Amethyst Rapture (2 page)

Chapter Two

Every crew member had a hangover, but after a night of sex and debauchery they were too satisfied to complain. During the evening, Raul had overheard tales of an injured Spanish galleon laden with cargo. It had been damaged during rough weather and was being repaired in the Bay of Jagua, Cuba. The best time to attack a galleon was when it was crippled. As soon as the crew was rounded up,
Venganza
set sail.

Sheila woke with a pounding headache and was surprised to find herself fully clothed. Even when she was unconscious from drink Carlos usually took her. Sheila felt she should be insulted that he hadn’t screwed her, but she wasn’t.

Sheila felt oddly out of place when she walked on deck and past the crew members busy at their various tasks. She didn’t sway and flaunt herself. She tried not to look straight at any of the men.

“They chose the Bay of Jagua because it’s going to be difficult,” she heard Carlos say. “Governor Cienfuegos will be at the fortress at the mouth of the bay. He has never lost.”

“Carlos,” Sheila said.

Carlos looked up but didn’t respond. “We arrive tonight. We’ll stop farther along the coast, here.” He pointed to a map. “I’ll take several men with me and we will scout things out.”

“I heard Cienfuegos left to help out after a dispute with the natives on the mainland,” said one of his men.

“That’s great. It’ll be easier to capture a lame ship.” Carlos scratched his nose and looked up. “Sheila, go below decks.”

How dare he talk to me like that?
Sheila’s temper flared as she strode away.

* * *

Carlos waited an hour, enough time for Sheila to get into trouble if she wanted to. A direct order was enough to get her in a bad mood. Her favorite way to get back at him was to fuck one of his crew. This was her first test. Carlos searched in several bunks but finally found her in the galley finishing a greasy piece of pork and some boiled potatoes. She sat quietly, not flirting with the cook. Carlos looked at her pensively and decided he couldn’t wait any longer. He’d resisted taking her while she slept and his body was begging to feel release.

“Come with me,” Carlos demanded, grabbing her arm.

“What have I done now?” Sheila asked.

“Have you already forgotten about last night? I caught you with Jaime. You haven’t been punished.”

Sheila usually got hot with those words, but this time she was scared. “What do you mean?”

Carlos threw her over his shoulder and walked directly to his quarters. “I’ll punish you until you scream.” He threw her on his bed.

“Carlos. No,” Sheila begged.

“You’re not in the mood?” he asked, surprised.

“For what?”

“Me.” Carlos unbuckled his pants, and began to massage his hand up and down his staff. He watched Sheila intently as he circled the tip with his thumb. “You’re always hot for a romp.”

Sheila’s eyes grew as wide as saucers and she turned away. “Not now, I don’t feel well.”

Carlos saw fear in her eyes before she turned away and was convinced the enchantment had worked. He pulled the amethyst from his pocket. “Hold this,” he told Sheila.

She gingerly picked up the amethyst with her thumb and forefinger then immediately gripped the gem in her closed fist. Her eyes changed from brown to a heated dark purple. “I change my mind. I want to fuck,” she said, openmouthed, and moved to straddle her lover next to the bed. His manhood bobbed in front of her face. She grabbed his engorged penis and began working it with her hand. His slick precum shone wet on his erection as Sheila’s thumb circled the head, causing the member to increase in size.

Knowing that the spell worked excited Carlos almost more than Sheila’s mouth roughly claiming his penis. He watched her head move on his erection while she expertly slid her mouth and tongue along his shaft.

* * *

Sheila savored the salty liquid seeping from the tip of Carlos’s dick as he gripped her hair and rammed deep into her throat. Sheila sensed he was about to come and she pushed away.

She looked at Carlos through half-closed eyes and slowly began to massage around her pussy. She cocked an eyebrow and then pulled him between her legs. Carlos gazed into her purple eyes as he entered her.

Sheila groaned, squeezing her legs tighter. “Fuck me. Harder. Faster. I need more.”

Carlos grunted as he pumped into her. He bit her shoulder hard, bruising her and almost drawing blood.

