William shoved her into Bane’s quarters and slammed the door tight.
Gaping and terrified, Cameron stumbled toward the windows to watch the creature that was after them. One who appeared to have brought even more sinister friends with it. Her heart pounding in her chest, her ears filled with the sound of rushing blood and more cannon fire, along with shouts and gusting wind. The smell of gunpowder and sea nauseated her. Never, never had she seen or heard such. This was the stuff of nightmares and horror.
From where she stood, she could see Kalder fighting against the beast that dwarfed him as they tangled in the water. The merman stabbed it with a long spear while Captain Bane sent balls of fire from his fists into its scaly hide. The creature screamed and arched its back, reaching for them both with its thorny tentacles.
Until the beast met her gaze through the lead glass as if it sensed her watching it.
Time hung still for a long minute until it let out a piercing cry unlike anything she’d ever heard. It was so shrill, it shattered the glass between them, raining pieces of it over her.
Closing her eyes, she raised her arms to protect her face until the shrapnel settled. The ship rocked from the fierce waves the creature caused. Nauseated by the rolling sensation, she staggered back against Captain Bane’s desk. Winds from the sea whipped against her, tearing pieces of her hair free from her queue.
With a deep growl, the creature dove for her, heading straight toward the cabin. She gripped the desk so tightly that the wood bruised the palms of her hands.
In that moment of sheer, utter terror and unbelievable horror that reminded her she was without weapon or protection, Cameron reached for the medallion in her pocket and remembered the prayer her mother had taught her as a girl. The one that Paden had always recited with her whenever she was scared …
“Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day. Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. No evil shall befall thee, and neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. Because He hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him. I will set Him on high, because He hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer Him. I will be with Him in trouble. I will deliver Him, and honor Him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.”
No sooner had she finished those words than her pocket and hand began to heat up—the pocket where she held the stashed talisman Paden had sent her for her protection should she need it.
* * *
Devyl staggered back as he saw the shimmering veil fall over the ship and every member of his crew. It even covered Kalder in the water. A gossamer light rained down like a spring shower. Only, instead of leaving them wet, it cast their skin in an ethereal glow, like that of coal that held fire inside its darkness.
William and Bart stared at each other with slack jaws. Then they turned toward him for an explanation he couldn’t even begin to give them.
“Captain?” Belle asked as she shimmied from the rigging and moved to stand beside him.
He had no answer for her, either. Not for this.
And definitely not for whatever caused the beast and its compatriots in the water to splinter into a fine gleaming mist that settled over the waves only to vanish in the blink of an eye.
What the hell?
If that wasn’t shocking enough, a huge wave lifted Kalder from the sea and set him down on the deck near the prow, as if to make sure he was safe, along with the rest of them.
His own jaw agape, Devyl handed his sword off to Belle before he made his way toward the only source for this he could imagine.
Cameron Jack.
He found her in his cabin, on her knees, clutching at the medallion her brother had sent her. Her eyes had lost all color. Her lips were as pale as her body as she whispered a barely audible prayer. Even her hair had turned a bitter white.
The stark red, bleeding cuts caused by the shattered windows provided the only color anywhere on her body. Yet the strangest part?
Glass hovered in the air around her, forming the illusion of glittering wings jutting out from her back.
William drew up short behind him and cursed. “What manner of creature is she?”
When Bart stepped around them with a raised sword to attack her, Devyl stopped and disarmed him. “She’s not our enemy, Mr. Meers.” He returned the sword.
“What is she?” He repeated William’s question.
“Something that would piss down the leg of those what don’t think much of us if they knew she was among our crew. And it explains much about what happened to her brother and why the Plate Fleet be sunk as it was.”
William scowled. “You’ve lost me, Captain.”
Devyl carefully closed the distance between them before he took the medallion from Cameron’s hand. The moment he had it pried loose from her fierce grip, her hair returned to its natural chestnut shade and her eyes to their blue-green color.
The glass fell to the floor, where it struck and let out a small, tinkling sound reminiscent of jester bells.
Cameron blinked twice as if waking from a deep slumber. With a fierce grimace, she glanced among them. “Is the fighting over?”
Bitterly amused, Devyl released a tired breath as he rubbed his thumb against the searing medallion. The ancient power and the soul of the warrior it contained thrummed from the metal, similar to a heartbeat. No wonder Menyara had sent her to them.
Damn that interfering bitch for it.
“Aye.” He glanced to his men over his shoulder. “It appears we needs amend our earlier answer to the lass, Mr. Death.”
“Deeth … and what answer be that, Captain?”
“There are no humans aboard this ship, at all.”
Cameron gaped at him. “P-p-pardon?”
He held the medallion up in front of her face so that she could see the remnants of the faint glow it contained from having been activated by the evil that had come up against them. “Do you remember anything from the last few minutes?”
Her scowl deepened as she cast her gaze around as if seeking an answer before she shook her head.
