A Vial of Life(12)

“What is going on?” Arletta sobbed.

Wood crunched, and the whole table shifted even as the brothers strained to hold it in place. Sensing what was to come, Frederick yelled toward Arletta and me. “You two, get in the lifeboat and sail away. Hurry!”

“What about you two?” I shot back. “We can’t just leave you here!”

“Just get inside and—”

The table went flying upward, sending the two brothers crashing back. Braithe sprang from the trapdoor and scanned the deck. His eyes fell first on Frederick and then Colin. I wasn’t sure if he’d noticed Arletta and me, standing all the way on the other side of the deck, but he headed straight for his brothers. He leapt first for Colin and dug his fangs into his neck.

“No!” Arletta and I screamed.

Frederick attempted to haul Braithe off, only to find Braithe attacking him and biting his neck. Both brothers were now groaning with pain, the same deep, guttural groan that Braithe had let out after he’d been attacked by Hans back down near the chamber.

Before I could stop her, Arletta had left my side and shot forward. Grabbing a metal pole along the way, she ran toward Braithe, brandishing the weapon in front of her and waving it, as if she hoped to scare him. “Back off, Braithe!” she screamed. “Don’t do this to your brothers!”

She continued holding out the pole directly in front of her, even as Braithe whirled around and fixed his attention on his sister. Staggering forward, he launched right at her. She screamed as the pole pierced Braithe’s chest, its tip appearing through his back.

I rushed over and gazed down at Braithe falling to his knees. A thick black substance seeped from his chest, a substance that I could only assume had become his blood.

“I-I killed him!” Arletta stammered, even though she hadn’t. Braithe had killed himself. It was like he had lost his mind and run right at her, even though the sharp end of the pole had been extended in front of her.

Braithe’s hands moved to the pole in his chest, and his thin fingers closed around it. With a squelch, he yanked, sliding out the pole from his flesh and sending it skidding across the deck.

“He’s still alive,” Colin panted.

Braithe shot to his feet with alarming speed. How can this be? The pole had punctured a hole right through his chest and even through where his heart should have been. He should be a dead vampire.

Instead he just sprang up as though nothing had happened. His eyes fixed on Arletta, his almost nonexistent lips curving in a grimace. He lunged toward her. Frederick, even in his pain, managed to leap for Braithe and grab hold of his midriff before he could reach their sister. Frederick wrestled him to the ground, but Braithe caught hold of Frederick’s arm and sank his fangs in again. “Both of you, go now!” Frederick yelled. “Escape in the boat!”

As Arletta screamed, I had two choices. I could either join her in screaming or obey Frederick’s request to save ourselves. Arletta and I were now only moments away from being attacked. There was no time to lower the boat. Grabbing Arletta’s hand, I pulled her to the railing and with one strong push from my legs, I sent us both tumbling over the side of the boat and down into the waves. Still holding onto Arletta’s hand, I forced the two of us deep under the water before we swam as fast as we could in the opposite direction from the ship.

I kept looking back over my shoulder every few seconds, opening my eyes even though the saltwater stung, to see if the deathly form of Braithe was following after us. But as we swam further and further away from the ship, my tension eased a little. Finally, after we’d distanced ourselves by at least two miles, I allowed us to resurface to gasp for breath. It was a good thing that vampires could hold their breath for a long time.

We gazed at the distant outline of the ship, listening to the cries of Frederick and Colin. What is Braithe going to do with them? Will he slaughter them?

I glanced at Arletta’s face, drained of all color. Her lips were parted and trembling. I could see she’d gotten past the stage of screaming, and now her mind was numb with shock.

All I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and sob, but we were now adrift in the ocean. We had to reach land before the sun rose, or Arletta and I would burn. Looking all around us, I decided that we ought to head north. Other than Cruor, where we dared not return, the nearest landmass was in that direction.

I tugged on Arletta. “Come on,” I said in a choked whisper. “You need to follow me. We don’t have long before the sun rises.”

She resisted my urging for several minutes, her eyes remaining fixed on the ship in horror. I slapped her face hard, and that brought her out of her stupor.