iron resolve. Each Connor focused on the battle at hand, and somehow the queasiness gave way to pure adrenaline.
In the upper corridor, Connor was thrilled to see Cate and Jasmine entering the fray, leading the rest of The Tiger’s attack squad. For a time, the battle intensified, but with their new numbers and greater fighting prowess, the pirates once more gained the advantage and claimed the second corridor for their own.
Connor considered racing downstairs but knew his other self was already there, claiming the upper hand in a fresh duel.
“Connor!” Moonshine cried, entering the downstairs room. “How did you get down here so quickly?”
He didn’t answer, too confused and not wanting to lose his concentration now.
With the fresh influx of pirates, the battle was soon contained within the main cabin, and it didn’t take long for the pirates to gain the upper hand here, too. The remaining Vampirates, and they were still numerous, had been pushed to the back end of the ship. Not all of them were armed, and even those that were now recognized the odds were against them.
Connor stood shoulder to shoulder with Cate and Jasmine. Wiping a stray hair from his forehead, he gave the command. “Take them!”
The pirates were poised. But Jasmine raised her hand. “They’re not all armed,” she said. “Shouldn’t we at least offer them clemency?”
Connor shrugged, then turned to Moonshine. “There’s no sign of Cheng Li, and since this is your ship, Captain Wrathe, you better make the call.”
Moonshine assessed the situation. Connor, Jasmine, Cate, Bo Yin, and the others waited on his word.
“Take them!” he cried, raising his own sword aloft.
At this command, the pirates moved in for a coordinated endgame.
But now one of the Vampirates pushed to the front and raised his arm, bearing a handkerchief that was just about recognizable as white, though somewhat bloodied.
“Cate! Mistress Cate!” he cried out. “We surrender.”
“Wait!” Cate called out. She stepped forward, curious to know who had addressed her.
“Who are you?” She beckoned the Vampirate forward.
“Don’t you remember me, Mistress Cate? I served under Captain Wrathe, and latterly your good self, for many a year.
”
Cate stared at the Vampirate for a time then clicked her fingers. “Antonio?”
The man nodded, smiling suddenly and revealing two oversize canines. “That’s right, Antonio.” He stretched out his arms to either side. “And this here is Lukas, and over there Jack, who used to be called Toothless, and De Cloux.”
Cate surveyed the men. Connor did, too. He recognized each and every one of them, and others besides. They had been loyal crew to Molucco—to the very last it seemed. The Diablo had been taken when the ship was docked at Ma Kettle’s. The first assumption had been that it was largely deserted at the time, but evidently that was not the full story. Johnny and his troops must have found plenty of Molucco’s original crew and “converted” them. For there was no doubt that these pirates were now Vampirates.
“Please, Mistress Cate,” Antonio said now. “We beg you for clemency. Not one of us was a willing recruit to the Vampirate force. We had no choice in the matter.”
Glancing at her comrades on either side, Cate nodded. “We accept your surrender,” she said. Her eyes turned to Moonshine. “The Diablo is once more under the command of a Wrathe. Captain, it’s your command now.”
There was no time to savor the victory. Moonshine swiftly organized his team to secure the vessel.
“Connor, take the pirates you need and secure the prisoners! Jasmine, I want you and your team to check the rest of the lower cabins and ensure we’ve achieved one hundred percent success here.” Jasmine gave Moonshine the Federation salute and led Bo Yin away.
Moonshine turned to Cate. “Come with me,” he said.
“Where?”
“To the captain’s cabin,” Moonshine said. “Cheng Li should have dispatched the Cowboy by now. It’ll be ready for us to take over command.”
“Us?” Cate said, surprised to find Moonshine nodding and smiling at her.
Down beneath the surface waters, Johnny still clasped Cheng Li in a viselike grip. Clearly, he had no intention of letting her go. She was finding it harder and harder to keep the air in her lungs. Her body felt weak in a way that was utterly alien to her. She no longer had any doubt. She would not be making it back from this.
It was as if Johnny had read her thoughts. For now he turned his eyes to her and all the pain and fury she had seen there before was gone. Instead, he looked peaceful. Her first thought was that perhaps the water had quenched his burning, but she saw that this was not the case. If anything, his disintegration was gathering momentum. Yet still his face—his eyes—were suddenly peaceful and, in a way, quite beautiful. Feeling on the verge of delirium, she thought of Lorcan Furey. Beautiful Lorcan Furey. If only he were here to save her now.
At last, she felt Johnny’s grip loosen, though she realized that this was involuntary. It seemed that his strength was finally being depleted. He seemed to shrug at her as his arms set her free. She found herself floating away from him and her heart leaped. She was floating up to safety. But it had better be quick. Her lungs felt as if they were about to explode.
Connor watched as Cate and Moonshine set off. Once, he might have felt envy at Moonshine’s sudden prominence, but now he felt only satisfaction at a job well done and a certain confusion as to the events of that morning. One of his men, Scott, came over to his side. “Want some help?” he asked. Connor nodded gratefully.
They called forward their teams and rounded up the prisoners, leading them out into the corridor and up to the higher deck. “Obviously they can’t go outside while it’s light,” Scott said. “Let’s contain them in the dormitory cabin upstairs for now.”
Connor nodded, letting Scott go on ahead while he took up the rear. As he followed the prisoners up the stairs, he saw a door push open on the upper corridor. No one but him noticed as a figure stepped out.
