Blood

by Emily Thompson

  “Keep your grubby mitts to yourself!” Skye bellowed angrily. She shook her arms over the table—nothing fell out—and pulled back the cuffs of her jacket to show the pirates. “See? Are you satisfied now, you damned scallywags? Or will you make me strip?” she added ruefully.

  Twist’s breath caught in his chest.

  “Three hands in a row is more than just lucky,” the dealer said, shaking his head.

  Skye slipped the last of the gold into her money pouch with a sly smile. “What can I say?” she asked smoothly. “Lady Luck prefers a handsome lad. Shall we have another hand?”

  “Give us back our money,” one of the pirates growled, drawing a knife, “or you won’t be handsome anymore.”

  “I won it from you, fair and square!” Skye bellowed.

  She struck a ready pose, while Kali—who had been napping in the corner—lifted her head and watched with a taut expression on her furry face. Not a moment later, a chorus of orders filled the air up on deck. The pirates glowered at Skye but didn’t hesitate to rush past Twist and Myra and up onto the deck above, leaving them and Skye alone. She turned to watch after the pirates and smiled when she saw Twist and Myra.

  “Oh, hello, Twist,” she said brightly.

  “Jonas spotted a ship,” Twist told her as he and Myra came closer.

  Skye’s mirth wavered. “A patrol ship?” Skye asked. Twist shook his head. “Just some poor schmuck, huh? Well, what’s the plan?”

  “Hide here and hope the pirates win,” Twist answered darkly.

  “We’re just letting a defenseless ship be attacked?” Skye asked, aghast. “We’re not going to do anything to help them?”

  “We need to get to Aazzi,” Twist said sternly, and mostly to himself. “It’s been days. She needs our help more than those merchants do. Besides, they would be attacked whether we were on this ship or not. It’s not our problem.”

  Skye crossed her arms and glared at her own thoughts. “Damn it.”

  “I’m not happy, either,” Twist said with a sigh. “But what can we do? This is the price of our ticket to Africa. Jonas said it would be safer for us to wait down here. He should be along in a minute.”

  “He’s not joining in?” Skye asked.

  “I made him say he wouldn’t,” Twist said with a weak smile.

  “What about Luca and Harman?” Myra asked, now kneeling on the deck beside Kali.

  “Gypsies can take care of themselves,” Skye answered her with a confident smile.

  Myra’s gaze drifted down with the weight of her concern, her metal hands clutching at the fur on Kali’s neck. Twist knelt before her and took her hand, wincing against her anxiety. He instantly realized that she was worried for all of them, herself included. She looked up to him with a brave face.

  “Do you remember the thunderstorm that attacked us over Utah?” Twist asked her gently. Her eyes darkened, and her emotions sharpened. “We survived that just fine. We met Storm and his mother because of it. And when I had to let you fall into the Caribbean Sea, we found you again, and all was well. And when the Cyphers took you in Suez, or Aden took me in Paris, or Zéphyrin arrested us in Australia, or even when Jonas was taken to outer space, we always ended up all right.” As Twist spoke, he felt her emotions soften and calm, while her face slowly took on a smile.

  “You guys are definitely my most interesting friends,” Skye said, looking down at them in wonder.

  Myra spared her a smile. “Yes, you’re right, darling,” she said to Twist with a long breath. “I’ll try not to worry.”

  “We’ve got trouble,” Jonas said as he descended the stairs and walked closer to Twist.

  Twist stood to face him, while Myra and Skye remained seated at Kali’s side. Luca appeared, following after Jonas. Twist was startled to see a sharp, yellow-green color in Jonas’s eyes and feel dread tingling at the edges of the buzz in his neck.

  “What is it?” Twist asked Jonas, trying to prepare himself for whatever might come.

  “That freighter is bait,” Jonas said. “I saw the men out on the deck. They’re all magpies, just pretending to be a nice little defenseless merchant crew.”

  “Fantastic!” Skye said brightly.

  Luca shot her a glare.

  “Well, actually, not fantastic,” Jonas said darkly. “You see, I told our lovely captain that it’s bait, and he thinks this is a great chance to give the nasty authority figures a good thrashing. He’s not going to try to rob the ship. Now he’s going to blast it into dust and leave the mags to drown.”

