“I wish I could say yes, but I need you with me. The crew needs to know you’re not to be messed with, and you are going to show them why.”
My mouth opened to ask how I was supposed to show them, but he pulled me from the room before the words left me. With the tight grip he had on my wrist, I had no choice but to follow him up the stairs to the deck, so I decided to leave it alone. I’d find out what he meant within minutes.
When we arrived, the crowd gathered on deck fell silent. It appeared as if the whole crew was present for whatever was about to happen. My eyes found Evander near the edge of the ship. He held a frightened Rowland, who had thick manacles wrapped around his hands, feet, and neck.
Prime wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Did I not make myself clear before?” his voice thundered. “Lavinia is my daughter, and she will not be harmed. Ever. Or you shall greatly suffer the consequences.”
My body tensed as Prime’s sinister words registered with the crew. He had been doing his best to be polite around me, but this was a side of him that I had only heard about until now. A side I didn’t care to know.
“Rowland hurt her against my orders, and now she will hurt him in the vampire way. He will spend the rest of his miserable life at the bottom of the ocean. If anyone doesn’t agree with Lavinia being on this ship, speak up now and you’re welcome to join him.”
The crew stared wide-eyed, unmoving and silent. I was still stuck on the part about me hurting Rowland. I took a step away from Prime, but his fingers tightened almost painfully on my shoulder, keeping me at his side.
“Lavinia, I give you the honor of using my most prized possession. This sword comes cursed by a Sea Witch. It won’t kill a vampire, but it will cause them excruciating pain.”
I shook my head, eyeing the sword. “I’d rather not.”
He gripped my chin, lowering his face to mine. “You will do this. If you don’t, you will learn why people fear me. Now, make your father happy and do as you’re told.”
The glimmer of the loving father figure he portrayed around me before was no longer present. Whatever I had thought I knew about Prime was shattered. I thought I was safe around him, but I realized then that he was only attempting to make me comfortable, before pulling the rug out from under me. I wouldn’t be safe again until I was off the boat and far away from him.
Prime shoved the sword handle at my chest. “Take it and cut his head off.”
With trembling hands, my fingers closed around the hilt. I was about to sentence this vampire to a lifetime of suffering. He would not die by the blade within my hand; only a hunter’s dagger could kill him. Instead, he would suffer at the bottom of the sea for who knew how long.
Blood pounded in my head as my heart raced. I had done what he was asking before, when Pierce and his crew attacked, but it was in the moment. I hadn’t had time to think about it. I had killed to survive. Prime was asking me to do it when my life was no longer in danger.
I wasn’t fine with that.
With an encouraging push from Prime, my feet moved forward without conscious thought. Yes, Rowland had tried to hurt me, but he wasn’t a threat to me any longer. Hurting him didn’t feel right, so I did my best to withdraw myself mentally from the situation, and to not think.
Reluctantly, I began to rationalize it with the fact that, technically, my life was still in danger. Prime wouldn’t make things easy for me if I didn’t do as he asked. If I showed him any disrespect by being insubordinate, who knew what he would make me do next.
Once I cut off all emotional thought, I wasted no time. I had no desire to be on the deck any longer, and the sooner I did as I was told, the sooner I could run back to my room.
My eyes connected with Evander’s. He nodded and stepped away from Rowland. I refused to meet the man’s gaze. I wouldn’t be able to follow through if I did. Once I was sure Evander wasn’t within striking distance, I swung the blade and completed my task with disgusting ease.
Voices murmured as Prime began spouting on about how I was his daughter in every way. I didn’t hang around long enough to hear any more. Guard be damned, I was getting out of there. I shoved the sword back at Prime and ran for the stairs, taking them two at a time until I arrived on my floor.
For a moment, I considered going straight to Jameson, but Prime showed me he wasn’t above threatening me, and I didn’t want Jameson to pay the price if I went anywhere other than my room. Surprisingly, nobody followed.
