Page 53 of My Boyfriend Bites

Dante crouched low and peeked over the edge. Facing Selene, a woman in uniform, the white of it no longer pristine, given the splotch of blood on the sleeve and cuff of her pants.

“Who are you?” asked Selene.

“The captain, of course.”

“I doubt you’ll be one for long given what’s happening on board. Killing your passengers seems like bad business,” Selene stated, rising from her lounge chair.

“I can’t help it if I’m always hungry,” the woman replied with a laugh.

“This goes beyond hunger into gluttony. I have it on good authority that vampires don’t need to ingest that much blood.”

“You think I’m a vampire?” Amusement laced the words. “As if I would be something so trite. I am a soucouyant.”

“A what?” Selene blinked.

Dante knew the answer, and it chilled him to the marrow. He joined them on the top deck as he replied. “A soucouyant is similar to a vampire but of Caribbean origin. Some legends claim they are able to drain bodies and possess them to move around.”

The captain, currently inhabited by the soucouyant, whirled and offered a smile. “That is correct, vampire who is very far from his territory. You have no business here.”

“I disagree. It was brought to my attention that bad things have been happening on cruises. Your fault, I assume?”

“Oh yes. It was time to take matters into my mouth so to speak.” The creature, a form of magical leech, grinned.

“What matters?” Selene asked, drawing its attention.

“Stopping the invasion of my home,” spat the soucouyant. “Ignorant tourists desecrating my islands. Tromping with their clumsy feet on ancestral land and sand. Treating my people as nothing more than serfs.”

“Attacking innocent vacationers isn’t the answer,” Selene stated.

“Don’t be so sure. How many ships will it take being robbed—and losing passengers—before those companies change their routes and avoid my domain?”

“Doesn’t look like it’s working all that well seeing as how I’ve not heard of any routes being cancelled,” Selene observed. “If ceasing the cruises in this area was your end goal, why not just drain everyone on board and really send a message?”

“Because that would draw the wrong kind of attention,” the soucouyant hissed.

“What she means is if anyone suspected supernaturals were to blame, it would draw hunters and government agencies. Using pirates allows her to threaten the tourism industry without exposing herself,” Dante clarified.

“Correct,” the soucouyant sneered. “And it was so easy. I simply needed a few crew members to work with the pirates and coordinate the raids. Rob enough boats and the cruise lines will eventually change their itineraries.”

“And while theft is serious, it’s not a major crime,” Selene mused, “That’s why you made sure the pirates didn’t massacre the passengers because too many dead people would have drawn in depth scrutiny. But that doesn’t seem to have stopped you from murdering.”

“I needed to eat and a few missing people wasn’t considered a cause for concern.” The soucouyant shrugged. “People disappear from cruises all the time.”

“Let’s say you get the tourism to stop. What happens to the economy, to the people who depend on those jobs, those you claim to want to protect?” Dante pointed out.

“Who said anything about protection?” The soucouyant leered. “To me, they are just food. Food that could be serving me to save their lives.”

More pressing to Dante, “Why do you want Selene?” Because the targeting made no sense to him.

“Because she is lagahoo. A prize I must have.”

His already chilled blood turned icy. A lagahoo, another name for a shapeshifter. “I don’t think so,” Dante growled.

“And how will you stop me?” taunted the soucouyant.

“I’ll kill you.” Dante stepped closer, unsure of his next move. What he knew of the soucouyant made them a terrible foe.

“You mean destroy this body.” The creature looked down at it before smirking. “Go ahead. I will find another. And another. You see, I cannot be killed. When one vessel dies, I simply move to another. So please, take my head. Tear out my heart. It won’t matter. I will be reborn, again and again.”

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