As we laid there recovering, my mind wandered to our friends. Did they realize who had snatched us from our beds? My hope was that they had turned the ship around and gone back to Port Valor and Ruth. It was safer for them there than out in the open seas.
Leaning over, Jameson pressed his lips to mine in a passionate kiss that spoke of relief and elation. We were alive, and we were together. We just needed to figure out where exactly we had arrived, and hope there was a way off the island that didn’t include running into more vampires or pirates. Based on our recent luck, the likelihood seemed slim.
Chapter 6
Coming back from the dead for the third, or maybe it was the fourth, time wasn’t an easy feat. I really needed to avoid putting myself into situations where death was possible. It hadn’t been in the plan for Evander to actually kill me or even to knock me unconscious. Either he didn’t know his own strength, or he couldn’t be trusted. I was leaning toward the latter, but it didn’t matter anymore.
We assumed they all thought I was dead, and that was how Jameson had been able to get away without being attacked. Jameson was nobody to Prime. There hadn’t been a reason to pursue him if I was no longer alive. At least, we didn’t think so.
Or, they knew I couldn’t be killed and were plotting for bigger things than we might be prepared for. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that scenario. Deciding I no longer wanted to think about it, I extended my hand toward Jameson’s and interlaced my fingers with his.
“Are you going to make it, old man?” I teased, trying to lighten the mood.
He grunted. “Try carrying over one hundred pounds of dead weight across miles of ocean. You’re lucky we passed by a school of fish close to the surface, and I managed to snag a small seal that was circling them to get my strength up. Or you might be at the bottom of the ocean right now.”
His head turned toward me as he winked. If we didn’t take small moments to joke about our predicament, we would never survive. We couldn’t always dwell on what was going wrong.
“So, what happened? I wasn’t able to stay in a semi-conscious state like before.”
“Evander hit you and snapped your neck. Judging by the look on his face, I think he was more than surprised, but he recovered himself quickly and came after me. Though, I had already jumped after you. I was able to snag a rope on the way overboard to use to tie you to me.”
“And then, you swam to shore.” I looked around at the unfamiliar landscape while unease crept in, but it paled in comparison to the relief I felt from being away from Prime, and alive.
“We must find shelter. Night is approaching, and we need to get you out of those wet clothes and dry.”
“Unfortunately, I didn’t bring a spare dry dress,” I teased halfheartedly, then sat up and wrung out as much water from my skirts as I could.
“I’ll find a way to warm you up.” Jameson grinned, showcasing the dimples I loved to see, then got to his feet and offered his hand to me. “Let’s head toward the rocks over that way and see if we can find somewhere to keep us hidden for the night.”
Locking my hand in his, I followed him through the sand to what appeared to be a rising cliff face that the ocean beat against. The stone was whitewashed from the sun and contrasted with the darker color of the surrounding sandy beach. A couple of crabs scuttled across our path, but otherwise went about their business.
The closer we came to the cliff, the more imposing it appeared. I was beyond exhausted, so it seemed to take an eternity before the rock rose above my head. Pulling on Jameson’s hand, I lowered myself onto the beach. He might have done all the work getting us to the island, but my body wasn’t back to full strength yet after dying.
Jameson glanced down to me. “I’ll be right back. There’s no reason for both of us to go into the rocks when I’ll be able to see you from up there—as long as you stay right here.”
“I have no intentions of leaving the warm sand beneath me if I don’t have to. Enjoy the rock-climbing.”
His laugh at my comment soothed some of the stress within me. I was trying to focus on the positives of us being relatively safe, but the fact we were stranded on this island was not easily pushed aside.
“I’ll be right back.” He squeezed my shoulder before continuing.
I leaned back onto the sand, letting the heat seep into me, warming my still-chilled body. Once the shivers subsided, I pushed up to my elbows to take in the sights. Waves crashed against the shore just thirty or so feet away from me. Tipping my head back, I enjoyed the sun’s rays as it began its descent into the horizon.
