Blood Captain

by Justin Somper

  “And thank you for your advice, too,” he said, returning the sword to its case.

  “I rescued you from dark waters once before, remember?” She mused. “In fact, I seem to be making a habit of it, don’t I?”

  52

  THE STORMING OF THE CITADEL

  Grace, Lorcan, and Johnny were among the last to arrive in the Assembly Hall. The room was crowded with vampires, many of whom Grace had not seen before during her stay at Sanctuary. She realized that these were the vampires from all three blocks — from each stage of Mosh Zu’s treatment. There were, as Olivier had indicated, no donors. Grace imagined they must be locked safely behind doors in the donor block.

  She realized with a shudder that she was one of the very few non-vampires in the room. She had rejected Olivier’s pleas to go to her own chamber and barricade herself in. But now she wondered if she had been right to do so. There was a difference between braving danger when it came at you and wilfully throwing yourself in its path. A squeeze from Lorcan’s hand went some way to reassuring her that she had made the right decision. Besides, she wanted to be here to support Mosh Zu.

  She looked up now as he took to the stage. “Is everyone here?” he asked Olivier.

  Olivier nodded, closing the doors at the back of the hall and taking his seat beside Dani.

  The hall was alive with murmurs but Mosh Zu silenced these by raising his hand. At once, all eyes turned to him.

  “I have gathered you all here today to talk to you about a new state of danger.” In response to this, whispers began circulating around the room. They soon died away as Mosh Zu continued. “But first I want to remind you all why you are here and what we can offer you at Sanctuary.” He paused. “Being a vampire in society has its difficulties. I hardly need to tell you that. In your time here, I have talked with each and every one of you and heard your experiences — often deeply painful experiences — during your years of wandering. We have all been given the great gift of immortality. But as we all know, that gift can also become a burden. It can become a burden if it means we are caught in an endless spiral — a spiral of hunting and feeding, then hungering, hunting and feeding, and hungering more. The danger of an existence such as this is that all we ever feel, all we are concerned with, is our own hunger. It blinds us to the rare beauty of the gift we have been given. It compels us to hurt others. It makes us exiles in this world. And I know that all of you here are familiar with this sense of exile.”

  Grace listened, gripped, as he continued. “When you come to Sanctuary, it marks the end of those years of wandering and the beginning of your coming out of exile. We work with you to manage your hunger. When our work is done, you are able to feed without hurting others. Our ultimate goal is for you to sail away on The Nocturne. Some of you may choose to return to the land. But when you leave here, so long as you continue our teachings, you will have a system for managing your hunger and for embarking on a more meaningful immortality. Then you are truly free to embrace the gift.”

  Now Mosh Zu’s face grew dark. “However, there is now a new state of danger. You are going to be pulled in different directions by outside forces.”

  There were murmurs at this.

  “A new, growing faction of vampires is actively encouraging the abandonment of our teachings,” continued Mosh Zu. “They would sooner waste away their eternity than give up the constant hunt for blood. They are wanton in their employment of violence, flagrant in their disregard for mortal lives. Even now, they are preparing to come at you and tempt you to join them. And make no mistake — you will be tempted. It will be hard work to resist. As I said before — our work here is not easy. But joining them is very easy and that makes it even more inviting.”

  He looked up and swept his eyes across the ranks of vampires. “I want you to know two things. Firstly, if you do make the decision to join them, you will never be able to return to Sanctuary. Our gates will be closed to you forever . . . and I do mean forever. That may sound brutal but I will not take the risk. The second thing to know is that, as inviting as their promise seems, it is an invitation only to your own oblivion.”

  With that he stepped back. “That is all.”

  A hand rose from the center of the crowd.

  “I have nothing further to add at this point,” Mosh Zu said. “Later, if you have questions . . .”

  But this vampire wouldn’t be stalled. There was a hubbub in the crowd and Grace could see he was pushing through his row to get to the gangway. As he made it, she gasped. It was Sidorio. How on earth had he gotten in here?

