Free The Journal of Vincent Du Maurier (Book 1) by K. P. Ambroziak

and pulled Elizabeth
from the fray. As we made our way to the hatch, I body-checked several more, sending
them over the rail and back into the black water. I lifted the hatch and helped
Elizabeth down to safety. “Protect the girl,” I said.
    When Elizabeth disappeared below, I sealed
the hatch and headed for Jean. I ran to him, and with my rush of adrenaline ripped
the bloodless from my longtime friend.
    “Le pistolet!” Jean had a small gun strapped
to the inside of his leg and tried to get it when several more grabbed hold of
him. I reached for his gun and fired off shots—two then three, the
bullets did not stop them and my effort was in vain. I hate myself for not stopping
the bloodless little girl from coming up through the swarm and digging her teeth
into Jean’s thigh. The infected child grabbed hold of my friend with her
crocodile bite and did not let him go. “Maxine!” His cry of terror reached the
stars and if his beloved were there, she would have heard his call.
    When I finally severed the child’s head and
tore her from his flesh, it was too late. She had left her mark on my friend,
tearing out his weak skin, as Maxine’s had been ripped open. Jean was finished
and I knew it. He would turn into a horror just like his beloved, forcing me to
end his life. But I did not give up in that moment and freed my friend from the
swarm that had breached the prow. When Stephen came to our aid, it was as if the
attack had only begun. They persisted, climbing up on top of each other to get
between the rails of the boat. Stephen grabbed Jean and threw him over his
shoulder. “Get below,” he yelled.
    We made our way to the hatch, where two bloodless
scratched at the portal. I grabbed the first by its soaking strands of hair and
yanked its head back, snapping it clean off. The jaw gnashed at me and I
launched the head to the stern of the ship. The body dropped to the deck and
reached for us, but I stomped on its limbs with vigor. Stephen twisted up the
other bloodless with his blade and pulled its insides out. It was not long
before more came and I threw open the hatch, sending Stephen down with Jean. The
bony fingers of another caught me as I went down, but I was able to shake him
loose before sinking below and sealing the portal.
    I had no time to survey the deck, but knew they
invaded us from all sides. Wet, bloodless bodies tossed themselves onto the sloop,
clawing toward us, and the smell of the human. We gathered in the girl’s cabin,
where she cried and lamented my outburst. Elizabeth consoled her until she saw
Jean’s wound. I made certain none of the others were injured before turning my
attention to him. “Let me see it,” I said.
    “Je suis finis.” The most definitive sentence
in French—he was done for. He knew his fate was just like Maxine’s and it
was only a matter of time before he became one of them.
    “Is there nothing we can do?” Elizabeth said.
She held her emotion in check, though I could see she writhed inside.
    “Let me help,” Veronica said. She rubbed a
balm on Jean’s inner thigh where his flesh was torn out, just as Byron had done
for Maxine.
    “You ’ave to escape,” he said. “Zis is not ze
end.”
    I had run out of ideas. We were never going
to get through those monsters with the girl even if we drowned her in incense.
They had detected her smell from a distance, and their energy peaked with their
baptism in the river. The water made them supercharged, frenzied like vampires
to blood. “We are trapped,” I said.
    “Non,” Jean said. He spoke through clenched
teeth. The pain was clearly unbearable. “I weel get you out.” Despite the
anguish, the fever, the unsettling reality of his situation, he proposed a plan
for our escape. It was a tactical nightmare, but Jean insisted he had seen it work
when a British ship breached the São Cristóbel.
    “We have to give it a try,” Stephen said.
    “And the girl?” I did not believe she was up
for the physical will his