The Reinvented Miss Bluebeard (London Paranormal 03) (31 page)

Startled, Eve pushed back and stared at her father. "How?"

The Captain shook his head. "Me spies told me that Hook left his ship last night with a motley crew of wererats. Not long ago Mrs. Holly, the bartender at the Neverland Tavern, came to see me. Her house is near where Hook keeps his landing boats. She saw Hook and his crew hauling a bunch of little pots and a man aboard. Then they rowed out to his ship. The man was bound and gagged, but she saw his hair color. Brown like the earth, she said. She knew they were kidnapping him. Didn't concern her much, since she's seen it before. But something about the man stirred her memory. She said that she thought she'd seen us together at her tavern a few weeks ago."

Eve's soul filled with worry, despair, hope, and fear. "Hook? This isn't good at all. He'll maim him or kill Adam to pay me back for scorning him—and to pay Adam back for their fight last night."

"Aye," Bluebeard agreed. "And I'm afraid I'm much to blame. I pushed the competition between the two. I told Hook that Adam might not be the man ye needed, to not lose heart until I could judge. I lied to Adam, telling him that I intended to have him disappear from your life so that you could marry Hook—after a decent mourning period, of course. Afraid I've been hoist by me own petard."

"
Why
?" Eve asked, confused, gritting her teeth against the urge to give her father a well-deserved boot in the arse. She pushed away from him, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why both men?"

"I've known Adam for a long time. He comes from a fine family that was destroyed by betrayal and tragedy. Many men wouldn't have survived. Others might not have survived with honor and a sense of humor—not to mention courage. I wanted him for you. But knowing how stubborn ye are, I decided to throw a little smoke into the mix. I also knew Adam is about as stubborn as ye be. If he knew I wanted him in wedlock with ye permanently, he might not have been so willing. I used Hook to make him jealous. And it worked."

The captain began to pace as he tried to explain. "I always intended for Adam to be your husband, not Hook. Ben would make a bad mate for any lassie, since he can't keep his breeches closed. And his temper's too fierce. I thought it was a sound plan."

"Aye, such a cunning plan that the love of my life may soon be out of it," she growled. "I never thought the serpent in my own home would be my father!"

"You wound me, lassie; you truly do. I had only your best interests at heart. I can't believe Hook turned on me like a rabid dog! 'Tis mutiny, I say, mutiny!"

Eve could tell through his bluster that her father was deeply hurt. He valued loyalty highly, and Hook's betrayal was quite a blow.

She headed toward the door. Hook was an insane monster—and not because he was hairy or liked to clean too many things, but in the bad way, like being cruel, ruthless, and hating anyone to best him. She had to act.

"Where be ye going, Evie?" her father called.

Glancing back over her shoulder, she snapped, "Hurry up. I know you must have some plan to rescue Adam, since you came here. Well, don't you?" she asked in exasperation, her legs braced, her hands on her hips.

"Aye. That I do, that I do," he agreed.

"Then let's ready the deck, for this is war!"

Opening the door to her study, Eve was surprised to find a row of faces. The owners were all milling about the hallway, both staff and patients looking to her for answers. Evidently they had been eavesdropping. She really should scold them, but she didn't have the heart.

Fester cleared his throat, looking both apologetic and guilty. The guilt was for blaming Dr. Adam, she supposed, not for digging holes in her cellar.

"We want to help you rescue Dr. Adam," the sometimes starched butler stated emphatically, his head tilting up and down.

Fester nodded with a grunt. "And it's me gold. That dastardly Hook ain't got no right to it—or to our Dr. Adam."

"Why did you all eavesdrop?" Eve asked, her eyes narrowed.

"Because Adam would have never disappeared without somebody taking him," the somber Teeter replied.

"He lovezzzzz you," Mr. Pryce buzzed, still not quite used to his voice. But then, he had been playing a fly for a long time. "He lovezzz us too."

"Aye, and he loves ye in his bed, Dr. Eve," cackled Mrs. Fawlty. "He'll have forgotten them foreign women, he will. A fine man he is. A fitting mate for our Dr. Eve. All bite and no bark."

Eve blushed, thinking of her husband's mouth. As she took a quick peek at her father, he seemed to find the statement good news, for he was grinning cheerfully. Oh, yes, he spotted grandkids on the horizon. He was as happy as a pig in filth.

