Free Vampirates 5: Empire of Night by Justin Somper Page A

alongside him.
    "I can try." Connor's eyes were fixed ahead.
    "It won't change anything," Stukeley said. "Sidorio is your blood father. You're one of us now."
    Connor said nothing, just kept walking. He was in imminent danger of running away from the beach.
    "Wait!" Stukeley said, jumping in front of him. "Look at me, Connor!"
    Reluctantly, Connor lifted his eyes to face Stukeley once more.
    "We were friends once," Stukeley said. "We said that our friendship transcended life and death, remember? When I came back to find you, you helped me. You took me to the Blood Tavern and then to The Nocturne so I could get help from the captain."
    Connor nodded. "I remember." He shivered at the thought of the Blood Tavern.
    "You helped me," Stukeley repeated. "Now it's my turn
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    to help you." He reached out his hand to Connor's shoulder. "I know you must be reeling from all this--discovering that Sidorio is your father, that you are a dhampir. It changes everything."
    "Only if I let it," Connor said defiantly.
    Stukeley shook his head. "No, Connor. You're not in control of this. It's bigger than you. Trust me, I know what I'm talking about."
    Connor thought about Stukeley's words. He thought of how he had watched Jez die and of the lavish funeral they had staged for him on the deck of The Diablo . He thought of how Jez's journey had ended there, but Stukeley's had just begun as they had tossed his coffin into the ocean and unwittingly sent it traveling on the tide into the grateful arms of Sidorio.
    "I didn't ask to be on this side of the fence either," Stukeley said, as if reading his thoughts. "But Connor, I've learned that the only way through this is to accept what you are."
    Connor hung his head, letting his eyes close. A fresh thought occurred to him. He opened his eyes again, frowning.
    "What's the matter?" Stukeley inquired.
    "I don't understand," Connor said. "I thought I destroyed Lola Lockwood at the wedding. But, in the letter, Sidorio says, 'my wife and I,' as if she's still around."
    Stukeley's nod confirmed it. "Lady Lola is very much still around," he said. "In spite of your best efforts to the contrary."
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    Connor shook his head in disbelief.
    Stukeley leaned in closer. "You saw how she managed to recover from your first attack, didn't you? You stabbed her, but she removed the sword from her own chest."
    "Yes." Connor thought back to the events of that night. "But then I decapitated her and we separated her head from her body. That should have proved fatal."
    Stukeley shrugged. There was a look in his eyes Connor couldn't decipher. "You'd certainly have thought it was enough, but Sidorio brought Lola's head and body back together and before you could say, 'Congrats!' they were bound for their happy honeymoon."
    "That flies in the face of all our research," Connor said, shaking his head again.
    "You can't trust what you read," Stukeley said. "Sidorio and Lola break all the rules. The closer they come to destruction, the more powerful they seem to emerge."
    This struck a chord with Connor. He thought of how the captain of The Nocturne had once counseled Connor to attack the renegade Vampirates with fire. The captain had said that fire would be fatal to Sidorio, but, though it had destroyed some of his fledgling crew, it had left Sidorio--and indeed Stukeley--somehow stronger. Like metal, forged in the flames. Connor could see the hungry fire in front of his eyes now, and in it the faces of Sidorio and Stukeley and Lola.
    "I can't come with you," Connor said.
    "No such word as 'can't'!" Stukeley said, grinning.
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    "Think about it," Connor said. "I'm the one who attacked Lola. I tried to destroy her. She can't possibly want to see me." He had a fresh thought. "Unless she wants to take revenge."
    Stukeley shook his head. "She wouldn't dream of taking revenge on you. You're much too important to Sidorio. And, before you go there, I can assure you that revenge is the furthest thing from his mind. He genuinely wants to get