Chapter 20
Zoe
“W ake up, sweet girl. Open those pretty eyes. That’s it. Hello.”
I blinked up at the serious, scaly face of Vodyan hovering over mine while his words still rang in my head.
“Who are you, you sweet-talking creature, and what have you done with my bodyguard?” I asked sleepily.
He grinned, showing off a row of sharp teeth. Damn, he was handsome when he smiled. And dangerous, in a very hot sort of way.
“Better get used to it. I’ll figure out all kinds of sweet things to tell you. But for now, we have to go. Carver got out of jail.”
I sat bolt upright, my vision swimming from the head rush.
“What? When?”
“Yesterday, though it was reported only today. He already knows we’re somewhere in the lake and he knows you’re with me. He’s also well-resourced and has the means to check properties in my name if he’s smart enough to cover all his bases. That’s why we can’t stay here.”
I nodded. “Okay. I’ll get dressed and we can go. Back into the lake? ”
“Yes. We’ll go to Yeseera.”
While I got ready, Vodyan explained briefly that Yeseera’s authorities, which were efficient and well-funded, would be on the lookout for Carver, which meant it was the safest place for us currently.
“He’ll be at a disadvantage underwater,” he said. “Which is why we’re sticking with the lake. He can’t enter the city, and lamias aren’t allowed in. It’s the safest place, and since he already knows you’re here, it’s no use hiding.”
While I dressed, Vodyan went out to check the area, grimacing unhappily.
“You’d better be here when I return,” he said before giving me a deep kiss.
When I was ready, I checked my air tank to make sure it was full again. I’d barely put on the top half of my mask when Vodyan burst in and picked me up without a word, his arms hard with tension.
“A camera caught a human checking out the perimeter,” he said through clenched teeth. “Hold on tight.”
I wrapped myself around him as he sped through the house, shooting out through the door in the kitchen onto the pier outside. I didn’t understand the rush, because everything seemed to be as deserted and calm as the moment we got here.
Then I heard a shot. Vodyan gasped.
“What…”
“Just a second,” he gritted out.
We reached the end of the pier in no time, disappearing under the surface. But we didn’t go deeper. He swam right under the surface, tearing through the water at a breathtaking speed. When I heard a shriek from below, I understood why.
Lamias.
Whoever shot at us must have coordinated with them. A cold, slimy fear crawled into my stomach. If they caught us now, there would be no herding to trap us. No, they’d kill Vodyan and take me, and then Carver would put a bullet through my head .
Was there a way out? Could Vodyan outswim them and reach a safe place before they got us?
I wanted to ask him how far Yeseera was, but in the rush, I hadn’t put on the lower half of my mask, so all I could do was listen to the roar of blood in my ears and cling to him, trusting in his cunning and strength.
Vodyan swam fast, pressing me close, his body tense with coiled energy. We went gradually deeper, darkness setting around us. My suit turned on, keeping me warm while Vodyan focused on our escape.
“I can’t keep this up until Yeseera,” he said after a moment. The shrieks of pursuing lamias didn’t let up. “It’s over forty miles away.”
I nodded, my heart squeezing in terror that I quelled immediately, because my trust was stronger. He said nothing, tearing through water like a bullet.
“Saving your life is my priority,” he gritted out a moment later, his voice sack lighting up faintly. His voice was low and focused.
I nodded again, not understanding where he was going with that. Another moment passed. The lamias’ voices seemed to grow fainter as we tore into the darker depths.
“I’m sorry,” he said, sounding cold. “Please, trust me.”
I didn’t have time to nod this time. Vodyan let me go, ruthlessly dislodging my clingy arms and legs. I flailed, beginning to sink, my panicked movements making it worse.
I screamed his name in terror, frothing up the water, but he was already gone.
Panic welled, cold and sticky, as I spread my arms and legs, trying to get my bearings. All around me was the endless water, dark and uniform. The fear of being lost here forever burst in my stomach like it did that first time I dove.
But it was different this time. I knew Vodyan, and I knew he wouldn’t let me die.
I clenched my jaw and took a deep breath through my nose. He would find me. If he let me go, that meant he had a good reason. He wanted to protect me. That was what he said .
On my next inhale, I counted to four, and then held my breath, counting again. I slowly sank deeper, and it had been years since I properly swam, so I decided to just let the lake do as it willed with me until I calmed down.
After my sixth controlled breath, I remembered my mouth mask and put it on. Silence surrounded me, pressing in thick. I tried to move my legs and arms to stay on one level instead of going deeper, and after a few tries, I got the hang of it.
“Okay,” I said under my breath. “You’re okay.”
And I was. When a huge shadow loomed under me, I smiled. Here was my warrior, coming back to take me to the underwater city.
But when a horrible face with white eyes and sharp, black teeth burst from the dark, I screamed and flailed, desperately trying to get away. A clawed hand closed around my ankle, tugging sharply.
Next thing I knew, the hand was still curled around me, but its owner disappeared in a roiling mass of tentacles and bubbles, shrieking as the water grew black. I stared, forgetting to breathe, as more body parts littered the water. Another hand floated gently by my side like an odd fish. Then, a piece of tail. A palmless forearm.