"All bite, eh?" the Captain asked. "I thought he might be. Faithful, too—unlike that cur Hook, who I thought was me friend."

Eve would have felt sorry for her father, but his meddling could cost Adam his life. She would forgive the Captain later, when she knew just how much she had to forgive. Turning her attention back to her patients, she used her firmest voice. "Absolutely not. None of you may come. The rescue will be dangerous, and I don't want any of you hurt. My father and I will rescue Dr. Adam, along with his crew. Only Totter may accompany us." Looking each of her patients in the eye, she stared them down, praying they would do as she said and stay put. After all, they were under her care.

Spotting her assistant, she swiftly advised him to watch the patients, putting him in charge. "Fester, you can come. It is, after all, your gold," she conceded to the little fellow. He was jumping up and down, hopping mad and not just madly demented.

Pavlov frowned. "I think I should come too."

"No," Eve said. "We'll have enough help with my father's crew. Now come on, Father; let's go a-pirating."

"Er, Evie," Captain Bluebeard mumbled, putting a forceful hand to her arm. It stopped her from storming outside and down the front steps. "Me crew took the
Jolly Roger
out for a turn at sea. I've only got Stinky Sam and Peg Leg Peggins for help. They're out watching the docks and keeping an eye open for Hook's ship."

In other words, they were in deep barnacles.

Eve frowned. "It's just us, then? Us against Hook and his whole debauched crew? Blister it all!" Sparing a glance at her butler, she reorganized her thoughts, planning the rescue operation. "Teeter, you're tall and strong. You come too—and Pavlov." She nodded to the housekeeper. "Mrs. Fawlty and Collins will be in charge here." And so saying, she hurried out the door with the captain right behind.

Totter had to duck his head as he followed them into the carriage. Teeter and Pavlov soon appeared, while Fester swung himself up on top to ride by the driver.

"Put 'em to it," Bluebeard shouted, and the horses clattered off. Eve looked back to see all her patients standing and staring, not realizing they were plotting mutiny.

The light of a dozen lanterns lit the deck of the
Tiger Lily
and the bruised and bloody man tied to one of the ship's masts. A crew of bloodthirsty pirates surrounded him. The night was windy and his shirt fluttered in the breeze. Again, Adam jerked as the cat-o'-nine-tails bit into his skin. The whip drew blood, and he bit his lip to keep from making a noise. He wouldn't give Captain Hook the satisfaction of knowing how much it hurt.

The pain eased after a moment, and Adam breathed better. He had been in hundreds of tight spots before, and had always gotten away. This time, however, he felt he was in too deep. Behind him he heard Captain Hook raise the whip.

"Eve's mine! She'll always be, you misbegotten cur. You dared touch her, but now I've got you in my hands and you'll rue the day," Hook ranted, his expression filled with loathing.

Lifting his head to judge the moon's ascent, Adam bided his time. Soon he would be able to transform. Then there would be hell to pay.

"Eve's mine. She loves me," he replied.

The taunt infuriated Hook further. Growling, the captain struck with his whip again, the lash biting into Adam's back. Adam cringed in pain. He was weak now, as he had only barely survived the keelhauling this afternoon. Only his supernatural strength and stamina had kept him alive, but survive he had, because he now had a life to live for, complete with his true love and a family. Okay, an odd sort of family, but a family just the same, where he was needed and respected.

He groaned, waiting for the whip to fall again. The full, round moon was creeping ever closer to the midpoint in the sky, when all shape-shifters would shift into their secondary forms. He wished it would move faster. Captain Hook was in for a big surprise.

"I love Eve Bluebeard. I've always loved her. When you're dead she'll marry me, and together we'll sail the oceans and spend her father's fortune." Hook was laughing maniacally as his nose began to twitch, catching the scent of all that lovely blood on Adam's back. His fingers elongated as claws burst through the skin. He snapped his cat-o'-nine-tails. "I intend to eat most of you, but I'll leave your head so that people will know you're dead."

"Over my dead body," Adam replied. The pain in his back was amplifying, causing him some dizziness. Yet beyond the pain he could feel the moon's power tightening his muscles and making his blood hum. He could feel the change coming upon him, which meant that the wererats aboard ship were feeling the moon's call as well. He hoped he could overcome them.

"Precisely!" Hook replied, laughing demonically.

Adam started to protest, but a sudden sound of scrambling and noise on wooden planks had him lifting his head off his chest. He couldn't believe his eyes.

