Vampirates begins in the year 2505. Sea-levels have risen. Whoever controls the oceans rules the world. The seas teem with pirate ships and other, more mysterious, vessels . . .
Twins Connor and Grace Tempest have grown up with their dad, Dexter Tempest, in Crescent Moon Bay, where Dexter is a lighthouse keeper. Neither Connor nor Grace ever met their mother and know next to nothing about her.
When Dexter suddenly dies, the twins decide to make a new life for themselves, and sail away in their dad’s old boat. They don’t get very far, however, before a sudden storm strikes, throwing them overboard to fight for their lives in the cold, dark water.
Connor and Grace are each saved, but each is rescued by different ships, with very different crews . . .
Connor is rescued by Cheng Li – deputy captain of The Diablo, one of the more notorious pirate ships. Its captain is the legendary Molucco Wrathe, the oldest of three brothers who form a charismatic and powerful, but unruly, pirate dynasty. Connor joins Molucco’s crew and embraces a life of piracy, marking himself out as something of a prodigy on account of his strength, bravery and exceptional swordfighting. He grows especially close to crew-members Bart Pearce and Jez Stukeley, forming a trio affectionately known as “The Three Buccaneers”.
Grace regains consciousness on board The Nocturne – a ship of vampire pirates (or Vampirates) which has been sailing through all eternity, largely undetected. For the early part of her stay, Grace is unsure whether she is a guest, a prisoner or a convenient parcel of blood for the crew.
Grace’s dad used to sing a shanty about the Vampirates, depicting them as “the demons of the ocean”. Contrary to her expectations, though, for the most part the crew are well-disposed towards her. In particular, she forms friendships with Midshipman Lorcan Furey – the handsome Irish lad who rescued her, Darcy Flotsam – the ship’s figurehead by day, who comes alive at night and the mysterious captain, whose face is always hidden behind a mesh mask and who speaks in a strange whisper.
The Vampirates on board The Nocturne do not wantonly attack their victims but rather have a weekly Feast, during which each vampirate feeds on the blood of their partner or “donor”. But there is growing discontent among the Vampirate ranks about this system, and Lieutenant Sidorio is the first to rebel, resulting in his expulsion from The Nocturne.
Grace and Connor are briefly reunited but, though delighted to know that their twin is safe, new friendships and loyalties pull them in differing directions. Connor’s life on board The Diablo takes a darker turn when Jez is killed in a duel, making Connor start to question Captain Wrathe’s judgement, and his articles which he has signed up to for life. Meanwhile, Grace is drawn back into the world of the Vampirates and discovers to her horror that Lorcan has been blinded – and it may be her fault.
Sidorio is busy forging alliances and tempting Vampirates away from The Nocturne. His first recruit is Jez Stukeley, whom Sidorio sires to become his Vampirate lieutenant. Other rebels join their small but vicious band and together they carry out the brutal massacre of Porfirio Wrathe (younger brother of Molucco) and his pirate crew. This despicable act prompts revenge from the pirates, in an attack led by Molucco and Connor. They succeed in destroying several of the Vampirates, but both Sidorio and Stukeley return to fight another night.
Captain Barbarro Wrathe arrives to patch up a long-standing rift with Molucco and to avenge the murder of Porfirio. Barbarro, captain of The Typhon, is accompanied by his wife (and deputy) Trofie – who has one hand made entirely of gold – and their teenage son, Moonshine, who holds a grudge against Connor after a previous run-in.
Grace journeys to Sanctuary – a place of healing for troubled Vampirates – with Lorcan, his donor Shanti and the Vampirate captain. They hope that Vampirate guru Mosh Zu Kamal will be able to cure Lorcan’s blindness and advise the captain on the divisions emerging within the Vampirate realm. As Lorcan undergoes healing, Grace forms a new friendship with cowboy Vampirate, Johnny Desperado, who is also being treated at Sanctuary.
Molucco plans the mother of all pirate raids with Barbarro, but his nephew Moonshine endangers its success and forces Connor to make his first kill in order to save the boy. The killing shocks Connor to the core and he starts to question his allegiance to Molucco and his suitability for life as a pirate. He leaves the ship and heads off into the unknown, ultimately seeking out his former comrade Cheng Li, now teaching at Pirate Academy. She is preparing to become captain of her own ship and Connor decides to join her crew, if Molucco will consent. To his surprise, Molucco agrees, burning Connor’s articles and dismissing the lad he once thought of as a son.
Sidorio’s ambitions increase and he lures more vampirates from both The Nocturne and Sanctuary, including Grace’s friend, Johnny Desperado. As more of the The Nocturne’s crew depart to join Sidorio’s rebellion, the once invincible Vampirate captain collapses. Grace and Connor assist Mosh Zu in a healing ceremony in which, at last, the captain’s mask is removed. During the healing catharsis, a succession of souls rise from the captain’s body. One of them is strangely familiar. It is the twins’ mother, Sally, whom they have never met . . . until now.
Mosh Zu summons Connor and Grace to Sally’s side where it is revealed that she had once sailed aboard The Nocturne as a donor. Whenever Grace touches her mother she begins to channel images from Sally’s past but, with each vision, Sally’s strength is seriously drained. It is during one of these visions that Grace discovers that the twin’s father, Dexter Tempest, also once sailed aboard The Nocturne.
