The first thing he noticed was the sun on the horizon, its warm rays putting a golden glow over the waters. The sails, at full, flapped hard against a stiff breeze, and he could hear the waves skipping off the ship's bow as it glided effortlessly across the open waters.
Behind him, much to his surprise, he found Maii manning the helm with Zoey nowhere to be found.
“Sleep well?” the jackal asked, tilting his head to the side for a better view.
“Well enough,” Ethan said. “Thought I’d have slept at least past dawn, though.”
Maii laughed and nodded toward horizon. “That, Ethan, is a setting sun,” he said. “Not a rising one.”
“Oh, well, that would explain why I’m famished,” Ethan said, noting his rumbling stomach. “What’s to eat around here?”
“Tack. Hard tack. And even harder tack.”
“That’s it?”
“I think Zoey said something about finding some salted meat as well, but honestly, I wasn’t paying much attention at the time.”
“Why’s that?”
“Too busy keeping my distance.”
Ethan, not liking the tone in his voice, glanced around the deck once more. “Come again?”
“She’s hungry, too, Ethan.”
“Well, yeah. I figured that.”
“And she’s a vampire,” he added, slowly.
“Oh, right.”
Despite the jackal’s warning, Ethan continued his search for Zoey, partly out of curiosity about where she was but mostly out of concern. True, he still hurt over her backstab, and yes, she probably still deserved his ire and scorn, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to make sure she wasn’t suffering some hellish torment.
Eventually, he found her in the bowels of the ship, slowly rocking in a dark corner. She sat with her back turned to him, arms drawn across her chest, mumbling incoherently. Her skin had turned a pasty white, and even across the room they were in, he could see the sweat beading on her back.
“Zoey?” he said softly, unsure what to say or do.
The vampire perked before groaning and shaking her head. “Go,” she ordered. “I’m fine.”
“You look like crap.”
“I don’t care what I look like!” she snapped. “Go!”
Part of him wanted to leave, to tell her to piss off because he was only trying to be nice, but in the end, he couldn’t. Whether it was a general sense of pity or the extra compassion he’d gained earlier, he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he couldn’t leave her.
“I know you’re hungry,” he said, slowly approaching. “I can only imagine.”
Zoey clutched her sides and whimpered before glancing over her shoulder with her eyes narrowed. “You will never understand,” she hissed. “Ever. Now, if you value your life, leave. I’ll find something to eat when we get to the island.”
Ethan shook his head. He came up behind her once she turned back around and placed a hand on her shoulder. Zoey shook her head, and for a half second, he thought she might pull away, or attack even, but in the end, she did neither. In fact, what she did surprised him to no end. She trembled.
“I can’t hold out around you,” she said, her voice choking.
“You don’t have to,” Ethan said. Before he could think himself out of it, he embraced her fully. He wrapped one arm around her midsection and pulled her against himself, and with the other, he presented his wrist to her mouth. “It’s yours.”
Zoey touched it with shaky fingertips. “I can’t,” she said.
“You can.”
“No, I mean, I might not stop,” she said. “I might kill you. You lost a lot of blood already.”
Ethan brushed her hair and tensed at was about to come. “I know,” he whispered. “But I can’t see you like this, not when I can do something about it.”
For a second, Ethan thought the vampire was going to argue more, but instead, she lunged forward and sank her fangs into his flesh. Lightning pain shot through his arm as his wrist felt as if it had caught fire. The pain, however, quickly gave way to a heavenly sensation, and whatever struggles he’d put up out of reflex gave way to quiet relaxation and submission.
For the next several moments, Ethan felt her mouth hungrily suck on his flesh. A tingling sensation spread through his limb, relaxing his body and putting a smile on his face. The tips of his fingers grew cold and numb. His hand followed suit a few seconds later.
Zoey’s grip on his arm tightened. In the back of his mind, he realized her strength returned with each beat of his heart more and more, but he also realized the longer she fed, the more it seemed as if she had no intention of releasing him.
