Black Heart Page 21

  29

  HOW TO KILL A VAMPIRE

  Cheng Li had given each of her three young crew members a different research task to be completed within five days. At the close of the fifth day, Captain Li made her way back to the secret cache to quiz them on what they had learned. As she made her descent on the mosaic platform, she wondered how they had fared. Her expectations were of a thorough and well-thought-through analysis from Jasmine and a wild but potentially brilliant range of ideas from Jacoby.

  The unknown quantity was Connor. The fact that his sister had such strong ties to the Vampirates was still a concern to Cheng Li. She had to consider the possibility that, at some stage, his loyalties would be torn. He had assured her that he had no love for the Vampirates, in spite of Grace’s relationship with them. But he knew something of them and their world and he saw them as distinct individuals. This was bound to challenge him as the mission continued. In battle, you needed to know as much about your enemies as possible, but then you had to stop viewing them as anything but barriers to your goals, barriers to be eradicated. Did Connor have it in him to do this?

  Jasmine, Jacoby, and Connor were waiting for her inside room 8. With a minimum of preamble, Cheng Li took her seat behind the battered desk in the corner of the archives. “So, who’s going to begin?” she inquired.

  “Ladies first,” said Jacoby with a grin.

  “Sure,” said Jasmine, standing up and lifting a pile of bound papers. “I’ve made a full copy of my report for each of you,” she said, distributing it to her comrades.

  Cheng Li smiled. When you gave Jasmine Peacock a project, she always delivered, efficiently, thoroughly, and on time. It had been the case throughout her career at Pirate Academy, and Cheng Li was delighted to see that nothing had changed now that Jasmine was a full-fledged pirate.

  “Very impressive,” she said, smiling at Jasmine. She set the report down on her desk for in-depth reading later. “I asked you to read through the numerous reports of sightings of the Vampirate ship here in the archive. Tell me, Jasmine, what are your top findings?”

  “The fact is,” said Jasmine, “I have very serious doubts about the value of much of what I’ve read here.” Intrigued, Cheng Li raised an eyebrow. Jasmine continued with calm and confidence. “Many of these reports are—well, it would be generous to call them unscientific. A large number of them are more akin to rumor, verging on ghost stories.” She sighed. “I’ve included some of the more colorful accounts in the report for your passing interest, but I think you’ll agree that they should be taken with a heavy dose of salt.” She paused. “However, there’s a core of more consistent sightings, which talk of a traditional galleon, but with several distinguishing marks. In particular, sails made of an unknown material. Few got near enough to definitively identify the material, but several witnesses talk of the sails having a leathery texture, intermittently sparking with light, and having a winglike motion.”

  As Jasmine spoke, Connor thought of his own encounters with the Nocturne. So far, nothing Jasmine had said outstripped his own knowledge of the ship. After all, he had actually been on board it twice. He knew that, and Cheng Li knew that, but he had no intention of undermining Jasmine’s research.

  “Another distinguishing feature of the Vampirate ship,” Jasmine continued, “is a female figurehead who evidently comes to life after dark. There have been a few sightings of her diving into the ocean after the sun sets and then climbing back up onto the deck.”

  While Jasmine spoke, Cheng Li glanced over at Connor. It was enough to remind him that she knew he had seen this firsthand. He thought of Darcy Flotsam, the pretty but nonethess supernatural figurehead who had become firm friends with his sister. He frowned, thinking of his strange visitation from Grace several nights earlier. Not for the first time, this mission was feeling rather too close to home. Cheng Li had assured him that there was time to get Grace to safety, that it wasn’t her ship of Vampirates that would soon be under attack. Yet he couldn’t help feeling that once the conflict got under way, things would move fast and in a fashion that would be hard to control.

  “This ship has proved hard to track in any consistent way,” Jasmine continued. “Pretty much all of the saner accounts talk of it arriving in a thick veil of sea mist and departing in a similar fog. We’re not able, therefore, to gain a working knowledge of how fast it can travel. It seems very possible that it moves at a different rate of knots, and in a fundamentally different way, from that of a conventional vessel.” She tapped the map behind her. “It could quite literally disappear into the mist at point A, here”—she moved her hand far across the map—“and reappear soon afterward at point B, here.”

