Carpathia (30 page)

  "That's our lifeboat!" Quin stepped between Abe and Elisabetta, keeping his crucifix facing her. "You can't have it."

  "There are plenty of other lifeboats on this ship," she said. "And not nearly enough living souls to occupy them. Go find a different one." She turned to Abe then. "Can you swim?"

  Abe nodded. "I wouldn't have survived the
Titanic
otherwise."

  "Then get yourself ready. I can find my own way into the lifeboat, and you'll have to do the same."

  "Yes, Elisabetta."

  Quin couldn't believe the way that Abe was acting. He knew the vampire was behind it. With her bite – which he had barely survived and from which he might still die – she'd established some kind of hold over him. Quin had to find some way to break it.

  He reached out and slapped him across the cheek, hard. "Snap out of it!" he said.

  Lucy had a more direct approach in mind. She lunged for Elisabetta with her crucifix. The vampire let out a little scream and disappeared in a puff of white mist.

  Abe reached out and grabbed Lucy by the wrist. She tried to pull free, but he would not let her go. It surprised Quin to see his weakened friend display such a strong grip.

  "Don't do that again," Abe said.

  "You're hurting me."

  "I consider any attack against Elisabetta to be an attack on me. I beg you to respect that and her."

  Quin grabbed Abe's hand and pried his fingers from Lucy's wrist. They left white marks on her skin where they had been.

  "Consider the same true of Lucy with regards to me," Quin said to his friend, his voice filled with ice and steel. "If you cause her harm, I won't care how little you can control your actions."

  Abe gave Quin a curt nod to indicate his understanding. "I expect nothing less," he said in all seriousness. "And I thank you," he added in a whisper.

  The two friends shook hands. Quin knew then that it might be the last chance he ever had to do so with Abe. If he and Lucy didn't figure out some way to destroy Elisabetta, Abe would be hers forever.

 
 

 
 
 

Elisabetta appeared again on the roof of the bridge, looking down at the three friends below. "How delightful," she said in mock sincerity. "Now, if you two have finished trying to pry my Abraham out of my grasp, I'd like to offer you a deal."

  Quin gaped at the woman's audacity, but Lucy snapped right back at her. "What makes you think we'd ever wish to make a bargain with a devil like you?"

  "Because you have the best interests of Abraham at heart, darling, while I – let's be honest now – do not. I, however, would very much like to survive this little war that Brody has launched. If you can help me do that, I'll consider releasing my hold on Abraham."

  Abe let out a soft whimper at these words. Lucy clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a further outburst, but Quin could tell from the way her eyes glittered that she was near to tears. She just refused to let Elisabetta see them.

  "Why would we help you for just the chance to have his release considered?" Quin said. "Doesn't sound terribly promising."

  "I could lie to you and tell you I'll release him." Elisabetta gave him the kind of haughty look that nobles reserved for peasants. "I thought you'd prefer an honest deal."

  Quin glanced at Lucy, who nodded at him with wordless vigor.

  "All right," he said. "If you give us your word you will not harm us and will consider releasing Abe, then we will help you as best we can."

  "Thank you," Elisabetta said. "I think you'll soon see it's in all our best interests."

  A flock of bats appeared overhead then, fluttering down from the starry sky. Quin recognized them instantly for what they must be, and he thrust his crucifix before him. Lucy did the same, and the two stood flanking Abe, keeping him sandwiched and protected between them.

  "Look out!" Abe shouted up at Elisabetta.

  She turned in time to see the flying creatures transform into their human forms and alight on the roof of the bridge, forming a semicircle around her. She spun about, trying to evaluate the threat to her, but overwhelmed by the number of vampires she faced. It wasn't until Murtagh stepped forward and grabbed her by the arm that she put a smile back on her face.

  "Oh, Brody!" she said, reaching for him. "I'm so glad to see you're all right."

  He blocked her embrace and set her back a step. "I wish I could say the same to you, you traitorous bitch."