Handing the medallion back to her, he closed her fingers over it. “You are born of a Seraph’s bloodline, lass. And this trinket of your brother’s is the proof of it. I’d been hoping I was wrong with my earlier assessment. Sadly, I wasn’t.” He stepped back as he contemplated what it all meant. “The good news is, since you had no idea of your family’s origins … unless you have a sibling your parents failed to speak of, your brother’s still alive somewhere—you were right with your assertions. They didn’t kill him, after all.”
Cameron gasped as hope finally filled her. “You’re sure about that?”
Bane nodded before he dipped his chin toward her fisted hand. “As we’ve all just seen, the medallion reacts to your blood when you’re under demonic threat. Had Captain Jack died, you’d have been approached by those he serves about replacing him in this fight. Since no one’s come for you, he’s alive without a doubt. And that medallion is from his own sword, which I’m sure he inherited from one of your parents.”
Cameron’s breath caught as she opened her hand to study the emblem more closely. Never had she seen it in her parents’ possession. “Me mother had a sword that belonged to her father before he died, but we were never allowed near the locked chest where she kept it. She always said that it would pass to Paden on her death.” She bit her lip as she remembered something she hadn’t thought about in years. “After her death, he never let me see it, either. I never thought anything about that, until now. Like her, he guarded it with the strictest care.”
“Because of the power it contains, a vile beacon it be. One that dra
ws evil to it like a flame summons moths. Unless it’s kept shielded and enclosed, it would be a threat to any nearby innocent unaware of what it actually is.” Devyl crossed his arms over his chest. “Your brother must have sent the Seraph medallion to you to keep his enemies from using his sword or destroying the soul of your ancestor. And to keep you safe in his absence.”
“What is this Seraph you keep mentioning?” William asked.
Before Devyl could speak, a pale, shimmering woman appeared in the center of the cabin.
Gasping, Cameron shrank away from her. The men, however, didn’t blink. They acted as if her ghostly presence among them was normal and expected.
More beautiful than a fairy queen, she stood eye to eye with Devyl and had hair unlike anything Cameron had ever seen before. Pale golden-brown, it was laced with strands of ice white—not gray or any facsimile of gray. It was a silvery, gleaming white … like fey-locks that fell in unadorned waves to her waist. Her black-and-white-striped silk gown was plain, yet richly cut and elegant. A white lace kerchief encircled her neck, and as with her hair, it had shimmery silver threads laced through it—the same lace decorated the edges of her sleeves and hem.
Yet the most peculiar bit was that she stood barefoot even while she held the bearing of some grand empress. Obviously she didn’t fear splinters from the ship boards.
And her eyes …
Almond-shaped, they were a deep amber brown. She turned to face Cameron and offered her a kind smile. “No need to fear me, child. I mean you no harm.”
Devyl stepped forward. “Cameron Jack, may I present you to our lady ship, Marcelina?”
Cameron bowed to the noblewoman. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, my lady.”
Marcelina smiled. “I’m not a lady, child. You misunderstood Du’s words, as was no doubt his intention.” She passed a chiding grimace toward Captain Bane.
Confused by that, Cameron waited for an explanation. William laughed while Bart bit back a smile.
Devyl gave each of the men a chilling glare before he explained the lady’s comment. “Mara is this ship we sail upon, Miss Jack. Our warden—in all senses of that word—for this grand misadventure.”
“Pardon?”
“Perhaps this will help?” Marcelina posed herself like the ship’s figurehead. Before Cameron’s eyes, she turned into the wooden piece from head to toe.
“Holy mother of God!” Cameron crossed herself.
Marcelina returned to flesh. “No need to panic, child. As Du said, I’m the guardian for all who reside here. So long as you fall under my protection, I will do anything to keep you safe.”
“And ensure you have no fun whatsoever,” Bart mumbled under his breath.
The captain elbowed him in the stomach hard enough that he doubled over.
Shaking her head, Cameron did her best to absorb all of this, but … “How is this possible? How can she be the boat?”
The smile returned to Marcelina’s face. “I come from an ancient race. We are the wood and the wood is us.”
“They were the gods and guardians of the forest,” Devyl said. “Ever lurking among humanity and causing problems for them and us.”
“I don’t follow.”
Marcelina glared at Devyl. “We are the protectors—”
“My ass cheeks.”
“Du, please! Watch your language!”
“Watch your lies! Are you really going to stand there and preach that as if I wasn’t there?”
Marcelina grimaced at him. “And what of yours? How many fell to your race and army? Need I remind you how we met?”
“Need I remind you how we parted? Blood soaks us both!”
“And you’re an unreasoning beast!”
“Better than being an unreasoning—”
“Don’t you dare!” Marcelina shrieked, cutting him off before he could insult her.
A fierce tic started in Devyl’s jaw as his eyes glowed a deep, dark red in the dim light.
Her breathing ragged, Marcelina turned toward Cameron. “Anyway, my race predates the existence of mankind by centuries.”
Cameron frowned as she tried to understand what they were telling her. “Then why have we never seen you? How is it that I’ve never heard of your people?”
