Page 30 of Shadows and Flames (Twin Blades #2)

Chapter Eighteen

TANA

T urned out, the Vyrkos male was quite easy to find.

“And why, pray tell, should I be concerned?” He drawled from his bed, feet crossed leisurely at the ankle, hands folded beneath his head.

Unlike the humans with weak senses now convened in the dining room and strategizing like we’d feared, our sense of smell quickly led us to the male who was lounging contentedly in his cabin.

It was small, like mine, and was even on the same floor as the woman and her brother who started all of this.

“Because,” my cousin put her hands on her hips, standing over him like a bewildered parent, “they are coming to kill you, and then they’ll be coming for us, too.”

The Vyrkos stared blankly at all of us, red eyes deep like wine. “If they come because I gave that woman what she wanted, then they deserve to die.”

A throat cleared. “Sorry, but we have to ask. Did the human truly ask for you to drink from her?”

The exasperated tone of the room evaporated in an instant. The nonchalant response we received as soon as we’d entered the Vyrkos’s space had received all of our attention, but our frustration would certainly take on a new color should the Vyrkos allude to forcing himself on the woman.

If that became the case, we’d no longer be competing only in contract but also for who would kill the Vyrkos first.

He sneered but remained reclined. “Would you consider her pulling me into her cabin whilst her brother was away, palming my cock, and asking me to bite while we fucked consent enough? We shared pleasure, and I left.”

I released a breath, and I watched my cousin do the same. Her Shadow male remained at her back, glaring at the Vyrkos, but I’d quickly learned in our flight from Versillia years ago that the expression could mean anything.

“Now, is there anything else you need?”

I gaped while my cousin and the Shadows seemed two moments away from grabbing their weapons. “You would deny our help, even if it could mean endangering your life? Ours?”

He turned a dismissive sweep of his red eyes on me.

“I’m failing to understand why I should be any of your concern.

” There was a scar cut across his pale face, one that looked old but spoke of some experience in conflict.

The bottom half of his brown hair was shaved, the rest held back by a leather band.

“And four Lylithans against a fumbling group of humans should be quick work.”

My cousin flicked her gloved hand, already turning away from the male on the bed. “I’m done. This fucker can get thrown overboard.” Elián grunted in agreement, and the three of them headed for the door.

I spared the Vyrkos one last look, but it was met with nothing. Clear apathy.

The corridors were eerily quiet as we went the way we’d come, and when we returned to Meline and Elián’s cabin, I released a weary sigh. “How long do you think it will take them to begin searching?”

And like I’d spoken the footsteps into existence, a tumble of them stomped up onto our deck.

It was automatic, then. All of us drew our weapons as if they’d always been in hand. With their larger blades packed away, the Shadows wielded a variety of knives, and Meline conjured her daggers.

I twirled my small blade in my grip, feeling its familiar weight.

That’d been one of the first lessons from my cousin.

To conceal and quickly retrieve your weapon could save your life, Meline had taught me.

We were powerful, few other beings a direct match in strength and agility, but we could still be bested.

Confidence is best balanced with pragmatism, she’d said with the Ralthan sun beating down on us as she trained me. After a few wins, a nice sum of coin in your pocket, you’ll feel strong and quick. But don’t let that stop you from watching out for a knife to the back.

While helpful for me to keep in mind, it was a bit of a moot point for my cousin when she could release a fraction of her power and snuff out all life on this ship.

The rumblings of voices, mostly male and aggravated, grew nearer. A knock rang across the corridor, on the door to Tomás’s cabin. Of course, there was no answer, so the group turned around, pounded on the barrier that separated us from them.

I breathed calmly, despite my heart galloping.

We’d all agreed that, aside from none of us knowing how to captain a ship, arriving to port with a boat full of bodies—or an absence of such if we pushed them all into the sea—was not wise.

Our kind was durable, but The Killings and other losses had proved that we were not invincible.

The voice that called on the other side was familiar—the one that greeted us when we boarded. “This is your captain. One of our passengers has been attacked, and we need to speak with everyone.” Just what we’d feared. The tension wound tighter.

Tomás was the one to step forward. He sheathed his dagger at his side, and when he glanced at all of us over his shoulder, he gestured his hand up and down, as if commanding us to calm. The throwing back of his hair and straightening his shoulders alluded to the tactic he was going to employ first.

Our fabricated relaxation, my sitting at the foot of the bed and Meline and Elián leaning against the wall, was the best we could muster. I didn’t bother putting away my dagger but rested it on the mattress beside me.

“Why, hello,” Tomás purred when he revealed the captain’s tense form standing before the threshold. The Shadow leaned against the frame, giving us a view of what we faced.

And the captain’s startled expression, complete with a blush visible over top his thick beard. The human faces behind him were a range of scowls and curled lips.

Tomás continued smoothly, “How can we help?”

“Would you and your, ah, friends please come with us?”

So they could murder us in the corridor? I caught Meline’s rolling eyes from across the room. Her Shadow remained facing the door, but I saw his body’s shift closer to hers.

“You said that someone was attacked. What happened? Are we in danger?” Tomás slightly stiffened his posture but continued to lean in a nonthreatening manner.

“We are not certain. But, given your race… you could see why we’d be concerned.”

