Bride of the Night (21 page)

“I'd say, sir, that you were nearly as full of hot air as a politician.”

But she was smiling, and she laughed. He pulled her back into his arms, and the instinct and desire that had begun so unwittingly with anger flared hotly. They became lost again in the wonder of each other's arms. He forgot her anger, forgot the world he had reminded her existed, and in moments they were entangled and sensations overcame and overwhelmed them, until they lay panting again.

But she didn't stay. When he held her, she resisted, and he had no real choice but to let her go.

“Tara,” he said. “You still haven't slept.”

“Please, don't be concerned. I'm not a sailor, not the captain, nor the ship's physician. I'm a prisoner, remember? I can rest at will.”

She dressed quickly, and stepped out into the daylight.

He closed his eyes. Rest wouldn't come. He rose himself, and went out to face the new day, wondering again when the next attack would come.

 

T
ARA KEPT CLEAR OF
R
ICHARD
, speaking with Captain Tremblay, and then finding Billy Seabold, who was preparing a meal of dried beef and the ubiquitous beans and mushy hardtack of sailing vessels.

Billy was cheerful, whistling while he worked. He spoke to Tara about the island of Key West.

“I never minded,” he told her. “The men complain so much about the mosquitoes and the heat, but I find that I love the heat compared to the snow, and I think I might try to find my way down there and buy property—when the war is over, of course. They say that we'll not pull out of the fort until that time, and I don't mind at all. Of course, I love the sea. I love sailing and being aboard the ship, and I hope that I can buy myself a fishing vessel, and make a new life there.”

“Where are you from originally, Billy?” Tara asked him.

“Originally? Oh, that's hard to say, miss. My parents were wanderers. I've lived many places.” He turned to ring the bell, signaling that the meal was ready for the sailors with leave to dine first. “When the war broke out, I was working in a printing company in Maryland. I joined up quickly, when I found I could enlist as a seaman.”

“Have you spent much time in D.C.?” she asked him.

“A bit. We were close, you know, to the capital.”

“Ah, beans!” Dr. MacKay said, joining them toward the aft, where Billy had set up his mess operations.

“Beans, yes, but with some excellently salted and dried beef!” Billy said.

“A fine meal, lad, a fine meal,” Dr. MacKay said. Apparently, the good doctor was hungry. He was ready with his plate and fork, and helped himself from the large pot. “Miss Fox, shall I make a plate for you?”

Before she could answer, they heard a loud bellowing from the crow's nest. “Ship on the horizon!”

Tara and MacKay quickly looked to the man. She hurried toward the helm where Captain Tremblay had his glass on the horizon.

Finn stood by him. He was tall and straight, striking in his posture, and his eyes were fixed on the sea, narrowed slightly.

Tara swallowed down the emotion that seized her as she watched him; she didn't know exactly what she was feeling, why she felt that she was in such turmoil.
I do what I choose!
she reminded herself. And she had done what she wanted, but the problem was that she wanted to feel him constantly by her side, to know more and more about him…?.

And to believe that he would be in her life, that there would be more than this time when life and death and tension seized them constantly. Blinking, she reminded herself that they were both concentrated on preserv
ing the life of Abraham Lincoln—a man she had yet to meet. And still…

“She's Union,” Finn said.

“You can see that already?” Tremblay asked him.

Finn nodded. “I see her flag.”

“Fire a shot! Recognize her position!” the captain bellowed. “Bring her around to rendezvous.”

Tara stood behind him as the men hurried to follow orders. As the Union ship came closer, she could see the seamen on the other ship arranging to draw near. The men busied themselves on both ships, and more orders were called, ropes where thrown and the ships were brought flush together.

Captain Tremblay greeted his counterpart across the few feet that divided the two ships. “Tremblay, sir!”

“Gazersin, Captain Tremblay. With news from the front.”

“Aye, sir!”

“I believe, sir, that you'd been apprised that President Lincoln and the rebel Jefferson Davis had planned a peace conference. Southern delegates had been chosen to meet with President Lincoln and Secretary of State Seward, but you must be aware that the conference will not now take place. Mr. Davis demanded that the United States recognize the sovereignty of the Southern nation, and the president will not meet under such circumstances. Be aware, sir, that all possible negotiations for peace have fallen through. Any Confederate ship you encounter remains an enemy ship, and you are
to capture or disable any such vessel, and take prisoner any survivors.”

