Blood of The Rose

Chapter 33: A Pirate's Life For Me

Elizabeth Dane

Ruby stared at the policeman sharing the deck with her on the cargo ship. He seemed perplexed at first, but she resisted the urge to take any sort of action as he hadn't made a move to shout an alarm or arrest her or the like.

Finally, the man sighed heavily, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Fuckin' kids, I swear to…" He looked around covertly before gesturing Ruby forward and away from the overhead lighting.

The brunette followed cautiously, keeping her hands inoffensively behind her back and her mouth shut. So far in this unlife, silence seemed to be serving her well.

She'd have to remember that.

"Ah, for chrissakes," he finally grumbled, blue eyes probing the shadows along the walkway. "Tell Jacobson if he plans on making editor-in-chief, he's gotta start working with me. I can't keep getting him these scoops if he's gonna send high school journalists who don't know enough to wear something that would blend in."

"Uhhh…" Oh, yeah, brilliant comeback Ruby, how about some of that glibness you're always working on? "He, uh… He didn't tell me this was a formal affair."

Seriously? What the fuck was that?

"Geez," the policeman sighed. "What kind of Woodstein don't think to at least show dressed up like an investigator… a coast guard guy… somethin'? Didn't you ever see Fletch? What, are they just handin' out those diplomas nowadays?"

Fletch? Ruby fidgeted, cognizant of the time slipping by. "Um, look… we should, uh, do this fast, right? So we don't get caught or anything?"

"Alright, look, I got you a copy of the initial report, and I can get you into the cabin, but you gotta make yourself real scarce after that." He pulled a stapled sheaf of papers out of his back pocket, handing it over to the brunette who quickly tucked it down the back of her jeans. "Anybody catches you, I don't know you. And no goddamn flash photography, brainchild."

Huh, a camera, well, shit. That would have been helpful to take along… Even her cellphone was sitting in the waterproof bag down in the dinghy below.

Speaking of which, Ruby was sure that Weiss was listening to the entirety of this conversation. She imagined she could almost hear the sound of the platinum-haired fledgling facepalming at her incompetence.

Still, this was a lucky break, part of her job was already done if she had the report. Hopefully, up in the cabin, she could obtain the rest of what she needed.

"Okay, cool, so… Where do I go?"

"Yeah, yeah, hold up a sec…" The officer held up a finger as he turned his head to speak into the microphone clipped to his shoulder. "Heinz to Marsh, Heinz to Marsh… Marsh, they need you up on the bridge, over." He turned back with a smirk. "There, the security room'll be clear."

"Sweet," Ruby murmured, craning her neck to peer behind the cop.

"So, just head down the stairs behind me here and stay low. When you get down there, wait for me to call off the guy guarding Gangway A. As soon as he leaves, get your ass moving, and don't let him see you. I'll give you a couple of minutes but don't dilly-dally. In and out, 'kay?"

The brunette nodded firmly, already regaining her confidence. "Got it."

The officer stepped aside to let her pass by. "Don't forget to stay out of sight - if anyone sees you, you're on your own. Take the stairs up to the security room, there'll be a computer in there. The password is 'Lighthouse'. 'Lighthouse'. All one word. You gettin' all this?"

"You betcha!" Ruby gave the man a sloppy salute, faltering at his irritable scowl. "Uhhh… I mean, yes, sir! Got it all!"

He sighed and shook his head. "Well, go get a move on. And don't forget to tell Jacobson I get double my usual fee for this one."

With a resolute nod, she slipped past the officer and down a short set of steps, following a sign to Gangway A. She crouched at the bottom, easily picking up on the presence of another policeman just around the corner. Staying as quiet as possible, which, in her humble opinion, she might actually be improving on, the brunette vampire slunk into the shadow cast by the enormous winch set into the middle of the platform.

As she waited for the signal to move, her enhanced hearing picked up on the soft static of a radio. "Heinz to Jacobson… Er, Anderson. Heinz to Anderson. Come in Anderson."

Another male voice answered, bored and dull. "Yeah, Anderson here. Go ahead."

"Hey, come check this out, I just saw a Baleen Whale!"

"No shit? Alright, one sec…"

Soon enough the sharp rap of hard-soled shoes against the metal deck preceded Officer Anderson as he strolled on past. Ruby grinned to herself tightly.

So far, so good…

Easing past a pair of thick conduits running from ceiling to floor, she slipped around the corner, up another short set of steps, and into a rust-streaked corridor. At the end was a watertight door. Wasting little time, the fledgling pulled the inset lever and pushed the door in, wincing at the slight creak.

But then she was through, closing the door behind her with a relieved sigh.

Ruby frowned, standing in the chamber with only two other doors. The rust here had a peculiar tang to it, almost like…

Oh, well, shit... That's blood, not rust…

Several smears across the bulkhead ran down to form a puddle against the door she'd just stepped out from. Stepping carefully, she avoided the bloody puddle and crept forward to the first doorway. It was locked, of course, but Ruby made short work of it, opening it to reveal a short passageway with grating as the floor. Below her were pipes and mechanics, while an open staircase reached up over her head.