  Elisabetta gaped at the man in shock. "How dare you talk to me like that? After all I've done for you over the years. Why, the number of times I intervened with Dushko on your behalf–"

  "I won't be needing your help on that score any longer now, will I?"

  "I must help her," Abe said flatly. He raced around the back side of the structure that contained the bridge. Quin and Lucy gave chase and found that he had discovered a ladder that ran up the structure's back wall. He was already starting up it.

  Elisabetta batted her eyes at Murtagh. "Is that the only value I hold for you?"

  Murtagh backhanded her across her flawless cheek. "I'm not nearly the idiot you take me for. You played both of us against each other. The only person you were ever concerned about was yourself."

  Elisabetta straightened up and wiped blood from her lips. Quin saw that she had some spilling from the rims of her eyes as well. She addressed Murtagh with as much indignity as she could muster. "How can you possibly think that? After all the times I stood up for you? I was the one who made you a vampire in the first place!"

  "So you could pit me against Dushko. You hoped we'd destroy each other so you could have a free reign among our kind, and it damn well might have worked – if I hadn't thrown out all your arcane rules about the proper things to do and destroyed him myself."

  Abe reached the top of the ladder now and hauled himself up and over onto the roof of the bridge. Quin came right after him, and Lucy brought up the rear. Quin put an arm on Abe's shoulder to hold him back, even though the circle of vampires that stood between them and Elisabetta were enough to keep Abe away from her.

  "And now what do you propose to do?" Elisabetta said. "If you get to the old country, you'll find a cold welcome there without either Dushko or me by your side. And if you propose to return to your old life in New York, you can forget it. We burned all those bridges when we set out on this voyage."

  Murtagh's boot lashed out and caught Elisabetta square in the stomach. She cried out in pain, and Abe rushed forward to help her. A pair of vampires caught him by the arms and held him tight.

  Quin came up behind Abe with his crucifix out, and the vampires holding him hissed and moved away. Rather than releasing Abe, though, they carried him with them, ignoring his protests and struggles.

  Murtagh grabbed Elisabetta by the head and wrapped one of his arms around it. With his other, he picked up her body and wrenched it around, fast and hard.

  Quin heard a sickening crack as Elisabetta's spine gave way and her head came free from her body.

  Her head cut off from access to her heart, Elisabetta opened her mouth to scream, but as her lungs weren't connected either, no sound came out.

  "I hope it takes you a long time to die, you witch," Murtagh said. With that, he grabbed Elisabetta's wideawake head by her long hair and swung it around his own in a wide circle, going faster and faster with every instant. When her head seemed like a blur at the end of a hair rope, Murtagh released his hold and flung it as far out into the ocean as he could manage. It arced away so far out into the night that Quin never heard it splash down.

  "You bastard!" Abe hollered as he struggled against his captors. "I'll kill you!"

 
 

 
 
 

Quin had to admit, he had hesitated to step forward while Murtagh and Elisabetta were arguing. If that meant leaving Abe in the hands of a couple of vampires for a few moments, then so be it. Quin wanted Elisabetta dead so that Abe would be released from her spell, and he had no means of making that happen. The best he could have hoped for would be for Murtagh to take care of that niggling detail for him.

  The Irishman had performed that job perfectly.

  Now, though, Quin had to figure out how to rescue Abe and get both him and Lucy off the boat as soon as possible – but preferably not in the same manner in which Elisabetta had left. He wanted all three of them to live. Murtagh, he was sure, had other ideas.

  "Now," Quin said to Lucy, and the two of them rushed forward at the vampires holding Abe, their crucifixes held out before them like battering rams. The vampires parted before them as if they were toxic, giving them a clear path to where Abe still stood trapped.

  As they rushed forward, though, Murtagh leaped up on the lifeboat still hanging from the davit that suspended it over the other side of the bridge. He slashed open the canvas cover and reached down to snatch one of the long oars out of the craft.

  "Hold it!" Murtagh said as he swung the oar over his head. "Get any closer, and your friend is dead!"

