“Not if we fight them off.” Kamila crossed her arms in defiance.
Tess walked up and put her hand on Kamila’s arm. “Kam, I get how tired we all are. I really do. But listen, we need to accept that this location isn’t secure. We didn’t even scout it out for security. We need to find a place we can defend, a place where we’re safe. And even though no place is going to be safe for very long, we need to find someplace we can use to regroup and get Jason trained. We can’t safely do that in the hotel either. Too many civilians watching and waiting.”
Zarya leaned her head against Kamila’s shoulder. “Listen,” she said and looked into Kamila’s eyes. “I know you’re trying to protect me. And I appreciate it. But I have to agree with the younger ones here. We aren’t safe here, and we’re not going to be safe here. They were bleeding all the way here. It’s only a matter of time before we find vampires kicking the windows in. Believe me when I tell you, there are a lot more of them than we saw.”
“How does Belize City manage to sustain such a big population of vampires, anyway?” I shook my head. “I just don’t get it.” I shrugged. “Whatever. It’s something we’ll figure out after the crisis has passed.”
Zarya narrowed her eyes. “The crisis being me?”
“Not at all.” I met her eyes squarely. I had nothing to be ashamed of, although I could see where she could have gotten the idea I was referring to her. “We did come down here to find you, but we didn’t know you were in trouble. The vampires are organizing, and all of us are in danger. I’m not going to try puzzling out why so many vampires are able to live in smaller cities without making the authorities a little twitchy until after we’ve dealt with the whole genocide thing.”
The left side of her mouth twitched again. Whatever she’d gone through had taken its toll. She’d be doing that in place of smiling for a while. “I suppose not dying does take precedence over the spirit of scholarly inquiry. Listen, my island isn’t necessarily perfect, but it’s better than a hotel in the middle of the city. We can regroup and be safe there for a little while, and then we can figure out where to go from there.”
Kamila bit her lip. I knew she didn’t like it, but we all knew there wasn’t anywhere better to go.
Zarya dressed in some of Kamila’s clothes. We paid our bill and walked down to the waterfront. I’d have loved to take a cab or something, just out of deference to Zarya’s condition, but we couldn’t risk it. If the driver turned out to be a vampire, like almost everyone else we’d encountered in this city, we’d be screwed. Instead, we slipped down to the docks as quickly as we could.
I tried to find us a boat that would be easy to steer, but Zarya just arched her brow at me. “Jason, isn’t it? We don’t even need a boat with a rudder. Between the two of us, we’ll be fine.”
Just then, Daisy perked up. She could smell something on the wind. Her hackles rose, and she started to growl. I’ll say it again: we don’t deserve dogs. They can do everything, including security.
I herded us all onto the nearest boat, some kind of cabin cruiser with controls well beyond my ability. We all got settled in, and I moved us out of the marina, the water slipping around us from my unseen power.
Not far away, another boat’s engines growled to life.
I looked at a sign reflecting our running lights as it bobbed on a buoy marking the lanes. NO WAKE! This was not a time to be conscientious about obeying the law. I flipped the sign off and moved us faster through the water, sending boats crashing against their docks.
The other boat might not have vampires on it. For all I knew, they could be fishermen. I wasn’t willing to take that chance. I pushed us toward Deadman’s Caye as fast as I could take us.
“Damn the signs, full speed ahead,” I told the wind.
24
Any hopes I had that the other boat contained fishermen were dashed when the noise of the boat followed us toward Deadman’s Caye. Locals wouldn’t approach. It was too treacherous, with a reputation for being haunted. Vampires didn’t care if their boat sank, and they didn’t care about ghosts either. I pushed our boat with my water powers, but I didn’t know how to actually operate the thing. I wasn’t helping the boat’s engines. It was moving under my power alone, a feat that drew lines around my strengths and weaknesses as a Ferin.
Zarya wasn’t going to be able to help. She was only able to stay upright thanks to Kamila, and her eyes drifted closed every few seconds, despite the choppy water. Kamila lobbed the occasional fireball, but it wasn’t easy to aim and fire from a speeding boat while you were trying to keep your friend upright.
