part0006

Kelia knew Emma did not want her to accompany Drew on deck. Although the earth witch didn’t say as much, her puckered lips, her slightly pinched brow, and the way her chin tilted downward as she slanted her gaze from Drew to the hall, leaving Kelia out of the eye contact, told her as much.

Yet Drew did not tell her to stay in the room. In fact, he kept his hand on her hip as he stepped through the doorway, taking her with him.

Stepping outside of the room and under the powdered purple dusk sky as the sun dipped into the water made Kelia’s eyes sting. She blinked once, twice. Her entire body tensed, and her head swam with heightened sensations of…everything .

She could smell each grain of salt in the ocean, could hear the different heart beats of each individual on this ship, and she could see straight down to the bottom of the ocean, even though the waves were angry and black.

Grabbing her head with her hands, Kelia emitted a small groan. Thanks to the buzzing, floaty feeling in her head and the way her stomach pinched, she tripped over her feet and nearly fell on the hard wooden deck. Drew caught her, but she was too hungry to really feel his touch. Her stomach exploded like a roar of a lion. She needed food. Now .

Desire to eat slammed into her like cold water during a deep slumber. Her nostrils twitched. She smelled…something . Something in the air that mixed with the salt and the clear, cold breeze.

Kelia’s eyes snapped open.

It was blood that had ignited her senses, and she wanted it. Craved it. Needed it.

The impulse was so intense that everything around her dulled. Drew and Emma’s conversation barely passed through the stuffy, cottony quiet in her ears, though every heartbeat on the ship seemed to pierce right through, thudding louder and calling her closer.

She tried to focus on Drew and Emma’s conversation. Something about a Siren. But she couldn’t focus on what. Not with that smell in the air.

Kelia closed her eyes. It smelled so fresh that her mouth filled with saliva. Then her mouth started to feel funny, almost numb and swollen around her gums. It felt like something was moving in her mouth. She gasped, her hand flying up to her lips just as her eye teeth protruded to poke against her bottom lip.

Horrified, she ran her finger against her tooth, down to the sharp point. It pricked her finger, and when she pulled her hand away, a drop of blood pearled on her skin.

She needed to learn how to make sure she did not keep cutting her mouth with her fangs.

The moment snapped Kelia out of her trance, and her attention cut back to Emma and Drew.

“…don’t know, but the crew spotted her,” Emma said. “We pulled her up. Looks like a gash down the abdomen. She’s bleeding out.”

“There’s no way to save her, then?” Drew asked.

“I don’t think so. Daniella can attempt to fuse the skin together, but I can’t promise it will work."

Realizing she was hunched over at her shoulders, Kelia forced herself to stand straight, though it made the pang in her stomach worse. She didn’t know how she managed to cross the deck, but Drew’s footsteps clicked in time with her. If she concentrated, she would be able to feel his hand still on her side, guiding her, even with his attention focused on Emma.

When her eyes fell on the being that stretched across the deck of the ship, Kelia nearly pounced.

The Siren who had tried to take her from before. The one who lied about her mother.

The Siren wheezed, but perhaps her pride was too important to her, as she didn’t seem to put any real effort into gulping for breath. But the oxygen wouldn’t do her any good. Sirens were damned to the water the way Sea Shadows were. Being out of the water was akin to drowning for a human, or for stepping on land for a Shadow. But instead of instantaneously turning to ash, Sirens seemed to just…suffocate.

It did not help that there was a long gash across her torso, her skin ripped open so blood poured out of her like rain fell from the sky. Her beautiful tail which once shimmered under the upcoming moon was now dulled and grey, the colors fading before Kelia’s eyes.

If she was still human, she would have wretched all over the deck right about now. But she wasn’t human. Not anymore. She was a monster, something that delighted in the sight of blood rather than see it as disgusting or terrifying.

Elise was dying. Her blood would be wasted. There was no reason to save her.

Kelia could feast without guilt. Feel the life slip out of the Siren and into herself. She had promised Elise she would kill her, and this was the perfect opportunity to do just that and satiate her hunger at the same time.

“…looks like you were punished,” Drew said.

Kelia blinked slowly before turning her head to regard Drew with a stare. Why was he speaking to her? He was a Sea Shadow. Why not just feed when blood was so rare, this Siren was their enemy, and she was dying anyway?

“By your lover,” Elise managed to get out. A small smirk touched her features as bright crimson blood ran down her chin. “She misses you.”

“How can she miss me when she is by my side?” Drew squeezed Kelia for emphasis.

