Pale Horizon

by Heather Renee

  After tucking the dagger into the hidden pocket of Jameson’s pants, I double-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 Sixteen

  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 began 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.

  “It is possible, and I’m here to kill you. With the Sea Witch as my witness, you will face your reckoning,” Solomon vowed, lunging forward.

  We were supposed to do everything possible not to engage Prime, or his vampires, until we had Jameson back on our ship. Solomon was letting his feelings guide his actions, and it was going to get us all killed.

  I wouldn’t let that happen.

  Closing my eyes for a brief moment, I called on the power within me, ready to use it in order to do what needed to be done to save our people.

  When I opened my eyes again, Evander had moved to intervene with Solomon and Prime, but the darkness inside me lashed out at him, using our connection to halt his movements. He paused in the shadows, taking a step back and turning toward me. No one noticed that I had intervened, because as soon as Solomon lunged for Prime, the other vampires surged forward as well, and the battle began.

  With Evander under control, I made my way toward Jameson, ducking and dodging the riot around me. Using my enhanced speed, I rushed around Jameson’s guard—who happened to be one of the men present when I had been attacked in the galley during my time here. I had planned on incapacitating the pirate, but when I realized who he was, my inner vampire had other plans.

  Keeping a tight grasp on the hunter’s dagger, I plunged it hilt-deep into his heart. I hadn’t known his name, but he was vile enough to sit by while someone tried to harm me. He deserved to die, and I had no regrets—maybe later when the adrenaline ceased, but I didn’t have time to think about that.

  Before the guard fully turned to ash, I yanked the dagger out, and turned to defend myself against a second opponent I sensed drawing nearer behind me. I slashed out with the blade, but he reacted faster than the first one and danced back away from my jab. Stalking forward, I continued to embrace my vampire side to aid me in the fight. My eyes sharpened, and I saw the micro-flinch as the vampire made his move, but Jameson’s groan distracted me, and the pirate sank his claws into me.

  Hissing in pain, I ripped my arm from his grasp, pressing my other hand to the open wound as I waited for it to close with my accelerated healing. As much as I wanted to make sure Jameson was safe, I couldn’t let him be a distraction until there weren’t so many vampires trying to kill us.

  Backing up to Jameson, I whispered an apology and moved him against the wall, out of the way. When I brought my full attention back to the pirate, he was no longer alone. I still had the hood covering most of my face and didn’t think anyone had figured out who I was yet, but I needed to be careful. Bracing myself, I bent my knees and pounced. There was no time to waste, and I needed to stay on the offensive if I had any chance of surviving.

  The dagger sank into the second guard as I landed exactly where I had intended, the little bit of Solomon’s training having done its job, but I wasn’t prepared for the second vampire to attack me from behind.

  My body landed harshly on the ground face-first, and my attacker pinned me down before I could react. He was twice the size of me, and I was more than a little worried I had gotten myself into a bad situation. My eyes suddenly met Evander’s, who still stood out of the way of the fight and under my compulsion.

  “Evander, help me.” The command was evident in my voice, and he moved without hesitation.

  Air whirled around me, and the thud of my attacker being thrown against the wall resounded much too close to Jameson. Moving with precision, I didn’t hesitate to finish him off before he could harm anyone else. The magic from the dagger burned through the vampire within seconds.

  Free from attackers for the moment, I quickly checked on my team. Solomon was still standing against Prime. They seemed to be arguing more than fighting, which was fine with me. I wanted a chance to finish Prime myself. Two of our crew were down, one a vampire who I knew would heal on his own, but the other was one of Ruth’s hunters. Robert’s eyes stared back at me, but there was no life left in them.

  My heart constricted, and I turned away, unable to handle the pain when I needed to remain on the offense. Moving with the intention to return to Jameson’s side, I came face-to-face with Evander as he blocked my path. His normally-green eyes were red, and his gaze pierced the blackness that my cloak provided. His jaw clenched, and indecision flitted across his face. Though I had freed him from his obligation to Prime, it seemed he was still hesitant to completely abandon him.

  “I didn’t think you’d be here,” he stated, shifting his weight back and forth.

  “You thought I would stay away, aboard our ship, safe, when Jameson was here?” My voice was filled with ice so cold that it nearly made me shiver. I tightened the hold on my vampire side, not realizing how out of hand I had let it get when I was fighting for my life.