From the movement of his arm, I gathered Tomás had reached out and was now touching the captain’s coat, probably twisting the fabric suggestively. “I’m not sure when this happened, but I’ve been with you for most of the evening.”

“I know?—”

“But not all. Not to mention the rest of you,” someone shouted from behind the captain.

“Well, my friends and myself make a point of never taking someone unwilling. Which could be said for most of our kind, as well. We can certainly help, but we also don’t appreciate being presumed evil beasts.”

More disdainful rumblings stirred, and I grasped the hilt of my dagger.

Elián and Meline peeled their backs off the wall.

By the symphony of hearts beating, the scents flooding through the doorway, nearly one fourth of the passengers and crew were part of this vengeful party.

How many of them were armed? I tracked the tensing of muscle in Tomás’s back as someone shoved aside the captain.

They stood abreast while the big human in fine travel-wear jutted a finger at Tomás.

“Shut your weaseling mouth. One of you bloodsuckers assaulted my sister .”

This time, the deep silk of Tomás’s words shifted. Even though I was unable to see his face, it sent a prickle down my spine. The warning of a predator. “You’ll do well to never touch me again, boy.”

I stood, and a howl of wind crashed against the windows. The waters had remained fairly calm, but perhaps that was about to change as well.

Before he could strike, Meline stepped forward, and Elián frowned harder.

She rested a hand on Tomás’s shoulder. “None of us are going anywhere, and we certainly don’t want any trouble.

My cousin and I have some knowledge in healing.

Perhaps we can be of assistance in that regard? Is your sister resting all right?”

“Don’t you fucking dare—” he started to spit in Meline’s face, and Elián was at her back in an instant. She raised a hand to halt his defending her, but it was the captain who spoke next.

The human’s swallow was audible, as was the fast beating of his heart.

“I believe some rest is best.” I could no longer see him, but his voice turned, as if he was now facing the mob of humans.

“Our focus should be on young Rebeka, and the guilty party will undoubtedly be turned over to the authorities once we arrive. A night’s sleep will benefit us all. ”

No one took up my cousin’s offer to truly help the injured one in this scenario, but that wasn’t surprising either. There was a possibility the Vyrkos male had been lying before, about this Rebeka approaching him enthusiastically, but something told me that he was speaking truthfully.

Already, I could tell that this was about honor more than protection.

Gathering a hold of the humans, the captain ushered them away, making promises to reconvene tomorrow with fresh minds and eyes, but he was a fool if he thought the worst among them wouldn’t be plotting past sunrise.

We all remained at the ready until the last of them retreated, but there would most likely be not a wink of sleep between us.

Would a bold human or two attempt to attack us unawares?

I tapped the pad of my finger against the tip of my blade.

It was due a sharpening, and it was looking as though I’d have the time.

Tomás sagged against the door, head tilted toward the wooden ceiling. I sat again on the firm mattress, something other than fear weighing on my shoulders.

We were opposing a group of humans instead of Vyrkos like the war decades past, but it brought up memories all the same.

Tales of massacres, whole villages of Lylithan and Vyrkos alike wiped out, and for what?

The horrors of The Killings weren’t often in my thoughts, but this whole affair was bringing them back up. Hiding, looking over my shoulder.

Hatred for another race killed my father, and where did that get us? At the end of it all, my uncle, aunt, and so many others had been killed because of what?

Nothing. They’d died for nothing.

I blinked back tears of frustration. Though the war between our peoples seemed to be a tale from a faraway place to these humans, it should have been a warning.

But, wasn’t that always the way? Blaming others instead of inspecting the true reasons within. Pointing at the differences to fuel the malice until it raged out of control.

“They’re going to kill him before we reach the port.” The others didn’t necessarily ignore me, but they didn’t respond either. I pressed on, “We are able to fight off any attack, but if enough of them try, they may succeed.”

“And we tried to bring him here. Protect him. But once they realize another blood drinker is on this ship, if they haven’t already, he will have to fend for himself.”

Meline was right. Of course she was, but her cold acceptance of letting the Vyrkos die didn’t sit well with me.

Through the training and contracts I’d participated in, I kept waiting for the inclination toward kindness to wither.

I could remove the digits from a man who’d never wronged me, slit the throat of another while relieving his home of all valuables available.

And yet, refusing assistance when it was so easy to give—that felt wrong.

“Oh, lovely. We have a bleeding heart in the cabin. Might be best to find another profession, love.”

I peeled my lip back and hissed at Tomás while my cheeks flamed. I needn’t the reminder that I was the greenest out of everyone here. That if anyone were to blunder in this situation, it was me. But, was it so bad to be sensitive and still kill for money?

My cousin crouched before me and took my hands in hers.

A frisson of tension held my muscles stiffer than usual, but I accepted the touch.

Our argument earlier, if it could be called that, still felt unresolved.

Particularly with her gazing at me like I was a child, experiencing their first cruelty of the world.

“We can’t put ourselves in danger for him, Tana. Not when he’s unwilling to even accept it.”

“I—I’m not saying we lay our lives down when he won’t even—b-but it just—” I ground my jaw, fighting the frustrated tears. Was there some action in between that was not forcing him to accept our help but not reclining in the room while they got to him?

Meline leaned forward and kissed my brow. Something I’d done to her countless times, especially in recent years. “If he comes to us, we will help.”

The assurance felt final, so I didn’t question or add anything else aside from a nod.