Vampirates 5: Empire of Night (11 page)

Grace felt a visceral reaction to Lola's brutal words. "Mosh Zu..." she began, but faltered.

Lola didn't miss a beat. "Mosh Zu is here, yes. And he has many gifts, Grace. But he is no leader. Remember, Grace. What did Mosh Zu do when Sidorio stormed Sanctuary? He just let more Vampirates flee. The world of the Vampirates is changing, Grace, and
you
have to make a

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decision. Are you going to fade into obscurity here, out of some misguided sense of loyalty, or are you going to take your rightful place at your father and brother's side, at the heart of a new empire? The empire Sidorio and I are building together. For you and for Connor. For all of us." Lola's eyes blazed with ambition. "Our empire of night."

Grace lowered her eyes. "Please leave," she said softly, but with utter conviction.

"I'll go in a moment," Lola said. "It's time I returned to
The Vagabond
in any case. There's just one more thing I want to say to you before I go."

Grace waited as she felt Lola's piercing gaze on her once more. "Face up to who you are," Lola said. "
What
you are." She reached out to the bedside table and lifted the envelope that still rested there. "Don't be so quick to dismiss an invitation that others would kill for." She held the invitation out to Grace, but Grace made no move to accept it.

Grace found she was trembling, but whether from fear or anger, or a combination of the two, she was unsure. "I didn't ask for this," she said, her voice tight. "I didn't
ask
to be different. I was happy before. Just being ordinary. Back with Dad and Connor in the lighthouse. Home in Crescent Moon Bay."

Lola snorted. "You don't believe that any more than I do. You may not have asked for this, but you're fascinated by the world you've discovered and that you now find yourself a part of. You've been showered with the rarest

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of gifts, Grace. But this bounty doesn't come without a price. You have an obligation--to yourself and to your father."

"Sidorio?" exclaimed Grace. "I owe him nothing!"

Lola's eyes were on fire as she stared once more at Grace. "On the contrary, my dear, you owe him
everything
. You owe him life. You owe him your immortality. Don't be mistaken, Grace, darling. If you had been a regular mortal you wouldn't have lasted a single night on this ship before someone had drained your blood. They all knew you were different, special, from the very start. It was only you who was voyaging alone in the dark." Lola strode forward and reached for Grace's notebook. Grace watched with alarm as Lola opened the book and began sifting through the thin pages. Grace had poured a lot of time and energy into the book of crossing stories, and she couldn't bear for Lola to tear it, just to make her point.

"It's all right," Lola said, closing the book between her palms. "I'm not going to harm your precious opus. But don't you see, Grace? You're so fascinated by everyone else's story that you've missed the point. Yours is the best crossing story of all."

Lola dropped Grace's notebook down onto the bedclothes once more. "I've said all I came here to say. When you're ready to stop scribbling your jottings and start living your life--your
true
life--we'll look forward to welcoming you, your father and I."

Lady Lola Lockwood Sidorio, Grace's wicked step

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mother, opened the cabin door and made her exit. As the door swung behind her, Grace stood reeling in the center of the cabin. She had the sense of being caught amid omnivorous, circling currents, preparing to tear her apart.

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12 DIVIDED LOYALTIES

"You're lucky to catch me," said Cheng Li as Connor stepped into the captain's cabin. "I'm about to jump on a taxi boat." She glanced at the clock above her desk. "Which is already three minutes late! This isn't the first time this has happened. One more strike and I'm changing ferry companies."

Connor was disappointed. He had been psyching himself up for this meeting for the past twenty-four hours and had hoped that by rising so early, when the ship was mostly silent, he'd have managed to secure some private time with Cheng Li.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

Cheng Li smiled. "I have a meeting with our old friend, Commodore Black. After our successful execution of

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Operation Black Heart, it's time to plan our next move against the Vampirates."

Connor's heart lurched to his stomach like an out-of-control elevator.

"You know," Cheng Li said, "you look a little under the weather. I hope you haven't caught that nasty Crustacean Flu that is doing the rounds. Perhaps you had better sit down." She pointed to the chair on the other side of her desk.

