“I’ll stay safe,” she promised him.
Charlie glanced nervously around the beach as David crept closer to the shore. If any surviving Savages were nearby, the hum of the motor would draw their attention. Goose bumps broke out on her skin, and she rubbed her arms to ease the chill building in her bones.
“I don’t like this,” she murmured.
“What’s wrong?” Jack asked.
“If there are any Savages nearby, they’ll hear the boat.”
“We can’t do anything about that.”
She knew he was right, but she couldn’t ease the knot of anxiety growing in her belly as her instincts screamed at her something terrible was coming. In the distance another speed boat came into view; it skimmed the water as it raced toward David. Behind it, a larger, slower moving vessel appeared.
“Liam and Ethan are piloting the other boats,” Mike said. “Liam’s on the speed boat, and Ethan has the cabin cruiser.”
Liam pulled his boat to a stop thirty feet behind David’s while the cabin cruiser steadily closed the distance.
“This is as close as I can get!” David called as he stopped the boat thirty feet away from shore.
“It’s time to go,” Jack said and squeezed her shoulder. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay?” he whispered into her mind.
Now that the pathway between their minds had opened once, she found it much easier to navigate. “Yes.” Though she couldn’t stop glaring at the ocean like it was her nemesis.
Jack felt Charlie’s apprehension through their bond, but she kept her shoulders back and her chin thrust forward. “It will be okay,” he assured her.
“I know.”
Charlie took a deep breath and plastered a big smile on her face for Dylan. “Are you ready?” she asked him and then realized that smiling at him like a clown on crack was probably not the most reassuring thing to do.
“Yes. Are you?” he asked.
She tried to make herself stop smiling, but her cheeks remained in the awkward position. “Absolutely.”
She felt like a woman on her way to the electric chair, but she couldn’t stop grinning. If she could help it, she would never go swimming again after this.
She was almost to the water when something splashed into the sea. She wanted to believe it was a dolphin or a shark, but she knew the truth. The boats had drawn the surviving Savages, and those Savages were desperate to escape the island.
In the glow of the rising moon, arms and legs sliced through the waves as a Savage closed in on David’s boat. Liam revved his engine and gunned it toward the vampire who never stopped swimming to look at the vessel bearing down on him.
Grabbing Dylan, Charlie pressed his face against her belly and covered his ears to block out the resounding thunk the boat made when it ran over its target. Charlie glimpsed a lifeless body sinking beneath the waves when Liam pulled the vessel away. More splashes sounded as, uncaring of what happened to their friend, some of the Savages fleeing the island plunged into the sea.
Liam and David pulled out guns and started firing. Some of the Savages retreated to the beach, but some of the others remained undeterred. A couple of the Savages who fled to the shore turned toward them, their red eyes blazing through the darkness.
“We have to go!” Jack said and clasped Dylan and Charlie’s hands.
Charlie released Dylan’s shoulders and took his other hand as she ran toward the sea with him. She ignored the biting cold of the ocean and the way her lungs clenched as if they were already trying to protect themselves from water filling them again.
Just keep swimming. You can do this, she assured herself as the water rose to her waist. She released Dylan’s hand and dove into the ocean. Between the waves and the Savages, she felt as if she’d plunged into a sea of man-eating sharks.
Staying close to Dylan and Jack, she cut through the waves as she focused on remembering her lessons while fighting the pull of the undertow. It became increasingly difficult to breathe as she waited for a hand to seize her ankle and drag her to the bottom of the ocean.
The retort of gunshots pierced the air. Charlie couldn’t see the Savages over the swell of the waves, but she knew they were there, and they were just as desperate to reach the boats. Where were they? Were they beneath her and Dylan?
When she imagined a hand shooting up from the gloomy depths of the ocean toward her exposed belly, she buried her head in the water to see beneath her. All she got was a glimpse of the murky sea, a mouthful of water, and salt in her eyes. Spitting out the water, she cursed herself as an idiot as she wiped her hair from her eyes. She was only wasting time.