  “That’s horrible!” Skye bellowed, getting to her feet in a shot. “We have to warn them.”

  “Why?” Luca asked, a nasty tone to his voice. “I say it’s a wonderful idea.”

  Jonas gave him a disgusted glance that was visible, even through his black goggles.

  “Because that ship isn’t defenseless,” Skye snapped at him. “How stupid is this pirate? He’s got to know a Rook ship wouldn’t leave itself open to an attack.”

  “I mentioned that,” Jonas said, nodding. “He’s not listening to me. He says he can sink it before they know what’s hit them. We’re all going to get blown to bits. Maybe we can get off this ship.”

  “And get stranded in the middle of the Atlantic?” Twist asked quickly. “Shouldn’t we try to overpower the captain or something?”

  Everyone looked to Twist in alarm.

  “First you say we should take the pirate ship, and now you’re suggesting a mutiny?” Jonas asked, looking impressed. “You’re spending way too much time with me.”

  “What if the captain’s right?” Luca asked impatiently. “The magpies might not have time to react. After all, they don’t have your eyes, Jonny.”

  “So killing a whole ship full of good men is fine with you?” Skye snapped, advancing on him a step.

  Luca stood his ground with a nasty glare. “The only good mag is a dead mag.”

  “A mouth like that’s liable to get you killed, honey,” Skye said dangerously.

  Luca drifted closer, his nose inches from Skye’s and his dark eyes murderous. Kali got to her feet, her attention trained squarely on Luca.

  “Luca, come on,” Jonas said, reaching out to push him back from Skye. “Calm the hell down! Now’s not the time.”

  “Tell your cross-dressing whor—” Luca began, unmoving.

  “Luca!” Jonas, grabbing the man by the collar. “Don’t you dare.”

  He shoved Luca back and placed himself well between the gypsy and Skye. Kali made a low, worried-sounding tone, her eyes still trained on Luca. Jonas said, “I told you. If you have a problem with her, then you have a problem with me.”

  “What the hell has she done to you?” Luca snapped at Jonas. “How can you turn against your own for a magpie?”

  “That’s Rook, you ass!” Skye growled, throwing out a hand to shove at Luca’s chest.

  “Skye, stop it!” Jonas snapped as Luca’s eyes flashed with fire.

  “Woman or not, I’ll not take that lying down!” Luca bellowed, raising a fist.

  “You want a piece of me? You can have it, sugar!” Skye yelled back, brazen and defiant. “I’ve taken down bigger men than you!”

  “Skye!” Jonas shouted angrily to still her, struggling to remain between them both.

  Luca moved swiftly, swiping a hand at Skye, who ducked just in time and then rushed for him, landing a right cross square on Luca’s jaw. Stunned, Luca backed away a step, while Jonas leaped for Skye and struggled to hold her back.

  “What’s going on?” Harman shouted, hurrying closer from the stairs.

  In all the excitement, Twist never expected to see Kali suddenly leap at Luca with a great, bellowing growl that sent a strong vibration through his bones. Luca screamed in fright as Kali knocked him down to the floor and pinned both of his arms under her giant paws. Her long, dangerous claws dug into the wood—a hair’s breadth away from slicing Luca’s flesh in the process—while she snarled down at his face.

  “Kali!”
Skye called in fright, just as startled by Kali’s action as the others were.

  “Get it off of me!” Luca screamed, struggling uselessly against the powerful creature.

  “Kali, what the hell are you—” Skye began to ask, freeing herself from Jonas’s grip and hurrying to Kali’s side. She paused suddenly, apparently staring into midair. “What is that?” she asked, looking down to Luca.

  “Get your damned tiger away from my son!” Harman bellowed.

  “What’s Kali doing?” Jonas asked, approaching Skye.

  Skye knelt down at Kali’s shoulder. Kali looked to her with a deeply worried expression and then turned her face back down to sniff at Luca’s chest, where a number of trinkets—that until now had hung by strings around his neck and been hidden under his clothes—lay spilled out over his shirt.

  “She smells something,” Skye said absently. She reached down and plucked one of the items from around Luca’s neck.

  “Stop it! Get away!” Luca yelled, squirming uselessly.

