Vampirates 4: Black Heart (40 page)

There was a laugh behind her. A familiar laugh. It disconcerted her that Jez Stukeley, a former comrade, was now a vampire and threatening her.

"Come, come," said Stukeley. "From what we hear, you love a good mystery, isn't that right, Johnny?"

Johnny nodded. "We hear you've been delving into the unexplained world of Vampirates."

Cheng Li frowned but said nothing. What was the point in denying it?

"Anyhow," said Johnny, "we figured, if you're so interested in Vampirates, why not do you a favor and come pay you a visit?"

"Exactly," said Stukeley, leaning close behind her, so close that she could feel his breath on her neck. "So here we are. Ready and eager to answer all your questions."

Saying that, he clambered out from behind her and came to sit down on the seat opposite. Johnny remained standing, his hand on the tiller. "It's okay, mate," said Stukeley. "I reckon we can idle here for a bit, don't you? It's a beautiful night. And this is a highly picturesque spot, don't you agree, Mistress Li?"

Cheng Li grimaced, determined to retain some semblance of control. "Actually, it's Captain Li now," she said.

"Oh, of course!" Stukeley continued. "I was forgetting myself. I am sorry."

"That's quite all right, Jez," she said. "Things have moved pretty fast since we last met."

Stukeley nodded. "Indeed they have. For both of us. And, as it goes, no one really calls me Jez any more. I go by the name Stukeley now."

Cheng Li raised an eyebrow. "As you wish."

She looked at him properly for the first time. He didn't look as changed as she might have expected. Paler, certainly. A little thinner perhaps. It was evident in his face. Jez had always been a joker, and his round face and dimples had somehow reinforced that impression, as though he was always thinking back to the last joke or about to launch into the next. Now the cheekbones were sharper and he looked a little more serious. More handsome, too, she noted, somewhat to her surprise. But when she thought about it, they were all rather handsome -- Lorcan Furey, Johnny Desperado, and Jez ... or rather, Stukeley. In spite of the changes they'd been through, or perhaps because of them, they had a strangely alluring quality. Stop it! She told herself. Stop this crazy thinking! Any more and you'll go down the same blind alley as Grace Tempest.

"What are you thinking about?" Stukeley asked her.

She looked into his eyes. They were the same twinkly eyes, she noticed with some relief. "I was thinking about us," she said. "About you and me. Back when we were comrades aboard the Diablo."

Stukeley frowned.

"What's wrong?" she said. "Don't you like to think back to that time?"

He shook his head. "Not really. I've moved on. I'm a different person now."

"Perhaps," agreed Cheng Li, intrigued at how unsettled he appeared by this line of inquiry. "But don't you sometimes like to think about your life back then? About Captain Wrathe and your friends Connor and Bart?"

Stukeley looked pained, then closed his eyes. "No!" he said. "Be quiet!" He clamped his hands over his ears.

Johnny leaned forward. "He doesn't like to talk about those times, or those people," he said.

Cheng Li nodded. How interesting that he reacted in this way. She filed away the information in case it came in handy later.

They continued drifting in silence for several minutes. They had reached an impasse, floating along on the currents in the middle of the deserted bay.

"I bet I can guess what you're thinking," Johnny said after a time.

Cheng Li glanced up. "Go on."

"Bet you wish you had some of your weaponry on hand."

Cheng Li frowned, staring at the katanas that Jez still held in his grasp.

Johnny shook his head. "That's not what I meant," he said. "I meant the weapons you've been developing to attack Vampirates."

So he knew about that, too. In spite of her best efforts, Cheng Li was starting to feel anxious and gloom-ridden. Clearly, Sidorio knew of her plans and had sent his lieutenants on a nighttime mission to dispose of her. Like they had disposed of Commodore Kuo. Damn it! Her career was just taking off. Why now? But then, she supposed, if you raise the stakes, you raise the danger.

"So you know about my mission," she said carefully.

Johnny nodded. "Of course. One of your prisoners escaped."

"Vampirate Two!" Cheng Li exclaimed, her heart sinking. She remembered her words of reassurance to Jacoby. So he got away. He's only one Vampirate. But of course he had gone to alert Sidorio and the other Vampirates.

Stukeley smiled at her. There was no trace of humanity, no trace of the Jez she had known. "Your goons had a nasty go at our little friend Babyface, but he managed to put himself together again, find us, and beg for our help."

"He wanted you to rescue the other two," Cheng Li said. Of course, when he'd escaped the other Vampirates had still been alive. "Why didn't you come and rescue them?" she asked.

"If it was up to me," said Stukeley, "that's exactly what we'd have done. But the captain had other ideas."

"Sidorio?" Cheng Li said.

"That's right. Our captain. Sidorio. King of the Vampirates."

"The one you've got in your targets," said Johnny.

Cheng Li thought of her meeting with Ahab Black. Her mission. The one that was supposed to bring her glory. Bring in Sidorio, the leader of the renegade Vampirates, the murderer of Porfirio Wrathe, John Kuo, and the others.

"You're making a mistake," Stukeley said.

"Taking on the likes of you?" she said.

He shook his head. "That's not what I mean. Sidorio isn't the one you should be targeting. It wasn't Sidorio who killed Commodore Kuo."

"It wasn't?" Cheng Li was fascinated. Why were they telling her this? They didn't seem like the kind of people who'd feel the need to clear the air before they killed you. "Do you want something from me?" she asked, curious.

Stukeley shrugged. "We're here to share some information with you," he said. "That's all."