Ethan’s legs weakened, and his knees buckled. He faltered, and Zoey suddenly relinquished her hold on his wrist. The vampire spun around and grabbed him under the arms and helped to steady him on his feet.
“Are you okay?” she asked, worried.
Though a little lightheaded, Ethan nodded and spent the next few seconds breathing deep. “I’m okay,” he said. “Any chance you’ve had enough?”
Zoey wiped her mouth. “Yeah. Thanks.”
The two stood awkwardly together. Ethan hadn’t a clue what was running through her mind, but a whirlwind of conflicting feelings ran through his.
“Zoey?” he said, realizing there was still something he longed to do.
“Yeah?”
Ethan reached up and gently framed her face with his hands. She didn’t pull away, and before he lost his nerves, he pressed his lips onto hers.
Pressure built between the two. Her hands found his sides, nails slightly digging in. After a few beats, or maybe a thousand (Ethan couldn’t tell as the world melted away), they slowly parted.
“I’m not drunk anymore,” he said, smiling and holding her gaze. When she kept quiet, he reached up and toyed with her hair. “And I’m probably about to confess the most obvious thing in the world, but I’ve wanted to kiss you for a long, long time.”
A smile slowly spread across the vampire’s face. “When did you decide that? Before or after I kissed you at the inn?”
“Before. Long, long before.”
“I’m glad you did,” she said.
Ethan felt his soul dance high above the heavens. “Does this mean we’re a couple?”
“Not after one kiss,” she said playfully.
“You did kiss me at the inn,” Ethan pointed out, not missing a beat. “So, that’s twice now.”
“Then I guess you’d better see if the third time’s the charm,” she said. “Think you can muster the courage to make it happen?”
# # #
Two days came and went, the majority of which was spent keeping the ship on course—something that took a lot more time and effort than Ethan had originally realized. The rest of the hours were spent recuperating his strength and replenishing lost fluids with what stores the ship had. Eating was simple, as several barrels below contained salted meats and cheeses that weren’t half bad. A few other barrels held freshwater, which Ethan had to drink from a lot as Zoey drank from him nearly as much.
Nights were spent sharing the bed in the captain’s cabin, which ended up being a lot less frisky than Ethan had thought it would be, on account of Maii insisting on having a spot inside the room, too. And with the jackal there, watching and commenting on their new relationship, what time he had with Zoey was PG at best.
Still, she did snuggle up to him each night and rested her head on his chest. She inevitably would nod off first, and Ethan would simply hold her with a bright smile, thinking he had to be the luckiest guy alive.
On the third day, about an hour after golden rays broke the horizon, Gibbon Isle crested the horizon, and an hour after that, Ethan and Zoey rounded its southern peninsula in search of a place to lay anchor.
When they came around, Ethan let loose a long, slow whistle as he took in the enormous, sheer cliffs off the port side.
“Damn, those are big,” he said. “How long will it take to sail around them? They see
m to go on forever.”
“About nine miles in either direction,” Zoey said.
“And how much farther do we have to go?”
“About five hundred yards.”
“Five hundred yards?” he repeated, certain he’d heard wrong. “We’re not stopping here, are we?”
“We are,” she replied before pointing up ahead while easing the ship’s wheel to the starboard side several degrees. “There’s a small inlet up ahead. We’ll lay anchor there and make our ascent.”
“Right, our ascent,” Ethan said, eyes scouring the area. He picked out the inlet without trouble—a small recess that was maybe fifty yards deep and maybe three times that in breadth—but that’s all he could see, cliffs aside. “I take it there’s a secret staircase in there?”
“Nope.”
“Wooden elevator cleverly painted to match the rocks?”
Zoey snickered. “Wouldn’t that be nice.”
“Nest of griffons you’ve tamed who are eager to whisk us away?”
The vampire sighed and looked at him with pity. “Do I need to shatter your dreams any further?”
“Well, I hope you’ve got a better idea than the one I think you’re about to suggest,” he said crossing his arms. “Because in case you’ve forgotten, I didn’t spec mountain goat. There’s no way I’m climbing that.”