Kicking hard again, Charlie did her best to keep her eyes on Dylan. If something grabbed him, she would tear them apart.
Riding the next wave into the air, Jack saw two Savages closing in on Mike. David gunned his boat toward the Savages and ran them over before pulling up beside Mike and extending his hand to him.
“Get Dylan first!” Mike shouted at him.
Jack stopped swimming and grasped Charlie and Dylan to stop them as David guided the boat toward them. Bending down, David stretched out his hand, and Jack helped lift Dylan to him as Liam continued shooting at the Savages. Craning his head to see around the boat, Jack spotted Ethan and the others also firing on the Savages.
With Dylan settled in the boat, David grasped Charlie’s arm next and pulled her up. Jack and Mike gripped the sides of the boat and pulled themselves over before collapsing on the floor. Pushing himself up, Jack reached for Charlie as Mia draped a blanket around Dylan, and David put the boat in reverse.
Chapter Forty-Six
They spent the rest of the night circling the island and shooting any Savages they spotted on the shore. A few times they stopped the boats and waited to lure in a couple of the more desperate and foolish Savages before killing them. The other Savages caught on that it wasn’t help in the water as, around midnight, they stopped trying to swim out to the boats and started fleeing when they saw them coming.
When they first climbed onto the boat, the Byrnes who hadn’t seen Jack yet navigated over to hug him and meet her. Charlie had always had a good memory and was able to remember their names, and he’d told her about all of them, but it was still a little overwhelming. The love they shared was evident on their smiling faces, and the joy Jack radiated as he embraced them all.
Now, with the ocean lapping against the sides of the boat and sitting with her back against Jack’s chest, Charlie felt safer than she had in years. With the blanket around his shoulders, Dylan knelt at the end of the seat to stare at the island with his hands on the side of the boat. Only blackened trees and seared earth remained on the island. Tendrils of smoke spiraled from the remains of the lighthouse, and in a few places, flames still lit the night.
“Before we stepped foot on the island, we destroyed their boats,” David said. “We risked drawing attention to ourselves by doing it then, but we didn’t want any Savages fleeing the island while we were on it.”
“Good,” Charlie said.
“Where did you disembark?” Jack asked.
“We swam in,” Mike said. “The cabin cruiser has a dinghy attached to it, but we decided against leaving anything on shore that the Savages could use to escape. We anchored the cabin cruiser and Liam’s boat further out to sea while Mia kept this boat free to help us if necessary. She picked us up off the island when we were ready to go.”
Dylan twisted in his seat to look at them. “How did she know where to find you when you were ready to leave?”
Jack tapped the side of his head as he smiled at Dylan. “Mated vampires can communicate telepathically.”
Dylan glanced excitedly between Charlie and Jack. “Can you do that?”
“Yes,” Charlie said.
“Awesome,” he breathed.
He moved away from the side of the boat to snuggle in against her side, and Charlie hugged him close while Jack rested his hand on Dylan’s shoulder. Through their bond, she felt a
swell of love from Jack and realized it was for her son.
Tears formed in her eyes, but she blinked them back. She’d assumed Dylan would never have a father in his life, but she’d been wrong, and she couldn’t think of anyone who would make a better dad than Jack.
“We’re free,” Dylan whispered.
“We’re free,” she said, though she knew she’d be returning.
Charlie didn’t tell him that; she would give him these hours of peace before letting him know she was returning to the island. There would never be any real peace for them until every monster involved with the hunt was dead.
Dylan fell asleep with his head against her shoulder, and Charlie drifted off to sleep. The crackle of static woke her, and she opened her eyes to find David with the radio in his hand. Mike and Mia stood beside him.
Jack shifted against her back but didn’t rise as Liam and Ethan also got on their radios. Throughout the next hour, they worked out a plan to deal with the remaining Savages on the island.
