Blood of the Sea Omnibus
Page 10
Her cry urged me into action without thought. I lunged over the boat and snatched the doll before it hit the water. For me, it felt like slow motion, but once I was back in my seat and handing Nettie her doll, I realized that wasn’t the case.
“You have extraordinarily fast reflexes, girl,” the crew member remarked from his position, eyeing me suspiciously.
I had inadvertently used my recently-acquired speed to snatch the flying doll out of the air. My cheeks flamed red with horror at what I had unknowingly done. We were supposed to blend in, but my actions had done the opposite.
The rest of the boat ride was made in silence. I kept my head down, but I could feel the gazes of my companions on me. Jameson and I had decided to keep my new abilities a secret from the others—mostly for their protection, but also for my own. Now, I was regretting not telling them.
We pulled up to the pier and carefully disembarked from the rowboat. Jameson helped me step out, keeping my hand in his. The cover story they had told the townspeople they interacted with was that we were engaged, traveling with family.
The inn wasn’t far from the pier, and Henry led the way toward the building, with Jameson and me staying in the rear. He moved closer to me, wrapping a supportive arm around my waist and drawing me into his side.
“Are you all right?” he whispered, quietly.
“I’m just praying I didn’t ruin everything when I grabbed that doll,” I replied, fighting back frustrated tears.
“You didn’t ruin anything,” he assured me, yet I couldn’t help thinking he was only placating me.
A man bumped into me, causing me to let out a small gasp and press even closer to Jameson. I turned back to apologize to the man, but I was distracted when his eyes suddenly flashed a bright red and his nostrils flared, breathing in my scent.
The vampire’s rough grasp wrapped around my free arm, causing me to yelp in surprise. Jameson turned, keeping a tight hold on me while letting out a possessive growl at the stranger before us.
Chapter 11
I wrenched my arm from the man’s hold as Jameson put himself between the vampire and me. The tension between the two increased until I could feel Jameson vibrating against me.
Finally, Jameson broke the silence with a hiss. “Keep walking if you know what’s good for you.”
A slow smile spread across the vampire’s face, and he eyed Jameson before flicking his gaze to me and licking his lips. He stared at me for another moment with piercing red eyes before he blinked, and his irises returned to a hazel color.
“Aye, I won’t be samplin’ yer catch,” he stated, bringing his attention back to Jameson before continuing, “but I suggest ye keep th’ lass close. Other’s ‘round here might not be as in control as I be.”
His way of speaking reminded me of how Dom and Craig spoke. This man was obviously a vampire, but could he be a pirate, too? His speech was only marginally better.
“How many more should we be concerned about?” Jameson asked.
The vampire grinned, showing a missing tooth and a few other rotted ones. Definitely a pirate.
“That be for me to know and ye to find out.” With that odd response, the man turned sharply and disappeared around a corner.
I shuddered, hoping we wouldn’t have to be on the island for very long. It might look like business as usual, but we now knew differently. We could not let our guard down anytime soon.
We arrived at the inn, joining the others. Nathan was already in conversation with the clerk and getting our keys.
“Dangerous times of late. I don’t suggest going out after dark,” the clerk advised when we walked up to him. “We’ve had some missing guests in the last couple of weeks. No explanations. No bodies. Just people missing and items left behind.”
I glanced at Jameson. The hard lines and tick in his jaw told me he was thinking the same thing as me. The vampire outside hadn’t been kidding. There were others, and possibly lots of other vampires out there. We needed to watch our backs.
“Thank you for the warning,” Nathan replied. “We’ll be in for the rest of the day, and then go out tomorrow morning for supplies.”
The clerk’s head swiveled toward Alice, then me. “That probably be a good idea.”
Jameson tensed beside me, grabbed my arm, and pulled me toward the stairs that I assumed led to the rooms. My gaze shifted back, trying to hear what else the man said.
“Jameson, slow down. He wasn’t done speaking, and it’s probably information we should know,” I urged, yanking on his hold, but failing to overpower him.
He turned back to me, his blue eyes swirling with tinges of red. “I need to keep you safe. I need to keep you away from whatever is happening here. Please, don’t make it any harder on me.”
The agony he felt was evident in the forced way he spoke to me. I reached up a hand to his face, hoping my touch would calm him like my presence normally did.
“I promise not to make anything harder on you if I can help it, but in return, please don’t treat me like an invalid. I may not be as strong as you, but I’m changing, too. We need to think about training, so I can protect myself. I don’t want to be a liability.”
His face softened. “You’re right, and I’m sorry. Please, forgive me?”
I opened my mouth to respond, but the others caught up to us first. Nettie tugged on my dress and lifted her arms up, so I carried her. She yawned before settling her head in the crook of my neck.
“Let’s get to the room,” Henry suggested.
Jameson grabbed my hand, this time guiding me, not pulling like before. We walked up three flights of stairs before we arrived at our adjoining rooms. There was a door between the rooms that made it feel like it was one big room, which I liked a lot better after what we had just learned.
