Page 55 of High Seas

“She wouldn’t have killed him,” Eve said quietly. “But maybe the distance will help her.”

I felt like using Eve’s words against her. Like Terah with Edward, Eve needed to let Enoch go soon…but I held my tongue.

She nudged my elbow with hers. “What do we do once we make port?”

“Enoch is taking us to his brother, right?” I said, wincing at the thought. “Though Asa is the last one of them I’d want to encounter.”

“He’s so different than them.”

“Maybe,” I led, “but maybe not quite as different as we think.” I still wasn’t convinced that Terah was more like Enoch than Asa.

The crew’s excitement to be near land was palpable. We still got the occasional wary glance, but overall, they were glad to be coming into port. Every crew member was currently drowning themselves in the rum that Enoch ordered brought up from the stores below after the episode with Hornigold and Eve. Now, they belted out songs about blowing men down and running them through, between laughter and belches as they went about their work.

Enoch had politely asked us “not to help” anymore, so we obeyed. I, for one, was glad to have a few minutes alone to talk to Eve – even though I knew Enoch was listening.

“When we find Abram, I want a few minutes with him. Alone,” I requested.

Eve opened her mouth to say something, but I cut her off. “He ran a sword through my stomach.”

“Okay, but don’t kill him. We might need him to get home.”

“I won’t.” Though I really, really wanted to. I wanted to grab Enoch’s sword and run the coward through.

“If you beat him half to death, will he be willing to jump with us after that?”

“I’ll make sure he sees things my way. And yours.”

“Abram might want to stay. What if he likes it here?” she asked, plucking nervously at her cuff, refusing to meet my eyes.

“Eve, you do want to go home, right?”

She finally dragged her eyes to mine. “I don’t have a choice. If it takes all three of us jumping together to get back, I have to go.”

My mouth gaped. “Have to? Why wouldn’t you want to? You realize he’s immortal, right? As long as no one splinters his heart in the next few centuries, you’ll see him again – in our time.”

“He won’t be the same then,” she replied in a voice so low, I almost couldn’t make it out. “And what if he gets staked by one of the clones, or someone figures out how to load their pistols with wooden bullets?”

“Victor’s already tried them. He’s too fast, even for our best snipers.” Her brows rose at that tidbit of knowledge. “I hate to say it, but you need to think long and hard about him. If you know what he’ll become, do you really think you’ll feel the same way about him when we get back? In our time, Eve, he’s a threat to our people. I know that what Victor did to him was wrong, but does that make it right for Enoch to terrorize the world just to get revenge?”

She pinched her mouth shut, probably because she knew the answer was Absolutely not. Nothing could justify what he and his vampires would do, how many lives they would take. Not to mention the fact that they would inevitably bring an entire country – no, an entire world – to its knees.

“Besides,” I added gently, “Victor didn’t turn him into a monster, Eve. He was already one when we were sent back.” She refused to look at me. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings; I just want to get the hell out of seventeen-seventeen. Maybe that’s selfish, but it’s true.”

Finally meeting my eyes, Eve replied, “Maybe you’re right, Titus. Maybe I’m the one being selfish, and maybe you’re right that I won’t want the monster in our time. All I know is that I want him now.” With that bitter comment, she stood and left me sitting alone.

I just hoped she woke the hell up. This would end badly for her; I could just feel it. Hell, not even that. I could see the catastrophe looming. I didn’t know if I could stop it, or if she would even want me to.

Each time we jumped, it seemed a chunk of the granite that was Eve chipped away.

If we made it back to our time soon, maybe she would be okay.

Then again, by the time we got there, she might not be the same Eve.

Chapter Sixteen

Abram

Turning Titus’s clone turned out to be a brilliant decision. Not only did he know where to find Asa, but he was hungry; even more ravenous than I. Once he transitioned, I explained to him how to sire so he could lead our newly-created army in my stead, since I would eventually have to leave this time. I just wanted to kill Eve before returning home so the bitch would stop showing up and begging for scraps.

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