Page 43 of Shiver Me Satyr

“Now I really don’t believe you,” she says with a chuckle. It escalates to a full belly laugh that has the vampiress stumbling in a circle while folded over at the waist. Her dairy nearly tumbles from her corset in her fit. My savvy crew steps back when she nears the edges of the circle that has gathered around us.

“You expect me to believe…Teeth, the pirate who knew the insides of everyone’s trousers in the Caribbean—the women, the men, and everyone in between—married. And at the wedding, he gavemyboat,myposition,my legacy,that he held in trust forme…to a slip of a girl?”

“I don’t expect anything of you—”Keep your cool, Betts. She can snap you in half.You don’t have your tentacles to defend yourself—just keep her busy until Chub returns.

“Magda? Magda, do you remember me? I’m Eze, you know, Queen Zora’s son?”

“The Eze I knew had feet he hadn’t grown into because he weighed one hundred pounds soaking wet. Look at you.” Her lips curve to conceal her fangs as something maternal wipes away the horror her features sported a second ago. She really does swing from sweet to violent to caring to terrifying witheach blink of her strange eyes. No wonder her crew sat on edge under her leadership. As she holds Eze’s face in her palms, I can sense his fear from here. It radiates from the pair like macabre sunlight.

“I grew up, ma’am, Captain, Queen, Magda, ma’am,” he stutters. My heart breaks for what this interaction cost him in pride. These crew members see him as a leader, maybe their next quartermaster, and he’s about to wet himself.

“And you will vouch for this girl’s story,” Magda says, nodding her head. “What’s she to you?”

“She’s my captain,” he says firmly.

The smile falls from Magda’s lips. She rears back and slaps him across the face. The crowd gasps, but nobody comes to his aid. They are too afraid, but Eze doesn’t flinch. He lowers his chin to stare at the she-devil.

“I said that Betts is my captain,” he repeats in a much lower voice.

“Oh, that is a manly voice. You have grown up, haven’t you?” He glares at her as she palms his chest and shoulders—the slap completely forgotten. “I’ll show you who deserves your allegiance and who is a silly little princess.”

“So, that’s the game? Put me in my place, so you can take over. I think not. We didn’t come here looking for trouble. We came in peace…until our boat crashed and sank. Now we are at your mercy. There’s no need to fight over a boat that’s not seaworthy. It’s nothing more than a legend, like the stories in your journals.”

“Oh, but the title is worth everything to me. You see, vampires always have a pecking order. I’m always the queen,whether by vote or show of force. Haven’t you seen a vampiress before?”

“If not for your dark eyes with their bright white pupils, I’d say you were just another pretty strumpet,” I snap.

I have a million reasons not to like her. First, I read in her journals that she committed adultery or at least cheated on Branko with my brother-in-law, placing a wedge between the best friends. Secondly, she terrorized me hearties when she was their captain—every crew member who knew her. Thirdly, she won’t accept anything less than a fight from me when I’ve never fought anyone to the death who knew my name. Unless it’s in the heat of the battle, I’m a shy little church mouse…

Church mouse? When was the last time I was in a church? When I waited for Richard while he was at the docks to greet his wife. Where’s the old rage to boil in my belly when I need it? My hatred for Richard and the pain of his betrayal are silent. When did I get over losing my tentacles? Oh, falling in love with Flint must have replaced those dark emotions in my heart…

Flint…

I look toward the sea, but now that the sun’s set, there’s no way I can spot him on the rolling waves. Instead of summoning rage, the pain of deep loss and sorrow bubbles to the surface. Tears fill my eyes.

“Am I keeping you from something? Should I wait to capture your attention before I claw your eyes out, or claw them out first to put you out of your misery?”

I face the woman who always seems to do what she wants—no matter how much it hurts others. She wipes the tear from my cheek, leaving a scratch along its track. Her ruby lips part as she sucks the blood-tinged tear off her nail. Fluttering eyelashesaccompany the sexy groan she emits. She runs her hand down her leather corset to cup herself through her leather pants.

“Your sorrow tastes divine,” she whispers. “I bet your blood will be as sweet as sugarcane. Tell me, which of these men could tell me how sweet you taste, hmm?”

“None of them.” My voice is strong, but the quiver at the end raises Magda’s eyebrow until it disappears under her hair.

“Well, then, which of the women?” She turns to the crowd, giving me her back in a move that shows she doesn’t fear me. With lazy strokes, she absently finger-combs her hair as if by stim or compulsion.

“Nobody on the beach,” I say, straightening my spine. “I’mfaithfulto the man I claim as my own.”

“What’s with the tone?” Magda flips from flirty to suspicious as she whirls around.

“In your own words, your journals told your secrets. I know about your affairs, and while you claim to be queen, I know you share power with your husband, Branko. You threaten me, but I know stories that would get your backside paddled.”

“You do not,” she says, charging at me.

“Chub made me study the battle strategies in your journals, but Flint helped me read every word. You have no idea how many nights we spent curled around one of your journals, giggling and touching one another as we acted out your affairs.”

“You can’t spread those stories! I’ll kill you first,” she shouts, going for my throat like I knew she would.

I tuck into a ball and roll toward her. Being a foot shorter, her claws wave over my head. She cries out when I hit her knees. The big, bad vampiress tumbles into the sand. Am I wrong to get perverse satisfaction from the grit embedded in her hair? Herlips and eyelashes wear a coat of sand, too. My giggles fill the air as I sit, covered in sand myself.

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