Royce’s phone rang, bringing an abrupt halt to their make out session. As Becki wrenched her lips from his, she dropped her head on his chest in defeat and sniffed as tears silently fell.
Royce walked around to the front of the car with Becki still wrapped around him like a blanket. As he placed her gently on the hood of the car he said, “It may be ‘no big deal’ to you,” he said looking into her tear-drenched eyes, “but it sure as hell is a big deal to me.”
Confusion flared in Becki’s eyes for a brief moment and anger quickly followed. “But you just said--”
Royce placed a finger across her lips, thinking that might be a wiser choice to stem the flow of her words at this point. “I know exactly what I said. You have to learn to trust me, Becki, trust us. And for the record, I’m getting damn sick and tired of you running away from me,” he said as he wrapped his arms more tightly about her.
Becki dropped her head on his chest and whispered, “I don’t want you to leave. I love you, Royce.”
“See, that’s what I’m talking about. I love you too, baby,” he said as he kissed her tears away. “I don’t know what comes next with the team, but I do know that I want to be with you. I want you at my side, whether I’m working at a desk or working in the field.”
“I love you so much, Royce, but I don’t know if I can handle fighting Vampires and Werewolves, and God knows what else,” Becki said fearfully.
Royce laughed. “Leave the creatures to me, babe. Do you really think I would let you anywhere near danger?”
Royce’s phone rang again. He pulled his phone from the front pocket of his jeans, which seemed to be tighter now than they were when he put them on. Sean’s phone number flashed across the screen, and Royce pushed ‘ignore’. Sean could wait.
With a quick kiss he suggested, “Why don’t you stay with the girls tonight?”
Becki flashed him a questioning glance.
“There is a lot of work to be done tonight. Kurt, Landon, and I need to try to pinpoint the exact location of the coin and plan the recovery. The Council is getting antsy. Unfortunately, there are too many people who know the coin is in the Charleston area and there are still at least five more coins out there somewhere. We need to find them and return them to the council as quickly as possible. Who knows what kind of havoc we could be looking at if the wrong person found one of them?”
“Ok,” Becki consented as she gave him one more hug. “You boys do your thing. The girls and I will put on mud masks and paint our nails while we watch chick-flicks. Kurt has to take them to the airport in the morning, but I think I’ll sleep in. Let me know when you get back in tomorrow. And Royce,” she said grabbing a handful of his shirt, “be careful. Come back to me in one piece. I love you.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Royce promised, gently unclenching her hand. “You have my word.”
“Royce,” Landon shouted from the garage. “Sean said he couldn’t reach you on your cell, so he called mine. He said he needs to talk to you…now.”
“Duty calls,” Royce said with a grin.
Shaking her head, Becki asked, “You love this stuff, don’t you?”
Royce was suddenly very serious as he said, “Yes, I do. But not as much as I love you.”
Patting his chest, Becki assured him, “Well big guy, lucky for you, you don’t have to choose.” Hopping down from the hood of her car, she blew him a kiss. And then she proceeded to give her hips an extra wiggle as she strutted toward the house.
Royce growled and shifted uncomfortably in his jeans. “You are playing with fire woman,” he called suggestively.
Becki laughed and responded without turning around, “Go take your call. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
* * * *
CHAPTER TEN Joanna strolled along the battery feeling embarrassed and somewhat unstable. She closed her eyes and breathed in the salty air. Why would all those memories have to come rushing back today, of all days? When Landon tossed her on the bed, she was suddenly back “there” in her mind. She lived it all again, the feelings of being trapped in hopelessness, pain, and humiliation.
She had suddenly transitioned from a confident Witch tussling with a sexy Werewolf to a whack job in the blink of an eye. Landon had descended on her, and in that instant she heard the cell door slam shut in her mind. She actually felt the metal bands around her wrists and ankles. The bands with razor-sharp edges were designed to deter prisoners from trying to slip free. Some of the prisoners who were disobedient, or tried to escape, had been fitted with collars. They should have known…there was no escape from hell!
