The Vampire's Revenge (16 page)

“Yes,” I said. “There are some things I need to tell you before you kill me.”

“Make it snappy,” she said, and released her hold on me. She folded her arms on the dock and looked at me, eyeball to eyeball.

“First, when I followed you to the underworld that time, more happened that I didn’t tell you.”

Connie’s delicate brows arched inward. “What?” she asked warily.

“You didn’t kick your ex-husband’s ass for killing your kid.”

“You bastard! You kept me from getting my revenge, didn’t you? You stopped me because you wanted to get me back here!” Connie drew back her fist to hit me.

“No! The angel stopped you!”

Connie’s arm froze before she landed the blow and she composed herself. “Tell me everything from the beginning. And you’d better hurry. The sun’s almost up.”

“The angel said you could stay and do battle with your ex-husband’s spirit in hell, or you could fulfill your destiny on earth as the Slayer. It didn’t look like much of a choice.”

Connie’s eyes turned hard as she let this sink in. “So you’ve known since the first that I was the Slayer. I guess I don’t have to ask why you lied to me.”

“It’s more complicated than just trying to keep you from killing us,” I insisted. “Remember, you weren’t activated as the Slayer until the night of the earthquake.”

“How much more complicated can it be?”

“I was afraid you might try to get yourself killed so you could return to heaven with your little boy while you still could—even if that meant defying the angel and circumventing your destiny as the Slayer.”

“
Still
could? What are you talking about?”

“You’re immortal now. Nothing can kill you besides things that kill vampires. The old lords fear you because of it. For all we know, you don’t have any weaknesses.”

“You mean there was a window of opportunity for me to—” Connie’s face registered the anguish of what I’d just told her.

“We think there might have been a period of time when you could have returned to the underworld and spent eternity in paradise with your little boy, despite what the angel said.”

“Why did you stop me? It doesn’t make any sense. You and the other vampires could have gotten rid of me easily before the sword turned me into the Slayer! Why didn’t you just kill me?”

She stopped in mid-sentence as realization dawned. It wasn’t the only thing that was dawning. The sun was creeping toward the horizon and I was trapped, facing it. My eyes had already started to water and burn.

“You
did
want to send me back to the underworld that night when you tried to drain my blood!”

“I didn’t want to kill you. You have to believe me. I tried to figure out a way to keep you alive. William had a big meeting with all the other vampires—Olivia, Travis, Werm, Iban, who loves you almost as much as I do. I argued with them all. They insisted that to die and be with your son in paradise for all eternity was exactly what you would want.”

“And they were right!” Connie cried.

“I was selfish,” I said, talking even faster now that the crowning sun was burning my arm, forehead, and cheeks. “I wanted to keep you with me, but William finally convinced me that it was the right thing to do. So I came to you, held you, used my glamour to make you fall asleep in my arms, and then I sucked your blood.”

“But you didn’t finish me off!” Connie said, sobbing. “Why?”

“Because when it was near the end and your life was almost gone, I—I couldn’t kill you.” My words disappeared in a scream as the dawn broke and my flesh sizzled. As smoke rose from my face and arm, Connie leapt to her feet and pulled the sword out of the timber.

My body slid into the river and I felt the immediate relief of the cold water on my wounds. I let myself sink deeper and deeper until I hit the muddy bottom. Peace settled over me and I could feel my burns and the gash in my hand begin to heal. I let myself lie back among the underwater plants that grew near the edge of the riverbank. They swayed gently with the rhythm of the moving water and caressed my injured cheek lightly.

Then I felt strong arms around my waist, lifting me upward. Legs kicked powerfully; I could feel them against mine. I was rising again, and I didn’t want to.

My head broke the surface of the water right beside Connie’s face. We were under the part of the repair shed that was suspended over the water. A narrow shaft of sunlight made its way between the two-by-fours in the wall, but the ceiling let nothing through. Connie had dragged me to a place where the light couldn’t find me.

I was safe—for now—but exhausted. A vampire forced to stay up beyond daylight now and then won’t suffer much harm, but a gravely injured one needs his sleep to heal. My body was demanding that rest. I sagged limply against Connie, forcing her to tread water for the both of us.

