Lorcan swung his sword against Johnny's. "Don't waste your breath on cheap lies," he said. "You're going to need every bit of energy you can muster."
Johnny's eyes were bright. "It's no lie, amigo . Grace loves the ruby-red stuff." He spun his sword through the air, defending Lorcan's attack. "And why shouldn't she? She is a dhampir."
"A dhampir doesn't need blood to survive," Lorcan said.
"True," Johnny agreed amiably, between parries. "They have a choice, unlike you or me. But Grace has definitely given blood the thumbs-up. Good for her, I say. It's one of the reasons why she fits in so well on our ships. See, we don't beat ourselves up about our appetite. Not like your lot--the ship of self-hating vampires."
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Their swords clashed once more and locked together. Now Lorcan threw all his weight at Johnny, pushing him back along the deck. "The Nocturnals are not self -hating," he said. "We just hate Vampirates like you. You give us all a bad name."
Johnny shrugged. "I think you just proved my point. No wonder Grace got bored with your crew and decided to defect to the fun side." He dug in his heels so that he was bringing his own strength to bear against Lorcan. It was, for the time being, a deadlock.
Lorcan smiled grimly at Johnny. "The only reason Grace came over to your ship was to spy for us," he said. "Whatever she's done--whether it's going riding with you or pretending that she's into blood--it's only been part of her mission. We've been playing you, cowboy, and you're just too dumb to realize it."
Johnny's expression changed. His cockiness drained away in an instant. "I don't believe you," he said. "I know what went down between Grace and me."
Lorcan was merciless. "Sure you believe me. I can see it in your eyes. You've fallen for Grace. You've wanted her from the very first time you saw her at Sanctuary. You tried to steal her from me then--when I was blind and sick. That's the kind of lowlife you are, Desperado. But you couldn't have her then and you can't have her now. Face it, you were just part of her game plan."
Lorcan shoved Johnny backward. Their swords separated at last.
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Johnny's face was dark. "I'm going to kill you, Furey," he spat. He charged at Lorcan, and this time, Lorcan was wrong-footed. A space opened up in his defenses, and Johnny's sword found its way through. His blade sliced through Lorcan's hair. As a clump of dark locks fell to the deck, Johnny's sword continued toward Lorcan's neck, pressing in just below his right earlobe. Johnny stared at his rival, his eyes full of fire. "Maybe I can't have Grace. But now, amigo , neither can you."
Cheng Li and Obsidian Darke were fighting side by side and proving to be an unstoppable force. As they each dispatched their latest victims, Cheng Li turned to the Vampirate captain.
"I always had you figured for a pacifist," she said. "Not a man of action."
"I used to be a pacifist." His voice was low. "But times have changed, and I needed to change with them. It wasn't an easy transformation, but it was a necessary one."
Cheng Li's eyes swept across the deck. "I think we're winning this," she said.
"We have to," Obsidian said, his eyes as dark as his name. He raised his sword and ran back into the fight.
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Lorcan felt the cold steel of Johnny's blade against his neck and glanced up at his dark, mocking eyes. He could tell the cowboy Vampirate was relishing this. He wondered how long he would draw out the moment of victory.
"Stop!"
Johnny and Lorcan froze to hear the familiar voice--the voice that had such power over them both.
Now Grace was at their side, her own sword in her hand. Her emerald eyes looked from Johnny to Lorcan and back again.
"Put down your sword, Johnny," she said.
Johnny exhaled slowly. "I can't do that, Grace. I'm sorry." He pressed the edge of his blade harder against Lorcan's flesh. Another millimeter and he'd draw blood.
"Wait!" Grace said. "I heard what Lorcan told you. I can understand why you're angry."
"Is it true?" Johnny asked, his eyes avoiding them both and fixed only on the tip of his sword.
Grace hesitated.
" Is it true? " Johnny repeated. "Grace, if you don't want me to do something bad, you need to start talking fast."
"Some of it is true," Grace said.
"Which part?"
"Stop hounding her," Lorcan rasped. "Just do what you have to do. Isn't that the cowboy code?"