“Aye, then, sir! Thank you for your information,” Captain Tremblay said. “Is there anything else, sir?”

Captain Gazersin hesitated a moment, frowning as he noted the group surrounding Captain Tremblay. “General Sherman has routed the forces in South and North Carolina. The land has been laid waste. War efforts continue in the West, but General Grant is harrying the troops in Virginia, and major action is expected there.”

“Where do you travel now, sir?” Tremblay asked him.

“Back to Florida. I bear army personnel to help rout the Cow Cavalry there, sir!”

“God be with you,” Tremblay said.

“A strange meeting,” Finn murmured to Tremblay. “He has stopped you to tell you that we are not at peace. None of us expected that we were.”

“What else, sir? Is there something that you need from us?”

Tara felt a palpable tension. She looked at Finn, who was staring intently at the other captain. Always the detective, she thought. He sees a man, and knows that there is more.

She found herself wondering how he saw her, and she bit her lower lip.

Obviously, the man didn't see everything.

Which was good. She didn't want him knowing how she felt. The strange bond they had formed was one thing; the exquisite sensual relationship they shared was
another. But she didn't want him ever believing that she was growing dependent. She didn't need
him.
She was strong, and she had lived her life with Richard as a brother and Pete as a mentor for years.

But she had never imagined this
feeling.
A very different kind of
need.

Ah, yes! And it did seem that he could so easily turn from the handsome, smiling lover to the ruggedly stone-faced agent, ever a man of duty! He continued to stare hard at the other captain, waiting.

Captain Gazersin was silent a moment. Then he said. “Coffee, sir. Our store of coffee was in a barrel that leaked, and it is filled with maggots. My men would be heartily grateful for a store of coffee.”

“Coffee?” Tremblay said quietly to Finn.

Finn shook his head. “Captain, note that there are only a few men topside. Where is the rest of his crew? There is something not quite right.”

“Sir, where have you sailed from?” Captain Tremblay asked.

Captain Gazersin stared at him blankly for a moment.

“Call the men to arms!” Finn warned quickly. “Now!”

As he spoke, men suddenly burst out from belowdeck. There was a cry from a man in the crow's nest, and he came leaping down to the deck.

“Swords, men, to your swords!” Tremblay cried.

In droves, men appeared on the attached ship; the
first three tried to leap the distance from ship to ship, but Tremblay's crew was ready.

Tara scrambled for a weapon, as did the others. As the crew of Captain Tremblay's
Freedom
gave fight, she saw that Finn intended to leap across the way to the other ship.

“Finn!” she cried, but he didn't hear her. He intended to ferret out every last man from their attacking visitor.

She couldn't let him go alone. Seizing her sword, she ran to the edge of their vessel, and as she leaped past a man, she realized she recognized him. She couldn't remember from where—and then she knew. He had come from the Union fort on Key West, and he had disappeared in the midst of the fighting on their first night in Key West.

Shouts and screams abounded from both decks. The men on the
Freedom
seemed to be holding their own, and the enemy was cut down while trying to board. Every man on the
Freedom
knew what to do, and when one man downed an enemy, another stepped forward to make sure that the head was severed. On board the grappled vessel, Tara quickly realized that the enemy was newly turned. They were not adept at daylight, nor were they possessed of exceptional strength. She and Finn soon faced each other over a pile of six or seven corpses, and the ship was still, while on board the
Freedom,
the last of the cries were dying down.

“Dunne! Agent Dunne!” Captain Tremblay shouted.

“Aye, Captain!” Finn called back.

“Come back aboard. I'm blowing her out of the water! We'll see that no infection travels again so cruelly in the guise of a Union ship!”

“Aye, sir, give me ten minutes!” Finn shouted back.

“What are we doing?” Tara asked him.

“You're going back to the
Freedom.
I'm going below.” She stared at him and he said, “Tara, if there's an experienced vampire aboard this ship, he'll survive an explosion, and even days at sea. You know that.”

“You're not going alone.”

“Good God, Tara, I've been at war. I know what I'm doing.”