If Elise was not bleeding out, Kelia was positive she would have rolled her eyes at the sentiment.

“You fool,” she managed to get out, though her words were garbled. “You know I mean the Queen.”

More blood spilled out over her chin and ran down her neck. Kelia followed each drop and licked her lips. If Drew was not going to get her, Kelia would.

“She will find you,” Elise said. “She will kill that thing in front of you, and you will beg for her to take you back.”

“You cannot force someone to love someone else,” Drew said. “Even powerful witches who can bring back the dead cannot force love.”

“She won’t force you, Drew Knight. She will compel you,” Elise said. “Now, are you going to let me poison your ship or will you toss me out to sea? My sister died months ago, and now it is my turn to leave this watery prison as well. I am finally free.”

“Your death amuses me. Your sister, if I recall, was Alessandra. Was she not responsible for turning Christopher?”

Kelia clenched her jaw. She could not listen to this any longer. Truth be told, she thought she had done a good job restraining herself. Her stomach felt as though it was being shredded from the inside by insistent claws trying to grab for food. Hadn’t Drew turned her to deliver her from such an awful pain?

And now here was Elise, like a roast sent to her by God himself, demanding Kelia satiate her hunger so she could grow strong and regain the ability to think clearly.

Kelia stepped forward, out of Drew’s grasp. She took another step toward Elise until her steps because urgent. The last thing Kelia remembered was seeing that smirk on Elise’s face just before Kelia ripped into the Siren. There was laughter, but Kelia could not decipher if it was her own or Elise’s.

The laughter died out abruptly, replaced by a strange gurgling sound as Kelia sucked as much blood as she could from the Siren. It was only then that Kelia realized she had killed Elise. Elise was already dying, but Kelia was responsible for snuffing out her life.

It wasn’t the first time Kelia had killed a monster, and it wouldn’t be her last, so she didn’t dwell on the kill. Her only goal was to fill her stomach. And it wasn’t as bad as Kelia might have imagined. The Siren’s blood, thick and smooth, coated Kelia’s tongue like a sweet cinnamon cream. She couldn’t get enough of it. She needed more .

But as quickly as Kelia managed to consume the crimson liquid, two strong arms grabbed her arms and ripped her away from the Siren. She let out a strangled cry and tried to get out of the grasp. Before she could, Elise’s body flew high into the sky. After a few sickening crunches, the body was flung into the ocean.

“Bitch,” Wendy muttered under her breath, coming up beside Kelia.

Drew growled, drawing her attention away from Wendy and back to him. He and Emma had been the ones to pull her off the Siren.

“Why did you—”

“You shouldn’t have done that!” Drew snapped. In all of their time together, she had never heard Drew so angry with her. Teasing and playful, constantly; annoyed, every now and then; and frustrated, rarely; but never angry.

“I was hungry,” Kelia said. “And I still am. Why not let me eat? She was dying anyway!” Kelia ripped herself away and tried to see if she could make out Elise’s dead body floating on the water. “Did you save me only to let me suffer?”

“You’ve consumed enough,” he barked, reaching out to grab her once more, this time by the shoulders, though he directed his gaze at Emma now. “Can you get the blood out of her before it’s too late?”

Emma’s lips were still tight. The way she looked at Kelia, like Kelia was disgusting, made Kelia growl under her breath. “She won’t like it,” she said. “And we’ll need blood to replace what’s in her system.”

Kelia’s mind shot to a panic just at Emma’s tone, at the emotion that hung in the air between her and Drew, but before she could ask what was going on, Drew tightened his grip on her.

“We cannot go back to the Island of the Damned," he insisted as she continued to struggle against his hold. “It is too dangerous.”

“It’s our only hope of getting that blood out of her system,” Emma said. “Maybe if you had thought before acting. You changed her—”

“I had no choice! If I did not change her, her stomach would have gnarled itself into knots we could not undo. It would have been unbearable.”

“We still had time.” Emma did not need to raise her voice in order to acquire the attention she wanted. Perhaps that made her more deadly than Drew Knight. “And now look at what has become of your rash decision. Kelia Starling is now a Sea Shadow who just ripped into a dying Siren, and we have no choice but to rectify the situation by going to the very island that damned you in the first place. Of course it’s a risk. But Kelia needs blood. We did not account for her turning into a Shadow when we picked up your order.”

“No one could have predicted such a thing,” Drew muttered.

