Immortal War

Before she could do anything to stop him, Moonshine had climbed out through the broken window and jumped down into the icy water below.

“Be careful!” Cate cried as he dipped beneath the water’s surface. A strong beam of sunlight suddenly struck Cate directly in the face. It made her raise a hand to her eyes and turn away from the window. She found herself looking into the cabin once more. The cabin floor was now further illuminated by the stark glare of the sun. Light reflected off two spikes of silver on the floor. Cate recognized them immediately. She had seen them many times before.

Cate’s heart hammered as she knelt down and reached out her hands toward Cheng Li’s twin katanas. Both of her hands were soon covered in blood and ash, but she was past caring. She gripped the hilts of the katanas in her hands. There was no way Cheng Li would have willingly been separated from her beloved weapons. A horrible sense of foreboding washed over her, and she dashed to the porthole, terrified of what she might see in the waters below.

Oblivious to the scenes above, Jasmine and her team worked their way systematically through the lower cabins. Some of the stuff they found made for grim viewing.

“Are you sure you can handle this?” she asked Bo Yin as they came across a fresh skeleton.

Bo Yin nodded. “I’m tougher than you think,” she said.

“Yes.” Jasmine nodded. “I guess you are.”

“That’s about it, Deputy Peacock,” announced a gruff voice at her side. “We have this level locked down, with the exception of this cabin here.”

Jasmine glanced deeper into the gloomy cabin. “It doesn’t look like there’s anything we can’t handle here,” she said. “You can go up and join the others. Report to Captain Li and see if she has fresh duties for you.”

“Yes, ma’am!” The officer saluted Jasmine, then turned on his heels.

Jasmine pushed open the creaking door to the final cabin and stepped across the threshold. Bo Yin followed close behind. Glancing up ahead, Jasmine narrowed her eyes.

“Is that a cage?” she asked, stepping closer and seeing the bars and the thick chain that looped around the door.

“What’s inside it?” Bo Yin asked.

“Probably just more bones,” Jasmine said with a shudder. “I don’t want to know what went on down here.”

“Me neither,” Bo Yin agreed. “Wait! Did you see that?”

Jasmine froze to the spot. Yes, she had seen it. Behind the steel bars, there was a movement.

“There’s something in there,” Bo Yin said.

“Not something,” Jasmine corrected her. “Someone.” Her heart hammered as she stepped closer and knelt down before the cage. A pale, skeletal hand reached forward. The bony tips of the fingers pushed through the gap in the cage and made contact with her own flesh. It—he—seemed to want to make contact. Jasmine shuddered but did not retreat. A thin face hovered in the darkness beyond the bars. It lingered there, as if afraid to come any farther forward, but she willed it to keep coming—as if she were luring a frightened kitten out from a hiding place.

Finally, the face leaned forward, atop a scrawny neck. The flesh was drawn and gray in color and the head had been shorn of hair. Despite this, Jasmine would have recognized those eyes anywhere.

“Jacoby!” she exclaimed with a gasp. “Oh, my God… Jacoby, what have they done to you?”

Cate was still standing at the broken window when she heard Moonshine’s cries.

“I found her! I’ve found Cheng Li!” Moonshine was bobbing on the water’s surface with Cheng Li in his arms. The captain’s eyes were closed and there were lacerations all over her pale face.

“Help me!” Moonshine cried. “Her heartbeat is weak, but I think we can bring her back. She’s a fighter.”

Cate shook her head in amazement, then jumped into action. Ripping an ornate tapestry off the nearby wall, she sliced it to ribbons with her sword, then tied the pieces together to form a makeshift rope. It wasn’t the best method, but it was certainly the quickest.

Cate threw the rope out of the porthole and down to Moonshine. He grabbed at it with one hand as he paddled desperately to keep them afloat with the other.

“Thank God,” said Cate to herself. Then, tentatively, she tugged at the rope. It held, so she pulled again, harder this time. Securing her end to a chair, she called down to them. “Hang on in there; I’m going to get help to pull you in. But just so you know, Cheng Li, we’ve won back The Diablo!”

“We did?” Cheng Li’s voice was recognizable but weak. Moonshine grinned at her. “You bet your sweet katanas we did. Turns out we’re quite a team, Commodore Li!”

Under normal circumstances, he might have gotten a slap for that. As it was, Cheng Li smiled and sank back into his arms as he swam her back to safety. In the distance, ambulance boats were already heaving into view.

18

PLANS INTERRUPTED

Darcy stepped inside her room, closing the door behind her. “Grace,” she said in surprise. “What’s going on? You look terrible. And why are you packing that bag?”

“I’m going away for a bit,” Grace said, drawing the zip across the top of the bag.

“Where are you going?” Darcy asked. “For how long? And why now?”

She watched her friend’s face as she registered each of the questions. Grace was flinching as if she were being assailed by gusts of biting wind.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, exactly,” she said, sitting down on the edge of her own bed. “I need to see Lorcan, Darcy. I’m going back to The Nocturne.”

“What’s brought this on?” Darcy inquired. “I know you miss him, but there’s more to it than that, isn’t there? There must be for you to desert your patients, and Mosh Zu, and…”

“There’s a prophecy,” Grace told Darcy. “Mosh Zu made it five hundred years ago.”

“What kind of prophecy?” Darcy asked.

“A remarkably accurate one, in many respects,” Grace answered. “He foresaw a time of war and that the threat would come from within the Vampirate realm—from a warmonger…”

“Sidorio!” Darcy exclaimed.

Grace nodded. “There’s more. Mosh Zu foresaw that the warmonger would have twin children and that they…” At last she faltered. “That we, Connor and I, would play a key role in resolving the conflict.”

“Which you are!” Darcy exclaimed protectively.

“Yes,” Grace agreed, tears now flowing. “But there’s a price to be paid, Darcy. One of us must die. That was part of the prophecy.”

“How do you know all this?” Darcy asked.

“It’s all here,” Grace said. “In this little book.” She reached into her bag and passed the book across to Darcy. Grace watched as her friend turned the pages, and saw the understandable confusion in her eyes.