Directly to the right, though, was a door labeled 'Records Room'.

Jackpot! she smirked to herself.

This lock was a little trickier and took a few tries. She winced halfway through as she caught her lower lip on her fang.

Never gonna kick that habit, am I…

Inside was another room, this one lined with filing cabinets. A folding table was set up in the middle, littered with papers.

Ruby stood up and walked over to the table, her brow furrowed as she sorted through them. Most were reports of one type or another, some personal papers, weather reports,... Finally, her eyes alighted upon one titled 'Manifest', causing her to give a victorious giggle.

"Okay, two down, one to go," she whispered to herself. "Just gotta check out the sarcophagus itself…"

She figured that the security room should be her next stop, and so backtracked to head up the steps. At the top were three unlabeled doors illuminated by a red emergency light.

With the shrug, she tried the first, and for a change, luck was on her side. The security room had a single desk with two monitors perched alongside a desktop unit. There was a number of storage boxed lining the walls and the desk itself overlooked the deck of the ship through small windows set high into the wall.

Ruby kept fairly low to the ground to avoid being seen by anyone outside and ignored the desk lamp set atop one of the storage boxes. She quickly pulled up the login screen, entering 'Lighthouse' when prompted for a password, and was subsequently presented with a menu.

EEP Shipping

NZ Elizabeth Dane

reports

log

control

"Hmm, let's try 'reports' first, see what we got…" She ignored the entry for 'weather', instead checking on the status of the ship itself.

Engines OFF

Deck Cams OFF

Locks LOCKED

"Okayyy…" Ruby backed up and, just for curiosity's sake, checked on the weather status to make sure her departure wasn't going to be unnecessarily rough.

Location 33.98N, 118.60W

Seas CALM

Air Temp 65F

Sea Temp 43F

The brunette grinned as she backed up to the main menu. "Just another lovely California evening," she snarked. "Perfect for crime."

There were several available entries in the log. She quickly browsed through them, seemingly routine for the most part, but she slowed in her perusal as she reached the one from fifteen days ago.

Waters calm as we head out of Istanbul. Professor Johansen seemed very worried about the safety of the sarcophagus and various other artifacts from his dig, but I assured him that all was well.

"Well, well, well," the brunette murmured. "And just who are you, Professor Johansen? Seems you dug up something a whole lotta Kindred would have rather stayed buried…" She kept reading through the logs, the next one being four days later but subsequent ones were daily.

Rough waters last evening. Operations normal, but the crew seems restless. One of the Turks has been telling them ghost stories. I had Lt. Stygian take him aside and speak with him.

Nothing to report. Situation normal.

Two of the crew have gone missing, and I fear they may have fallen overboard during the night. No trace of either. Lt. Stygian has tried to contact their families, but something seems to have gone wrong with the radio. We may have a saboteur on board… the crate holding the sarcophagus seems to have been opened.

"Ohhh sweet niblets, that doesn't sound good at all," Ruby whispered, moving on to the next day's entry.

We have found blood on the upper and lower decks, and it seems that at least three more of the crew are missing. The men are hysterical. I found the Turk in his cabin, curled up into a ball, muttering something indecipherable to himself. Lt. Stygian is one of the missing crew, as well as the radio technician. One of the men had a shortwave radio, but all calls for help have gone unanswered.

"That… definitely sounds like something started munching on the crew," Ruby mused. "But was it something from the sarcophagus… or someone else hitching a ride?" She winced as she tasted blood from where her fang pricked her lip this time. "Shitbiscuits."

The last entry was suitably even more foreboding.

I leave this ship to whoever may find it. THIS SHIP IS CURSED. May it sink to the crushing depths of Davy Jones' Locker before therhbnkhjljsdlkajkl

"Whelp, that's about all I can get from that.. lessee now…" She opened the menu for the controls, presented with a number of options. "Um, no, let's not start the engines up… Oh, and as amusing as it might be, let's also not sound the horn…" She chuckled to herself, wondering just how many policemen outside might get heart attacks from the sudden, loud noise. "Yeah, that'd cut this little adventure short for sure…"

Instead, she selected the command to unlock all the doors, just for convenience's sake and then activated the deck cams.

The second monitor lit up, and she was able to scroll through a variety of angles around the ship. Until she paused it at a scene brightly illuminated by portable lights.

Ruby narrowed her eyes in confusion. "What in the titties and sprinkles…?" she breathed.

It was difficult to tell from the grainy video, but the crate that had surrounded the stone sarcophagus, resting in the middle of the debris, seemed to have actually burst from the inside. The pattern of wooden debris looked like it spread all around in a fairly even radius. But, even more telling, were what looked to be bloody handprints along what was left of the crate… along the inside walls.