When the sun was higher in the sky, Ethan got into the dinghy and steered it away from the cabin cruiser with LeNae and Miguel inside it. He dropped LeNae off at Liam’s boat, and Miguel came over to theirs. Afterward, Ethan returned to the cabin cruiser and shuttled Mal, Aiden, and Ian to shore before picking up Maggie, Paige, and Kirha and taking them to land.
Darlene, Gio, and Lucia remained on the cabin cruiser while Ethan returned to Liam’s boat. He picked up Liam, Stefan, and Brian and took them to shore and returned for Isabelle and Abby while LeNae took control of Liam’s boat.
The dinghy couldn’t hold more than four at a time, and it was time consuming to shuttle everyone to shore, but they decided to use it instead of swimming in the hopes of drawing a few more Savages in with the noise. Plus, they were all a little tired of being wet.
When Ethan returned to their boat, Charlie reluctantly removed herself from Jack’s arms and rose to embrace Dylan.
“Do you have to go?” Dylan asked.
“Yes,” she said as she brushed the hair off his forehead. “With the island completely different now, Mal will need help to locate all the caves we know, and I’m sure there are some we never discovered that the Savages could be hiding in. The humans and Miguel can’t return as they’re easier targets for the Savages. Plus, Miguel didn’t venture out as often as Mal and me, so he doesn’t know the island as well. We have to make sure the Savages are all dead before we leave. There could be survivors from the hunt still on the island too.”
Dylan looked about to protest further, but he clamped his lips together and stepped away from her. “I’ll be okay,” she assured him. “And I won’t be gone long.”
She didn’t want to leave him, but if even one of these bastards was still alive, they were in danger.
“Be careful,” Dylan said as he reluctantly released her.
“I’ll make sure she stays safe,” Jack promised him.
Dylan gave him a wan smile, and though he tried to act brave as he straightened the tattered remains of his clothes and threw his shoulders back, Charlie hated the terror in his eyes.
“I’ll be back,” she promised. “I love you.”
He glanced at the others as a blush crept into his cheeks. “I love you too,” he muttered.
“Come,” Miguel said as he rested his hand on Dylan’s shoulder. “Did I ever tell you about the time I fought the lobo?”
Dylan gawked at him. “Isn’t that a wolf?”
“It is,” Miguel confirmed.
“You never told me about that.”
“Oh, you are in for a real treat, my friend,” Miguel said as he steered Dylan away from her.
“Thank you,” Charlie mouthed to Miguel when he glanced back at her. He nodded before limping over to the wheel with Dylan.
“This was the craziest lobo you ever did see,” Miguel said. “I think it was rabid, but it was still no match for me.”
“How’s your gas looking?” Ethan asked David as he climbed into the dinghy.
“We just filled the tanks, and we still have a full can.”
“Good,” Ethan said. “With as many trips as this thing has to make back and forth, I need a refill.”
* * *
Charlie tried to find something familiar in the charred remains of the landscape, but nothing was left of the island she’d known. Some stubborn, burnt-out trees still towered over the earth, but almost nothing else remained. The scent of burnt wood was oppressive, and in a few places, smoke still coiled into the air and low flames flickered.
They’d landed on a section of the island where the cliffs were only a few feet high and easy to climb. Ethan pushed the dinghy back into the ocean; Mia guided it away from the shore and back toward Miguel and Dylan. She’d wanted to come with them too, but they needed a mate to remain so they could communicate with someone at the boats, and Mia reluctantly agreed to do it.
“Let’s go,” Liam said.
Jack squeezed Charlie’s hand and released it before they climbed over the rocks and walked into the burnt-out, soot-covered rubble of her prison for the past three years. Waves of heat still wafted up from the smoldering ruins, and charred debris stabbed through the holes in the soles of her boots. She winced at a couple of sharper jabs but mostly ignored the discomfort.
