Scarlet Song

Chapter 2

Soon after I had left, the sea called to me and I ended up taking up a crew of my own. I left my real name behind on that ship and took the name Lorelei and I constantly glamoured myself to turn my hair black and my eyes blue so that I was unrecognizable to those that knew me before. I hadn't seen Voltair since nor did I know if he was even still alive. I shook the thought from my head as I straightened my hat and walked aboard my ship. It was less common to see a female pirate but I found myself amongst their ranks, hoping I was doing half as well as the captain hoped I would. I'd heard word of a supply ship sailing through an area several hours from here and if we were lucky, the plan was intercept it and take it over. Once we'd taken off, I went to check over the crew of the ship and give Arlemis his orders and what needed to happen. Arlemis wasn't like the rest of the crew in having ulterior motives. Years ago, I found him drunk and passed out on my lap at a tavern after he'd stumbled and fell. He had no family, no home or anything to his name. He spent the last of his coin in hopes that he would drink himself to death. With him, I got the courage to have a crew of my own and we recruited as we went. Once I was finished, I retired to my own quarters and let out a sigh of relief. I'd grown accustomed to being in this form and had no need to change back nor did I feel safe enough. No one, even Arlemis, knew about me and what I was. I left that life behind entirely when I left Voltair on that ship and I trusted no one else. I sat down to the notes at my desk and resumed what I'd been working on for years, still trying to get to the bottom of what plagued the captain and the disease that Voltair lived with. Once I looked up to see that nightfall had crept up on me, I grabbed my coat again as I headed back onto the deck with the crew. The supply ship was within sight but, as was another ship in the distance. "Look, men, it looks like we have a bit of competition for our loot today. Let's make this quick and let's come out on top." The men holler and cheer as they bustle to grab their weapons and prepare for our seige. The other crew was probably here for the same thing so we had to be quick, thorough and merciless as we raided if we wanted to make it out with anything let alone alive. We had no real way to know what the other crew had in store or what they were here for so I made it my job to scout for that information. Once we boarded the supply ship, the other crew wasn't far behind in joining. The men mingled as they fought over goods so I went quickly to work at finding the captain. It didn't take me long to scope out who was barking the orders but, he caught on to my presence quickly and immediately dove after me. He was quick and agile with his blade and made it so that I couldn't face him until he'd nearly pinned me, I wasn't permitted a moment to react to the eyes I looked into before we were back at going after each other steadily. Had it been anyone else, I wouldn't know what to expect but, nearly a century of watching him made his movements predictable. The other captain was Voltair and I couldn't bring myself to take an actual swing at him, only deflect his hits. It was obvious he wasn't going to recognize me unless he focused on his senses around me. Fighting him was only made harder by the fact that it was night and that meant he was stronger and faster but, even that couldn't prepare him for when the ship shifted suddenly, knocking part of the sail down. While I dove out of the way, I still took a sudden bash to the head and everything went dark. I woke up later to daylight and sand against my face, part of my hair turning white again. I shook myself off as I sat up, my glamour taking over again and the hair fixing itself as I saw him further down the shore. We'd been knocked off the ship when everything fell and we washed up here. I knew the sunlight wouldn't kill him but it certainly wasn't going to help, either. Moving him wasn't going to be an easy task, even with my strength. He'd always been quite a bit taller than me, adding on his wet clothes and the fact that he wasn't conscious this time. There was shade and trees nearby so I did my best to drag him by his feet up the beach to the treeline. I nearly had him there when he started to wake and scrambled to get up, tackling me in the process. He pinned me down and took a blade from his boot as he pressed it to my throat. Even in my century around him, I wasn't prepared for the flare of emotions that came from him having me in this position so I scrambled to speak as my cheeks flushed. "S-stop, I'm not going to hurt you. I know what you are and I was trying to get you out of the sun." He stared back at me panting, looking me in the eyes like he was searching for some sign I was deceiving him before finally getting up and looking over his clothes. "Y-you need to eat. You're weak during the day and those clothes must weigh a ton." He nods hesitantly and heads for the beach as he slides his coat off. "I'm going to dry off and see what I can find along the beach. You'll need to find me