The Hybrid Series | Book 4 | Damned

by Stead, Nick

  I heard the door open behind me and Gwyn shouted “Nick, you idiot, get back in here!”

  “I will when I’m ready,” I yelled back.

  “Damn it, fluffy, you agreed to follow Brendan’s orders. Don’t you want to be warm and dry?”

  “I’m fine for now,” I growled.

  “Really? It looks to me like you’re barely holding on.”

  I ignored him but he wasn’t taking no for an answer. With a curse I couldn’t quite make out over the wind, he began to inch his way over to me. He reached a hand for my shoulder as though he planned to drag me back in, even though he’d never have had the strength to physically pull me away.

  “Now who’s the idiot?” I said. If I was barely holding on, he’d have no chance in his human body.

  “I’m not leaving you out here. Come join us in the wheelhouse.”

  “Fine,” I growled, giving in.

  I turned to follow Gwyn and we began to battle our way back inside when another wave slammed into us. My entire world was reduced to the white froth of the ocean’s wrath and it took a moment for me to recover, blinking the saltwater from my stinging eyes. Once my vision cleared, it was to find Gwyn was gone.

  CHAPTER TWENTY–NINE

  Nature’s Fury

  “No!” I roared, frantically scanning the water for any sign of Gwyn. But there was only the endless waves, rolling to the storm’s angry tune.

  I was just thinking about diving in after him when teeth clamped down on my arm. As though he’d read my mind, Varin had grabbed hold of me and the next thing I knew, I was being dragged towards the cabin door. I struggled against him but I couldn’t break free, and he gave me no choice other than to pull the door open and retreat back to safety.

  Once we were inside he let me go, but he stayed by my side as I made my way up to the wheelhouse.

  “Where’s Gwyn?” Brendan asked. He didn’t seem to realise what had happened yet, maybe because he’d been too focused on navigating through the storm.

  “He’s gone overboard,” I said, numb from the sudden loss.

  “For fuck’s sake. I ordered you inside for a reason!”

  “Well I was going to go after him but Varin stopped me,” I growled, my anger rising.

  “Then we’d have lost you too! Do you know how quickly people drown in these conditions? You’d be dead in minutes.”

  “If I was human, maybe.”

  Selina shook her head. “Your lycanthropy wouldn’t be any help in these waters. Which is exactly why I sent Varin to bring you back in before you did something even more reckless than going out there in the first place. Gwyn will be okay. If he can survive a bolt of lightning, he can survive this.”

  I glared at her, unconvinced. “Nightfall is still a little way off. You really think he can last that long till it’s dark enough to return to his spirit form?”

  “Think about where he is. It might not be dark enough above the waves, but he won’t have to sink far for the dark he needs beneath them. Not with these storm clouds blocking out the sun.”

  “He better,” Brendan said. “Gwyn’s a good guy. If he’s dead because of your stupidity, I’m finding some silver and sticking it through your selfish heart.”

  “Try it, fisherman. You wouldn’t be the first and you certainly won’t be the last. If you even have enough of your own free will to attack me. I’m betting Zee’s spell prevents you hurting his friends.”

  His eyes narrowed and something in them hardened, as though I’d touched a nerve. “I’m not his slave.”

  “Fighting won’t bring Gwyn back,” Selina cut in. “But night will. Have faith.”

  “I hope you’re right.” Brendan’s eyes shifted to the ocean, worry etched in the lines of his face.

  I followed his gaze, and once I’d calmed down I realised Selina was probably right. The sun’s light was so dim it probably wouldn’t penetrate far beneath the ocean’s surface. Gwyn was likely enjoying more freedom as his true spirit self, gliding along somewhere under the ship and taking in all the amazing sights the sea had to offer. We were probably too far north for most shark species now, but there might be whales swimming amongst the fish. I just wished we could see more on the surface.

