Titus smirked and I knew what he was about to say before he said it. “Yeah, you should really work on your stamina, Enoch. You’ve got to master the control so you can last for hours, maybe even days or weeks. Minutes, or even seconds? That’s really disappointing…”
Enoch nodded sagely, Titus’s attack on his manhood going right over his head. “I will certainly try harder the next time I sire a vampire.”
“Or you could just, oh, I don’t know, never sire another vampire…” Titus hinted sarcastically.
Enoch’s annoyance flared back to life.
Titus hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “I’m suddenly tired. I’m gonna go back to the hammock and shut my mouth until breakfast.” His stomach growled. He covered it with his hand. “When is breakfast, exactly?”
“For heaven’s sake, Titus, there’s plenty of food on board. Go find some. You don’t have to wait until daybreak,” Enoch scoffed. He waited beside me as Titus walked off in search of something to eat.
When he was out of earshot, I turned to Enoch. We both spoke at the same time. “Go ahead,” I offered.
He cleared his throat. “I apologize for eavesdropping. I don’t mean to. I just… my hearing is very sensitive. There’s nowhere on this ship where I can’t hear you, and when you speak…” His voice cracked. He rocked back on his heels and cleared his throat before starting again. “Now that you’ve come back to me, now that you’re really here, your voice is all I want to hear. It’s hard to ignore the urge to listen.”
I understood completely. To be honest, I’d been listening in on his conversations, too. Trying to drink in every moment I had with him, even if I wasn’t in it. Because we didn’t know when I’d leave this time, and it would be a long time before I saw him again, if I ever did.
“You probably think I’m a besotted fool,” he tried to laugh.
“No more than I am,” I finally managed to say.
The tension in his body melted.
“At first, I thought that maybe you liked me because I was made to attract you. Kael literally engineered me to be what you wanted. Some things were already there… my hair color and build, but some things, he gave me just for you.”
“Like what?” he asked, moving to hold me. Vampires had icy cold skin, but Enoch was warm. When he wrapped me in his arms, I couldn’t help but feel like I was right where I was supposed to be. Like fate brought us together across time, space, and especially, circumstance.
“My scent, for one. My blood type – it was changed to suit you. My hearing, sight, and sense of smell were made to protect me from you, or at least make me your equal. That was the hope with my speed and strength, but Kael missed the mark on that one.”
“And the fact that you can disappear…” he grinned. “That’s something I cannot do.”
“You almost can. When you run, you’re so fast, my eyes barely see the blur of your form. To a normal person, you disappear entirely.”
“How do you do it? How do you make yourself vanish?”
“I just concentrate. It’s hard to describe, but I imagine my cells turning inside out, and that the inside is transparent.” I shivered when he ran a hand down my arm, tracing a long vein of circuitry beneath the fabric of my suit.
His eyes locked onto mine and he leaned in, achingly slowly. I closed my eyes and disappeared. He smiled and tightened his grip on my waist. “That was cruel.”
I grinned and kissed him, reappearing as his lips moved over mine. My eyes met his patient green ones, memorizing every fleck in them. When his fangs raked across my tongue, I threaded my fingers into his hair. His soft noises of pleasure met mine, drowned out by the sounds of the sea and wind. He pulled away.
“I never thought I’d say this, but I’m glad you didn’t make it home.” He closed his eyes and put his forehead against mine.
“I don’t want to leave again.”
His eyes slowly opened. He lifted his head. “Are you feeling well?”
I glanced at my hand tech, glowing behind his back. “I am. I think my body needs time to adjust to traveling. I don’t know why I’m different. Titus doesn’t have any issues at all, but I think that’s all it is. Titus wants to go home, but there’s nothing there waiting for me. No life. No one who cares. I’m happier with you, Enoch, no matter the time.”
He kissed me hard.
I couldn’t seem to get close enough to him, and he must have felt the same way. All I wanted was to stop thinking and just feel. The next several minutes were a test in restraint… for both of us.
“I can have Titus unlink us,” I said when we finally came up for air.
He shook his head. “Let’s wait a little longer and make sure you’re well enough to do that.”
I nodded, even though I felt great. Better than I had since I was pushed from the roof of the Compound. It was hard to hide the disappointment filling my heart. I thought he’d be happy I wanted to stay.
The few members of his crew who were keeping watch tried not to stare, but couldn’t help but glance at us once in a while. I’d forgotten all about them until one stubbed his toe on a crate as he walked by and let out a string of muttered curses.
Enoch’s men looked at me with leery eyes, probably because they’d seen my clone, maybe several of them, but also because of my tech suit and because I was kissing Enoch.
I ignored them and kissed him again, unable to get enough, but we were interrupted by a female growl, a muffled male scream, the sounds of boots scuffing on the floor, and something that sounded like a fingernail breaking.
While Enoch’s quarters were at the stern, the crew’s quarters were on the forecastle, toward the bow. Enoch rushed inside, careful not to wake his sleeping men. Most snored in bunks built into the wall, while a handful slumbered in hammocks strung from ceiling planks. In the furthest corner, Terah crouched over her victim, wiping his blood from her mouth. She turned at the sound of a squeaky plank under Enoch’s foot, her eyes wild. The blood had overwhelmed her senses of propriety.
“Is he dead?” Enoch asked softly.
I couldn’t hear a heartbeat, or air whooshing from the man’s lungs.
Terah tilted her head in question.
Enoch pointed at his crewman lying prostrate in front of her. Terah turned to look and then stood and put her hand over her stomach, a crystalline tear leaking from one eye. Her lips quivered as she began to cry.
I knew that look. She wasn’t in control and it scared the hell out of her.
She felt helpless. Weak.
“Go,” Enoch ordered. “I’ll see to him.”
She hesitated, still crying.
“Come on, Terah,” I whispered, holding my hand out to her. She looked at my upturned palm and then surprisingly slid hers into it. I took her through the small maze of men onto the deck where she sucked in several deep breaths. I watched as she waged a war with herself, tearing at her golden brown hair, swiping at her lips until the skin around them was red and raw. “The blood is gone,” I told her.
She stopped mid-swipe and wheeled around on me. “This is your fault.”
“My fault?” I asked, stepping away from her, my hand instinctively reaching for one of my stakes. I’d seen the same crazed look in more than one vampire with which I’d trained. Her body was tense as she prowled forward. Movement from the stairs caught my eye. Titus crept up them slowly, a finger over his lips.