The light reflected off the whitewashed rock and the turquoise ocean, turning everything it touched a teal color. The ocean stretched for miles in front of me. I focused my eyes, realizing my vision had increased since yesterday, and took notice of another smaller island to our left. Doing one last scan of the sea, I breathed a sigh of relief to find no ships in the water.
“See anything interesting?” Jameson’s deep voice startled me from my gazing. Shadows cast over his face, making me realize how quickly the dark was coming.
“A small island, but no incoming ships,” I answered. “Did you find shelter?” Shivers ran down my arms when the loss of the sun’s heat gave way to the chill of the night. My wet hair and clothes weren’t helping matters, either.
Jameson nodded as he grasped my hand and led me to a rocky overhang that was hidden behind thick foliage at the bottom of the rocks. Sinking down to my knees, I crawled through the narrow opening. Once I was inside a couple of feet, I was relieved to see that it opened up enough for me to sit up, though we wouldn’t be able to stand.
A small fire surrounded by rocks crackled close to the foliage that made up one side of our shelter. The space was missing the comforts of a home, but it was safe, and that was most important. The temperature changed as I crawled further inside, and it was even cooler than outside. After shivering once again, I made my way toward the fire, drawn to its warmth. Jameson had dry wood stacked toward the back of the overhang that would last us through the night.
“How did you get all this done so fast?” I asked in astonishment.
“Vampire speed comes in handy when I need to be quick.” Jameson pulled his damp shirt over his head and tossed it on the bushes beside the fire to dry. My cheeks heated, and I tried not to stare at his defined chest. I’d seen him without a shirt on before, but that moment felt more intimate even though it shouldn’t have.
“You need to take off your dress,” he suggested when he was done.
My head whipped around. “What?” I spluttered, feeling my cheeks heat further.
“Lavinia, your dress is wet. You need to remove it and let it dry beside the fire.” His lips twitched, and I suspected he was enjoying my blush. “You can remain in your underthings. They are thin and should dry quickly.”
His words made sense and it wasn’t like he hadn’t seen me in them before. I shrugged, trying to play it off like I wasn’t uncomfortable. I was with Jameson. He had been nothing but honorable in my presence. Whatever nerves I was experiencing were unnecessary. I loosened the ties of my corset and peeled it away from the material beneath. I laid the clothing over a branch like Jameson had and began pulling the bottom half off, then did the same thing with my skirt.
Ignoring the heated eyes that watched my every move, I crawled back to my place by the fire. Wrapping my arms around my knees, I rocked back and forth. The fire popped and crackled as it began to heat up my skin. I sighed while enjoying the warmth and wishing for a soft blanket to wrap myself in with a hot drink in hand.
Rustling sounded from behind me, but I disregarded the movement as I continued staring into the flames and letting it lull me into a trance of contentment. Trouser-clad legs appeared on either side of me, while familiar arms wrapped around my waist. I leaned back against a solid chest that was surprisingly warm.
Jameson gripped my legs and moved them over his thigh, so I was sitting sideways between his legs. He swept my hai
r to the opposite shoulder and ran his fingers through my dark strands, letting the fire draw away the moisture.
“Your cheek healed completely from the cut. I can only see the faintest pink line,” he mused.
I wanted to respond, but my eyes drooped as the heat from the flames and Jameson sank into my chilled bones while his fingers continued to run through my hair.
My eyes closed several times, but I jerked from my doze as louder-than-normal noises sounded through the night. I was terrified that either he or I would be pulled away again. I wasn’t sure I could survive that a second time. Jameson wrapped his other arm around me and held me tightly against him as though he feared the same thing.
“Shhh, Lavinia,” he whispered in my hair when I jerked again. “I’m here, and I have you.”
Those whispered words were all I needed to hear, and I let myself sink deeper into the darkness of sleep.