"Shut up!" Johnny fumed. "Grace, I asked you which part was true."
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"I did come to you, at first, on a spying mission. And I didn't trust you in the beginning. I've always liked you, Johnny. I know Lorcan won't thank me for saying that, but we all know it's true. I'm allowed to like both of you. After what happened at Sanctuary, it was hard to trust you again, but you showed me a whole new side on those midnight rides. I enjoyed getting to know you--the real you." She paused. "And Johnny, the real you would know that if you want any kind of future with me, harming Lorcan would be the very worst thing you could do." As she spoke the words, she stepped closer.
Johnny's eyes darted from Grace to Lorcan and back again.
"I don't know what to believe," he said.
"Believe me ," said Grace.
"She's only saying this to save my skin," said Lorcan.
"Wow," said Johnny. "You really do have a death wish, don't you? Well, the time for talk is over. I'm gonna make your wish come true." He drew back his sword and readied himself for the killer blow.
As his sword swung forward, it was met by another blade. But this time it wasn't Lorcan who faced Johnny along the length of their swords. It was Grace.
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44 CHOICES
Grace looked at Johnny down the blade of her sword. "I'm not scared of using this if I have to," she said. Her confidence was buoyed up by the knowledge that, if necessary, she could wield Grace O'Malley's sword with consummate skill.
Johnny gazed in wonder at Grace. "I really don't want to fight you," he said.
Grace looked into his eyes. She found herself thinking of the twists and turns in their relationship. Joker Johnny who had kept her spirits up during those difficult nights at Sanctuary. The loner who'd confided in her about the bad choices he'd made in his life and after crossing. The Johnny who'd attacked her and told her, as he'd left to join Sidorio's team, "It ain't that I can't be good. It's just that I'm so much better at being bad." She had lost faith
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in Johnny then, but since arriving on The Vagabond , she'd gotten to know a different man. She thought of their midnight rides and their crazy adventure down in Lola's cellars. Remembered his frantic expression earlier that night when he'd seen her on the deck of The Diablo . She suspected that he'd been sent on some kind of charm offensive by Lola but, even if this was true, she didn't doubt that his feelings for her were genuine. One exchange above all others was etched in her mind.
"When you said I was a thousand times more fun than Lorcan, did you mean it?"
"No, Johnny. Not a thousand times more fun. A million times."
She remembered the vulnerability in his eyes then. He bore the same expression now. Seeing Lorcan and Johnny together made her feel guilty. She had feelings for them both--not quite the same feelings but strong feelings, nonetheless. It had been an exaggeration, brought on by the adrenaline of the night and the taste of blood, to say that he was a million times more fun than Lorcan. Her relationship with Johnny was easier in many ways, but there were shades and complexities to her relationship with Lorcan that gave it deeper roots.
"I know you don't want to fight me," she said. "And now you need to let Lorcan go." She glanced over her shoulder. "You're losing the battle. Your team needs you."
Johnny looked past Grace, his eyes sweeping across the deck. She was right. His team was being decimated.
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There was no sign of Stukeley; and there, in the heart of the battle zone, was Obsidian Darke, fighting one of his own Vampirates. What was going on?
&nbs
p; Johnny turned back to Grace. "You're right. I have to go. Wait for me, okay? Stay out of the fighting and wait until we go back over to The Diablo ."
Grace shook her head. "I'm not coming with you," she said with a certain sadness.
She expected him to go, then--he needed to rejoin the fight--but he seemed rooted to the spot, his eyes flickering with pain. "So I really was just part of your mission."
"No, Johnny," Grace said. "I told you before that I like you. I wasn't lying. I can't go back with you to The Vagabond and The Blood Captain . You were right--I do have the hunger for blood, but I can't bear the thought of someone dying in order for me to have it. The way that Sidorio and Lola run their ships repels me. It almost drove me to killing someone for blood myself. That's why I have to go back to The Nocturne . You say it's a ship of self-hating vampires, but you're wrong. It's a ship of vampires who acknowledge their need for blood and have found a responsible way to fulfill it."