We three ladies took the room on the left, while the guys went to the right. I laid Nettie on the bed, tucking her in as I did so often on the boat. It wasn’t dark yet, but she’d been through so much change, I wasn’t surprised she needed a late afternoon rest.
Alice glanced from me to Nettie, a small smile on her face. I wondered if she had been jealous of the attachment Nettie seemed to have to me since Alice had known her longer, but that wasn’t the vibe I was getting.
“Do you know why she often clings to you?” Alice asked, and I shook my head. “You look a lot like her late mother. Same build and hair, just a different face. Nettie’s small face is a spitting image of her mother’s, but she got her father’s blonde curls.”
My heart constricted. I wasn’t sure how it made me feel to appear so much like the girl’s mother, but at the same time, I was glad to be a type of solace to her in the craziness that had become our lives.
“Thank you for telling me. I had thought it might have been because we’d both lost our parents, kindred spirits and all, but it makes more sense now with that information.”
She nodded, and then directed her attention to unpacking a few of her belongings. I followed, doing the same. We didn’t have much in the borrowed sacks, just some weapons and supplies we were given on the boat, but it was enough for now. Just as we finished, Henry walked in, observed the sleeping Nettie, and waved us into their room.
His gaze lingered on Alice, and I wondered if they had something going on that nobody had told me about. I’d now seen a few shared glances between the two of them and hoped they were able to find comfort with each other. We all had to take whatever happiness we could, while we were still able.
I took a seat on a small settee next to Jameson, my legs brushing against his, causing shivers to run through my body. Nathan sat in the chair next to us, while Alice and Henry sat on the edge of the bed.
“The man downstairs gave us a lot to think about,” Jameson stated. “So did the vampire outside. We need to stay together and indoors as much as possible, until the ship arrives in two days and takes us to Port Defiant. That’s where we believe Solomon will be. He’s the hunter I trained with, and he spoke of that island a lot du
ring his time at Pierce’s estate. If he’s not there, then Port Valor is our next destination.”
“I want to be trained,” I announced in front of everyone, so Jameson couldn’t try and avoid the subject.
Alice leaned forward, grin in place. “I have been waiting for you to ask since the moment you showed up. Henry and Jameson trained me, and I’m happy to pass on their knowledge to you. Plus, it will be more fun with me than one of them.”
“Hey, now. I wasn’t that bad.” Henry nudged her as she leaned back to her spot on the bed.
“Right, the bruises only took two weeks to heal rather than the three weeks you thought. That made it all better.”
Jameson cleared his throat. “Let’s stay on track, please. Yes, Alice, you can teach Lavinia some of the fundamentals while the three of us go out. As much as it shames me, I do need to feed, and having you guys at my back while I go out would make me feel better. As soon as we find Solomon, I’ll ask him if he has extra daggers for the rest of you, too.”
I reached out, grabbed his hand, and gave it a squeeze. He didn’t need to be ashamed of who he was. He wasn’t hurting people, and the animals he was feeding from would have become dinner for someone eventually anyway. There was nothing wrong with it, in my opinion, and I hoped the others thought the same.
“We will always have your back, brother,” Nathan said, and Henry agreed.
Jameson released some of the tension in his body. Sharing what he was had to be hard. I wasn’t looking forward to doing it myself, but I knew I would have to soon. The only problem was that I didn’t know what I was becoming, so I had no notion what to tell them.
I assumed I was some weird vampire hybrid, but really, I had no idea. I should have died twice now, yet my heart still beat strong, and all my human cravings for food and sleep were normal. None of it made any sense.
“Let’s wake Nettie and go get dinner,” Nathan said. “We can sleep early and start fresh tomorrow. The island might not be safe, and although the inn seems sound, we should take shifts keeping watch, just in case.”
The men agreed without hesitation, and I wondered if the rotation would include Alice and me. Not likely, but I would still volunteer to help.
Nathan went to the other room to get Nettie, and we all went back downstairs together. The inn had a small kitchen that served soup and bread. It was good enough for us. I was in agreeance with the others; I was in no hurry to venture around the island at dusk.
After dinner, we settled back into our rooms. Just as I assumed, only the men were included in the watch rotation. They’d take three-hour shifts and cover the night. Jameson didn’t need much sleep with the vampire venom running through him, but a few hours would do him good as well.
I missed our late-night visits we had on the ship. It wasn’t something we were going to be able to do with someone keeping watch all night, plus adjoining rooms. Instead of trying to stay up and sneak off to see him, I snuggled in with Nettie, drifting off into a fitful sleep.
Nightmares of attacking vampires and dying over and over with no relief assaulted me throughout the night. When I awoke the next morning, just before dawn, I felt even more tired than before I went to sleep.
I rubbed my eyes and rolled silently out of bed, trying to not disturb Nettie or Alice, who slept next to us. I tiptoed into the other room to see who was awake, hoping it was Jameson, but I found Nathan instead.
“Good morning,” he whispered.
“Everything stay quiet last night?”
He nodded. “We only heard a couple of people out, but just sounded like they’d been at the pub for too long, nothing vampire-like.”
“That’s good. Hopefully it stays that way until we leave,” I replied.