  Cheng Li cut in with a question. “You seem to be talking about just one ship of Vampirates, Jasmine. Is that right?”

  Jasmine nodded. “Based on what I’ve read, it certainly seems like, historically, we are talking about one solo ship of Vampirates. I think Connor can tell you more about how that situation may have changed recently. But certainly, in terms of the accounts I’ve read, the sightings, though sketchy, do have a common thread. Which leads me to think either it is one ship we are dealing with, with its winglike sails and figurehead who comes to life, or, as an outside possibility, a fleet of ships that look exactly the same and operate in the same way.”

  “A fleet?” Cheng Li said, intrigued at the thought. “Do you have anything to back up that line of thinking?”

  Jasmine shook her head. “Not yet, no. It was my own thinking that led me there, based on several accounts of sightings in multiple locations in quick succession. No regular vessel could cover the oceans in this way.” She shrugged. “But I guess that’s the point, isn’t it? We’re not dealing with a conventional vessel.”

  “No, indeed,” Cheng Li said. She nodded. “Thank you, Jasmine. I shall look forward to reading your full report later.”

  Jasmine nodded, smiled modestly at the captain, and sat down again.

  “Shall I go next?” Jacoby seemed hardly able to contain himself.

  Cheng Li smiled. “Jacoby, you have been researching the experiments to date into how to wound and, ultimately, kill a Vampirate.”

  “Yes, I have,” Jacoby said, taking the floor. He had no neatly bound reports to offer the group, but he had assembled a variety of props on the opposite desk.

  “Well,” he said, his eyes bright with excitement, “the cupboard of death was just packed with fun stuff.” He began reaching for a few of the items at his side. “So, you’ve got your crucifixes, ranging from the plain to the ornate. This one’s a particularly nice bit of silver, don’t you think? Speaking of which, check out these silver bullets! Kapow! Good for werewolves and possibly Vampirates, too.” He dropped the bullets onto the desk and reached for the neighboring objects. “Then you’ve got your sacred objects, like the rosary or this bottle of holy water. And then there’s our old friend garlic.” Suddenly, he reached behind the desk and produced a roughly tied bouquet of flowers. “Min, these are for you!”

  He threw them to Jasmine, who caught them and smiled, inhaling their scent. “Wild roses,” she said. “My favorite!”

  “Not if you’re a vampire,” chuckled Jacoby. “According to one legend I came across, you can chain a vamp to its grave with wild roses. But none of the items I’ve shown you so far are likely to actually kill a vamp. They fall into the category of apotropaics.” He spoke the word slowly; then, like a young and somewhat mad professor, wrote it down and underlined it several times on the nearby flip chart. “The aim of goodies like these is to protect you against Vampirates, but according to everything I’ve been reading you need to get a little creative when it comes to an all-out attack.”

  Cheng Li glanced at Connor. His face was hard to read. Was he thinking about the Vampirates he had met firsthand? Or had he somehow managed to create a mental distance from them? She resolved to keep a close eye on him as she addressed her deputy captain once more. “Good work, Jacoby,” she said. “But now let’s fo
cus on how to kill a Vampirate.”

  “Absolutely,” Jacoby said, “but remember, Captain, our aim actually isn’t to kill a Vampirate.”

  “It isn’t?” Once more Cheng Li raised an eyebrow.

  Jacoby shook his head. “Vampirates are, de facto, already dead, or undead if you prefer. Our aim is not to kill them but to destroy them.”

  “A fair distinction,” Cheng Li admitted with a nod. “All right, tell us how to destroy them.”

  Jacoby turned over the flip chart to reveal a page of wildly scrawled notes. “Our forebears have listed literally hundreds of possible ways. For instance, place a coin in the vamp’s mouth and decapitate him with an ax. Or drive a nail through his navel.”

  “Now that’s what I call a belly piercing,” said Jasmine with a shiver.

  Jacoby grinned back at her. “In Romania, they favor removing the heart and cutting it in two. But in Serbia, they opt for cutting off the vamp’s toes.”