“And I've been learning.”

“Tara—”

“We've got ten minutes,” she said, setting her jaw.

“Stay behind me!” he warned fiercely, his voice almost a growl.

She wasn't going to argue the point; he started for the stairs below and she followed. They moved carefully, and found that none remained in the quarters here.

She started suddenly, hearing a muffled cry.

“Finn, there's someone below…ballast deck!”

He listened, and they both stood there quietly.

They heard it again, a cry that began to rise on the wind, along with a thudding sound and finally the scream of a single word.

“Help!”

“It is coming from the ballast…?. Someone needs help!” she pleaded.

“Vampires
kill.
They don't take hostages,” he told her harshly.

“Finn, listen, please, we have to see!”

They heard the desperate rapping against the hull again, and then another cry.

I
T WAS A TIME OF WAR
.
The ballast hold was stacked with kegs of powder for cannon balls. There were boxes upon boxes filled with rifles and swords, most probably on their way to troops fighting on the western front before the ship had been deterred. Finn, ever aware of Tara moving carefully behind him, came down the steps to the bowels of the ship and began making his way through the labyrinth of boxes and supplies. The banging on the door and the cries had become louder. They heard something that was almost like weeping, and in the sound of it there was both hope and fear. As they neared the aft end of the ballast hold, Finn could hear the sound of whimpering, and whispers within a closed section in the far rear.

“Stop calling! They'll…they'll kill us!”

“If not, we'll drown here, caged together,” someone else said.

A heavy door sealed off a small compartment; Finn hesitated in front of the door, looking at Tara. She backed away and he lifted his leg and kicked the padlock that chained the door shut. The padlock shattered and he wrenched the door open.

The small hold space held five men. One, whiskered and grizzled, was clad only in a cotton shirt and breeches while the others wore shirts with the insignia of the United States Navy. One was barely a boy, perhaps thirteen or fourteen, and the other three men looked to be in their early twenties.

The older man stepped forward. “Captain Gazersin, United States Navy,” he said. There was a tremor to his voice, as if he waited.

The young boy stepped forward next, “God A'mighty, have you come to eat us? If so, by God, do it!
Do it!
”

“We're not here to eat you,” Tara said, stepping forward, and staring at the group incredulously. “How are you here?”

Another of the men spoke up. “Lord save us! It was horrible, miss. We came upon a man floating in a ship's dinghy, and we figured he was a survivor from some naval battle. We dragged up the poor soul, only to find there were two of the blokes. We pulled them on board and tended to their wounds, and the next thing you know, we're being picked off and ripped to shreds—I mean it! Throats ripped and blood flowing and the bastards drinking up the blood. Then our ship's mates were herding us down here, because someone was saying there was too many created, and those what tore up the first would starve if they didn't come on another ship, and…” He paused a minute, choking on his words.

The captain picked up the speech for him. “We
started off as ten down here. They've been pulling us out, one after another, over the past few days.”

“God help us!” the boy said. “You're really not going to eat us?”

“We're really not going to eat you,” Finn assured the boy. He looked over at Tara. She was staring at the group with such empathy in her wide eyes.

“Saved by an angel!” the boy whispered, staring back at her.

“We've got to get topside,” Tara said, looking at Finn. “Captain Tremblay wants to blow the ship out of the water.”

“No,” the real Captain Gazersin pleaded. “She's a good ship, a fine ship. We were carrying arms down to the fort at Key West when we thought we were saving men from the sea. God help me, but I brought this plague upon us all, trying to be merciful!”

“Let's get topside. The choice will go to the captain of the ship we're aboard, the
USS Freedom,
” Finn said. The ship they had boarded did seem to be a sound, and her cargo
was
valuable. “Come on, men, hurry topside.”

They urged the small group before them. When they reached topside, the young man paused, looking at one of the headless corpses on the deck.

“Dr. Leery!” he cried. “A good man, and taken from us just a night ago.”

Tara caught the young man by the arm, leading him away. “Son, he is gone now, but truly in God's hands.” Aboard the
Freedom,
tension filled the craggy fea
tures of Captain Tremblay, who greeted them with Dr. MacKay at his side.

“They were keeping hostages—prisoners to be feasted upon one by one!” Finn shouted over to him.