Connor found himself looking at his own self. They were identical in every way. Now the second Connor slipped his sword back into its scabbard and lifted a finger to his lips. He stepped closer to Connor, closer and closer until… Connor felt another searing headache. The pain drove him to close his eyes for an instant. When he opened them again, the ache was gone and so was his other self. He shook himself, feeling suddenly energized, and followed the prisoners up to their holding bay.
“Well?” Cate asked as she and Moonshine crossed the threshold into the captain’s cabin. “How does it feel to be a full-fledged captain?”
Moonshine’s face was streaked with blood and sweat, but he smiled from ear to ear and punched the air. “It feels great!” he exclaimed. Then his face grew more serious and his voice husky. “What’s happened here? Where’s Cheng Li?”
They both assessed the scene of devastation—the torn blinds, the broken timber, and the shards of broken glass. The air was still thick with ash. Moonshine found the soles of his boots were sticky with blood. Taking another step, he glanced down at the bodies of Cheng Li’s slaughtered escorts.
His eyes met Cate’s once more, but he no longer looked as if he was claiming a victory. “I don’t like this, Cate. I have a bad feeling about what went down here.”
Cate nodded. Her own blood was running cold as she stepped forward and looked out through the broken window. She didn’t know what she expected to see. Cheng Li treading water? Her body floating on the waves? Cate saw neither—only the mirrorlike surface of the callous ocean. “Cheng Li!” she cried out. “Has anyone seen Captain Li?” Her question was met only by silence.
Suddenly Moonshine pushed past her. “I’m going in,” he said.
“No!” Cate reached out a hand to restrain him.
“I’m a strong swimmer,” Moonshine declared. “If she’s down there, I’ll find her.”
Before she could do anything to stop him, Moonshine had climbed out through the broken window and jumped down into the icy water below.
“Be careful!” Cate cried as he dipped beneath the water’s surface. A strong beam of sunlight suddenly struck Cate directly in the face. It made her raise a hand to her eyes and turn away from the window. She found herself looking into the cabin once more. The cabin floor was now further illuminated by the stark glare of the sun. Light reflected off two spikes of silver on the floor. Cate recognized them immediately. She had seen them many times before.
Cate’s heart hammered as she knelt down and reached out her hands toward Cheng Li’s twin katanas. Both of her hands were soon covered in blood and ash, but she was past caring. She gripped the hilts of the katanas in her hands. There was no way Cheng Li would have willingly been separated from her beloved weapons. A horrible sense of foreboding washed over her, and she dashed to the porthole, terrified of what she might see in the waters below.
Oblivious to the scenes above, Jasmine and her team worked their way systematically through the lower cabins. Some of the stuff they found made for grim viewing.
“Are you sure you can handle this?” she asked Bo Yin as they came across a fresh skeleton.
Bo Yin nodded. “I’m tougher than you think,” she said.
“Yes.” Jasmine nodded. “I guess you are.”
“That’s about it, Deputy Peacock,” announced a gruff voice at her side. “We have this level locked down, with the exception of this cabin here.”
Jasmine glanced deeper into the gloomy cabin. “It doesn’t look like there’s anything we can’t handle here,” she said. “You can go up and join the others. Report to Captain Li and see if she has fresh duties for you.”
“Yes, ma’am!” The officer saluted Jasmine, then turned on his heels.
Jasmine pushed open the creaking door to the final cabin and stepped across the threshold. Bo Yin followed close behind. Glancing up ahead, Jasmine narrowed her eyes.
“Is that a cage?” she asked, stepping closer and seeing the bars and the thick chain that looped around the door.
“What’s inside it?” Bo Yin asked.
“Probably just more bones,” Jasmine said with a shudder. “I don’t want to know what went on down here.”
“Me neither,”
Bo Yin agreed. “Wait! Did you see that?”
Jasmine froze to the spot. Yes, she had seen it. Behind the steel bars, there was a movement.
“There’s something in there,” Bo Yin said.
“Not something,” Jasmine corrected her. “Someone.” Her heart hammered as she stepped closer and knelt down before the cage. A pale, skeletal hand reached forward. The bony tips of the fingers pushed through the gap in the cage and made contact with her own flesh. It—he—seemed to want to make contact. Jasmine shuddered but did not retreat. A thin face hovered in the darkness beyond the bars. It lingered there, as if afraid to come any farther forward, but she willed it to keep coming—as if she were luring a frightened kitten out from a hiding place.
Finally, the face leaned forward, atop a scrawny neck. The flesh was drawn and gray in color and the head had been shorn of hair. Despite this, Jasmine would have recognized those eyes anywhere.
“Jacoby!” she exclaimed with a gasp. “Oh, my God… Jacoby, what have they done to you?”
Cate was still standing at the broken window when she heard Moonshine’s cries.
“I found her! I’ve found Cheng Li!” Moonshine was bobbing on the water’s surface with Cheng Li in his arms. The captain’s eyes were closed and there were lacerations all over her pale face.
“Help me!” Moonshine cried. “Her heartbeat is weak, but I think we can bring her back. She’s a fighter.”
Cate shook her head in amazement, then jumped into action. Ripping an ornate tapestry off the nearby wall, she sliced it to ribbons with her sword, then tied the pieces together to form a makeshift rope. It wasn’t the best method, but it was certainly the quickest.
Cate threw the rope out of the porthole and down to Moonshine. He grabbed at it with one hand as he paddled desperately to keep them afloat with the other.
Vampirates 6: Immortal War Page 13