Vampirates 3: Blood Captain Read Free

vast was this peak that it was impossible to see just how far it stretched into the air, however much Grace Tempest strained her neck backward to look. It didn’t help, of course, that it was pitch black, save for the sliver of moonlight that fell unhelpfully across the other side of the deck. To most ordinary people, it would seem incredibly foolhardy to embark on an expedition up icy, unknown mountain passes in the middle of the night. But, Grace reminded herself, not one of the people embarking on this expedition could be termed “ordinary.” Indeed, some would say it was stretching things to even describe her traveling companions as “people.”
    As she leaned backward in vain, Grace felt the woolen beret slipping from her head. Feeling an immediate resulting chill, she pushed the hat back into position and resumed an upright position. The beret, like the rest of her outer clothes, had been lent to her by her friend Darcy Flotsam, who now stood beside her on the deck.
    “Are you sure you’re warm enough, Grace dear?” she inquired. “I could easily pop back into my cabin and fetch you one of my furs. Just say the word!”
    Grace shook her head. “I told you before, Darcy. I won’t wear fur. No animal should have to die to keep me warm.”
    Darcy shook her head in disbelief. “But it’s so soft and toasty! And it’s not like the poor fox that made my coat is about to spring to life again any time soon. So where’s the harm, eh?”
    “No, Darcy,” Grace said firmly. “Not under any circumstances. This coat is quite warm enough, thank you.”
    Darcy smiled at Grace as they waited for the others. “I so wish I was coming with you,” she said. “I don’t think I’d enjoy the climb, it’s true, but I’d do it to stay close to you and Lieutenant Furey.”
    “I know, Darcy, and Lorcan does, too.” Grace smiled at her companion. “But the captain seems to think that the fewer of us leave the ship the better.”
    They both looked toward the closed door of the captain’s quarters. Inside, he was briefing his deputies on how to manage the ship during his absence.
    “It’s very rare for the captain to leave the ship,” said Darcy, turning back to Grace. “It shows how much he cares for Lieutenant Furey that he would take this risk.”
    Risk? Grace hadn’t thought of it in those terms before, but now she realized that with the recent turmoil on the ship and the rebellions following Sidorio’s departure, it would indeed be a risk for the captain to leave the other Vampirates for even a few days. Sidorio had questioned the rules of the ship, in particular the captain’s limiting of blood-taking to the weekly Feast Night. Though Sidorio had been banished and was now gone, he had left the seeds of discontent behind him. Others among the previously compliant crew were now asking why they could not take blood more often. Grace knew that the captain had exiled three more of the crew since Sidorio had left. They had joined up with the renegade Vampirate and embarked on a terrible spree of wanton bloodshed until they had all been destroyed — by her brother, Connor. Connor the hero.
    It was strange to think of her twin in such a way. So much had happened to them both in the few short months since their father had died and they had left their home in Crescent Moon Bay. How naïve they had been then, thought Grace. They had thought that leaving would offer them an escape route. And, in some ways, it had. But their journey had thrown them both into dangerous situations, where their very lives were under threat. Now Connor was, to his sister’s great discomfort, a pirate warrior aboard the notorious ship The Diablo . And, perhaps to her brother’s even greater alarm, Grace was a regular passenger aboard the ship of vampire pirates, or Vampirates, called The Nocturne . Both brother and sister yearned for the other twin to join them — to see that their choice of ship was the right one. But it was a tribute to