Dead Man's Fleet

[ 03 ]

Everyone felt it when the giant war ship finally touched land. There was a bone-rattling thud as the hull scraped along the seafloor, and a few scouts tumbled from their post up near the sails. Everyone felt it - except the unconscious Summonest, hidden in the room of the mighty Second.

⑅

"She should wake up soon, Ivar. Stop pacing. You're fine." Enat stretches across the small loveseat stuffed in the corner, opposite from the sleeping girl. She looks so fragile, so small, compared to the power that hides within her body. I can't understand why she picked this one, how different it is from the last form. This girl is pretty too; easy on the eyes, with a full face (don't forget the soft looking lips) and short, curly hair tied back in a gentle hairstyle. She has enough curve to catch your eye, but not enough for you to turn your head-

"Stop drooling over that poor soldier, Ivar. You know it isn't the Spirit Stealer's true form anyways," Enat spits, glaring with a quiet fury. I know her anger is well fueled but it still rubs me the wrong way. We remember that moment a few hundred years ago very differently.. Enat definitely hates the girl, yet I feel nothing but the same, simple feelings. That driving lust, a sharp pain of sorts in my gut, an instinctive feeling. "Stop, Ivar. I will not remind you that she is both out of your league and way too old." My leader swings her legs off the chair, patting my shoulder as she passes. Going, most likely, to check up on the crew since the flash had injured a few people. Minor injuries, nothing Enat can't fix, but enough that it deserces her attention. I pretend that the idea of being alone with her  doesn't make my heart race, trying to act calm. Collected.

"Don't look like a sad puppy, you idiot. She'll be fine." And with that, Enat disappeared into our room and to the ship deck beyond. I watch the doorway for a moment more, as if she'll return faster than I know she will, but a soun behind me has me turning around again. I come nose to nose with the poor soldier that the Summonest had decided to overtake. For a moment we just state at each other and it takes every ounce of will in my body, from my toes to the ends of my hair, not to scream at the sight of the Spirit Stealer's eyes in a different body.

"Hello, child." The voice that meets my ears is different from what it was up on the ship, where it was sweet like flowers and spring. Now, the voice is rough and a big raspy, ancient and worn. "It's been a minute." Her smile is damn near wolfish as she sits down, my thundering heart slowly. I bet she could hear it, pounding out of my chest, even with those weak human ears. As if she could read my thoughts (which she probably could), her eyes dipped from mine to my chest. "You look.. different." Indeed I did, since it had been a few hundred years. She smirks, and my heart drops to my hips, pounding just as hard as it had before.

"You-" I stop, I have to. I take a deep breath and straighten myself, looking her dead in the eye. I send a silent prayer to Enat that the Summonest can't smell my nerves on me. "You do too." Her laugh is quiet, though it's anything but amused. I take my time looking her over since Enat isn't here to snap in my ear about it. I can see her in this girl, this Auley, but it is still too foreign for my comfort.

Her smirk shifts from lazy to a sharp snarl. "I didn't know I had to choose my forms based on your comforts with the unfamiliar, Second." I flinch at the title, knowing she means it less as a reference to my rank and more as a simple insult. As if she'd called me a bitch instead. "I chose this one because she would have no idea it was happening. " I open my mouth to respond but nothing comes out for a moment, so I receive a withering glare. "You can judge my methods all you want, child, but I've had too long to perfect them for me to change for a petty little whore who looks at me like I'm steak instead of power."

Another flinch from me, and another not-laughing-laugh from her. It's just like that night, so fucking long ago. I can't let it end the same way, I can't let her keep doing this. Despite my efforts though, my attraction to her would not fade. Not even a little bit, not even for a second.

Kiss her- something in me was screaming at me to lean in and kiss her. To cup that gentle, slender chin and lightly pepper her face. Or to press my lips to hers, her body to mine, until I could barely breathe. Kiss her, kiss her, kiss her-

"If you so much as move to touch me like that, I will use your own broadsword as a toothpick when I am finished with you." I jump again, but her snarl is so dark and threatening that my stomach turns and I feel a little dizzy. I shake my head, only to clear the fog of the nausea, and her dark eyes burn holes in my face. So I do the only thing I can do without fail when actual emotions won't work - play pretend.

The smooth smile came easily enough, since it was the first thing I worked on a girl when trying to bed her. My heart still thundered and my nausea still lingered, but I forced that into the role I wanted to fit. "You're no cannibal, Aonis, and we both know it."

"You're right." Her smile was empty and cold, a void. Like the darkness she came from. "I am no cannibal. For you are not of my breed, child." I feign a smile, shaking my head at her small outburst. "We're from the same matter-"

"I damn near MADE you, boy," Her snarl is enough to make me want to curl up and cease to exist, but her eyes bring a new wave of nausea. "It would do you some good to remember that fact before you try to stick me in your sheets and prod at me like an animal. You are not of my breed, you are not of my kind. You never will be. Because I formed the matter that made you with a wave of my pinky."

Any sharp response I had for her fizzles in the back of my throat, catching the air there. It takes more effort than necessary to swallow, and I can barely keep my mouth closed so I don't gape. "I-I.. uh.. oh.. um.."

"At a loss for words?" Versa's smile is cold, damn near cocky, and the combination makes gooseflesh rise across my entire body. The room suddenly becomes to warm, my clothing too tight, her gaze too sharp. I hear a thud and whip my head around, grateful for the excuse, but Enat in the doorway isn't much better than the Summonest across from me. "Hiya kiddos!" my First steps into the room without hesitation, wiggling her fingers at Versa. "Long time no see, darling." Enat has the same grin stuck to her face, but her smile just pisses me off. A little bit. Sometimes I forget that Enat isn't as mean as she appears to everyone else, though her little shadow puppets could quickly change my mind.

"Oh- I smell tension." She drags a chair from the map table, sitting down kinda hard. "Either you two had an intense little makeout session, or you bit each others heads of as soon as I stepped out." Her eyes search my face for an answer and I tilt my head to the right, a habitual response from our silent communicating. If it's a two part question, any gesture to the left is the first option and any gesture to the right is the second. Same goes for yes and no.

"Damnit, you two know I love drama!" Enat's eyes lazily drift to Versa's, slow and nonchalant despite the fire in the Summonest's eyes. Or the soldier's eyes, technically, since this isn't her true form. "What? Were you two actually kissing?" She makes a kissy face, winking at me, before she falls into a small fit of laughter. "Ivar is pretty good at kissing. All the little girlies would know"

Versa shakes her head, rolling her eyes just slightly. Versa's powers might be miles above ours, but Enat can be the cutthroat, harsh First that she displays to the rest of the world. And the Summonest knows it, so her steps are careful. "I always liked you more, Enat." More than me. More than me-

"Oh I know."