I threw myself on the bed and closed my eyes, willing my body to sleep so I wouldn’t have to think about what I had just done, but sleep was not what I got.
Evander entered the room a few minutes later and settled himself on my bed. “I’m sorry you had to do that.”
I opened my eyes, glancing up at him. “Why are you so nice to me?” I pushed into a sitting position, anxious to hear his answer.
“I may live with pirates, but I am not one. I’ve lived and learned that anger has its place, but it’s not always needed. If I had treated you poorly, I doubt you would have been so cooperative these last few days.”
I shrugged. He wasn’t wrong, but I wasn’t going to tell him that. Instead, I focused on the “lived and learned” part. I wanted to know more about him. Maybe he would be the key to getting off the ship. “How old are you?”
“I was turned just after my twenty-first birthday. That was almost seventeen years ago.”
“How did you become a vampire?”
“My mother was a cook to a wealthy man on the mainland. We lived in a small cottage on his property. As I grew older, I began to work for him; he took good care of my mother, so it seemed like the only choice for me. The estate was attacked by a vampire when I was eighteen. I found my mother’s lifeless body in the kitchen, but before I could get away, the vampire took me.”
Evander paused, the memories obviously causing him discomfort.
“You don’t have to tell me.”
He shook his head, clearing the pain from his eyes. “His name was Demetri. He took one look at me and decided I would be of greater use to him alive and human.” He pointed to the scars on his face. “He disfigured me, so people would be afraid of me and it would be harder for me to leave. I spent a little over three years with him and began to accept my life. I even started to consider Demetri my family, in a twisted way.”
I couldn’t understand how he could see his captor as family, but I nodded anyway, encouraging him to continue.
“One night, we were blindsided by a group of vampires. During the fight, Demetri was killed, and I was turned by Prime. With Demetri gone and me a newly-turned vampire, I had nowhere to turn. Prime gladly took me in—as was only natural since he was the one to kill my master and change me. He wasn’t always bad. He had only attacked Demetri, because he had been double-crossed in a deal. Demetri paid the price for his betrayal. Losing Susanna did something dark to Prime, and he’s only gotten worse since he learned you existed.”
I reached a hand out to him. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of that.”
“A lot of vampires lose their humanity, but I’ve held on to mine. I’m not sure I would have been able to do that without those experiences.”
Elation filled me at that statement. Evander still cared, and I needed him to care about Jameson and me. A plan was formulating, but it was going to take time. Time we didn’t have if Jameson didn’t get to properly feed soon. I needed to figure out if my plan was worth risking Jameson’s sanity, and I needed to do it quickly.
Chapter 4
I spent the rest of the evening in my room. Evander had food brought to me, and I avoided Prime. I wasn’t ready to see him after what he forced me to do. I had let my guard down around him, thinking it was possible for me to gain the upper hand, but he had quickly reminded me of the monster he truly was.
Evander promised I would get to see Jameson after breakfast the following day. Prime had told him my compliance had earned me a visit without bars between us. Jameson would still be shackled, but it was bette
r than nothing, and I wasn’t going to complain.
Even though I was eager for the morning to come quickly, I ended up tossing and turning for most of the night, unable to get comfortable. The heaviness of the cursed sword was like a ghost in my hand.
Finally, I dozed off but jerked awake when I heard voices coming through the door. It had been left open a crack. My advanced hearing recognized Prime and Evander conversing, which immediately piqued my curiosity.
“I think you pushed her too far,” Evander offered quietly.
“She’s my daughter. She needs to be pushed, and I know she can handle it. We don’t have time to wait,” Prime replied with a growl.
“I’m not saying she doesn’t need to be pushed, I’m just saying you might have done so too quickly. She’s only been on board for a few days. You can’t expect her to pick things up right away. This life, what she is, it’s still new to her. Give her time.”
I noticed Evander’s pirate accent was nonexistent and wondered just who he was trying fool when he used it. Just another reason I needed to remain alert around him.
