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“Cap-tain Hook! Cap-tain Hook!” The crew chanted, lifting me high into the air, celebrating my new nom de guerre.
The boisterous excitement had blissfully pulled my attention from Katherine’s whereabouts. It was the first time since the incident that I’d had a moment of real happiness. Thanks to Smee and his brilliant token of appreciation, the future was looking much brighter.
“Rum for everyone! We have much to celebrate.”
The air around us thickened. Something was amiss. I felt the atmospheric shift in my bones. The scent of ozone was heavy in the air. The crew fell silent, and I looked at Smee, silently beckoning him to me, when what looked like a burst of smoke and glittering gunpowder exploded mere feet in front of me.
My heart stopped dead in my chest. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I had to be hallucinating. There, standing in front of me as the smoke dissipated, was my beloved Katherine and beside her slight frame was a familiar face from my nightmares—Blackbeard.
“You!” I growled. The initial relief of seeing Katherine safe and unharmed was immediately replaced with a burning rage at seeing my old mentor seemingly well and resurrected from the dead.
“Ahh, James, you look surprised to see me.” He let out a sinister chuckle.
“Katherine, are you alright?” I asked, my eyes never leaving Teach. She looked unharmed, but Teach was good at hiding abuse, and not all wounds left physical marks. I needed reassurance she was well. “Are you hurt? Did this fucker hurt you?” My hand shifted to my cutlass, ready to gut the man if he’d harmed one hair on her head.
“I'm fine, James.” Her voice sounded despondent, sending a chill down my spine. Even her eyes looked vacant, staring right through me as I took a step toward her.
“What have you done to her?”
“I see balance has been restored, and you’ve finally paid the price for your disloyalty,” he started, dismissing my question as he gestured to the newly fitted hook. This derailed me from my chivalrous defense of Katherine and sent my mind reeling at the implications of his words. Was he the reason the Divine had taken my hand? Had this been the reason Tiger Lily had alluded to? I’d sworn fealty to him years ago, even allowed him to leave his brand on my skin. But my loyalty had withered and died as my love for Katherine grew. I hurried to mask my thoughts. There would be time for contemplation later. Now, I couldn’t afford to show this man any weakness.
“I’m growing rather fond of it,” I said, admiring the polished steel. “I consider it an upgrade. And it makes for a fetching moniker—Captain James Hook. Has a nice ring to it, don’t you think?”
“Says the mortal, who’s now only half a man.”
“You really are slipping in your old age,” I tsked as I rolled up my sleeves, ensuring he got a good glimpse of the tattoo that now covered his brand. “If you truly knew your enemy, you’d have known that I severed the ties of fealty to you long ago. I am far from being the mortal man you remember.” I settled the sharp point of the hook on my forearm, pausing for dramatic effect before dragging it across my skin, giving the steel its first taste of blood. A flicker of fear flashed across Blackbeard’s face as the warm trickle of aubergine blood ran down my arm.
“It doesn’t matter what blood magic you sold your soul for. I already own it. You can cover my brand all you want, but until I’m dead, your soul belongs to me. It’s over for you, Hook,” he hissed. “Honestly, you should let me end it now. It would be mercy. You’re a washed-up has-been. You can’t even defeat a young boy. And now… now your woman is about to leave your prick in the dirt.”
That was all I needed to push me over the edge. Edward and I had to settle this once and for all. The demon roared in my chest. I couldn’t see it for myself, but I knew my eyes glowed red. A manifestation of the burning hatred that consumed me.
I charged at him, a feral battle cry ripping from my lungs. I put my entire weight into the swing, using the momentum to land a devastating blow. It was impressive, even for my left hand. Immense pain radiated all the way to my shoulder, but it was worth it to watch Edward stumble across the deck, barely keeping himself upright. It took a moment for him to straighten himself. Saliva and thick, purple blood poured from his mouth, soaking into his infamous beard. He smiled wide, baring his bloodstained teeth before coming at me.
It all felt like a recurring nightmare. Only a day had passed since my fight with Pan. The only difference tonight was my opponent. But Teach had overestimated his odds. My men had gathered around the deck to watch the spectacle. Smee stood at the center, leaving the fight to me, but I knew he had my back. If I couldn’t manage to defeat him with one hand, they would finish the job for me.
I wanted to end this now, but his words plagued me. The idea of him with Katherine clouded my judgment. I couldn’t trust anything that fucker said, and yet an uneasy panic took up residence in my gut. Nothing was right about this moment. Visions of his hands on her consumed my every thought. Leaving me exposed and he exploited it with a vicious right hook, landing squarely on my jaw. The impact made my teeth rattle. The silver tang of blood filled my mouth. Any normal man, especially one with my affliction, would have alarm bells signaling impending doom, but for me, it only fueled the fire.
I charged him again, the two of us falling as the deck pitched and rolled beneath us. We grappled on the floorboards, each of us twisting and rolling in a desperate attempt to gain the upper hand. Blow for blow, we traded punches. Though I felt the impact, pain seemed to be a distant notion. The only thing that registered was the need to make Teach pay. Pay for the loss of my hand, for corrupting my soul, for whatever he’d done to Katherine. Fury raged inside me, knowing that she’d been in his hands the whole time I’d been searching for her. It hadn’t taken long for him to break her, and it was all my fault.
“Enough!” Katherine’s command cut through the chaos. My body stilled instantly as if I’d been cast in stone. The two of us were motionless, frozen in the midst of battle. We remained locked in place. The urge to fight drained from my body. Foreign magic crawled through my mind and altered my sentiments against my will. Only when the urge to fight had been smothered did the air around me calm, and my body became my own again. Teach and I untangled ourselves, and although I wanted him dead, I couldn’t bring myself to raise arms against him.
I got to my feet and stared at Katherine. She stood tall, with her shoulders pulled back. A vacant expression on her face. The same stoic mask she’d worn the first day I’d seen her as she marched toward the witch’s pyre. But it wasn’t only her outward expression that drew my attention. A new necklace hung beside the locket she always wore. A tiny, corked vial. Its contents emanated an ethereal light. It was clear that the swirling contents contained magic of some sort. I’d wager it was the same magic that had violated my mind only moments before. The mystery of Katherine’s disappearance continued to vex me. What had happened in the short time that I’d lost track of her? She was clearly different.
“Katherine, my love, I’m sorry for the way I’ve behaved. Please forgive me.”
She closed her eyes, deep lines cutting across her brow before she met my gaze. Shadows danced within her clouded emerald eyes. What I saw there wasn’t the soft, loving expression I’d grown accustomed to. It was harsh and menacing.
“James, I am no longer interested in your apologies.” Her words were bitter, triggering a shiver that ran up my spine and settled in my chest.
“Can we talk about this in private? I know I have some explaining?—”
“No, I’m not here to talk things over. I’ve only come to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye? What are you talking about? We had a fight, but we still love each other. Goodbye is a word that doesn’t exist between you and me,” I said with a nervous laugh, trying to diffuse the intensity of the situation.
“James, don’t make this harder than it needs to be. I’m leaving you. That’s all there is to it.”
It hit me like a punch in the gut. After all we’d been through, her words were devoid of emotion and completely callous as she dismissed the love we shared without a single tear. This wasn’t my Katherine. The woman before me was a mere shell. My heart raced as the knot of anxiety expanded in my chest.