She used one hand to splash cold water on my face. “Why didn’t you kill me?”

I heard her but couldn’t answer. I was in another world again, the underwater world of comfort and peace. And sleep. I drifted in the soothing fluid. Was this what it was like for my baby as it was growing inside Connie? I had never allowed myself to think mushy thoughts about my baby before, but now that my mind was completely relaxed it allowed itself that luxury. I pictured myself in a human world, bouncing a blue-eyed baby on my knee in the sunshine.

Then I could feel the burning again. Harsh sounds assaulted my ears, and the smell of diesel nauseated me. Worst of all, I lost the healing water. A hard surface was at my back and I was racing forward to the gap in an open-ended tunnel. I burst through the surface of consciousness, gasping and blinking. When I could see again, I realized I was in the bridge of William’s other custom cabin cruiser.

Connie knelt over me, holding my head in her lap. I looked deeply into her eyes and I saw it. It was faint, like the beating of my baby’s heart, but it was there and growing.

The spark of Connie’s humanity was back.

“Why didn’t you kill me?”

“I . . .” I started to tell her that I heard our baby’s heartbeat, but something stopped me. I guess it was the return of that unmistakable glimmer of the old Connie. It told me that my plan to have Seth save her and the baby could still work after all.

“I couldn’t kill you because I love you,” I said.

Twelve

Connie cradled my head in her hands. On her face I could see a whole parade of emotions. The power of my love had gotten through to her, just as it had drawn her out of the underworld against her will.

“You should have killed me,” she said.

“I know.”

“I ought to be furious with you right now because you didn’t have the guts to finish me off.”

“But you’re not furious, and I know why. You’re the old Connie again and you value life, including your own. You know it’s true, don’t you?” I said. “You can feel it now that you’re . . . back.”

Connie’s eyes grew wide. “I
am
back.”

I felt myself drifting off again, but something in the back of my mind nagged at me. There was a reason I should stay awake. What was it?

“The nuclear site! Diana and the others are on their way there now.”

“You mean you were telling the truth about that?” Connie asked.

I told her what the other vampires had threatened to do. Before I’d finished the story, Connie had the boat backed out of the slip and headed upriver. Although I wished we were in one of William’s speed-boats, I happened to know we were on the faster of the two cabin cruisers. I knew because I’d just tuned this one up myself.

Connie set the boat on the right course and put it on autopilot. Then she kneeled down next to me again.

“You’re injured. You need this.” She pushed up the sleeve of her Savannah PD sweatshirt.

“No,” I said. “I just need sleep. Just go up the river full throttle. If you see that other Thorne cabin cruiser before we get to Augusta, wake me.”

“All right,” she agreed.

The last thing I felt was Connie’s warm lips pressed to my cold ones.

I dreamed about a toddler with my eyes and Connie’s cheekbones and chin. “Come to Papa,” I said to the child. I bent over and held out my hands, ready to swing the tyke up into my arms. I didn’t know whether it was a boy or a girl, but it was beautiful. It toddled over to me and threw its plump little arms around my knee.

And bit me in the leg with its tiny fangs.

I woke up shouting and immediately felt a hand across my mouth.

“Shh!” Connie whispered. “I think they’re just up ahead. What should we do?”

I roused myself and got to my feet. The sun had just set, and the photochromic tinting on the windshield and windows had turned almost clear. “You’re right. That’s them,” I said.

“Should we cut the running lights?” Connie asked.

“That won’t help. Blood drinkers can see in the dark, remember?”

“Oh, yeah. I’m still pretty new at this. How do you feel?” Connie gave me a smile that was completely lucid and completely human. If I didn’t know better I would have sworn that my own heart had started beating again.

“I feel great,” I said. “Never better.”

“Look,” Connie said. “They’re out of the cabin.”

I took the wheel and steered it toward the other cruiser. “It looks like they’ve broken down,” I said. Their boat was dead in the water. All four vampires were now walking around the cabin and scrambling around the deck. I saw Reedrek open the hatch to the engine compartment.

