Vampirates 6: Immortal War (22 page)

“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.

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.

“It’s blank,” Darcy said.

Drying her eyes, Grace smiled wryly at her friend. “It’s blank to you because you’re not its custodian. I know it sounds crazy, Darcy, but it speaks to me.”

Darcy closed the book. She knew Grace well enough to
believe her story, however far-fetched it might seem. “I presume you’ve talked to Mosh Zu about this?”

Grace nodded. “I did, when I first found the book. And he told me not to worry.”

“Well, then…” The relief was evident on Darcy’s face.

“The book told me to trust no one. And when you think about it, Darcy, Mosh Zu has kept things from me before. So has Obsidian. They both conveniently forgot to tell me that I was Sidorio’s daughter, though they knew it from the very first.”

Darcy’s eyes fell. “To be fair, Lorcan knew it, too.”

Grace shrugged. Maybe she was even more alone than she had figured. “I didn’t want to believe the prophecy,” she said. “I’ve tried to shut it out of my mind and focus on my work here, but I can’t do it. I think the time is coming when either me or Connor
is
going to die.”

Darcy pointed to the book. “Has it said something else to you to make you think that?”

Tears coursing down her cheeks, Grace nodded.

“What did it say?” Darcy asked, putting her arms around Grace. “You have to tell me.”

Grace bit back her tears. “It said that we’re approaching the end of the war. That when Lola’s twins are born, the end is in sight.” She trembled in Darcy’s arms. “I have this feeling I can’t seem to shake that, for some reason, the world cannot contain both pairs of Sidorio’s twins.”

Darcy felt a sudden tightening in her chest. Usually, Grace was so strong and resolute. Despite everything she
had been through, it was rare to see her so vulnerable. She had offered Darcy comfort on many occasions and now, more than anything, Darcy wanted to be the strong one, but she wasn’t sure what solace she could offer. She had a sudden vision of the first time she and Grace had met, on the deck of
The Nocturne
. She had been lighting the lamps when she’d become aware of this strange girl staring at her. Grace had been wide-eyed with wonder back then. Now, her eyes were shadowed with deep fear.

“I don’t want you to go,” Darcy said, “but I think you’re right. You need to see Lorcan.”

Grace nodded, crumpling into Darcy’s embrace.

Just then, there was the familiar sound of bells. They both registered it like a shock of icy water. They stood, locked in each other’s arms, frozen for a time as the bells continued, summoning the healers and nurses to their positions.

“You can still go,” Darcy said as Grace began shaking her head. “Yes, you can, Grace. Let the other healers take the brunt this time. You’re in no fit state to heal, anyway.”

Grace drew herself back upright and dusted herself down. “I can’t do that,” she said.

Darcy was resolute. “Sometimes, you have to put yourself first,” she said.

Grace hesitated, catching sight of the book. She was desperate to see Lorcan, but could she really abandon her colleagues at this time?

She stood stock-still on the floor, unable to commit to a
movement in either direction. Just then, there was a loud knocking on the door.

“Grace! Grace, are you in there?” It was Tooshita.

Grace darted to the door and opened it. She saw Tooshita’s relief, then surprise at seeing Grace in tears.

“I’m glad I found you,” Tooshita said. “It’s all hands on deck, I’m afraid. We have some bad casualties coming our way.”

Darcy came to the doorway and asked Tooshita, “Another attack?”

Tooshita nodded. “A victory for us, though,” she said with a smile. “The Alliance has taken back an important ship.
The Diablo
, I think…”

“
The Diablo
!” Grace exclaimed. Immediately, she thought of Johnny. “You say the Alliance was successful?”

Tooshita nodded. “Come on, Grace, we’ll walk and talk.”

Grace found herself propelled along the corridor. Darcy hurried after her and Tooshita.

“Do you know any other details?” Grace asked, unable to prevent herself from asking the next question. “Do you know if the captain of
The Diablo
escaped?”

“The Vampirate incumbent, you mean?” Tooshita asked.