  Skye stood up, gaping at a small glass vial that she held in her hand. Kali stared at it, giving low, anxious-sounding moans and appearing to ignore Luca entirely while she continued to pin him down. The vial in Skye’s hand was definitely glowing slightly with a rich red color.

  “What is that?” Jonas asked, lifting his goggles to look at the vial.

  “Ours, damn it!” Harman growled. “Give it back!”

  Skye looked to him with a startling seriousness in her sharp blue eyes. “Holy crap.”

  “Pirate ship, ahoy!” called an amplified voice from below. “This is a Rook vessel, and you may consider yourselves under arrest. Stand down now, and no harm will come you or your crew.”

  Twist looked up at the boards above his head as he heard the pirate crew let out a defiant call full of rude sentiments. He looked back down to Luca—still pinned to the floor by Kali—and then to Skye as she stood holding the glowing red vial in her hand.

  “Holy crap…” she muttered again, her attention clearly within her own frantic thoughts.

  “Skye, what is that?” Jonas asked, still staring at the vial. “Because I’m pretty sure I already know. Please tell me it isn’t what I think it is.”

  Twist looked at the vial and rubbed at his own arm. A soft, tingling sensation was growing on his skin, as if it was reacting to the sight of the vial. Harman had said that his family was traveling from Mexico. Wasn’t that where the Rook’s “dragon’s blood” had been discovered and then stolen? He stared into the red glow of that tiny glass vial and shuddered as it seemed to stare right back at him with some unholy consciousness.

  “Jonas!” Harman growled. “Damn it, boy, help us! Take that vial and get Luca away from that blasted animal!”

  “No matter what the pirates do now, all survivors will be arrested,” Skye said quickly, turning to Jonas. “When they board, they’ll find us. If they find this,” she pointed to the vial, “on a couple of loud-mouthed gypsies, your friends will spend the rest of their lives in prison at the very least.”

  “I know,” Jonas said, nodding with a bitter expression.

  “We have to pin it on the pirates,” Skye said. “It’s the only way. Say Kali found it here on the ship. The gypsies had nothing to do with it.”

  “Wait, what?” Harman asked.

  “We need that!” Luca snapped, still struggling against Kali.

  Kali looked down and gave a sharp, barking sound that stilled him.

  “Aazzi needs it,” Harman continued on his son’s behalf. “It can be used to protect us from vampires,” he continued reluctantly. “One drop of that in your bloodstream, and no vampire can kill you. They can’t even bear the smallest taste. Aazzi wrote to us hoping we still had some. But it’s nearly impossible to find nowadays. We happened to already be in the Americas because we heard that the damned mags were hunting a vial, and we managed to steal it. Once we heard about Philippe, we knew it was fate. We have to use it to help Aazzi.”

  “We’re going to be fighting vampires?” Jonas asked darkly.

  Twist felt Myra’s fears mirror his own, threatening to make him tremble. Twist took measured breaths to retain his composure.

  “Aazzi said in her message,” Harman explained quickly, “that a group of vampires had stolen Philippe. Apparently they’re keeping him alive to get something from her. If anyone human is going with her, they’ll need protection.”

  “You can’t just give it back to the magpies,” Luca muttered tightly, his eyes on Kali’s. “We won’t stand a chance without it.”

  “Skye, they’re right.” Jonas said softly to her. “I’ve seen this potion before. It’s strong enough to do what they say. We can’t let the mags take it.”

  “I’m thinking, I’m thinking,” she snapped, her eyes closed.

  A thunderous sound broke out from below an instant before the airship gave a violent lurch. The pirates bellowed in response as a volley of return gunfire rang out.

  “Skye!” Twist called to her as desperate inspiration stuck him. “Can’t you use it?”

  “What?” she asked back, looking at him in confusion.

  “Tell the Rooks you found it on this ship,” Twist said quickly as he worked through his own logic. “But tell them that we need it. Harman said one drop for each person will do. Tell the Rooks you’ll give it back to them after we’ve rescued Philippe. Aden said we could have his help if we needed it.”

  “Yes!” Skye said, smiling suddenly. “Aden loves you guys. He’d go for it. That’s perfect!”

  “No, it’s not!” Harman bellowed. Another thunderous sound echoed through the air, and the ship lurched again while the sounds of fighting—a near-constant drone of angered voices, peppered with gunfire—continued. “Do you have any idea how rare that stuff is?”