“Yes, I know, and yes, you are.”
Ethan grumbled, mostly to himself, and before he knew it, they’d laid anchor, and somehow, Zoey had convinced him to start climbing. The first few feet weren’t too bad, he decided. There were, as she’d promised, quite a number of handholds, and the rope they’d brought from the ship did indeed offer a bit of extra security that he felt good about, especially since they used it to not only tie themselves together but to anchor themselves to a number of pre-anchored grips. That said, they hadn’t even scaled fifty feet before Ethan was having serious reservations about it all.
“You know,” he said, hoisting himself up to the next mini-ledge where he could take a break. “We could still climb back down, hop in the boat with Maii, and find a better shore to come in on. One that’s not so filled with cliffs.”
“Anywhere else will undoubtedly be under watch,” Zoey said, looking down at him.
“Yeah, well, if there’s a lich at the top of these cliffs, I’m not going to be happy with you. I don’t care how much of a cute couple we’ve become.”
“Cute?” she repeated as if she was mulling over the concept for the first time.
“Not the word for this world?” asked Ethan. “How about dangerous? Or pirate-y?”
Zoey laughed. “Pirate-y? That could work. Then when you forget our anniversary, I’ll make you walk the plank.”
“Gee, thanks.”
“You’re the one forgetting important dates, not me.”
Talk quieted for a moment as Zoey turned her attention on the next part of the climb. Once she had it conquered, and Ethan had as well, he decided that he really needed to keep the conversation going, lest he might think about not only what he was doing, but how insanely high he was going to be.
“So, what do you like to do for fun?” he asked, grabbing the next handhold and pulling himself up.
“What do you mean?”
“You know, like fun, like back in the real world. I should probably know some real stuff about you now, right?”
“Oh,” she said. “Read, I guess.”
“That’s it?”
“Well, no,” she admitted. “Sometimes I’ll go see a movie with friends, or maybe binge stream some movies and stuff myself with chocolate. What do you do?”
“The last thing I tried to do was go to a fair,” he said. “But that, obviously, didn’t end up the way I thought it would. I guess I figured a hot little nurse would do more.”
Zoey laughed. “What makes you think I’m a hot little nurse? I could be a sweaty three-hundred-pound dude with one leg and a beard full of lice for all you know.”
Ethan froze, and his stomach made it known it was one wrong answer away from puking. “You’re not, right?”
Zoey held his gaze for a moment before laughing again. “No,” she said. “I’m just messing with you.”
Ethan sighed. “Oh, thank god.”
“But to be honest, I wish I did more,” she said.
“Why don’t you?”
“Because working ICU takes its toll, you know?” she said. “Half the time when I get home, all I want to do is nothing at all.”
“Yeah, I can’t even imagine,” Ethan said, knowing he could never relate. He tried a more universal topic. “What’s the last movie you saw?”
“Tremors.”
“Holy balls,” Ethan said. “Tell me not in the theater.”
“No. Streamed it. Why?”
“’Cuz it’s super old.”
“I know, but it’s funny as hell,” Zoey said. “I love every bit of it.”
“Ever see the sequels?”
“No. I didn’t even know there were any.”
“Like four or five,” Ethan replied. “Worth checking out if you liked the first, but I wouldn’t call any of them groundbreaking.”
For the next half hour, once they moved on from Zoey’s last seen film, the two went over their top-ten list, then worst ten, and finally moved onto their should’ve-been-a-sequel-but-wasn’t list. Zoey was about to tell Ethan what her number one on that list was when they finally reached the top of the cliff.
Ethan, eager to hear what she had to say (yet annoyed she hadn’t spoken to him at all once she’d reached the top), quickly pulled himself up and over the cliff. When he pushed himself to his feet, thoroughly exhausted—but utterly proud of himself for finishing the climb—his heart stopped.
Zoey knelt a few feet away, her hands clasped behind her head. Surrounding her in a semi-circle were three dozen skeletal warriors dressed in ragged clothes, armed with sword and musket, and next to the vampire stood a man dressed in a long blue coat with golden embroidery, white trousers and undercoat, and a black bicorne hat.