The jailers used dark magic to draw power from the Witches they had chained to the dungeon walls. The Witches were physically and emotionally drained to the point of exhaustion, and in some cases death. Late at night guards were allowed to help themselves to a captive or two. They would take the Witches into their private chambers, and what happened there was even worse. Joanna shuddered.
“Mommy, look! A pirate ship, like in my bath,” a young voice chirped nearby. Joanna turned to look at the young child pointing toward Charleston harbor. “Pirates have treasure!” she announced dramatically. “Do these pirates have treasure, mommy?”
Joanna felt a sharp stab of pain at her temple. She automatically reached for the sunglasses perched on top of her head.
“That’s the funny thing about pirates, Madeline…you never know,” her mother laughed. She looked into the harbor where the little girl was pointing and praised, “You have such a wonderful imagination. Pirates! Who would have thought?”
Sliding the sunglasses in place, Joanna closed her eyes briefly in an effort to minimize the nausea brought on by her sudden pain.
“Mommy! It’s not in my mag-i-naion,” the little girl said with a frown and stomp of her small foot.
“Well, in that case, we better get to the ice cream shop before the pirates steal all of the ice cream,” her mother suggested trying to distract her daughter.
The little girl looked out into the harbor one more time and shrugged. “Ok. Can I have the bubble-gum kind? And a waffle cone?” she negotiated.
The mother laughed hugging her daughter tightly. “Sure, if I can have a bite.”
“Mommy, you don’t like bubble-gum! It makes your tongue blue,” the little girl said, wiggling away from her mother with a giggle. She latched onto her mother’s hand and began tugging. “Come on, Mommy, those bad pirates don’t get my ice cream,” she declared as she began skipping down the sidewalk holding tightly to her Mother’s hand.
Joanna couldn’t take her eyes off the pair. Her heart felt as if it was being slowly ripped out of her chest. Her own daughter would be about that age. Joanna imagined her with the same dark hair and dancing eyes. Tears of sorrow welled behind her sunglasses.
After hours of labor in a dank, dark place, they had taken her baby girl away. Weak from blood loss and hunger, Joanna had barely survived the birth of her precious baby girl. The midwife had sneaked the baby into Joanna’s arms for a brief moment before the guards came to take her beautiful baby away.
In that moment, Joanna had lost the will to live. She had considered using the last of her strength in order to stop her heart from beating. But then, her precious baby girl began to cry. As the guards took her away, Joanna suddenly found a reason to live. She vowed to search to the ends of the earth looking for her daughter.
That day, she began planning her escape. She feigned a lingering illness as a result of the birth. In reality, she was secretly gaining strength.
The midwife watched Joanna closely each day, searching for any sign of improvement. The Master was waiting for her return to the dungeon. The moment she was strong enough, Joanna would be sent back into hell where she would be drained of her magic each day and would live in fear of nightfall.
Joanna listened closely to the whispered conversations between the servants and midwives. Screams of pain and the sound of babies crying indicated that Joanna was in maternity ward of sorts. She only heard the crying for a few momen
ts, before they were quickly taken away by the guards. Some of the Witches, like the one who briefly occupied the bed next to Joanna, did not survive… nor did her child.
She secretly grew stronger, while continuing to feign weakness. She had listened intently to the servants and midwives in an effort to find out exactly where the guards took the newborns when they stole them from their mothers’.
Joanna had successfully bridged a fragile mental link with her daughter. She had been fearful of making the link too strong as she couldn’t risk discovery. The link would help Joanna locate her daughter when it came time to leave.
She woke abruptly to a blinding flash of pain searing through her head and into her heart. The pain was so intense that she had become violently ill. Joanna screamed and retched over and over again, and then she had slipped into unconsciousness.
Joanna knew the moment she had awakened that something was terribly wrong. She frantically tried to link with her daughter, but she could not. Soon she learned why….
The guards who brought the next Witch into the sick bay told the midwives the tragic news. A virus had spread through the nursery and “took all the babies.” They went on to say that the nursery had been moved to complex B.
