Page 26 of Echoes of the Tide

So, as he loomed up to his great height above the man, he reached for the weapon and aimed it between his own jaws. Biting the end of the strange weapon, he stared the man down as he grasped either side of the achromo’s head and twisted hard.

The man’s body fell to the floor. Maketes stared at the head in his grasp for a few moments before tossing it to the side.

Breathing hard, he waited to get himself under control for a few moments. Bloodlust ran through him hard. He’d always had an edge of it from his father and his father’s father. All of them loved the taste of blood a little too much.

Shaking himself, he didn’t look back at the desk where he knew a little achromo hid. Instead, he dropped onto his forearms and crawled over to the waterfall that was hitting the drainage system. Quietly, he moved his body into the water, ripping the bolts out of his body, and cleaning the blood off himself. He even opened his mouth, letting the hard spray of water clear the blood from his teeth so she wouldn’t have to see that either.

Only then did he turn his attention to the desk, sending a prayer to the gods of the sea that she’d remained underneath. But she stood beside the desk with a piece of paper in her hand. That hard expression was back on her face, which was paler than he’d ever seen it.

“You’re hurt,” she said, parroting his words from only a few moments ago.

“Flesh wounds.” But they ached.

She waved the piece of paper at him. “We’re in the medical pavilion. I know where we can get you some help. Follow me?”

He nodded and watched as she reached into her pocket and pulled out her droid. The little silver balls all clicked together a few times before racing out ahead of them, as though they knew where to go.

He had a moment where he wondered if he was really going deeper into the home of the achromos, far from the water where he was safe. But as she walked away from him, not even sparing a glance for the remains of mangled bodies, he knew he would follow her anywhere.

CHAPTER 11

Her hands were shaking. Ace wrapped them in the hem of her shirt, trying to tell herself that it was normal for them to shake after watching a friend crazily murder a bunch of people. It was normal that she was nervous after all that. It was normal for her to think that maybe she was losing her mind a little.

He’d torn that man’s head off so easily. Twisted it in those massive hands and the body had dropped before the man could even scream out in fear. It had just been attached one minute and then... not. Dropped onto the floor like it wasn’t even that big of a deal that he’d wrenched it off.

She knew now why he’d told her not to watch. Maketes hadn’t wanted her to see the spray of blood that would soon fountain from his hands. Who wanted anyone else to know that they were so capable of terrible, awful things?

And yet there was some part of her that recognized he’d done what he had to do. Before he’d told her to come out, he’d washed the blood clean from his body. He’d taken the time to make sure that she wouldn’t see the violence that had occurred.

Even if she’d already watched. Even though he’d told her to not look because he hadn’t wanted her to be terrified of him.

She was, now. But that was her own fault.

Ace was still brave enough to look at him, though. The wounds that decorated his chest and forearm were from keeping her safe. The one on his shoulder was quite literally meant for her. She’d looked down the barrel of that gun and she had known she was about to die. Until he moved in front of her, taking the wound that should have been hers.

All she could do was get them to a safe place. This was the medical pavilion, after all. She knew where she was going now that she’d found the map. She tried to keep her mind occupied with lefts and rights and turns that weren’t all that complicated. Instead, all she could focus on was the quiet sound of his scales sliding along the smooth floor. The sound of his palms slapping against the cold tile because he couldn’t walk like a normal person. It should have sent disgust rolling down between her shoulder blades, and in some small sense, it did.

But every time she looked over her shoulder, all she could see was the blood that was dripping from his wounds. He’d left a slick black streak across the floor, which was then parted by the long length of his tail, like a child had gotten into ink and ran their fingers through it.

Her heart squeezed and finally she found the room she was looking for. “This used to be a surgical suite. It should still have a lot of the items we’re looking for, but also shouldn’t have too many entrances and exits.”

He only watched her with an amused expression on his face. “You know better than I do. I’ve only been in a human city one other time.”

One other...

She held the door open for him and stared as he squeezed past her. They were so close she could feel the chill of his skin and the strange electrical sensation that brushed over her when he got close enough to touch. She wasn’t sure if that was him orjust... her. Wanting to touch. Wanting to put her hand on that wound that was meant for her.

“You’ve been in a human city before?” she asked, both for curiosity’s sake and to distract herself.

“I was there when we attacked Beta.”

“Oh.” Right. She’d so easily forgotten that the undines had gotten into the other city and nearly tore it apart from the inside out. They’d even heard about it in Gamma, and they didn’t hear about any recent events.

Maketes didn’t wait around for her to figure out what to say next. Instead, he coiled his tail around himself and slumped against the surgical table. Even like that, he was the same height as her. She’d be looking him in the eye if she stood right in front of him.

And then he just stared at her. Kept looking. No matter how long she stayed quiet, and that was unusual for him. Usually he was the first one to start talking when she...

There it was.

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