Vampirates 6: Immortal War (21 page)

There was no time to savor the victory. Moonshine swiftly organized his team to secure the vessel.

“Connor, take the pirates you need and secure the prisoners! Jasmine, I want you and your team to check the rest of the lower cabins and ensure we’ve achieved one hundred percent success here.” Jasmine gave Moonshine the Federation salute and led Bo Yin away.

Moonshine turned to Cate. “Come with me,” he said.

“Where?”

“To the captain’s cabin,” Moonshine said. “Cheng Li should have dispatched the Cowboy by now. It’ll be ready for us to take over command.”

“Us?” Cate said, surprised to find Moonshine nodding and smiling at her.

Down beneath the surface waters, Johnny still clasped Cheng Li in a viselike grip. Clearly, he had no intention of letting her go. She was finding it harder and harder to keep the air in her lungs. Her body felt weak in a way that was utterly alien to her. She no longer had any doubt. She would not be making it back from this.

It was as if Johnny had read her thoughts. For now he turned his eyes to her and all the pain and fury she had seen there before was gone. Instead, he looked peaceful. Her first thought was that perhaps the water had quenched his burning, but she saw that this was not the case. If anything, his disintegration was gathering momentum. Yet still his face—his eyes—were suddenly peaceful and, in a way, quite beautiful. Feeling on the verge of delirium, she thought of Lorcan Furey. Beautiful Lorcan Furey. If only he were here to save her now.

At last, she felt Johnny’s grip loosen, though she realized that this was involuntary. It seemed that his strength was finally being depleted. He seemed to shrug at her as his arms set her free. She found herself floating away from him and her heart leaped. She was floating up to safety. But it had better be quick. Her lungs felt as if they were about to explode.

Connor watched as Cate and Moonshine set off. Once, he might have felt envy at Moonshine’s sudden prominence,
but now he felt only satisfaction at a job well done and a certain confusion as to the events of that morning. One of his men, Scott, came over to his side. “Want some help?” he asked. Connor nodded gratefully.

They called forward their teams and rounded up the prisoners, leading them out into the corridor and up to the higher deck. “Obviously they can’t go outside while it’s light,” Scott said. “Let’s contain them in the dormitory cabin upstairs for now.”

Connor nodded, letting Scott go on ahead while he took up the rear. As he followed the prisoners up the stairs, he saw a door push open on the upper corridor. No one but him noticed as a figure stepped out.

Connor found himself looking at his own self. They were identical in every way. Now the second Connor slipped his sword back into its scabbard and lifted a finger to his lips. He stepped closer to Connor, closer and closer until… Connor felt another searing headache. The pain drove him to close his eyes for an instant. When he opened them again, the ache was gone and so was his other self. He shook himself, feeling suddenly energized, and followed the prisoners up to their holding bay.

“Well?” Cate asked as she and Moonshine crossed the threshold into the captain’s cabin. “How does it feel to be a full-fledged captain?”

Moonshine’s face was streaked with blood and sweat, but he smiled from ear to ear and punched the air. “It feels great!” he exclaimed. Then his face grew more serious and his voice husky. “What’s happened here? Where’s Cheng Li?”

They both assessed the scene of devastation—the torn blinds, the broken timber, and the shards of broken glass. The air was still thick with ash. Moonshine found the soles of his boots were sticky with blood. Taking another step, he glanced down at the bodies of Cheng Li’s slaughtered escorts.

His eyes met Cate’s once more, but he no longer looked as if he was claiming a victory. “I don’t like this, Cate. I have a bad feeling about what went down here.”

Cate nodded. Her own blood was running cold as she stepped forward and looked out through the broken window. She didn’t know what she expected to see. Cheng Li treading water? Her body floating on the waves? Cate saw neither—only the mirrorlike surface of the callous ocean. “Cheng Li!” she cried out. “Has anyone seen Captain Li?” Her question was met only by silence.

Suddenly Moonshine pushed past her. “I’m going in,” he said.