“That’s my mark. You’re mine,” Carlos managed to say, thrusting again and again. Her nails bit into his back as Sheila arched and cried out. Carlos immediately followed, spurting cum rhythmically into her.

Carlos fell on top of Sheila, panting and sated. “You satisfy me every time.”

Sheila held the amethyst tightly and refused to unwrap her legs from around Carlos. “Are you ready to go again?”

“Don’t tell me you’re still hot?” Carlos smiled smugly.

“I’m always ready for a good fuck,” she reminded him, grabbing his ass.

Carlos knew the amethyst turned her into the whore she was, but would she turn off when he took it from her? “I need the amethyst.”

Sheila eyed the gem as if just noticing it clutched in her hand. It glowed like purple fire until Carlos took it from her.

The transformation was instantaneous. Sheila wiggled from beneath the man who had just satisfied her and covered herself with the sheet. “I should dress,” she said quietly.

“That’s funny, I’ve always had trouble keeping you dressed in my presence.” Carlos chuckled to himself. The old witch had turned his woman into a nun.

Carlos pulled up and buttoned his trousers. “I’ll see you above deck.” He kissed the amethyst and put it in his pocket.

Chapter Three

From behind stone walls Spanish soldiers watched the pirate ship come closer.

“They don’t suspect,” Captain Rodriguez said, smiling. “We’ll wait until they pass, then open fire. Get the cannons ready.” Their plan had worked.

For years
Venganza
had eluded the Spanish navy. The pirate vessel’s captain was called Carlos the Avenger. He had sunk at least seventeen merchant ships and three from the Spanish navy, causing countless deaths. Tonight Carlos would burn in hell. Captain Rodriguez watched, all muscles tense. He had to wait for the right moment. Nothing could be done if
Venganza
got back into the open ocean. He had no means to lay chase.

Captain Rodriguez waited until
Venganza
was just beyond the bottleneck of the mouth of the bay. “Fire!” he shouted.

Luck was with the Spanish captain. The first shot was a direct hit. He could see pirates swarming in confusion on the deck of
Venganza,
abandoning ship as fast as they could.
“Al ataque!”
Captain Rodriguez called to his men hiding in camouflaged longboats. “Attack!”

With swords and pistols ready the Spaniards attacked the disoriented pirates and slaughtered them all. No pirate escaped.

Chapter Four

Cienfuegos, Cuba, 2011

“We’ll be here until four. Dive at your leisure,” Bill Frampton said above the chitchat of his fellow divers. Bill was a dive-master and president of the Charleston Dive Club from South Carolina. He’d arrived two days earlier with seventeen divers eager to explore the Bay of Cienfuegos. Since the travel ban against Cuba had been lifted, the almost-virgin diving territory was irresistible. Many species of tropical fish and coral flourished in the warm water and there were countless sunken ships.

“Do you think we’ll see any sharks?” Brandy asked as she pulled her long dark hair into a ponytail.

“I hope not,” Jones replied. “I’m here to dive, not get eaten.”

“Sharks rarely eat people.” Brandy laughed.

“Maybe, but I don’t want to see firsthand,” Jones said, squirting defogger into his mask.

“The fisherman I was talking to last night said bull sharks and hammerheads are in the bay,” Ryan told them. “According to the Discovery Channel, bull sharks are the most aggressive sharks on the planet.”

“That’s why I’m taking my friend with me.” Jones patted a ten-inch blade strapped to his calf. “I’m here for tropical fish and coral.”

“My guidebook says this bay saw a lot of action from pirates. Pirates mean treasure,” Miranda piped up.

Brandy smiled. “Pirates mean buried treasure, not sunken treasure.”

“Why not? Maybe we’ll get lucky,” Miranda said.

Brandy perched on the side of the boat. “I hate that we have to wear a full wetsuit.”

“You’ll be glad if we run into any fire coral,” Ryan said with a smile, showing off his perfect teeth.

Brandy adjusted her fins and pushed back into the water. Ryan followed.

Brandy wasn’t the prettiest girl he’d ever met but she was the hottest in the dive club and Ryan was determined to tap that before they left Cuba. Each diver had a partner for safety reasons. Ryan had jumped at the opportunity to be with Brandy.