Only he wasn’t a man. Whatever the thing was that filled the uniform was decayed, ancient, and powerful. He looked at Ethan with glowing eyes, filled with amusement, and an emaciated face that was probably a few thousand years older than that of an Egyptian mummy.
“Ah, Ethan,” the creature said before giving a sweeping bow. “Allow me to introduce myself. Lord Belmont, at your service.”
Stunned, all Ethan could do was shake his head and try to make sense of things. “You know me?”
The lich chuckled. “No,” he said. “But you’d be surprised what I can draw out of someone in a matter of seconds.”
Ethan glanced at Zoey, who, in turn, glanced at him. “I’m sorry,” she mouthed.
Ethan shook his head. “Don’t be.”
“Exactly, my dear man,” Lord Belmond said, smiling broadly. “There’s nothing to apologize for. Now, why don’t you lay down your arms so we can have a more civilized discussion.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Interrogation
“I believe I told you to kneel.”
Lord Belmont, who sat on an obsidian throne inside the great hall of his citadel, flicked a bony finger, and the skeletal guard behind Ethan struck him with the shaft of his spear right behind the knee.
Ethan’s leg instantly gave out, and down he went. Though he managed to catch himself with his hand before his face rammed the stone blocks of the throne room, that was a consolation prize at best. He had no delusions he was getting out of this alive, and as such, he figured he might as well die well. Or at least, not as a blubbering coward.
“Where’s Zoey?” Ethan growled. “She’d better be alright.”
The lich chuckled. “Or what?”
“Or I’ll make sure that when I tear you apart, it’s painful and slow,” Ethan said. It was a total bluff, of course, one that Lord Belmont no doubt understood as well, but as cliché as it all was, it still sounded good. Besides, he did have
a half-baked idea that might see at least Zoey out of this mess. She, after all, still had kids to save. And as much as Ethan loved his dog, Anne, the lives of children mattered more.
The lich drew back his thin lips to reveal a rotting mouth with more than one wooden tooth. “I must say, Master Ethan, I admire your tenacity even in the face of certain death. Pray tell, if you would be so kind as to entertain me, why do you insist on angering me for her sake?”
“Because I’m not going to let anyone hurt my friends.”
The lich cocked his head. “She’s a friend, is she, now? I wonder, then, do you know what she is?”
“If you mean, do I know she’s a vampire, then yes. I’ve even had the experience of being around her when she’s hungry.”
“In other words, she’s charmed you, and you’re her blood doll.”
Ethan shook his head. “Only in the beginning. Not anymore.”
“And why is that?”
“You ask a lot of questions.”
“Such things happen during pleasant conversations, do they not?” he replied, seemingly taking no offense to Ethan’s remark.
Ethan tutted as he rolled his eyes. “I’d hardly call this a pleasant conversation seeing how you’re about to kill me.”
“All in the name of progress, Master Ethan,” the lich said. “It’s much better than the alternative.”
“I think I’d rather live.”
“I didn’t mean that,” Lord Belmont replied. “I meant, at least this way, your life will be full of purpose, which is indeed better than a life devoid of meaning. Those lives are wasted opportunities and the leeches of resources.”
“Whatever. Just tell me where Zoey is.”
“Why?”
“Why does it matter?”
“It doesn’t, which is why I’m inclined not to say a word. However, I am curious to see your reaction,” he replied. “She’s locked away, under guard, whilst I have the ritual room prepared.”
“For?”
“To have her soul taken, of course,” Lord Belmont said before gesturing to his skeletal guards. “These fine lads, as you can see, are the results of how I usually mete out justice. Why throw them in jail only to rot—or worse, execute—when their labors can be put to good use? Your friend Zoey, however, presents me with the rare opportunity of safely taking her powers and adding them to mine. Thus, to simply change her into what amounts as cannon fodder would be a terrible waste.”
The Pirate (Captains & Cannons Book 1) Page 22