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19DAWN
I was never sosick in all my life. This made even the worst food poisoning I ever got look like a game.
I drew my knees up to my chest, wrapping my arms around them and holding on tight, like if I didn’t, I’d fall to pieces. I rested my forehead against them as the boat rocked gently from side to side, the wood creaking at my back, under me and overhead. The sound of waves crashing against the hull was jarring, but in spite of the rocky sea, the sailing was smooth enough thanks to the Sirens who took turns pulling us along.
I had never met them in person before now, and everything I'd ever heard about them was true. They were nasty things: sharp eyed and suspicious. It amazed me that they wanted to align with Aldric. They nursed deep grudges and were eager to get revenge.
Knowing all of this, knowing what was about to happen, none of it made much of a dent in my awareness. It all happened in the background, apart from me and the hell I was trapped in.
“Help me!” My head snapped up when one of the maidens shrieked.
The sound was blood chilling, almost the scream of an animal. It didn't take long to find her in the dimly lit underbelly of the ship containing the Synians’ maidens, our personal guard, and the three kings.
“Shut up!” one of the guards shouted.
I winced, flinching back when he passed me on his way to deal with the screaming maiden.
“Please, just one bite! Send for King Theon! Just one bite!” She started gnawing at her wrist, crazed laughter mixing with sounds of anguish.
Her blood started to flow and her laughter intensified until it was more like the sound of starving animals fighting over a scrap of food. I covered my ears with my hands, but there was no blocking it out.
“Enough out of you.” The guard pried her wrist free from her teeth, but in her insanity she started biting the other wrist.
Blood smeared over her mouth and dripped down her chin.
I closed my eyes. I didn't want to see anymore. Especially when I could easily be her.
It never stopped. The hunger. The yearning. The need. Sweat, cold and clammy, made my thin clothes stick to my skin. Something between a slip and a proper dress, it was short, and wouldn't offer much protection against cold. It didn't matter if we were protected from the elements. All that mattered was we were available to be fed from.
The Synians were on another ship. They had separated us. There was moaning all around me. Misery, weeping. How much longer would it be before we were reunited with those who would feed our addictions the way we fed their thirst for blood?
I felt myself slipping away. The small part of me that still existed, the part that could think clearly and see the situation for what it was, knew it was only a matter of time before I was so far gone I couldn't come back. How much longer would it be before I started biting myself, chasing a high I could never reach?
It wouldn't be long at all, seeing as how I had to use every scrap of self-control to keep from begging the way that lost, screaming wreck did. Yes, I wanted to beg. I wanted to scream and promise anything, so long as I got what I needed. It was all I could think about, all I could focus on. How long would it be before we reached land? Before somebody chose me?
“Dawn! Where is Dawn?”
I jumped up and regretted it, since I was weak and woozy. But I would fight through it if it meant getting out of this dark, stinking cabin and receiving the bite I craved. “Here! I'm here!”
“Why her?” Somebody reached out and grabbed my ankle. “No! Take me with you! Please!”
“Let me go instead!” Another maiden took hold of my other calf, nails biting into my skin.
“Behave yourselves!” A second guard swatted them away, and I would’ve thanked him, only I was too busy anticipating what was coming.
I couldn’t feel sorry for the other maidens. I didn’t have it in me.
The first guard waved me over to him and led me up the stairs without telling me where we were going. It didn't matter. If somebody wanted me, it meant they were hungry. They wanted to feed. My heart raced with anticipation, and now I was shaking with excitement instead of pain. Why wasn't he moving faster? I wanted to push him, to scream at him to hurry up, but I was still aware enough to know that wouldn't get me anywhere. He might decide not to take me to wherever we were going.
And where we were going was not to Theon or Aldric but rather a closet. He opened the door, and I stared at mops, a bucket, and a broom.
“Why?” I asked.
The guard shrugged and grunted, nodding toward the inside of the closet. “He wanted you.”
“Who?”
Then I saw him in the corner and on the floor, sitting the way I was when the guard called for me. It was Jett.