  The atmosphere in the wheelhouse wasn’t much better than the storm outside, but I stayed in there, despite Brendan’s animosity towards me. As soon as the sun was down, the vampires joined us. The human excused himself once Zee was back at the wheel, claiming to be tired. He wasn’t fooling me though. I knew he wanted to get as far from me as the ship allowed, where he could mourn the loss of Gwyn and nurse an anger soon to become hate. But that was fine. If Gwyn hadn’t returned to the ship by morning, I’d be just as angry with myself.

  Zee watched him go, his brow furrowing slightly. “Did something happen between you two?”

  I was about to answer when a rogue wave slammed into us from the side. The world spun ninety degrees and we fell from the floor to the wall. Luckily the windows held, the sea nothing but a dark mass beneath us. Our ship had capsized.

  Disoriented, I looked to Zee for guidance. Both vampires recovered quicker than either me or Selina, picking themselves back up while we were still sprawled on the wall and the windows, trying to work out what was going on.

  “We need to right the ship,” Zee said.

  “We’re taking on water,” Brendan yelled from his bunk room.

  “You two, help Brendan. Lady Sarah, with me. Now!” Zee ordered.

  I was reluctant to leave the wheelhouse. The vampires were already outside before we’d moved away from the windows, both shifting into their bat forms. I could see them struggling against the wind as they sought to pull the ship back up onto its underside, but the storm fought them every inch of the way. And just as we could feel ourselves tipping sideways again, the waves pushed us back down. But losing this particular battle was not an option. If they couldn’t right us we were doomed, and we’d soon be joining Gwyn in the watery depths, except three of us definitely wouldn’t be coming back out. The vampires were probably okay since they didn’t have living bodies, but I doubted Selina would be able to perform any spells in time to save those of us who did.

  “You heard the Captain,” Selina said. “Come on.”

  I tore my gaze away from the overgrown bats and followed her through into the cabin area. With the ship on its side, we were able to run alongside the staircase as though it were a corridor and into the galley. Water was already splashing round our feet, growing steadily deeper with every step.

  Brendan ran out to meet us. His eyes were wild, all trace of his anger at me drowned by the fear pouring in on those icy waves.

  “Have we got a leak?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “It’s getting in through areas that are supposed to be above water level. Time we all donned a lifejacket, just in case the vampires can’t right us.”

  I eyed the liquid now up to my ankles. “Won’t we just capsize again if we’re flooded?”

  “Let’s worry about that when they right us.”

  He waded his way past, through the seawater and the packets of food and other things floating between our legs, and back into the wheelhouse. We followed and waited for him to grab the lifejackets, then pulled them on. I didn’t really feel any better for wearing it. If the ship was going down, I felt certain it would take more than a lifejacket to save us.

  The vampires were still straining against the wind and the waves. Another towering wall of liquid rose up and smashed into us, threatening to turn the ship completely upside down. The situation was beginning to look hopeless when a dark shape rose from the deeps. I felt a pang of hope – had Gwyn returned? Or was it some new enemy come to finish off what the storm had started?

  As I craned my neck up to watch through the glass above us, that shape rose up and hovered for a moment, as if readying to strike. My heart fell. If it attacked we really were done for. But then it floated over to the vampires and relief surged through me. It had to be Gwyn. W
hat else would be out here and willing to lend a hand?

  In his true spirit form, Gwyn wasn’t at the mercy of the weather in the same way the vampires were with their physical bodies. Together the three of them pulled the ship back onto its underside, and with the knocker’s help it stayed there. The storm did its best to keep us from staying upright but the wind couldn’t batter Gwyn like it did Zee and Lady Sarah, and the waves had no effect on him. He was able to hold the ship in place while it regained its buoyancy, even as the vampires were knocked backwards by another wave and had to fight just to right themselves, never mind the vessel. And as it turned out we hadn’t been flooded enough to keep us capsized. The floor was beneath us again and all was as it should be on board the ship.

  Their battle won, the vampires crawled across the deck and back inside the cabin, where they returned to their humanoid bodies, shook off the worst of the seawater and dressed. Gwyn followed them in and also returned to his human form, though for him it wasn’t optional.

