Page 32 of High Seas

“Titus!” Eve yelled as she jogged down the stairs. Her eyes were wide. “Don’t go any farther. Step away from the cage.”

“Why?”

I turned around just in time to see a set of sharp fingernails claw the air in front of my face. “One more step and I would’ve had him,” a sultry voice complained.

One of Eve’s clones suddenly appeared behind the iron bars. She’d been invisible…but more unsettling than that, she had fangs. Either Enoch or one of his siblings had turned a clone into a damn vampire. This was bad.

Turning around slowly, I took a deep breath. “Who turned her?” I asked Enoch.

“I did,” he answered, unapologetic.

“As if Eve weren’t terrifying enough on her own merits, you had to give her fangs? Are you out of your mind?” I yelled.

Enoch started toward me, but Eve caught his arm. “Oh, no. Let him go, Eve.” I fixed my attention on Enoch. “You gonna turn me now? Was that what you were gonna do? I don’t think so,” I challenged. My hand tightened around my stake. If he brought the fight, I was pretty certain I’d lose, but I’d go down stabbing this stake until he drank me dry.

Eve let go of Enoch. He straightened his shirt, but stood tall by her side. “I wasn’t going to bite you.”

“Then what were you going to do?”

“I was going to finally teach you a lesson in manners and civility.”

Eve snorted beside him. “Good luck. His trainer tried to teach him that for years, and it never quite sunk in.”

I gave her a sarcastic grin. “Thanks a lot. I guess I know whose side you’re on.” It didn’t come out as playfully as I meant it… or maybe it was just hard to hide the fact that my assessment was true. We were teammates. I sure as hell hoped that if it came down to it, she’d remember that.

We had to make it home.

Eve grabbed her head again, making a hissing sound. I started toward her, but Enoch got to her first. He shot me a look of concern before gently suggesting, “Perhaps you should rest while I find my crew. We’ll set out for Nassau as soon as possible.”

She didn’t want to do it. I could see resistance in the way her jaw set into a square, but in the end, she nodded and let him escort her up the steps. Edward jangled his shackles. “I’ll just stay here and keep watch over the freak of nature you’ve made, Enoch. No problem, Captain.”

Enoch didn’t even acknowledge the manacled smart-ass or his comment.

I shook my head. “One of these days, he’s gonna snap.” I just wasn’t sure who would be on the receiving end of his fury. I didn’t want it to be me, but I knew I rubbed the guy the wrong way.

“He will. I’ve seen it before,” Thatch agreed.

The thing about Thatch? I didn’t like him. “And he’ll eat you. If Terah doesn’t drain you first,” I added. That shut him up. I could tell by the look on his face that he knew it wasn’t a farfetched notion.

I strode across the ship, unsure what I was going to do or where I might go, only struck by an intense urge to be off this floating castle. When my foot hit the top step, Thatch was rattling his chains and grunting. He could try all he wanted, but Enoch had shackled him. He wouldn’t get out of those restraints unless he chewed his hands off and he wasn’t hungry or desperate enough to resort to that. Yet.

“I’ll be back in a little while,” I yelled, knowing Eve and Enoch would hear me.

Eve needed to rest, but I needed to walk and think.

Why didn’t the tech take us home?

Chapter Ten

Abram

Holed up in the cellar of a local butchery, I waited for the sun to set. Pig blood wasn’t nearly as delicious as human, but it sated my thirst well enough and kept me strong. The vampires we’d staked in training and in the arena before we jumped were corpse-like. Regardless of ethnicity, every vampire had an ashy-gray tone to their skin – one that marked them as the rotting embodiment of decay they actually were.

I held out my arm and peeled back the sleeve of my tech suit. My skin still looked healthy, with not even a tinge of gray to be seen. God had preserved me, it seemed. I had his favor and could feel his watchful hand hovering over me, blessing and trusting me to carry out His will.

My eyesight was sharper than it had ever been. My hearing more acute. I wondered if my new gifts were even better than Eve’s upgrades. It could finally give me an advantage over her. I couldn’t disappear at will, but I was definitely faster than her.

I was as fast as Asa now.

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