“Sir! She's a sound ship. Bound for Key West!” Captain Gazersin shouted.

Tremblay looked at Finn with surprise. “Hostages?”

“There was an intelligence at work,” Finn said. He turned to look at Gazersin. “Sir, I'm going to need you to go through the corpses, and tell me which of the men were the ones saved, to assist in this mystery we've been chasing. Captain Tremblay! I'll need a few men over here to help with the disposal of the corpses. The ship does carry valuable cargo. Send me London, sir, and Griffin, if you will. And Billy Seabold. We'll scour her from top to bottom, and see to it that no monsters remain aboard.”

The boy sniffed. “Dr. Leery was no monster!” he said.

“No, son, in his soul, never. But the disease makes hideous monsters of good men, and there is nothing to be done. He is gone now, and as Miss Fox said, he is in God's hands now,” Finn told the boy.

Captain Gazersin said, “We can attend to the men. They were my men, so I would see to that they were buried at sea with honor.”

“We need our men, sir. I have to know if those you rescued came from the fort,” Finn told him. He turned to Tara. “You don't need to be here for this.”

She shook her head. “But I do. What if the men who were rescued and turned the ship to monsters were citizens from Key West?” She offered him a weak, grim smile. “Finn, I don't need to be protected—not at this point.”

He turned away from her. The requested men were coming aboard the ship, and they quickly began the grisly task of identifying all the bodies. He walked the ship with Charles Lafferty and Captain Gazersin while Tara went with the boy and Grissom and London. Toward the mainmast, Captain Gazersin stopped, pointing down at one of the corpses. “There! There is one fellow who we rescued from the dinghy!”

Finn stooped down by the man. He recognized the man himself.

It was Lieutenant Bowers, who had greeted him and brought him to Captain Calloway when he had first arrived in Key West.

“Sever the head and body, then into the sea,” Finn said.

“Wait!” Captain Gazersin protested. “They were surely God-fearing men! Please, sir, you are our savior this day, but I'd have good Union men met by their God!”

“Aye, Captain. We need to find the second man who began the infection on the ship. Gather the…body parts here. You may say the prayers for those who died at sea, and we will finish with this sad business.”

Tara discovered the second man from the dinghy who
had come aboard to infect the ship; Finn heard her cry of dismay when she came upon him.

He bent down by her. “It's the young man who was in charge of my meals,” she said. “He was terrified when the attack began. He thanked me for saving his life, and protected me from the other men by telling them I'd done so.”

“I'm sorry,” he said.

He rose, both sorry and touched to see the pain that was in her eyes. So much! And she still hurt for those around her. He wondered about himself, and feared that he had grown so hardened to war and death that he had little left of a soul himself.

“The infected men did come from Key West the night of the attacks there,” he announced, shouting over to Tremblay.

“What of the others?” Tremblay demanded. There was suspicion in his voice; Tremblay would never be quite the same man again, Finn knew. He had learned that those who appeared to be friends or comrades could be monsters, and those who appeared to be the enemy could be friends. War, of any kind, was complicated, with God-fearing men killing God-fearing men. But another dimension had been added here.

“We will ascertain with the five of the living,” Finn assured him, his voice rising ominously in the air.

Tara stood by the captain while the men gathered all those who had been killed—and decapitated—and then Captain Gazersin said the appropriate prayers. As
the men's bodies were at last shrouded and their heads covered in old canvas sailcloth and cast over the side, Tara took Finn's arm and asked quietly, “What now?”

He looked back at the
Freedom.
Most of the men were topside, hovering near Captain Tremblay, watching the events.

He turned to Captain Gazersin. “Sir, were the five of you together at all times, after the real fighting on your ship began?”

“Aye, we were. We waited with the other living, as I told you, and they came for us, one by one.”

“Can you take her into Key West with your crew of five?”

“I can, sir,” Gazersin told him. “She's mightily ill-staffed with a crew of five, but we can limp her in. But, surely, your ship can spare a man.”

He lowered his voice. “Sir, I'm afraid that the infection may be simmering aboard our ship. I even fear that the men who boarded your ship did so with the ultimate goal of delaying us from our goal of D.C., knowing we would stop for you.”

“Infection!” Captain Gazersin said.

