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Flipp
“Hey, monster slut. Wake up!”
Well, good morning to you too. I groaned as I rolled over in the makeshift bed that I had made on the deck of the ship. It was too early for my eyes to be open, and I didn’t appreciate some crew member disturbing my slumber. He had some nerve. I sat up but kept my blanket around me. I peered around the deck and saw the crew member that catcalled me walking away. It wasn’t a joke. It wasn’t banter. He really thought I was a monster slut that deserved zero respect.
He wasn’t alone either. Everyone on the ship hated me, and they made it known regularly. Since day one of sailing on the ship, it had become evident that no one wanted me there. The other Sirens talked about me behind my back, and sometimes right to my face. It was a running joke that Azil had picked up a sex slave from the island, and he was going to toss me overboard when he was done with me. I wasn’t entirely sure if it was a rumor or true, but Azil had not come near me so far.
The ship was filled with Sirens, and not one of them liked me. They didn’t think that I belonged on the ship, and some were convinced that I would bring about some curse to the occupants. I was simply just trying to catch a ride.
I got out of bed and decided to see if there was anything edible on the ship. So far, the boss’s men hadn’t come looking for me. Either they didn’t believe I left the island, or they didn’t see it as worth their time to come chasing after me. They probably assumed I was as good as dead on the Sirens ship, and maybe I was.
I was making my way to the other side of the ship when I overheard Xagon and Azil having an argument. By then, I had determined that Xagon was Azil’s right-hand man. He always had his back, and I wondered what it was like to have someone like that in your life.
“You have my orders, do you not?”
“Azil, I understand. But everyone hates her. They despise her. I’m worried someone might slit her throat in the middle of the night.”
I heard a chuckle from Azil. “I’ve made a choice, Xagon. No one will kill her in the night because no one would dare defy my orders. Would you?”
“Of course not.”
“Then neither will they.”
Azil turned then and saw me standing there. I wasn’t sure if I should run the other way or not. I had already been likened to being an island slut, how much worse could it get? He smirked and just walked away, heading to his own cabin.
Xagon turned to me. “Do you really think it’s wise to eavesdrop on a conversation with the Captain of the ship?”
I rolled my eyes. “I wasn’t eavesdropping. I was just awakened by your grunts shouting the word slut, and I decided to go looking for food.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, were you expecting breakfast in bed? Or maybe something else in bed,” he said with a spark in his eye.
I chose to ignore his innuendo. “Bed? What bed? Don’t you think you should find me somewhere to sleep?”
“Why is that my problem, Flipp? I don’t care where you sleep. Go to the kitchen or stay on the deck.”
I felt a rage build up in me. I was in unfamiliar territory with a boatful of people that despised me, and I had just about had enough of Xagon. I felt like he was playing games with me all the time, and I was sick of it. I pulled my knife from my side and slid it right under his neck, just barely grazing his skin. He blinked in surprise.
“I’m so sick of your self-righteous bullshit. Find me a place to sleep, and some food, before I make your day so much worse.”
I was surprised when a grin crossed his face. He moved an inch forward, and I actually had to move a step back to avoid spilling his blood all over the deck. He grabbed my arm and twisted it away so that the knife dropped from my hand. He came really close to me, close enough to kiss me. He was going to kill me; I just knew it. I had gone too far. Instead, he let go of my hand, and it tingled from the pressure. I started rubbing my wrist, trying to figure out what exactly had just happened between us.
“You may have been a powerful lady where you came from, but here, you are nothing. Nothing, Flipp. Don’t try that with me again, or you won’t like the ending.”
He walked away from me, moving towards the other end of the deck to talk to his men. He stopped and turned back towards me. “I suggest you just stay on deck, Flipp. It’s really the only place that is safe for you.”
Brimstone! He was annoying sometimes. I had a hard time figuring out the two main Sirens on the ship. They were real ladies’ men, but they couldn’t get around their egos long enough to see that I could be a true asset to them while I was on the ship. So instead, they treated me like I was just a nuisance to them.
