Page 59 of Guarded By the Vodnik

“I remember I begged him to send me away when I was seven. He loathed me so much, Zoe, and I wanted to go away to make him happy. Funny, right? He never let me forget how much of a problem I was, what a huge burden, and I thought if I was out of his life, at least he’d have it easier. Children are idiots.”

She closed her eyes, tears spilling from underneath her lashes. I wiped them gently away.

“But he wouldn’t. He said no blood of his would be poisoned by the city or given to lamias. So he kept me, trained me, until he almost killed me.”

She sobbed once, clenching her jaw as if trying to keep that in. I watched her, hurting that she was hurt but numb about my own suffering.

“He kept me tied up here, in this room, for so long. There were sores all over my body, and I was suffocating. My lungs gave out. I wasn’t ready. Vodniks are able to stay on the surface for longer periods in adolescence. I was eight.”

She shook, and I stroked her hair, my tentacles sliding over her naked skin in a desperate attempt to give her comfort.

“Shh, sweet girl. It’s okay. It really is. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry!” she blurted out, crying fully now. Hot, fat tears fell down her cheeks, and I couldn’t keep up swiping them away. “Don’t you ever be sorry! You went through so much, and you will fucking never apologize to me again!”

I shook my head with a faint smile, watching as she wailed over me. And it was so strange. It felt like her grief for me, her outrage and sadness, made something ease inside me. She cried over me, and it meant my pain was validated, my suffering witnessed.

“Come here,” I whispered, hot relief loosening something inside me that had been tight and numb for many years, and now it flared to life. “Hold me.”

I brought her up, and she wrapped around me with all limbs, shaking and crying into my collarbone.

“He left me here to die,” I said to wrap up the story. She wailed, clutching me to herself. “But I managed to get out of the ropes. I fled to the lake and never saw him again until he was dead. So it ends well. And now, I have you.”

“Yeah, you do,” she said, running her hands up my nape and head. “You have me.”

It took some time until she calmed down, but I was happy to comfort her through it. I felt oddly empty and buoyant, as if telling her had released huge amounts of pressure, and I was so much lighter without it.

When she finally fell asleep wrapped up in me, fed and watered, I sighed deeply and looked out at the lake, thinking. The goal now was to keep her alive until the trial, and then, find out the names of Carver’s people who were after her so I could pick them off one by one. I would leave nothing to chance.

With all threats gone, I would resign. Move, possibly. I had many lamia enemies in Lake Superior, but there was a thriving vodnik community in Lake Erie, so that was one possibility. We’d have a fresh start, and I had enough savings to make it work.

Zoe would want for nothing.

The vibration of my comm set jolted me out of my plans. We’d agreed on minimal contact, because even the most secured channel could give away my position, so if Malgeri was calling, it had to be serious.

“What’s up?” I asked, tapping my ear.

“Carver’s out,” he said without preamble, sounding grim. “And the feds didn’t admit to anything, but it looks fishy. He just went poof out of his supermax cell, and it makes me think he has someone on the inside pulling strings for him.”

“Fuck,” I muttered, glancing at Zoe. “It makes sense. He knows we’re in the lake. There must be a mole.”

Malgeri was silent for a few seconds until he exploded, “The fuck you mean, he knows where you are? Since when? Why the fuck didn’t you report it?”

Oh, shit. He was right. I clenched my jaw as realization hit me. That was why it was forbidden to fuck your principal. Because my head was completely off the job, and I’d fucked up in a major way.

“Lamias attacked us yesterday. I learned a human was ready to pay them for Zoe,” I said, keeping my voice cool, even though I was jolted by the realization it was only yesterday. “We were too deep for comms to work, and then we spent hours trapped until I managed to get us out. But you’re right. I could have called you a few hours ago, after we got closer to the surface.”

“Why didn’t you?” Malgeri spat, his fury spilling over. As a demon, he could never hold his temper in check.

Well, there was nothing for it.

“Because I fell for her,” I said. I probably should have faked contrition to avoid more shouting, but I didn’t care. “And if you take me off the case, I’ll resign and keep protecting her, so you might as well fire me.”

Silence fell, so complete, it was ominous.

“Do you understand you’ve already compromised your principal’s safety?” Malgeri said, his voice deceptively cool.

“Yes. It was a mistake that I won’t make again. I also saved her life by giving her my cock, though.”

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