Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
I try not to curl my lip at that. Ullan is looking between the two of us, trying to figure out what we’re discussing. Probably a good thing he has no idea.
“Alright,” I say. “For the sake of the Brethren, we will take Ullan on board. I suppose keeping him half-alive in the hold for a couple of hundred years while we slowly take his blood might be the best revenge I can get.”
The beast nods. “I also have some humans I’ve saved for you,” he rasps. “One happens to be the captain. They’re in his quarters. Don’t worry, I removed their legs so they can’t escape.”
“That was very thoughtful of you,” I tell the beast.
I swear I see the monster grin.
I pick up the ends of my gown, like a lady, and leave the room while the beast drags Ullan along, the tail thrashing around like a dying fish. Outside, there is still chaos in the ship, filled with the occasional scream, the air smelling of blood.
I run into Ramsay and Thane, who show me the way to the captain’s quarters.
The beast wasn’t lying when he said he removed the men’s legs. There are three humans lumped together in the middle of the cabin, all of them bleeding out. Their legs are nowhere to be found, which must mean the beast ate them. I have to wonder what that means for Priest when he comes back to his Vampyre form again, but I suppose we’ll figure that out when it happens.
There are also bite marks in all of them, to which Ramsay and Thane look a little sheepish, although there is one human who is untouched.
The captain with his bushy blond mustache stares up at me with dazed eyes as Ramsay goes over and hoists him up to the sitting position.
I smile at him. “So, we meet again, Captain,” I say to the man as I saunter over to him. “I bet you didn’t think you’d see me alive. I bet you didn’t think I’d have legs either. And I bet you didn’t think I’d be the last thing you’d ever see.” I frown at him mockingly. “That’s an awful lot of thinking that you didn’t do.”
I stop in front of him and crouch down to his level, reach out with my Syren claws, and let one trail down the side of his powdered face, drawing a thin line of blood.
“So, allow me to let you stop thinking about what’s going to happen next,” I go on. “I’m going to tell you what’s going to happen. I’m going to bite you and drain you of whatever blood you have left. Then, just before you die, I’m going to reach into your chest, pull out your heart, and eat it in front of you. Then, I’ll do the same to whatever crew members are left.”
I pause, taking my finger away from his face and licking the blood off the tip of my claw. It dances on my tongue like fire, the hunger striking me deep. “Finally, at the end of all that, the Kraken will come and take down your ship so that no one will ever know the truth of what happened to you, no evidence that you ever even saw Syrens. It will be like you never existed.”
I glance up at Ramsay, who is still holding the captain up.
“Any last words?” Ramsay says to the captain.
But I don’t even give the captain a chance to reply.
I lean in and sink my teeth into his neck, giving him a savage bite, the first pure human I’ve ever had a chance to feed on.
The blood flows into my mouth, and I feel everything inside me come alive, like being reborn all over again. Priest’s blood was lovely, but I was in such a strange, ravenous state after I turned that I wasn’t able to take my time and appreciate it.
There was also a part of me that didn’t want to hurt Priest or take too much blood from him.
But now, I have permission to be my fully wild, feral, violent self.
So I feast and I feast on the captain’s blood.
Then, as he starts to die, I make Ramsay hold his eyes open so he can see me tear out his heart and eat it in front of him.
And then I leave the captain as a dried husk, and the rest of us go through the remainder of the ship, searching for any survivors that the beast may have left behind.
By the time we’re done and back on the Nightwind, twilight has fallen, and every crew member has blood and a look of satisfaction on their face. We have six humans still alive to put into the hold, and Ullan has been transferred to the jail cell, along with the glass box, to be kept for as long as he’ll stay alive.