Visibility was great. Brandy held out her arms as a school of tiny blue fish swirled around her, darting in different directions. Her eyes briefly locked with Ryan’s and he saw a look of amazement. Brandy had never dived in the tropics. Ryan saw Brandy’s lips on either side of her regulator curving into a smile.

It wasn’t long before they reached the floor. Sand swirled around their fins but settled quickly. The water was translucent turquoise with occasional bubbles floating up as they exhaled. Ryan pointed towards the skeleton of a ship. Everyone was climbing through the broken and hollowed-out vessel. Barnacles and coral had long since begun construction on the sides and railings.

Brandy signaled Ryan should follow her in the opposite direction toward a deep canal, a natural underwater canyon running the length of the bay. Since meeting Brandy, Ryan had asked her out twice. She was always “busy.” He’d never met a woman so unresponsive. Usually all he had to do was smile and the woman was ready and willing to jump in his bed and let him fuck her brains out. But not Brandy. He was still trying to figure her out. He knew she wasn’t a prude because she had a tattoo on her lower back and virgins didn’t have tattoos, did they?

Ryan was tall and muscular with a golden tan. The combination of his green eyes and blond sun-bleached hair was irresistible to most women. Who didn’t like good looks and rock-hard abs?

Ryan watched Brandy discover the joys of tropical diving. Diving around Charleston was always cold, the water wasn’t clear and the fish not so colorful.

Ryan touched Brandy’s back to get her attention and pointed up. Through his mask Ryan watched her eyes grow large at the hammerhead shark swimming lazily less than ten feet above. She fought to control her breathing as it swam away.

Ryan wondered what it would feel like to touch her naked body, to caress her skin or lick it with his tongue. He followed Brandy into the canyon and startled when she suddenly pulled into a sitting position, flapping her arms backwards trying to stop herself.

Ryan looked for another shark. What had startled her? Nothing was there. Brandy looked intently at the wall of the canyon. Ryan still didn’t see anything besides some gorgonian sea fans and several sea plumes. Nothing to cause such a reaction. Suddenly Ryan spotted what it was: the hollow eye sockets of a bleached human skull stared up at him.

Ryan hovered next to Brandy and carefully dug around the sides of the skull. He gently cradled it in his hands as silt slowly filtered out the bottom.

A purple glint caught the corner of Brandy’s eye. There was a large gem in the hole where the skull had rested. The deep purple amethyst glittered and reflected the sun’s light. Brandy held the amethyst in her gloved hand and stared at it.

Ryan ascended a few yards to the top of the canal and set the skull in the sand. In his seven years of diving he’d found many worthless items. He’d never found anything remotely valuable until today. Ryan looked toward the sunken ship but didn’t see anyone.

Ryan descended and signaled Brandy to follow him up. She hesitated until he made the sign for camera and she understood. Brandy gripped the amethyst tightly, afraid that it might fall into the canyon and be lost forever.

At the surface, they found the boat empty. Ryan took the regulator out of his mouth and said, “Let me find the camera. Then we can find Bill to show him the skull.”

Brandy agreed. “‘Did you see this rock I found? I’ve been holding onto it so tightly I think my hand is permanently stuck in this position.”

Ryan climbed into the boat and helped Brandy up after him.

“I’m thirsty,” she said as she took off her buoyancy vest and oxygen tank.

Ryan sat next to Brandy. He peeled off his gloves and held out his hand. “Let me see your rock.”

Ryan looked intently at the amethyst as it sparkled in the sun. The stone was uncut and looked flawless. It was a deep, dark purple. “It’s amazing,” Ryan said. “It’s yours, you know. Finders keepers.”

Brandy took off her gloves and looked at her pruney fingers. “Let me hold it,” she said.

Ryan set the amethyst in Brandy’s outstretched hand. He felt a jolt pass through the stone when it touched her bare palm. Brandy’s hand closed around the stone. She looked at Ryan’s face, open-mouthed. He’d never looked so handsome. No, he wasn’t handsome. He was hot— sexy—and she wanted him. An inexplicable urge went from the top of her head to the tips of her toes and stopped between her legs. Brandy needed to feel release.