Forever Young - Book 2 Read online

  I needed a place where civilians wouldn’t go, and anyone who wasn’t me or the vampires constituted a civilian. I wasn’t willing to risk the crew, and I wasn’t willing to risk the captain either.

  First, I had to evade these two monsters long enough to find such a perfect spot. I darted into the casino, only to have the first vampire, Fangsy, grab me and throw me onto the roulette table. He jumped up to follow me, claws out, and tried to stab down.

  People were screaming all around us. I had to block it out as I rolled out of the way, scattering poker chips everywhere. “Dreadfully sorry,” I said, affecting a British accent. At least if anyone remembered anything, they’d be talking about a British jerk in a tuxedo, not… well, me. I hit the ground in a crouch and raced through the panicked crowd. My enemies, of course, gave chase. It was what they did.

  I heard one woman scream in raw terror, which meant I had to turn around and actually look at her. Fangsy’s buddy had grabbed a middle-aged woman in a long, sparkly sheath dress and torn it open, baring her neck and most of the rest of her. I pulled out my gun. “Don’t even think about it, Buddy.”

  Buddy latched on. I remembered exactly what that had felt like. I didn’t hesitate. I shot Buddy right then and there in the casino.

  I didn’t hit a vital target. I got him in the damn shoulder. It was enough to get him off the woman, enough to stop him before he could turn her into a Ferin, but not enough to kill him. He howled loud enough to shatter the nearest cocktail glasses. “You fucking breather! I’ll kill you and your little whores!”

  I didn’t stick around long enough to argue the finer points of language. “Come try me.” I ran out the other way, through one of the alarmed exits and down the stairs.

  Why hadn’t I thought of this before? The alarmed exit was enough to send both crew and passengers to very specific places. None of those places were the stern of the ship. I could lead us out there, far away from the passengers, the crew, and Tess and Kamila. Whether I won or lost, the people I cared about would be safe.

  I had a vague idea of where I was going. I ran for it, trusting my own dumb luck to get me to where I wanted to be. The ship was long, and it took forever to get up and down stairs and through hidden service corridors, but I got to where I was going eventually. My lungs burned from all the running, but that was okay. It wasn’t like I could die from it.

  As soon as we got out onto the stern, I turned to face my enemies. I hadn’t been as far ahead of them as I thought I was. Fangsy, who had two good arms to use, picked me up and threw me overboard.

  I almost panicked when I hit the water. The Gulf Stream keeps the area around Bermuda comparatively warm, but it was still wintertime. The water wasn’t exactly pleasant, and I did lose my breath in shock for a moment.

  I didn’t have to think to raise myself to the surface. I’d practiced for a moment like this, and in New York Harbor too. At least these waters were clean. My rage created a wave that carried me up and back over the railing. It would have taken the vampires with it when it crashed back into the sea if not for their superhuman strength.

  I opened my mouth and shouted in fury, but the sound came out with a blast of flame. The flames hit Fangsy square in the chest. He smirked at me for a moment, but I wasn’t done. I warmed him up from the inside like a microwave oven. Fire works on a whole host of different levels, and I wanted Fangsy to feel every second of his demise. He howled, but I had no mercy in me. Not for vampires.

  Buddy tried to help his friend, but he wasn’t as useful as he wanted to be. His right arm hung lifeless, and the silver poison was already spreading throughout his cursed body. I could see black lines crawling up the side of his face like spider legs. It wasn’t a pretty sight, but I got a small thrill from seeing the corruption weave through his dead flesh like a roadmap of pain. A small part of me wanted to know if it would kill him eventually, or if the black scarring would spread to his whole body. Either way, he was hurting, and I liked it.

  The rest of me had no time to waste. Buddy raked his claws across my leg, and I brought my gun back up. I pulled the trigger, even as searing pain cut through the skin on my leg. I bit my lip against a scream as Buddy collapsed and fell into dust, right there near my leg.

  My bleeding leg.

