This Same Earth

Chapter Eighteen

English Channel

March 2010

The freighter’s hatch started to glow, and the heat radiated from the center of the panel until the metal was cherry red. The steel turned the consistency of wet cardboard as it slumped in his hands. Giovanni pushed aside the soft metal, blocking the three vampires behind him as Terry sent a blast of cold water to cool it.

Jean’s human assault team had remained, standing alert on deck to grab any humans they found. The team had already secured the bridge but had been told not to go belowdecks until Giovanni, Carwyn, Gemma, and Terry arrived at first dark. When they had, the team leader gladly let the silent immortals dressed in black take the lead.

Giovanni reached down the dark passageway with his senses, stretching his hearing and sense of smell to detect any danger. He could smell the faint scent of honeysuckle near the top of the stairs, along with the scent of adrenaline that made the blue flames jump on his bare torso.

He felt Terry’s cool hand on his shoulder, dousing the flames as the salt air was drawn to him.

“Watch yourself. Narrow corridors. Flammable cargo. We don’t know what’s down there.”

“Beatrice is down there,” he said.

“So she is, and we’re getting her back tonight.”

Giovanni touched the melted edges of the door, nodding as he ducked his tall frame through the opening. He could hear Terry, Carwyn, and Gemma crawl through behind him. He walked down the corridor and halted at the top of a stairwell.

He could hear a scuffle somewhere in the bowels of the ship, as if humans were scrambling, and he heard the soft shush of immortals as they swept through the ship at inhuman speed.

“Father and I will go forward,” Gemma murmured. “You and Terry go to the rear of the ship; with this damp air, he’ll have no trouble extinguishing you if things get dangerous.”

“Just stay behind me, Terry.”

“Right.”

She nodded. “We’ve all seen the layout of this ship from Jean’s man, but I think it’s important to note that many of the small interior cabins could be good hiding spots, as well.”

Carwyn said, “We’re sending humans above if they cooperate-”

“And it doesn’t waste too much time,” Giovanni added.

“Fine, and let’s remember that there are twenty men listed in this crew, and only four of them are being held above,” Carwyn said.

“And we don’t know how many vampires Lorenzo has with him,” Terry added.

“Is he here?” Gemma looked to Giovanni. “Do you get any sense of him, Gio?”

“Not of Lorenzo, but there are four other energy signatures. Young, not very strong.”

Though all vampires could sense electricity, much as sharks could in the water, Giovanni’s senses had always been more keen than most. Since his particular element made him highly reactive to electronics, he could also sense vampire signatures at far greater distances than even most ancient vampires. It was one of the reasons he and Tenzin had been such effective mercenaries.

“Lorenzo’s scent is here, but I don’t feel him. He might have left.”

“Rats do tend to flee when they smell fire,” Carwyn muttered.

“Let’s go,” Terry said. “No need to be quiet if we find them.” He leaned over and pulled Gemma toward him, planting a rough kiss on her mouth before chucking her chin. “Make sure you leave some for the rest of us, luv.”

The four nodded toward each other before breaking apart to search. Giovanni clamped down the instinctive rage and forced himself to think rationally. Beatrice was smart and brave, and he knew Lorenzo needed her unharmed as bait for her father. If she was still on the ship, she would be fine. She had to be.

He traced the scent of honeysuckle and adrenaline down to the starboard side of the ship, halting before a small cabin where the smell was strongest. Terry caught up with him just before he cracked open the door.

“Here.” Giovanni stepped through the door, almost falling to his knees at the scent of her panic and a faint trace of blood. A cocktail of Lorenzo’s scent and cloying energy combined with the smell of blood, adrenaline, and Beatrice. Blue flames burst out over his body. Giovanni heard his growl echo through the small room, and his fangs punched through his lower lip.

He felt Terry slap at his burning shoulder and steam rose. “Gio, focus. I smell blood, too, but it’s not much. Calm down and track her.” The water vampire sent a cooling blanket of air over his torso, extinguishing the flames as Giovanni wiped the blood dripping from his chin.