The vampires were gaining on us.
The trip should have taken an hour, but I trimmed it down to forty minutes. It could have been less if we’d been able to use the ship’s engines, but we worked with what we had. I didn’t bother trying to find a place to moor the boat either. I ran it right up onto the beach, the hull grinding against sand and rock in howls of protest.
“Get her inside,” I snapped to Tess and Kamila.
I didn’t wait to see if they listened. I turned to face the water. My head was pounding, and my insides quaked from exertion, but I had to do this. I took the water surrounding the island and churned it, making it into a wall of water around the island, whitecaps and slashing surf boiling against each other in no discernible pattern.
Then I added fire, heating it to a level I knew most vampires couldn’t stand. A vampire would have to be extremely old and strong to punch through the chaos.
The barrier wouldn’t last forever, but I could turn around and leave it for now. I ran through the jungle toward Zarya’s converted house, feet pelting against the soft jungle floor as I tried to catch up with the women.
They were inside, Zarya in bed and resting by the time I arrived. I looked around. The place was trashed. I’d known that, but I hadn’t really processed it, probably because I didn’t think we’d come back here. Now I had to take in the results of the vampire handiwork at close quarters.
Daisy sniffed at a pile of junk that had probably once been a lovely piece of furniture. Then she went out onto the steps and whined.
Kamila turned to look at me. “Are they gone?”
“For now.” I took a deep breath. “The sun will be up soon, so we’ll have a little bit of a respite.”
She nodded and looked down. “I’m going to straighten up. I know it’s kind of petty. It’s not like we’re going to stay around here. But I also know Zarya. Seeing the place in this kind of shape is going to upset her when she wakes up.”
I nodded. It was upsetting to me, and it wasn’t my place. “I’m going to head down to the beach. I set up a defensive measure, but it’s not perfect, and it won’t last forever. I want to keep an eye on things. Do you need a hand with anything up here?”
She gave me a shy little smile that nearly ripped my heart out. “No, thanks. I’m all set. You go keep us safe. Thanks for bringing us to safety. It was pretty impressive.” She kissed my cheek, passed me the gun I’d given Zarya, and turned toward a pile of wood in the corner.
Dismissed, I headed back down to the beach. Daisy chose to accompany me, and I appreciated the company. She was the perfect companion for my mood right now. I was too tired to carry on a conversation, but if I was completely alone, my thoughts would be too dark.
We walked around the whole island, just to check the perimeter. By the time we made it back to our starting point, I was really exhausted, but the sun was coming up in a glorious rose burst. I was thankful for the light, and the feel of it on my face gave me the strength I needed to clear my thoughts, sit, and watch.
I found a comfortable place to sit where I could look back out toward Belize City. I couldn’t see the city itself with my wall of water in the way, but I’d hear it if anyone came at us from that direction. Or I’d feel it, at least until my power faded to the point that our aquatic defenses settled back into the sea. I knew it would happen. I simply didn’t know when.
“What do you think
the locals would say if they could see this wall, Daisy?” I scratched her behind her ears, and she put her head in my lap. We must have made an interesting sight. I could feel the remnants of makeup on my face, I was spattered and streaked with blood, and, to my horror, I was still wearing those pants.
I’d have laughed at myself if I wasn’t so damn tired.
If the locals could see this wall surrounding the island, they’d probably chalk it up to the paranormal activity plaguing this island for centuries. They’d look for a rational explanation first, just like anyone else. But when people couldn’t find a rational explanation for something, they found another explanation.
There was no rational explanation for Ferin. And among Ferin, there was no explanation for me. I was already well aware of that by the time I sat there on that beach, cuddling an immortal dog and staring out at a wall of superheated water.
I dozed off for a while. I figured it would be okay, and I couldn’t fight off the drowsiness anyway. I was drained mentally, physically, emotionally, and metaphysically. The wall would hold up for now, and the sun would keep us safe, even if the wall failed.