  A rogue wave splashed up over the deck again, washing it clean before any of my blood could revive the wretched Buddy. I looked around quickly because I certainly didn’t have the presence of mind to deal with people right now. I was in too much pain.

  Captain Logan was jogging down the stairs to the space where I’d been fighting. He carried a pistol, but when he saw what was happening, he flicked the safety back on and put it back into its holster. “Well, it looks like you took care of those two well enough.” He reached back into his coat and pulled out a flask.

  I hesitated. Should a ship’s captain be drinking on duty? I wasn’t kidding anyone. Captain Logan was a Ferin. He could be drinking pure grain alcohol and keep the ship as steady as he wanted.

  “Unfortunately, they got to one of the passengers in the casino,” I said. “I tried to stop them, but…” I took a swig from his flask. He carried the good stuff around with him—the finest rum available. I might not be able to get drunk anymore, but the flavor alone could settle my nerves.

  “You’re not responsible for the choices someone else makes, lad. And Mrs. Wilson is already rationalizing what happened in her head. She thinks the vampire was simply a thug, a drug dealer or terrorist who was attacking her under the influence of narcotics.”

  I drew back and blinked a few times. Narcotics didn’t work that way. A few other drugs did, but they were drugs you usually found in economically depressed rural areas, not cruise ships. “I guess whatever she has to tell herself.”

  “It works out in our favor anyway. Your cover story practically writes itself. You, running through the casino, calmly shooting the bad guy, all debonair and suave and all that rot. You’re a veritable James Bond.” He laughed and took another swig from his flask before passing it over.

  “Oh my god. Can you imagine, a Mainer James Bond? ‘Oh, ayuh, I’m licensed to kill alright.’” I knew my laugh had a touch of hysteria to it, but I couldn’t stop myself. “Look, Captain, I’m sorry we brought this kind of trouble onto your ship.”

  He waved a hand. “I checked the paperwork. They bought their tickets months ago. They weren’t here for you. I suspect they planned to make a meal out of some of my passengers and saw an opportunity. All the same, it’s probably for the best if you do disembark in Hamilton tomorrow. The law enforcement story will hold up for a little while, but it’s not going to hold up to anything intense. Best to get you out of sight and out of mind.”

  I sighed. He was right, and I knew he was right. But I still didn’t want to leave my shower.

  11

  We made port a little earlier than expected. I might have been the only one who could tell that the captain was helping to nudge the ship by creating a slipstream. He must have wanted to get rid of us as soon as possible, which made sense given the cloud of violence that always seemed to follow wherever we went. He wasn’t going to be able to keep his passengers safe if he had to worry about vampires dropping in at every new port.

  He did seem to be at least somewhat sorry to see us go, even if he was rushing us off the ship. We thanked him for the ride, and he promised to let us know if he heard anything about Mort or the war. I wasn’t sure how exactly he’d get word to us, given that we didn’t have any phones, but I’d worry about that later. I was sure someone would have a solution when the time came.

  We disembarked for a day of sightseeing with all the other passengers. We did spend some time taking in the sights. Hamilton was an elegant little city, with lovely buildings and some beautiful churches. It was also one of the smallest capital cities in the world, with a permanent resident population of maybe a thousand people. Still, it was a lovely place to be, and I could definitely see staying there in the long term.

 
It wasn’t an option, though. The captain sent a couple of crew members over to a less public part of the docks later with our baggage, and we set off through the wilder parts of the island.

  Bermuda wasn’t a big island, and it was fully developed. It was a British Overseas Territory, and I supposed if I lived in a place where it rained as much as it did in England, I’d be jumping at the chance to live someplace warm and sunny too. Still, parts of the island allowed us to see its original natural beauty. Kamila, Tess, and I planned to go through those parts. Not only did we want to avoid human contact as much as possible, but we wanted to appreciate the primal nature of the island, if we could find it among the civilization.

  None of that meant I had the first clue where I was going, of course. “So what exactly is going on here?” I asked as we set off down a side street, heading south. “Where are we going, and how are we getting there again?”