  Clearly Mosh Zu was thinking the same thing. He stared at Sidorio in disbelief as he came striding along the gangway, up toward the stage.

  “It’s all right,” Sidorio said. “I don’t have a question.”

  “Then go,” said Mosh Zu.

  “Won’t you let me have my say?”

  Mosh Zu hesitated. Grace could see he was unsure of what to do for the best. That hesitation proved fatal. Sidorio leaped onto the stage beside him and began addressing the crowd.

  “Some of you may be wondering who I am. Others will already know. I am Sidorio, a former lieutenant on board The Nocturne. I’m here with news of my own. The first thing to know is that there is no longer only one Vampirate ship. The Nocturne’s time is over. There is a second ship and soon there will be others. And on these ships, we will do things a little differently.”

  “You must leave!” Mosh Zu told him.

  “But they want to hear from me,” Sidorio said, nodding at the spellbound crowd. “Can’t you see how interested they are? You’ve had your turn at the stump. Am I to have no chance to put across my manifesto?” He bared his teeth in a smile.

  Mosh Zu stepped forward again. As he did so, a voice from the crowd called out. “Let him speak!”

  “Yes!” cried another. “Let him have his say!”

  Mosh Zu shook his head but Grace could see that it was a shake of despair. Now, as Sidorio took center stage, Mosh Zu climbed down from the platform.

  “That’s democracy for you, eh?” Sidorio laughed. “He won’t even share the stage with me!”

  Some of the vampires laughed back. Grace could see that he had already begun to win over part of the audience.

  “I come from the new faction, as your guru calls it. But there’s nothing new in my thinking. It’s not very complex, either. You could sum it up in two words. Be yourself. You are vampires. So am I. You need blood. So do I. Why fight it? Be yourself. Why complicate your existence with trying to ‘manage’ your supply? We need blood and we always will. We already have the gift of immortality. Be yourself. Do you really want to spend eternity measuring out your portions? Or do you want to just get on with the business of living, really living? We’re not under threat, by the way, from the mortal community. We are growing in number. We are the threat! No mortal in their right mind would mess sith us. Be yourself.”

  As he spoke, his eyes scanned the room and fell upon Grace. She sent him a look of disdain. She saw to her satisfaction that he seemed momentarily perturbed, but then he continued.

  “My ship is waiting for any of you who would like to come and join. All you have to do is follow me down the mountain. A new voyage awaits you there. And, I can assure you, it’s going to be the voyage of your lives! So what do you say? Who’s with me?”

  Grace felt her heart sink to new depths as she watched a number of vampires raise their hands and call out their support. Among the voices, she heard Johnny’s familiar accent. “I’m with you, man!” Grace shook her head sadly. It was his hunger talking. It was the same for all of them. Sidorio knew exactly which button to press as he signed them up to their doom.

  “Excellent,” Sidorio said. “In a moment, I’ll walk out of here. All you have to do is follow me. But I have one further message for the rest of you, for those of you still sitting on the fence. You have been told that The Nocturne is ready to welcome you when you have completed your studies here. That the captain will take
you off on a jolly voyage into eternity. Well, I’m sorry to be the one to burst the bubble but the truth is that, as of this moment, The Nocturne has no captain.”

  There were gasps around the room.

  “No,” roared Sidorio. “Because he’s collapsed and is fighting for his life up here. And, between you and me, I don’t rate his chances.”

  “Is this true?” one of the vampires cried.

  Mosh Zu stepped back onto the stage.

  “Tell us the truth!” cried another.

  Mosh Zu raised his hand. “It is true that the captain is unwell . . .”

  “Unwell?” Sidorio cried. “I think that’s a bit of an understatement.”

  But Mosh Zu’s confirmation had been enough to increase the discontent in the hall and to raise the number of new recruits for Sidorio.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” another vampire yelled.

  “Yes! We should have been told!” called out another.

  “Don’t you see?” Sidorio said. “That’s how they do things here. They keep secrets from you.”

  “It’s your fault!” Mosh Zu cried. “It’s you who caused the captain’s collapse.”