“We’re going to take them on hand to hand, aren’t we?” The sparkle in her eye told me that while Connie the human was back, Connie the Slayer was still just under the surface. As happy as I was to have the real Connie in the house I was also really glad to see that she still had her killer instinct. It would help keep her and the baby alive.

“You up for a fight?”

“Oh yeah,” she said.

“Let’s do it. Whatever happens, don’t let them take over this boat.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Get ready. I’m going to aim the boat at them and cut the motor only after we’ve got the momentum to ram them,” I said. “And don’t forget your sword.”

“Aye-aye.”

As soon as I cut the motor, Connie and I climbed onto the sundeck and grabbed the handrail. “Hang on,” I said. There was no possibility of a sneak attack. All four of the vampires on the other cruiser saw us coming, and I saw them brace themselves for a fight. All except Mole.

“It’s the Slayer!” Diana cried.

“No!” yelled Mole. “Don’t come any closer!”

“It’s not like this thing has brakes,” I explained.

Ulrich looked at Mole. “Buck up, you mongrel. It’s four against two.”

But Mole was already over the side, dog-paddling for our boat and in grave danger of getting crushed between the two crafts.

“Looks more like three against three,” I called out, although if I had my pick of fighters to come over to the light side, Mole would have been my last choice.

As we pulled closer I extended a hand to Mole, plucked him out of the water, and set him on the boat between Connie and me. I guess the little guy had just been pretending to go along with the bad guys after all. He picked a nifty time to switch allegiances again. I would have to watch my back since he helped leave me to die.

As soon as his feet hit the deck, Mole spit out a mouthful of river water and croaked, “Start up that engine and get us out of here now!” He jerked his head in the direction of the other craft’s engine compartment and I suddenly remembered the missing bag of bomb components.

“Get inside,” I yelled to Connie.

But the Slayer had drawn her sword and had blood in her eye. I caught her by the waist, slung her over my shoulder, and hoped she wouldn’t cut my ass off with that blade. “Hey!” she protested.

“We’ve got to get inside. Trust me on this,” I said.

By the time I’d set Connie on her feet on the bridge, Mole had gotten the engine started and it was damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead. The three vampires on the deck of the other cruiser looked perplexed until Ulrich decided to take charge. “Board their boat!” he commanded.

The bow of our boat rammed theirs and kept going, knocking Diana, Reedrek, and Ulrich to the deck.

The explosion on the other cruiser rocked our own craft and knocked Connie and me to the floor of the bridge. Mole stayed on his feet by hanging onto the throttle for dear undeath.

“Connie, are you all right?” I asked, scrambling to my feet and taking her hand.

“I’m fine.” She joined me at the window just in time to see a fireball consuming the boat the other vampires had been on.

“Did you see if they got away?” I asked Mole, who was bringing the boat around in a wide arc.

“I didn’t see anybody make it off the boat,” he said.

We turned our boat around and circled the smoking wreckage three times. I retrieved a couple of flashlights from belowdecks, but we saw not a sign of a vampire break the surface. “We should get out of here before somebody sees the smoke and calls the authorities,” I said.

“Anything you say,” said Mole, steering the vessel back toward Savannah.

“Can we assume they burned to death?” Connie asked.

“Those immortals haven’t lived hundreds of years for nothing,” I said, remembering how Ulrich had survived more than one attempt at a beheading. “We can’t assume anything.”

“So what do we do now?” Connie asked.

“Maybe you could find a way to anonymously tip off the authorities that attempts are going to be made to sabotage the nuclear site. Maybe that way they’d double down on security for a while.”

“I’ll take care of it,” she said. “Is that all we can do? If they’re not dead, I mean.”

“Until such time as they decide to show themselves, yeah, I guess.”

“They’re dead!” Mole shouted vehemently. “Dammit, they have to be.”

I studied the little vampire, surprised at his outburst. Olivia had said he was a minion of the old lords for ages. Surely with everything he knew about those three vampires the idea that they might have survived couldn’t come as a shock to him. Something about the gleam of hatred in his eye struck me as strange. The change in his formal manner of speaking was weird, too.

“What happened back there?” I asked him.