Cheng Li's heart was racing. No longer from fear, but from adrenaline.

"Who did kill Commodore Kuo?" she asked.

"Her name," said Stukeley, "is Lady Lola Lockwood. Also known as Black Heart."

"Black Heart!" Cheng Li exclaimed. Of course. She remembered the playing card Commodore Kuo had been holding when they found him in his study. And the other, blood-tinged playing cards Connor had placed on her desk.

"She has a ship called the Vagabond," said Stukeley. "And she's about to join Sidorio's forces."

"In other words," Cheng Li said, "your forces."

Stukeley nodded. "If you like."

Cheng Li's mind was racing now, as fast as her heart. "She's a threat to you." She was having such a rush, she thought her head might explode. "You don't want her to join forces with Sidorio because if she does, she'll threaten your position."

"You're good!" exclaimed Johnny. "One smart little cookie."

Stukeley raised his hand to silence his partner. "We're not talking about us. Or what we want. We're just setting you straight. You were given a mission to kill Sidorio because you all think he killed Commodore Kuo. But that isn't the case. It was Lady Lockwood. We just thought it was important to set the record straight."

Cheng Li nodded. "I understand. You have an innate sense of fairness and justice." She paused to add, almost casually, "And if we were to target Lady Lockwood, you wouldn't stand in our way." She decided to chance it still further. "Indeed, perhaps you'd welcome it. Or even help us?"

Stukeley shook his head. "Absolutely not! Like I said before, we're only here to share some information with you. The thought of us helping you -- no, no, I can't even think about it." He grinned. "Oh, but we did want to give you something." He reached into his pockets. "Now where did I put it?" He made a great show of patting every conceivable pocket.

Johnny laughed. "Don't you remember, hermano? You gave it to me for safekeeping." He reached into his own jacket pocket and produced an envelope, which he handed to Stukeley to pass on to Cheng Li.

She took the thick vellum envelope in her hands. On it, in immaculate script, was written:

Cheng Li and guests

She raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't you open it?" Stukeley prompted her.

Excitedly, she turned over the envelope. It was stamped with a wax seal and bore a coat of arms embedded with ribbons. "Very fancy," she noted.

"You don't mess around when it's the wedding of the year," smirked Stukeley.

"Wedding?" Cheng Li said. It was all coming together. As she drew out the invitation, the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle locked into place. "So Sidorio is marrying Lady Lockwood?"

"Very good, Nancy Drew!" said Stukeley.

"That's why she threatens your position. They're going to be married, and then they'll divide the spoils between them, and you two ... Well, your future will be uncertain, to say the least."

Stukeley shook his head once more. "Like I said, we're not here to talk about us."

"We just wanted to invite you to join the festivities," Johnny said. "Everyone loves a wedding." His eyes were bright.

"That's right," Stukeley said, his eyes fixed on Cheng Li's. "Everyone loves a wedding. Isn't that right, Captain Li?"

Now she understood. "You want me to come to the wedding and assassinate Lady Lockwood?"

"What a shocking idea!" said Stukeley, apparently deeply offended. But his eyes told a different story.

Cheng Li thought fast. "How do I know this isn't a trick?" she asked. "That you're not luring me there to kill me?"

Stukeley laughed good and hard at that. "Captain Li," he said, "if our intention was to kill you, you'd be dead in the water by now, and we'd be long gone."

Cheng Li considered this. "But the invitation says 'plus guests.' You want me to bring my crew with me. You could kill us all."

"No one's talking about killing anyone," said Stukeley.

At least not aloud, thought Cheng Li.

"No," agreed Johnny. "Just come along, on your own or with your crew. Myself, I think it's more fun to bring a date to a wedding than to fly solo, but it's up to you. So come along, eat some cake, throw some confetti --"

"And then murder the bride!" said Cheng Li.

"Johnny," said Stukeley, "we ought to be getting Captain Li back to her ship. We've detained her long enough."

"Of course," Johnny said, attending to the steering once more. "You must get some rest, Mistress Li. Give you time to come up with the ideal wedding gift."

Cheng Li turned back to Stukeley. "Do you have any suggestions?" she asked. "After all, you know them both so much better than I do."

Stukeley shook his head. "I'm sure you'll come up with the perfect surprise."

So that was as much as he was going to help her. Well, given what he knew of her experiments, this must mean she was on the right track. Cheng Li thought of Connor and Jasmine returning from Lantao with the silver swords dipped in hawthorn and aconite. The perfect gift for a vampire bride. A poisonous sword through the heart.

"And afterward?" she asked, turning back to Stukeley. "After the wedding, how can I be sure of a quick getaway? That you won't double-cross me and attack me and my crew?"

"Don't worry," Stukeley said. "You do us the very great honor of attending the nuptials, and we'll take care of the rest. Trust us!"

Cheng Li laughed lightly. "You're asking me to trust you?"

"You said it yourself. We're old comrades, aren't we?" He grinned at her. "Here, have your katanas back." With that, he slipped the deadly blades back into their scabbards. "There now, Cheng Li. You have to trust me and I have to trust you. I believe this is what's known in better circles as mutual self-interest."

40IMPOSSIBLE DREAMS

Once more, Connor wielded the sword of Chang Pao in his grip. The last time he held it, he had thought of Chang Pao's history as a legendary pirate and the commander of the Red Flag Fleet, and then of his own future. Now all his thoughts were concentrated on the present moment as he looked down the length of the épée toward his opponent's weapon.