Sea Of Dreams

Chapter Seven

A year had come and gone since the last, fateful encounter with Victoria. Loris had neither seen, nor heard from her in the duration of that time. On the rare occasion he would turn to his human form to catch sight of her at the Hallewell Estate, his efforts would prove to be fruitless and he grew irate. Despite it all, he dismissed his irritability solely on the notion that when the time was right, he could- and would- seize her quite easily.

Loris made his way through the London docks as another merchant voyage was about to embark. He clasped his necklace and felt the pulsating thrums from the piece. His tail vanished into the human legs with which he had grown familiar. Once again donning the putrid, filthy garments of a sailor, he boarded the Hallewell ship.

It was not a necessity to live among the humans in disguise, but the ruse greatly provided him the opportunity to gain knowledge from the other men about the company itself.
He could easily follow the ship across the waters and take it down in the middle of the ocean, however he preferred to simply ride along with them as a fellow shipmate, gaining secrets and information that was worth the journey.

He worked silently, knotting the ropes to the shrouds with a practiced hand. A couple of men working next to him conversed about the upcoming voyage, and he listened intently.

"I've got a bad feeling about this trip..." one of the men muttered, lifting a barrel onto his shoulder. The other man, a bearded, burly fellow coughed and nodded in response.

"You're not the only one, Smith, I think we all do." He replied.

The man he called Smith, grunted and set the barrel down at the top of the gangway.

"People are talking...they says the Hallewell Shipping Company's cursed. More shipwrecks than trade these days. If this job wasn't worth my weight in gold, I wouldn't even be here." He answered, spitting over the side of the ship.

The bearded man sighed and dropped his barrel down next to Smith's. He turned and shrugged at the man.

"Right you are, mate. I'm in the same boat, so to speak."

Smith glanced at him and snorted.

"Good one, Thomas."

Loris chuckled under his breath. These poor sods had no idea what was coming for them. Both the men stopped talking and glanced over at him.

"Ay, you there. I feel like I've seen you before. What's your name?" Smith asked with a raised brow while crossing his muscled arms over his chest. Loris finished knotting the rope and glanced back at him.

The other two men stared at him for a moment before laughing.

"My oh my, you're quite a pretty one aren't you? I bet you have all the women crawling after you with a face like that." Smith chortled with a grin.

Loris frowned, disgusted by the thought of human women crawling after him...well...except for one in particular. He tsked and straightened to his full height.

"Lo....," He began, "Lo...lo..." He froze.

Damnit, say a human name, any name! William? Edward? James?

The two men blinked at him, confusion etched across their faces.

"What was that?" Smith asked with a smirk. Loris frowned and swallowed the bile forming in his throat.

"Logan. My name is Logan." He finished while inwardly cringing at himself.

Smith and Thomas glanced at one another before Thomas turned back to him.

"Alright...Logan. This here is Smith, I'm Thomas. Don't mind him, he's more bark than bite, and maybe just a bit envious too. Smith wishes he could find at least one doxy to stroke his mast pole." He laughed and punched Smith in the shoulder as the other man puckered a sour face.