Rustling sounded from behind us, causing me to jump, but it was only Jameson. He walked straight for me as he got out of bed, surprising me by pulling me into his arms. His sharp inhale told me how much he had struggled last night.
I ran my hands up and down his arms, trying to ease his tension, and it slowly seeped out of him.
“I missed you last night,” he confessed, and Nathan awkwardly gave us some privacy.
“It was a rough night for me, too.”
He pulled back, smiling down at me. “They all know we have something going on anyway. Maybe you can sleep in here with me tonight.”
Now it was my turn to tense. I wasn’t ready to take our relationship further, and I wasn’t sure if he was asking for more from me, or just my company. I had never been with a man intimately like that before and wasn’t going to rush into anything just because my world had turned upside down.
His hand grazed my face. “I promise to always be respectful of you. I am just asking for your presence and nothing more. I swear.”
A heavy breath left my lips. “If you don’t think the others would mind, and Nettie will be okay, then that is fine with me. Maybe my nightmares would stay away if I knew you were closer.”
He pressed his lips to my forehead. “I’ll fight any battle I can for you. You just have to let me.”
My knees weakened at his sweet words. With every moment we had together, he was making me fall for him harder. The only thing I feared was what either of us would become.
Within the next half-hour, everyone was awake, including Nettie. We went back downstairs as a group, checking in with the clerk to make sure the ship’s schedule hadn’t changed as far as he knew. As of this morning, he still anticipated the vessel to arrive the following afternoon.
We had biscuits and tea for breakfast, then took Nettie for a short walk outside. We stayed on the main road in front of the inn, checking out the shops that weren’t open yet.
Once back in the room, the guys left us with clear instructions. We weren’t to answer the door to anyone, including the inn staff, and if they weren’t back by dark, then the three of us were to only leave the room for food, and keep to the plan of boarding the ship tomorrow afternoon.
I couldn’t think of the possibility of them not returning to us, but we had to be realistic. Every time we separated, there was a high chance it was the last time we’d all be together. The fact that I didn’t like it didn’t make it less of a reality.
I hugged Jameson longer than usual. “Please, be safe and come back soon.”
He patted his side. “I have the dagger. We should be just fine and back by dinner. I’m more worried about leaving you ladies here than anything out there.”
Understanding, I nodded, not knowing how to ease his fears. I didn’t disagree with him. It didn’t feel right to be apart. We embraced once more, then the three men went out the door.
Alice locked the doors behind them, then turned to grin at me. “Are you ready to get beat up?”
Slightly afraid of the sadistic look on her face, I took a step back. She was more excited about training me than I thought she would be.
“Can I help, Alice?” Nettie asked.
Alice bent at the waist, giving the child her full attention. “Of course, you can. We need to move the furniture over. Can you help me push?”
Nettie nodded eagerly, her smile widening.
Once the room was cleared of as much as we could, Alice began to show me some basic exercises that would help get my strength up. I didn’t want to point out that strength wasn’t really what I needed help with, but I was close to doing so. It was something I should have asked Jameson about before he left. I wasn’t sure how much needed to be shared about me, now that they knew about him. After the basics, we switched to defensive moves.
“Don’t go looking for a fight,” she clarified, “but if someone attacks you, there are a few moves you can do to easily get out of a tough spot. The first and most effective, if your attacker is a male, is to hit him where it hurts the most.”
She wrapped her arms around mine, pinning me to her as I faced her. “If you’re ever in this position, lift your knee up into their groin as hard and fast as possible. Don’t hesitate, either. That will get you killed.”
Then she tossed me a candlestick. “What am I supposed to do with this?” I asked.
“Pretend it’s a dagger and attack me.”
My eyes bulged. “What?”
“You heard me. Attack. Even though we hope you won’t have to initiate a fight, there’s a high probability that you’ll need to, so let’s practice.”
Muscles I didn’t even know existed began to tire, but I wouldn’t miss this opportunity even if I couldn’t best Alice. It was knowledge I needed and would do well to remember.
I charged her, candlestick pointed out at my side. I hesitated at the last moment, afraid to hurt her, and ended up on my back with Alice pressing down on my throat.
“You hesitated. I said don’t do that. Try again.”
I hadn’t seen this demanding side of her, but I liked it. She had fire inside of her. Something I hoped to have more of myself.
We continued practicing over and over, Nettie cheering me on each time I fell. I kept my extra abilities in check and took each beating she gave. The more we practiced, the more confident I felt that, when I was able to use all of my strengths, I would stand a chance against any attacker.
True to their word, the men arrived back at the hotel. We had just finished putting the room back together and were planning to venture out for dinner when they did. I was glad we didn’t have to do it alone.
Jameson squeezed my arm and I flinched away. “Are you all right?” he asked, concern dripping from his words.
I nodded. “Just a little sore. Alice is a lot tougher than she looks.”
“That doesn’t surprise me in the least. Have a seat. We’ll share what we learned before we get dinner.”
We settled into the same seats as the night before, except this time Nettie sat on her uncle’s lap. Jameson replayed what they saw, and most importantly, what they didn’t see.