He lifted his gaze so his eyes locked onto Kelia. She wanted to ask him what was going on, what was so bad about the Siren blood, why would they need to remove it, replace it? But her lips would not move. It was getting more and more difficult for her to stand. Her knees knocked, her wobbling legs threatening to collapse beneath her. If Drew wasn’t holding onto her, she probably would have fallen already.

Yet, still, her body continued to struggle against him, driven only by the impulse for more blood. Her efforts to break free, however, pulled in slow motion, as though the world itself had completely slowed its movement and she was struggling against quicksand.

“Will she be all right?” Drew asked.

“If you trust me enough to do my job, she might be,” Emma snipped. “Bring her back to your bed. I’ll need her restrained. I can probably conjure something temporary, but I will not be able to remove everything from her body until we get to the Island of the Damned and I can get more ingredients.”

“What are you…” Kelia stopped. Was that her voice? Was that what she sounded like?

She cleared her throat and could taste the flecks of blood as they lifted from her throat and landed on her tongue. The metallic tang both consumed her desire and caused her stomach to churn with disgust. She sucked in a breath, hoping to keep herself steady, and leaned into Drew, her head bumping his chest.

“I’m really hungry,” she heard herself saying, tears pricking her eyes. She couldn’t remember thinking the words, let alone wanting to say them, but they fell from her lips all the same. “I smelled her. I just… I was hungry. I am hungry.”

“Drew,” Emma said, her voice harsh. Kelia flinched, though she did not understand why, especially when her words and tone were directed at Drew. “Now . We must do this right away. Bring her to the bed. I will grab what I have and be there soon.”

Kelia could feel Drew nod behind her.

“Come on, Slayer,” he said.

His voice was like a lullaby, soothing and relaxing. Her eyelids closed, and a deep sigh fell out of her mouth as her body released its tension against Drew. A thrum of warmth spread across her body and tickled her insides.

“Drew,” she heard herself whimper. Her mind balked at the notion of whimpering to anyone, let alone Drew Knight, but she could not control herself. It was as though she’d been split into two. She could see herself and she could hear herself, but she could not stop herself from doing anything. She was no longer in control.

“I should have known this was going to happen,” Drew said, stepping toward his cabin. He was gentle with Kelia, pulling her along with him, but his grip was still tight, as if he worried she might try to do something else as rash as what she had done before. “Goddammit, I should have known.”

Kelia wasn’t sure what Drew was muttering about, but it didn’t matter. He took her back into the room and helped her onto the bed.

“Drew,” she mumbled. “I’m drenched in blood. I don’t want to ruin your sheets. Perhaps it would be best if I sat at your desk?”

“You silly, foolish woman,” Drew said. He reached down and cupped her cheek with his palm. “I could care less about my sheets. As long as you are all right, I could care less about anything in this entire world."

“What’s happening to me?”

“Siren blood possesses magic to protect them from Shadows,” Drew murmured. He dropped his hand and took a seat on the side of the bed. “Unfortunately, there’s no innate instincts for Shadows to stay away from them. Their blood smells enticing, just like their voices. But sip from them, and poison will curse your insides. You will feel sluggish. Have no way to orient your being. Lose control of your body. The poison will eat you alive until you unwittingly end your life by stepping onto land during the day, or you step off a ship and straight into a swarm of Sirens, waiting to consume you whole.”

He took a deep breath and shook his hand. “And you had no way of knowing. Because I never told you.”

Poison? The Siren blood was poison?

Laughter bubbled in Kelia’s throat, though truly, the irony was not funny at all. Drew had turned her to save her life from a poison that would slowly kill her as a human…only for her to consume another one that would do the same to her as a Shadow.

Soon though, as the realization settled in, her laughter turned to tears. She buried her face against Drew’s chest and let him hold her.

She didn’t want to die. She had been so mad Drew had saved her in this way, but now she realized…she would have agreed if he’d asked. And now she was staring death in the face again, and all she wanted was to be saved.

God, she hated that. Hated needing someone else to save her.

Once she got through this—if she got through this—she would learn to fight better than she ever had, even as a Slayer. She would learn to start saving herself again, this time as a Shadow.

But first, she had to survive.

Right now, she could barely keep her head up. Drew’s pillow was soft, and all she wanted was sleep, even though her stomach seemed to want more food.

Emma breezed into the room, a small bowl in her hand. Drew shifted his body behind Kelia, his arms wrapped around her torso so she could not pull away.

“Unfortunately, this will not be pleasant,” Emma said as she straddled Kelia, balancing the bowl carefully. “You will wish for death. Now, open your mouth.”