  “With your attitude, you could get yourself executed if the Rooks find out that you took this!” Skye yelled back at him, brandishing the vial. “You and your son. What’s more important to you? A bit of some potion, or your family? I can protect you, you idiot!”

  “Why the hell would you do anything for us?” Harman asked back nastily.

  “Because I can,” Skye answered sharply. “Because you’re Jon’s family. Everyone makes mistakes, and we can work this out, damn it!”

  “Because she’s a good one!” Jonas added as Harman stared at Skye in shock. “Come on, Harman, be reasonable! I’m telling you that you can trust her. So trust me!”

  Harman stared bitterly at Skye for a moment as the battle raged around them. After a long pause, he gave a heavy sigh. “Fine.”

  “Geez!” Skye breathed. “Thank heavens. Now come on, let’s get ourselves out of this mess.” An instant later, the airship lurched once again and nearly threw Twist off his feet. Kali stumbled away from Luca, who sprang up and away from her.

  Jonas ran to one of the tiny windows in the side of the ship and looked out. “Holy hell. That’s not a sailing ship at all. It’s an airship, and it’s bearing down on us!”

  “The pirates will lose this battle,” Skye said. “Let’s help the Rooks, and we’ll all get out of this in one piece. I can get them to take us the rest of the way.”

  “Fine by me,” Jonas said. “Can I borrow a pistol?”

  “Here,” Skye said, handing him one from her bag as she strapped another to her hip. “If you don’t want to fight, then just stay here,” she said to the gypsies. “Twist? You coming?”

  Jonas caught Twist’s gaze. “Skye, Kali, and I can handle it if you’d rather stay.”

  “You really think I’d rather I stay here and worry to death?” Twist asked.

  Jonas gave him a smile. “Well, come on then,” he said, tossing Twist his cane from the piled luggage. Twist caught it and instantly felt his fears vanish behind his resolve. Kali bounded for the stairs as Skye and Jonas moved to follow her.

  “Twist!” Myra said, snatching at his arm.

  He turned to her, afraid he’d have to convince her to let him go. She looked b
ack at him for an instant and then leaned in to kiss his cheek with her metal lips.

  “Be careful, darling,” she said bravely.

  Twist felt his own courage bloom in his heart. “I’ll be right back,” he said, giving her a reassuring smile before he turned to follow after Skye and Jonas.

  Pure chaos met Twist on deck. Pistol fire ripped at wood and filled the air with noise. Cannons bellowed, throwing debris into the mess. Pirates huddled behind crates on deck, firing at the towering airship that sailed around them in a close circle. Twist stared at the ship in disbelief. It still looked like a seafaring vessel, with a single smokestack, two masts, and wide, square sails. There was no balloon, but strong propellers extended from the keel, holding the airship aloft.

  The Rooks rained fire down on the pirate ship relentlessly, but the pirates seemed ready to fight to the last man. Kali ran through the tight alleyways between crates and barrels, eliciting screams and then silence wherever she went. Skye and Jonas both took aim and fired at pirates as they found them. Totally unprepared for an attack from within, the pirates fell easily at first.

  “What the hell are you doing?” screamed the captain, advancing on Skye with a sword.

  In all the chaos, Skye didn’t notice the captain approach. Twist ran forward—ducking to avoid flying debris—and readied the electric shock at the tip of his walking stick. He jumped as the captain pulled back his sword to strike and dug the sparking tip of his cane into the man’s back. The captain fell unconscious to the deck at Twist’s feet with a startled gasp. Skye spun and looked over the event with a shocked expression.

  “Shit, thanks!” she said to Twist.

  Before he could respond, they both had to duck as blackened fragments of wood flew just over their heads. Twist heard a distinctive voice let out a startled sound and felt the buzz in his neck rise into a painful heat. He leaped into action so quickly that he hardly saw where he was going as he vaulted over crates and barrels.

  Jonas was crouching behind a crate while three pirates advanced on him with their weapons raised. He cursed, clutching at his right arm with his blood-soaked left hand. Twist saw Jonas’s pistol on the deck, well out of his reach. Twist dove for it, catching it as he tumbled awkwardly into a barrel. His Sight flashed instantly with the simple mechanism of the weapon, showing him all he needed to know.