Page 55 of Ocean of Sin and Starlight

While the soldier is distracted by Priest’s resurrection, my shark teeth emerge, and I find the strength to twist around to bite the soldier’s hand. I chomp down on two fingers, severing them both at the knuckle.

The soldier screams in horror, blood spraying, and I spit the fingers out violently. If I’m going to eat any part of this man, it’s going to be his heart, and he’s going to watch me do it.

Meanwhile, Priest appears behind him, grabbing the man from behind, pulling off his wig and throwing it to the ground before wrapping strong fingers around each shoulder, holding the screaming soldier in place.

“Do you want to do the honors, little fish?” Priest asks me. His eyes have that strange red sheen to them, his fangs protruding as he talks.

I bare my teeth right back, matching his gruesome smile.

“Gladly,” I tell him.

I move my shoulders so they roll forward and snap back into place, gritting my teeth through a scream. Then, I thrust my hand at the soldier, my nails turning into claws as I plunge my fingers into the man’s chest, ripping through flesh and bone.

His scream echoes off the walls, and I see my reflection in his dark eyes. I look like a crazed monster.

Even more so when I rip his heart right out of his chest. I hold it in front of his face so he can watch as it gives its last beat. I want him to watch me eat it too, but I hesitate, wondering if that will be too much for Priest, if he’ll think badly of me.

But when I glance at him standing behind the soldier, he just gives me an assured nod to proceed.

So, I open my mouth and stuff the man’s heart inside, slicing through the tough muscle with a few snaps of my teeth, blood spilling over the sides of my lips.

I know the soldier sees me eat it, even if he’s alive for just a mere second before he collapses, dead in Priest’s arms.

That only makes me more ravenous as I swallow down his heart—it’s the best thing I’ve tasted in a long time—and lock eyes with Priest. Something changes in his gaze, and he frowns. He knows that, right now, I could make a break for it. My teeth are sharp, my claws out; I can run for the door.

But I don’t move. I just stand there, a bloodied corpse between us.

I’m not sure why it feels rather awkward, but it does, like we’re both seeing each other in a new light, one perhaps only flattering to each other.

“You got shot,” I point out, nodding at his chest while I wipe the blood from my mouth.

“I did. Wasn’t the first time and won’t be the last. It can’t kill me.”

“Then why did you step aside?” I ask. “I thought you were going to protect me.”

“Larimar, I will protect you from everyone, including myself,” he says gravely. “He wasn’t going to make it out of this room alive regardless, but I wanted to see what you could do. I wanted to see how you’d take care of yourself. I wanted to see your monster.”

“He was going to rape me,” I say. “What if I couldn’t have fought back?”

“I would have torn off his dick before he had the chance,” he growls, his eyes burning into mine. “I didn’t think he’d pull the trigger. Besides, you did take care of yourself. All of this? This is all you.”

I suppose he’s right. Even if Priest hadn’t recovered, I managed to bite off the man’s fingers. I tore out his heart and ate it. I might even be a little proud of myself.

“Since we have him, we shouldn’t let him go to waste,” Priest says, clearing his throat. “Did you want to help yourself to the rest of his organs while I drink his blood?”

“Do you think others will come?”

He shakes his head and steps back to place the soldier on the ground. “They would have been here already, but I’ll be listening, just in case. I should have heard him coming before, but I was just…too preoccupied with you.”

“With whether I would behave,” I remind him. “I’d say I’m in the midst of misbehaving, wouldn’t you?”

He gives me a crooked smile, fangs and all, that steals the breath from my lungs. “Then please, continue.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” I say, getting to my knees beside the corpse. Priest does the same, snapping the dead man’s neck to the side before biting and feasting. I dig my hand into the soldier’s chest cavity and rip him down the middle, searching for his liver.

The two of us share a meal together, as lovers do.

Chapter Sixteen

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