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

have already met.” She shook out her glossy hair, which was black today. If anything, it made her more beautiful.

“Not very helpful, Helen.” I knew I was pushing her, but honestly, I had met many men here. Time for her to get serious. I dug out a gold coin and laid it on the table. “I need a name.”

“It will not help you. He is very clever. He hides behind a false one.” She stayed fixed on that boiling water. “And behind a false smile. Trust no one.”

I slapped the table. “Give me a clue. A real one that will uncover this false friend.”

Fergus’s hand landed on my shoulder. “Lass, you are playing with fire.”

“Listen to your shifter, Gloriana. I have told you what I know.” She made the coin disappear into her robe. Tonight’s was red, the color of blood.

“I think you can do better.” Yes, I was challenging her but she’d told me nothing. I could have guessed as much. A man who pretended to be a friend? Hah! We had a spy at the castle. No surprise there. I pulled out another coin. “Who made the poison on that arrow? Where did the dark magic come from?”

“Some things are best left alone.” She reached for the coin but I covered it with my hand.

“Others are best revealed. Names, Helen.” I heard Fergus move behind me. Yes, I was taking a chance, defying her, but I’d risked much when I’d walked through her door.

She gave me a baleful look then muttered an incantation and threw another handful of her herbs into the water. Sparks flew, making me duck in spite of myself. The smoke turned black this time and filled the room. Fergus coughed and sputtered.

“Lass, we’d best be going.” He gripped my shoulder.

“No, she’s looking for a name.” I still wasn’t breathing and leaned closer. “Who used dark magic to get the poison, Helen? Did you give it to him?”

“No! I will not trade in the dark arts.” She suddenly slumped then began to shake.

“The time for playing is over.” Helen’s head had come up and the voice was not her own. It seemed to come from the depths of Hell. “Soon you will rue the day you made Zarah lose her will to live. Her spirit must be coming.” A vague form, the outline of a man, rose from the bowl and flew above our heads, racing around the room and screaming vile curses. “Where is she?”

Cold air rushed by inches from my head. Fergus cursed and flailed at it with his knife but couldn’t seem to touch it. Helen sat drooped in her chair once again, her eyes closed and helpless, as if she’d become a tool of Satan.

When the spirit stopped close to me and screamed, calling me names, I saw its face and recognized it. Zarah’s lover. Had he sold his soul for that poison?

“You should have died.” He raised his hands and lunged at me.

I threw myself on the floor, shivering as it hit me with its malevolent essence. All I could do was pray to my gods to protect me.

Please, save me.

The thing, whatever it was, pounded me, hitting me again and again with its icy fists. I’d never felt such hatred, such malice. I kept praying, putting all my hopes into what I wanted to believe were loving gods.

Finally, a wave of heat came over me, starting at my head then moving down my body until I was warmed from head to toes. The entity shrieked in disappointment and agony. Then it suddenly vanished.

“What the devil was that?” Fergus put his knife away. The smoke cleared and Helen began to stir. “It felt like Hell came calling. Are you all right, Gloriana?” He knelt next to me.

I lay face down on the dirt floor, under Helen’s table. I knew the table was not what had saved me from the evil that had tried to kill me. No, it had been whatever gods I’d prayed to. I whispered a word of thanks to those deities then crawled out to grasp Fergus’s strong arms. For a moment I let him hold me.

Safety, security. I knew why Maggie loved him. He was a big man and made me feel like he’d protect me from whatever came next, perhaps at the cost of his own life. Too bad he’d been powerless when faced with that creature from Hell.

“I, I am all right.” I took his help to get to my feet. “Helen?” She moved again, groaning and rubbing her eyes. “What was that?”

She stared into her bowl, which was now covered in a black sludge, and shivered. “It was the essence of a damned soul. One who has but recently arrived in Hell. That is who bought your poison. I have no name of the poison maker for you.” She muttered a spell and waved her hands wide. “It is a witch from far away. I would guess Ireland.”

“I could have guessed that.” Fergus scoffed. “We are wasting our time here, lass. I’ve seen enough of this witch’s tricks.”

“I recognized the spirit who attacked me, Fergus.” I tried to run my hands through my hair. Mercy had put it in braids and made a pretty crown of it this evening. Now it was loose and tangled. “That was Zarah’s lover. The man who shot me with the arrow. He never gave us his name.”

“He is in Hell now.” Helen got up from the table and stared down at the contents of her bowl. “I have one answer for you. To help you find the one who wants you dead now. Your spy in the castle.” She pointed to the mess in the bowl. “Look you.”

Fergus and I gawked at the sludge. Could it be? Not a word, but there was a letter in the mess that still bubbled and reeked.

“’M.’” I wanted to heave the bowl out the door. “Is there any more common letter in the names of the men in the castle?”