BLOOD CURSE

~ TWELVE ~

Despite agreeing to join the Whitelock's and Caleb in the cabin, James refused to stand anywhere near Lyria and would not address her directly. To say that her patience was wearing thin would be an understatement but her sadness was overpowering that.

She wanted to apologise so badly but she couldn't find the words and had no clue how to say it in front of everyone else. It didn't help that he refused to look at her; he would look at his shoes, at a small patch of paint peeling from the wall, at his hands, but never at Lyria.

"I think I may know why Davy Jones is doing this. Purely theoretical though. This does not mean that he is definitely behind this." James scanned the heaps of parchment with Lyria's fine print scribbled all over them.

Since he had entered the room, Jordyn had been glued to his side. Apparently, the two of them had bonded every time Jordyn had been sent over to check on Lyria. She had even revealed who she truly was to him.

"Last time we were in Tortuga, I overheard some sailors talking about a bunch of pirates who had managed to creep up on some of Jones' men. Slit their throats. This angered Jones and now they think that he is taking revenge on the rest of the pirates; trying to steal enough souls to fill the void of his loyal crew members."

"Ha! I was almost correct."

"Not now, Jordyn." Lucien sighed, rolling his eyes at his little sister's antics. Staring at Lyria, he could sense the turmoil within her and before she even opened her mouth, he could tell that she was furious.

"Why did you not inform me of this before?" Lyria's voice was quiet, calm, deadly.

"Pardon?" James refused to meet her gaze.

"I asked why you did not share this piece of information with me when you heard it."

"Because it is just gossip. I never thought someone could murder a member of The Flying Dutchman."

"Except I have done it before so I know it is possible." Lyria's voice had a hard edge to it. "You have done it before."

"Yes, but the conversation referred to the sailors as men. Human men. Nothing extraordinary about them."

"We are referred to as men! To humans, there is nothing extraordinary about us other than the fact that we are fearsome Pirates that happen to be extremely talented in wielding a sword. And that is because any Vampyre who wishes to keep their immortal life hides the fact that they are immortal, James."

"Well forgive me, Lyria, for not hunting down the men-with-no-names mentioned in a rumour." James spat back.

"E-excuse me?" Jordyn stammered, raising her hand slightly. "You are immortal?"

________________________________________________________

Currently lying unconscious on Lyria's bed, Jordyn had had a much harder time accepting the existence of Vampyres than her brother did. Already, James had volunteered to compel Jordyn to never discuss the Supernatural species with anyone other than her brother and the crew of The Crimson Rose. Until then, they had gone back to discussing the issue regarding Davy Jones.

"So, hypothetically, if Davy Jones is the one destroying the sea, how do we stop him?"

"Good question." Caleb started.

"No answer." James finished.

Smiling at each other, both male Vampyres were happy to be working together again, easily falling into their routine. Even Lyria smiled at her two boys becoming one.

"Use me as bait."

Everyone stopped talking. They turned to look at her. Even James stared at his Captain with eyes full of horror.

"No way!" He snapped, emotions pouring into his eyes.

Protectiveness. Sadness. Fear. Regret.

"Just hear me out."

"No. You are not putting yourself in danger like that."

Caleb and Lucien stood behind him nodding their head in agreement. At the moment, they were forming a trio against her and a small part of her was happy to see them working together. The majority of her was irritated that they were ganging up on her.

"Look, I have killed some of Jones' crew before. A man like him does not just forget that without collecting something in return but as I am immortal also, he has never caught me. Use me as bait. Let me talk to him. Ask him questions. See what I can pry out of him whilst the rest of you sneak aboard The Dutchman and look for clues. Lucien, your men will be safe as long as they stay with mine."

The plan was half genius and half idiotic; it contained major plot holes but was also solid enough that three men didn't have many excuses to shoot it down. Neither one of them wanted to put Lyria at risk but knew that voicing those worries would result in them losing their balls.

Caleb and Lucien had opted to stay quiet hoping that no response would result in the Vampyre forgetting the 'bait' idea. James had other plans.

Filling with rage, his body started to shake as his imagination played images of the one woman who had been there for him staked upon a broken mast. Chest ripped to shreds. Wooden planks piercing her chest. Her heat ripped out and the hole being replaced with barnacles.

"NO!" James bellowed, loud enough that Jordyn startled awake and the crew of The Crimson Rose cowered, covering their sensitive ears. "ENOUGH, LYRIA."

Stood there in shock, Lyria recoiled from the handsome man with the harsh tone. The great and mighty Lyria Blackwood flinched away from the Vampyre before her.

Jordyn clutched the bed sheets to her chest, staring at the new scene with wide eyes. A voice in her head was telling her that she should be scared shitless but the other voice was telling her that she was surrounded by so much power. Three of the people in here could murder her before she could even say 'sea' and one of them was a head shorter than her. Jordyn should be afraid but instead she was in awe. She could feel the energy crackling off of James and Lyria; raw, strong, unforgiveable energy.

"Why do you care, James? I am doing this for you. Maybe then you will see how sorry I am for what I did to you." Lyria whispered, aware of the other three people in the room. "Maybe then I will find the courage to tell you how badly I have missed you and how much I wish I could take back those horrible words. These past few days without you have been hell. I have been driving myself insane thinking of ways to get you back, to apologise. But nothing has been good enough. Because nothing will ever make up for the pain that I caused you."

Tears pooled in her hazel eyes, making the golden flecks glint in the sunlight trickling through the open window. Chest heaving with ragged breaths, Lyria tried to contain the sobs bubbling in her throat. James just stared at her.

Then, he turned on his heel and walked out the room.

Aware of the three pairs of eyes on her, Lyria jumped out the window and swam to shore.