He walked back to the corridor, focusing his senses on the scent of Beatrice and a male human. It drew him down the hall and through twisting corridors, slowly working its way toward the top deck.

“She had a man with her,” Terry noted. “A pissing scared one, at that.”

“Caught that, did you?”

“She’s no wilting flower, your girl.”

“Neither’s yours.”

Beatrice’s scent stopped right before a steel door that he knew led to the top deck, and he caught the thick musk of four male humans along with the stronger scent of human blood. It was not hers. He looked down to the pool of on the floor, following the trail to a small supply closet where a large body had been stowed.

Terry peered in. “This is the one she took up from her cabin by the smell of him. Look at his holster, empty. I bet she took his gun. That’s why he pissed himself. Good girl, B.”

“But they were intercepted. Beatrice wouldn’t have shot him in the chest if he was cooperating. Other humans must have found them.”

“Rough smelling ones at that.”

“Let’s go.” Giovanni turned. “Their scent leads down this way.”

They moved down to the lower decks, and Terry let a sharp whistle echo down one corridor. In a few seconds, Carwyn and Gemma had joined them, and all four snuck through the freighter, following behind Giovanni.

There was a scuffle in the cabin to their right. Carwyn turned and ripped the door off its hinges, throwing it to the side.

Terry caught the first crewman who tried to scurry out, tossing him to Giovanni while Gemma found the other trying to hide in a closet. The man was trembling in fear, so she used her amnis to calm him and send him to the top deck with his hands on his head.

“Where is the girl?” Giovanni growled, as he held the small man up by the throat. Flames flared on his shoulders, and the crewman's horrified gaze flicked farther down the hallway to a pair of large, steel doors.

“Forward cargo hold,” Terry murmured before Giovanni squeezed the man’s neck and sent the human into unconsciousness before dropping him on the floor.

The four approached the door cautiously, Giovanni reaching out with his senses, searching for Beatrice’s distinctive scent in the confused mass of immortal energy, human scent, and growing commotion behind the steel doors. The flames flared on his arms as his frustration grew.

“Carwyn…”

“Focus on her, Gio. Is she in there?”

“Yes,” he hissed and reached for the door. His hands were already flaming as he placed them on the metal, but Carwyn put a firm hand on his shoulder, halting him.

“We don’t know what’s on the other side of that. Hold back the fire, my friend. Now, what’s behind there?”

He closed his eyes and focused. “Beatrice is there. Four vampires…too many humans. More than ten, that’s all I can tell.”

“Is she frightened?”

“Everyone is frightened. I can’t tell where she is.” His patience snapped. “Just get the damn door open before I melt it!”

Terry pulled him back from the doorway and let Carwyn forward.

“Hold back, mate. We’ll take care of the rest. You just find your girl.”

Carwyn placed his ear on the door and closed his eyes before nodding with satisfaction. He reared back and punched both hands through the layers of steel, ripping them apart and pulling the door off its hinges as it broke apart.

All four rushed into the room, darting around the confused humans, who were running to one corner of the cavernous hold where boxes were stacked in a kind of barricade. The four vampires rushed toward them, and Gemma and Terry confronted them as Carwyn began knocking out humans who darted by and tossing them in a pile.

Giovanni only looked for one thing.

“Gio!”

He heard her call his name, but he could not see her in the confusion. One of the vampires escaped Gemma and rushed him, sending a blanket of wet air and extinguishing his flames before he could send them out. The young water vampire drew a sword and slashed at him but only succeeded in cutting Giovanni’s arm before he was grabbed by the throat.

Giovanni eyed him, trying to determine whether he was worth interrogating. The vampire sneered, and Giovanni almost snapped his neck, but Carwyn reached over and snatched him away.

“No. This one feels the oldest. I want to question him.”

Giovanni grunted as he continued stalking toward the corner with the boxes. He saw Beatrice peek out before she was pulled back by a large human holding a gun on her.

“Gio!” she shrieked again before the human tugged her behind a stack of crates. He heard her yell, “Let me go, you bastard!”

