Page 59 of The Withering Dawn
Antonio had a knife and I knew what she was, but that weapon was all I could think of.
I rode a wave toward the shore and when I could finally stand, I walked onto the beach and found Cathal holding his shirt to Aleksi’s arm. They both looked up at me, hope overshadowing any pain on their faces.
“Where is the cunt?” Cathal asked.
“Dead,” I said, dropping to my knees to catch my breath.
“You’re sure?”
“Don’t think he can survive without his head.”
They both drew back at that.
“You tore off his head?” Aleksi asked.
“Not me.”
All three of us slowly turned to the sea, watching the waves roll onto the sand like the ocean was laughing at us. Aeris was out there. Antonio was dead. I didn’t know which one to focus on more.
“Aeris did it?” Cathal said.
“Aye. I think she did,” I said, lurching to my feet.
“So, where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
Soon, we all saw a shape approaching the water, but it was not the feminine form I was looking for. It was Nikolas in a boat rowing toward us. I walked over to help him pull the boat onto the beach and then grabbed his shoulders, turning him to face me.
“What happened to looking after her?”
He shrugged, his brows shooting up as if to defend himself. He began to gesture with his hands, desperately communicating that he couldn’t stop her from leaving, and I cursed, pacing the edge of the water. I was starting to feel the stress of her absence. Antonio was dead. What other reason did she have to stay under the water?
Unless she was hurt. Or worse.
I swept my hands through my wet hair, throwing it away from my face.
“Cap’n, he’s gone,” Aleksi called after me. “That’s what matter’s, yeah?”
“That’s not all that matters,” I said to myself.
Aeris
Everything was a blur. I homed in on Nazario in the water like a shark to blood and when I saw the man with him, every muscle in my body tensed with hate. Nazario’s hate. The merciless hands of madness seemed to grip me and wouldn’t let go until I knew he was safe. So, when I saw the man—his demon—I lunged. I cut through the water toward him and coiled my long tail around his legs, sucking him under.
And I kept going. I dragged him deeper and deeper, heading further into the cold darkness as he writhed. And when I could hardly see the surface, I released him, letting his disorientation take over. He rolled and spun in the open sea, slashing wildly with the thin knife in his hand until he realized he was drowning.
The knife dropped from his grip and he began clawing at his throat as if doing that would prevent him from suffocating. I watched him, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness just to see the terror reshape his aged features. He saw me in the murk, disbelief painted on his frantic features as I hovered before him. Then he started to kick toward the surface, but he wouldn’t make it in time. I’d taken him too deep.
It was him. The one who’d hurt Nazario the most. Antonio. My head tilted to the side and a dark, insistent, unfamiliar creature took over my mind and body, urging me to get rid of him. To free Nazario of his heaviest chains. My fangs ripped through my gums, making my mouth ache. I beat my tail in the water and lunged, coiling around him again with choking force, my teeth ripping into the side of his neck. The scent of blood and fermented alcohol filled the water around me, but I kept biting, tearing through flesh and tendons. Through bone. He screamed, his voice muffled in the deep murk.
Grasping his chin with my hands, I twisted. And twisted. And twisted until I heard an eerie pop followed by instant silence.
I let go… and his head began to float upward toward the water’s surface while his body remained wrapped in the length of my tail. Slowly, I released that, too, letting it drift away, twitching and spewing copious amounts of blood into the already dark ocean.
I’d killed again. I had killed so quickly and so easily and it horrified me. Yri were not predators and yet I’d proven that I was capable of the worst violence.
I felt sick. I felt outside myself. I looked up at the faint light gleaming from the top of the water and I saw Nazario swimming toward the beach, but I knew my lack of control had stolen something from him. I had taken his vengeance. His closure. The thing he wanted the most.
