Waterlocked
Page 24

“He cannot find this chamber.” Terry’s eyes locked on Gemma’s. “If it’s compromised, we’ll have to reach land by dawn or rest very, very deep.”
He saw the battle lust fill her eyes and her fangs run out in her mouth. “Ready?” he asked.
“Of course.” She went to him eagerly, wrapping her arms around his waist as he opened the trap door and lay down in the narrow chamber. Her energy was jumping and he could feel the blood churning in her normally slow veins. “You’re excited about killing something, aren’t you?”
Gemma smiled, her fangs gleaming behind her rosebud lips. “I don't like being bored.”
“No, you don't.” He punched the button and let the hydraulic lever go to work, sealing them in, then the outer door released, flooding the small chamber with water.
Ah, yes. His amnis reached out, immediately identifying the other immortal nearby. The door opened. With a quick twist, he shoved Gemma from his arms and she slipped under the keel to the opposite side of the Conquest. He spun to block the dagger that had been coming at his throat, twisting around, trying to lock his legs around his attacker to immobilize him.
No good. His opponent was a water vamp, just like him. The force of the current buffeted him before he could block it, then Terry heard a scraping sound and a splash as another body entered the water.
Terry couldn’t tell where it came from, and he had no time to look. He had to trust that Gemma would have enough control underwater that she could handle herself. The vampire had not stopped attacking, and Terry had no knife. He kept weapons, but none in his day chamber.
The immortal attacking him had dusky skin and long hair that kept drifting into his eyes as the water swirled around them. Terry bared his fangs. Amateur.
Not spending enough time in your element, are you?
Terry dove, darting deep into the black water, and he heard his opponent follow. The other man felt older than him in years, but he did not have the elemental control that Terry did. He let his amnis flow, reaching out with the current until he felt the thin thread of the other vampire’s energy. He tugged, but the man was still swimming in circles, trying to see him.
Foolish vampire.
Terry didn’t need to see him, his amnis already did. He carefully surrounded the vampire with coils of energy, wrapping him with ribbons of water invisible to the other man. Then, he pulled.
In the blink of an eye, the liquid ribbons turned to steel, constricting the other vampire and stilling his arms as the knife slipped from his fingers. Terry’s amnis scooped it up, bringing the knife to his palm as he grabbed the other man by his mop of dark hair.
He searched for her, following the chaotic sounds of splashing to the other boat, whose dark hull lay fifty meters away. As he approached, he sensed them.
Tricky girl. Terry grinned. Looked like someone was making new friends.
His arm darted out and caught the fin as it tried to slip past. The mako was quick, but not as quick as he was. Still, it whipped around, almost slashing Terry’s arm before his hand brushed along the head, stroking the nose and letting his amnis reach out until the great animal calmed. The smell of human blood was heady in the water, which must have drawn the sharks. Terry reached out and petted it, the other vampire still struggling under his control, until he saw her.
She was feasting on the neck of a struggling human, the blood a cloud around her that the sharks circled with excitement. He moved closer, careful not to startle her out of her bloodlust. She saw him from the corner of her eye and pushed the limp body away, swimming toward him, fangs bared and hair streaming in the moonlit water. She grabbed him by the neck and pulled his mouth to hers, biting on his lower lip and sucking hard as she pushed them to the surface.
Gemma threw her head back as they breached the water, and Terry immediately slapped a hand over her mouth so she didn’t make a sound. She bit his finger, but didn’t speak. Terry held his finger up to his lips and she nodded. Then he motioned to the struggling captive, who he was still holding with one hand.
“Recognize him?”
“No,” she whispered. “The other must still be on the Conquest. We only need one alive.”
He nodded, then made quick work of his extra cargo before the words could register with the other vampire, slicing around his neck with the man’s own dagger, spilling his blood and severing his spine before he let the limp body sink. Then he grabbed Gemma with both hands, cupping her cheeks and licking at the trickle of blood that leaked down her chin from her split lip. Their lips met, bruising and hungry as their energy crashed together. Terry used the water to push her closer, overcome by need for her. Her blood called to him, spurred on by the hunt as his body answered her. Finally, he broke away with a gasp.
“Gemma!”
“We can’t. Not here. Not like this.”
He nodded, gritting his teeth as his fangs pierced his lower lip and his blood dropped into the churning water.
“Soon,” he growled.
She was panting. Her lips swollen with lust and her cheeks flushed with blood. “Soon.”
A sleek fin surfaced only meters away, then disappeared under the waves.
“They shy away from us,” she said in wonder. “But if you touch them—”
“It’s their electroreceptors.” He motioned to the calm mako, who was still circling Terry as if fascinated. “Hundreds of them. In their head, mostly. It’s partly how they sense prey in the water.”
“And why they keep away from us.”