A Fork of Paths

Still, I persisted. Grabbing hold of the doorframe, I used it as support to yank harder. This worked. The force of my tugging took him by surprise and he stumbled, losing his firm stance. I managed to drag him back into the storage room, where I slammed the door shut behind us. By now his snarls were becoming growls and as he bared his fangs, I was beginning to fear for my life. If he decided to overlook the scent of the body juice, it would only take one bite to discover my blood underneath…

I had to move faster. He was close to the box now. So close. I just needed to get him inside. He yanked his wrist away from me and tried to back up a step. I moved around him, standing directly in front of his path to the exit. I stepped closer to him, and, still apparently repulsed by me, he was forced to take a step back. One step closer to the box.

I worked cautiously, moving closer step by step until I had cornered him against the container. He had no room left to back away. The backs of his legs pressed against the edge of the box. My arms shot out and I jabbed him in the chest, causing him to lose his balance and fall backward into the box. He hissed as he fell, and as his back hit the bottom of the container, he immediately gathered himself to spring out. But due to the surprise I’d given him, he was slower than me. Careful that neither of his hands was in the way of the lid, I brought the lid crashing down over his head.

Now the key. I need the key!

I gazed wildly around the room, relieved to spot a chain of keys on the floor. I fumbled for the right one and slid it into the lock, clicking the lid shut. Braithe beat the box’s lid hard. But it didn’t matter how strong he was. He wouldn’t be able to get out of this box unless I opened it with the key. I’d learned that much from when I’d locked Benjamin in it. Benjamin was strong, stronger than most vampires. I’d been afraid that after he came to from the drug we had injected him with, he might be able to smash his way out of the box, even though he carried the essence of an Elder inside him. His inability to do so confirmed my belief about the box—its creator had caused its walls to be impervious to both subtle and physical beings.

I heaved out a huge sigh of relief and took a step back, eyeing the length of the box. Now I needed to get the box out of this room. Vomit was rising at the back of my throat from the amount of time I’d been forced to endure the werewolf’s stench and from how wet and sticky my entire body felt from the vile fluid. I couldn’t wait to get out of here and rinse myself off in the ocean.

But for now, I extended my claws and drove my fists though the exposed belly of the dead werewolf. There was another sickening squelch as I burst through bloated skin and more fluid sprayed onto my face. Biting my lips together so hard they almost bled, I pulled out two handfuls of the werewolf’s decaying insides and smeared them over my body. As much as I wanted to cry in horror at what I was doing to myself, I was about to return to the deck where all the Bloodless would likely be—and I needed to make sure that I was topped up on stink.

Once I was satisfied that the new layer was thick enough, I slid the key to the box off the keychain and slipped it safely into my bra. Then I left the room. The corridor outside was empty now. I climbed back up to the deck to see that the Bloodless had returned here. Before I looked up at the sky to search for Aisha, my eyes were drawn to the part of the deck where Arletta still lay, her transformation now more terrifying than ever. She was pulling out huge clumps of her long hair with one hand while the other ripped away the clothes from her body, rendering her emaciated form stark naked. Her breasts had flattened, and in fact all fat on her body had shriveled away. Her once rounded cheeks had closed in on themselves, and she now looked gaunt as a ghost.

I looked around for Colin and Frederick. I wanted to take them all with me to the witch’s island, but it would look too suspicious to Aisha if I handpicked Frederick and Colin—especially because they bore a slight resemblance to Braithe, even in his wraithlike form. She might even guess that they had been my companions, or “accomplices” as she had referred to them. As it was, she was ignorant of the fact, and I had to try to keep it that way.

Now that I was above the deck, a crowd of Bloodless noticed me but, to my relief, shuffled further away from my reeking self.

“Hey,” Aisha called down to me. I looked up to see the jinni hovering over me. “What happened to you?” She glared at me with disgust, wrinkling her nose. “Augh. What did you just take a bath in?”

“The fluids of a werewolf corpse,” I replied darkly.

“Ohhh.” A contented smile lit up Aisha’s face. “I forgot about that little surprise. So did you manage it?”

“Yes,” I grunted, uncertain how she knew about the werewolf—or heck, how she’d even escaped the box to begin with. “I managed to get one Bloodless into the box.”

“Well, that is surprising,” Aisha murmured. “I didn’t expect you to make it out alive.”

I looked at her sourly before returning my gaze to Arletta. Maybe I could try to bring her with us at least… I cleared my throat, still holding my nose to avoid the stench. “It occurred to me that we ought to bring a female too,” I said, trying to make my voice sound casual.

Aisha furrowed her brows. Suspicion had already sparked in her eyes. “Why do you say that?” As her gaze shifted to Arletta, I saw that she’d already guessed the answer.

“I just thought—”

“You just thought nothing,” she interrupted. She shook her head, her eyes narrowing on me. “I wasn’t born yesterday. You simply want to bring your friend along.”