part0010

On Drew’s third count, they launched upward toward the Kraken. Wendy would not be strong enough to hold the Kraken out of the water until it suffocated, so they needed to act fast to kill the beast before this opportunity was lost.

Drew ripped into the thick, oily flesh. The Kraken screamed, a cry of pain so loud the ocean below rocked back and forth. Kelia’s cry pierced the air, but Drew couldn’t check on her. Not until the Kraken was dead.

He bit, clawed, and ripped apart as much as he could. The Kraken wasn’t going down without a fight. Its squid-like arms swung through the air. When one of them came inward to slap at Drew, he curved his body out of the way, but he wasn’t fast enough, and the cephalopod limb caught Drew’s foot with a hard slap.

Drew howled. Though the broken foot would heal, the pain in the moment was excruciating. But, already, the Kraken’s arm was coming in for another hit. Drew worked faster to tear it apart, claw and fang. Soon, the Kraken was gurgling rather than screaming.

It’s fight started to die off as its body withered. After another moment, Drew jumped back to deck and looked up for Kelia. Instead of landing gracefully on her feet the way Drew had, she had nearly fallen through the deck.

Wendy released the now-defeated Kraken, and as its limp body slapped against the sea, waves crested upward and cover them with drops of rain-like ocean.

But they were safe. For now.

Kelia hissed. Recalling her earlier yelp and fearing she was injured, Drew clambered over to her.

“The bastard bit me.” She gestured at her calf, where a good puncture wound caused blood to spill out faster than she could heal herself.

Drew glanced at Emma.

“We barely have enough left for the crew,” she said quietly. “If we give this to her, we’ll need to reach the Island of the Damned much sooner.”

Drew’s glance turned to a glare, and he need not dignify Emma’s concerns with a response. She nodded and disappeared.

Kelia needed to drink blood, especially if they were going to get to the Island of the Damned in one piece. And now, they needed to get there faster, as their supplies were already too low before this. Not to mention, the animal blood was really only a bandaid on a fatal wound. As a newborn Sea Shadow, Kelia needed human blood.

How they were going to pull off a faster arrival at the island without a mast, he had no idea. But he would figure it out. Somehow.

He helped her up and moved her back into his quarters. Thankfully, his room was barely affected by the Kraken’s damage. He placed her on his bed, taking careful consideration with her injured leg.

“We need to heal you,” Drew said. “You need blood.”

Drew paused, surprised the words even came out of her mouth. Before he could process them, Emma returned with a bottle and handed it to Drew, who then handed it to Kelia.

“From the animals below,” he told her.

A variety of emotions crossed Kelia’s face, and Drew had to bite his lip to stop himself from saying anything else. How badly he wanted to have her feed from him. However, the thought of bonding with anyone, even Kelia, was not something he was comfortable thinking about. It had been decades, but there were still moments when he dreamt about his time with the Queen, bonded to her like a man rotting away his life in prison, with no hope of freedom. Each time he did think about it, it was difficult for him to breathe, and he had to place his hand flat on his chest and take deep breaths in order to remind himself he was okay and he was not bonded to her any longer.

He stepped back as Kelia looked down at the bottle once more, and he itched to do something with his hands. He did not know why he was nervous with Kelia drinking blood in front of him. It was as though he needed her to like the taste, worried he might have ruined her only method of sustenance by turning her into a Sea Shadow.

“Go on then,” he urged. “You won’t get anything out of it simply by staring.”

“I’ll help clean up the ship,” Emma muttered. “When Wendy has recovered, she’ll help get us to the Island of the Damned. The water is no longer safe.”

Drew rubbed his thighs with his palms and took another step back. Pacing would ease his anxiety, but he was fixated on Kelia. He wanted to watch her consume the blood, to ensure she was satisfied.

There was also a small, dark part of him that wanted to see if she derived any pleasure at all from drinking it, the way he had when he first drank the liquid. He had been ashamed by that feeling, by the fact he wanted more, not caring who he got it from just as long as he got it. Once the blood had touched his lips, he completely forgot what food tasted like and thirsted for nothing more than this.

The Queen had told him it was a natural reaction, that the insistence for more now was typical for a new Shadow. But once Drew was forced to stop and wait, he could not bring himself to agree with her.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Kelia asked. “Is there something wrong with the blood?”

“For the love of Christ, just drink it, will you?” Drew’s voice was rougher than he intended, and he clenched his teeth and looked away, trying to get hold of his emotions. “Look, I need you strong. Like I said, you were out for three days. No food, no water. Not only that, you ripped into a Siren and got injured by a Kraken. Blood will hydrate you and relieve you of your hunger. It will give you the strength you need. It will heal you.”

