Blood of the Sea Omnibus

by Heather Renee

  Solomon told me the night before that he believed my compulsion magic had left traces of my essence on Evander, giving me the ability to track him, but I had focused on it for most of the evening with no success. Solomon hoped that it would get easier once we hit open waters. If I wasn’t able to track Evander, then we could spend days searching for Prime’s ship, and Jameson didn’t have that much time.

  We set sail before the sun crested the eastern horizon, and once everyone was settled, Solomon came to see me in Jameson’s office to finalize our plan. We had an advantage. Prime didn’t know that I was alive, and not even my scent could give me away, because it had changed again. I planned to stay hidden for as long as possible, and when the time was right, I would sink Jameson’s dagger into Prime’s heart.

  I had found the hunter’s dagger when I was looking through Jameson’s clothes for something to wear. I couldn’t walk onto Prime’s ship in a dress if I wanted to stay unnoticed. I would have thought he had his dagger on him at all times, but he must have thought it would make the new vampires uncomfortable. It was pure luck on our part.

  After we went over the plan one last time, I asked him about my compulsion. “Have you ever seen anyone else use it before?” I felt like a child again, always asking him so many questions.

  “I’ve only heard rumors of Prime being able to use it, but even that seemed to be exaggerated. I don’t believe he has compulsion like I saw you use; it’s more likely the people who follow him do so out of obligation. He is their creator, and they have formed a bond that inspires loyalty most of the time, unless they have a strong connection with another prior to being changed.”

  I thought of Jameson and how I was able to help him control his urges just by being in his presence. Our feelings for each other prior to him being turned must have been the only reason he was able to remain pure.

  “How does the compulsion work?” I asked.

  “When you compel someone, you are manipulating the very thing that makes them what they are. The venom that transformed them, made them stronger, immortal, is turned against them and forces them to do the bidding of the person who is giving the command. Evander will never betray you to Prime. The magic from your compulsion now links him to you.”

  “Are you sure Prime can’t compel any of us?” I didn’t think he could. Otherwise, he should have already taken advantage of that particular ability, but it didn’t hurt to double-check.

  “It’s possible he could manipulate any of us, but not on the same level as compulsion. It’s more like a paternal bond he has with any vampire he has sired—his children. If you didn’t have a connection to Jameson, or even me, then he could possibly get through to you more easily. For Jameson and me, it’s different. We are pure, and we knew love before we were turned. We are an unknown force, and Prime cannot afford to have us oppose him. The choices we made negate his power.”

  Tentatively, he reached out and grasped my hand in his. He observed me with bright eyes, full of love, pride, and a touch of regret for the life that I now lived.

  “Regardless of how Jameson or I might threaten his existence, it’s you he should be most afraid of. If anyone can defeat Prime, it’s you. You are his equal in every way.”

  I didn’t respond to him. I didn’t want to be Prime’s equal. I wanted nothing more than to be normal and to live out my days with Jameson by my side. Nevertheless, Solomon’s words kept circling in my mind long after he left.

  Never did I imagine that I could be my father’s equal. He was everything that my very being rebelled against. We were on opposite sides of a coin that kept tumbling through the air. Whichever side landed face up would be the victor, and I had determined that it would be mine, because I had something Prime didn’t, something worth fighting for.

  Jameson was worth all the blood, sweat, and tears that I had experienced over the last couple of months, as was everyone else I loved. Little Nettie with her bouncing curls, Alice and her steadfast friendship, Henry with his quiet understanding and acceptance, and even Solomon, who seemed to have never stopped caring about me.

  All of the people close to me that I had met after vampires had ruined my life were who I was fighting for. I would not let Prime take any of them away from me, which meant that it was time to get Jameson back.

  Suddenly, my chest tightened, and a sharp pain ran through my head. I cried out, pressing my hands to my temples. My eyes squeezed shut as I tried to breathe through the discomfort. I heard footsteps around me, but I paid no mind to whoever it was as I focused on what was happening to me.