The sun was much higher in the sky by the time I woke up. The wall held, but I gave it a little boost anyway, feeling the dregs of my power reserve dip incrementally with my effort. Daisy was curled up next to me, but she sniffed at me and whined a little bit. “Do I stink?”
She wagged her tail.
“Fair enough,” I told her. I stripped down and waded out into the water. I didn’t have any soap, but handfuls of sand worked just as well, scouring my skin as I washed and scrubbed in the lapping waters. I leaned back, floating, my eyes up to the sky above as the world moved past me, if only for a moment. I was tired right down to my soul, if I even had one left, but the waves kept me afloat, and I felt renewed by the sea.
It felt good. It wasn’t the magnificent shower from the cruise ship or even the basic setup we’d had in Belize City, but washing the grime off my body still felt like removing a layer of sin. We hadn’t escaped the vampires entirely, but we were safe for the moment. We’d found Zarya, and we’d helped her to escape. She was in rough shape, but she would only get better from here on out. And she wasn’t in such awful shape she couldn’t fight, which meant her considerable power would come back to us like a returning tide.
Daisy hopped into the water, dragging a stick she’d found on the beach. I threw it for her, playing fetch. A grin crept across my face as the weight of the war lifted. The conflict was still out there, of course. I’d probably be fighting it until the day I died, but I would not let it consume every minute of my life. I could step back during a safe moment and play with the dog. I could enjoy the company of my women and savor the pleasures life offered me. These moments would become my fuel, and with them, I could fight on.
I knew someone was approaching from the house. I could feel the water in their body. I didn’t stop what I was doing. I didn’t even bother to put on pants, because the days of shame were long past.
When Tess popped out from the jungle, she smiled. “Looks like someone’s having fun.”
I laughed. “And who wouldn’t? It’s Paradise Island with a dog.” Daisy ran up to my side, smiling in her broad, canine way. “That’s right. Good girl, Daisy.”
She wagged her tail, then looked back at the water.
“Looks like you’ve got the right idea.” She got rid of her clothes without a second thought and waded out into the water. She sank under the waves, just up to her shoulders, but I knew she was scrubbing with sand the same way I had been. “That house was a mess.”
“You’re not kidding.” I sighed. “I feel bad for Zarya. It’s obvious she took good care of it. She worked hard on that place, only for those vampires to come and violate her life and home, you know?”
“It’s what they do.” She made a face. “Vampires destroy. They never create. They hate anything alive or beautiful because it reminds them of what they can’t have.” She stretched her back out. “I have to admit, I hope they all choke to death. Do you think it’s possible? I don’t know. Maybe by trying to drink a saint’s blood or something?”
“You’re so asking the wrong person about vampire biology.” I laughed. “Experiments could be interesting, but I’d rather just roast them.”
She came out of the water and sat down on the beach beside me. The sun kissed her body perfectly, and she looked like a vision more than a real woman. “Zarya’s still in pretty rough shape. Physically, she’s recovering, but it will be slow. They literally tried to dry her out with heat lamps. I can’t fathom that kind of depravity.”
“Neither can I. The depths of evil in their minds, to be able to do that to anyone, but especially to someone who can’t ever die from it.” I cringed. “We’ve got to kill them all, Tess. Every last one of them.”
“Yeah, we do. And we can’t do it from here.” She glanced over at me. “I like it here. I really do. But we won’t be able to keep the fangs away forever.”
“No.” I looked over at the wall. “I’m not positive I even want to. What good does it do us to keep the vampires away if all we can do is hide? We’re supposed to be fighting them, not hiding from them.” I held up a hand to stave off the argument I knew was coming. “I need to train. I get that. And I want to train. Forever has to be taken literally when it really does mean forever for us.”
She chuckled. “Yeah, it does. But seriously, I’m not sure where we can go next. This was our next move. We were supposed to get you trained up and get you ready to take on the vampires. There was no contingency plan, no other place we could run to.”
“Okay.” I smirked. “So let’s do it.” I leaned back on my elbows.