With the aid of his two deputies, Stukeley and Johnny Desperado, Sidorio organises a series of attacks on settlements along the coast but is frustrated to discover that all too often they arrive to find themselves in the aftermath of someone else’s attack. Enter Lady Lola Lockwood, a.k.a. Black Heart, Captain of The Vagabond. The Vagabond is home to a floating winery, where the blood of Lola’s victims is drained, bottled and stored in her cellar until she fancies a tipple in one of her treasured Venetian goblets. Lola and her all-female Vampirate crew sport black heart-shaped tattoos around their eyes, and prove that villainy need not be conducted without sophistication or elegance.
Grace finds it difficult coming to terms with Sally’s deteriorating health and her own impatience at what she may learn from her mother. Meanwhile, Connor decides that he is unwilling to confront any further unsettling revelations about either himself or his family’s past and leaves Sanctury, determined to rejoin Cheng Li’s crew and his life as a pirate.
Stukeley and Johnny Desperado try to convince Sidorio that, if he wants to build a Vampirate empire and command the rapidly growing crew, they need to become more organised and adopt a new command structure. But their plans are threatened as Sidorio becomes increasingly distracted by the seductive evil of Lady Lola Lockwood.
Grace is informed by Mosh Zu and Lorcan that Sally is beginning to fade, and they are unable to reverse the process or confirm how much time she has left in this realm. At her mother’s bedside, Grace has another vision and learns that Sally knew Darcy and Lorcan before she herself was born. Even more shocking, her vampirate partner was none other than Sidorio.
Sally reveals to Grace how she met Dexter Tempest. Mother and daughter agree to travel together aboard The Nocturne to Crescent Moon Bay to visit Dexter’s grave and to see the lighthouse where Connor and Grace were raised.
On the day of Cheng Li’s investiture as a new pirate captain, the order and tradition of Pirate Academy is shattered as an unseen enemy emerges on the ocean to strike mercilessly at its heart, setting in motion events that will change the lives of many in both the vampirate and pirate worlds. Orders from the highest ranks within the Pirate Federation sanction Cheng Li and her crew aboard The Tiger to become the first ship dedicated to the assassination of vampires. Their first directive is to exact revenge on Sidorio, the vampirate incorrectly named by Connor as most likely responsible for the attack at Pirate Academy.
The crew of The Blood Captain and The Vagabond join forces in decimating blood hunts while Sidorio and Lola’s courtship continues. Lola attempts to refine Sidorio’s table manners and update his wardrobe to better reflect his new status as the King of the Vampirates.
Cheng Li and her key crew members Jacoby Blunt, Jasmine Peacock and Connor Tempest – undertake targeted research into the weapons and attack strategy they will need to be successful in their mission. Granted access to the Federation’s vampirate research archive gives them a good head start but it is through their own research that they discover how to significantly weaken their enemy.
Through a chance encounter with Oskar, a donor aboard The Nocturne, and from conversations with her mother at Crescent Moon Bay, Grace starts to find the pieces of Sally and Dexter’s life together falling into place, but many of her questions are still left unanswered.
An unexpected visit from Lorcan Furey warning, “Don’t to start something that you cannot finish,” leaves Cheng Li shaken, but also thrilled at how important she is now perceived to be by her vampirate enemies. Unknown to Lorcan, he leaves behind more information than he’d intended, in the form of a dropped envelope, addressed to Grace.
Meanwhile Connor and Jasmine sail to Lantao Island, entrusted with the task of commissioning enough specially designed swords from Master Yin to arm their crew for the imminent attack on the vampirates. When they leave, there is not only weopanry stowed in their hold, as Bo Yin, Master Yin’s spirited young daughter, has set her heart on a pirate’s life.
Lorcan breaks his years of silence and reveals to Grace some key information about her and Connor’s identity, but leaves out vital information that Grace is determined to get to the bottom of…was Dexter Tempest her real father?
Sidorio asks Lady Lola to marry him so that they can be together through all eternity – making each other’s lives a joy and everyone else’s a misery! However not everyone aboard The Blood Captain is thrilled by news of the impending wedding or the inevitable merging of the two crews.
The crew aboard The Tiger (now expanded to include the stowaway Bo Yin, Moonshine Wrathe, as well as Cutlass Cate and Bart Pearce, both on loan from The Diablo at the Pirate Federation’s beckoning) is preparing for an attack on Sidorio and the Blood Captain. In an unexpected move, Stukeley and Johnny confront Cheng Li and convince her that the Federation has identified the wrong target. Not only do they advise her that Lady Lola Lockwood of The Vagabond is the one responsible for the attack at Pirate Academy, but also provide a valuable tip-off route to revenge.
After confronting Darcy on the deck of The Nocturne, Grace demands that Lorcan and Mosh Zu reveal the true identity of her and Connor’s father. In a showdown where all the secrets of the past are revealed, Grace is forced to accept that she must abandon everything that she had believed to be the truth about her life.
The crew of The Tiger strike at Sidorio and Lady Lola’s wedding ceremony, where Connor has been given the task of destroying the bride. In the ensuing bedlam, as the Pirates struggle to maintain the upper hand, Lola loses her head, Sidorio swears revenge, and Cheng Li reveals a bombshell that will change everything forever.