Richard and Jacob stumbled along the pier like drunken dance partners, each with their hands around the other’s neck. They lurched toward the pier’s edge and Sunni stopped breathing, her whole being focused on Jacob. She had just seen what falling in water would do to a vampire. She was still in a crouching position after landing on the pier. Under one of her hands she felt the faint impression of the silver chain, thin as sewing thread. She gathered it up, thinking hard. How had Richard gotten free? Could he do it again? What if the chain got wrapped around Jacob instead? What if it proved to be useless?
The two vampires swung to the other side of the pier, locked in their deathly embrace. They teetered on the edge, and it appeared that the only thing keeping Jacob from hitting the water was Richard, who was trying to loosen Jacob’s grip so that he could throw him in the water without falling in himself.
Sunni leaped forward, her arms outstretched, holding the chain. She landed neatly behind Richard, catching him in the loop of the chain, and pulled hard. Jacob lost his grip on Richard’s arms and fell backward. Time slowed to a crawl. She threw Richard aside and grabbed Jacob, pulling him back up onto the pier. He took no time to recover, just headed toward Richard at full speed.
“Bare skin,” he screamed. “Help me!”
Bare skin?
The realization of what he was saying came upon Sunni in a flash. She ran to Jacob, who was holding Richard down as he struggled. He was hampered by the chain, but not incapacitated by it. Sunni grabbed the collar of the fine cotton shirt Richard was wearing and ripped it in half, tearing it off his arms and chest. Then she took the chain and whipped it into the air, the better to bind him with speed. The end caught Jacob on the cheek. He grunted with pain.
Sunni watched with amazement as an angry red wound opened up on Jacob’s cheek, as if he’d been cut with a knife. Blood dripped down his neck, but she couldn’t keep looking. She turned to Richard and with lightning speed bound the chains around his naked chest and arms. He screamed and writhed in agony as she pushed his pants legs up and coiled the chains around his ankles. After a few moments he went still. Dark, smoking wounds appeared under the chains and dripped with blood, just as it had happened with Jacob. Out of the corner of her eye, Sunni saw a light in a nearby yacht. Someone was moving around in a cabin.
“Get him in the boat!” she said in an urgent whisper.
Jacob lifted Richard over his shoulder and jumped as lightly as a cat onto the deck of the Rose. Sunni followed after him. She took one last look at Richard as Jacob dragged him down into the hatch. His eyes were closed and he appeared unconscious. She felt a thud under her feet as Jacob dropped him on the galley floor. After a minute he came back out. He had taken one of the towels from the galley and was holding it against his cheek. He gave a wry smile, using just the uninjured side of his face.
“What are you doing here?” Sunni asked. “I saw them take you away. ”
Jacob closed the distance between them. “I’m sorry. I was imprisoned, otherwise I would never have left you by yourself. But I had some help from friends, and I escaped.”
She threw her arms around his neck, kissing him hard. He returned her embrace, wrapping one long arm around her waist and lifting her off her feet. After a few moments he gently placed her back on the deck, still holding the towel against his face.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Jacob released the lines from their cleats while Sunni fired up the engine. The sun was beginning to rise behind the East Bay hills as they cleared the harbor and headed into the bay. Sunni watched the salmon stain of sunrise leak into the night sky while she steered the boat due east.
“There’s a first aid kit in the cabin,” she said. He was standing next to her. She put her hand on his to lift the towel off his cheek. The bleeding had slowed but the wound was still open, revealing wet, red flesh. He looks the same as a human beneath the skin, she thought. What strange alchemical reactions had taken place to make him what he was, to make her what she was, for that matter? Or was it pure magic?
“You need a butterfly bandage.” Sunni blinked back tears. Now was no time to break down.
“I’m sorry about Sherman, Sunni.”
“How did you know about him? His daughter said he was hiding out. ”
“I saw him when I was watching you and recognized him. Shanyuan Wong was a yeoman too, but he retired many years ago.”
“But vampires never get old, how can they retire?”
He rubbed his forehead. “Most of us don’t. But we are a small, isolated, society—rule-bound, superstitious, gossipy. Sherman probably just got tired of us.”
“I’ll be right back,” Sunni said. She hopped down the stairs into the cabin. Deliberately not looking at Richard, who was lying on the floor near the stove, she grabbed the first aid kit and went back on deck. While she was hunting for a butterfly bandage, Jacob put his hand on her arm. She looked up and saw that the wound was already healing on its own.
“What were you planning to do with Richard?” Jacob asked.
“Take him into open water and throw him in,” Sunni replied.
“Really?”
“That was the plan, anyway. ”
The bay was sparsely dotted with boats: a few sailboats getting in an early jaunt, maybe before the owners went to work; a commuter ferry coming from Marin County; a freighter headed for the shipyards in Oakland. But they were far enough apart that no one would see when they pushed their cargo over the side.
Yet after watching Sherman dissolve like a lump of sugar into a cup of tea, Sunni was feeling much less sanguine about treating Richard to the same fate. Killing in self-defense was one thing, but dumping a helpless vampire into the sea, even one as evil as Richard, wasn’t in her nature.
“Sunni?”
For a moment she’d forgotten Jacob was standing there. “Yes?”
“I don’t think we should throw Richard into the sea.”
“Strange. That’s what I was thinking. It just doesn’t seem right.”
He shook his head. “No, I think you misunderstand me. I am going to free him and then I am going to kill him. Fair and square.”
Sunni slapped her forehead. “Oh, good heavens. You’re going to have a duel for your honor, is that it?”
“Something like that.”
“Jacob, the man is lethal.”
“I cannot live any longer if I don’t do this.”
“Don’t tell me you’re threatening to kill yourself. You can’t do that.”
Jacob waved an arm over the expansive water surrounding them. “You have brought us to the place of life and death, as it happens. It would be very easy. ”
Sunni examined his face for any trace of doubt that she could exploit, but she could see it was a lost cause. Jacob’s mind was made up. Her mouth trembled and unexpected tears filled her eyes.
Jacob stroked her cheek. “Oh, Sunni, please don’t. I cannot endure seeing you cry.”
She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. “Okay. I’m fine.”
“When I take Richard out, lock yourself in the cabin and don’t open the door until I come for you.”
“What if it isn’t you who comes for me?”
Jacob looked around the boat. His eyes focused on the dinghy mounted on the stern. “Okay, here’s another plan. We’ll put this small boat over the side. You get in and wait for me, but if anything happens, just take off. Richard can’t pursue you over water. ”
The situation was unbearable. Better to get it over with. They were nowhere near any other boats. She cut the engine, ran forward and dropped anchor. Then she brushed off her hands and headed for the dinghy, with Jacob at her heels. She unhooked it as quickly as her shaking hands would allow and used the winch to lower it into the water, attaching its line to one of the cleats on the stern. Then she turned and looked at Jacob. She wanted to hug him, but if she did, she didn’t think she’d be able to let go.
Jacob grabbed one of her hands. He didn’t say, “Don’t worry, everything’s going to be all right,” or any of a million platitudes that he might have used to placate her. Both of them knew it was quite possible it wouldn’t be all right. So he simply squeezed her hand gently and turned away.