Read Online Vampirates: Tide of Terror by Justin Somper - Free Book Online

louder than any she had ever made before. It was as if she were wearing heavy boots, thumping irregularly onto deck boards. She felt her hand reach out and push against something. A door. Her hand extended. The door must be opening. She could hear the creak of an old hinge. And then a voice.
    “Lorcan.”
    The name electrified her.
    She listened, waiting to recognize the voice.
    “Lorcan,” it said again. It was a girl’s voice, but she could not place it. “What are you doing here? It’s morning. Time to rest.” There was caution in the girl’s voice, fear, even.
    The ring was almost too hot to touch now. But Grace was desperate not to let go, sensing that if she did, the vision would be lost to her.
    “I’m sorry.” She immediately recognized Lorcan’s soft brogue. It was magical to hear it again, whatever the circumstances.
    “Have you lost your way?” It was the girl again. Fear had given way to pity. Grace could hear it in the changing tone. Lost your way ? What did she mean?
    If only Grace could see the ship as well as hear it. She pressed her thumb and finger to the ring even more tightly. It was burning her now. Still she saw nothing beyond the fog but, as the metal seared into her skin, Grace heard the sounds of the Vampirate ship even more clearly.
    “I’m sorry.” Lorcan again.
    “No,” the girl answered. “It’s okay, Lorcan. It’s okay. Give me your hand. I’ll take you back to your cabin.”
    “I can find my own way back,” he said, his voice un-characteristically proud and angry.
    “Wait!”
    But the girl’s voice was fainter now. Grace had the sense of movement again. Uneven movement. Hands reaching out. And then a tumble. She felt sick as the sensation of falling took over her body. The ring was too hot to hold now. She gasped and released her hand. Her eyes pulled open.
    She lay on the bunk in her small cabin on the pirate ship, breath racing through her. Her thumb and finger felt raw and painful where the Claddagh ring had burned into her. And yet, when she lifted her hand, there was no mark. Nothing at all. She couldn’t understand it.
    She knew she had made a journey to the Vampirate ship. Not a journey like Darcy had made to The Diablo . This was more of a vision — like the first time Grace had met the Vampirate captain and her head had been filled with a sudden image of flesh tearing and crimson blood on dark skin. This new vision was more sustained than that though, more linear . It was as if she had been inside Lorcan’s head. She had been able to hear his conversation. She had felt the movements of his arms and feet. She had, she realized now, felt something of his pain. It was something to do with his eyes. As if . . . please, no ...as if he couldn’t see properly.
    Now Grace felt ice-cold panic spreading through all the veins in her body as memories flooded back to her, like the returning tide. The morning that Connor had boarded the Vampirate ship, Lorcan had stayed out on deck to protect her. He stayed out even after Darcy struck the Dawning Bell — when all Vampirates were called back inside, out of the light. Light was dangerous to them — extremely dangerous. Only the Vampirate captain himself could venture out into the light. But Lorcan had stayed there, because of her . Was it possible that, in doing so, he had wounded his eyes? Blinded himself even?
    What had Lorcan’s note to her said? Something to remember me by. Travel safe. Travel safe! Could Lorcan be sending her a message through the ring? She had to get back to the Vampirate ship. But how?
    Just then the cannon sounded. Grace jumped. Cannon fire was the signal to come up to the main deck. Jez’s funeral was about to begin. She was late!

8
    BURIAL AT SEA
    The first thing that Grace noticed as she stepped out onto deck was how quiet it was. This was all the more unusual, given that the full crew of The Diablo now stood across it. She shut the door carefully and joined the crowd. The pirates opened up