Vampirates 3: Blood Captain Read Online Free PDF Page A

took one look at his pockmarked face and gave it a quick pat with her hand.
    “So, have you seen the dance floor?” she said, spinning around. They hadn’t noticed it before but now Connor saw that Ma had changed the layout of the bar. The section beneath the gallery of curtained booths was now a dance floor. It was made up of glass squares, like a chessboard, under which colored lights pulsed in time to the music.
    “I assume you know how to tango,” Sugar Pie said.
    “Absolutely,” Moonshine replied, puffing up his unimpressive chest.
    “Excellent! Then you’ll partner Kat,” said Sugar Pie, pushing him toward the dance floor where a tall, dark-haired girl was waiting. “And you, Bartholomew,” she said, “you shall partner Elisa.” Grinning, Bart strode out across the floor and took his dance partner in his arms.
    “And you, Connor,” Sugar Pie said, taking his hand, “you shall partner me.”
    The musicians played a small overture as she led him onto the dance floor.
    “Erm, the thing is, I really don’t know how to tango,” Connor stammered.
    “That’s why you’ve got me as your partner,” said Sugar Pie. “I’ll lead. All you have to do is cling tight and let me do the rest.”
    “But I thought the man was supposed to lead,” said Connor.
    “Ha!” Sugar Pie laughed. “Not on this dance floor!”
    Suddenly the tango music began in earnest and Connor was swept across the floor.
    “That’s it,” Sugar Pie said. “Just hold on tight and don’t let go!”
    Connor realized he had little choice as she dragged him along the floor. He had fleeting glimpses of the others as they passed, like speedboats cresting the surface of the sea. Bart winked at him as he elaborately dipped Elisa until her tousled hair was skimming the floor.
    “Focus!” Sugar Pie instructed, pulling Connor’s face sharply toward hers and staring at him with her disarmingly blue eyes. “That’s better!” It did not surprise him that when the time came, it was she who dipped him, his head and shoulders falling backward until he was looking up at the velvet curtains of the booths overhead. They were all tightly closed.
    “Excellent!” Sugar Pie cried, pulling him upright again. “You’re really getting the hang of this.”
    Dazed, Connor found himself being marched back across the floor. Now he could see Moonshine, dragging Kat along in a rather brutal fashion. In everything he did, Moonshine seemed to express unknown depths of anger. Twisting Kat around, Moonshine gazed directly into Connor’s eyes.
    The music came to a crescendo and Connor was left facing a look of pure hatred coming from Moonshine Wrathe. Connor frowned. How could you hate someone you’d only just met? He had a bad feeling about Moonshine’s arrival. Barbarro might have come to heal old wounds, but judging by the expression on Moonshine’s face, a new feud might already be starting. Connor couldn’t understand where the boy’s animosity had come from, but this was going to end badly. He could feel it.

4
    DARK JOURNEY
    As the mist cleared, Grace saw only empty ocean. The Nocturne had disappeared. She felt a shiver along her spine. There was no going back now. Glancing first at the captain, then at Lorcan and Shanti, she wondered what challenges lay ahead for each of them before they next returned to the ship.
    “ Now what do we do?” asked Shanti.
    “It’s really very simple,” the captain said. “Now, we climb the mountain.”
    “Well yes , but where are our mules? And lights? Surely, they’ve sent someone to guide us and carry our bags?”
    Grace hated to find herself in agreement with Shanti but she felt these were all fair points. Nevertheless, it came as little surprise to hear the captain’s whisper. “We’ll make our own way. Everyone makes their own way to Sanctuary.”
    Shanti struggled to take this in. “But how? It’s pitch black. We can’t. We don’t even have a map, do we? My shoes . . . Lorcan will never make