Her baby was dead! Joanna screamed inside, biting her lips until she tasted blood. She mustn’t show emotion or react to the devastating news. What kind of virus would kill all the babies in one night?
Joanna was more determined than ever to escape. She vowed to make each and every one of them pay for killing her baby. She escaped that very night and kept her vow of revenge… with one exception. Joanna dreamed of the day their paths would cross, and then he too would get what he deserved.
# Joanna determinedly pushed her grief away and turned once again to gaze into the harbor. She reminded herself that, like the tides, life constantly changed and moved. She had no choice but to move forward rather than dwell on the past. She spied Fort Sumter standing proudly in the distance. This great fortress was one of the strongest in the United States, possibly even the world. The Fort must have been a hotbed of activity during the war. Joanna could imagine the sounds of cannons and guns firing as soldiers worked diligently to defend their stations.
Joanna knew when she moved on she would leave a piece of her heart in this historic city. The past seemed so close here; she felt it wrapping around her in such a way that it almost seemed within reach.
However, long before the war, Charleston was somewhat of a pirates’ heaven. Shop and tavern owners loved the constant supply of goods the pirates supplied. Merchants especially looked forward to the coins and jewels spent in their shops and bars. It was a match made in heaven; that is until the pirates held Charleston under siege. Several wealthy families were held hostage and threatened with death if the pirates’ demands were not met. In all fairness, Joanna did have to acknowledge that the demand was for medical supplies to treat injured crew members. When the medicine was handed over to Blackbeard, he freed the wealthy hostages.
It must have been exciting to see Charles Towne Harbor, as it was known then… filled with cargo ships as well as pirate ships. Wives of ship owners and crew members paced back and forth on platforms or walkways that had been built on the roof tops of their homes. The ‘widow’s walks’ provided a bird’s eye view for the women as they tried to catch a glimpse of the ship that would bring their husbands home to them. Many women spent countless hours walking and praying for their husband’s ship to return safely while they also prayed they would not be left a widow.
Joanna didn’t see herself as the pacing sort; she would have most likely been out on one of those ships seeing some action first hand. It would be fun to travel back in time, but only for a short visit. Modern conveniences were not something Joanna would be willing to give up.
Turning to watch as one of the tourist filled horse-drawn carriages passed by; she decided it was time to move on.
Joanna pasted a determined smile on her face and began moving toward the retail district. She couldn’t resist glancing at the harbor over her shoulder one last time.
# Joanna stopped midcourse, ripped the sunglasses from her eyes, and ran to lean as far over the seawall bordering the battery as possible. She blinked…and then looked again.
“Holy--” she didn’t finish her outburst. She had already received strange looks when she had sprinted to the wall like a crazed woman. The little girl was right about the ship. “Oh, Baby, that ship wasn’t in your ‘mag-i-naion’ after all,” Joanna mumbled.
Queen Anne’s Revenge once again graced Charleston Harbor just as it had in 1718. As if seeing a ghost ship was not freaky enough, the flag was downright disturbing-- a skeleton spearing a heart-- while toasting the devil. Joanna felt shivers dance down her spine.
She spun toward the gardens behind her, looking in the direction the mother-daughter duo had taken. She searched frantically for the child who apparently could also see the ship. Of course, the little girl and her mother were long gone.
Ok! Retail therapy would have to wait! Joanna had a ship to explore. Forcing herself to stop and think for a minute, she decided that disappearing with so many people milling about was not an option. It was the sort of thing that would definitely cause a stir. Quickly crossing the street, she ducked into a heavily shaded corner of the gardens.
For the briefest of moments, Joanna considered calling Sean, but then she dismissed it as unnecessary. He would report to Royce, and she didn’t want to deal with all of that right now. Royce would throw a fit if he knew what she was about to do, but this was too good to resist. Besides, it would be a quick in and out. There was no way to guess how long the ship would be here, and Blackbeard was rumored to be quite the ladies’ man.
