Page 39 of She Who Was Once the Sea

"Hang on for one hour, Fratello." She smirked. "I’ll see you soon."

Chapter 18 - Marella

Iknew who I was looking for before the door closed behind me, and it didn’t take me long to find them. Tourists in this town were surprisingly predictable.

They were standing at a table in a tight, crowded street near Piazza Centrale, sipping Aperol Spritzes from straws and smoking cigarettes. The men who’d watched as I’d been dragged into the alley were some of the least intimidating I’d ever encountered. Obviously brothers, they were both shorter than me, thin and mousy, with overly prominent Adam’s apples.

And they were alone but for each other.

As I watched them, sipping on my own glass of wine, they eyed different groups of women in their vicinity. One woman in particular was clearly traveling alone. She sat at an outdoor table, back to the restaurant’s window, reading a book and periodically glancing around at passersby as she picked at a plate of food in front of her.

The taller of the two, a skinny redhead with a patchy beard, took a long sip of his drink before breaking away from his brother and moving towards her.

I was between them before he could cross the street.

I’d left the apartment without changing into my nice red dress, and the loose strapless shirt and black cotton pants made me look less put together than other women on the crowded street. But these men were simple. And I knew that my attention alone would be more than enough to distract them from their intentions.

I smiled at them without showing my teeth and leaned against the high-top table.

"Hi there."

The two of them exchanged bewildered glances, like they were unable to conceive of a world in which a woman approached them.

The redhead looked over my shoulder at the lone woman, then shook his head and turned his attention back to me. "Hi," he said, voice oozing with faux-bravado. "I’m Perry. This is my brother Simon."

"I’m Elizabeth." I took a sip, and they did the same, and I watched as their knotted throats swallowed heavily. "What brings you to Rossaia?"

It took me a frustratingly long time to get Perry and Simon to leave the restaurant and follow me through the streets and away from the crowds. Despite their obvious lechery, the two seemed almost afraid of going home with a woman who appeared to welcome their advances. It was as though hesitation was part of what turned them on.

And that's why I felt little guilt as I pulled them apart in a dark alley later that night. I was frustrated to have left Garrett alone for so long, and my patience was wearing thin as we rounded the corner to a spot so deeply wound into the labyrinth that was Rossaia’s streets that I knew it would take days before anyone found them.

Perry snapped like a twig. He barely had the intelligence to register what was happening before the light left his eyes.

Simon was a bit more difficult to manage. After I’d snapped Perry’s neck and dropped him to the floor, he’d gone on the defensive, pulling a knife from his pocket and brandishing it about like a sword. And because I was hungry and stupid, I’d allowed him to slice at my cheek before I was able to wrap my fingers around his neck and squeeze.

I bit him before he died, reveling in the feeling of his squirming body beneath me until it twitched and slowed to nothing.

By the time I finished with both of them, I was so full that my vision shimmered at the edges.

I smiled as I wiped my mouth and kicked their bodies further into the shadows, so they rested against a wall. Warmth spread outward from my stomach, settling into each and every crevice of my body. The lightness flowing through me buoyed both my spirits and my confidence—I was going home, and I knew that Garrett was waiting for me there. As I imagined his brand-new, sharp teeth sinking into the tender flesh at my throat, the hairs on my arms rose against the cool air.

But as I turned to walk away, towards home and him, something slammed into me from the side, knocking me off my feet.

I landed hard on the cobbles, ears filled with a high-pitched ringing. For a moment, all I could do was stare up at the thin sliver of sky visible between the walls of buildings above me.

Her voice broke through the silence before I could register anything else.

"Hello, little sea brat." The sound tumbled like boulders down a cliff edge. I pushed myself up onto one elbow as I took her in from toe to head. "You think I don’t know what you’re doing?"

Her eyes were bored and flat. But she was here.

I had wanted her attention. And in this, at least, I had finally succeeded.

Suddenly filled with a unique blend of triumph and panic, I did my best to keep my own voice steady as I stood. "Hello, Petra." Her name tasted like vinegar. My legs shook, and my entire torso hurt from where she’d barreled into me. "Of course you do." I forced myself to meet her soulless, blank gaze. "I made certain of it."

Her cracked lips curved upward. "Did you now?"

My heart pounded. "I threatened you. And you came." I tried to speak with a bravado I wasn't sure I felt. "You are surprisingly easy to manipulate."