  Quin wanted to keep charging the vampires holding Abe, but Lucy reached out and held him back. The oar zipped down into his path and smashed right into the spot where he would have been had Lucy not managed to slow him down. One side of the oar's blade splintered off from the impact.

  Quin stopped where he was and glared up at Murtagh. He could see the man was wielding the oar with one hand, still favoring the one that Quin had burned with his crucifix. He ached to get close enough to the man to finish the job, but he suspected Murtagh was too canny to ever let that happen. Having been burned like that once, he would have developed an all-too-healthy respect for the crucifix and any who wielded it.

  "What do you want?" Lucy said.

  "What does anyone want?" said Murtagh. "I want to live."

  "Not if I can help it!" said Abe. He strained against his captors' grip so hard that his face turned red, and the tendons in his neck stuck out. They seemed not to notice much.

  Quin glared at Abe, trying to get his attention and signal for his friend to shut his mouth. He wondered about Abe's rage. He'd hoped that once Elisabetta had been killed, her hold over him would be released instantly.

  That didn't seem to have happened. The only explanation Quin could think of was that Elisabetta hadn't yet died. He couldn't imagine how much longer she could survive. Without any limbs or body for support, her head had to be sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Quin had no idea how deep the sea was here, but he wouldn't have wanted to wish that fate on anyone. He'd wanted Elisabetta dead, but to think of even a person such as her enduring such horrifying torture turned his stomach. He only hoped she could finish dying soon, both for her sake and for Abe's.

  Murtagh turned to Quin and Lucy. "I need to know how our blessed captain plans to scuttle this ship. Now."

  "Why don't you just ask him yourself?" Quin said.

  Murtagh frowned. "He sealed the bridge with crucifixes and garlic. I could get through to him if I had to. I could tear into the place through the ceiling or floor. But it would be dangerous, and I don't know if I have the time for that." He snarled. "But you two can do it for me."

  "Don't tell him anything!" Abe said. "If we have to die to kill them all, then so be it!"

  "Quiet, Abe," Lucy said. "You're not in your right head."

  "You're nothing but gutter scum, Brody Murtagh!" Abe said, a wild light dancing in his eyes.

  Murtagh leaped down from the lifeboat to face Abe square on. The angry snarl on his face seemed to be the only thing holding his temper back.

  "That's right," Abe said. "I know all about you. She told me how she found you, cold, starving, and nearly drunk to death in a Bowery alley."

  "That's enough out of you now, I think." Murtagh's voice carried a threat as menacing as it was calm.

  "She took pity on you that night, and you wept in her arms like an infant, didn't you?" Quin could tell from the way his tone rose as he spoke that Abe was just getting started. He'd seen him like this before, on rare occasion, usually when he was well in his cups, and there was no stopping him – at least not with words.

  Murtagh strode toward Abe and glared down at him with silent, murderous intent, like a lion sizing up a lamb for its next meal. "You might want to watch that tongue of yours, boyo."

  Abe ignored the man. "Despite everything she did for you, despite the way she groomed you to replace Dushko, you killed her the first chance you got. You took the one person who'd done you a single kindness in your bitter, miserable excuse of a life, and you murdered her without shedding a single goddamn tear. You're an utter bastard, you are, Brody Murtagh, and I hope you burn in hell when the Devil comes to get you!"

  To cap off his rant, Abe bit his tongue hard and spit a mouthful of blood square into Murtagh's face.

  Murtagh stood there impassively for a moment, the bloody spittle running down his face. When it reached his lips, he reached out with the tip of his tongue to taste it. Then he wiped his face clean and replaced Abe's spit with a grim smile.

  "I don't need three living people to do what I want," Murtagh said. "Just one. I can make examples out of the rest."

  Abe froze. "You wouldn't dare," he said. "I– I worried that you'd be jealous of me, that you'd toss me in the ocean when you found out I was with her, just like you did with all the other people you killed. Just like you did with her." He shivered so hard Quin could see it from where he stood. "She said you wouldn't have the guts."

  "Just one more thing she was wrong about." Murtagh reached out and grabbed Abe by the lapels of his coat.