Instead, it was a woman’s voice. “You were looking for me, and now you’ve found me.”
She hadn’t attacked, and that was her mistake. His claws extended as he spun on her—only to be thrown aside as a second person, or vampire more likely, based on how fast they moved, sent him flying.
***
Valerie had been waiting for the Were to walk right into her trap. Part of her waited like this because she wasn’t sure she’d fully healed from the night before—she still felt a bit queasy. The other part of her simply liked to toy with Weres.
She’d gambled correctly on feeding Sandra some of her blood, after healing so that they could both be recuperated in case anything went down. In this case, it also served to make the servant girl smell like a vampire.
He growled and swiped at her with his claws, drawing blood across Valerie’s face. It would heal, but crap it stung!
“Quiet or they’ll be after us,” she hissed, pinning him to the floor with one hand as the other went to the hilt of her sword. “And I’d prefer not to have to kill the people who know how to fly this thing.”
The fierceness in his eyes faltered, and he lowered his clawed hand.
“You’re not killing me?”
“Not yet decided, but I’d prefer not to mess up my karma.” She looked him up and down, noting his small stature for a Were, even an Asian looking Were. “But you haven’t told me why you were snooping around down here.”
“Snooping? I smelled vampire, and figured I was being hunted.”
“You’re so important that we’d send our own to track you down?” She looked at him like he had just taken a walk off the short plank into a pool of stupidity.
He blinked at that, clearly affronted.
“That’s what I thought,” she said, then stood and waited for him to get up. “Tell me fast, Were, what you’re doing here.”
He stared at her, defiantly. Fine by her, she could play this game all day—as long as the top of the blimp didn’t fly away and leave her exposed to sunlight, which was unlikely to happen. Then again, she’d rather get back to hiding before they were discovered and would have to explain themselves.
Crews of the blimps were known for their ferocity. They had to be strong, in the face of pirates. Thule inspired anti-grav technology, left over from the days before the fall, meant that they could get blimps flying. Other means of travel across the seas were challenging, as fuel had become incredibly scarce after the great fall of the world. So it was back to the old days of sailboats, if one could gather enough of a crew and figure out brave the ocean, or these blimps. Either way, pirates had made a comeback—some human, others not. Most kept to the waters, but if they managed to get their hands on a blimp and shoot you down, you were pretty much toast—burnt, soggy, salty toast.
For all she knew, half of this crew was made up of pirates looking for an honest buck between pirating bouts.
“I’m not going to sit here having a staring contest with you all day,” she said. “Speak up, or I feed you to the sharks.”
“Why not eat me yourself?” he said, with a glare like he dared her.
“Do you really understand so little about my kind?” She laughed, then turned to Sandra. “Would you please explain?”
Sandra stepped forward, hands folded before her. “My Mistress is referring to the fact that vampires aren’t big on Were blood. So, my assumption is she’d at least prefer to give you a swimming chance, or better yet, make the sharks happy with a meal that came to them.”
With a cautious glance, Sandra stepped forward, eyeing the Were up and down. “But you don’t strike me as dangerous, because you’re not. Isn’t that right, Mr. …?”
“The real name’s Xianliang,” he said, his eyes clearly announcing his annoyance. “But I had a street name in Spain, if you must… The guys called me Diego.”
“Huh. Diego… I kinda like that. I’ll use that when I like you. Ass-cat otherwise.”
He glared and waited.
With a nod from Valerie, Sandra introduced the two of them. And then they waited. Finally, Diego blew out his breath and leaned up against a crate.
“The old world has nothing for me anymore,” he told them. “Better to follow the path of those before. Head out west.”
“It’s as simple as that?” Valerie asked.
He eyed her out of the corner of his eyes, then shrugged. “Nothing’s ever simple. But yeah, honestly. There are stories you hear, right? This one's about a place they’re rebuilding up north, what the old days referred to as New Jersey. Well, rumor has it that’s the place to be. I’m talking food, shelter, and even some sort of order.”
Was this Were serious? Valerie shared a look with Sandra, but she didn’t look surprised. More like sympathetic. It wasn’t that Valerie didn’t realize people and those of the Unknown World lived in poor conditions, but being the creation of the Duke meant certain lifestyle differences from the general populace. And she rarely had to deal with it. Even when they had set up their various outposts around France and she had gone to inspect, the worst must have been hidden from her, as she was now beginning to understand.
Everything was hidden from her until she had insisted on going on the raid. The Duke had said no, at first, but had capitulated at Donovan’s insistence. Now it all made sense. He knew she’d freeze up when she saw what it was really like, this underground war they were fighting—us against everyone else. And now she was getting a different view of it.
They found a hiding spot near the back of the supplies, and soon she found that she didn’t think this guy was half bad.
Diego told her all about the streets of Spain, how he’d been a Were as long as he could remember. Maybe even born into it, but he hadn’t ever known his parents.
It had been survival first, everything else a distant second in his experience.
“How about you?” he asked at a lull in the conversation. “I mean… am I just talking nonsense here?”