"Hmm… I got the feeling the Prince ain't gonna like that much," she sighed. She pulled out the police report, folded along with the manifest, and gave it a quick once-over.

The initial report was signed by members of the USCG, NCIS, and LAHP agencies. Despite strong evidence of rather visceral physical violence, not a single body had been found, no survivors located, and there were no signs of large-scale theft.

Just the one massive, and seemingly intact, sarcophagus.

Next, she flipped over to the manifest, reading down the list until she came to several entries annotated with Johansen's name. From the Ankaran Site, to be transported to Los Angeles, were listed three crates of pottery and tablets, the Ankaran Sarcophagus itself, and another unidentified box.

"Heh, a mystery box," she chuckled, folding the papers back up. "Neat." As she made to tuck the papers back into her pocket, she noticed a zippered, waterproof satchel resting on top of one of the storage shelves.

"Oh, nice, that'll be handy." Ruby stuck the documents inside, zipped it up, and pulled her shirt up to tuck it down the front of her jeans before replacing her tank top over it all.

Now just to make with the stealthy escape...

Objectives in hand, the brunette fledgling made her way out of the room and down the steps, senses straining for any hint of noise or movement. By the time she got to the door leading to Gangway A, she was almost starting to believe she might actually pull this off without incident.

Of course, by now Ruby should have realized that even a hint of optimism was enough to ruin her chances of any such thing.

As she opened the door with a soft creak of noise, the petite vampire stepped out into the corridor at the same time as an unfamiliar police officer, a brunet wearing a baseball cap with the LAPD logo on it, also came into view. The two froze, staring at each other incredulously.

"Ah-heheh," Ruby chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her neck and scuffing her shoe against the metal deck. "Hi?"

Snapping out of his stupor, the man's hand darted for the gun holstered at his side. "What the hell are you-"

"Sorry, gottagobye!" she squeaked out as she darted past him. Son of an asscake! Without meaning to, really, she managed to body-check the much larger man, sending him stumbling to the side, arms flailing to keep his balance.

She sprinted down the corridor, all pretense of stealth abandoned. The angry shouts of the officer she'd escaped chased her from behind, echoed by more cries of alarm up ahead.

"Weeeiiisss!" she screamed out. "Start the motor!"

Ruby didn't bother to confirm if she'd been heard, instead hurtling herself over the top of the railing and into the dark. As she tumbled over the edge, she caught the furious blue gaze of Officer Heinz who, surrounded by his compatriots, watched helplessly from above. And then there was a flash of white that framed concerned orbs of pale blue before she hit the water hard enough to force out what little air she had in her lungs.

Well, it's a good thing I don't need to breathe, she thought to herself humorously, arms and legs pumping furiously to right herself. Now, which way is up, again?

And then the surface of the water was illuminated by a beam of light, silhouetting the small water craft which was already moving in the direction of where she'd impacted the icy ocean. She kicked a few more times before breaking the surface of the water. Ruby let out an urk as she was grabbed by the back of her tank top, almost losing her shirt entirely as she was unceremoniously hauled aboard the dinghy as it moved past at full speed.

Within seconds, they left the probing searchlight and the Elizabeth Dane behind.

As she lay sprawled out on the bottom of the small craft, legs dangling over the edge still, she patted frantically at her abdomen, letting out a sigh of relief when she ascertained that the packet of documents was still there.

"Whelp," Ruby laughed somewhat hysterically. "That could have gone better."

Weiss let out a soft snort at that, her eyes focused on the lights from the pier ahead. "I'm starting to believe that should be the title of your autobiography."

The brunette stared at the other fledgling, mouth agape. "Did… Did you just… Holy kittens, Weiss, that was funny as hell! Nice one!"

"I do try," the platinum-haired Kindred admitted somewhat modestly. "In any case, let us pick up your sister and make our way quickly back Downtown before the beach is swarming with more law enforcement."

Ruby righted herself with a grunt, facing forward and peering into the night. The beach was just now becoming visible. "Yep, sounds good to me, partner!"

"Did you at least retrieve what you needed?"

"I did," she admitted, a frown creasing her face. "But I don't think the Prince is gonna like it much…"

A/N: Props to Crescent Sunrise for the colorful "titties and sprinkles". Not much happening here, just wrapping up the Elizabeth Dane portion of the main questline. Next chapter, though, will have some interesting developments...

For those stateside, hope you had a nice Memorial Day weekend. Much love to my wonderful cowriter, SilvanaCrowe, and hugs to you awesome readers and reviewers! Nicodemus Cain, Sharkdude5, AntonSlavik020, noone297, Crescent Sunrise, Blacsparrow, kinigget, Mossblomma, Haley Earthstone, randomlolguy, Gwynevere (nee Reaper) Whisper, TacoKing23. Thanks as always for the support!

Stay shiny!