Johnny nodded. His eyes looked a little brighter. "I hear what you're saying. I wish it could be different, but I understand that for now, it can't." He held out his arm to her and tapped the words tattooed there. "Like it says right here, Grace-- the ride is far from over. For all of us."
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He winked at her, then gave her a salute as he ran off across the deck. Grace watched him enter the fray. She fervently hoped he would emerge unscathed.
There was still a lot of swordfighting going on, but many of the rebel Vampirates had already been forced back onto the three drawbridges and were retreating onto The Diablo . Grace glimpsed one fight continuing on the deck of the other ship. Stukeley and Jacoby Blunt. Intrigued, Grace watched the well-matched duel for a moment. As yet more of the rebels ran for cover, her view of the fight was blocked. Turning her eyes back to The Tiger , she saw Jasmine Peacock tending to a wounded comrade--a girl not unlike a younger version of Jasmine herself. Grace searched for Johnny on deck. Her eyes located him. He had jumped onto the ship's railing and was signaling the official retreat. Grace let out a deep exhalation of relief. It was over.
She felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning, she found Lorcan. He opened his arms and drew her into a tight hug. After all this time apart, being in his arms again felt like coming home.
"Thank you for saving my life," he said.
"Anytime," she replied, her voice raw with emotion.
As the last of the surrendering rebels leapt back across from The Tiger to The Diablo , Johnny approached
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Obsidian Darke and Cheng Li. He was now the lone rebel left on the deck. The gap between the two vessels was widening, minute by minute, and he didn't have much time. But now that Obsidian had switched sides--and with Stukeley already somewhere on The Diablo --Johnny had assumed command of the rebel forces, and he had no intention of racing away, tail between his legs.
He planted his feet squarely in front of his opponents. "So, Lieutenant Darke, you were playing us all along?"
Obsidian's shadowy eyes connected with Johnny's. "This was never a game," he said. "Lives have been lost here tonight--on both sides. These are matters to take very seriously."
Johnny nodded toward the bloodstained slash across the front of Darke's shirt. "It's a shame your opponent didn't aim a little higher. It might have been your side sounding the retreat."
Cheng Li addressed Johnny now. "Tonight marked the beginning of a new alliance between the Pirate Federation and the Nocturnals," she said. "We have a message for your captains." She exchanged a glance with Obsidian, then proceeded. "Tell Sidorio and Lola Lockwood that the war they so badly wanted has now begun."
Obsidian nodded. "My only regret is that Sidorio and Lola weren't here tonight. Then this might have been the end rather than the beginning." His eyes swept across the deck. "You've seen how roundly we defeated the rebel forces tonight," he said. "Report that back to them. Tell
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them that with our unbreakable alliance, the rebel Vampirates will never win."
Nodding grimly, Johnny turned and began his own journey back across the drawbridges. He wasn't looking forward to reporting this--any of this--to the captains. Well, at least, he wouldn't be alone. As usual, Stukeley would be right there at his side.
"Let me look at you, again," Lorcan said, his hands resting on Grace's shoulders. He smiled and shook his head. "You're more beautiful than when I last saw you. And you'll be even more so when you wipe that horrid heart off your face."
Grace frowned, but he didn't seem to notice. "You were so strong against Johnny," he said. "You sounded so convincing. Why, I almost believed you myself."
Grace bit her lip as she looked into his blue eyes. "Lorcan, I wasn't lying to Johnny. Everything I told him was the truth." She felt his body grow tense, but she had to be honest with him. "I do like Johnny," she said. "And I do like blood. I know you'd prefer that neither of those things were true, but I can't lie to you just to spare your feelings." He was frowning as she continued. "So much has happened to me recently. I've gone through so many changes. If we're going to make things work, you and I, we have to be completely honest with each other."
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Lorcan's frown began to dissolve. "It's a relief to hear you talking about making things work. For a moment there, I thought--I feared--we were over."
Grace shook her head. "Lorcan, I said that I liked Johnny. I didn't say I was in love with him."