“I’ve waited years. Susanna kept her existence from me, and even after I drained her husband right in front of her, she never said a word.”
“She was protecting her child,” Evander contested.
“Everyone has a weakness. We know who Lavinia’s is now. She’ll see Jameson this morning and realize that I’m not unreasonable. She will bend to my will, one way or another.”
“We can use Jameson against her if we need to, but it’s too soon to resort to those measures. She’s warming up to me. I can probably sway her with little effort. I’ll be sure to keep you informed as things progress.”
Prime grunted. “Do whatever it takes to move things along. The plan cannot be set into motion without her.”
The sound of Prime’s footsteps retreating down the hallway reached my ears as he left. Evander’s deep sigh followed, right before he opened the door to my room and quietly made his way to the chair by my desk where he usually sat when I slept.
I lay facing the wall, doing my best to keep my breaths slow and even while my mind churned with the implications. What I heard confirmed that, though Prime had been nice so far, it was all a ruse to gain my trust. For what, though? That was still unknown, and I needed to figure it out soon. I couldn’t let my guard down, especially now that I knew the truth about my mother and why Jameson was locked in the brig.
The sun rose, chasing away the darkness of night, but my gloomy mood remained. Evander escorted me to breakfast, yet I could barely look him in the eye without revealing I knew the truth. He was just as quiet as I was. Nevertheless, he kept a close eye on me while I moved my food around the plate.
“Am I still able to see Jameson today?” I asked, unable to stand the silence any longer.
He nodded, then leaned forward to rest his forearms against the table where he sat across from me. “Of course. Prime would never turn on his word. He said you could last night, and he meant it.”
I let a smile spread across my face, hoping to convey elation instead of disgust. Though, when Evander’s eyebrows pulled together in a frown, I wasn’t sure I had pulled it off.
Quickly returning my attention to the plate, I continued to push my food around the ceramic surface. The kitchen was surprisingly vacant for the time of day. Usually, there were crew members roaming about with a glass of wine, blood, or maybe even both. I could never be sure. Some of the pirates would eat the food that the cook prepared, but few needed it like I did.
The cook bustled through the swinging door into the galley, and I glanced into the cooking area, remembering how Alice, Nettie, and I had helped out while we were aboard the first ship. A chicken squawked from behind the doors, and I jumped slightly at the sound. I was surprised that they had live animals on board, but I shouldn’t have been, considering I’d had eggs every morning since I’d arrived.
My fingers slid the plate away, unable to eat another bite or stand pushing it around any longer. I hoped my lack of appetite was more from my eagerness to see Jameson, and not another of the vampire qualities that grew stronger with each passing day.
Restless energy nearly overwhelmed me. I was tired of being on the ship, being followed around by a spy. Secretly, I was grateful that I hadn’t opened up to Evander after all, because I now knew he would have told Prime everything. I wouldn’t put it past him to use anything he could to gain my compliance. My stomach churned at the thought of anything happening to Jameson.
“Can we go see him now?” I asked Evander, trying to breathe when it felt like the walls were closing in around me. My emotions were getting out of control. If I didn’t see Jameson soon, I feared what would happen.
“Yes, we can head down now.” He stood and led the way out of the galley.
We descended into the bowels of the ship, and I could feel my heart lightening with each step closer to Jameson. I hadn’t seen him in over a day, and I was anxious to check on him. Worry for him had been twisting my insides ever since Prime informed me that he hadn’t been drinking any blood. Jameson was stubborn enough to keep his word to me, even if it killed him or turned him into one of the starved vampires we’d encountered on the previous islands. I needed to figure out how to get him blood before it came to that.
Pulling his ring of keys out, Evander selected the right one and placed it in the keyhole. I had previously wondered if he held the key that would unlock Jameson’s cell door. That proved it. The ideas began circling in my mind as to how I could get the key from him in the future. It would be the only way to free Jameson when it was time to flee. Though, the thoughts ceased as soon as I heard the door unlock.
