Leaving only Vine to be dealt with.
Her breathing ragged, the Titian-haired demon curled her lipsat them. Vine was a great beauty, Cameron would give her that. It was easy to see why the captain had been duped into marrying her.
Easier still to see how he’d been blinded enough to drop his guard long enough in their marriage that she’d been able to kill him.
But Devyl Bane was no longer under her spell, and no longer was he fooled by her charms or enchantments.
“You always favored your little water pet. And Kalder will pay dearly for your defiance here tonight, Duel. Take your comfort in that. And I’ll make sure he knows who caused it for him when I feed him to the Dark Powers myself.” Then she vanished with one last shrieking cry.
Captain Bane cursed as she withdrew. “Come back and face me, you worthless bitchington!”
It was too late. She was gone.
“Shall I go after her, Captain?”
He passed a droll stare at William and answered in a tone that dripped with utter sarcasm. “By all means, Mr. Death. I commend you to the task. On your way, lad. There’s the door. Off with you now. No need in dawdling.”
“Oh, I didn’t meanalone. Not quitethatstupid, sir.”
Sheathing his sword, he glared at William. “You’re a cheeky bastard here lately, Mr. Death. If I didn’t know better, I’d think our Cimmerian enemies had already laid fang to you and converted you to their army.”
Cameron ignored them while she studied the blood on the floor the demons had left behind. It was a strange brew indeed. Instead of staining the wood as most blood would, this was pooling quite a bit differently. As if it were a living creature trying to move on its own.
Indeed, it seemed to defy gravity and slither like a bug. “Say, Captain? Have you ever seen the likes of this?”
He moved to stand near her so that he could examine it.
At first she thought she was imagining things. Given some of the knocks to her noggin she’d taken during their fight, it wouldn’t be unlikely that her vision would have been compromised.
Or her wits.
But as he stooped down to better study the goo, she knew this wasn’t the case.
The scowl on his handsome face told her that she’d seen exactly what she thought she had.
That was bad enough. Worse came when the good captain lifted a bit of the blood to his lips to taste it. Ew!
Cameron cringed in distaste and had to fight back the urge to go a-heaving.
“Should we ask?” William shivered visibly. “Or leave you alone for your feast, Captain?”
The captain gave him an even more peeved glare. Rising to his feet, he licked his fingers clean. “This is a foul night, serving the foulest brew to be measured.” His features paled as he met their gazes one by one. “We needs get back to the ship and warn the others. They’ll be coming for Mara and the rest of the crew.”
“They?” Cameron asked.
“The plat-eyes we have yet to find. And the souls of those Vine is torturing.”
Her heart sank at his words. The plat-eyes were vicious shapeshifters who took over the bodies of their victims and used themto attack others. Absolute soulless killing machines, they wouldn’t stop their insatiable mutilations until the bodies of their original victims were located and given a proper burial. They feasted on blood and souls.
And just as the captain feared for his newly wedded wife, Mara, Cameron feared for their missing mate. “What of Mr. Dupree?”
“No fear there, Miss Jack. We’ll get him back, I promise you. Just as I promised him.”
Her throat tightening even more than her stomach, she nodded. And she prayed he was right. That Kalder didn’t spend a single minute longer in hell than what was absolutely necessary.
Because it’s all me fault that he’s there.
The worst part was that she knew exactly what they were doing to Kalder.