My eyes blinked open, and I saw the glow of embers from the fire that had burned down. The sounds of the night murmured softly in my ears, and I noted drowsily that I could make out more in the darkness than I could before. Jameson had scooted to the wall of rock and was reclined against it with me cuddled against his chest.
Settling closer against him, I drifted off to sleep once more, safe in the knowledge that Jameson was there with me.
Before sleep fully claimed me again, a hand grabbed my shoulder and shook it. My eyelids flew open, and I screamed while jerking away from the hand. Jameson’s chest vibrated with a snarl, but before he could react, my brain recognized what my eyes were seeing.
“Alice?” I asked.
“It’s me. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” Her eyes were wide, watching Jameson behind me warily.
Jameson’s chest heaved behind me, and I rubbed his arms in an attempt to calm him down once more. We were both on edge after the escape and from the aftermath of being torn away from each other in the middle of the night.
“Alice?” a voice called, and Henry crawled into our shelter, his eyes taking in everything. “You found them.” The relief was evident in his voice.
“I saw the glow from the embers.”
It felt like steel bars were wrapped around my waist, but I didn’t dare tell Jameson to loosen his hold. We had both been traumatized. Getting over our recent ordeal was going to take time.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, my voice quivering a bit while Henry tossed a couple pieces of wood on the fire. Not that we needed the heat. With the additional bodies in the small cavern, it was quickly heating up and feeling much smaller than before.
“We followed you,” Alice replied, then continued at my confused look. “Well, more accurately, the pirate ship that you were taken to. Even though the vampires and pirates didn’t mess with anyone from our crew, they were not quiet in their departure. They seemed pretty proud of their prize, and had no problem voicing it. We noticed you both were missing within minutes. The moon gave us enough light to see the ship nearby, and we followed.”
“Everything happened so quickly. If they had been quiet in their endeavor, we wouldn’t have known you were gone until the morning. What surprised us the most was that the pirates didn’t disable the ship or kill anyone,” Henry added from beside the fire.
“They were after one thing. Once they got it, they left the rest, thankfully,” Jameson quietly muttered.
“Here, I thought you might need this,” Alice offered, averting her eyes from both of us while holding out a canteen. For a moment, I thought she feared us, but I noticed Henry was also averting his eyes. Then, I remembered I was in my underthings, and Jameson was only half-dressed.
Jameson accepted the canteen, popped the top, and took several big swallows of what could have only been animal blood.
“So, you followed the ship? Why didn’t they see you?” I asked, ignoring the uncomfortable looks. We had just escaped a mad vampire pirate. We didn’t look our best and I didn’t care.
“We stayed a ways back, only keeping up with the help of a spyglass,” Henry stated as he leaned toward the fire.
“Where’s our ship?” Jameson asked.
“We moored on the other side of the island. There are too many rocks on this side, and we didn’t feel safe anchoring near them. We searched a smaller island we thought was closer to your location on the ship before we came to this one, or we would have been here sooner. We had no idea what had happened. One of the crew was assigned to keep watch through the spyglass at all times and said they saw a woman go overboard. We could only assume it was Lavinia and hoped both of you had gotten away. The pirate ship made haste from the location soon after you were in the water.”
“That doesn’t sound like Prime,” I whispered, more to myself than anyone else. My gaze drifted off as I thought it through, but my attention jerked back when Alice took a gasping breath.
“It was Prime?” she asked. Henry moved over to her, wrapping an arm around her comfortingly.
“We thought it was a rogue pirate ship who might have worked with Pierce and didn’t know he was dead. We didn’t even think to suspect that it could be Prime,” Henry added quietly, guilt ringing in his voice.
“There was no way for you to have known. We didn’t until we were already far away.” I swallowed, gripping Jameson’s arm tightly.
“We’re here now. Let’s go back to the ship. We’ll talk about everything else later,” Alice reassured soothingly.