  Ignoring this comment, Sidorio continued. “How long has he been here? How long has he been laid out in your healing chamber while you fight to save his life? An hour? An afternoon? A night?”

  Mosh Zu shook his head, refusing to answer.

  “Well, you may not be willing to tell them, but I am,” Sidorio roared. “He’s been there for two days. Two whole days under lock and key, his life draining out of him. And with it, any hopes you lot might have had for sailing off with him on that ship.”

  “That’s not true,” Mosh Zu cried to the audience. “You don’t understand! It’s all lies.”

  Sidorio shook his head and folded his arms. “I’m not the one telling porky pies around here and well you know it.” With that he jumped down from the stage.

  “Olivier, open the doors!” he called.

  How did he know Olivier’s name? Grace turned toward Olivier and saw Mosh Zu’s head swivel at the same time. So there had been a fresh betrayal. They watched as Olivier leaped up and did his new master’s bidding, pushing open the doors.

  “This, by the way, is the man you have to thank for the way you’re feeling tonight!” Sidorio said, drawing Olivier toward him. “He’s the one who put a little extra kick in your flasks earlier. In fact, he’s been gradually increasing your blood levels for days now. We reckoned you’d had your fill of berry tea.”

  Grace felt sick. So it was Olivier himself, Mosh Zu’s trusted number two, who had tampered with the tea mixture and given the healing vampires an increased dose of blood. No wonder Sidorio had found such a susceptible audience.

  “How could you?” she asked Olivier. “How could you do it? You were Mosh Zu’s first assistant.”

  “Yes,” Olivier said, “I was. Until you came along. But then everything changed, didn’t it?”

  Grace was shaken to the core. Was she in some way responsible for what was happening?

  “Ignore him,” Mosh Zu said. “His mind has been poisoned.”

  “No!” Olivier said. “No, Sidorio listened to me, heard my concerns.” He looked to Sidorio for reassurance. “We made a pact.”

  “A pact!” cried Grace. Her eyes traveled from Olivier to Sidorio. “What kind of pact?”

  “I paved the way for Sidorio’s arrival here,” Olivier said. “And he promised me . . .”

  Sidorio chuckled. It was chilling. Olivier faltered.

  “What did he promise you?” Mosh Zu asked. “A position on his new ship?”

  “What’s the problem?” Olivier said. “I was your first assistant. Now I’m his!”

  Sidorio shrugged. “Not necessarily my first assistant, buddy . . .”

  “What do you mean?” Olivier said. “We talked. We agreed —”

  “You’ve been a great help,” Sidorio said. “And I’m grateful. From the bottom of my . . . well.” He pushed Olivier away. “We’ll talk later.”

  “You see,” Mosh Zu said. “You see how he uses you and then pushes you aside?” Mosh Zu’s eyes swept across the rooms as he addressed the others. “Make no mistake! This is how it will be for each and every one of you. He does not have your interests at heart, only his own evil scheming.”

  Grace felt a flicker of hope. She could see Mosh Zu’s words had struck home with some of the crowd.

  But as Sidorio cleared his throat, all eyes turned to him once more. As if he were exerting some dark hold over them. Some terrible charisma.

  “We’ve allowed ourselves to get sidetracked,” he said. “Now, where was I? Oh yes . . .

  “Follow me if you want a new life on a new ship. A ship where you’ll get the blood you want when you want it. And I can promise you, there’ll be no more pathetic heart-searching, no more touchy-feely stuff like meditation or group hugs!”

  As he reached the door, a large number of vampires rose from their seats and swarmed excitedly around him. They began talking to each other in raised voices. Sidorio marched out of the room and they followed him. Like rats following after the Pied Piper, thought Grace grimly. She watched as Johnny surged forward, his eyes bright with a new purpose. He had always said he was a bad judge of character. Well, he’d hit the jackpot this time.

  Grace rushed over to Mosh Zu. “We must stop them!” she said.