Marcelina turned another hostile grimace toward the captain. “War thinned our numbers to virtual extinction. While there were millions of us centuries ago, there are but a handful now.” She gestured at the captain. “Du and I had our destinies bound together long before the world you would recognize came into being. So when he accepted this task, I was forced to it, as well.”
“Payback’s a bitch,” he mumbled under his breath.
Cameron didn’t understand his hostility, but at least she was beginning to figure out his peculiar relationship with his crew and boat, and why they spoke of things the way they did. As William had warned her, things here were not as they seemed, in any sense of the word.
She inclined her head respectfully to Marcelina. “So you’re the captain’s wife, then?”
Captain Bane snorted rudely. “Hardly. I’d have slit my own throat first.”
“As would I,” Marcelina said in the same scoffing tone. “Neither of us had a real say in our fates or misbegotten whatever this travesty burden we share is.” She swept a less than flattering grimace over his body. “I can’t imagine a more horrid fate than what you speak.”
Captain Bane laughed bitterly. “I can … being husbanded to you.”
William cleared his throat as the captain and Marcelina began to escalate their verbal conflict. “Ancient ones? You have children present and it upsets us when our parents fight.”
“Speak for yourself, Will,” Bart said with a smirk. “I find it highly entertaining. Especially when they begin to launch things about, and throw fire at one another.”
Without so much as glancing in his direction, the captain let fly a dagger at Bart that seemed to have appeared from thin air.
William caught it and tsked. “Best be careful with that sudden flailing, Captain. Could put out someone’s eye with this.”
“Was rather hoping to put out someone’s life with it.”
“Och now, that’s just mean.”
“Do they always fight like this?” Cameron whispered to Bart.
He screwed his face up in thought. “Actually, this is rather tame for them. Thinking it must be because you’re new to our company that they’re tamping it down a bit.”
“Anyway,” Marcelina said again, returning her attention to Cameron. “My race—Deruvian—was all but destroyed by the very ones we’re after. Our goal is to keep the same fate from befalling mankind.”
Marcelina moved to stand near William. “And to answer your question, Mr. Death”—she spoke his name correctly—“Seraphs were chosen from an elite group of fighters who once battled beside my race for the survival of this world. After the war ended, the Cimmerian forces refused to stop preying on the innocent. And they proved more resourceful and resilient than the gates made by our side that held them back from your realm. Even worse, they found ways to beat back the Seraphim until there were only thirty-seven of them left out of their once great army. As a last resort, and to keep the balance intact, the Sarim council made a dark bargain and used forbidden magick to make those last thirty and seven souls immortal—with the help of my people, they bound them to medallions like the one in your hand.”
Devyl let out a heavy sigh. “It was a desperate but necessary act, as those last thirty-seven possessed unique skills and powers that take years to master and learn … provided an apt pupil could be located for the instruction. But rather than start from the beginning, the medallion allows the soul of the Seraph to temporarily take over the body of their descendent to battle their enemies.”
Marcelina nodded. “Aye, and it must be a member of their direct bloodline to fully access their powers. Otherwise, the Seraph becomes tainted and an easy tool for evil.”
“So each soul must be carefully watc
hed over and guarded to ensure no other finds it, corrupts, and bonds with it,” Devyl said. “Along with the sword the soul controls.” The captain picked up Cameron’s hand that held her medallion. “The bad news is that now that you’ve tapped the power of your bloodline, you’ve sent out a signal to those who seek to destroy all of the remaining Seraphim. They won’t stop until you’re dead and they have your medallion.”
Cameron winced at the last thing she wanted to hear. But that left her with another question. “Are you a Seraph, too?”
Stepping away from her, Devyl scoffed bitterly. “Nay, lass. I was the very thing they gave their lives fighting against.”
“I don’t understand.”
The red returned to his eyes as his expression became sinister. “Never mistake that I’m anything more than a damned soul, gal. I’m here only for vengeance and blood. I leave redemption and kindness for better folks than I, as I’ve no use whatsoever for any of it. To hell with anything save blood and violence.” And with those chilling words hanging in the air, he left them.
When William started after Bane, Marcelina stopped him. “Let Du go, Mr. Death. He’s in no mood for comfort and won’t welcome anything more than bloodshed in his current state of mind. Trust me, you don’t want to be on the receiving end of it.”
“As you say, mum.” He inclined his head to her, then left in the opposite direction the captain had gone.
Bart hesitated. “Should I show Miss Jack to her quarters?”
“I’ll see her settled. Take the helm from Sancha and make sure Kalder takes the watch.”
“Aye, aye, mum.” And with that, he departed.
Marcelina offered Cameron a kind, benevolent smile. “The men were right. For a woman with no experience in such matters, you are taking all this rather well. Should I be worried?”
Cameron slid the medallion into her pocket. “Sadly, hard knocks are rather the norm for me life. Though, to be honest, these have left me reeling quite a bit. I think I’m rather drunk from the punches here of late.”
She laughed. “I can imagine.”
Cameron rubbed the sudden chill from her arms as she tried to come to grips with all the new information she’d been run over with. Honestly, it had her staggering as she tried her best to get some bearings with everything she’d heard and seen. “May I ask you something?”