  One deep breath at a time, I relaxed my body and my mind. Once the tension left my body, the darkness began swirling again. I pushed it aside, focusing on where the pain had originated. There was a pulsing sensation in its place. It urged me forward, and I finally realized what was happening.

  When I opened my eyes, I saw Solomon and Neil standing before me. Solomon appeared calm, as usual, but Neil looked like he was about to lose his sanity. His burgundy eyes were wide, and his pale skin was almost translucent.

  “I found Evander.”

  Solomon nodded. “I knew you would. Come to the helm, so you can guide the ship.”

  When I passed Neil, I placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to flinch. “You better get used to odd things happening if you’re going to survive this world.” Offering him a smile, I continued after Solomon. The poor kid had no idea what he was in for.

  With each step I took toward the deck, the feeling of Evander became stronger. I didn’t like being connected to him, but it was the only way for us to find Prime. I would figure out how to remove whatever link I created as soon as I had Jameson with me once more.

  “What is it like?” Solomon asked, while we walked up the stairs.

  “The darkness wants to take over, but I’m keeping it back. There’s a pulsing that seems to be pushing me in one direction. Each time we turn the ship, it tugs a different way. I’ve never felt anything like it.”

  “It’s incredible. What you can do, it can change the world for all vampires.”

  Joshua was at the helm when we arrived. I wasn’t sure I was comfortable with him being our navigator, but Solomon spoke with each of them after Jameson had, and whatever transpired between them all apparently gave Solomon a reason to trust them. I didn’t have the time or energy to fight him on his decision. I just had to hope I wouldn’t regret it.

  “Lavinia is going to give you directions. She could come up here at any time and change the course, so you need to heed her instructions, even if they don’t make sense.” Solomon used his fatherly voice, and I wanted to laugh. His impressive height made the situation even more intimidating for Joshua.

  “Of course, sir. Whatever she says.” He cast his eyes down, and my curiosity piqued. He hadn’t been that submissive when they arrived back on the island, which made me question what Jameson or Solomon had done to change that.

  Moving to stand in front of the wheel, I closed my eyes and focused on the direction I was being pulled. My hands grasped the wheel, turning it ever so slightly northward. I paused, waiting to see if that helped. After a few moments, the pulsing stopped, and I knew we were on the right path.

  “This route will take us to Prime’s ship. I have no idea how far away it is, but we will cross paths soon if we continue onward.” I glanced between Solomon and Joshua. Neither of them said anything, and a yawn escaped me. “I’m headed to bed. If anything changes, I’ll be back up here. Wake me if you spot the ship before I return.”

  Solomon reached for me but dropped his hand at the last moment. I had noticed lately that he had been taking every opportunity to make contact with me, but I wasn’t ready yet, and he needed to have patience. I could only handle so much at once, and Jameson took priority over my long-lost father.

  When I arrived back in my room, I spotted a plate from two days ago that I had forgotten to take back to the galley.

  Is that the last time I ate?

  The thought crosse
d my mind as I settled into bed. It was. I hadn’t eaten since the night I went into hysterics and lost consciousness. That was also the night my skin changed and my eyes began swirling with red.

  I hadn’t craved blood. I’d been around Alice and Henry, and nothing about them called to me, but I also hadn’t thought about food. As I stared at the ceiling, I considered heading for the galley to try to eat something, but sleep called to me more than food did, and I decided to deal with whatever was going on with my appetite the following day.

  Waking several hours later, I sat straight up in bed. The pulsing sensation was back, but stronger than before. I crawled out of bed and headed for the door. When I opened it, Solomon was standing there with his hand raised, as though he had been about to knock on it.

  “We’ve spotted Prime’s ship. It’s time.” His voice was still calm, but I could see the tension in the rigid set of his shoulders and the tick in his jaw. Solomon was nervous.

  “I’ll change into Jameson’s clothes and meet you on deck.” Part of our plan included me blending in with our group for as long as possible. If Prime couldn’t scent me, then changing my clothes would help to keep me hidden until we were ready to act.

