Vampirates 4: Black Heart (12 page)

She nodded. As hard as she tried to put it out of her mind, she couldn't escape the brutal truth that she and her mother were already on borrowed time.

Mosh Zu looked her in the eyes. "Grace, I have only one piece of advice for you. Try to see this time with your mother as a gift." He paused, smiling. "Not just for you but also for her."

Grace sighed. He was right -- she knew he was. She walked soberly across from the guru's quarters to Sally's room, her thoughts becoming calmer with every step.

"Mother," she said, knocking on the door. "It's Grace. May I come in?"

"Yes, of course, Grace." The voice was faint but cheerful. Grace pushed open the door.

Sally was sitting on the bed, propped up against a heap of pillows. Something about her mother's manner alerted Grace to the fact that they were not alone. She turned and saw Lorcan sitting on a chair by the side of her mother's bed.

"Good morning!" he said.

Grace could not disguise her surprise to find Lorcan there. It was so unusual for him to be up and about at this time. She had the feeling she had interrupted the two of them, somehow. "Lorcan," she found herself blurting out, "what are you doing here?"

He smiled, his blue eyes sparkling. "Catching up with a very dear old friend."

"Less of the old, thank you!" said Sally, grinning nevertheless. "I'd lob one of these pillows at you if I had the strength! But don't be lulled into a false sense of security. Reinforcements have arrived!" She grinned at Grace. "Haven't they, my darling?"

"Yes," answered Grace, sitting down on the bed, delighted to see spirits. She turned back to Lorcan. "So you had better be on your best behavior!"

"All right, you win!" he said, producing a white handkerchief from his pocket and waving it in surrender.

Grace laughed. Her initial discomfort had evaporated. It was good being here with Lorcan and Sally. She felt a sense of completeness that had been missing from her life for too long.

"Look at the two of you," Lorcan said. "A perfect pair. Your hair, your eyes, that same sprinkling of freckles, the identical way your noses wrinkle when you smile. You're a complete match!"

"Yes," Sally agreed, turning Grace's face gently toward her. "When I look at you, my darling, it's like I'm gazing into a magic mirror. I see myself at your age." She sighed. "I want so much for you to be happy and safe and cared for. After I'm ... After I'm ..." She couldn't finish the sentence.

Lorcan stood up and approached the bed. He reached out his arms and enfolded mother and daughter. "Grace will be well looked after, Sally. Always. Have no fear of that." He planted a kiss first on Sally's head, then Grace's. Then he tenderly released them both and stepped back toward the door. "I'd better go," he said. "I've been neglectful of my duties, though it has been lovely catching up like this. Besides, I think you two deserve some time alone together."

"Yes," agreed Sally with a nod.

"I'll see you both later," Lorcan said, smiling as he made his exit.

As the door closed behind him, Grace turned back to Sally. "I thought we might go out into the gardens, Mother. It's a beautiful sunny day. Would you like that?"

"Yes," said Sally. "Yes, Grace, I should like that very much." The mere idea seemed to give her a fresh pulse of energy. She eased herself up against the headboard and swung her feet down onto the floor. Grace watched as Sally slipped on her shoes and fastened her cardigan around her. It had a pattern of shells and coral lightly embroidered in pale blue on white, with tiny mother-of-pearl buttons.

"That's so pretty!" Grace exclaimed. "Where did you get it?"

"I'll give you one guess!" said Sally.

Laughing, both mother and daughter spoke as one. "Darcy!"

"It's so wonderful to be here with you," Sally said as they crossed the courtyard, having taken in the view from the gates.

"For me, too," Grace said, feeling somehow at peace now, arm in arm with her mother. "But how are you feeling? Would you like to sit down for a bit?"

Sally nodded.

"I know the perfect place," said Grace, leading her mother gently toward her beloved fountain and one of the benches positioned around it.

"What a beautiful spot!" Sally declared.

"I'm glad you like it," Grace said. "This is my favorite place here at Sanctuary. It's where I come to think. It's very peaceful, isn't it?"

Sally nodded. "Yes, it is. And shady, too." She sat down and stretched out her arms. Then she wrinkled her nose. "Is that lavender I can smell?"

"Yes," Grace nodded. "There's an herb garden just over there, see? It's where Mosh Zu grows many of the herbs he uses for healing."

"Oh, yes," Sally said, wrinkling her nose. "I can smell lemongrass, and rosemary and cardamom and curry leaf. How delicious!"

"Yes." Grace nodded, beaming. She was glad to see the garden was working its restorative magic on Sally, too. She hoped the time was right to continue with her mother's story.

She turned to Sally. "Do you feel up to talking again, Mother? About your time on the Nocturne?"

"Yes," Sally said. "Yes, I think so. Now, where did I leave off?"

Grace sighed. "You were telling me about being Sidorio's donor. And how he didn't live up to your expectations."

"Ah, yes," Sally said. "That's right." She paused, reaching out and snapping off a stalk of lavender. She twisted it in her hands as she continued. "Well, I soon grew accustomed to Sidorio. I understood that all he wanted from me was a regular portion of blood, and after the initial period of disappointment I was happy enough to give that to him." She shrugged. "In a way, his having no other interest in me gave me a certain freedom. It was only occasionally, very occasionally, in the darkness and the stillness after the sharing, when I felt just a little weak, that I'd have liked him to have been there. Those were the only times I felt low."