Connor hesitated, leaning against the chair. "We
really
need to talk," he said.

Cheng Li smiled. "You know I always enjoy our chats," she said. "But I'm afraid this is just really bad timing. We can schedule a meeting this evening if you like, when I get back from the academy."

Connor shook his head. "Actually, we need to talk
before
you meet with the Federation."

Cheng Li arched an eyebrow inquiringly. They had worked alongside each other long enough to read each other's body language. He knew that he now had her full attention. But he was going to have to talk fast.

"Lola Lockwood isn't dead."

Cheng Li's face froze.

There was a knock at the door, then it pushed open and Bo Yin poked her smiling head around. "Captain, just to let you know that your taxi has arrived."

"Thank you, Bo Yin," Cheng Li said, her voice surprisingly

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calm and normal. "Will you tell him that he's already five minutes late and he needs to give me five minutes more, which I have no intention of paying for?"

"Yes, Captain! No problem!" Bo Yin gave a salute, then grinned at Connor and hurried off cheerfully to execute Cheng Li's command. There was no doubting how much Bo Yin was enjoying every aspect of belonging to the crew.

Cheng Li sat down behind her desk. "Okay," she said to Connor. "We have five precious minutes. Clearly, you have important information for me. Spill."

"Lola Lockwood wasn't destroyed the night of the wedding," Connor said, feeling the adrenaline coursing through him. "Operation Black Heart failed. Sidorio reunited Lola's head with her body and revived her. She's alive and well and, evidently, just back from a most enjoyable honeymoon."

Cheng Li frowned. "And you know this how?"

There was no time to waste. Connor reached out his hand and dropped the envelope on Cheng Li's desk. "Stukeley came to see me," he said. "He brought me this invitation."

Cheng Li unfolded the letter and slipped on her reading glasses. Her brow furrowed as she read Sidorio's words. Then she set the letter down, locked her hands together, and rested her chin on them. "It appears we have a situation," she said.

Connor nodded. "I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner."

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"When did Stukeley deliver this?"

"The night before last. At Bart and Cate's send-off at the Full Moon Saloon. I went out the back to get some air, and he was waiting for me there on that scuzzy beach."

Cheng Li frowned.

"I know I should have told you right away," Connor said. "I'm really sorry."

Cheng Li gazed at him. "You're right, Connor. You should have. But doubtless you had good reason not to. I'm just grateful that I found out before my next encounter with that stuffed shirt, Ahab Black."

Connor was amazed how well she was taking the news. Their mission, which had been so meticulously planned, and for which praise had been heaped so lavishly upon both Cheng Li and her crew, was now revealed to be a failure. Connor frowned. His own actions had deprived Cheng Li of twenty-four hours of valuable thinking time.

Suddenly she stood up and reached for her satchel. Was that it? Was she leaving already?

"I'm really sorry," he repeated.

"Do stop apologizing," Cheng Li said, lifting her satchel over her shoulder. "And wipe that sad look off your face. The nature of this mission is constant flux, Connor. This was inevitable. We are not dealing with any regular enemy."

Connor was puzzled by her balanced reaction. "What will you tell them?" he asked.

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"I don't know," Cheng Li said, pushing open the cabin door. "You can help me work that out on the way."

Suddenly, the penny dropped. "You want me to come with you to your meeting?"

"Try eating fish for breakfast, Connor," said Cheng Li. "It should make you sharper in the mornings. Come on, we're now officially ten minutes late. This taxi sailor had better be on top of his navigation."

As the taxi boat skimmed the ocean, Connor found himself calmed by the small craft's smooth and rapid motion and its proximity to the water. It was a warm morning, and the ocean spray was refreshing on his face and arms. He and Cheng Li were sitting at the opposite end of the vessel to the driver, where they could talk further without being overheard. Nevertheless, for the first part of the journey, both passengers were silent, as if they had all the time in the world simply to enjoy the scenery and mull over their private thoughts.

