Page 58 of The Withering Dawn
Nikolas tapped my arm and when I turned to him, he was just staring at me, frowning like he knew I was thinking of doing something reckless.
I moved away from him, gaining a little distance in case one more prompt drove me toward the shore.
A third shot went off and I could do nothing to stop myself.
I threw the blanket off my shoulders and swung a leg over the railing. Nikolas gathered up the blanket, but he didn’t stop me. It was as if he wanted me to go. As if he was just as uncertain as I was.
I dove toward the water, my heart flipping in my chest at how far the descent was. When I hit the surface, it was like hitting solid ground.
The water was dark. Cold. Haunted. Fear choked me in the first seconds of my plunge, but I swallowed it, and before I could cower from the pain, I welcomed the shift and let it ravage my body. My bones cracked. My skin tore apart and mended itself, stitching together with stretched veins and tendons. My muscles wove themselves into a new form, forcing my legs to bend and fuse. Forcing fins to spring from my length.
I felt crazed, but I needed to get to Nazario. From a cloud of my own blood, I sliced through the water and sped toward the beach, ignoring every terrifying presence that I felt stalking the deep water around me. Things were watching me. Eyes were following my every move, but I ignored them,my mind focusing on one thing.
Everything was a blur when we slammed into the water. Waves rolled me about until I didn’t know which way was up.
When I finally righted myself and managed to get my head above water, I saw Aleksi struggling away from the sharp rocks, clearly unable to use one arm.
“Swim!” I shouted.
He struggled into calmer water, barely keeping his head up after he clipped one of the sharp rocks in our descent. I found myself preoccupied with his wellbeing and for an instant, I forgot Antonio had fallen with us. Then he burst from the water between us, flailing wildly. He grabbed hold of Aleksi, shoving him under the water as if trying to use him as a float. I kicked toward them, wrapping my fingers in Antonio’s thin hair and tugging his head back, forcing him under the water. He struggled desperately and Aleksi surfaced, pushing away from him.
“Fucking kill him!” he gasped furiously. “Kill him for us, Nazario! End the fucking bastard!”
Antonio twisted, managing to get a breath, and I swung my fist into his nose, feeling it collapse under my knuckles. Blood sprayed outof his nostrils and into my face. I hit him again, possessed by rage like it was a plague, devouring all other thoughts.
“Don’t move. Stay right there and don’t scream.”
I roared, hitting him again.
“You’re my boy. My beautiful boy.”
I punched him again and that time, a sharp pain radiated through my hand when I realized I knocked his teeth out.
“You can scream today,” he laughed, finishing his cup of wine. “I’m feeling playful.”
The way Antonio’s face had become a red mess of torn flesh and broken teeth didn’t give me the pleasure I was seeking. Because he wasn’t dead.
But the ocean mocked me. A wave crashed into my back and ripped my vengeance from my grasp. Antonio slid out of my grip and a veil of saltwater fell over my head. When I could see again, Antonio was struggling to gain distance from me. I swam toward him, frustrated with the weight of my coat, and caught his ankle, but the bastard turned again, that same madness spreading like sickness in his eyes.
I saw the knife quick enough to dodge it, but I still felt the burn as it sliced against the side of my head. I snarled, grabbing his wrist and in an attempt to wrestle the thin blade out of his hand.
Everything was harder in the water. My clothes tangled around my legs. My boots were heavy. Frustrated, I slammed my head against the bridge of Antonio’s already broken nose. He was gasping to breathe, every shout a gargle as water flooded his mouth.
I just wanted him dead. I didn’t care how. I just wanted himdead.He threatened my sanity. My men. And his final threat would be toward Aeris.
I wanted. Him. Dead.
As if the ocean had heard me again, a figure breached the surface behind Antonio and in the violent upheaval, I could see glimpses of red. Like a serpent, it coiled around Antonio’s body and dragged him screaming beneath the surface. I pushed away from him, treadingwater and staring at what was now an empty space in front of me. Silence replaced what was a noisy struggle seconds ago. I skimmed the murky water around me, but I saw nothing. Antonio was gone and the creature with him.
But it wasn’t a creature.
I knew exactly what it was.
Part of me was shouting commands at my body to swim to shore and get out of the ocean. It was a deadly place. I didn’t have to have Aeris’s sixth sense to know it. I could feel it in the way the water chilled my bones. But the shock in me made me stay, waiting to see something breach the surface. Antonio. Aeris. Anyone.
Just as I was about to start swimming, something popped out of the sea beside me, red bubbles pooling around it. As it rolled toward me, I could see panic frozen on Antonio’s face. His eyes were rolled up in his head. His cheek bore a deep, angry scratch that sliced through his top lip, parting it like the curtains on a stage to reveal his broken teeth. His neck was shredded, gnarled flesh like fabric haphazardly torn to shreds.
I wanted to savor that look on his severed head, but instead I pushed him away and started toward the beach, losing interest quickly when I realized it was Aeris that I’d seen suck him under the waves.
