Real Vampires: Glory and the Pirates by Bartlett, Gerry (red white royal blue TXT) 📕

after my bath. I will see you later, amica. I am afraid the witch was right and we will have a long wait for our men. It is too bad.”

Too bad? It was terrible. I waited and worried and had to go to my death sleep alone in my big bed. My last thought as I closed my eyes when dawn broke was of Jeremiah. Where was he? Was he safe as he died? I could only say a prayer before I too became dead to the world.

10

Ispent two nights pacing the floor and worrying about Jeremiah. Florence and Anne did the same fretting about their men. Finally shouts of a sighting down at the beach had us running toward it. One ship was coming in to Bloody Bay. One.

“I know that ship! It’s Malcolm’s ship, the Mary Hope.” Lady Anne was almost dancing in her shoes. “I’d know it anywhere. It has a painted cabin in the middle of the deck. See? Blue like the sky, he says, or the sea.” She flushed as she pointed at it. “It is difficult to see at night.”

“You do have good eyesight. Can you see any other ships on the horizon?” I didn’t mean to sound like I didn’t care about her Malcolm, but where was Jeremiah? And his father? When Anne shook her head, I could only hold Flo’s hand as we waited for the first small boat to go out and bring in men from the ship after it dropped anchor.

The rain had stopped the night before, leaving us with mud in the courtyard and a few downed trees from the strong winds. I looked over my shoulder and saw that the witch’s hut had survived unscathed. I knew enough about witches to think she’d probably put some kind of protection spell around it.

The witch herself came out to watch as the first rowboat scraped onshore. Was she smiling, sure her prediction for Lady Anne had come true? I wanted to ask her more about Jeremiah but doubted she truly had the sight. Not for a vampire’s fate.

“Anne!” Captain Burnett jumped into ankle deep water and ran to our group. He so forgot himself as to pull Anne into his arms and give her a hearty kiss. Flo and I sighed. When he came up for air, he flushed and realized we’d watched his eager greeting.

“Where is the ship that Lord Campbell and his father took from here?” I demanded, almost stumbling when Flo ripped her hand from mine and threw herself at him.

“Did you leave them behind?” Flo demanded. “Tell me. Dio Mio! How are you here and they are not?” She fell to the sand, sobbing as she clutched his boots.

Obviously unsure how to handle such strong emotions, Captain Burnett looked at me then pulled Flo to her feet.

“There, there. No need to fall to pieces, madame. Last I saw Lord Campbell and the laird, they were fine, firing at the pirate castle and making good shots.”

“Why did you leave them to fight alone? Because they are not here. They are missing.” Flo jerked from his arms and spit on the ground with a spate of Italian. “Coward! How can you call yourself a commander of men?”

“Flo, let the captain explain.” I could see that this time the captain’s face was red with anger.

“My ship had suffered an almost direct hit, madame, and was taking on water. Our other ship was sinking fast and we had to pluck as many men as we could from the sea. As it was, we lost at least a dozen brave souls.” He bowed his head for a moment, obviously saying a prayer for them. When he looked up, his face was solemn. He seemed startled when Lady Anne took his hand.

“I’m sure Lord Campbell understood that I had no choice but to leave the scene of the action and try to make my way back to safe landfall. It was not an easy voyage.” The captain did look exhausted, his hat askew and his uniform muddy.

“Are you all right, Malcolm? We were so worried.” Lady Anne leaned against his side.

“I am fine. But the ship! We couldn’t make much progress with the damage to the hull. The men bailed but we finally found an inlet where we could make a hasty repair before we could move on toward home.” He cleared his throat. “I had hoped to find Lord Campbell’s ship already in port when we got here. Since he’s not arrived, we’ll finish our repairs then go out and look for his ship as quickly as we can.”

I wanted to scream at him to hurry. But what good would it do? The sea was vast and two long days had already passed. Jeremiah would have had to find a safe place during daylight for his death sleep. I ignored Lady Anne and the captain, who looked like they wanted to find their own safe place to renew their lovemaking. Damn them for being happy. I searched for Flo but my friend had disappeared.

“She ran into the trees and shifted. She’s gone to look for them herself. Too bad you can’t do the same,” Valdez said close to my ear. He had the nerve to seem challenging.

I wanted to shift then. Oh, how I wanted to. If only I could fly over the water and look for the ship or the remains of it, I’d surely hear Jeremiah call for me. I knew I needed to try. I strode to the same stand of trees where Flo must have gone to make her transformation. She was nowhere in sight.

“You’re going to do it?” Valdez was on my heels. He was clearly delighted.

Of course, he was. It would make his job so much easier if I could defend myself that way, change and fly away at the first sign of danger. I had no doubt he’d go with me if I managed it. We’d fly together.

“I will try.