Flight of the Phoenix (5 page)

The leader stepped forward, moving easily up the canted deck without holding onto anything. Fenix recoiled. The ship's captain was a gorgeous woman. She was tall, dressed in buckskin breeches with high boots, a tight corset, a frilly white blouse and a vest covered with many pockets. Fenix knew immediately that she was a vampire. She must be one of Lazarus's followers and his connection to her what enabled him to summon her to their aid. Fenix was assailed with jealously. She closed her eyes and forcibly pushed these feelings aside. The vampire stepped forward. “I am Tures. This is my ship and this is my crew.”

She waved her hand to indicate the motley assortment of dead and living crowding close behind her. Bryn slipped down the ladder and pressed close to Fenix, followed by Quinn, Sam, Tomlinson and Fingle. A sudden oof announced the arrival of the Commodore. He fell down the last six rungs of the ladder and landed in a soggy bundle at their feet. Bryn gently moved Fenix aside and then shoved the barely conscious Commodore against the bulkhead. “Tures, that's an Egyptian name, is it not?” She asked.

“I am Egyptian, yes.” Tures laid a cold hand on Fenix's shoulder. “Lazarus summoned me. You must be very dear to him. But it was he who blessed me with this ship. I am indebted to him for all eternity. What he asks, is to me a command.”

Fenix was still trying to absorb her surroundings and the strange crew of the ship. Everything inside the vessel was either brass or black leather. There was a ribbed brass walkway under their feet with water sloshing beneath it. Brass pipes ran along the low ceiling, dials, gauges and strange pieces of equipment were all surrounded by the tube-like hull. The round portholes let in more greenish light and the ship gently rolled with the motion of the sea as it descended into the depths. The air inside the vessel was tainted with the smell of smoke and lubricant, but under those smells was the pervasive odor of the ocean.

Tures's crew was exclusively male. There were two lepers, both bandaged, one missing his nose. Fenix sensed four other vampires, one a tall woman wearing men's clothing. The strangest members of the crew were two dwarves. Very small, the two men had to be identical twins. Both had flaming red beards, muttonchop whiskers and bald heads. Fenix figured they were handy for working on machinery in confined spaces. The priest she'd seen from outside stood in the background and was definitely one of the vampires. His skin was the color of paper, his fangs now clearly visible. In fact, all the vampires' fangs were out. They were hungry. Fenix shivered with fear. Lazarus had told her not to be afraid, but being locked inside this floating coffin with starving vampires did not fill her with confidence.

“We have very little extra room in here,” Tures said. “I will take you wherever you wish to go, but you must do exactly as I say and obey me without question. This is my ship and I am in charge. As you can see, some of my crew members would love to devour you. They are obedient to a point. If you push them, I will not be responsible. They have not fed off a living human for centuries. I will not allow it. Periodically, we stop and they feed off ocean predators or game on islands. However, their nature is to kill and to feed. Do not push them.”

“We shall do whatever is required,” Bryn said. “We need to go to Africa, specifically the mouth of the Congo River. Can you take us there?”

Tures nodded. “I can do this, but I will have to be paid.”

Fenix gulped. This could not be good.

“What is your price?” Bryn asked.

Tures looked them over. Her hair was black as coal and her eyes a peculiar green like the sea water around them, large and almond shaped; her nose had a high bridge with delicate nostrils. Her wide mouth smiled as though she was thinking of something funny she didn't wish to share with them. “I would have her,” and she pointed at Sam.

Draak Priest flew slowly back to land. He'd flown far out in the Bay of Biscay in his failed effort to catch Bryn and her sister before they left Europe. He knew where they were going. They were going after the dagger.

“It won't be enough,” Cardinal Malenfant whispered inside his head. “She'll need more to end her curse than just Lazarus's dagger.”

Priest groaned. “I thought you'd gone.”

Evil chuckling filled his mind and Priest thought he might tear his head off to get rid of Malenfant. The Cardinal's thoughts felt like greasy, malevolent fingers prying through his deepest secrets.

“I will never leave you,” Malenfant said. “This is the first time I've had a body for a hundred years. Do you really think I would throw it away and jump out of you and back into the black void that was my previous existence?”

