Page 46 of A Steeping of Blood (Blood and Tea #2)

“We’re here to take you back to Ettenia.” Then he lifted his chin, calling out to the other vampires. “Stay here any longer and that fellow will rip you apart. Join us. Help us, and we’ll take you home.”

Home.

Jin saw Arthie’s jaw tighten at the word. Ceylan had become a prison, a fortress, a drop of land in the ocean Ettenia repurposed to its liking.

That was the look in their eyes. They looked like Arthie—vengeful. Oliver inclined his head, others following suit.

“You have my fangs,” one said.

“And my claws,” said another.

Their anger resonated in the air; Jin felt it resonate within him too, through his weary bones. The vampires had been missing for far too long, stolen as Arthie’s lands had been, control ripped away from their lives as the Ceylani soldiers in the Ettenian army had been.

The vampires closed the distance behind them, eager for a fight, but the guards were struggling to flee from the Ripper marching toward them, flinging away men and weapons as though he were batting away flies.

Jin knew his umbrella wouldn’t do a thing. The vampire looked to be made of steel more than flesh. Arthie lifted Calibore. Far beyond, by the fallen chandelier, Bloodworth watched with bated breath, as did the guards.

Arthie fired. The guards froze, every eye following the bullet until it hit the vampire square in his bare chest. He staggered back, arms stretched wide as he regarded the slug.

He did not fall. He did not die as a vampire should when shot by Calibore. Outside of the surprise at being shot, the vampire didn’t seem to be affected by the bullet. It looked like a burr had gotten caught on his skin and he couldn’t be bothered to pull it out.

Arthie cocked Calibore and fired bullet after bullet. They were slowing him down at least, for he lurched back with each shot and inspected the wound—if it could even be called that—before resuming his stomping.

“Enough,” Arthie said, until an idea glinted in her eyes. She racked Calibore again and leveled her aim lower this time, straight for—

“What are you doing?” Matteo sputtered, aghast when he followed her gaze.

“Vampires don’t need their hearts as much as they need blood. How much of it do you reckon flows through the groin?”

“Arthie!” Matteo chided.

“That’s sacrilegious,” Jin said.

“Sacrilegious,” Arthie deadpanned.

“You want to drain a man—or woman, I shan’t discriminate—shoot for the thigh. There’s no time or material for him to tourniquet it off. It’ll siphon fast thanks to gravity.”

With a sigh, Arthie lowered her pistol even more and squeezed out a shot to his right thigh.

This time, the vampire stumbled. She fired at the other leg.

Jin flinched. Even the guards stopped to stare as the Ripper fell to his knees.

Blood squirted out in twin streams. The body only carried so much blood, and gravity demanded much of it.

Jin almost pitied the vampire in that moment.

Until he stopped staring at his wounds and his gaze lifted, ever so slowly, back to Jin and the others.

“Is it just me, or does he seem angrier?” Matteo asked, tilting his head. “Imagine how this would have gone if you’d shot his manhood.”

The Ripper rose with stilted movements.

And a groan resonated through the sanatorium.

The seal around the vault-like door broke with a hiss of rushing air.

His parents had unlocked the door. The relief in the sanatorium was palpable.

Jin whirled as the gears above began to turn, slowly at first. Too slowly.

The Ripper vampire was getting closer, men continuing to flee from his path.

At last, a breeze rushed through the doorway.

“Go!” Arthie shouted at the vampires.

The vampires rushed through, footsteps loud and thunderous, his parents waving them onward, helping the ones who stumbled on still-lethargic legs. Arthie squeezed off more shots, slowing down the Ripper vampire. Her jaw was tight, teeth clenched.

Jin understood the war within her—they couldn’t reason with the vampire; they couldn’t ask him to stop. He would fight them, kill them if he had the chance, and they had no choice but to fight back.

And to think, his father had— No. Jin could not think about that right now.

“Jin! Arthie!” Matteo shouted. The doors were clear.

Arthie raced through. Jin heard the jangle of heavy chains and saw several guards at the other end of the hall bracing themselves to trap the vampire.

He didn’t know if they would succeed, but he wasn’t going to stay here and find out.

He squeezed through after Arthie and Matteo.

His parents were at the other end of a short incline in an ornate foyer that Jin had walked through earlier with a sack on his head.

The moon lit the dainty space with a white glow.

His mother had a scratch on her face. His father’s hair was more unkempt than Jin had ever seen, and—Jin blinked. There was a pistol in his hand.

“You’re all right,” his father whispered, pulling Jin to his side and making him feel like a little boy.

“Close the door,” Arthie said.

“We can’t,” his father replied. “They’re only operational from within.”

“Then we run.” She flung open the outer doors to the fort. The wildlife met them, insects chirping, birds cooing, monkeys screeching. “Oliver, I don’t know you, but take up the rear and make sure no one’s left behind. The rest of you, follow us.”

They rushed into the courtyard, where they were met with the sticky Ceylani night. Even without the sun, the warmth clung to him like a weight. Braziers were being lit, gas lamps flickering to life as the fort guards rushed toward the commotion, shouting and tossing weapons.

“Hurry,” Arthie shouted, heading straight for the gates, but Oliver stopped.

Seeing him, the others trickled to a halt too.

Oliver shook his head. “I’m not leaving that place whole for them to do this again.”

At least they weren’t in opposition to what Arthie already wanted to do. Murmurs of agreement spread through the vampires. They weren’t even concerned by the gathering guards. Some fell, injected with green darts. Others tore the men down without hesitance.

“You’re not alone in that sentiment,” Arthie called over them. In the chaos, Jin caught the look in his mother’s eyes. His parents wanted this too. “I’m going to burn it down.”

The vampires paused, as if they weren’t certain they were hearing her correctly.

“Well?” she asked the silence.

“By all means!” Oliver shouted, and the rest of the vampires roared in agreement.

“Now go!” she shouted. “Clear us a path to the ship where you’ll see the show. I’ll set the stage.”

Jin couldn’t tamp down a smile as the vampires obeyed her commands. Arthie allowed herself no such triumph. Her gaze tracked every movement around them. “If there are more Ripper vampires, we’ll have a problem on our hands.”

Jin’s mother shook her head. “There is only the one.”

His father’s fail-safe had killed the other six.

“Really? We have nearly a hundred more waiting to turn,” Matteo snapped.

“They will not mutate so long as they continue consumption of the coconut water.”

“And how exactly are we going to get rid of the Ripper on our tail?” Arthie asked.

“It appears he’s targeting you three,” his mother said. “He will follow you as far as he can.”

“That’s not reassuring, Mother,” Jin said.

“Don’t you understand? We only need to get to your ship,” she said. “He’ll follow you into the sea.”

And vampires couldn’t swim. Even if a Ripper vampire could, he couldn’t make it across the sea to Ettenia. It was entirely morbid, but it would have to do.