Page 36 of High Seas

“Edward!” Eve screamed, nothing more than a blur through the darkness. Her stake poised, she leapt onto the back of her clone, stabbing the vamp through the heart and narrowly saving Edward Thatch’s life.

She let go of the wooden shard and watched in horror as the clone turned to face her, the double’s mouth gaping open. The clone’s skin began to shrink, turning gray as the remnants of her cursed life slowly leached out of her. If Eve would pull the stake out, death would take the double faster, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

“Eve,” I coaxed, holding her steady. “That’s not you. It’s not you.”

She was trembling, covering her mouth with her hand. “I killed her.”

“You had to.”

She shook her head fast, tears spilling from her eyes. It wasn’t the first vamp she’d staked, but maybe staking her clone, a mirror image of herself, broke something in her – something that couldn’t easily be fixed.

I gently moved Eve to the side and pulled the stake out of the clone’s heart. Silence reigned throughout the darkened space as everyone watched the clone wither, a final, desperate gasp escaping her lips. The spectacle was the most chilling, disturbing thing I’d ever seen. She looked so much like Eve… In a way, she was Eve. Watching her die, seeing her fixed, dilated pupils made my insides turn into jelly.

Enoch was too still, every muscle in his body tight. His stare was fixed on Edward, who was trying to use his feet to scoot himself across the floor. One hand was clasped over his neck where trails of blood flowed over his fingers and dripped onto the floor.

Enoch inhaled deeply, his irises dissolving from jade into coal.

“Get out of here, Enoch,” Eve warned him.

Enoch’s back tensed, desire for blood warring with his tightly-leashed control. I walked over and pushed his chest. “You need to get some air.” He growled at me, his green eyes flashing in anger. He looked at Eve, then at the clone. Back and forth. Like he couldn’t tell them apart. I pointed to the living, breathing, non-vampire Eve. “That’s Eve. That’s the real Eve,” I reminded him.

She held up her wrists so he could see the inside. “I have no mark.”

Mark?

Enoch looked toward where Edward Thatch sat uncomfortably on the floor, and as much as I didn’t like the guy, if Enoch killed him right now, after she’d just staked a mirror-image of herself, Eve might lose it. Not to mention the very real possibility that his crew might mutiny. Their eyes were wide as saucers as they watched the grisly scene unfold.

Thatch squirmed on the ground, making sounds that were almost inhuman.

I stilled. “Is he turning?”

Eve backed away from him slowly. “I can’t tell.”

“If he turns, we’ll have no choice but to end him,” Enoch said.

“How did she get out?” I asked. “Or, maybe the better question, Enoch, is how did you keep her caged?”

Enoch shrugged. “I warned her not to attempt to escape, and was shocked she obeyed. But then…I noticed little things. If I told her to be quiet, she wouldn’t speak. If I told her to sit, she sat. Terah tried it and she wouldn’t listen to anything Terah said.”

“So, you simply told her not to and she obeyed? That’s the reason?” I shot him a look of disbelief.

Eve paled even further. “You had just asked me to come get some fresh air. You invited me outside.”

Enoch stared at her for a long moment as comprehension dawned. “It was my fault. I… I was asking you. I forgot all about her.”

Advantage Enoch. He could turn anyone he wanted, and they had to do what he told them to do. The memory of our time training and studying vamp movements in the Compound came flooding back. I wasn’t sure if Victor was aware of Enoch’s influence on the vamps he sired, but I could see it now. Hindsight was twenty-twenty, right?

Eve stood back and watched Edward. “It’s possible she only bit him to feed, and didn’t inject venom into him,” she mused, turning to Enoch. “You used to feed from people without turning them.”

“Perhaps.” He hadn’t taken his eyes off Edward.

Enoch turned to his crew. “It’s best you get on with your duties. I’ll ensure your safety.”

Some were fast to leave the gory scene while others lingered, watching Edward for signs he might turn into a vampire, dividing their wary attention between Eve and her shriveled twin. Enoch faced them. They weren’t his sires, but he was their captain and they did as he said.

It wasn’t long until footsteps trailed down the stairs. Terah’s quivering voice filled the room. “What happened here?”

“The clone escaped,” Enoch explained.

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