Chapter Five #2
Benedict’s eyes flicked to mine, asking permission without words.
“Talk,” I said.
The female vampyre’s voice was a whisper of silk and venom.
“It’s the blood. Draken blood. It sustains us, gives us power.
The older it is, the stronger we become.
When the Overlord fell, we lost our source of white magick.
Drakens have some, don’t you? He promised a meal.
But it was just the one. We want more now. ”
Nerissa inhaled sharply. “You drank my son.”
The vampyre smiled wider. “He was delicious.”
Nerissa moved so fast, I barely registered what had happened until the female vampyre’s head slid sideways off her neck, and fell onto the deck with a wet plop. The other vampyres went berserk at seeing the blood, foaming at the mouths and rubbing their wrists and ankles raw.
“I promised her she’d live!” I said with indignation.
“I didn’t.” Nerissa glared at Benedict in challenge.
He sighed. “Taunting the lady with the sword isn’t a great way to keep promises.”
I frowned as Nerissa moved toward the others.
“Wait!” I called out. “They said ‘he promised them.’ Who is he? Surely not the Overlord.”
Nerissa paused in her movements as Benedict’s head whipped back around. He raised one finger to Nerissa who scowled, but didn’t dispute whatever silent arrangement they’d come up with.
Nerissa systematically went down the line and chopped every vampyre’s head off until the ship was silent, except for the wind blowing through the sails.
Only one young male was left, shivering and crying messily for his life, the least feral among them.
Nerissa stood at the bow, her dark hair whipping in the wind.
“Well? This is your chance. Tell us everything. Who promised you food?”
His young, red eyes gazed at us all with hate. If he’d been human, I’d have guessed him to only be nineteen. “You’ll just kill me anyway.”
Nerissa stepped forward but Benedict stopped her, a hand across her chest. “You want draken blood? I’ll give you a sip for every answer.”
My spine straightened in shock, a hiss escaping my mouth before I could help it. Kieran practically leaped into the air. Benedict pinned us all with a look.
“We need answers.”
The vampyre’s nose lifted, unable to help it as drool fell from his chin. He whined pitifully. “Draken blood?”
Nerissa rolled her eyes and pulled a flask from her hip, handing it to Benedict. The vampyre salivated as Benedict used a claw to open a vein in his wrist, bleeding heavily into the flask. Ronan held me back as I instinctively stepped forward, wanting to heal it.
“Let her come.”
Ronan let me go and I practically pounced on Benedict, my tongue lapping at his wrist to heal the wound.
He nuzzled into my hair and kissed it. “Thank you, love. This is for answers.”
I nodded and backed away.
“Here. One sip for one question. Fair?”
The vampyre couldn’t nod quickly enough, straining against his chains. The air smelled of brine and blood. The child inside me kicked once, a faint echo of unease.
“Who promised you food?” Benedict asked.
We held our breaths.
“Veskor,” he rasped.
“What is a Veskor?” Benedict demanded.
The vampyre shook his head wildly side to side. “You promised! YOU PROMISED!”
Benedict recoiled at the vampyre’s wildness, but leaned forward and tipped the flask just out of reach, letting a generous portion spill onto the deck. The vampyre strained his head forward, moaning in a lewd way that turned my cheeks red as he lapped at the blood that soaked quickly into the wood.
Benedict quickly pulled away. “What or who is Veskor?”
The vampyre panted, eyes closed as the blood went through his system. His eyes snapped open, a little less red, and his manner more controlled. “Like you. A dragon man.”
Nerissa flinched. Benedict nearly dropped the flask. Ronan and Kieran gasped next to me. Drakens were popping up like rats.
“Another draken!” Nerissa and Benedict both exclaimed at the same time.
The vampyre reached out toward the flask pathetically.
“Answer all my questions to my satisfaction, and the entire flask is yours,” Benedict offered.
The vampyre couldn’t nod fast enough.
“Tell us everything about Veskor,” Nerissa deadpanned.
“Veskor is old. He wants a mate. He cannot find the island with the other dragons. We know more about the island than he does. We help, tell him if there is a way in, we get the blood.”
Benedict tossed the flask which the vampyre greedily devoured, making obscene noises as he gulped it down and tried to shove his tongue into the narrow opening, intent on getting every last drop.
We turned away, trying to ignore him.
“Just how many fucking drakens are out there?” Benedict grit out, a touch of desperation in his voice.
Nerissa sighed. “You lot do go feral without a mate. I’ve read it's due to the dragon blood. I’m thinking it’s why Anar left.”
Benedict looked lost. I wrapped my arms around his waist the best I could with my bump.
“Probably another stray, like my mate,” Nerissa mumbled. “Scattered to the winds through chance and trying to get home.”
She shot a look at Benedict, who nodded.
Before I could blink, she raised her short sword and removed the vampyre’s head from his shoulders.
The pathetic creature didn’t see it coming, his happy smile still on his face as the flask dropped from his fingers.
His head rolled across the wooden planks, face still twisted in an expression of bliss with Benedict’s blood staining his lips.
“Toss them,” Kieran grunted, and Benedict and Ronan moved to help toss the bodies overboard. Rather than float on top of the water, feminine hands with claws seized them and dragged them down, down, down.
Meruse was pragmatic, at least.
When I finally looked back toward the sea, the water was no longer still. Red bloomed across the waves.
Ronan’s hand closed around mine. “It’s better this way.”
I turned on him, fire rising unbidden beneath my skin. “Better?”
He didn’t answer. His eyes stayed fixed on the distant ship as the sea around it ran red. If peace looked like this, maybe we’d never known it at all.