“It's an infection, sir, yes,” Finn said. “It turns men to madness, as you've witnessed. And as you and your men discovered, it's insidious. Men can appear to be as they were, sad wretches adrift at sea and in need of rescue—and then monsters who slowly slip within a group. You need to take this ship to port in Key West, and find Captain Calloway. He has seen the illness, as have the
people there. You'll be watched with suspicion by those with whom you should be allies, but you mustn't be dismayed. In Key West, they have now learned to deal with the disease, and every man there watches every other man.”

“We can bring her to port, eh, men?” Captain Gazersin shouted, looking at his five remaining crew members.

“God help us, aye, Captain!” called one of the men. “Lord willing, and the Rebs don't strike!”

Finn looked over at Charles Lafferty, who had proven to be such stalwart help after first mocking him on the island.

“Lafferty, gather Grissom and London. We return to our own ship,” Finn said.

In another twenty minutes, Tara, Finn and the crew from the
Freedom
had returned to their own vessel. Captain Gazersin stared across the hull and the few feet of water separating the two ships, facing Captain Tremblay.

“May God speed us both now, Captain!” Gazersin shouted to Tremblay.

“Aye, sir! Do you know if the information your imposter gave us was true? Negotiations have failed—and we remain at war?”

“Aye, sir! That's true,” Gazersin replied. “Sherman has now marched through the Carolinas, and General Grant plans his offensive in Virginia. The war in the West continues, but there is progress against the Rebels.
May God grant us all a speedy end to this great conflict!”

“Amen,” Captain Tremblay said.

“Men! Clear the grappling hooks!”

The ships were separated. Captain Gazersin shouted orders to his men, and added his own effort to hoisting the great sails of his ship.

Finn stood at the hull by Tremblay and the others as the ships parted, and the
Freedom
continued north, while Captain Gazersin disappeared on their voyage south.

“Captain,” Dr. MacKay said. “Perhaps we've made a grave mistake, sending her off after such an event with a skeleton crew.”

Billy Seabold was standing next to him. “I know what Agent Dunne was thinking. He couldn't put a man from this ship aboard her. Agent Dunne doesn't really trust a one of us.”

“Ah, Billy!” MacKay said. “He trusts
one
of us. He trusts Miss Fox. And I believe we all trust Captain Tremblay, don't you think?”

“Or,” Finn began, “I didn't trust
them
enough to leave one of ours aboard their ship.”

As if to end all speculation on allegiances, Captain Tremblay suddenly roared orders, showing his authority. “To your stations, men! Stay in threes! And full speed ahead!”

 

T
ARA SPENT MUCH
of the day in her cabin, lying down. She couldn't shake the image of the dead man—the
young fellow who had brought the tray to her at Key West. He'd been grateful to her—in shock but still so grateful—and then…

She wondered how many men they had presumed missing or dead had fallen victim to this plague. And she couldn't help but wonder again if many who had been such good men couldn't have been helped.

There was a tap at her door as evening came. It was Richard, and he brought her a tray of food. “There's a vial there, as well,” Richard said gruffly. “Compliments of Agent Dunne.”

She nodded, murmuring, “Of course.”

Richard sat at the cabin's desk, looking at her where she sat at the foot of the bed. “Tara, what would happen if you didn't…if you didn't have a vial now and then?”

She stared at him. She'd known him most of her life, and she couldn't help but take affront at the question.

“I'd find a bilge rat,” she told him.

“And if the rats were all gone…?”

She stood. “Richard, get out. Please.”

He walked over to her. “Forgive me, dear friend—sister!” Richard said. “It's just that…I have known you forever. And I had never imagined that what you are could turn into…what those men became.”

“Richard, I would die myself before besieging an innocent man or woman, no matter the circumstances. And when I'm forced to kill—as we all seem to be in this—I am at heart remorseful, and careful to see that
the dead rest with God. And so help me, if there is a way to save a man, I will save him.”

He went down on his knees at her side and took her hands. “I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I was so wrong to speak. But we've seen so much that… God help us all! And it's true—Dunne thinks that someone aboard this ship is a monster.”

She nodded. She touched his hair, looking into his eyes. “Richard, you needn't fear. He knows that it's not you.”