Grace nodded. Johnny, she thought. Kind, handsome Johnny. Poor, misguided Johnny. The most contrary man she had ever met. Her enemy. Her friend. He was so many things to her.
What if
… She found herself unable to complete the thought.

Tooshita’s eyes were dark. “There was a terrible fight,” she said. “A duel between him and one of our leaders, Commodore Li. They crashed through his cabin windows and into the ocean together. But only one of them came back up for air.”

They had walked so fast that they were already at the entrance to the compound. Grace was aware of Darcy hanging back behind them as Tooshita pushed open the doors into daylight. The other healers were already waiting outside.

“Who came back?” Grace asked as she and Tooshita strode out into the bracing light. “Cheng Li or John—Cheng Li or
the Vampirate
?”

Tooshita smiled softly at her friend. “Good news,” she said. “Commodore Li is making an amazing recovery. He tried to take her down with him, but he failed.” Evidently, she didn’t notice Grace’s expression as she marched on into the waiting area. Grace stumbled after her, feeling suddenly weak. It was an effort putting one foot in front of the other.
Not Johnny. Not Johnny. Not Johnny
. But she knew, deep down, that it must be true. War was raging and its fire would consume them all.

Grace watched, feeling wretched and numb, as three ambulances arrived at the top of the hill. Three ambulances meant a lot of casualties for her and her fellow healers to attend to. She should have followed Darcy’s advice and disappeared when she had the chance. Now there was no escape. Darcy’s words rang in her head.
You’re in no fit state to heal
. Darcy’s words were even truer now than they had been when she’d spoken them.

Although Grace felt numb, she knew that deep within her was a maelstrom of turbulent emotions. She was in profound mourning for Johnny—for everything he had been and everything he might have been. She had always felt that, with time, she could save him from himself. Now it seemed that time had run out. How could she possibly
heal the wounded from the battle to regain
The Diablo
when all her thoughts and feelings were with the man they had killed?

Grace watched the scene in front of her with a sense of disconnection. Moments of crisis like this had somehow become commonplace. The rescue workers made up a well-oiled team; they all knew their places and responsibilities. The ambulance doors were opening, and there was Dani, clipboard in hand, ready to classify the casualties and assign them to the healers. The staff began passing the patients over to the stretcher-bearers. Grace waited, with a mounting sense of dread, for her patient to be assigned and her name to be called.

She started when she recognized an ashen-looking Jasmine stumbling out of the back of one of the ambulances.
What is Jasmine doing here?
Obviously, she would have been involved in the attack on
The Diablo. Is she wounded?
Grace watched as Jasmine walked purposefully toward her. Other than a few cuts and grazes, Jasmine looked fine. It was clear that she was not here as a patient. Grace’s hands clenched into protective fists. Jasmine was Connor’s comrade and girlfriend.
Had Connor been wounded in the battle?
Her thoughts had been so much with Johnny that she hadn’t even stopped to think of her brother. The words of the prophecy came back to her in sharp relief.
One twin must die
. No, this was too much—not Johnny
and
Connor.
Please, no
.

Standing before Grace, Jasmine’s face broke with evident relief. “Thank goodness you’re here, Grace,” she said. “He’s in a really bad way. I thought that they’d take us to the infirmary at Pirate Academy, but they said he was… that he was too far gone for that.” She managed to get the words out but only just before she started to sob.

Grace stood before her brother’s girlfriend, barely daring to ask the question. “Jasmine, are you talking about Connor?”

Jasmine shook her head, her face pale, her eyes wet with budding tears. “No! No, Connor’s fine. It’s Jacoby!”

Grace felt ashamed at the relief that flooded through her. Suddenly things were coming back into focus. “Jacoby? But that’s wonderful. He’s alive after all!”

“Barely,” Jasmine said with a shudder. “Wait till you see what they did to him. It’s a good thing Commodore Li killed that despicable Johnny Desperado before I could get my own hands on him. He kept Jacoby in a cage!”