  “So many questions.” Tess’s mouth quirked up, teasing. “The guy gets into one shootout with a couple of vampires, and now he thinks he’s entitled to know all the answers.”

  Kamila chuckled softly to herself. “We’re meeting up with a contact of mine on the far side of the island. It’s less populated there, so nothing we do will stick out so much.”

  “And this contact,” I said as we kept walking. “How well do you know this person?”

  She turned around and gave me a flirtatious wink, walking backward. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  I laughed, and we kept walking, the tension between us easing.

  We journeyed through the night, slow and careful. Nighttime was the worst for us because that was when the vampires were highly active. I couldn’t imagine why vampires would ever come to a sun-drenched island like Bermuda, but I couldn’t imagine why vampires would be on a cruise ship either. They’d been on board just as clear as day, and they could be here too. I tried not to think about it. I wanted to be prepared, but if I let myself get obsessive, I’d likely go out of my mind, seeing fangers behind every patch of shadow.

  We kept walking well into the morning. The island was only twelve miles long, but if you walked that while avoiding humans and other unsavory characters, it became a hike. Fortunately, we were able to keep out of the public eye for the most part.

  I did regret that. I doubted my friends did, but they’d been living this way for centuries. I was curious about Bermuda. What was the point of traveling if I couldn’t get to know the people around me? Survival. The point was survival.

  I kept moving.

  We came to a nature preserve by the end of that first day, and by then, all four of us were exhausted. Daisy was probably the most beat of all of us. We all had our mission to guide us and the knowledge of what waited for us if we failed. Daisy was just along for the ride. Tess was the one to suggest that we hunker down and rest for the night. As soon as she said “rest,” Daisy wagged her little tail.

  Kamila had been reluctant to delay, but when she saw Daisy, she relented. “I guess it’s not the end of the world to take a little break. We’ve been going for a good thirty-six straight hours, haven’t we?” She looked up at the sky. “I’d hoped we’d be a little farther along by now, but my contact isn’t going to be here until later anyway. Let’s find a good place to set up camp for the night.”

  “Where are we?” I asked. The beaches were stunning.

  Kamila answered with hesitation. “Great Head Park.”

  “Named after you, I see,” I said without thinking. Tess nearly choked with laughter, and Kamila merely curtsied.

  “Haven’t heard you complain,” Kamila said, grinning.

  “And you never will,” I replied. I know when to shut my trap.

  It didn’t take us long to find someplace suitable. We made camp by an inland pool, shallow and clear. It was a perfect site because it gave me something to work with if vampires found us, it gave us fresh water to drink, and the palms overhead made enough noise to cover our own sounds. It was, for an island, quite secluded.

  There was a sign near the pool that warned people away. “No visitors—public water supply.” We ignored it. Apparently, once you became immortal, some rules just didn’t apply to you anymore.

  Daisy drank from the pool, looked around, and lay down to go to sleep. Personally, I wasn’t ready yet. I was tired, sure, but I was keyed up from the walk. My brain was still stuck in a playful mindset from our time at sea, which had been an excursion into playing at being rich. I understood the seriousness of our situation, but I also didn’t want to let go of my newly regained youth just yet.

  I looked at Kamila then at Tess. Without a word, I stripped. The ocean was calling, and I had to go. They followed instantly, bare bodies right behind me when I submerged myself in the ocean.

  The cool ocean.

  “Shrinkage?” Tess asked, lifting a brow.

  “Not anymore,” I laughed, warming the water around us with a small dose of my power. Tess and Kamila sighed at the temperature change, floating on their backs in the gentle waves. It was a glorious sight.

  “Cheater,” Tess accused with a grin, her eyes to the sky. “You’re supposed to shiver until you turn blue when you go skinny dipping in the winter.”

  “Nah.” I waved a hand. “What’s the point of having superpowers if you can’t use them for emergencies?”