His eyes grew bright again. "So, are you saying you're in love with me?"
Grace was distracted by movement in the center of the deck. The victors were starting to line up along the edge of The Tiger , watching The Diablo as it began to make its retreat.
"This isn't the time or the place to discuss our feelings," Grace said. "Come on, we should join the others."
She turned and strode across the deck, full of energy and purpose. Lorcan watched her go, feeling as if he'd been pushed away. She had said there was no time to talk, but all he'd needed to hear was one word--yes.
At last the allies could rest. Pirates and Nocturnals came from all corners of the deck to stand together as The Diablo pulled away into the night. Its lights had been switched on now and, seeing the line of victors, the rebel forces began to form their own equivalent line along the edge of the deck.
The allies were solemn as they observed their defeated foes. They knew that in the coming war not every battle
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would be theirs. Already, tonight, many of their own had paid the ultimate price for this victory. Many, on both sides, had sustained wounds.
Obsidian Darke stood side by side with Cheng Li. Captain Li looked out toward The Diablo , feeling justified pride at the story of this night. She would be the toast of the Federation after this, but actually, that mattered far less than the thought that she and her team, working alongside the Nocturnals, had together achieved something important as well as historic. This victory wasn't about writing her name in the history books--though that wouldn't be the worst thing that could happen--but about beginning to achieve a lasting peace on the oceans; ensuring that the pirates of the future might sail on far less troubled waters.
At Cheng Li's right hand was Cate Morgan, preeminent weapons supremo and attack specialist. Tonight's battle had been her proudest hour in military terms and would consolidate her outstanding reputation in the pirate world. She had raised her game--her art--to a whole new level working with Lorcan Furey and devising combat techniques to repel the superhuman enemy. In spite of this, Cate couldn't help feeling a sense of emptiness. As she too looked out across the ocean, she could think only of Bart. He ought to be standing alongside her right now. She tried to kindle the hope that he was on his way home but, in her heart, she knew that he was never coming back.
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Next to Cate stood Jasmine Peacock, and then Bo Yin. Both young women had sustained wounds in the battle. Each bore her scars proudly, knowing that she had distinguished herself as a talented and mature fighter. Jasmine and Bo were only at the beginning
of their pirate careers. Who knew what glorious things they could achieve in the battles to come?
The rest of the pirate crew lined up next to Bo Yin while, on the other side of Obsidian, stretched out the line of Nocturnals. Next to Obsidian stood his lieutenant, Lorcan Furey. Lorcan's eyes were turned to the other ship and to Johnny in particular. The rebel Vampirate was a threat in more ways than one, and he wasn't going to let him get away with it.
Lorcan's thoughts turned to Mosh Zu. The Vampirate guru hadn't participated in the battle, but he had played a vital role in preparing the Nocturnals. Lorcan had grown frustrated with him at times, to the point of doubting his reassurances that the Captain would return. Now, he bowed his head and acknowledged that he hadn't been able to see the full picture. He thought of another important comrade who was also missing: Darcy Flotsam. She had played her own key part against the rebels. She may not have wielded a sword, but her contribution was nonetheless valid.
Grace Tempest walked behind the line of allies and stepped into the place that Lorcan and Obsidian had kept for her. As she stood there at the edge of the deck, the
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ocean breeze blowing in her hair, she felt a sense of connection--of power and solidarity--with the others in the line. They had each in their own way played their part in a seemingly impossible mission. She glanced back at the others, marveling at this strange but powerful new alliance between the pirate and Vampirate world. United, there was no threat they couldn't address.
Looking across at the departing ship, she thought how deceptive appearances could be. In truth, she might easily have been standing on The Diablo now. There were strong ties to bind her to Johnny and the others. Sidorio was still her father. Even more importantly, Connor was still on The Blood Captain . Grace wondered how his initiation into blood had gone. She thought of their conversation earlier that night. It had been painful to hear his disgust at becoming a dhampir. Whatever happened in the future, she had to work to help him adjust and become comfortable in his own skin.
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