Kelia placed the bottle in her lap, keeping her fingers on the neck. “What are you not telling me?” she asked, her voice low, each word crisp. “It’s like you’re waiting for something, and I don’t know what that is.”

“I’m preparing you,” Drew said, throwing his arms out. “You’re a goddamn Sea Shadow. The Queen is not dead—clearly, given the recent attacks. And if she’s alive, there’s going to be hell to pay for ruining her island, for burning down her house, and for stealing you back.”

“I never asked you to come after me,” Kelia snapped. “I left to ensure your sister and Emma were safe. I left to ensure Daniella was safe; that you were safe. I knew what I was doing. I knew the ramifications of my choice, and I was prepared to face them.”

“Did you honestly expect I would leave you there?” Drew asked. “She went after you to get to me because she is a vindictive bitch who does not understand the meaning of a simple, two-letter word. You are—” He stopped himself, hearing his voice crack, and dropped his hands to his side. His cheeks heated from the anger and embarrassment at his frustration. He didn’t know why he was frustrated with Kelia. “You are everything to me.”

“Then why must you make me feel like I’ve done something wrong?” she asked.

Drew closed his mouth and sighed as he eyed the bottle of blood she still had not touched.

“The truth of it all,” he said, his voice softer, “is that I know what I did to you. And I feel terrible about it.” He walked over to his bed, his footsteps slow and heavy. As much as he wanted to stay with her, he was uncomfortable enough with the situation to wish he was retreating instead of closing the distance between them. “Turning you was selfish. I had not even considered you would rather be dead than be what I am. You ask to bond with me, and I want nothing more than to feel you inside of me, to feel the inside of you. It is something more intimate than sex. And yet, I am racked with guilt because the Queen forced me into a bond with her, and I worry I am doing the same to you because I forced you to be a Shadow, just as she forced me.”

Kelia’s silence would normally have unnerved him, but, in this moment, he appreciated the quiet. He sat on the edge of his bed and leaned back. He took a deep breath, and then another, until the tension in his body eased, if only slightly.

“I understand why you’re conflicted,” she said. “I don’t know how to ease your troubles.”

“You can’t.” Drew closed his eyes and let out another breath. “My emotions are not your responsibility. They’re mine. I just… I want you prepared. I don’t know what is going to happen, and that worries me.”

Kelia sneered at the bottle.

“You need to drink,” Drew said. He took the bottle from her fingers, and she put up no resistance. “We can talk about anything else at a different time, but you need to feed. Some Shadows, when they are first created, do not take well to blood. It’s something they need to get accustomed to.” He removed the lid to the bottle and held it out to her. “Drink.”

When she made no move to take the bottle from him, he added, “You are putting this off.”

His patience was wearing thin. “Why?”

Kelia fiddled with his sheets instead of looking him in the eye. As much as he loved her—and he loved her more than he loved anything—he did not want her fussing with things and placing them where he would not be able to find them later. He cleared his throat, catching her attention, and raised his brow, as though to encourage her to speak freely.

“I worry I won’t like it,” she muttered, shaking her head. “I worry the only way for me to survive will disgust me so thoroughly that I would rather starve than indulge. And I would rather resist than know I was going to die of hunger.”

Drew pressed his lips together, holding back a growl of annoyance and frustration. “Darling, while I understand your hesitation, I do believe you’re being a tad dramatic,” he said. “I know many humans who did not like many types of healthy food believed to nourish your bones and heart and body, and yet, we consume them because we believe it is good for us and because it is vital to our health. As Shadows, we only get blood, but there are so many different types that if you do not like this one, we can find you something different and see if you prefer that. I promise you, on pain of death, we will find you sustenance that you crave.” He held the bottle out to her again. “Now, please. Drink.”

Kelia swallowed, her throat bobbing up and down as she looked up at him with wide eyes. “Okay,” she said with a nod. She wrapped her fingers around the glass and put her lips to the mouth of the bottle.

With her eyes locked with Drew’s, Kelia tilted the container back and swallowed the crimson liquid. Her nose scrunched, and her shoulders jumped as though she was going to heave. But she inhaled sharply and kept swallowing.

That was his woman. Always willing to toughen up when the situation called for it.

The corners of his lips flicked up, and he placed his hand over her free one.

As she drank, different expressions crossed over Kelia’s pretty face; some that spoke of fear, confusion, and curiosity, and others that he could not discern, save for a moment he was certain was a display of satisfaction.

The tension in Drew’s body eased. If she was satisfied with her first consumption of blood, she would not be a picky eater, which made things tremendously easy.

One drop of blood dribbled out of her mouth and rolled down her chin until it gathered on her jaw line. Drew wanted to smear the dark blood from Kelia’s pale face. Instead, he stuffed his hands behind his back, holding himself in place. Though he tried to rip his eyes from her, he could not.