  Again, Cheng Li stole a glance at Connor. This time he caught her looking and he stared straight back. Perhaps he was made of stronger stuff than she had credited.

  Jacoby continued brightly, evidently oblivious to such concerns. “As I said, there were literally hundreds of ideas in the cupboard of death. But I’ve compiled my list of the big three.” He turned the page on the flip chart to reveal a series of fresh headings:

  1. BURNING

  2. SUNLIGHT

  3. STAKE THROUGH THE HEART

  “Okay.” Jacoby tapped the chart. “Numero uno. Burning!”

  As Jacoby babbled on, Connor thought of the night that he had used fire to attack the renegade Vampirates. It was the Vampirate captain himself who had told Connor which weapon to use. And it had proved a success… to a degree. Several of the Vampirates had been destroyed in the fire. But not all of them, thought Connor, closing his eyes momentarily. These were very painful memories. He had had to turn on Jez—or rather the thing Jez had become—and throw fire at him. It was one of the hardest things he ever had to do. And he had almost been relieved when he learned that Jez had not perished in the fire.

  “Connor?” Cheng Li said.

  He opened his eyes with a start.

  “I know it’s late and you’ve been working hard, but please do your comrades the courtesy of not dozing off during their presentations.”

  “Yes, Captain, “ Connor said. He could have told her, then and there, that fire was not a sure way to destroy a vampire— that both Jez Stukeley and Sidorio had survived his arson attack. But for now, he decided to let it go.

  He kept his eyes open, but as Jacoby continued to discuss the whys and wherefores of exposing Vampirates to sunlight and staking them through the heart, Connor’s own mind was focused elsewhere. He was thinking again about the Vampirate captain and how he had given Connor the information he needed to attack Sidorio and the rebels. This interested Connor in two ways. First, because the captain had been willing to turn on the other Vampirates. In the coming conflict, would that still be the case? Or, this time, would the different Vampirate forces come together against a common enemy? The second thing that interested Connor about the captain’s advice was that it had been wrong. Or, if not exactly wrong, inadequate. Fire had not proved fatal to certain of the Vampirates. Had they evolved beyond the norm—beyond even the knowledge and powers of the Vampirate captain himself? Or had he intentionally misled him? Connor didn’t think so. His thoughts returned to the healing ceremony he had taken part in to restore the weakened captain’s vitality after he had sacrificed himself to save so many others. How was he now? Grace hadn’t spoken of him. Did that mean he was still missing, as he had been when Connor had left Sanctuary, or was he now back at the helm of the ship, back in charge of the “good” Vampirates?

  Connor’s thoughts were interrupted as Jacoby finally wound up his presentation. Cheng Li was clearly impressed. “Jacoby, you’ve done an excellent job. I think our next step is crystal clear. We need to find ourselves some Vampirates to experiment on before we finalize our attack strategy.”

  “You mean kidnap a Vampirate?” Jasmine asked.

  “One won’t be sufficient,” said Cheng Li, shaking her head. “I think we’ll want at least three in the first instance.”

  “Three!” exclaimed Jasmine. “How long will we keep them? And where?”

  “It’s all under control,” Cheng Li said. “I’m having some cages built on the deck of the Tiger. We’ll keep them there. As to how long—well, as long as it takes to get a result.”

  “You mean until we succeed in killing one of them,” said Connor.

  “Uh-uh,” Jacoby corrected him. “Not killing, dude. Until we succeed in destroying them.” He turned to Cheng Li. “But where are we going to go to find these Vampirates?”

  Cheng Li smiled. “Connor’s been working on that part of the mission, haven’t you?”

  Connor nodded, clearing his throat. “As Jasmine’s research indicated, the main Vampirate ship, the Nocturne, is hard to track.” He paused. “But it is no longer the sole Vampirate vessel. Sidorio and the rebel Vampirates have taken possession of a prison ship. And while the Nocturne does seem to move in a very mysterious fashion, the rebel ship, the Blood Captain, is moving in an erratic but nonetheless trackable way along the coast.”

  “How do you know this?” Jacoby asked.

