Page 34 of Loved to Death

Mr. Wagner nodded and turned to Robert. “Go tell the captain what’s happening, and get two more men out here to defend the entrance point if Mr. Clarke fails.”

“Aye, sir,” Robert answered before rushing down the dock toward the ship.

“Go on then.” Mr. Wagner waved a hand toward the trail impatiently. “Lead the way and I’ll be close behind.”

Thomas turned and took a step forward but then paused. Without looking back, he said, “Don’t get too close when I’m feeding. I, uh…lose rational thought momentarily when I feed on human blood.”

Thomas rushed up the zigzag trail, and once he was at the top, he darted off the side of the dirt road and hid behind a scraggly tree. He waited silently for the soldiers to pass him. Once they passed, Thomas jumped out behind them, grabbed the shorter of the two men in a choke hold with his right arm around the man’s neck, and at the same time slipped his left hand around the taller man’s mouth and yanked him back against his body, snapping his neck in the process. The shorter soldier struggled wildly, kicking, shoving, and punching to get out of Thomas’ grip, but couldn’t get out much sound with his throat compressed in the crook of Thomas’ arm. The taller man’s heart was slowing as Thomas viciously bit into his neck.

Once the blood hit his mouth, nothing else mattered. He moaned in pleasure as the euphoria engulfed him with each swallow. When the blood stopped flowing from the first man, Thomas growled and dropped the corpse before yanking the other man up to his mouth and greedily sinking his teeth into his neck as well.

Fully satisfied, he dropped the second man and just stood still with his eyes closed for a few moments while the lust faded. As rational thought came back to him, he opened his eyes, and realized Mr. Wagner was staring at him with a mix of horror and awe.

Thomas looked down, wiped the blood off his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket.One hundred and sixty-seven. He checked the road behind them before making eye contact with the watch leader again.

“I don’t see any more soldiers,” he said.

Mr. Wagner shook his head once, as if trying to shake away what he’d just seen, and then gestured toward the dead men. “Pull them off to the side of the road and then go back to your post.”

“Yes, sir.” Thomas nodded and did as he was told, while Mr. Wagner warily kept an eye on him.

Ten minutes later, all the crates were unloaded, and everyone headed back to the ship. Thomas noticed the watch leader talking to the captain while pointing at him, and wondered if he was going to be left behind when the ship set sail. To his surprise, the captain smiled, and waved Thomas forward.

“Good job, Mr. Clarke,” the captain said, slapping Thomas on the back. “Mr. Wagner tells me that you’re even more efficient at dispatching the enemy than I thought you’d be.”

Chapter Thirteen

Thomas sat at the captain’s dinner table surrounded by the ship’s officers who were toasting their success. The tankard of wine Mr. Johansen handed him when he first arrived sat untouched on the table in front of Thomas.

“To Mr. Clarke,” Captain Martinez said, holding his tankard in the air. “For taking care of the soldiers before they had a chance to sound the alarm.”

“To Mr. Clarke,” the other officers chimed in before taking a drink.

Thomas nodded and smiled and took a small sip of the wine as all eyes were on him. Then Mr. Wagner brought up the clear skies and calm sea, and the men drank to that as well.

Once the tankards were empty, everyone other than Mr. Johansen and Thomas said their goodnights.

Captain Martinez walked over and picked up Thomas’ full tankard. “Don’t tell me you’re a teetotaler, lad.”

Thomas scoffed. “Far from it. But since becoming undead, everything except blood has lost all flavor. And my body won’t digest it. If I drink this tankard of wine, I’ll be pissing it out an hour later and it will look exactly the same as it did going in.”

“Fascinating,” Mr. Johansen said. “Food, too?”

“Yes.” Thomas cringed at the memory of the one time he’d tried to eat part of a rabbit after drinking its blood. His stomach had ached for a couple of hours as the bits of rabbit made their way through his system. Then the chewed-up raw rabbit had come out the other end looking the same as it had going in. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Polly had berated him for his stupidity for weeks afterward.

“That’s a damn shame,” the captain said before taking the last gulp of his wine.

“What about blood?” Mr. Johansen asked.

Thomas shrugged. “My body seems to absorb it. Nothing comes out as waste.”

“No stool or urine?” Mr. Johansen asked.

“None. But if I drink too much blood, I vomit the excess back up.”

“How much is too much?” Captain Martinez asked. “You drank the blood of two men tonight. That’s several pints.”

A twinge of guilt hit Thomas. “I accidentally killed the first man before I started to drink, so his blood stopped pumping before I could fully drain him. Two men seem to be the limit. If I try for three, the blood of the third doesn’t stay down.” Thoughts of Shen’s face when he’d dropped him with a spurting wound in his neck assaulted Thomas. He closed his eyes and concentrated on his new sense. Even though Shen was a continent away, Thomas still knew that the other man was currently frustrated. Thomas didn’t know why Shen was frustrated, but there was no doubt in his mind that Polly was the cause.

---