Page 16 of High Seas

“Yes, on the inside of their wrist a year is stamped. Most cover themselves and wait for an opportunity to strike, but some tear their magick tech out of their hands, leave their suits behind and make their way as far away from us as they can.”

“Defectors,” she said softly. “How many clones are on this island?”

“I’m not sure,” I answered. It wasn’t like I kept an inventory. “There can’t be many more.”

She nodded. “I’ll find them. I’ll send them back, Enoch.”

“How do you know when they will land?”

“I don’t,” she replied. “But just because my hand tech won’t take me home, doesn’t mean theirs won’t.”

I pursed my lips and pondered her logic, knowing it also didn’t mean it would. Their magick tech may not fully function, either. “So, you’re just going to stroll through the streets, dressed in that, and deliver a blow to anyone who looks like you, Titus, or Abram?”

“Then bring them here and throw them off the cliff, yes.”

I shook my head and tried not to smile. “It would certainly send a message.”

“I sure as hell hope so,” she retorted.

“What about the ones who want no part of Victor’s plans? The ones trying to be free? They’ve long since discarded their suits. If you toss them off this cliff, they will drown and die.”

“I’m not sure what it says about me, but I don’t care if they die, Enoch.”

“There aren’t many who defect from Victor’s cause, but even so, their numbers have dwindled of late…” I admitted. We might have killed a few innocents among the guilty. Completely our fault, though she’d receive no apology from me or on behalf of my siblings. I had to assume any soldier of Dantone’s a threat and deal with them accordingly.

The storm raged. The squall whipped her hair around and carried her scent to me. Eve’s eyes were fixed on the water below, almost as if she was hypnotized by it.

“I’m sorry I doubted you,” I finally offered, swallowing my pride and probably damning us both. But I had to say it. If she hurled herself off the cliff along with the others, I wanted her to know that I knew she wasn’t to blame for what happened to my people. Eve, as strong as she was, wore her heart on her sleeve, and I knew I’d broken it the moment I accused her of being part of the attack. “I know now that you wouldn’t have hurt my people.”

She stared at the churning water below. Mighty waves built and crashed against the dark rocks, leaving foaming trails across the water’s surface. “I wouldn’t have, but you were right not to trust me, Enoch. I did travel to kill you. For years, your death was all I lived for.” She sounded depleted, almost as exhausted as I felt.

“But you didn’t kill me.”

“I don’t think I could have if I wanted to,” she laughed harshly. “I think we both know that.”

“Did you want to?”

“At first, but then I saw how you treated others. How you protected them.” A sad shadow fell over her eyes and she hung her head.

Just then, a new set of scents joined hers and a familiar, deep-throated chuckle came from behind me. “Well, look what the cat dragged in…” Terah purred.

Over the centuries, she’d lost and then found herself in the ecstasy of the blood from which she fed. She smiled, baring razor-sharp fangs, and callously dropped Edward Thatch on the ground. Two puncture wounds on his neck wept blood down his now-pale skin and leeched into his white shirt, turning it the color of rust.

Terah had already fed from Edward, but could always find room for another drink. She grinned at Eve.

“Edward said he’d found you. He’s been known to lie, so of course, I didn’t believe him. But now I see that he was being honest. Hmm. That might be a first for him.”

Eve’s teeth began to chatter. Through the sheets of rain, she stared Terah down vigilantly.

“You killed him, you know,” Terah taunted with a tick of her head towards me, slowly advancing. I placed myself between her and Eve.

Eve didn’t respond, so Terah kept talking. “He was a shell of himself for decades until he finally realized I was right; that your absence was the best thing that ever happened to him. And now you’re back.”

“I fell into this time and place. I didn’t go home and come back here to make trouble,” Eve warned.

“Does it matter? Your army came for him, after all. But even thousands of you were no match for the three of us. Do you have any idea how weak your entire race is in comparison to us? We can snap you like twigs, or we can turn you into the very things you despise,” she threatened.

“Terah,” I warned. “Don’t.”

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