“Awfully confident, aren’t you?”
I considered my words carefully. “Not really. I just think…” I hesitated. “I just feel like there’s going to come a time when we could train for a million years and still never feel like we were ready. If there’s no way to keep training, then maybe we should just move forward and get the job done.” I sighed. “I don’t know. I’m worried. I’m anxious about it. At the same time, if our back is to the wall, let’s do what we have to do. We fight. At all costs, we fight.”
She rested her head on my shoulder. “If our back is to the wall, then yeah. Let’s just make sure our back really is to the wall first.”
25
We dressed and headed back up to the house. Zarya wore her own clothing now, a kind of loose gray gown that did nothing to hide her curvy figure, so different from the victim I’d seen only hours earlier. Someone had cleaned up most of the destruction. My bet was on Kamila and Tess. Zarya still looked unsteady, but her eyes were sharp.
She reclined on the couch with a mug of tea in her hands. She looked up at me and smiled, although there was still a shadow there. “I understand I have you to thank for keeping us safe here while I recover.”
I ducked my head and blushed. “I don’t know. It was a quick and dirty solution. I’m sure if you and Kamila put your heads together, you would have come up with something better.” I sat down on a nearby footstool. I didn’t want to crowd her. “How are you?”
Her gentle smile turned into a wry smirk. “Well, I’m still alive, so there’s that. As for the rest of it, well, I suppose we’ll figure it out as we go.” She sighed and looked around the huge, open room. “I thought I was doing very well for myself here. And when I look at things rationally, I suppose I was. I’ve been hiding out here for three centuries. That’s probably longer than any one of us can expect to be considered safe.”
I acknowledged this with a nod of my head. “You’re not wrong.” I cleared my throat. I’d never been good with emotional revelations. “I don’t want to push you or anything, or bring up bad memories, but how long did they hold you?”
She looked up at the ceiling and blew out a long stream of air. “I think it was September when they took me. It’s hard to say. Time doesn’t exactly fly when you have a bag over your head.” Her voice t
ook on a hard, brittle edge. “I honestly didn’t think anything could be worse than getting attacked by a vampire and becoming Ferin. I was wrong.”
All three of us shuddered. Daisy trotted up and jumped up onto the couch. She curled up on Zarya’s legs, like she belonged there by a secret decree. Zarya’s face lost some of its tight look, and she ran her hand over Daisy’s blocky head. “I see why you keep her around, Kamila. She’s very soothing, even when she’s not trying.” She glanced over at us. “I suppose you want to know what happened.”
Kamila and Tess squirmed. I moistened my lips. “Only as much as you feel comfortable telling us. I don’t want to make you relive the—the days—but it would be helpful to know what happened.”
She sniffed. “Helpful to whom?” Then she looked away. “I’m sorry. I’m lashing out because it hurts. You saved me, and you don’t deserve to get treated like that.”
“Hey, your feelings are valid. Don’t think I expect special treatment just because I was in the right place in the right time, okay?” I reached out and put a hand on hers. “We’re all adults. We know what to expect when someone goes through something awful.”
Her cheeks turned red, but she nodded. “I’ve been living here for three hundred years. The locals have passed down stories from generation to generation, all about the wicked witch who lives on Deadman’s Caye. It’s a little lonely sometimes, but it’s better than having to sleep with a shotgun next to my bed.” She lifted her chin at Kamila in challenge.
Kamila smiled. It looked like an old argument between them. “I would point out they got here somehow, but they got to me too, so I don’t think I have anything to say.”
“They got to you too, huh?” Zarya looked her over.
“I just happened to have Jason and Tess with me at the time. Moving on.” Kamila stroked Zarya’s hair, and Zarya continued her story.
“The vampires came out here one night. They took me by surprise. How, I don’t know. They tore my house apart, holding me back and draining me just enough to keep me from using my abilities against them. There were too many of them. I expected them to kill me, but they didn’t. I don’t know why.”
Forever Young - Book 2 Page 16