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Tell me the truth, Ullan, I say, slowly walking toward him. Tell me the truth so that I may put my curiosity to rest, and perhaps I’ll let you live.

The beast lets out a low, rattling sound, his claws digging in, drawing more blood. The sight of Ullan’s blood makes my own veins thrum. I want my revenge, but maybe Syren blood will go a long way for the rest of the crew.

Tell me the truth and I’ll make sure you’re taken alive, I add, trying not to smile.

There was no bargain, Ullan finally says, his voice high and panicked. And weak. I saw the ship, knew what they were there for, and I signaled to them to come into the bay. They thought they were hunting me; they didn’t know you were down there.

I nod. Strangely enough, now that I hear what happened, the truth makes no difference to me. I see.

You can’t trust humans, Ullan says, wild-eyed.

Now, I grin. “No, you can’t,” I say aloud, even though I know he doesn’t understand me. “But we’re not human anyway.”

I look to the beast again, finally feeling relaxed enough in his monstrous presence. “What should we do, Priest?” I ask, hoping I’m reaching him. “Keep the Syren alive so we can all feed off him for years to come? Or let me take out his heart and have him watch me eat it?”

I don’t expect the beast to talk back, but it does.

“I am of two minds,” the monster says, his voice terribly low and chilling and utterly inhuman. “Priest would want you to keep Ullan and torture him for eternity. I would rather eat the Syren’s head. I suppose you could have the heart.”

“Generous offer,” I say. “I thought you were saving him for me.”

“Priest is saving the Syren for you so that you may have your revenge. What I want is to eat its brains.”

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.