Page 116 of Wicked Tides
She lifted her other arm out of the water and slung something on the ground at my feet like a heavy sack. When it rolled, I saw a woman’s gray face, jaw slack and eyes rolled back. Rigid torn flesh encircled the red crevice of her severed neck. I cocked my head at the trophy.
“You could have just said yes.”
Dahlia untangled her fingers from the mangled hair and continued pulling herself onto land with great effort. She was exhausted. More than that, she was in pain. I stood a step away as she rolled onto her back, revealing two deep, crescent-shaped patches of flesh riddled with teeth marks. Scrapes trailed down her arms and bruising covered one side of her ribs like purple paint spills.
Halfway submerged in the water was her long, eel-like tail, glistening under the muted sunlight with faint, silverish hues amid her black lower half.
She let out a strained sound, clenching her teeth as her tail began to curl in on her like a dying snake. But in doing so, the black dissolved behind peeling, disintegrating layers that turned to the skin I knew so well. The sinew and muscle split down the middle like a serrated knife had taken to her flesh and bones cracked and splintered, creating two limbs from one in a manner that was both fascinating and grotesque.
Finally, her tail was no more and in its place were her long, bare legs. I gave myself two breaths to gather my thoughts before I was sliding my coat off my shoulders. I stepped toward her, kicking the head aside like a piece of waste as I draped my coat over her naked body.
Immediately after Dahlia had shifted, Meridan burst out of the water in a hurry. Her shift was just as unnerving, but fast. I noticed there were no wounds on her aside from a deep gash on her arm that had already stopped bleeding.
“She needs help,” she said quickly.
Clearly.
Dahlia was shivering. I wasn’t sure if it was the cold or something else that had rendered her so helpless, but she was terribly weakened. Her wounds were severe and I still did not know how the icy waters affected her, but she was frail and spent.
Once she was thoroughly wrapped in my coat, I slid an arm under her legs and another around her back, hoisting her off the cold ground. David came running when he realized what was going on.
“You found her,” he panted, quickly sliding off his coat and handing it to Meridan as if she were a lady and not a flesh-eating siren.
“She’s hurt,” I said.
Dahlia was almost limp initially, her eyes opening and closing as I carried her from the shore. Then her limbs went completely lax. Her head rested on my shoulder and she nuzzled into my warmth.
“That’s it,” I muttered. “Just relax. We’ll get you fixed up. David, run ahead and tell them we’ll need help.”
He nodded and sprinted through the cave toward the village.
Dahlia mumbled something so softly, I could not make it out. I bent my head down toward her as I walked, realizing she was quickly losing consciousness.
“What’s that?” I whispered.
“Are you alright?” I heard her say faintly.
I laughed, barely believing my own ears.
“Yes, I’m alright. I’m Captain Bone Heart.”
“Your heart is not made of bone. You will realize it eventually.”
I hastened my step. As I did, I felt her cold fingers shock the flesh at the center of my chest where my shirt plunged just past the scar over my sternum. My eyes darted toward her touch as she traced the ragged skin.
“It is good you have this.”
“I’d have to agree with you. So? How far did you have to chase her to get her head?”
“Not far. But the fight was long. She did not want to die, of course.”
I turned toward her forehead, my lips unintentionally grazing the top of her head.
“But you were stronger.”
“I had to be,” she replied, her words laced with fatigue when she tossed Meridan a weak glance.
As I strode forth toward the village, I felt her already slack body sag further against my arms like she’d finally passed out. I only prayed it was exhaustion and that no internal injuries were rendering her so weak.