I choked when the black cloud surrounded me completely, and then screamed when Vodyan’s face emerged from the dark.
“Are you all right? Zoe! Did he hurt you?”
I shook my leg frantically, squeezing my eyes shut, but the fucking hand wouldn’t come off. A wail built in my throat, until suddenly, a tentacle closed around my calf, and the offending body part was removed.
“Zoe. Look at me.”
“Is it blood?” I choked out, so happy for my mouth mask. I just knew that I would have inhaled that bloody water if not for it.
“Yes.”
Vodyan’s arms closed around me and we swam away, leaving the carnage behind us. He stopped when not a trace of it was visible .
“Are you hurt?” he repeated, his voice hard and demanding.
“No,” I gasped out. “Just freaking out. His hand, Vodyan, you cut off his fucking hand …”
“He touched you,” he said coldly as if that explained everything. “Are you sure you’re fine?”
I nodded, clinging to him as my heart slowly calmed down. Vodyan’s tentacles wrapped around me for a moment, all of me surrounded by him, but then he untangled himself and we moved again.
“I dealt with them all,” he said shortly, cupping my ass with his palm. “I killed six lamias. Grandfather would have been proud.”
“Don’t say that,” I said instantly. “You didn’t do it to impress him.”
“No,” he snorted with a cold, quiet laugh. “I did it for you.”
A heavy weight settled in my stomach. Did he… hate me now? I pushed that thought away, deciding not to be a drama queen. He’d just fought a horde of monsters and chopped one to bits to save me. Of course, he was affected.
“And you, baby? Are you hurt?” I asked, stroking his nape once to see his reaction.
He exhaled through his nose, growing marginally less tense. A moment later, he pressed his face to my head and nuzzled in. I stroked him with more confidence, seeing it worked.
“Just a bit. That bullet on the island grazed my arm. Must have been a really good sniper. I also got a few bites. Nothing major.”
A wave of panic bit at my insides. “What?! You’ve been shot? Baby, we have to stop and have a look at it! You need to… get a bandage… or something…”
He laughed, warm and hearty, until he shook all over. I tried to peer at both his arms to see where the wound was, but he pressed on my nape in the familiar, quelling gesture.
“Water will heal me,” he said with amusement. “But it’s cute. That you worry about me.”
“Cute,” I said with outrage before I remembered the way he grew up. My chest squeezed with a burning ache. “Of course I worry about you. Are you in pain? Can I do anything?”
“You’re already doing enough,” he said, splaying his fingers wide under my ass. “And the pain is negligent. I’ve had far worse.”
“I know,” I said quietly. “Doesn’t mean you just have to suffer through it. Have you considered you’ve already gone through your lifetime quota of pain? Maybe things get to only be good from now on?”
He squeezed me with a low hum. “They will be. Once we’re safe. Now, why don’t you tell me all you know about Carver? We have about four hours to kill.”
I grunted, not appreciating the change of topic, but then, if I had information he needed, it would be stupid not to share it.
Though, I doubted I would be helpful.
“All I know is what’s in my testimony,” I said, shivering at the memory. “I don’t know, was that in your file?”
“Tell me everything,” he demanded, angling his palm on my ass to press me closer into him.
My breath hitched, and Vodyan cursed. He readjusted until I sat on his forearm.
“I shouldn’t let myself get distracted. Please, talk. Let’s pretend we’re not fucking for now.”
I sighed regretfully, but then, he still held me and we were close enough to satisfy my need for touch, making it easier to revisit painful memories.
“As you know, I volunteered in the children’s home,” I began, refraining from stroking his nape. “I usually spent a few afternoons there, staying for up to three hours at a time. I made a point of hugging the babies and smaller children while I read to the older kids or played board games with them.”
“Multitasking,” he murmured, his hand twitching.
“Well, I only had so much time,” I explained. “One afternoon, I walked around with two-year-old Laura in my arms. She’s a half-vampire and was new to the home at the time. I prioritized her, because she was scared and withdrawn.”
And she’d really clung to me. My heart squeezed, missing the baby girl who liked playing with my hair and earlobes, for some reason. She already had fangs, and her smiles were so adorable.
“A six-year-old abomination boy came in, saying he wanted to ask me something. Laura had fallen asleep, so I sat down with him.”
“Wait. Abomination?” Vodyan asked, and I couldn’t blame him.
“They are incredibly rare. Almost extinct because, well, most people hate them. They used to be hunted. Still are, in some parts of the world.”
“What are they?”
I thought for a moment, painting the image of the little boy in my mind. My heart squeezed with grief and pain.
“Well, they are humanoid, but their bodies are covered with a black chitin carapace that only opens in certain circumstances,” I said slowly, trying as best I could to paint an objective image of the species. “And their… Well, their heads are naked skulls. Though there is flesh underneath the bone. They are overall very hard creatures. Heavily armored. Um. They are born out of eggs.”
“Okay,” he said with a nod.
I loved him a bit more for that. I was more than convinced most people would have expressed disgust after hearing that description, but he was completely neutral.