There was something strangely erotic about Kelia drinking blood, and his desire for her stirred. He clenched his teeth, trying to think of something else—anything else—but he could not. The shadows caressed her face, she was beautiful in the darkness. He stepped toward her once, and then again.

Kelia was too wrapped up in her own pleasure that she did not seem to notice. Her eyes were closed, and she made small moaning noises.

Drew stopped himself from getting any closer to her. He dug his nails into his thighs and pressed his heels into the floor. He did not want to interrupt her for his own selfishness.

When she finished, her eyes fluttered open and she placed the bottle on the stand next to the bed. He made it a point not to show any alarm by how much of the supply she had drank. It wouldn’t do anyone any good for Kelia to feel at blame for their current shortage; truth was, they’d already been short before this point, and Drew didn’t see much difference in a bad situation and a worse one.

There was still a few drops inside, and Drew was almost tempted to drink them himself, to share this experience with the woman he loved. But when he went to lift the bottle, he gripped the bottle so tightly in his hand that it burst into tiny pieces, the glass going all over the desk and into his palm.

“Drew!” Kelia exclaimed, using the back of her hand to wipe away the blood. “What are you doing?”

Drew blinked down at his palm. Before he could do anything more, Kelia took his hand within hers and brought it back to her face do she could examine it.

“Not terribly bright, Captain,” she said, her playfulness easing some of the darkness that had just been stirring inside of him. “Why did you do that?”

He hadn’t intended to break the bottle. All that restraint had built up in him while watching Kelia must have just become too much to take.

What if he hurt Kelia that way?

He pulled his hand from her grasp and took a step back. As much as he wanted to go to Kelia, to reacquaint himself with her and get to know her as a Shadow, now was not the time. It would not be right for him to take advantage of her in such a vulnerable position, and he really needed to get his emotions under control first.

When he did not answer, she asked, “What do we do now?”

“Wendy is moving our ship to the island. Once there, Emma needs to put together a concoction to get the Siren’s blood out of your system as well,” he said, thankful for the change of subject. “We can do nothing else until the Queen is put down.”

“Then why not put her down?” she asked quietly. “After the island, I mean.”

Drew furrowed his brow and forced a harsh breath from his nostrils. “As in, kill the Queen?”

“Wasn’t that your plan all along?” Kelia asked.

He crossed his arms over his chest, allowing Kelia’s words to sink in. It was such a simple solution. It almost sounded too easy. All this time, they’d been trying to think of a way to destroy the entire island. The idea of killing the Queen seemed an insurmountable task. But was it, really?

He turned on the heel of his boot. “I’ll have to give it more thought,” he said, “but you might be right.”

“We could do it,” Kelia told him, “if we work together. We can’t go after her now, of course, but maybe soon. And if—”

“We aren’t going after her. You cannot go after her at all,” Drew said, leaving no room for mistake in his tone. “I’ve already involved you too deeply into my personal and dangerous relationship with the Queen. This is not your cross to bear.”

“If it’s your cross, it is also mine.” Kelia sprung up on her feet, and the stubborn glint in her eye told Drew he could argue all he wanted, but she would not budge. At least she seemed to be healing already. “We are partners, Drew Knight. And now that I am a Shadow, we are the same. I’m not a mere human anymore.”

“You were never a ‘mere’ anything.” He closed the distance between them and hooked his index finger under her chin to tilt her face up and stare into her eyes. “I never want you to think you weren’t helpful, darling. Even when you were human, you carried your weight and more. You helped locate Wendy. You left Port George. You discovered what your father did. You are extraordinary, whether you are human or Shadow. The label you give yourself does not define you. It is not what you are that matters, but who you are. And you are someone who brings out the best in me, who—for the first time in my long life—makes me hopeful for the future. You astound me, and I never want you to think otherwise.”

A small smile slid across Kelia’s face. “Then help me,” she challenged. “Help me become a better Shadow. I want to do everything you do. I want to control my powers and be even stronger than I was before.”

Drew curled a strand of errant blond hair behind her ear. “I shall do just that…after we drop off the crew at the Island of the Damned.”

Kelia tilted her head to the side. “Drop off the crew?”

“I no longer know who I can trust,” he admitted. “If I am to train you, if our goal is to kill the Queen, I must be certain she will not discover our intentions. I will drop them off and claim I am visiting family.”

“I thought Wendy was your only living family, considering you’re over a hundred years old.”

Drew sighed through his nose. “Where do you think Wendy gets her powers from?” he asked. “Our Aunt Adelaide who won’t do this earth a favor and simply die.”