  After Solomon left, I grabbed the garments of Jameson’s that I had set aside. I had chosen the smallest items I could find, but I would still be swimming in them. He was at least six inches taller than me, and twice as wide, but I hoped I would just look like a starved crewman instead of a woman. Solomon had also given me a cloak of sorts, which would mostly hide my hair and face.

  Once I was dressed, I grabbed the hunter’s dagger and marveled at the power I could sense coming from it. It had a black hilt with a silver pommel at the end and shiny embellishments toward the top of the hilt. The blade itself had wave-like indents above the hilt, then straightened out and ended with a sharp tip that never seemed to dull, no matter how many times Jameson used it.

  After tucking the dagger into the hidden pocket of Jameson’s pants, I doubled-checked that everything else was as good as it was going to get. There was nothing else I could do to prepare, so it was time to get him back.

  The darkness within me flared to life again, and this time, I didn’t push it down to the depths of me. As much as I didn’t want to change who I was, I knew I couldn’t defeat Prime on my own. If my vampire side wanted to come out and help, then I wasn’t going to be naïve enough to deny it.

  When I met Solomon at the helm, he handed me the spyglass. I almost didn’t take it, knowing my vision had improved, but since it was dark, I took the piece to make things easier. Pulling it up to my eye, it took a moment to spot the lights from Prime’s ship. A snarl ripped from my throat as I tried to rein in my emotions. Jameson was so close, yet still so far.

  “We can’t sneak onto the ship, but at least they won’t have much time to prepare for our arrival,” Solomon explained.

  “Prime told us to convince Solomon to turn himself over, and if he wouldn’t, we were supposed to kill him,” Joshua confessed nervously. “We can stick to the story that I convinced Solomon to turn himself in sooner, since Prime took Jameson.”

  That hadn’t been something we discussed, but it would give Prime another thing to focus on, so I didn’t disagree with Joshua’s addition to the plan.

  We waited in silence on the deck as we moved closer to the vessel. I could hear the shouts from the other side as they realized they had company, but I still couldn’t sense Jameson. My heart ached to be near him, and I hated that I couldn’t feel him yet. It made me wonder if Prime had already done something to him, and I let loose a little more of the hold I had on the darkness within me.

  “Who dare approach the ship of Prime?” Evander yelled from his post on the upper deck.

  “Tell Prime that I’m here to make the trade,” Solomon announced with a barely-elevated voice. There was no point in yelling at a bunch of vampires.

  Once we were closer, I could see the vampires hustling around as they readied for our arrival. When our ship was as close to theirs as we could get, Joshua dropped a plank between the two vessels. Our crew moved into formation, and we walked across into the enemy’s den.

  There were only eight of us, and we’d left two on our ship. They were instructed to pull the plank back and keep watch. We couldn’t risk any of Prime’s vampires sneaking onto our vessel when we weren’t paying attention.

  Alice, Henry, and the rest of the crew were anchored a mile or so back, hopefully safe. We would meet up with them at a preplanned destination, as long as everything went as planned. Though, I had to push the thoughts of them out of my mind when my feet made contact with the deck of Prime’s ship. I needed to focus all of my attention on what we were about to do.

  Keeping my head down, I moved forward and peeked around as best I could without exposing too much of my face. I couldn’t see Jameson, Prime, or Evander, but I knew Evander was close by, because the pulsing had stopped completely, as though I had found him.

  Vampires surrounded us, and I recognized a few of them from my time spent in their capture, but not all of them. I waited with bated breath for Jameson to appear, and when he finally did, I wasn’t prepared for what I saw.

  He was badly beaten, his face swollen to the point he likely couldn’t see. It took me a moment to realize that he wasn’t healing, because he hadn’t fed and his energy was drained. My hands balled up, and my nails dug into my skin, threatening to draw blood. I released the hold on my barely-contained vampire side. Right then, I decided there would be no holding back. Whatever I wanted before no longer mattered. Not until Jameson was safe and far away from this place.