Priest circled and landed in a clearing. He thought he might be in Portugal. He returned to his human form and shook out the folds of his cassock. “I'll evict you. If it's the last thing I do, I will get you out of my head.”

“I thought you were obsessed by the twin witches. My, my, you are a complicated man, capable of so many irrational desires and incapable of focusing on some really wonderful vocations.”

The only person I want to kill right now is you

Malenfant's answer was more foul oily laughter. Priest grabbed his head and yanked handfuls of hair out. He fell to the ground shrieking. If he didn't rid himself of the Cardinal soon, he was going to go insane.

* * * *

Bryn and Quinn lay in the same bunk. The undersea ship was so cramped; there were only a few empty berths. The one they occupied was in its own private compartment. Fenix, Tomlinson, the Commodore and Fingle were bunking with the crew. Samantha had been taken away by Tures, the ship's female captain. After refusing all of Bryn's efforts to save her from sacrificing herself for them, Sam had grabbed her arms, stared her in the eyes and kissed her.

“Darling, Bryn,” she'd said. “I want to go with Tures. She makes me feel beautiful and desirable when she looks at me. Please don't try to stop me. You have Quinn. I need to start building a life of my own.”

So Bryn had let her go, watching as Tures wrapped her arm around Sam's shoulders and led her away. For a moment, Bryn felt time actually passing. She knew Sam was gone from her forever and it was time for both of them to move on.

“I can't believe Sam went willingly with Tures,” Bryn whispered into Quinn's ear. His arms were around her and they lay with their bodies pressed close. They were fully clothed in garments supplied by the crew. Their own clothing had been soaked with sea water. Tures had taken their clothing, handed all of it over to the crew with promises of returning the garments clean and dry very soon.

Quinn's low laughter was a warm breath against her ear. “She wished to examine the ship and, my darling, Sam has always been a lover of women. I think she finds Tures attractive and she needs to move on.”

“I hope you're right. That's what Sam said. She told me I have you and she needs to begin living without me. But I'm so afraid Tures will not find her desirable and will only find her delicious.”

Quinn kissed her ear and slowly moved his mouth to her neck while his free hand slipped under her loose blouse. “I find you delicious. I want to devour you.”

Bryn giggled. “Not here,” she said. As she turned to face him, she grabbed his seeking hand to stop its progression toward her breasts.

“Why not? We have the charm. I almost died to retrieve it. That should tell you how much I desire thee.”

Quinn had no need to tell her. Bryn felt the evidence of his desire pressing into her thigh. “When we consummate our love, I want it to be perfect.”

“We're headed for Africa, my darling, I doubt if we will have such privacy as this again for some time. We are alone, we are in a very small bed together, and we are barely dressed. This seems like the perfect time to me.”

Bryn groaned. “I'm too concerned about our future to relax.”

Quinn lifted her shirt and stroked the breast closest to him. Bryn felt her desire for him rising and shoved it down by thinking of Sam being devoured by Tures. It took all her willpower to deny him, but she did. “I won't give in and waste the charm on a quick tryst. I will have my night of love. I paid for it. I will not be satisfied with anything less.”

“Do you mean the charm is good for more than one encounter?” Quinn's breath tickled her ear.

“Yes, my darling. Once invoked, the charm is good for twelve hours, the entire night, as many, uh, encounters as you can manage.” She giggled.

Quinn sighed. “Then by all means, let us save it.” He kissed her ear. “An entire night? I can't even begin to comprehend such a wonderful thing.”

* * * *

Tures led Samantha deep into the bowels of the ship. Samantha's eyes grew round at the marvels of the submarine. Tures said nothing but led her into the nose of the ship and the control room. She turned and smiled. “Is this what you wished to see?”

Sam stared in humble amazement at the wonders of the sea clearly visible through huge glass panels framed with brass and enormous bolts. In the middle of the room two pedestals held glowing blue globes. Tures held her hand over one and a hologram of the engine room appeared. Sam's eyes grew round as she watched two crew members feeding the massive steam engines tiny cubes of concentrated fuel. “What is it?” She asked Tures in a breathless voice.

“My own invention,” Tures said with an enigmatic smile. “If you wish to discover this secret, you must be a very good girl.” Tures lifted Sam's chin with one finger and kissed her.

