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the hatch and was quickly replaced by a priest in a black cassock with a huge cross hanging around his neck. For a moment, Fenix was frightened. Priests in general made her think of Draak Priest. As though by thinking his name she had summoned him, a huge screech echoed through the clouds overhead followed by another massive burst of flames.
    Bryn screamed as she pushed Quinn to the ladder with one hand and dragged the limp, bedraggled Commodore behind her with the other. “Get into the ship.”
    They scrambled up and through the hatch. The interior of the undersea ship was lit by lights casting a greenish glow. Fenix was the first one inside. There was another ladder on the inside of the domed tower. She climbed down as high above the hatch clanged shut. They were locked inside this floating coffin with the strangest group of beings she’d ever imagined.
    The leprous sailor called, “Dive! Dive, Dive.”
    The ship lurched as Fenix reached out to grab a convenient railing. Brass rails lined every wall. Under her feet, the ship vibrated. The entire hull hummed as though filled with a thousand bees. They were moving. The deck tilted down, everyone grabbed a rail as the feeling of movement increased.
    The leader stepped forward, moving easily up the canted deck without holding onto anything. Fenix recoiled. The ship’s captain was a gorgeous woman. She was tall, dressed in buckskin breeches with high boots, a tight corset, a frilly white blouse and a vest covered with many pockets. Fenix knew immediately that she was a vampire. She must be one of Lazarus’s followers and his connection to her what enabled him to summon her to their aid. Fenix was assailed with jealously. She closed her eyes and forcibly pushed these feelings aside. The vampire stepped forward. “I am Tures. This is my ship and this is my crew.”
    She waved her hand to indicate the motley assortment of dead and living crowding close behind her. Bryn slipped down the ladder and pressed close to Fenix, followed by Quinn, Sam, Tomlinson and Fingle. A sudden oof announced the arrival of the Commodore. He fell down the last six rungs of the ladder and landed in a soggy bundle at their feet. Bryn gently moved Fenix aside and then shoved the barely conscious Commodore against the bulkhead. “Tures, that’s an Egyptian name, is it not?” She asked.
    â€œI am Egyptian, yes.” Tures laid a cold hand on Fenix’s shoulder. “Lazarus summoned me. You must be very dear to him. But it was he who blessed me with this ship. I am indebted to him for all eternity. What he asks, is to me a command.”
    Fenix was still trying to absorb her surroundings and the strange crew of the ship. Everything inside the vessel was either brass or black leather. There was a ribbed brass walkway under their feet with water sloshing beneath it. Brass pipes ran along the low ceiling, dials, gauges and strange pieces of equipment were all surrounded by the tube-like hull. The round portholes let in more greenish light and the ship gently rolled with the motion of the sea as it descended into the depths. The air inside the vessel was tainted with the smell of smoke and lubricant, but under those smells was the pervasive odor of the ocean.
    Tures’s crew was exclusively male. There were two lepers, both bandaged, one missing his nose. Fenix sensed four other vampires, one a tall woman wearing men’s clothing. The strangest members of the crew were two dwarves. Very small, the two men had to be identical twins. Both had flaming red beards, muttonchop whiskers and bald heads. Fenix figured they were handy for working on machinery in confined spaces. The priest she’d seen from outside stood in the background and was definitely one of the vampires. His skin was the color of paper, his fangs now clearly visible. In fact, all the vampires’ fangs were out. They were hungry. Fenix shivered with fear. Lazarus had told her not to be