A Shade of Vampire 30: A Game of Risk Read Online Free PDF

off, Horatio gripped my and my father’s shoulders. We turned to face him, eyebrows raised.
    “Uh, I know this is bad timing,” he said tensely, “but I wish to return to my wife. We recently found out she’s pregnant and it feels like I’ve been absent from home for so long… I want to check in on her. You’ll be able to manage with these Hawks?”
    Aisha’s pregnant! “Oh, wow, congratulations!” I said, my heart momentarily lifting for my two old friends.
    Then I exchanged glances with my father. Horatio’s absence would certainly reduce our security, but we could hardly refuse.
    “Go home, Horatio,” my father said, gripping his shoulder back. “We have three fae with us still. We’ll figure it out.”
    “Thank you. Take care of yourselves, and good luck.” With a nod of his head, he disappeared.
    Now the rest of us were left with the mission of soaring over the ocean to track down the cargo ship. It was a large ship, and although it must’ve departed quite some time ago, it could not have gotten far. The task of finding the vessel ought to be the least of our worries.
    We took to the air again, flying high in the sky. All the while, the Hawks flew above my father, providing him with shade, although evening was setting in. Soon it would be dark.

    * * *
    T he Hawks’ vision was sharp even at night, just like my father’s. They kept their eyes focused far ahead, even as we spread out to cover a few miles so that we could cover more ground and search more efficiently.
    We passed a number of large ships, but none of them were nearly large enough… until finally we spotted it. The monstrous black IBSI cargo ship. I could make out the shapes of logs on its sprawling deck, protected and covered by blue tarpaulin. The deck appeared to be otherwise empty, at least from what I could see from this height.
    We slowed as we hovered directly over it, maintaining a safe distance.
    Now we needed to decide on a strategy. We had to somehow get through this with as few casualties as possible. And we could not afford to damage the trees.
    The first logical step was for Lucas, Kailyn and me to descend and scope out the vessel. The three of us thinned ourselves before touching down on the deck. Moving around the piles of logs, we double-checked that nobody was on the upper deck. It appeared to be empty. They had to all be on the lower levels.
    We sank to the floor below and emerged in a cabin containing a bed, chair and a desk. Otherwise it was empty.
    We continued moving through the ship, coming across some hunters in their rooms, resting or writing letters, and then we heard a crowd of voices coming from the direction of the bow. Following the noise, we arrived in a large oblong recreational room. There were several pool tables, couches and chairs among which hunters were mingling, holding cups of coffee or smoking cigarettes. What truly caught my eye in here, however, was a long table lining one end of the room, piled up with what appeared to be machine guns.
    Those would come in handy during the hijack… I eyed the large window behind the pool tables again, a plan forming in my mind.
    We retreated from the boardroom and returned to the hallway. “Let’s go back up,” I whispered.
    Traveling up through the vessel, we soared into the sky to reunite with the Hawks and my father.
    “Well?” my father asked, raising his brow. “What did you discover?”
    “There’s a large recreation room at the bow of the ship—first level down. It contains not only a large window, but also a pile of weapons. So what I propose is this….”

Derek
    B en’s plan was a good one. Though, of course, it did not come without risks.
    After talking through the plan, the Hawks and I remained in the sky while Ben, Kailyn and Lucas returned to the ship. They did not land on the deck this time, however. Instead, after thinning themselves again, they floated themselves down the side of the vessel until they were directly level with the