Giovanni was tracking her so intently that he barely registered when one of the human crew members to his right pulled a handgun and shot him in the chest.

The blast punched through him, but missed his heart, which would have knocked him over. Giovanni grunted and reached over to grab the man, annoyed as he twisted his neck and let him fall to the ground. He strode to the crates where the human had taken Beatrice only to find her twisting away from her captor. He watched as she drove her elbow into the large man's gut and her knee into his groin. She had already disarmed him, and the gun lay on the ground as they struggled.

Giovanni rushed over, grabbed the human by the neck, and squeezed. The man’s face turned red as he struggled helplessly in his iron grip. Beatrice reached down to grab the nine millimeter and aim it at the dangling human. He examined her quickly.

She was pale and had bruises on her arms, several cuts to her face, and a swollen knee. She also had the beginning of a black eye and an ugly bruise spread over her temple, but her hands were steady.

“Tesoro, are you all right?”

“Fine. I’ll be fine. I’m really glad to see you guys, though.” He saw her glance over his shoulder. “There’s four vampires here. They came down as soon as the sun set, but they didn’t say anything to me. They just herded us down here and told this guy to keep me quiet.”

“Gemma, Terry, and Carwyn are taking care of them.”

“You’re bleeding a lot,” she said in a shaky voice as she glanced at his chest.

“I was shot. It missed the heart, so it shouldn’t take long to heal.” In fact, he could already feel the wound beginning to close, so he reached in his chest with his fingers, grunting until he had pulled the bullet from the torn flesh.

“Oh, Gio!” she cried as she watched him toss the bullet to the ground and wipe at the bleeding cavity. “Are you going to be okay?”

“I’ll be fine. Did this human hurt you?” The man was barely conscious, but his eyes widened when he heard Giovanni.

He saw her clench her jaw from the corner of his eye. “He’s the one that hit me. He was trying for something else, but my boot met his balls.”

The man desperately tried to pry Giovanni’s fingers from his throat. His terror-stricken eyes met the vampire’s gaze when he cocked his head and spoke in a low voice.

“Did you lay your hands on my woman? That was very foolish. You’re going to wish she had killed you now. She would have been quicker than me.”

His heart began a slow thud of anticipation, but Giovanni wanted to be fair.

“Beatrice, do you wish to kill him yourself?”

His green eyes remained locked on the struggling human’s, and he refused to allow any amnis to spread over him to soften the terror.

“No,” he heard her murmur. “You need the blood.”

Giovanni bared his fangs in the man’s face, cutting off the human’s scream as he twisted his neck to the side and sank his fangs into the soft, warm throat. He closed his eyes and took long, dragging gulps as his bloodlust collided with the pain that finally slammed into his chest.

He opened his eyes to see Beatrice looking around the cargo hold, watching for any threats. He could hear Gemma and Terry rounding up the last of the humans behind them. Beatrice came to stand in front of him as he drank, and he bit harder, piercing the carotid as the blood flooded into his mouth. His green eyes locked with hers and blood ran down his chin, but Beatrice did not flinch as she watched him drain the human who had threatened her life.

He felt the blood pumping through his system as his stomach filled, and a feral growl rumbled in his chest. The flames began to lick at his arms as his body grew stronger.

Beatrice never took her eyes off Giovanni, watching as he slowly sucked the life out of the man. Her hand reached toward him, and an instinctive snarl ripped from his throat, but she only paused for a moment before she placed a hand on his forehead, sweeping her fingers back through his hair as his eyes remained on hers. Gradually, the rage lessened, and the fire along his arms began to die down.

The human’s heartbeat slowed, then stopped, and Giovanni dropped the dead man on the ground, wiping his mouth on his forearm before he stepped toward Beatrice, gripped the back of her neck, and let his bloody mouth crash down on hers.

He almost expected her to push him away, disgusted by his animalistic display, but she did not. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed close, careful to avoid his chest wound. He pierced his tongue and licked at the cut on her chin and at the corner of her mouth until they were sealed and healing.

“Gio,” she finally murmured as he buried his face in her hair, inhaling her scent and holding her as his heartbeat slowed. “You came for me.”