I nodded while Jameson scooted out from behind me. He grasped his shirt and shrugged it on before grabbing my dress and corset and bringing it to me. I pulled the dress on while Henry doused the fire. I couldn’t bring myself to don the corset. I was tired and the last thing I wanted was something constricting my ribs.
Jameson exited our sheltered hovel first, followed by Henry, Alice, and then me, but he stood near the opening, waiting for me. He grabbed my hand and held it during our trek through the island, then onto the boat that would take us out to our ship.
Realization hit me while we were climbing on board the ship. With the moon so full and bright, I could make it out in greater detail than I could before I died. Even the stars seemed to glow brighter in their blanket of darkness. I decided to tell the others later about my newest development. We had much to discuss about our capture, imprisonment, and not to mention the fact the creator of all vampires just happened to be my father.
Chapter 7
Once on board and properly dressed, we were welcomed by the crew. Something constrictive in my chest eased considerably. Everyone was safe, and the ship looked better than it had before we were taken. I was thankful that Alice and Henry hadn’t given up on us. They were genuine friends, and I had to blink away tears as I sipped the hot soup that had been prepared for us.
As soon as everyone had cleared out of the galley—except the four of us—Alice and Henry began asking Jameson and me more questions. I couldn’t blame them for being curious, but what happened was difficult for me to put into words. Jameson didn’t even know the full extent of what had transpired on the ship. There hadn’t been time for talking, and I wasn’t feeling up to it now. I needed more time to process, so I let Jameson tell his side of the story.
“I went crazy at first, but they kept me chained with iron I couldn’t break through. The more I tried, the weaker I became, so I finally stopped trying. I didn’t know when I was going to be able to feed again, and I refused the human blood they brought me. If it wasn’t for Lavinia’s quick thinking, and bringing me the chickens, we wouldn’t have made it off that ship. Even with Evander’s help.” Jameson’s hand squeezed mine as I gazed out the port hole.
He continued to fill in as many details as he could about the pirates and vampires he saw while in the brig, and my visits to him. I stayed quiet, only answering direct questions. The longer I sat there with them, dreading the moment they expected me to speak, the more anxious I became. My legs bounced up and down, my body unable to sit still.
When Jameson was done, I let out an ex
aggerated yawn. “Can we finish this later? It’s been a long week, and I’m ready to sleep in my own bed.”
They exchanged a look but didn’t question me. “Of course. We’ll catch up in the morning,” Alice replied.
“Thank you.” I hugged each of them goodnight before I led Jameson to our room. It had only been five days since we slept there, but it felt like an eternity. My hand shook as flashbacks of the night we were taken assaulted me. We had already been in our room earlier, when we changed, but something about coming back to go to sleep made me an emotional wreck.
Jameson’s hand closed over mine. “It’s going to take time to recover, and it’s acceptable to need time to process everything that’s happened to us. I’ll make sure you have all the time you need, but please don’t shut me out.”
Closing my eyes, I nodded as tears slipped down my cheeks. What I was most afraid to process and talk about would never go away. What haunted me were Prime’s ramblings about how if my friends knew who I really was, they wouldn’t want me anymore. I feared if they knew I wasn’t just some super human, that I was actually half-vampire, they would try to kill me.
I was a liability, an unknown. Nobody knew what I would become once all of my abilities awoke. That was what scared me the most. Will I even still be me when all of this is over?
Getting ready for bed was done in tense silence. I tried to smile and act like everything was fine, but now that we were relatively safe, I knew everything was far from all right.
Jameson rolled over to face me. “Talk to me. Whatever is suddenly consuming you, we will deal with it together. You don’t have to go through this alone.”
It took a few moments, but I settled myself enough to admit to him my fear.
“Prime told me that our friends would sooner kill me for what I was than continue to help us. Alice and Henry are going to expect answers, but I’m afraid to give them.” Taking a steadying breath, I rambled off all of my internal thoughts, holding nothing back from him. When I was done, I closed my eyes and waited for his reply. I didn’t want to see his face, in case I was the one to make him finally realize what I was.
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