Scarlet Song

Chapter 1

This tavern was always surprisingly dead during the night. I hadn't been here for long, maybe a month or so. We seemed to be teeming with more life during the daytime when the sailors and pirates were more prone to come through. This is also made it so that my feeding habits went unnoticed in comparison to the life that was surging through this small village. It goes without saying that there was still the steady trickle that was coming through, even now. There'd been a storm recently and this meant a lot fewer ships willing to make the voyage to our port. I never spent very long in the villages that I settled in, it made it easier to move on the area had been over-hunted and the locals got suspicious. That meant that I couldn't remember the name of this town for the life of me, something I thankfully wasn't expected to know with my old job being to serve in the tavern. I was just a pretty face to serve the men their ale. The morning was fast approaching so that meant I was fast at work on preparing everything for the energy that was about to be surging through here. I shook a little, adjusting my glamour so that I was the ideal image of a busty, ginger girl with freckles.  After I finished, the morning went rather normal despite the abnormal energy I felt. I couldn't place what was wrong but I went about everything like I always would and treated it as having no consequence on my day. I'd eaten and hid the body already when the feeling returned again, this time fiercer. It nearly knocked the wind out of me when I felt it, coincidentally when a drow bumped into me, nearly knocking me onto a nearby table. I went to speak up at first, but I thought better of it and kept quiet. Our patrons weren't always human, but other creatures were of the rare kind still sparse enough to be believed as a fantasy to most. I could smell it on him, the sharp scent of flesh. Something that would be unperceivable to a human nose. For me, it told me I'd made a mistake by coming here because I was intruding on his hunting grounds. I could tell that much from how he held himself. He was confident and sure of where he was heading. It was peculiar to me that I had to worry about that with a dark elf, but I knew better than to risk finding out. I didn't survive as long as I did making friends with every race I came into contact with. I figured at this point, it was a smarter idea to make plans to leave soon. I would board a ship and make my way to another port. The task at hand was to find a said ship I would stowaway on and the table in the back left corner was only promising one as the hours started to pass. I wandered over and worked my glamour to woe what I assumed was the captain of the ship, going as far as to make myself comfortable in his lap and let him whisper drunken promises into my ear about taking me aboard his ship. After not too long, all of them had begun to trickle out of the tavern and towards their ship to sleep off their drinking before leaving port in the morning. I was confident with my success as we stumbled aboard and I was amused, even as my shoulder was grabbed and I was turned abruptly to face a tall, scrawny man. It was always to be expected that one member would be jealous or object to someone getting me. My job was just to play the drunken maiden and seem oblivious. That was quickly shattered when the man drew a dagger from his hip and held it to my throat. Any normal blade wouldn't have even been worth batting an eye at, except this one was bronze and I could feel it sting along the skin of my neck and he knew what it was doing as he locked eyes with me. "Thought the cap'n would be an easy meal, eh? I know what you are, siren. I knew since the tavern when you's reflection didn't match your face. I seen it in me ale when we was drinkin'." The look that spread across the captain's face was that of disgust and hatred when he looked at the man speaking to me. "She's all your's to do with as you please, just keep her bound at all times while she's on my ship." The idea of death had seemed to sober the captain up as he stomped away to his own quarters and I was quickly chained to the man with bronze chains and dragged below deck. I could see and feel as the chains bore into my wrists and the scales fell as I stumbled behind him. It took a lot of strength to keep my glamour up, but I did even as he stopped and dragged his tongue along my cheek and chuckled. He attached the chains to a bolt in the floor and wandered off, muttering about what he would do to me when he returned. At this point, any abilities I would normally have were null and useless when bound like this. Needless to say, I wasn't going to go down without a fight but, there was a limit to what I could do. The time he was gone seemed to stretch on until a moment longer when I heard footfall down the steps and I let my teeth extend out, ready to attack, even as I realized it was someone different. I was ready to kill whomever it was until I seen the locks of white hair from under his hat and smelled the fresh blood on him. I shook my glamour back into place as he spied me under the stairs and approached me, crouching to my level. It was the drow from the tavern and I was looking back at him, even as he grabbed my chin and turned my face from side to side to look me over before smirking and standing. "You, I will deal with later. For now, I have more important matters to deal with." A shiver traversed my spine as I came to realize what he was from his closeness. The red glow to his eyes as he looked at me gave it away immediately. He was affected by vampirism, making him just as equal of a match to me and that was when I wasn't bound, I didn't want to stick around to see what he was going to do with me when he returned. I tugged for a while at my chains, hoping the damage they'd done to me would serve as enough room to squeeze my wrists out. It was a futile effort and a seemingly stupid one for naught once I realized that mere inches from me were the set of keys from