Sam felt the kiss through her entire body and her sex ignited with a fire she'd only previously experienced with Bryn. The vampire's kiss tasted like dead roses, flowers that were dead and dried. It wasn't a bad taste only strange and Sam opened her mouth when Tures thrust her pointed tongue deep. When Tures wrapped her arms around Sam, she melted into the vampire's embrace. Tures easily lifted Sam into her arms and carried her through a round hatch and into a private bedroom.

A round bed sat beneath a huge porthole with a view of the ocean. Watery green light filled the room. The bed was covered with a sea-green satin spread. Tures laid her on it and began stripping Sam of her wet clothing. Sam lay still, her heart thumping wildly as Tures undressed her. She was unbearably excited. Frozen with desire so intense she felt like she might explode. When Tures was finished removing her clothing, she smiled down at Sam and began to slowly remove her own clothes.

She tossed her vest onto a gilded chair covered in the same sea-green satin and unbuttoned her frilly white blouse to reveal two perfect breasts, tilted up, with long erect pink nipples. The sight of those perfect globes made Sam's mouth water with the desire to take suck. Tures quickly removed her boots and buckskins and stood in front of Sam in all her naked glory. Her torso was long and white, her stomach flat and firm. When Sam dropped her gaze to Tures's mound, she was shocked to see the vampire possessed an enormous bright red clitoris that protruded from between hairless white labia. Sam had to swallow the lump of desire that rose in her throat.

Tures moved to the edge of the round bed and grabbed Sam's feet. She moved them apart, spreading Sam's legs. Sam whimpered and swallowed hard as Tures stuck her long pink tongue out of her mouth, revealed her fangs and began to crawl up Sam's body. She stopped at the juncture of Sam's thighs and licked the white flesh.

Sam shuddered with fear, desire and a strange chill as Tures dragged her long tongue up Sam's upper thigh to her sex. She stopped licking when she reached the tender flesh between Sam's sex and her thigh and began licking one sensitive spot over and over. Sam watched Tures's eyes close, an ecstatic expression on her face. And then she sank her fangs into the spot she'd been licking. Sam screamed as pain mixed with a strange euphoria filled her. Tures sucked for only a second and lifted her head. She smiled and kissed the spot. The two tiny holes disappeared.

Sam moaned. She'd never been this aroused before. Her sex was open and pulsing with need. Tures sensed it. She opened the swollen flesh with one finger, found Sam's aching nub and latched onto it with her full lips. Sam screamed again, this time from the force of the intense orgasm that turned her throbbing cunny to jelly.

But Tures wasn't finished. She laughed a low, sexy chuckle and began to slowly lick Sam's swollen sex. Her tongue was long and rough like a cat's. She licked the lips, circled Sam's opening, licked Sam's erect cherry and thrust her pointed tongue into hole. While she licked, she kneaded Sam's ass with both hands, squeezing the round globes, spreading them, squishing them together and gouging her fingertips into the sensitive flesh until Sam was ready to scream. She suddenly stopped and slithered up Sam's body to hold her in her arms and kiss her quivering mouth. Sam's entire body was lit like a thousand candles.

Sam tentatively stroked Tures's breasts. Those gorgeous globes were firm but the skin was like silk. As she tugged on the nipples, they elongated and hardened. Sam's eyes were locked on Tures's as she lifted one nipple to her lips and sucked it. Tures arched her back and pushed her nipple deep into Sam's mouth. Sam's lips engorged with desire. Her tongue thickened and swelled as she sucked and she grew even more aroused. As much as she loved Bryn, sex with her had never been this exciting.

Tures gently pushed Sam's head toward her stomach and her sex. Sam quivered with anticipation as she slipped lower on Tures's white body until her face was even with the fat clitoris she'd seen protruding from between Tures's labia. When Tures spread her legs, Sam stared at the vampire's sex. It was as though all the blood in Tures's body pulsed in that swollen organ. It almost resembled a miniature penis. The reddened nub protruded from the protective hood. It was round and shiny with the juice of Tures's excitement. A small push on the back of her head roused her from her fascinated stare and she dropped her mouth onto that thick nub and sucked.