“I will always come for you. I love you,” he murmured as he nuzzled his face into her neck, covering her in his scent before the smell of blood and Lorenzo hit him.

“What did he do?” he hissed and brushed back her hair searching for the source of the blood. He saw a small wound that looked like a piercing on her earlobe, and he looked at her. “Did he hurt you, Beatrice?”

She took a deep breath and lifted a hand to his hair, soothing him with her touch. “Just that. He bit my ear, but that’s all. Other than that, it was just mind games again.”

“If there was only a way to kill him more than once,” he muttered as he pierced his tongue again and sucked her earlobe into his mouth to clean and heal the small wound.

He held her for a few more minutes until he heard Terry walk over.

“Nicely done, B. Gio, you hurt?”

“Nothing serious. The vampires?”

“Gemma killed two. Carwyn and I grabbed the others so we could question them.”

“And the humans?” Beatrice asked.

“Most of them are dead. A few surrendered willingly, and Carwyn sent them up to Jean’s men.”

“I need to heal myself,” Giovanni said as he pushed away from Beatrice. “Terry, you and Gemma take the vampires up to the deck and wait for me there. Beatrice, go to Carwyn.” He could sense the earth vampire hovering nearby.

Terry nodded and crossed the hold, grabbing the other vampire that Gemma held before they walked out. Carwyn walked over to the corner.

Beatrice just stared at his bleeding chest. “How do you heal yourself?”

“Stand back,” he said as he turned and nodded toward Carwyn, who reached out his hand to Beatrice and drew her away toward the far side of the hold.

“How do you heal yourself?” she asked again.

“I need to let it take me, Father. Keep her away.”

“You’re going to set yourself on fire?” Beatrice was starting to sound panicked.

“Darling girl,” Carwyn soothed her. “Come stand with me. Did you get shot, Gio? You’re getting slow in your old age.”

He closed his eyes, trying to focus on something other than the pain in his chest. “Keep her away. Maybe you should both go up on deck.”

“No,” they said together.

“I won’t leave you,” she said.

Giovanni thought about the resolute look in her eyes as she watched him drain the human and nodded before he stepped to the far corner of the empty compartment. He stood motionless and lowered his head, taking deep breaths before he allowed the static electricity to start snapping along his skin. After a moment, he began pacing, keeping one eye near the door where Carwyn and Beatrice stood. They were at least ten meters away, but he was still cautious, which was, no doubt, part of Carwyn’s plan in keeping them close by.

He flexed his arms and curled his shoulders in, focusing his energy to run along his skin and push outward as he felt the flames begin to lick along his chest and arms. He could feel himself start to walk the thin edge between control and chaos. The last of his clothes burned away, and he stood naked as the blue fire covered his body.

As Giovanni’s energy grew and the flames rose, he could feel his chest ache and start to knit together. He glanced up to see Carwyn holding onto Beatrice with an iron grip. He turned and faced her, focusing on her dark eyes as he stood motionless and let the fire wash his injuries away.

He heard the hiss as his hair singed, and the acrid scent drifted to his nose. He kept himself focused on the sour smell of burning hair to counteract the heady sensation of power that threatened to overwhelm him. The blood rushed through his body and his heart raced, but the higher the flames grew, the stronger he became.

His power peaked, and Giovanni could feel his chest muscles stretch and smooth out. He flexed them, feeling only an edge of pain. He continued to stare at Beatrice as he let the fire fall back and finally dissipate into the cold salt air.

He gave a quiet grunt and fell to his knees as they rushed over. Beatrice put her arms around him, flinching from the heat that still radiated off his skin, but she only pulled him closer and rocked him as her hands tangled in his singed hair.

“That was…” She sniffed. “It was-”

“Cracking as always, Gio,” Carwyn said with a laugh. “By God, you’ll manage to kill me someday, but that’s absolutely brilliant.”

Giovanni sighed and slumped against Beatrice, burying his face in the cool skin at her throat and wrapping his arms around her waist.

“I hate getting shot.”