the man who'd chained me here. I let out an exasperated sigh as I contorted myself to reach them and bring them closer until I could get them between my fingers and unlock the chains. I discreetly lay them on the floor before peeking up the stairs to see what the drow was getting into, intrigued to find him facing off with the captain with all but a few of the crew strewn across the deck of the ship in a bloody mess. I knew I would have to eat again to heal from the wounds across my wrists and throat and my best option would be to scavenge from the carnage, I grabbed bits and pieces and quietly devoured them as I watched what was unfolding. When I figured the coast was clear, I came above deck and snuck from spot to spot in hopes to make it off the ship before they noticed. I was feet away from the railing when I felt a blade gently pressed to my back. I cursed to myself under my breath as I cooperated and walked towards the drow and the captain, falling at their feet and watching the drow get a few good hits in before he was brought down onto one knee smirking and licking his lip. The captain had barely bested him but the drow had to except he was at a disadvantage to the captain's skills with his sword. I'm startled a bit when the captain finally speaks again, mistaken that he was addressing me at first. "LaCrue, I'm assuming? The notorious, cursed bloodline of this port. Last of your bloodline if I remember correctly." His name was incredibly close to mine. The drow nods and chuckles as he stands, wiping the blood from his chin as he glanced at me before looking back at the captain. "Correct. Voltair to be precise. Voltair LaCrue. You're pretty fucking good with that blade of yours, aren't you?" He seemed so nonchalant even as someone came up with the rod of a crossbow against his back. The captain chuckled as he nodded and looked down at me. "Good enough to best you, I suppose. Now, for you, little girl." I flinch at first as he lifts his hand, to peek and see his hand extended to me to help me up. I hesitantly take it and stand, completely unsure of what was happening and what I should do, even as he uses his other hand to seize a handful of my hair and yank back a little. "As for you, don't you think of making any moves to come after me." Voltair tilts his head curiously, letting a few of the tattoos along his neck peek out. "What has you so afraid of the woman? She's a good head shorter than you." A chuckle bellows from the captain as he kicks a bucket over in front of him, spilling the water across the deck between us and Voltair. "You see, Voltair. She stumbled aboard shortly before you did. She's no human if you care to look in her reflection." Voltair and I peer down at the reflection in the puddle of water, almost my entire body reflected in it's surface. In my reflection, there was no long, curly, red hair. No freckles or hazel eyes to be seen. Just locks of ivory hair to my waist and eyes to match. With another yank, I took that as my sign to give up as I let the glamour slip away. I growl under my breath as I speak. "I'm a siren to answer that question, Voltair. My name is LaRue, LaRue Moone." Voltair bows his head in a polite greeting, a hint of a smirk at the corner of his lips. "A pleasure to meet you, Moone." The captain shoves me back to the deck to the side of him before raising his blade again to Voltair. "Now, we have two options here. You two can make up for my lost crew and serve me indefinitely or, I can let you two loose on each other and the winner can hope to get a chance at me. What's it going to be?" A tense silence passes between all of us for what feels like forever before Voltair sighs and glances at me. "I suppose I'm at a loss here and have to agree to the former. I just can't make any promises for the lady. I imagine she could kill you right now if she so chose. What's your plan for that?" The captain waves one of the crew over as they quickly snap something around my neck like a collar. I can hear mechanisms moving in the collar as it locks and I feel like the air is knocked out of me when it finishes locking and I lay on the deck coughing. The captain crouches next to me and offers his hand once more to help me up again and I hesitantly accept it with a glare. "That collar that I just put on her is enchanted. It keeps her from changing and ultimately weakening her without fully hurting her unless she tries to do so." I tug at the collar and attempt to shift and I'm greeted with a burning throughout my whole body and my knees go a bit weak. Voltair rushes over and I put my hand up to stop him from helping me. I cough up some of my blood and spit it out onto the deck as I stand up panting and look at the captain. "Now, you two will serve under me until I so choose that you are no longer indebted to me. You are part of my crew and responsible for your own and will be treated as such. Am I clear?" We both nod as he disappears into his quarters and I walk to the back of the ship, not looking back at Voltair. "If I'm going to be stuck here, the least you can do is not call me Moone." I didn't even have to look to know he was smirking as he chuckled. "Whatever you say, Moone." Years passed from that day, I read every book on the ship and spent most of my time at the wheel of the ship. To the captain's surprise, I wasn't just a pretty face and had incredible navigation skills as well as alchemical knowledge. The latter caught the interest of Voltair. After a while, we both came to better terms with our arrangement and interactions became more amicable between the captain and us. He began to teach Voltair how to fight with a sword as Voltair taught me how to defend myself without my inhuman strength. Eventually, the two were conspiring to get me different gifts like gowns and books to read. Even as the captain grew older, we began to seem more like his adopted children and less like just crew members with a debt to him. It had honestly slipped my mind until one day, I caught myself staring at the water as we sailed and found