Evander swung the door open, and my eyes hastily searched for Jameson. They found him leaning against the bars, still shackled and wrapped up in chains. He pivoted toward the door, and I gasped when I saw his face. It seemed to have sunken into his skull while his skin had a deathly grey quality to it.
Rage, white-hot and all-consuming, burst inside me. He was truly starving. He drew closer to the bars, need written clearly on his face, but for my touch or for my blood, I was unsure. Something in me snapped at seeing him this way. It reminded me of the famished vampires at Port Defiant, and my body quivered with revulsion at the thought of Jameson becoming one of them.
Before I could think twice about the consequences of my actions, I turned and raced up the stairs much faster than I had ever gone before. A pirate suddenly appeared in front of me, and I shoved him out of my way, not caring when he crashed into a wall. I heard footsteps pursuing me, but I ignored them.
A pile of napkins took to the air in my passage as I raced into the galley, and I was through the swinging door and into the kitchen before the napkins hit the floor. The cook wasn’t in the room, but I wouldn’t have cared if he had been. Nothing would stop me from completing my task.
After tearing the cage door open, I wrapped my hands around the necks of two chickens. They were the only live animals I had seen on this ship, and I would go without eggs for breakfast if it meant that Jameson was fed. I sped out the door, the chickens swinging in my grasp.
The doorway to the brig had been left open, and I didn’t spare much thought that Evander was no longer manning the entrance. When upset the previous night, I had fled to my room, and I would wager that was where Evander thought I had gone, which meant I didn’t have much time.
Jameson was leaning against the bars when I ran back in. His eyes carefully watched me as I took my final steps back into the room.
I ripped feathers away from the neck of the first chicken and stretched it taut before holding it out to him. He bit into the skin of the animal without hesitation, and something in me eased. He quickly drained the bird, and I tossed it aside before doing the same to the second one. Color was slowly returning to his face, and his eyes cleared of the earlier hunger while I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Your eyes are red again,” Jameson stated as I threw the chicken aside.
“They’re going to use you against me,” I hissed at him, ignoring his observation. “They know you are my weakness.”
“I am not your weakness, Lavinia.” He pushed his head through the bars as far as he could.
“How can you say that?” Tears gathered in my eyes as I wrapped my arms around his neck. Did he not know I would do anything for him? If Prime wanted me to slaughter his whole crew, I would do it if it meant keeping Jameson safe.
“Lavinia, you sped out of here, leaving your guard behind bewildered, so you could get me food. I’m not your weakness. I make you stronger. Your abilities are dormant unless your emotions get out of control, like they just did. You are a raging storm wrapped in a beautiful package, and they should fear you. I would guess they already do, based upon the look left on your guard’s face.”
Moving closer, I kissed him, wishing the iron was not between us. I needed him, and these slight touches and stolen kisses through the bars of his cell weren’t going to cut it for much longer. There was a fire building inside me. I was beginning to believe if I released it, it would rage until this whole ship and everyone on it were nothing but ash.
I broke the kiss, knowing that time was of the essence. Evander would be back at any moment, so this was the only time Jameson and I would be able to speak freely.
“Prime is planning something, but I don’t know what. I’m important to this plan, and he will do whatever it takes to make sure he has my compliance.”
“Can you get us up on deck?”
“I know the way, and we now know Evander holds the key. It seems more possible with that information.”
“Do you remember back on Port Valor how Ruth gave us all the clothes and gear?” I nodded, wondering why that mattered now. “She gave me hunter clothes with hidden pockets.”
“What are you saying?”
“My dagger is in a hidden pocket in my trousers. They know that I’m a vampire, but they don’t know I’m also a hunter. You’ve used the dagger before, even though you aren’t bonded to it. I’d wager that Prime doesn’t know about that.”
Blood of the Sea Omnibus Page 19