They spread out to cover more land as they searched for any Savages hiding behind or beneath the burnt-out remains. With all the vegetation almost completely gone, there were few places someone could hide and ambush them, but the wide-open space left them vulnerable to anyone with a gun.
Charlie turned in circles as she surveyed the alien landscape while keeping her instincts on high alert. A hundred feet away from her, Jack’s eyes alternated between her and the area he searched. Tension emanated off the others as they investigated their areas.
Charlie edged around a clump of blackened trees that had fallen against each other to form a twisted teepee. Grasping some of the branches, she pulled them back to peer cautiously inside.
Her hand fell to her side, and she pulled her knife free when red eyes met hers. The Savage hissed, but before it could charge at her, Charlie let one of her blades fly. It caught him in the eye and knocked him into the back wall of trees. Damaged from the fire, the trees crumpled and fell when the Savage tumbled into them.
Charlie was running around the teepee as the rest of the trees fell. The Savage howled as it clawed at its eyes. Arriving at its side, Charlie seized its hair and drew her knife across its throat to silence it before pulling out her stake and driving it through the vamp’s heart.
The body didn’t hit the ground before Jack was standing beside her. “Are you okay?” he demanded.
“I’m fine,” Charlie assured him.
“Assholes,” Jack muttered.
The others arrived as Charlie knelt to pull her knife from the Savage’s eye.
“Better not piss her off, Jack,” Stefan said. “You’ll find one of those knives in your heart.”
“She already broke my nose,” Jack replied with a smile.
“She probably won’t be the last one,” David said with a laugh. “You just have that kind of personality.”
“Fuck off,” Jack said, but he was still smiling when he held his hand out to Charlie. She took it, and he helped her rise.
“I’m ready to get this over with,” Charlie said.
“We all are,” Aiden said.
“Let’s spread out again,” Liam commanded.
Charlie kept her knives in hand as they separated to examine the remains once more. When they arrived at the crumpled ruins of the mansion, they moved through the debris in search of any survivors hiding beneath it.
“If they still had the pictures of us, the fire would have destroyed them all,” Mal said. “I doubt they took those photos off this island.”
“Probably not,” Charlie agreed.
“They took our pictures?” Mike asked.
“Yeah. I don’t remember it either,” Jack said.
Mike st
ared at him for a minute before shaking his head. “I’m glad the trophy room is gone. I hope everyone in this place felt their skin melting off their bones while they burned. After everything they did here, after Doug…” Mike’s voice trailed off, and he glanced up at the sky.
“They deserved this,” Jack said.
Charlie agreed, but all the death surrounding her was beginning to wear on her. Kicking over a board, she sneered when she spotted the skeletons lying in a tangled heap. Their faces were twisted into grotesque expressions of pain.
Jack stared at the charred remains before resting his hand on Charlie’s shoulder and pulling her closer to kiss her. She hated these monsters; she was a fighter and a killer, but he sensed her unease through their bond. She was glad they were dead, but she didn’t like seeing this.
When they finished searching what remained of the mansion, they continued across the island. He spotted a couple of skeletons with their hands stretched through the rubble like they were begging God for mercy. Jack approved of God’s response.
The death of these monsters would never bring Doug back, but it felt good to know they were dead.
When they reached the other side of the island, Jack turned back to examine the destruction before they walked further down. They started back across, carefully covering the land they missed in their first sweep.
“What are we going to do about the humans?” Paige asked. “They know too much.”
“They’ve spent too much time on this island to change their memories,” Stefan said. “We’re either going to have to trust them to keep a secret or turn them.”
“We can’t turn them against their will,” Abby said.
Charlie’s stomach plummeted at the possibility, but before she could find her voice, Mal spoke.
“They’ll never say a word about us or what happened here,” Mal said. “We saved them, and they’ll protect us.”
“You have more faith in the human race than I do,” Brian said.
Unforeseen: The Vampire Awakenings, Book 9 Page 27