Page 31 of Bloody Bargain
Someday she would turn her cheek and let me see the blush of her blood beneath the skin that was so fetching on humans. Her eyes would dilate rather than narrow at my presence. And when she did, she would give me some of her fire instead of spending it all on the hunt. Perhaps she would even hunt me for a change…
I would like to be her prey.
Just not tonight.
Tonight, I had quarry of my own.
?
I stood on the edge of the ocean and breathed freely of its salt for the first time in centuries. The obsidian waters were magnetic, drawing on my flesh until I swayed against the call to its great expanse. If only Tessa were here with me. She would draw me back with a ferocious snarl and keep me on land a bit longer.
As it was, I needed to persevere on my own. It had been an age since I’d had to resist temptation. The madness of deprivation was ingrained in me now, and I clenched my claws, digging their points through the tough pads of my palms. My damaged instincts insisted that if I didn’t leap now, I would never have the chance again.
A gannet with creamy white plumes and a black racing stripe down the length of its beak dove into the depths beyond the channel and my muscles tensed with excitement. All four of my irises squeezed together until their pupils were slits, gaze razor sharp and ready to leap after one of my favorite meals.
A ferry with garish lettering broke my stare as it rumbled through the water. I grabbed hold of the dock with my tail and let loose a shaky breath. Mist collected on my aching skin, a balm to the constant scratch of iron in my veins and sinew, and I held onto the sensation. I inhaled a breath of patience as my eyes slowly relaxed and my sight widened once again.
Not yet. Not yet.
The dock was a solid monolith, forged of metal andopus caementiciumof a finer quality than that which built the roads to Rome. When the ferry that hummed like a beast collided with its buoyant sides, there was no jolt, no indication at all that the structure had acknowledged its presence.
The gangplank eased down, and humans all along the railings gathered their things and filed from the vessel, chatting excitedly amongst themselves, looking whiplashed and refreshed. They pointed their small black tiles at interesting things, and the front would flash with light. I wondered if it was dangerous, a weapon that mine Tessa could use, but when they pointed them at each other with easy smiles and words of gratitude, I realized not.
“Pilgrims,” I murmured, reminiscing of the last time I was free. Humans would walk hundreds of miles across Europa to collect badges as holy trinkets. Millions of humans, one solitary experience, over years and years and decades and centuries.
“Astounding isn’t it? How human life is tailored to fit a general type of soul.”
Gamil stood next to me as if we’d been conversing since my arrival. I glanced at them as their features elongated and their hair turned white like waterfall froth. Their true countenance was always at the edge of their arrival, but not memorable enough to shoo away the ghosts they would become. My brother smiled mirthlessly at me, and Gamil stuffed their hands in their pockets.
“He lives, you know.”
“I do.”
Gamil squinted out at the salty ocean channel as warm human bodies strode by us without a glance.
“The tailored trappings come with a set of visors now,” they scoffed. “Not more than a hundred years ago, a human would glean our presence and cross themself or leave offerings thinking we were some human spirit. We even played along with the odd exorcism or two.” They laughed under their breath. “The world is different.”
“Do you suppose the cause?”
Gamil nodded at the black tile in so many hands, their owners downturned and faces glowing in the unnatural light as they shuffled away.
“Electrical discombobulation? Abundance where none is needed? They are a vascular system strangled with cholesterol. At least in the old days, we had to stay vigilant among them. Now we could lay down in the middle of the street and drivers would swerve around us like a bloody pothole.”
A woman in her late sixties dropped a crisply folded vellum inches from Gamil’s feet. They stooped to retrieve it before her aging knees gave her pain.
“Here you go, lass,” they said with a wink, giving her a brilliant smile. The woman looked up at her husband, taking the vellum from the fallen god’s hands.
“Thanks, dear,” she said in a sweet puff. Her husband nodded to her, placing a loving hand on her shoulder as they inched up the dock stairs onto solid land. Gamil followed them with their eyes, charming smile replaced by a distant stare.
“No wonder you chase my tail,” I teased, drawing their attention back. For once, I braved the eyes of my brother willingly, and Gamil gave me a crooked grin in return.
“Ah, so this was a set-up from the start. And here I thought I’d see the great leviathan return to the depths. Spill then. What do you want?”
The wind buffeted our hair and I flared my nostrils, breathing in the familiar scent of the ocean while my peripupils remained fixed on Gamil and the gaggle of receding humans.
“My dagger.”
Gamil raised one delicate brow, clumps of my brother’s silvery straight hair falling to the dock as it bounced into choppy waves about their face. “The meteoric one?”
