Page 31 (2/2)

Bitten! he thought As his heart sank, he felt the stain of savagery infecting his soul, and froht If he had to be both wolf and man, he would conquer the barbarism of that unnatural beast, just as he had triumphed over the natural wildness of the human spirit

Sabine screa at the olf’s corpse, even as the wolf began to return to its huether they toppled the dead olf to one side She sank to her knees in the rain, so lovely, yet so fragile in spite of all her extraordinary ic Naiad, sea witch, water sprite … whatever ht be, he was perilous company for her now His heart shattered as he realized that he had changed forever and could never dooet all the wishes he had secretly made, all his fantasies of their future

Sabine an to shake her head A smile touched her lips, and despite the rain, he saw that she eeping She laughed as if a great lightness had touched her heart

"I see the wound," she said "It didn’t bite you, Jack Those were its claws"

He forced hi off his disorientation, and looked down at his shoulder He shifted his shredded shirt aside for a better look A great, uncontrollable laugh bubbled up within hih he had become some kind of hysterical madman

A howl danced upon the wind, taken up and redoubled by the storm so that it seemed to echo across the ocean

Unsteady but alive, energized by survival, Jack picked up his fallen gun and rose to his feet He turned to see that the deck of the Charon had become a tableau of death Vukovich and Louis were unharmed They stood over their dead eneore from their matted fur Maurilio had been badly wounded, but even as Jack caught sight of hiether, healing over He crouched, grunting and snarling, in front of the last survivor of Death Nilsson’s crew, a huge, copper-furred olf

"Don’t be a fool," Louis told the wolf "Surrender"

Death’s survivor glanced around and saw that he was beaten He transfor his hue, powerful hands and a strange wisdom in the cant of his head and the set of his eyes

Which left only the brothers

The other wolves knew better than to interfere Ghost and Death were both in full wolf forer, with fur as black as pitch They faced each other on the foredeck, the bloody kings, the monstrous leaders Hatred sizzled in the air around the

They kept the ruined, charred hole of the cargo hatch between the in the other’s defenses, waiting for the rightfor the kill

With a sound that was half growl and half laugh, Death Nilsson stood on his hind legs, transforray stor and curved and so coated with blood that even in the rain they were red as the devil’s horns

Ghost shifted as well, standing on two legs, half man and half monster, but he remained utterly silent Once he had worshipped his brother, had given up his humanity to join the pack, and he had been cast aside and left for dead Jack wondered whether Ghost still had love for his brother, and if that hat fueled his hatred Or perhaps his heart truly was as cold and withered as he had always pretended

"They feel us watching," Jack whispered

"Yes," Sabine said "And even now they bristle with pride"

Without a sound, Ghost leaped for his brother, lunging across the shattered cargo hatch

Death met him in midair

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

BLOOD BROTHERS

As Ghost and Death struck each other, lightning flashed across the island’s craggy ridge, and thunder hammered so hard that the ship shook beneath their feet Jack and Sabine had staggered back until they were pressed against the cabin, and before theh half circle around the warring brothers

A wide circle None of theht Whoever ould claim the bloody heart of the defeated, and whatever scrap of soul heli sound of teeth clashing together Landing across the hold’s blasted hatch, they see each other to pieces--fur flew, blood pattered down across the wet deck, and as lightning thrashed again, Jack was sure he saw the purplish glea Ghost’s fist aside before stoainst the ragged hole in the deck

"They’ll both end up dead," Sabine said

Jack held her hand in his "We can hope" Her grip was strong, as though she wished never to let go again He kne she felt

Death sto face-first onto the deck, as Ghost lost his grip, falling into the hold where his brother had kept him prisoner The other wolves lanced back at Jack He looked fully huain

Death stood with a foot on either side of the hatch, and he took a moment to look at his audience Halfremotely hurowled

Jack clasped the gun in his hand, ready to take aim and fire should the need arise He had three silver bullets left It would take all three to put Death Nilsson down, andthe ship and--," Jack began, but he said no more Death dropped down into the hold atop his battered brother

The watching wolves glanced at one another--Vukovich, Maurilio, Louis, and the red-haired survivor from Death’s crew There was ht hadhold, the sounds of conflict raised thely stormy sea and the wind and rain that continued to batter the Charon and the island Jack glanced sidelong at Sabine, and her eyes ide He had an idea that she could no longer stop this storm, even if she desired to

With screaht went on Jack was sure he could feel iine what pure hatred could beco howls, the hate the brothers had long harbored for each other would be concentrated down there, and the violence would stir it thicker