The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1) by Clay & Susan Griffith;Clay Griffith;Susan Griffith Read Online Free Page B

mattresses to the door of the cabin. A glint of light caught
Adele's eye, and she saw her dagger lying amidst the debris, the chemically heated blade now cooled into a normal weapon. She snatched it up
with a small yelp of triumph and slipped it back into the scabbard at her
belt to be charged once more. Adele's shoulder and legs felt hot, but she
didn't pause to look for injuries. Better not to know for now. They
kicked wreckage away from the door, which she then wrenched open.
The corridor outside was a world of debris. Wooden planks and metal
rods, barrels, and broken beams created a jagged landscape. Redjackets
who had been standing guard outside the door were trapped in the
chaos. All were dead. Adele shielded Simon's eyes.

    As quickly as they could, the two made their way from the remnants
of the cabins into the open gun deck. Massive iron cannons on their huge
wooden carriages, each weighing several tons, had broken loose and were
scattered like toys or carelessly thrown pieces of driftwood. Sailors stumbled through the wreckage, some helping comrades who were trapped
or injured. The hot dusty air was filled with muted moans of pain and
anguish, and the smell of smoke and blood.
    Adele saw the night sky above through a long fissure in the ship's
bulkhead. "Up there," she told Simon. "Let's climb." She helped the boy
clamber his way up the tilted deck. They grabbed whatever handholds
they could find. Wreckage shifted suddenly, threatening to throw them
down, but they finally reached the jagged hole and emerged onto the
sloping hull of the overturned hulk.
    Taking in great breaths of fresh air, Adele turned to her silent
brother. "Are you hurt?" She touched his limbs and head. She wanted
him to talk. She wanted him to react.
    The young prince flexed his elbows and knees, then shook his head.
"No. Everything works."
    "Me too." Adele laughed and kissed the top of her brother's head.
"We'll be okay."
    The gem of the imperial fleet had smashed through a Provencal
forest, leaving behind a wasteland of uprooted trees. The airship was
heeled over on her starboard side with the dirigible and its metal shell
shredded. Masts were snapped and scattered across the great mounds of
earth the crashed ship had gouged up. Men crawled out of gashes across
the length of the hull and wandered over the vast beached wooden
whale. Adele helped several of them while speaking calmly and encouraging them as best she could. It was her duty in a crisis. Men also moved
around on the ground. She saw surviving White Guardsmen among
them and searched unsuccessfully for Colonel Anhalt and members of
her household staff. She prayed that Colonel Anhalt was still alive.
    Adele turned her gaze up to the cloud-filled sky, searching for the
glows of the other ships in the fleet. She thought she saw a faint yellow
blur, but couldn't be sure. Then she noticed tiny, wavering shapes flitting over the face of the grey clouds.

    How was this possible? It was even warmer on the ground. Why
were they still coming? What was driving them?
    Adele tried to push Simon back inside the ship's hull as a vampire
landed near her. The creature seized Adele's arm, but immediately
released her with a screaming hiss. He stared intently at the young
woman with his head bobbing like an animal. The vampire wore a mixture of military uniforms, including a general's jacket replete with tarnished medals and badges of honor. But the weird uniform meant
nothing; vampires wore what clothes they could loot from cadavers or
wrecked homes. He continued to hiss in that language that no human
had ever penetrated. Adele realized, without understanding how, that
the thing was talking about her. She couldn't distinguish specifics in the
horrid language, but she suddenly perceived that this entire attack was
about her. The vampires were searching for her.
    Even more incredibly, this vampire "general" was afraid to approach
her. Adele could sense his