  “No,” he said. He shook his head. “They are already tainted. My trusted assistant has seen to that.” They both turned to watch as Olivier ushered the new recruits through the doors. Grace wondered why he was still helping Sidorio. Didn’t he understand that there was no place for him on the renegade crew? She turned back to Mosh Zu, wishing that he could have foreseen Olivier’s weakness, his betrayal.

  “It’s always the ones closest to you,” Mosh Zu said. “They’re always the hardest to read. You lose perspective.”

  Grace watched in despair as the chairs emptied. By now, about a third of the vampires had followed in Sidorio’s wake. The rest lingered, reeling at the news of the captain, distraught at their safe harbor being invaded.

  “Can’t you stop him?” one asked Mosh Zu. “Can’t you bring them back?”

  Mosh Zu shook his head. “Whatever Sidorio might accuse me of, I’m not in the business of brainwashing. I don’t heal you when you come to me. I work with you so you can heal yourself. You come to Sanctuary of your own volition and you leave here in the same way. It’s about the choices you make. And they,” he said, nodding toward the doors, “they have made their choice.”

  “What about us?” one of the others asked. As she turned, Grace recognized her as the Princesse de Lamballe.

  “Nothing has changed,” Mosh Zu said. “Our work continues. There may be fewer of you here but that only means we can work harder with those of you who choose to stay.”

  “What about the captain?” the princess persisted. “Is it true that he is dying?”

  “The captain is in some distress,” Mosh Zu said. “But he is responding well to treatment. He will recover. And he will return to The Nocturne. And now, if you will excuse me, I am going to check up on him. Grace, perhaps you would like to join me?”

  She nodded.

  Mosh Zu turned. “The rest of you, those of you who have chosen to stay, please go back to your rooms and think about what has happened here today. Think about what you really want out of your eternity. And if you are in any doubt, then leave us and follow that camel train down the mountain.”

  With that, he marched angrily out of the room. Grace followed in his wake.

  As they walked along the corridor to Mosh Zu’s rooms, they passed the rec room. Glancing inside, Grace paused. Mosh Zu marched on ahead, oblivious.

  “I’ll catch up,” she called. She was unsure whether he had even heard her.

  Stepping inside the rec room, she watched Johnny move one of the chess pieces. “Checkmate,” he said, looking at her with a grin as he knocked down the white king.
He began packing up the chessboard. She wondered whether he’d find any willing chess players among the departing vampires.

  “Don’t go with him, Johnny,” she said. “I know you’re tempted. They put blood in your tea, so you would be. That’s why you attacked me before. You couldn’t control yourself. But if you stay here, things will get better for you. I know they will.”

  He looked at her sadly. “I told you before, Grace, it’s hard here. The truth is, today wasn’t the first time I took blood. Olivier was always open to a little deal.” He sighed. “I tried, Grace, I really did. But I’ve made my decision. I’m going with Sidorio.”

  Grace watched disconsolately as he picked up the chessboard and pieces and threw them into his knapsack. She had one final idea of how to stop him.

  “Remember everything you told me?” she said. “About your life and death? You admitted it yourself. You’re a really bad judge of character.”

  He smiled. Clearly he remembered the confession.

  Grace continued. “You’ve made bad choices before, Johnny. But if you walk out of these doors tonight, that’ll be the very worst choice you’ve ever made.”

  He shrugged. “I hear you, Grace. I hear you, but the way I figure it, what more have I got to lose?” With that he swung his bag over his shoulder and came over to her.

  “I tried being good. I really gave it my all — and then some. And you know what, it’s not that I can’t be good. It’s just that I’m so much better at being bad.” He took up his Stetson and angled it low across his brow. “I’ll be seeing you, little lady,” he said as he slipped out of the room.

  Grace shook her head, tears rolling down her cheeks. This was all so awful. Her whole world was crumbling around her. And not just her world.

  Suddenly she had a fresh thought. Where was Lorcan? She hadn’t seen him since the Assembly Hall. As the crowd had surged forward and she’d sought out Mosh Zu, she’d lost him. Where had he gone? He couldn’t have followed Sidorio, too, could he? If he had, then all her hope, all her faith was gone. Tears in her eyes, she turned and left the rec room.