Page 95 of The Demons in the Deep: Extended Edition
Mai’s monster had come for her.
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When Mai opened the cabin door, Feral was there, streaming rain, his black hair a glossy wet sheet.
He lifted his crossbow and shot past her, at Rake, but she jumped back and swung the door shut just in time. The bolt thunked deep into the wood.
“Feral, stop it!” she shouted. “I’ve changed my mind. I’m leaving with Rake.”
“No.” Feral’s voice, hard and intractable. “We have a deal, you and I.”
The handle turned. He was coming in.
Mai’s stomach dropped, and her hands went weak.
Rake surged forward and shoved her behind him, and when Feral forged into the cabin, Rake gripped the crossbow and pushed it away. A bolt flew wild, embedding itself in the ceiling.
With an eerie, roaring scream that sent terror straight through Mai’s heart, Rake flung himself against Feral. Their heights were a match. Feral was broader, more heavily muscled, but Rake had weapons fused into his body, and he attacked with a rabid fury Mai had never seen from him. He’d already been on the edge when he came into her cabin, and now he was entirely crazed.
He and Feral rolled out onto the deck, grappling hand to hand. Rake was still naked, the beast in the dark, a flash of bluish-white skin and wicked claws visible through curtains of rain.
Feral bellowed and flipped Rake off him, then dragged him into a headlock, one massive sinewy forearm compressing his windpipe.
“Let us go!” Mai screamed. “Please. Take everything else, and just let us go.”
“I wanted you willing,” Feral grated through his teeth, still crushing Rake’s throat. Rake was kicking, straining, ripping into Feral’s arm with one sharp-nailed hand; his other wrist was pinned under Feral’s boot. Feral grabbed Rake’s free hand with his own, stopping the onslaught of the claws. He tightened the chokehold.
Mai picked up the crossbow and aimed carefully for Feral’s forehead. She felt a momentary pulse of intense pride, because she was holding one of her designs in her hands for the first time, and it was real and lethal. “Let go of him, or I’ll shoot you.”
Feral flashed her a savage grin. “No, you won’t. You're Flay’s friend. You wouldn’t kill his only brother. Not when I can give you everything.”
A rumble of footsteps, and out of the corner of Mai’s eye she saw sailors clustered on the ladder, coming up from belowdecks.
“Stop where you are,” she called out. “I will shoot him.”
“Hold!” ordered Feral.
Rake’s movements were weakening, his eyes closing.
“Let Rake go,” Mai gritted out. “Last chance.”
She saw the intent gleaming in Feral’s eye. Saw his hand come up to Rake’s head, watched the flex of his forearm as his grip shifted.
Just the right pressure for a neck snap.
“Put the crossbow down, little scientist,” said Feral. “Or I’ll break his—”
The bolt pierced Feral’s forehead and flew out the back of his skull.
He slumped backward onto the wet deck, and Rake rolled from his slackened grip.
Mai flicked the crank to reseat the next bolt and whirled on the sailors. “I designed this,” she said. “I know how to handle it, and I will use it again.”
“All right, lass, all right,” said one of the men cautiously. “Did you really—is the Prime Captain dead?”
Mai thought she detected a note of hope in his tone of disbelief, and she had an idea.
“Yes,” she said. “He’s dead. Which means any contract you had with him is over. You’re free to go wherever you want—to do and be what you want. That is, if you help us. We need to get to theWind’s Favor. And this ship is going to take us there.”