  I remembered Kamila’s feigned jealousy from a few nights before. She’d watched me and Tess on the balcony. Maybe she would be in the mood for something now? I didn’t want the illusion of favoring one of them over the other, after all. I swam over to her and brought her in for a deep, passionate kiss.

  I have a few rules in life that carried over from my human days. Don’t have sex in the water. Don’t bite off more than you can chew. The third, and most important, don’t expose yourself where there are unknown beasties.

  I was about to violate all three with a roll of the dice.

  In water, sex and leverage didn’t work. Unless you had the ability to change water, like I did. I demonstrated that by bracing myself against a wall of water and rocking against her, and her eyes went wide with seasoned recognition. Tess was a woman who understood leverage, and friction, and pleasure. She brought her breast up to my mouth, and my lips closed around her soft nipple. We were off to the races.

  “Naughty,” she gasped as I probed at her with my fingers. “Using your powers for sex. How primal.” She threw her head back and moaned softly. “Not that I’m telling you to stop.”

  I laughed, and when she was ready, I slipped inside. It was so easy to hold her up like this, as if we were in a pool of thick air, its resistance perfect for our mission. She wrapped her legs around me, driving me further inside her, and then the water did the rest. I started the rhythm slowly first, and then I sped it up just the way I knew she loved it. We all have our desires, and the most common mistake we make is not asking for what we like. With Tess and Kamila, I wouldn’t make that error. Ever.

  If this refuge had rangers or anything like that, we were about to make a scene, because Tess decided that quiet was not her style, laughing and gasping with abandon as each of my thrusts went in her, bouncing us in the pool until gelatinous little whitecaps appeared, slowed by my magic. I couldn’t find it in me to care. I sped up the pace, wallowing in the effect of her buoyancy.

  She came, shuddering and clenching around me in a rippling dance. I still wasn’t done, but I stopped trying to hold back. Soon enough, my orgasm arrived in full force, and I came with a shout of triumph. Tess smiled, her eyes bright with lust, then she bit my lip and drew even closer, her chest heaving. I pulled out of her reluctantly and let myself fall backward into the warm, welcoming water. Across the pool, Kamila watched us, her fingers busy, eyes heavily lidded and a half-smile pulling her lips to the side in erotic appreciation. She winked and went under, coming back up with her skin streaming. She was exquisite, and my body told me we weren’t done.

  I popped back up as soon as I could, nervous energy firing all my cylinders. While
it was certainly fair play for Tess to have to sit this one out, I wanted to include her in an exploration of my power. I looked at both women. “Do you guys want to try something. . . different?”

  Kamila was humming blissfully, but I saw her eye me with interest. Tess winked. “Always, but I’ll give you a little bit of a refractory period.”

  I blushed and rolled my eyes. “Not that kind of fun, although I appreciate the intent. I have something else in mind.” Then, certain no one else was around, I gathered a column of water, lifting us on its silken surface. From up here, we could get a better view of just how beautiful Bermuda really was, its tropical sprawl unfolding beneath us.

  The view was superb, but I had other plans. I sat on my naked ass and slid down the waterfall as if it were a waterslide, crashing into the pool with limited grace. I trusted the pool to cushion me from any nasty rocks or bad falls, and thanks to my water powers, it did exactly that.

  Kamila and Tess looked over the side at me. “You’re shitting me. This is what you brought us up her for?” Kamila laughed, looking down at her bare breasts with a frown of disappointment.

  “Are you ten years old? Never mind, don’t answer,” Tess said, but she eyed the sorcerous waterslide with curiosity.

  “You’re just jealous you didn’t think of it first.” I raised my eyebrow at her in challenge. “Come on. You know you want to.”

  Tess tried it first. I made sure she didn’t hurt herself, using the water to cushion her fall. Kamila slid next, and I did the same for her. Both of them shrieked with delight and clapped their hands like kids. It was the first true fun we’d had since I had become Ferin, a fact that gave me pause. If I didn’t have moment like this in my new life, there was no reason to pursue eternity. I made a note to myself.