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

get me out of it. I tried to reach behind me. No luck. I did succeed in pulling off my petticoats, but trying to get out of the rest of the dress was hopeless. Unless. . .

I concentrated, seeing Flo’s bedchamber clearly in my mind. Tingles started and then. . . I was there, standing amid a pile of lace. Fiona screamed when she saw me. Flo laughed. It was just the reaction I was hoping for.

“How did you do that?” Flo touched me to see if I was really there.

I didn’t blame her. I was wondering that myself. “I discovered a new skill. I can’t do your kind of shifting. You know that. But I can shift from place to place. Isn’t it wonderful?”

Fiona stared at my feet. “You are standing on my dress. Get off! I don’t love it as much as I do your red one, but I must wear it home tomorrow night.” She had a dazed look. “Is there anything you vampires cannot do?”

“Oh, sorry!” I hopped off of the massive lace confection and then picked it up and draped it over a chair. “Yes, Fiona, we cannot eat, see daylight or have babies.” I knew she had been teasing Robert to be turned. “Don’t be in a hurry to leave your mortality behind.”

“Like you did?” She smirked. “Robert told me your story, Gloriana. You didn’t take long to make your choice.”

Flo clapped her hands. “Ladies, I hear cannon fire. We must hurry.”

I heard it too. I looked at Fiona. “Did the britches fit?”

“They are a little tight.” Fiona turned around so I could see the way they hugged her bottom. Oh, but they showed the curve of a shapely ass. Robert would love to see her now, I was sure. “Florence is right, they are tickling my love canal. I want to find my man and have him finish the job, if you know what I mean.” She winked. “The waist is so tight I am cut in half. But I can live with that.”

I was glad my britches weren’t that tight. I wanted to fight in mine, use my bow, not worry about being strangled by my clothing.

“Why are you not wearing yours, Glory?” Flo had hers on and looked ready for battle. She had added her sword and picked up a knife to wear at her waist.

“I can’t get my dress open in the back. I’m stuck in it.” I smiled. “I wasn’t about to ask Valdez to help me. He wouldn’t. He is against this entire thing—britches and joining the guards.”

“I know. Men!” Flo got behind me and quickly opened the back of the dress. “There you are. But where are your other clothes? You should have brought them.”

“I forgot.” I held my loose bodice to my breasts. “I’ll just focus and go back to my room. I’ll meet you both in my bedchamber. Fiona, I have extra swords and knives there. We’ll outnumber Valdez so he’ll have no choice but to follow us and allow us to fight where we’re needed.”

“Right.” Fiona opened the door. “We’ll be there.” She studied me. “You just focus on the place you want to be? Do you think any other vampire could do it? Florence, have you tried it?”

“Not yet. This is the first I’ve heard about it.” Flo flushed. “I will certainly try it. Right now. It is a wonderful skill, Glory. Use it when we fight. It will drive the pirates crazy, capisci?” She made a stabbing motion with a knife in her hand.

“Yes, you’re right. I could vanish in front of them then reappear at their backs.” I was excited at the thought. “I must go now. See if you can go to my bedchamber with me, Flo.” I waited.

Flo closed her eyes and concentrated. Nothing happened. She opened her eyes and cursed in a burst of Italian.

“I cannot do it, Glory. Go! We will meet you in your bedchamber.”

“Fine. I’m sorry, Flo.” I shook my head then closed my eyes and focused on my bedchamber. It wasn’t easy because I kept seeing all the possibilities for battle strategies. I could totally confuse the enemy. I felt the tingle then opened my eyes.

I had shifted all right. I was standing with my bodice clutched to my breasts but what I saw was definitely not my bedchamber.

22

Iwas in the forest, outside the castle walls. And I wasn’t alone.

“What have we here?” The man facing me was familiar. I knew him but not the expression on his face. The short man with the long beard had been talkative and friendly when we’d first met. Now he was leering at me and reaching for my loose bodice.

I had no choice but to show him my vampire. I let go of that bodice and snarled, letting my fangs down as I’d seen Jeremiah do when confronting an enemy. I expected the man to be horrified. He did back up a step, his eyes wide.

“That’s quite a sight.” He licked his lips. “You gonna drink my blood, pretty thing?” He swept his eyes over me, lingering on my breasts held up by my corset.

“McFee. I remember you. You killed the man who loved the pirate queen. That was deliberate, wasn’t it?” I felt a slight chill but knew I was covered enough by my corset despite the way he was staring at me.

“Yes, it was. He was a mere tool I used to end you. He failed, didn’t he?”

“How did you hide your thoughts? Or your true nature? We were sure you were harmless.” I snarled again.

He laughed, my snarl obviously not impressing him. “I am more powerful than a mere vampire mind-reader or a shape-shifter trying to see into my powers. You only thought you could see what I was thinking. My cloaking spell worked so well, you had no idea what you saw wasn’t true.” He seemed to grow before my eyes from that small man to a larger, more