Chapter 33

Chapter

Thirty-Three

Overhead fluorescents shattered, showering the floor in broken glass, the lowermost deck doused in darkness. Surface Dwellers screamed, pathetic creatures flailing uselessly without their precious light, shoving, scratching, crawling over one other, trying to get somewhere, anywhere, away from her. It was so easy to wrench away their defenses, hard plastic crunching in her hands, gunmetal twisted beyond repair.

Some made it to the stairs.

One fisherman, braver and more foolish than the rest, covered their retreat, shooting wildly from the other end of the hallway. She let them have their glimpse of freedom.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.

No conservation, just fear.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Click. Click. Click. Click.

Siren Song rose from her throat, filling the tight quarters, taking the crew into her thrall. Their fear spiked, a most delicious, pungent scent that made her mouth water and her stomach growl. She was agony and wrath incarnate. There would be no escape.

On all fours, she slunk from the fish processing hold, and into the hallway, ensuring the fishermen were truly helpless and well ensnared. When no additional gunfire followed, she rose to her feet, her inner luminescence the only light in the dark.

They would see, as well as hear, her coming.

She stalked down the hallway with her arms outstretched, ripping deep gouges in the walls, the metal groaning and screeching as it tore. With each step she gritted her teeth, bare feet passing through shattered glass and metal shards; it was but a fraction of the pain clawing from her chest.

The bottlenecked crew froze in place, unable to move, their hammering hearts a symphony of fear and dread.

A flicker of movement to her left, and a familiar, friendly scent, drew her to a stop. Lorelei stood in the threshold of a doorway, a fisherman trembling in her grasp, and a puddle of urine pooling at his feet.

Good . They hadn't hurt her.

If they had…

Rage filled her anew, red and blindingly hot.

Striking fast, Nireed lunged at the last man to fire a gun at her, dropping the thrall she had on him. He tried taking a swing, but she grabbed his wrist and wrenched him around sharply, knocking his feet out from underneath him. He twisted and kicked and screamed as she dragged him across the floor toward the fish processing hold. She could've continued subduing him like she had the others, but she chose not to.

She allowed the struggle.

Lorelei stepped into the hallway behind them. "Nireed, wait! Don't do this."

She paused, turning to meet her fellow siren's pleading green gaze. Did such monstrous creatures even deserve mercy? Raw fury twisted her insides. Not at her friend, but at these fishermen, for what could've happened. For what had already happened. "Help me make an example of them."

With a rough jerk of her arm, she yanked the man into the hold, his screaming abruptly cut off.

The ship was finally quiet.