Page 13 of High Seas

He gave a cruel laugh and shook his head, refusing to look at me again.

I remembered the first time I saw him, perched imposingly in the chair beside my bed, in the chamber in which I’d been placed. I was afraid of Enoch then. This version of Enoch? I was afraid of him, too.

With a loud roar, he tore a human-sized hunk of railing from his ship, and then turned and launched the splintered wood at me. I fell to my knees, covering my head as it soared through the air over where I once stood. “No more manipulation. No more games. Let’s have it out!” he shouted. “This is what you wanted – to tear me to shreds. Go ahead and try, Eve.”

I refused, deliberately holstering the stake I’d pulled on him. “I don’t want that.”

“You once did,” he accused roughly.

“I did when I first found you, but when I saw that you weren’t a monster, everything changed. You know that.”

“The only thing I know for certain is that you didn’t stop them from coming.”

“Didn’t stop who? What are you talking about?”

Looking every part the deadly pirate, and in a tone I never wanted to hear leave his mouth again, he answered, “Victor Dantone sent his army, Eve.”

My stomach sank. “What?” I could barely speak the word.

“He sent an army of thousands. They showed up moments after you disappeared, and slaughtered everyone but Terah, Asa, and me. Not even the infants were spared.” He stared at me with cold, green eyes. “I don’t believe the timing was a coincidence.”

A thick knot formed in the back of my throat and my eyes burned with unshed tears under the weight of his revelation. I blinked them away, my stomach churning. That bastard. I thought he would spread the army throughout time, but once again, I’d grossly underestimated Victor’s cruelty.

Enoch taunted, “What’s the matter? Why are you suddenly speechless? Isn’t that what you wanted? To hurt me? To kill me? Take heart, Eve. You and your kind prevailed. Because though I still stand before you, part of me died along with my people!” he roared, closing his fist and banging it against his chest over his heart. “Part of me died with the innocent men, women, and children I had to bury because of you.”

Victor won, then. And though my stake never aimed true, I didn’t fail in my mission to kill Enoch; he was still breathing, but this wasn’t living. This was merely existing, surviving. I knew the empty hole left by the death of loved ones, and how that space would never truly be filled again.

Enoch was forever changed. Gone was the kind, gentle man who challenged my beliefs about everything and won my heart in the process. In his place stood a man broken beyond repair, who wore a heavy yoke of pain on his shoulders and barely contained rage on his brow.

Enoch would have his revenge. He would let his hatred boil until he finally reached Victor, and God help Victor when he did. Because Enoch would make sure he paid for every life he took, every ripple of pain spread across the surface of time, every reminder of the lives so ruthlessly taken.

I shook my head. “I think I finally understand what happened. Maru warned me that Victor was sending an army but he thought he was sending it back to our time, not yours. He didn’t know we were actually going back to thirteen forty-eight.” I pressed my eyes closed to keep the world from spinning.

“We were told we would travel seven days in the past and land at a gala – a large party – one they knew the three of you had attended, and that we would have a split second of surprise to land, stake the three of you, run to someplace tall, and then jump off it to get back to our time. If something went wrong, we were supposed to hide and hope none of the vampires succeeded in catching or finding us. The safest bet would’ve been jumping, but the reason our skills were upgraded was to give us a chance to get away fast. Maru thought that was where Victor was sending the army. To the gala. Not to your time, and not to kill innocent people. Vampires were the only ones in attendance the night we were supposed to strike. Victor was always trying to find a way to take them out in large numbers. This would’ve been the perfect opportunity.” Kael programmed our tech, but Victor was our leader. He was the military strategist. He’d studied the gala, the positioning of all important parties, no doubt had a list of those in attendance and those he might take out in one fell swoop, but it seemed like maybe he hadn’t anticipated what Kael had done.

Memories flooded my mind. My conversation with Maru on the rooftop, and how I told him I didn’t trust Victor. The way Maru was late on jumping day, and how he brought me new stakes when he knew how much I loved my old ones. The tightness reflected in his jaw and eyes.

I remembered Enoch’s people. The guards atop the wall, whose breath came out in plumes at night as they joked with one another, rubbing their hands over fires to keep warm. The mothers watching their children as they toddled through the gardens; falling, pushing themselves up, and taking a few more steps on chubby, bare feet. The elderly, whose haunted eyes shone with gratefulness every time a meal was served. The way everyone in the castle respected and loved Enoch for what he did for them, and how his people fed him, yet never feared him.

“I should’ve known the plan was too elaborate for just seven days into the past,” I admitted. “I questioned why we were receiving all the upgrades once. Kael made me feel like a fool for even opening my mouth.”

“I’m not sure whether Victor Dantone or this Kael Frost devised the plan that sent you to me, but both are master strategists,” he whispered, crouching down in front of me. “Here you are, a beautiful package concealing so much agony. A girl who at times seems frail, but is stronger than iron and capable of utter destruction.”

It felt like my spine was withering, drying up and curling in on itself. “I’m not frail or strong, Enoch. I’m tired. I’m tired of all this. I’m tired of being used.”

His eyes drilled into mine, green daggers that slid effortlessly into my heart. “You have no idea how long I’ve waited to find you – the real you. At first, I killed the other variations of you. But now, I’ve come up with a better plan, one that neither Victor Dantone nor Kael Frost will never see coming – until it’s too late.”

A shiver scuttled up my spine. “Variations of me?”

He tore at his hair. “Yes! His entire army was made up of you. Each and every soldier was your exact replica. They were dressed like you, they had your voice, your sable hair, your shape. They even moved the way you do.” He hung his head before lifting it again and continuing, “Every soldier was you, with one exception: none had your scent.”

“My God,” I breathed. “No wonder you hate me.”

He didn’t correct me, but continued, “Victor Dantone didn’t stop after his army tore through our lives. He continued to send a mirror of you, Titus, and Abram to hunt me and my siblings every year since. In years past, some took one look at our fangs and ran away, a brave few attacked and died at our hands, while others didn’t even bother hunting us. They saw the opportunity to be free and carved out a life of their own, but… Just looking at them is painful. Their presence alone is enough to drive me mad. Victor Dantone has made it impossible to forget you, even though I’ve tried.”

That’s why he doesn’t stay in one place. “That’s why you took to the sea.”

He nodded. “That’s why I took to the sea. We each have permanent homes, but Terah and I prefer the solitude only the ocean can provide. She had her own ship until Thatch betrayed her, a debt she vows will only be satisfied when she’s carved her name into his flesh and still-beating heart…” I cringed at the mental image. “Asa is the exception. He prefers living on land. Killing your variations provides him with countless hours of entertainment. He makes a sport out of it.”

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