“His name was Azahl,” I said, my breath hitching. “We sat down, and he squirmed in place for some time until he gathered the courage to tell me. You see, the kids are used to being dismissed. But finally, he started talking. He said that one night, when he couldn’t sleep, he saw a man walk into his room that he shared with four other children. That man stopped over his bed, and Azahl saw him clearly. Abominations have black, matte eyes, deep set in their eye sockets. They can see in the dark. So even if his eyes were open, he probably appeared to be asleep. ”
Vodyan hummed, and I took a deep breath, swallowing down my tears.
“That man whispered, but he stood so close, Azahl heard every word. He said, ‘Add this one to the list. If he doesn’t sell for a million bucks, I’ll be fucked.’ Azahl told me all of that, and he clearly thought I wouldn’t believe him.”
“Why?” Vodyan asked, harshness creeping into his voice.
“Because he’d already gone to his head teacher with this, and she told him he must have had a nightmare. When he insisted, she punished him for talking out of turn.”
“But you believed him,” Vodyan said without a shadow of a doubt.
“Of course. I was disturbed, so much so that little Laura woke up in tears because she sensed my anxiety. I calmed her down, hugged Azahl, and spent some more time with the kids, waiting for administrator Kowalski to be free. I wanted to take it up with her directly, and then, with the police. Azahl was called away to do some chores, and I stayed with a few younger kids. We played a bit, and when they were called away for supper, I went to see the administrator.
“She wasn’t in her office. The kids were at supper. I went over to the library, which was empty, and waited. It was quiet, the couch was comfortable, and I was exhausted, so I fell asleep. I woke up a bit after eleven p.m., and the children’s home was dark and quiet. I was angry with myself for falling asleep and missing my window to talk to the administrator. I decided to try her office anyway, hoping she’d still be in.”
“And Carver was there,” Vodyan said, his voice hard.
“Yes. The door to her office was closed. It was made of thin plywood, cheap, like everything in that place. I saw light under the door, and a shadow of someone walking. I heard the floor creak inside. And then, I heard a man’s voice.”
Vodyan pulled me closer with a comforting hum. I realized I was shaking.
“I heard him very clearly, because he stood close to the door,” I continued after taking a few breaths. “He said, ‘Thank you for your cooperation, administrator. Everything went smoothly, and you were very accommodating.’ She replied, ‘Good. And where’s my money, Mr. Carver? You said you’d pay extra for the abomination.’ He said, ‘Everything is in the briefcase. As agreed, half now, half after we sell them. The abomination should fetch a good price. Some people are freaks for that kind of novelty.’ And to that, she replied, ‘Pleasure doing business with you.’”
I fell silent, my blood boiling with rage. I shook hard, and Vodyan held me even tighter, absorbing my distress.
“You remember it word for word,” he said softly.
“I hear it in my nightmares,” I said honestly. “Anyway, I didn’t wait after that. I ran out of there—the front door was unlocked. I drove straight to the nearest police station and gave my testimony. Feds appeared within an hour and took over. Carver was already of interest, and they were building a case against him. When they checked in the children’s home, seven kids were missing, Azahl among them.”
Tears gathered in my mask, and I desperately sniffed time and again to keep snot from coming out.
“It will be okay, sweetheart,” Vodyan murmured, stroking the back of my head. “I’ll get him. He’ll pay.”
That distracted me enough from the impending meltdown. I’d cried enough over that. I wanted to be done.
“What do you mean, you’ll get him?”
“We’ll get him,” Vodyan corrected himself smoothly. “He’ll get justice”
“I know,” I said, swallowing tears, though I was mostly calm. “And it’s not like… I mean, most of the kids were recovered.”
“Yeah. Thanks to you,” he said proudly. “You alerted the police fast enough.”
“But not Azahl,” I said, tears threatening to spill again. “He came to me, Vodyan. He trusted me to help him, and I fucking failed! When he was called away for those chores, I thought nothing of it. But I should have been suspicious. I should have… Taken him out of there, hid him, I don’t know! ”
“You couldn’t have known. And if you’d done that, you’d be the one kidnapping children. No one would have believed your testimony. You did everything exactly right, Zoe.”
I laughed wetly, the words I’d said to him earlier coming back to comfort me.
“But he’s still gone,” I said, grief bursting in my chest.
“Yeah. As is my mother. Sometimes you do things right, and yet, nothing is right afterwards.”
“Oh, God. I’m so sorry,” I choked out. “This is… Ugh. Just look at the pair of us. And I know we’ll be fine. Everything will be fine in the end. I just wish I could have saved Azahl. When I think about what they must be doing to him, wherever he is… Oh shit. No. Thinking about it is useless. All of that goes back under lock and key.”
That was what I had to do ever since it happened. My role was clear: survive until Carver’s trial so he’d go to jail and never hurt another kid again. Except, how could there be a trial if he’d run away? God, how I hated him.
“Saving the boy is important to you,” Vodyan said softly.
“Of course! I’d do anything to bring him back. But even if he’s rescued, he’ll need so much help after that. I don’t even… I can’t fathom his suffering.”
Vodyan hummed, hiking me up a little higher. “Rest until we get to Yeseera. I think you’ll like it.”