She turned her face to Grace. "Sidorio had very definite ideas and a fierce pride. Other Vampirates, Lorcan, for instance, saw their donors as equals. Sidorio didn't. At least, that's what I thought then." She hesitated, looking off toward the fountain for a moment. A delicate white butterfly had caught her attention as it hovered above the water. When she resumed speaking, her tone of voice was different. "My life aboard the ship was just fine. I had made a deal, and what I got in return for my weekly donation of blood more than justified it. It really was a life of ease ... and fun! We donors were always well looked after. And the food! After the rations I'd been on back home -- well, I ate so much that I soon began to balloon in weight. I had to take myself in hand and start exercising."

"Exercising?" Grace asked. "Aboard the Nocturne?" The notion seemed strange, somehow.

"Don't sound so surprised!" said Sally. "I had made good friends with some of the other donors. Two of them especially. You saw one of them, Shanti, in your vision. Do you remember?"

"Yes." Grace nodded.

"Such a beautiful girl. And she's so much fun, isn't she?"

When Shanti's name had come up previously, Grace had brushed over the truth, but now she could no longer lie to her mother. Sally could see the sadness in her daughter's eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked. "Grace, whatever is it? Tell me!"

"I have some sad news," Grace said, reaching for Sally's hand and giving it a light squeeze. "I'm afraid Shanti died. I'm so sorry, Mother."

"Oh, no!" Sally brought her hand to her chest and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she saw the concern in Grace's eyes. "It's all right, Grace. Truly. Of course, I'm upset -- Shanti was such a dear friend -- but I don't want you to hide the truth from me. Please tell me what happened to her."

Grace took a deep breath. "Shanti was killed. By her vampire partner."

"By Lorcan!" Sally exclaimed, incredulous.

"No!" Grace shook her head. "No, of course not! Lorcan would never be so brutal."

"I don't undboth mother and daughtererstand," Sally said. "Lorcan was Shanti's partner."

"Yes," Grace said. "They were partners, until Lorcan went blind, and we had to bring him here to Sanctuary for healing. Shanti came along, too, but she hated it so much the captain finally agreed to take her back to the Nocturne and find another vampire to pair her with."

"Yes," Grace said. "They were partners, until Lorcan went blind, and we had to bring him here to Sanctuary for healing. Shanti came along, too, but she hated it so much the captain finally agreed to take her back to the Nocturne and find another vampire to pair her with."

"It isn't easy for a donor to switch from one vampire to another," Sally said.

Grace's ears pricked up at these words. Was her mother trying to tell her something? Sally had started out on board the ship as Sidorio's donor. But had she switched when another Vampirate had arrived on board? Was her mother telling her that she had been Dexter's donor, after all? That he had been a Vampirate, too?

The question was on her lips, but before she could ask it, her mother spoke again. "Looking back, it seems such an innocent time," she said, "Shanti, Teresa, and I doing our daily round of exercises up on deck. We had such a ball. We really did! It was like being on a cruise ship. All day, every day, we'd be up on deck, without a care in the world. One of the other donors -- Oskar, that was his name! -- he was the most wonderful musician. He used to play his guitar up there. Such beautiful music! We'd sunbathe all afternoon." Sally turned to Grace, her eyes bright. "Why, it was on just such an afternoon that I met Dexter."

Grace's heart missed a beat at the mention of her father's name. It was as if her mother had read her mind.

"I'd love to hear about that," Grace said.

"Oh, Grace," Sally said, "I'm afraid the exercise and fresh air has made me a little tired. I think I'm going to need to rest before I continue -- and this is such a lovely spot for it."

Grace couldn't conceal the look of disappointment in her eyes.

Sally put her arm around Grace's waist and reached for her hand. "Besides, why would you want to hear it from me," Sally said, "when you can see it all for yourself?" With that, she clasped Grace's hand and closed her eyes. As her mother fell asleep on her shoulder, Grace smiled. Suddenly, her head was filled with a vision of the deck of the Nocturne on a sunny afternoon.

The deck was crowded. Grace was once again seeing things through Sally's eyes. She was dressed in an old-fashioned swimsuit, sitting on a rug, rubbing sunscreen onto her arms. Opposite her, Shanti was doing exactly the same, chattering away. And there was a third girl close by -- this must be Teresa. In the center of the rug was a plate piled high with fruit, glistening jewel-like in the afternoon sun: fresh figs, succulent white peaches, and icy slivers of watermelon. It all looked delicious.

Grace could hear guitar music, just as Sally had mentioned before. She glanced beyond Shanti and saw a young man leaning against the mast, strumming away at a guitar. He caught her looking and smiled. Evidently, he knew her. What had Sally said his name was? Oskar, that was it!

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. At first, Grace thought she was being jolted out of the vision, but quite the reverse was true -- it was sucking her in even deeper. Now, to all intents and purposes, she was Sally.

She felt Shanti's hand on her shoulder and heard her distinctive voice. "Do as I say, girls, and make a wish! But make sure you close your eyes first or it won't work!"

Within the vision, Grace closed her eyes for a moment. Everything went black. Then she felt Shanti's hand on her shoulder once more and heard her excited cry. "Open your eyes, Sally! Open your eyes! I think your wish has already come true!"

She opened her eyes and found herself being dragged by Shanti on one side and Teresa on the other over to the edge of the deck. "Look!" they both cried simultaneously. They were pointing out over the railing to the shore. There, sitting on a rock, a red-and-white-striped towel laid out beneath him, was Dexter Tempest.

Grace felt her heart race. Her father looked so handsome. He had a picnic basket by his side, and he was eating something. A peach. No, an apple! His eyes met hers, and he stopped midbite and waved. Grace felt a shiver, but it was of delight, for this was the moment that her father had met her mother.

As she reconnected with the vision, Grace found herself standing on the edge of the deck once more, the girls at her side.

"Do it," Shanti repeated. "Go on, Sal! I dare you!"