# “Don’t think I will forget that ye hornswaggled me, ye doublecrossing scalawag,” the gentleman pirate, Bonnet Stede, groused. Yet, he lifted his glass of grog in salute of his old frienemy Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard.
The last time their paths crossed, the scoundrel Blackbeard had left Stede high-and-dry. Literally, he had left Stede’s ship the Revenge marooned on a sandbar. Now that he thought about it, Blackbeard’s actions had ultimately led to Stede’s current state of ghostliness.
“Aye, sorry about that, me harty. As they say now a days, business is business, savvy? ‘Twas more ‘n a century ago,” Blackbeard said stroking own ghostly beard.
“‘Tis a shame ye didn’t get a chance ta enjoy th’ booty before ole Alexander turned his soldier boys on ye,” Stede remarked mirthfully. “Aye, the bilge sucking landlubber,” Blackbeard agreed. “Alas, the
Scurvy Dogs weren’t as smart as they thought! Me loot is safe and
sound,” he bragged.
A century ago, Blackbeard had tricked Stede into sailing to North
Carolina to receive a pardon. Stede did indeed receive his pardon, but he
returned to Charleston only to find the Revenge, his ship, marooned on a
sandbar. Twenty-five of his crew members were stuck on the sandbar
along with the ship. After Blackbeard had not-so-accidentally trapped
the Revenge, he pillaged the ship. He stowed the spoils of his deed on his
own ship, Queen Anne’s Revenge.
Bonnet was livid and vowed to get revenge. Unfortunately, he was
captured, tried, and eventually hanged before he could find Blackbeard
to square things up.
Blackbeard met an even more gruesome end. Virginia Governor
Alexander Spotswood ordered First Lieutenant Robert Maynard to find
and kill Blackbeard. The Lieutenant did just that. After locating and
capturing Blackbeard, the Lieutenant severed Blackbeard’s head. He
actually hung the severed head from the sloop’s bowsprit to prove that
Blackbeard was indeed gone forever. Or so they had assumed… Straightening in his chair, Stede corrected Blackbeard’s claim, “Ye
mean ‘ta say our treasure be safe and sound?”
“Aye, ‘tis what I said. Me treasure be safe and sound,” Blackbeard
reiterated.
“Blow me down! Where be the loot ye Old Salt?” Stede inquired
gleefully.
“Dead men tell no tales, savvy? ‘N last I heard, we was dead, me
matey,” Blackbeard laughed heartily.
“Aye, that we are,” Stede shook his head in regret. Then he looked at
Blackbeard intently adding, “For the moment.”
The reunion was interrupted by one short knock followed by the
Quartermaster’s voice announcing, “Cap’n we got somethin’ fer ye.” Blackbeard rolled his eyes and shouted, “What do ye have fer me?” The Quartermaster chuckled deeply. “Somethin’ ye gonna lust,
Matey. Ye been waitin’ near a hundred years fer it.”
“Jolly help be hard t’ find,” Blackbeard muttered to Stede. “Bring it
in, ‘n be quick about it,” he shouted toward the door.
The mighty door opened. The Quartermaster entered Blackbeard’s
quarters dragging with him the most beautiful wench either pirate had
ever seen. She was just what the party needed.
“Avast,” Blackbeard whispered rising quickly to his feet. Stede struggled to get to his feet as well. He was still getting his
sea-legs, and the grog was making it more difficult than usual. Well,
that and the fact that he had been land-locked for the past hundred
years or so.
“Let go of me, you imbecile,” Joanna ordered. For a ghost, he had
a pretty firm grasp.
Joanna jerked her arm away from the pirate who had captured her
the minute she had materialized on the ship. The plan had been to
sneak on board, investigate, and be gone before anyone knew she had
been there. Shit, this wasn’t going at all the way she envisioned it. Blackbeard extended his hand toward Joanna and commanded,
“Come, me bonny lass; I wish to see ye more closely.”
“Well you can wish in one hand and shit in the other. I’m not
coming any closer,” Joanna assured him. She refused to budge one
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