I turned away and looked at my temporary home. The Sirens ship was large, much larger than most ships in the area. Almost two hundred feet long at the waterline. It had two masts and a raised quarterdeck. That was where Azil’s cabin was located, and only Xagon was allowed to enter those quarters. No one else dared to go anywhere near it without Azil’s permission. It had a lookout on the mast, and a flag that announced it was a Siren ship with black and blue stripes. It was very much like a pirate ship, except that it didn’t have a gundeck because they didn’t need one. Guns were unnecessary when you had the powers of a Siren.
There was a lot of room below deck, but it was mostly for supplies and spare sails that were kept down there. The only other thing below deck was the containers where slaves were kept until they were sold, and the kitchen. I had never been on a ship that large before, but it was infamous for trading workers or supplies with the Witches. It appeared as if they had only come to Demon Isle to sell the Witch’s spells. I was surprised that the Witches trusted them at all.
There was a lot of freedom on the ship when the work was done. Sirens on the vessels were allowed to eat, sleep, and drink whenever they wanted to. Azil took care of his men, which was very different from the boss I used to work for. Azil seemed to really care about what happened to his men, and that was probably why they were so loyal to him. That was a good thing for me, they were less likely to kill me if they were worried it would disappoint him.
Azil was known to be a fair Captain because he knew what could happen if men became disgruntled on a ship. If workers became unhappy from mistreatment, tempers would fray, and the area would suddenly become smaller and claustrophobic.
I didn’t know what to do with myself on the ship. My days typically were busy on the island, and I was always on the go. I never had a day off because I was hustling for money. So having this much downtime was making me antsy. I was an unwelcome addition to the ship, and I had no one to talk to. I wasn’t sure how long I would be on the ship, or what would happen once we docked somewhere. My life was starting all over again, and I wasn’t sure what my future looked like. I would be going into new lands with new creatures, and I couldn’t be sure if I would live through any of it. I was stronger than I had ever been. I was going to fight for my life and do whatever it took to start over and be free, regardless of where I ended up. I didn’t have to worry about working for some perverted blob any longer. Deciding what my new future held was very empowering.
I went to the kitchen to see what they were cooking up, and was surprised to find some breads, fish, eggs, and fresh fruit. Most Sirens only ate things from the sea, and they consumed a lot of blood. I couldn’t imagine drinking anyone’s blood. The texture was hideous, and that’s if you could even get around the moral implications of drinking another’s blood. Legend stated that Sirens ate the flesh of humans, but I had never been sure if that was true. I had never seen a Siren feed on a human, but I also didn’t spend a whole lot of time around them. I shuddered at the thought of them being blood drinkers, just like the Vampires that lived in Syn.
I wondered if the food available on the boat was for the slaves that they brought back and forth, as it wasn’t typically Siren meals. As soon as the cooks saw me, they immediately left the kitchen.
“Well, excuse me.” Were they terrified of me or disgusted with me? I couldn’t really tell. But it was insulting, to say the least, to walk into a room and have people flee.
Regardless of how the cooks felt about me, I was grateful for the food as my stomach rumbled. I grabbed some fruit and a loaf of bread, and made my way back to my bed. There was no point in me staying in the kitchen. The cooks needed to get back to work, and I was unwelcomed there. I bit into a strawberry, and the juices poured into my mouth. I closed my eyes and savored it, as I made my way back up onto the deck. Finally, I walked over to my makeshift bed, and curled up in the corner of the deck. I pulled my blanket up around me, feeling very alone, while I munched on the loaf.
I glanced at the other end of the ship and caught Xagon staring at me. I was confident that he didn’t own a shirt, but I didn’t mind looking at him. Despite his arrogance and overall irritating personality, he was easy on the eyes. There was something about all that lean, rippling muscle that made my body respond in ways that I wasn’t used to. I wasn’t exactly the relationship type, and I could honestly say that I had never been in love before. I also wasn’t a virgin. So when it all came down to it, I didn’t have a lot of experience in anything real. I enjoyed sex immensely, but I had never experienced it with anyone that I loved or cared about. Sometimes, I wasn’t confident that love even existed.
I was getting tired of being on the boat, which sucked because we had a long trip ahead of us. I was never a fan of the sea to begin with, but I was more scared of what lay beyond the bay, and what I was going to do once we docked.