  “I believe that’s twice I’ve saved your undead arses,” he said, still naked after shifting back and bone dry. “A ‘Thank you Gwyn, sorry for leaving you for dead that one time and just not trusting you in general’ wouldn’t go amiss. You’re welcome.”

  “Gwyn!” Brendan cried, splashing down the stairs to embrace him in a man hug.

  “Well, nice to see someone’s missed me.”

  I looked down the stairs and shrugged, but I couldn’t quite keep my lips from twisting into a stupid grin. “We knew you’d be back.”

  “No, I knew you’d be back,” Selina said beside me. “He would have jumped in after you if I hadn’t sent Varin to stop him.”

  Gwyn’s face split into a similar grin. “Aha! I knew you cared about me.”

  “Maybe just a little,” I said.

  Brendan had his arm round Gwyn’s shoulders, and he began steering him towards the bunks. “Come on, let’s get you some fresh clothes.”

  Zee made his way back up to the wheelhouse, his beard a bedraggled mess and his eyes burning with hunger. He hadn’t yet replaced his bandana, but his hair was short and would dry quicker than his beard.

  “That was a close call,” I said, as he resumed his position at the wheel.

  “Aye, and we’re not through it yet. Could be morning before we see her settle.”

  “As long as we don’t capsize again. That wasn’t fun.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “What about all this water, are we going to have to use buckets to drain it?”

  Zee laughed. “A couple of hundred years ago maybe. The bilge pumps they have these days are pretty efficient at clearing water. It might take it a while but the pump will clear it for us.”

  “I can speed up the process,” Selina said. “Once the sea calms, I can work a spell to help deal with the flooding.”

  My ear swivelled towards the staircase and the sounds coming from within the cabin. Gwyn was on his way back up.

  “So, now the excitement’s over for a while,” he began, “do you want to hear a joke?”

  “No,” the three of us said in unison.

  “Oh come on, I just saved you from certain death. It’s a good one. I think you especially will appreciate it, Captain,” he said, eyes alight with their usual mischief and a roguish smile on his lips.

  Zee sighed. “What is this joke?”

  “What did the pirate say on his eightieth birthday?”

  Zee glanced at me, exasperation in his eyes. “I don’t know.”

  “Aye matey!” Gwyn said, with a look of pure delight. The rest of us just groaned.

  “I thought you said it was a good one,” I growled.

  “It’s my favourite, I’ll have you know. Brendan appreciated it. I like him – I reckon we should bring him with us, all the way into the Canadian wilderness.”

  Zee shook his head. “The frozen land we’re going to is no place for a human.”

  “And the sea is?”

  “Perhaps not, but the sea is as much his life as it was mine. I’ll not deny him the call of our mistress. Where is he anyway, and what were you fighting about this evening, Nick?”

  “He’s gone to bed,” Gwyn said. “Though I doubt he’ll sleep while we’re sailing through this.”

  I met Zee’s gaze without any sense of shame or regret. “He’s probably still angry at me for earlier but it’s not important now. He’ll come round and I’m not going to kill him.”

  Zee’s eyes were no less questioning for my answer, but I realised Lady Sarah was still standing by the cabin door and excused myself to go and investigate. She was staring at the metal as though she could see through to the outside world she surely longed to roam as much as I did, her hair hanging in damp threads around that beautiful face.

  “You’re not thinking of going back out there, are you?” I asked.

  “No, I am not that reckless,” she answered, her eyes never leaving the door. There was something incredibly lonely about her then. I knew it was in a vampire’s nature to be solitary but I had to wonder if she was hungering for more than just the hunting grounds waiting for us back on land. Something compelled me to reach out to her, despite the distance I’d often felt between us. She’d been my teacher through the initial struggle to adapt to life as one of the undead, but it had often been hard to think of her as a friend. I found myself wanting to make another attempt at crossing that distance and forming a stronger bond, especially after accepting we were now a pack.