"Well, laddie, I'm afraid you'll have more to eat than you bargained for. You'll have to add me own fine carcass to the mix." It was Captain Bluebeard, who snarled as he stepped into the lantern light, clutching a pistol in each hand.

"And mine," Eve shouted, appearing from behind a stack of barrels. "You dirty rat!"

"And mine," Sir Loring cried, the glow of the lanterns shining red in his eyes, making his sharp fangs glint.

"And mine," came a chorus of the Towers' patients. They stepped up behind the Bluebeards, along with two of Captain Bluebeard's original crew and Junger.

"You rotten rodent! You stole me gold! A pox upon yer blighted head!" Fester was hopping mad, and what little hair was upon his baldpate stuck straight up as he shouted at Hook.

"Ye double-crossed me, laddie, and ye know how I feel about mutiny. I can't let it go," Bluebeard chimed in again.

Whip still in hand, ratlike claws extending, Hook froze, his dark eye showing astonishment. "How did you get here? We're two miles out to sea. How could ye find us?"

"We rowed," Bluebeard replied, a brutal grin on his bearded face. "And ye forget yourself, boy. Remember, I've werewolf blood flowing through me veins. I sniffed ye out, you and your ratty crew."

"I didn't hear you come aboard," Hook said, his tone one of cold curiosity.

"We were quiet as mice." Bluebeard laughed. "Didn't think ye'd be setting out cheese plates in welcome."

Hook snarled, his beady eye dark with fury. "It's a shame. All this folderol over a nobody."

"Not a nobody anymore," Eve cried. "He's somebody, and the only anybody I ever want. He's Adam Griffin, my cherished husband." Eve stared at her beloved, processing the bloody welts on Adam's back. How she hated Hook. Thank goodness there was a plank nearby.

Staring hard at Hook, Bluebeard shook his head. What a waste, what a tragedy. Men would die tonight—good men, bad men, and many, many rats.

"Ye didn't think I'd let ye kill me son-in-law," he said. "Not when he's just shown up and hasn't had time to get me daughter with child—did you? Especially not when I handpicked him meself."

Dropping the whip, Hook began to snarl, his mouth protruding slightly as his canines finished their transformation. They looked extremely sharp. His shoulders hunched slightly, and a scattering of coarse fur began to grow upon his body. Behind Hook, the sound of clothes ripping and shredding filled the night, along with the squeals of men becoming giant mice-men.

Rats, thought Eve.

"You think to stop us, Edward? I don't think so. Maybe you and this mangy crew might have had a chance on another night, but tonight the moon is full, and you aren't a full shape-shifter. Most of my crew are full-bloods. Tonight you are food for us rats." Hook paused. "Leave now, Bluebeard, and I'll let you live. If not, I'll have your liver for supper while your daughter watches."

"Not full shape-shifters?" Mr. Pryce called out, stepping to the front of Bluebeard's band. "I am." Everyone gave a gasp of surprise, except Mrs. Monkfort, who remarked with adoration, "My hero."

Jack the Rip growled and stepped forward, red fur sprouting on his foxy face, and revealing sharp little teeth and pointed ears. "I'm looking forward to a little snack," he said.

Hook's laugh was razor-sharp. "I have thirty crew members, and twenty-three are wererats," he said. The sounds of claws and paws filled the air. Time was up. Hook's crew had finished their transformations, and their heads had reshaped into those of giant rats. Long tails protruded from their hairy buttocks, and extremely wicked-looking teeth were bared in anger.

Suddenly Major Gallant charged out of nowhere, in Bonaparte style, an imaginary sword in his hand. The mutt Junger was nipping at his heels and barking frenziedly. Eve gasped, then watched in stunned disbelief as the nimble Hugo also appeared, leaping from the rigging to the crow's nest. From there he swung across the yardarm, his little face twisted in gleeful madness. He pelted the pirats with marbles, causing them to slip and slide as if they were learning a new kind of jig.

Jack the Rip charged forward, caught sight of one crewman's tattoo—a rose—and, just as the pirate drew his blade, exposed himself. "Take that!" he yelled to the stunned pirate. Before the man could reply, he was knocked overboard by Hugo. The splash he made started the battle.

Adam stared in astonishment, for Eve's patients were out in full force, the whole mad lot. And this time, it was to his benefit! He loved the whole scurvy lot. He would have laughed at the absurdity of it all if Hook weren't leering at Eve.