  “They’re not like the Vampirates of the Nocturne,” Connor said. “The Nocturne has its own crew of donors on board.” He realized as he spoke that he had just kicked the others’ industrious research into gear. But he didn’t care. He had two missions to accomplish here: to give Cheng Li what she needed to pursue Sidorio, and to protect Grace for as long as he could. “As I said, there are donors on board the Nocturne who supply blood to the Vampirates. This means that the ship never needs to attack elsewhere. But the Blood Captain is far less organized. Its crew is growing fast, and they are wild and out of control. This makes them dangerous, but at the same time vulnerable.”

  “Vulnerable?” Jasmine said with a shudder. “They don’t sound very vulnerable.”

  Connor stared at Jasmine. “They need blood,” he said. “They don’t have a supply on board, so they have to go onto land to hunt their prey. They’ve left a trail of devastation along the coast. It wasn’t hard to follow.” Now he produced his own map on which he’d charted the ship’s course, appropriately enough, in red. “I think it’s pretty clear the direction it’s heading in. It shouldn’t be difficult to follow.”

  “Excellent work, Connor,” Cheng Li said.

  “I haven’t finished,” Connor said. He had kept his trump card till last, literally. Now he reached into his back pocket and produced a clutch of playing cards. He leaned forward and fanned them out on Cheng Li’s desk.

  “Notice anything strange about these?” he asked his comrades.

  “They’re splattered with blood,” Jacoby said. “Gross!”

  “They’re wrong,” Jasmine said. “They’re all from the same suit—hearts. But hearts are red. And these are black. I’ve never seen cards like these.”

  Cheng Li stared at Connor. “Where did you get them?” she asked.

  “They were found on the victims of the recent attacks. There were hundreds more.”

  Cheng Li picked up one of the cards. “It’s identical to the one John Kuo was holding when we discovered him,” she said. “Remember?”

  Connor nodded grimly. That was one sight he would in all likelihood never be able to erase from his memory.

  “It shows we’re on the trail of his killers,” Cheng Li said, looking at Connor with unbridled admiration. “Well,” she continued, “I must say you have not let me down. Each of your three reports has in its own way been highly insightful and revealing.” She sat back in her chair. “I’m going to stay here and do a bit more thinking tonight. You three may return to the ship now. You should still be in time for the second dinner seating.”

  They needed no persuasion. It had been a long day, and they’d been coop
ed up in the airless, subterranean lockup for many hours.

  The others were out in the corridor when Jasmine suddenly came to a stop. “Sorry, guys, I forgot to tell Cheng Li something. Go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you.” She turned back and, knocking, stepped around into the archive room.

  Cheng Li was already deeply engrossed in her work. She glanced up at Jasmine, clearly less than delighted at the intrusion.

  “Did you forget something?” Cheng Li asked.

  “Yes,” said Jasmine. “It’s in your desk drawer. A notebook. I found it earlier, in the last of the archive boxes. I didn’t think you’d want me to tell the others about it before you’d had a chance to look at it yourself.”

  Cheng Li was intrigued. She set down her pen and opened the desk drawer. Sure enough, inside was an old notebook. She lifted it out and set it on the desk. Glancing up again, she saw that Jasmine had already left the room. How strange!

  As she opened the notebook, her heart skipped a beat. The calligraphy was unmistakable. It was a terrible shock. Instinctively, she closed the book, then took a deep breath before opening it once more. There was no doubt about it. The precise script. The distinctive turquoise ink. She knew what she held in her hand even before she read the title page.

  The Journal of Chang Ko Li, January 2495–

  It was her father’s journal. He’d begun writing it in January 2495, just a few months before he had died. Cheng Li frowned. Why had she never seen this notebook? How come it was here, in the secret archive? What revelations lay within this journal? And would they shed light on her father’s death? Commodore Kuo had told her that Chang Ko Li had been killed in a tavern brawl. That was the accepted version of events. But was it the truth?

  Cheng Li began furiously turning the pages of turquoise writing. Words and phrases leaped out at her.

  First sighting

  A figurehead who comes alive after sunset