  “The rest of us are in the wheelhouse. Well, everyone that matters. Brendan is below deck,” I said. “You’ll see more of the storm through the windows in there, if you want to come join us.”

  “If the storm does not die down soon I will.”

  I shook my head, feeling it was hopeless, and turned to go. But another thought came to me and I had to ask “What happened with Ulfarr on the beach?”

  Her eyes did meet mine then, not quite icy cold but still cool beneath brows raised in surprise. “Were you not watching through Zeerin’s spyglass?”

  “Yeah and it looked like nothing was said as you flew in to grab Gwyn and bring him back to the ship, but this is the vampire who turned you we’re talking about. You guys have history. I can’t believe he didn’t have anything to say to you, even if it was more angry words and threats, and disappointment you’ve chosen a werewolf over your own kind.”

  “Your eyes did not miss anything. I face the same difficulties with talking when shifted as you do and Ulfarr had already said his piece when he called to us across the waves.”

  I thought about that for a moment. “Do you remember the night we first met?”

  “Of course. It was the night of your first transformation, and your first encounter with the Slayers.”

  “Right, and when the dawn turned me back to human I was full of questions. But you didn’t just explain what was happening to me and who the Slayers were. You told me your own story about how you became a vampire. And do you remember what you said?”

  “Of course,” she repeated, sounding impatient again. “It is not the first time I have shared my story.”

  “You sounded like any other human goth girl when you told it to me, except for you it wasn’t just a fantasy.”

  Her expression turned to a confused frown. “Goth girl?”

  “Never mind. My point is, you made it sound like the kind of vampire romance most goths can only dream of. You told me how handsome he was when he bit you and how you fell in love the moment you looked into his eyes. I think some part of you still loves him, or you wouldn’t tell it like that. Now I don’t know what’s happened in the centuries since he turned you because you haven’t really opened up to me about any of that. But I think there’s always been some connection between you two, even if it’s just the blood ties from the drop he used to make you. And you’re telling me he didn’t say a single word while it was just the two of you alone on that beach?”

  “We were hardly alone. There was the other vampi
re Varin had been fighting – he was still conscious after Gwyn had been struck down.”

  “Okay, but it was just you vampires and Varin. Gwyn was out for the count and me, Selina and Zee were here on the ship. If he’d wanted a private conversation without any of us butting in, that would have been the perfect moment for it.”

  “Yes, it would have been. I suppose he felt there was nothing to be said. He could see I had made my choice and he obviously felt nothing he could say would change that.”

  I wasn’t entirely sure I believed her. Could it be Ulfarr she was longing for, and the thought of being an outcast bringing on the feelings of loneliness? It had saddened me to think I might never be able to go back to my home country, but I hadn’t really thought about what effect it might have on the others, until then. And it was probably more than just exile from her home country for Lady Sarah. Having the vampires turn on me was one thing, but she was one of them by blood. That had to hurt, whether she let it show or not.

  I decided to let it go for the time being. Pushing her for answers may well lead to another argument between us and create more distance. If she was ever going to choose to open up to me, it had to be when she was ready, and there didn’t seem to be anything I could do to change that.

  I made my way back up to the wheelhouse to re-join Zee and Gwyn.

  “I wouldn’t worry about Ulfarr now, mate,” Gwyn said. “If he wanted us dead we would be. Or you four would be – he took his best shot at me and failed.”

  “That’s exactly what’s bothering me. He could have done more to try and recapture me for another public execution, or to kill me before we could escape. But instead he chose to let us go, why?”

  “Who cares? We’re out here and he’s all the way back in the UK. Even he can’t get us out here.”

  “Don’t underestimate the power and reach of an Elder,” Zee warned. “If he truly decided he was no longer content to let us live in exile, he would find a way to strike, even from this great distance which now separates us.”

  “Did we make a mistake letting Lady Sarah go back to the beach?” I asked.