Sandra looked like she was about to answer, but Valerie held up a finger and said, “No, it was the same for us.” She noticed Sandra’s look of confusion at her lie, but went on. “We never fit in with society, always on the run. It’s the same now, and who knows, maybe we’ll come to this city of gold you mentioned.”
His expression turned to worry, and she was about to ask what that was about, when she noticed he wasn’t looking at her at all, but past her to the window.
A large shadow was passing them, and in an instant she was at the window, watching as two large blimps moved into attack formation. One of them sported the modified jolly roger—crossbones, but instead of a skull it was a vampire face with blood dripping down from long, sharp fangs.
“At least we know this legend is true,” Diego said. When both Valerie and Sandra looked at him like he was crazy, he added, “What? I’m just saying, I like to know what’s true and what isn’t in this world.”
“Know this then,” Valerie said, pulling out her sword and turning towards the bay door. “If we don’t save this ship, none of us will be making it to that fabled city of yours.”
He gulped at the sword, and rightly so. It was solid steel underneath, but the silver lining etched into the blade and used to fortify the tip meant members of the Unknown World had extra reason to fear her. “Then let’s make sure they leave here in pieces,” Diego said. He stripped quickly, both women glancing to each other and back at him. Sandra caught Valerie's attention and lifted her eyebrows twice, quickly. Valerie had to hold in a laugh that threatened to escape.
In a blink of an eye, he was gone, replaced by a ferocious looking, if a bit on the smaller side from what Valerie was used to, puma.
Her favorite shoes had been a vintage pair of Pumas found in an old abandoned warehouse, so in spite of his size, she found herself instantly liking him a little bit more. Still, she wondered about his ability in a fight. Rolling her eyes, she had to wonder at her ability to make decisions, if she was willing to like this Were because of her fa
scination with a pair of shoes that hadn't been manufactured in decades.
While Valerie was among the best of them when it came to training, her recent experience with a real battle and the taking of lives gave her reason to worry. This Were kitten didn’t help her confidence any.
But she had a mission, and right now those pirates stood in her way. She’d have to suck it up and make them pay, and just hope that Diego could do his part.
CHAPTER 3
Valerie leaped up to the nearest crate, went through a window, and up the stairs to the deck to see what they were dealing with. A moment later, Diego joined her in his Puma form.
“Sandra’s not coming?” he hissed.
“Can’t serve me very well if she’s dead, can she?” She answered sarcastically.
She saw the realization dawn on his face before he said it. “She’s not a vamp.”
“Bingo.” Valerie held out a hand for silence as a crew woman went running by.
The way these blimp ships were, the deck could be covered in sunlight at certain times of day, and since it was approaching dusk, most of the deck was. They were, fortunately, hiding behind a large portion of the captain's cabin and the stairwell that led both up to the captain and down to where they had just come.
The two sky-ships were moving around so that one would be on each side, and men and women were already moving to their battle stations on all three of the ships.
“Prepare to be boarded,” a voice came over the loudspeaker from the ship to their left. “Resist, and you will be sucking water with the worst of them.”
“What're our chances of outrunning them if the captain goes that route?” Valerie asked.
Diego shook his little puma head, and said with a voice slightly more alluring than his own, especially in the way he rolled his R’s almost like a purr, “Zero to none, but fighting she might hold up.”
“Two to one,” Valerie said, doubtful.
“Trrrust me, I’m kind of a techie nerd. Well, as far as tech goes these days. In the old days, let me tell you what I could’ve done with—Ouch!”
She’d flicked him in the ear. “Focus!”
“Rrright, but, ouch!” His tail moved and he shifted on his hind legs as if preparing to pounce, but then said, “The point is, theirrr ships are built for speed. Like sloops in the old days, just single masted, not many cannons, but ours is more like a Man of War. Those babies had double masts and a hundred cannon.”
“None of what you just said means anything to me.”
The puma sighed. “Pirate stuff. I don’t know if I have it right either, honestly. But back in those days—”
“Diego…”
“Ah, right, focusing. Let me say this in simple, even-a-vampire-can-understand terms—our ship is strong, theirs are not.”
“Okay,” Valerie said, irritation causing her voice to rise slightly. Good thing everyone around them was yelling and had no reason to come to this part of the ship just yet. “Let me say this in you-want-to-live-so-don’t-ever-talk-to-me-like-that-again terms. I will throw you off into the ocean and see if cats like water.”
The puma’s tail twitched quickly. “Sorry, it’s a habit.”
“Being an ass is a habit of yours?”
He nodded.
Great, she was trying to figure out how to make it out of this without being discovered and without having to slaughter every last one of them, and here she was, was stuck with a sarcastic ass-cat. She laughed to herself.
“Something funny?” Diego said.
“I just came up with a new nickname for you. Ass-cat.”
Diego stared at her, his yellow puma eyes burning fiercely.
“It’ll grow on you,” she said, then motioned to him. “Follow me.”
“Wait, wha—”….
Join Valerie in December with Justice Is Calling (Reclaiming Honor Book 01)…
Coming January / February 2017
Don't Cross This Line Page 33