“No!” Cate reached out a hand to restrain him.

“I’m a strong swimmer,” Moonshine declared. “If she’s down there, I’ll find her.”

Before she could do anything to stop him, Moonshine had climbed out through the broken window and jumped down into the icy water below.

“Be careful!” Cate cried as he dipped beneath the water’s surface. A strong beam of sunlight suddenly struck Cate directly in the face. It made her raise a hand to her eyes and turn away from the window. She found herself looking into the cabin once more. The cabin floor was now further illuminated by the stark glare of the sun. Light reflected off two spikes of silver on the floor. Cate recognized them immediately. She had seen them many times before.

Cate’s heart hammered as she knelt down and reached out her hands toward Cheng Li’s twin
katanas
. Both of her hands were soon covered in blood and ash, but she was past caring. She gripped the hilts of the
katanas
in her hands. There was no way Cheng Li would have willingly been separated from her beloved weapons. A horrible sense of foreboding washed over her, and she dashed to the porthole, terrified of what she might see in the waters below.

Oblivious to the scenes above, Jasmine and her team worked their way systematically through the lower cabins. Some of the stuff they found made for grim viewing.

“Are you sure you can handle this?” she asked Bo Yin as they came across a fresh skeleton.

Bo Yin nodded. “I’m tougher than you think,” she said.

“Yes.” Jasmine nodded. “I guess you are.”

“That’s about it, Deputy Peacock,” announced a gruff voice at her side. “We have this level locked down, with the exception of this cabin here.”

Jasmine glanced deeper into the gloomy cabin. “It doesn’t look like there’s anything we can’t handle here,” she said. “You can go up and join the others. Report to Captain Li and see if she has fresh duties for you.”

“Yes, ma’am!” The officer saluted Jasmine, then turned on his heels.

Jasmine pushed open the creaking door to the final cabin and stepped across the threshold. Bo Yin followed close behind. Glancing up ahead, Jasmine narrowed her eyes.

“Is that a cage?” she asked, stepping closer and seeing the bars and the thick chain that looped around the door.

“What’s inside it?” Bo Yin asked.

“Probably just more bones,” Jasmine said with a shudder. “I don’t want to know what went on down here.”

“Me neither,” Bo Yin agreed. “Wait! Did you see that?”

Jasmine froze to the spot. Yes, she had seen it. Behind the steel bars, there was a movement.

“There’s something in there,” Bo Yin said.

“Not something,” Jasmine corrected her. “Someone.” Her heart hammered as she stepped closer and knelt down before the cage. A pale, skeletal hand reached forward. The bony tips of the fingers pushed through the gap in the cage and made contact with her own flesh. It—
he
—seemed to want to make contact. Jasmine shuddered
but did not retreat. A thin face hovered in the darkness beyond the bars. It lingered there, as if afraid to come any farther forward, but she willed it to keep coming—as if she were luring a frightened kitten out from a hiding place.

Finally, the face leaned forward, atop a scrawny neck. The flesh was drawn and gray in color and the head had been shorn of hair. Despite this, Jasmine would have recognized those eyes anywhere.

“Jacoby!” she exclaimed with a gasp. “Oh, my God… Jacoby, what have they done to you?”

Cate was still standing at the broken window when she heard Moonshine’s cries.

“I found her! I’ve found Cheng Li!” Moonshine was bobbing on the water’s surface with Cheng Li in his arms. The captain’s eyes were closed and there were lacerations all over her pale face.

“Help me!” Moonshine cried. “Her heartbeat is weak, but I think we can bring her back. She’s a fighter.”

Cate shook her head in amazement, then jumped into action. Ripping an ornate tapestry off the nearby wall, she sliced it to ribbons with her sword, then tied the pieces together to form a makeshift rope. It wasn’t the best method, but it was certainly the quickest.

Cate threw the rope out of the porthole and down to
Moonshine. He grabbed at it with one hand as he paddled desperately to keep them afloat with the other.