The freighter’s hatch started to glow, and the heat radiated from the center of the panel until the metal was cherry red. The steel turned the consistency of wet cardboard as it slumped in his hands. Giovanni pushed aside the soft metal, blocking the three vampires behind him as Terry sent a blast of cold water to cool it.
Jean’s human assault team had remained, standing alert on deck to grab any humans they found. The team had already secured the bridge but had been told not to go belowdecks until Giovanni, Carwyn, Gemma, and Terry arrived at first dark. When they had, the team leader gladly let the silent immortals dressed in black take the lead.
Giovanni reached down the dark passageway with his senses, stretching his hearing and sense of smell to detect any danger. He could smell the faint scent of honeysuckle near the top of the stairs, along with the scent of adrenaline that made the blue flames jump on his bare torso.
He felt Terry’s cool hand on his shoulder, dousing the flames as the salt air was drawn to him.
“Watch yourself. Narrow corridors. Flammable cargo. We don’t know what’s down there.”
“Beatrice is down there,” he said.
“So she is, and we’re getting her back tonight.”
Giovanni touched the melted edges of the door, nodding as he ducked his tall frame through the opening. He could hear Terry, Carwyn, and Gemma crawl through behind him. He walked down the corridor and halted at the top of a stairwell.
He could hear a scuffle somewhere in the bowels of the ship, as if humans were scrambling, and he heard the soft
“Father and I will go forward,” Gemma murmured. “You and Terry go to the rear of the ship; with this damp air, he’ll have no trouble extinguishing you if things get dangerous.”
“Just stay behind me, Terry.”
“Right.”
She nodded. “We’ve all seen the layout of this ship from Jean’s man, but I think it’s important to note that many of the small interior cabins could be good hiding spots, as well.”
Carwyn said, “We’re sending humans above if they cooperate-”
“And it doesn’t waste too much time,” Giovanni added.
“Fine, and let’s remember that there are twenty men listed in this crew, and only four of them are being held above,” Carwyn said.
“And we don’t know how many vampires Lorenzo has with him,” Terry added.
“Is he here?” Gemma looked to Giovanni. “Do you get any sense of him, Gio?”
“Not of Lorenzo, but there are four other energy signatures. Young, not very strong.”
Though all vampires could sense electricity, much as sharks could in the water, Giovanni’s senses had always been more keen than most. Since his particular element made him highly reactive to electronics, he could also sense vampire signatures at far greater distances than even most ancient vampires. It was one of the reasons he and Tenzin had been such effective mercenaries.
“Lorenzo’s scent is here, but I don’t feel him. He might have left.”
“Rats do tend to flee when they smell fire,” Carwyn muttered.
“Let’s go,” Terry said. “No need to be quiet if we find them.” He leaned over and pulled Gemma toward him, planting a rough kiss on her mouth before chucking her chin. “Make sure you leave some for the rest of us, luv.”
The four nodded toward each other before breaking apart to search. Giovanni clamped down the instinctive rage and forced himself to think rationally. Beatrice was smart and brave, and he knew Lorenzo needed her unharmed as bait for her father. If she was still on the ship, she would be fine. She had to be.
He traced the scent of honeysuckle and adrenaline down to the starboard side of the ship, halting before a small cabin where the smell was strongest. Terry caught up with him just before he cracked open the door.
“Here.” Giovanni stepped through the door, almost falling to his knees at the scent of her panic and a faint trace of blood. A cocktail of Lorenzo’s scent and cloying energy combined with the smell of blood, adrenaline, and Beatrice. Blue flames burst out over his body. Giovanni heard his growl echo through the small room, and his fangs punched through his lower lip.
He felt Terry slap at his burning shoulder and steam rose. “Gio, focus. I smell blood, too, but it’s not much. Calm down and track her.” The water vampire sent a cooling blanket of air over his torso, extinguishing the flames as Giovanni wiped the blood dripping from his chin.
He walked back to the corridor, focusing his senses on the scent of Beatrice and a male human. It drew him down the hall and through twisting corridors, slowly working its way toward the top deck.
“She had a man with her,” Terry noted. “A pissing scared one, at that.”
“Caught that, did you?”
“She’s no wilting flower, your girl.”
“Neither’s yours.”
Beatrice’s scent stopped right before a steel door that he knew led to the top deck, and he caught the thick musk of four male humans along with the stronger scent of human blood. It was not hers. He looked down to the pool of on the floor, following the trail to a small supply closet where a large body had been stowed.
Terry peered in. “This is the one she took up from her cabin by the smell of him. Look at his holster, empty. I bet she took his gun. That’s why he pissed himself. Good girl, B.”
“But they were intercepted. Beatrice wouldn’t have shot him in the chest if he was cooperating. Other humans must have found them.”
“Rough smelling ones at that.”
“Let’s go.” Giovanni turned. “Their scent leads down this way.”
They moved down to the lower decks, and Terry let a sharp whistle echo down one corridor. In a few seconds, Carwyn and Gemma had joined them, and all four snuck through the freighter, following behind Giovanni.
There was a scuffle in the cabin to their right. Carwyn turned and ripped the door off its hinges, throwing it to the side.
Terry caught the first crewman who tried to scurry out, tossing him to Giovanni while Gemma found the other trying to hide in a closet. The man was trembling in fear, so she used her amnis to calm him and send him to the top deck with his hands on his head.
“Where is the girl?” Giovanni growled, as he held the small man up by the throat. Flames flared on his shoulders, and the crewman's horrified gaze flicked farther down the hallway to a pair of large, steel doors.
“Forward cargo hold,” Terry murmured before Giovanni squeezed the man’s neck and sent the human into unconsciousness before dropping him on the floor.
The four approached the door cautiously, Giovanni reaching out with his senses, searching for Beatrice’s distinctive scent in the confused mass of immortal energy, human scent, and growing commotion behind the steel doors. The flames flared on his arms as his frustration grew.
“Carwyn…”
“Focus on her, Gio. Is she in there?”
“Yes,” he hissed and reached for the door. His hands were already flaming as he placed them on the metal, but Carwyn put a firm hand on his shoulder, halting him.
“We don’t know what’s on the other side of that. Hold back the fire, my friend. Now, what’s behind there?”
He closed his eyes and focused. “Beatrice is there. Four vampires…too many humans. More than ten, that’s all I can tell.”
“Is she frightened?”
“Everyone is frightened. I can’t tell where she is.” His patience snapped. “Just get the damn door open before I melt it!”
Terry pulled him back from the doorway and let Carwyn forward.
“Hold back, mate. We’ll take care of the rest. You just find your girl.”
Carwyn placed his ear on the door and closed his eyes before nodding with satisfaction. He reared back and
