I slowly and deliberately lowered my stake, stepping out from behind the mast and toward him, pushing my scent out again.
Behind him, the sky had lightened to the deep blue that comes just before the colors of dawn stretch across the sky. His pupils dilated the moment he recognized me.
He recoiled. “It’s really you.”
It would’ve hurt less if he’d killed me like he was trying to do.
He tore his eyes away from me and strode to the railing, grabbing the gown that still dripped sea water onto his pristine deck. Enoch held it up, his fists wringing the fabric. His hands trembled as he gently splayed it back over the rail, smoothing out the wrinkles his vice-like grip had left in the dense fabric.
He held tightly to the railing beside the gown and took a deep breath, slowly breathing it out. “Eve.” He said it matter-of-factly. Without feeling. Without care.
Although I didn’t understand what made him so callous, the word, “Yes” rushed out, holding every ounce of frustration I felt toward him. I knew it was unfair. I knew that for him, so much time had passed since we’d last seen each other. Generations had come and gone. Loved ones had been born and died. But to me, it was only hours since I left him and landed here, which was why his bitter reception stung. To be honest, I didn’t understand it or him at all.
I didn’t understand Abram, or the girl who looked like me, or how he could stand to kiss her like that. I didn’t even want to think about what else they did. Abram hated me. Some part of his mind still had to remember that on a basic level. He would never hook up with someone who bore even a remote resemblance to me.
I couldn’t fathom what had changed or what happened to make Enoch hate me. Was it because I left? Because I jumped when he thought I should have stayed with him? It felt like my heart was breaking, splintered shards falling to the deck and sprinkling into the cavernous space between him and me.
A long, silent moment stretched between us before he finally spoke, still gripping the rail like it was the only thing anchoring him to the earth, like he’d float away without it grounding him. “I’ve waited for you a very long time.”
Maybe he was finally beginning to understand and we could bridge the rift between us. I mustered every ounce of strength and replied with the only thing I could think of. Adrenaline was still rushing through my veins, but despite that, I just felt an overwhelming sadness as heavy as the ocean herself. “I just left you.”
“And you came to this time to find me and complete the task to which you were assigned? Because all the others have been unable to end me? You should’ve gone further back, Eve, to a time before we met.”
My brows kissed, confusion marring my features. “I’m not here to hurt you. I couldn’t if I wanted to, Enoch. I fell from thirteen forty-eight into seventeen-seventeen, if Edward Thatch was telling me the truth. I don’t know why or how, but it’s true. The technology should’ve taken me back to my time, but it sent me here instead.” I took a step toward him. A plank underfoot squeaked. At the sound, every muscle in Enoch’s back tightened. The briny sea churned beneath the boat as the wind pushed against the water and lashed out at our skin.
My legs felt weaker with each rock of the boat. My arms became heavy and my fingers tingled like they were asleep. And my head… a pounding ache formed behind my eyes. Something was wrong.
I wouldn’t be able to fight him off again, but I hoped I wouldn’t have to, now that he knew who I was.
“Why did you think I wasn’t real?”
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.