  Evander dragged Jameson across the deck and dropped his shackled form on the floor like he was nothing more than garbage. Prime moved in behind him, taking in the crowd before him.

  Several of us wore cloaks with the hoods up, including Solomon, so as not to draw suspicion to myself. When Prime didn’t see what he wanted, he pulled his favorite sword from behind him.

  “Solomon, if you don’t show yourself, then stand by like the coward you’ve always been and watch as everyone around you dies. I may not know who you are or what you look like, but I know how to make you pay.”

  My arms flinched. I wanted nothing more than to show myself and stop all of this, but I knew sticking to the plan was more important at that time. If anything went wrong, the plan was the least of my worries.

  I would do whatever it took to get Jameson back.

  Chapter 16

  Solomon finally stepped forward, but his hood was still up, concealing his face. Prime had no idea that Solomon was Tobias, just as I hadn’t. We were hoping it would provide another distraction, to aid in our efforts to get Jameson and the rest of us off the ship without anyone getting hurt.

  “I’m right here. There is no reason for anyone else to get hurt. You have what you want.”

  Prime tilted his head, seeming confused, but recovered quickly and let out a sinister laugh. “Did you really think it would be that easy?”

  “I was hoping it might, but knowing you, nothing is ever easy,” Solomon replied, an angry note ringing in his voice.

  The surrounding vampires murmured as they took a step away. I was behind and slightly to the side of Solomon, so I couldn’t see what had happened, but if I was to guess, I would assume his eyes had gone bright red, showing them that Solomon wasn’t just a hunter. By the widening of Prime’s eyes, I knew that he hadn’t been expecting a vampire, either.

  “How are you a vampire and able to wield a hunter’s blade?” Prime demanded.

  “You aren’t the only one who made a deal with a Sea Witch,” Solomon retorted, taking a threatening step toward Prime. “Now, let Jameson go.”

  “You think to command me?” Prime responded with a laugh, ignoring Solomon’s quip about the Sea Witch. “You don’t give the orders here. I do.”

  “You will never control me,” Solomon spat.

  “You’ve proven yourself resourceful in the past,” Prime b
egan again, his gaze trying to penetrate the shadows of Solomon’s hood. “We shouldn’t be enemies. We should be allies. Join me, and we will bring a new age upon this world, one unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. Think of the possibilities that we could unleash. I know Jameson is like you. We should be working together.”

  “There is only one thing I want, and it is something that you cannot give,” Solomon answered, and I could feel the hatred that he had for Prime coming off him in waves.

  “Nothing is impossible,” Prime added, with a grin that showed his fangs.

  “You’re right. Nothing is impossible,” Solomon replied, and I did a double-take. I had no idea what he was doing, but it wasn’t part of the plan.

  With those final words, Solomon swept off his hood and cloak, revealing his face to the man who had murdered his wife, stolen his life, and left him for dead at the bottom of the ocean. Solomon’s lips peeled back from his fangs, and he let out a deep, angry growl.

  Prime stood there, stunned, staring at the man that, like me, he thought was long dead. His face paled considerably, and he looked as though he had seen a ghost… in a way, he had.

  Solomon stepped forward, his dagger once again in his grasp, and he pointed it right at Prime’s neck. “I’ve waited years to confront you. You killed my wife and sentenced me to a life of unchanging immortality. You took away the brightest light in my life, my daughter Lavinia. You didn’t deserve either of them or their love, and that is the reason Susanna didn’t wait for you. The reason she fell in love with me. Her and Lavinia were my life, and you took both of them from me.”

  “It’s not possible,” Prime whispered, looking him over with new eyes.

  Emotions danced across his face, and I was surprised that he had any at all. Almost as suddenly as they appeared, his vulnerabilities ceased, and a shadow swirled within his red eyes. I recognized that darkness, because it was the same as I had inside of me. Unlike him, however, I seemed to have a better grip on mine. Light was more powerful than darkness, and I was lucky enough to have plenty of light in my life—as long as Jameson survived.