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Millenia had come and gone since the last time I’d asked for their help. I didn’t expect any response. I was, after all, persona non grata in the proper immortal world, but it couldn’t hurt to try. I unsheathed my cutlass and locked my eyes on the railing. If the clouds opened up and cursed my ship with a downpour, that railing was my first line of defense.
A crack of electricity tore across the night sky an instant before a deafening clap of thunder rattled my teeth, and that gentle sprinkle of rain transformed into a torrent.
13
NEVER
“Don’t you know how to drive a boat?!” I yelled, dragging myself up off the floor. Well, that’s what I was trying to do anyway. The floor beneath me rocked the opposite direction I was moving, and I stumbled in the darkness, banging my shin against the hard corner of the bed frame and careening onto the mattress.
I knew there was a storm outside. I could hear the wind and thunder, but I was still blaming Hook for being thrown out of bed. Warmth trickled down my leg as I moved to the center of the bed, and I pressed my hand to the throb.
Yep, I was bleeding. Awesome.
“This is going on the list of reasons why I hate you!” I shouted.
When I finally got my bearings enough to make an attempt for the door, I scooted to the edge and used the post to brace myself as the boat rocked and tilted. In my head, I ran through where the objects were in the room before the whole thing had turned into a tilt-a-whirl. What were the odds the table was anchored to the floor? I knew the chairs weren’t.
Why hadn’t I been smart enough to leave at least one candle or lantern lit? I closed my eyes, because even though it was pitch black, it signaled to my brain to stop wasting energy trying to use that particular sense. Every sound in the room multiplied, bouncing off the walls despite the heavy curtains dampening the sound coming from the windows.
Now, there was an idea. Instead of trying to make it to the door in the dark, what if I tried for the windows? It wouldn’t offer much light, but a little would be enough to keep me from falling and breaking a wrist or something. I shoved my hand in my pocket and wrapped my fingers around the heavy key. Good. I left it there. My blade was tucked neatly in my boot, which I’d been too damn tired to bother taking off before I’d finally dragged myself to the bed earlier.
“Light first,” I said, pushing away from the bed post and stumbling forward waving my arms in front of me. The thought of the ship shifting violently and pitching me into, and then through, the fine glass windows made my knees wobble. The second my fingertips brushed the jacquard fabric of the drapes, I grabbed handfuls of it and pulled myself flush with the glass.
I worked my way across the fabric panels, yanking them aside one by one as I found the seams, but there wasn’t much to see. In fact, it was nearly pitch black out there too. I grabbed another handful of fabric and yanked just as a bolt of lightning creased the clouds.
And I screamed like a little bitch.
A man was hanging in front of the window looking in at me, eyeing me like I was edible. His gnarly, moss laden teeth made me cringe and his black tongue flicked out rapidly.
“Ew.”
Fortunately, the light disappeared just as quickly and I was left with just an outline of a man, butt-ass naked, with his junk pressed against the glass.Washe naked though? I squinted at the silhouette and could just make out scales tracing down his hips and legs—another jolt of lightning hit—and yep, even his dick. The dude had a scaly dick.
The urge to gag doubled me over and I flipped the curtain closed.
“Was that a siren? Or whatever you called a male siren?”
The crazy chick at the lagoon had legs, at least for a little bit. Did that mean they could shapeshift?
I stayed where I was for a second, waiting to see if the leering, scaly bastard on the other side tried to bust his way in, but when I pulled the curtain back and peeked out again, he was gone. I should have been thrilled, or at least relieved, but instead I got a sick, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.
What if he wasn’t the only one?
I knelt and pulled the blade from my boot, then I waited. When the next flash of lightning illuminated the room, I sprinted for the door, leaping over an overturned chair that slid into my path as the boat tipped again. The movement shifted my landing off balance, and I stumbled forward, finding the door much earlier than expected, with my face.
“Christ-all-fucking-mighty-on-a-goddamn-slut-cracker!” Hot blood poured from my forehead, and I pressed the heel of my palm to the gash. “Head wounds always bleed more, Never. It’s nothing to worry about.”
I’d almost convinced myself of that too, right up until I heard the screeching from beyond the door. There were more of those nasty creatures out there on the ship. I might not have liked Hook or his men, but there was no way I was cowering in his room until those gross bastards found their way in and cornered me.
I wiped my blood on my shirt and searched along the door for the keyhole. When I found it, I clenched the handle of my knife between my teeth, pulled the key from my pocket, and slipped it in the lock. The ship pitched hard, rocking me with it. I managed to keep my grip on the knob, barely, but the damned key clattered to the floor.
“Fuck!” The word came out muffled since I was yelling around the handle of my knife still between my teeth. I dropped to all fours and slid my hands across the polished wood boards. Seconds ticked by, even with the racket I could hear the clock, and the room seemed to sink deeper and deeper into darkness.
My heart was doing an unwelcomed gallop in my chest. I was getting myself worked up, which wasn’t good. I stopped searching for a second and focused on my breathing, drawing in a slow breath, willing my heart rate to slow with it.
The boat pitched again, and some small and metal bumped my fingers. I snatched at it, dragging my nails across the polished surface as I did. The sensation made my teeth ache, but I shoved it to the back of my mind and focused on crawling my happy ass back to the door.
The wailing and screaming outside grew louder, but the violence of the storm was still winning. I found the door, pulled myself back up, and brace my legs wide as I slipped the key in the lock and twisted.