"So"--Cheng Li broke the silence--"this invitation from Sidorio and Lady Lola. Are you thinking of accepting it? Is that why you kept it to yourself?"

Connor shook his head. "No," he said honestly. "No, it's the last place I want to go, and they're the very last people I want to spend time with."

Cheng Li lifted her sunglasses for a moment. "Don't be

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too hasty, Connor. There are no rights or wrongs here. After what we discovered about your parentage, I'd say that both of us, but you especially, are sailing in uncharted waters."

Connor frowned. She could have picked another time to be so uncharacteristically understanding. What he needed from her now was the typical Cheng Li response, full of certainties--do this, don't do this--not this new, hippy-dippy
laissez-faire
attitude. If anything made him feel he was in uncharted waters, it was this.

"I know Sidorio is my blood father," Connor said. "And I know that that makes me different. I'm not happy about it--far from it--but I'll work through it. Whatever--and however long--it takes. I'm so grateful for your support. I don't want to enter into their world. I want to be here. Surrounded by my friends and comrades, in the world I know."

"Hmm." Cheng Li slipped down her shades and considered his words. "The thing is, Connor, you really are between Scylla and Charybdis. I hear what you are saying about your friends and comrades, but the fact is
we
are on a mission to destroy the Vampirates--at least the renegade Vampirates, including Sidorio, Lola, and Stukeley. You have to think through whether you can still be part of that mission, when your loyalties may be divided and your effectiveness compromised."

Connor felt his blood rise. "My loyalties aren't divided," he said angrily. "Not one bit. They mean nothing to me.

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Less than nothing. I want them destroyed every bit as much as you do. Probably more." He stared Cheng Li directly in the eyes. "I'm ready to see the destruction of every last Vampirate and to play my part in it. You have to believe me."

"I do believe you," Cheng Li said, reaching out her hand to his shoulder, and lowering her voice. "But you need to be clear about this. Even if our mission is successful and we take out every last one of them, that won't change your genetic makeup, Connor. You will still be a dhampir--as will Grace--and Sidorio will still be your father." Her tone was soft, sympathetic even, but her words stabbed at him like a freshly sharpened sword.

"I'll deal with that," he said. "First, let's destroy them. Then I'll have all the time in the world to work through my identity crisis."

"All right," Cheng Li said. "If you're sure. But make no mistake, if you're on my side in this mission, then I expect you to do everything I ask of you. I can't make any exceptions for you on account of our secret."

"I don't want any special treatment," Connor said. "I'm one hundred percent committed to the mission. All I'm asking is that you keep my secret from the others. Until I'm ready to tell them." He dropped his head. "If that day ever comes."

Cheng Li extended her hand. "You have a deal," she said.

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Connor took her hand and shook it. He was trembling with emotion, but he felt her firm hand enclose his and squeeze it tightly. It steadied him, and he felt his heart rate beginning to slow down at last.

A shout came from the other end of the boat. "Look, boss! There's the Pirate Academy arch. I got you here with a good twenty minutes to spare." The sailor opened his mouth and grinned a toothless grin. "I hope you're a generous tipper, Captain Li."

As Cheng Li and Connor stepped out onto the familiar landing at Pirate Academy, Connor sighed deeply, letting go of some of the stress he'd been carrying since Stukeley's visit. He felt better for his talk with Cheng Li. She was there for him, just as she had always been since the night she had rescued him from the raging ocean.

"Come on," she said, striding ahead up the hill. "Let's not keep Black waiting." She waved to the diminutive figure of Lisabeth Quivers, who was standing on the terrace at the top of the hill. Quivers was one of the former pirate captains who now played a key role both within the academy faculty and in the Pirate Federation. Connor had little love for the majority of the teachers here, but he felt a certain warmth toward Quivers, who seemed to have a more fully developed human side than her colleagues.

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Connor increased his pace to catch up with Cheng Li. "Have you worked out what you're going to tell Commodore Black and the Federation?" he asked.

"Just about," she said with a nod. "I'm sure the rest will come to me once we're in the room. Just remember what you agreed to before, Connor. To do everything I ask of you."