  “I didn’t realize the lengths you would go to get him back,” Evander replied, showing his emotions with the statement. Somehow, he’d begun to care and was worried that I was there—concerned for my safety—but what he didn’t know was that I was no longer afraid. If I was killed, I would come back to life, and I would keep coming back until I had rid the world of the vampires that preyed on the innocent and followed the orders of a madman.

  “I’d do anything,” I hissed, walking toward him with every intention of killing him as my hold on the darkness weakened.

  “Even sacrifice your life?”

  I laughed, the sound foreign to my ears but mine nonetheless. “As you have witnessed, I can be killed, but I’ll keep returning from the dead. You may be immortal, but I can quickly end that with the blade in my hand. If you kill me, just know that I’ll be back.”

  His eyes widened and, suddenly, turned back to their natural green color. For the first time since I had met him, he appeared vulnerable and open. We stared at each other for several moments, and something passed between us. Something we had been close to sharing after all of the breakfasts and talks when I was imprisoned on the ship.

  Evander didn’t want to be there any more than I did. He had been turned by Prime, and he had done what needed to be done in order to survive in the vampire world. He had manners, was kind, and that was the real him—the part of him that still had humanity—one he had to hide away from everyone.

  He had been lost until I gave him a reason to hope, and my compulsion had finally given him that.

  I lowered my dagger, reeling from all that had been revealed in those silent moments, when we had connected even after I compelled him. I decided that Evander wasn’t bad. He was just a fighter, trying to find the best way to survive, like we all were. I had read him all wrong before, and all need to kill him fled from my body.

  The darkness pulled back as empathy for him rose to the surface. How many other vampires felt the same way? There could be many more who were lost, adrift in a dark sea of hunger, losing a little bit more of themselves as time passed.

  There hadn’t been any hope for them before, and I swallowed as a thought occurred to me.

  I could be their hope.

  How many times had others attempted to turn me, and it never worked? I had held on to my humanity as my vampire magic brought me back to life.

  “You need to kill Prime,” Evander whispered as he took a step closer to me, “or figure out a way to release the others like you did me. Not all of them will choose the right path, but we can figure that out later. I have finally learned what Prime had planned for you. You need to end him before he finds out you are alive and gets his hands on you again.”

  My grip tightened on the dagger, the hilt digging into my palm as his words hit me harder than any physical blow. Solomon’s statement about what the Sea Witch had seen also surfaced, and I knew I had to act. Not for Jameson or because Evander told me to, but for myself. I would not become whatever evil Prime wanted from me. I would not let the vampires around me suffer because of
his greed any longer. He had taken away their choices, their free will, and their humanity—all in exchange for what? Prime had nothing to show for all the havoc he had caused.

  Taking a step toward Prime, I watched while he and Solomon continued to battle, and doubt began filling my mind. The darkness within me was no longer lifting me up but tearing me down, whispering thoughts of failure into my head.

  I shook my head at Evander. “I can’t do this. I need to take Jameson, and we need to go.”

  “What do you mean? Didn’t you come here for this? You can’t just walk away.”

  Taking another step back, I bumped into Jameson. Glancing down at him, I noticed he was awake, and I bent closer.

  “Lavinia,” Jameson whispered, and my heart stilled. The sound of my name on his lips eased everything inside me. “Whatever he’s talking about, you need to do it. I’ve known from the very beginning that you could do anything. You are strong and fierce. If anyone can do it, it’s you.”

  “He wants me to kill Prime, but I need to get you out of here first. That’s the most important thing to me.”

  He used the last of his strength to pull me closer and press his lips to mine. “I’ll be fine. Go do what you were made to do. This is your purpose.” His hand rested over my heart. “You just have to believe in yourself.”

  I sucked in a breath as the tightly-coiled rope that was wrapped around my heart loosened. For the first time since he had disappeared, I could breathe again. In that moment, I knew there was nothing more powerful than the bond between Jameson and me. Our connection had been created by our refusal to give up our humanity. We still felt, laughed, and cared about others. But most importantly, we loved. That was a bond that could never be broken.

  “I do believe, but I still can’t leave you here defenseless,” I whispered as renewed strength filled me.

  Evander cleared his throat from behind us. “I can keep him safe.” He bent down and glanced between the two of us, waiting for one of us to agree. The changes in Evander were clearly seen, but I wasn’t sure I trusted him with the most important person in my life. Apparently, Jameson did.