myself longing to swim. Voltair followed my gaze and shrugged. "If you feel the need to take a dip, I saw nothing. I know you can't change with that on but. you have no choice to come back anyway. It's hot and there's not much wind." I tossed the idea over for a couple of moments before I bit my lip and sighed. "Care to undo my corset?" He seems a bit puzzled at first but nods as he assists me out of my dress, leaving me in the nude. A sight that would've been out of the ordinary except for how long we'd been on this ship together. I peered over the edge of the ship, crawling up onto the railing before leaning back and diving off into the water. I had to say, this still felt amazing. The water against my skin felt natural and refreshing as it enveloped me. I looked up to see Voltair watching me with a smirk. "How long has it been since you've touched the water, Moone? What? 50 years?" I trod the water and thought for a moment. "Has it been that long? Have we been like this for 50 years?" Before he could answer, the captain showed up next to him. "Yes, it has. While you two hardly age. I'm a testament to how long it's been." He was right. His beard was turning grey and wiry with age. I sometimes forgot that at least my own clock was slowed while Voltair's was stopped due to the vampirism. Though he was getting up there in years, he was still spry as ever and had plenty of years still in him. I swam to the side of the ship and climbed up the ladder as Voltair extended it down to me. Once on the ship, I reached for my dress from Voltair but the captain pushed my hand down. I looked at him puzzled as he signaled for me to turn my back to him. I do as I'm told and wait anxiously as he moves my hair to the side and I hear a click and the collar hits the deck of the boat. The color drains from the sapphire in the middle. I turn abruptly and look at the captain and Voltair. "What? Why?" For the life of me, despite missing the water, I almost felt disappointed that it was off. "It's a gift. It can mean your freedom to leave or stay or whatever you choose for it to mean. I trust you to do the right thing with it." I look at Voltair to see his reaction and he chuckles. "Am I the only one actually curious to see her in the water?" I roll my eyes and hold up a finger to tell him to give me a moment and I take a deep breath, not even sure if I still could shift but I leaned off the ship once more and dove into the water, It was like a good stretch after a long nap in the middle of the day, my muscles felt relaxed and no longer tense as I sped around under the surface. My tail dwarfed my legs by a good two or three times in length and had turned a pearlescent white and blue. What counted as fast for me in the water was a snail's pace in comparison now.  After a moment of circling the ship, I shot up from the water and landed on my own two feet on the deck in front of the two of them. I was no longer nude when I stood there, I was wearing a sheer dress of the same colors as my tail. I couldn't leave them behind. I'd let myself get close to them and this had become like a home to me. I wasn't sure where I stood with Voltair, I just knew we didn't want to tear each other to pieces anymore. I stayed for several more years, sailed by their sides and adventured into further, unknown parts of the sea. I wasn't shaken by reality until the day the three of us had landed at a port in a small village to the west of where they'd found me. All seemed normal until the captain started to fall behind us in pace and we both turned to find him leaned against a barrel, coughing into a rag. I could smell it before I saw it and I saw the look in Voltair's eyes as we both watched the blood ebb across the rag. I guess I always thought it would be old age that took him, no matter how stubborn he was. His health hit a pretty steady decline over the next two months, retiring him to his bed and me whiling away the hours trying to find some cure to whatever it was that was killing him. We even hit a point that Voltair had offered the captain the chance of vampirism. All I knew of that talk was that the captain had turned it down and I kept steady at my work. One night, his breathing became more labored and it hit me what was fast approaching. I always told myself I would have the strength to be here with them in his final moments but, I was wrong. All I could do was look at Voltair and the captain in fear. I stood from where I sat next to his bed and laid a hand on Voltair's shoulder in hopes of consoling him in the slightest. I was confused at first but accepted it as Voltair leaned in gently and nuzzled his cheek against my hand. While neither of us shed tears, I knew it was tearing at us apart and neither of us knew what this meant for us. All I could manage to mutter as I dropped my hand was "I need a moment, I need to breathe. Stay with him." Voltair nodded and I wandered back onto the deck outside. I stared at my own reflection in the dark water as I felt the trickle down my cheek, wiping it away. I'd never cried above water before. I didn't know what it was like to feel the tickle of my own tears down my cheeks. I was a coward, I couldn't force myself to go back in there and see the captain as the life left him, no matter how many times are tried to walk back towards the door. Before I knew it, I was silently sobbing as I stepped back off the deck and let myself fall into the water, I could hear the footfall along the deck as Voltair ran outside and I swam without looking back. He was going to hate me for this but I couldn't do it, I couldn't watch my family die. I never stayed long enough to watch my loved ones die. I didn't know the first thing about how to cope with it. Nearly another 100 years passed from that day, word had passed along well enough for me to know that the captain passed hours later that night I left. I'm startled from my daydreaming by a hand on my shoulder. I turn to see Arlemis' dark face smiling at me as he nodded, signaling we would be leaving port again soon.