Page 76 of Guarded By the Vodnik

“Wait. There’s an attachment.”

I clicked on the MPEG file, my heart hammering sickly in my chest. Carver’s face wearing a clear plastic mask filled the screen, handsome in a cold, ruthless kind of way. He grinned, his white smile marred by a gap where his central incisor used to be. The image blurred because it was filmed underwater, but his voice came through clearly.

“And I missed you again, Zoe Gilbert. I was so close!” he grinned into the camera, seemingly having the time of his life.

I shivered, and Vodyan wrapped another tentacle around me. I sank into his touch gratefully, letting him ground me.

“And now you’re hiding in the vodnik city like the little fucking coward you are,” Carver continued, that smile tightening into a grimace. “Zoe, Zoe. Come out. Let’s play. Don’t you think it’s high time we met? There you are, scuttling in the shadows, hiding behind bodyguards, and it’s no fun!”

He grinned again, and the camera panned away from his face, showing Azahl tied up, held between two lamias. He struggled weakly, but it was obvious he either lacked strength or the will to move.

A sob lodged in my throat, and I swallowed it to hear Carver talk.

“Now, did you know, Zoe Gilbert, that abominations can survive up to two hours underwater? Two hours! That’s a long fucking time. Well, we’ve been here on this underwater trip for a hundred minutes. Can you do the math, Zoe?”

The camera returned to his face as he laughed, his eyes flashing mockingly. “Now, maybe we’ll come up to the surface so he can take a few breaths, or maybe we won’t. I fancy killing him just to make you cry, you fucking bitch. I lost a tooth because of you!”

He screamed, pointing at the gap in his mouth, his amused manner completely gone. I flinched, and Vodyan held me tighter.

Carver shook himself off and continued. “I lost a tooth and precious cargo, and I lost good customers because of your little eavesdropping stint. But I did my research on you, bitch. I know you’re a fucking do-gooder who probably gets off on touching children, so here’s what will happen. Within the next twelve hours, I’ll send you a location. If you don’t show up within an hour, the fucking abomination will die, and it will be on you. Bring your bodyguard. My new lamia friends have some business with him. If I see anyone but the two of you, the boy will die.”

The video ended, and I realized I was barely breathing, so I gulped in a long, shuddering breath that did nothing to ease the knot of terror in my gut.

“I need to send it to Malgeri,” Vodyan said quietly, reaching for the keyboard with one hand.

“What? No!” I grabbed his wrist, looking at him pleadingly. “You can’t tell the feds! They don’t fucking care about abominations, no one does! They will sacrifice him to get Carver! Please, baby. Please! You heard what he said.”

He nodded patiently, and when I stopped begging, breathing fast as tears crowded my eyes, he leaned in and kissed my forehead.

“We won’t tell the feds. There’s a mole, remember? But I need to tell Malgeri. He is the head of my branch of the MSA, and I promise you, if there’s anyone who cares about persecuted monster children, it’s him. Okay, Zoe? We need a plan and all the support we can get if we are to save Azahl.”

I blinked a few times, taken aback so much that even the urge to cry went away. “Wait. You… You’d do that? I thought… Vodyan, I thought you wouldn’t let me go. I thought you’d be ready to sacrifice him, too. To keep me safe.”

I didn’t mind it in the least—I was happy he was on my side in this, and I’d give my life for Azahl’s in a flash. After all, I owed him. He came to me, and I failed him, and it was my fault that he was in Carver’s grip.

Vodyan gave me a tight smile.

“I think we’ve already established I’ll give you everything you want, and you want to save the boy,” he said, his voice harsh. “But I won’t be fucking stupid about it. We won’t go there like lambs for slaughter, and just to be clear, if I have to choose between the boy and you, I’ll save you. But I will try my best not to let that happen.”

I stared at him for a moment, the cold anger in him settling my fear until I could almost breathe fully.

“Okay,” I whispered, and when he reached for the keyboard again, I let him.

Vodyan spent a long time on a call with his boss after that, and he didn’t let me out of his sight, even following me to the bathroom. His eyes were on me the whole time, watchful and alert, and I had the feeling he wanted to drink me in while we were still in safety. Whenever I was available to touch, he wound around me with almost all his limbs, as if his life depended on keeping me close.

I didn’t understand most of the conversation. They spoke in code, talking about numbered strategies, negotiation techniques, discussing other people in MSA’s employ I had no idea about. Malgeri exploded a few times, calling Vodyan a stubborn son of a bitch and a lovesick idiot, to which Vodyan just smiled, playing with my hair.

Finally, an agreement was reached, people were put on alert, transport organized.

“And now we wait,” Vodyan said, running his fingers through my hair while his tentacles wrapped around my legs and torso, only leaving my arms and head out. “He’ll pick a place close to Yeseera since he knows we’re here. Though it will probably be far enough that getting there will tire me out.”

We were both tense. I was sure the message would come any moment and we’d miss it. Vodyan showed me a secret panel in the wall hiding his weapon cabinet, and he armed himself to the teeth with a few jet guns and knives, and a bullet gun he could keep in a vacuum package and rip out fast if he had to fight on land.

“And this is for you,” he said, presenting me with a discreet black belt sheathing a short knife. “It shouldn’t be very obvious against your suit. Fuck, I’m so glad you won’t need your tank.”

“Oh.” I thought about it. “How long does it actually last? Your cum?”

I ended up sucking his cock while he cleaned and checked his bullet gun, because he hadn’t used it in ages, and he wanted to make sure it was fully operational. It was surreal. His hands were busy, his eyes on the gun, but his cock was hard and eager in my mouth, playing with my tongue. A tentacle coiled over my shoulders, urging me on.

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