food, I mean unless you care to share what you already have." A smirk creeps along his lips as he inches closer and I roll my eyes. Typical Voltair attitude. "No, you can't drink from me. I'll return with food for you and you look for something to make a shelter with or to look for shelter." He bows his head a little and turns to the beach as I walk away. I find what I can in the way of sources of blood for him, filling my canteen with it and wiping the blood from my own lips as I wander back. I find him back at the beach shirtless as he has his shirt and coat are strewn across a rock on the beach and his boots turned over on the sand as he stood in the waves rolling in, looking along the beach. To the average eye, you never truly realized how heavily he was tattooed until you saw more of his torso. I tried to shake myself from staring before he turned and caught me, smiling and reaching for the canteen as I handed it to him. I watched as the blood poured into his mouth, probably still warm as a little dripped along his lip. He licked it up and handed the empty canteen back to me. "Thank you, though, I know I should be suspicious as to how you know me but, I don't know you. But, that's for a later conversation. It's nearly dark so the least we can do is build a fire for the night." I nod and we silently got to work on the fire and finish as the sun disappears below the horizon. I sink down onto the ground next to the fire and fall onto my b ack and sigh, knowing I could get off this beach if I chose to but, that would give me away and he'd be left with no way out. He wanders over next to me and nudges me as he sits in the sand. "Have you eaten? Whatever it is that you eat." I smile warmly and nod. "Yes, I ate while I was gathering food for you." He nods and stands back up abruptly and offers me his hand to help me up. I take it and stand as he looks down at me, heart in my throat as I thought of how I left him behind. "Answer me this. How do you know me? Who are you?" I shake my head and sigh, acting bored as I slid out of my coat and looked back at him. He seems frustrated at first before he chuckles and smirks. "Duel me. Fight with me and whoever wins gets something of their choosing. I win, you answer me. You win, you can keep silent and I guess I will owe you a favor. Though I know who will win." I smirk and perk a brow at him, amused that he was so sure of himself for the man I seen bested by the captain so long ago. I knew he'd improved since then so it was a risk for him to know it was me. What would I say to him after I left him all alone? Would he hate me? Would he want to kill me anyway? The better part of me couldn't tell him no, though. I nodded and withdrew my rapier as I waited for him to be ready. "First on their back?" He nods and chuckles. "Sounds plenty fair to me." We both ready up and waste no time lunging and swinging at each other. I feel like I'm taking a good lead when he starts landing hits on me and before I know it, my feet are swept out from under me and he grabs my arm as to ease my fall to the ground as he kneels over me and I groan in defeat. Shit, he won. I don't have any other choice. He leans in incredibly close and smirks, panting from our duel. "Now, are you going to tell me who you are?" I grab handfuls of sand as I sigh and nod hesitantly and release the glamour over my body, my hair returning to it's ivory color, longer than ever before and my eyes draining of color. I see a flash of emotion in his eyes as he looks over me and I flinch as I see it spark into anger and he cocks his arm back and drops his sword next to me before getting up and walking back towards the fire. I let out out a relieved sigh as I get up to follow him, only able to mutter. "I'm so sorry, Voltair." He remains silent for what feels like an eternity before peeking back at me, still furious. "For what? For abandoning us? For leaving when he needed you? Hell, maybe because you could've wrote a bloody letter to tell me you were ok?!" I startled a little when his voice rose and weakly reached out to him, biting back tears. "I don't know, ok? I get it, I'm a coward for leaving. I didn't know how to deal with losing him so I ran away from it. When I left, I didn't think it mattered if I was alive or dead." I looked down and let my  hand drop to my side as I looked to the water. He turned and grabbed the back of my head and turned me to look up at him. "Of course it mattered. We were all each other had. And you left just because you couldn't come to terms with the one thing in this life that is inevitable. We both knew he was bound to die at some point and you let him die thinking he'd lost you; That we'd lost you." Anyone seeing how close he had me would think he was about to kiss me but, he didn't. He let go of me and turned back towards the fire. "I suppose you're gonna leave now and bring your crew back to retrieve me?" I look towards the water and sigh in defeat. "I guess so. I have to be careful seeing as they don't know about me but. I should return by daybreak." I wade into the water and dive in and swim for my ship, finding it fairly easily and I look for the best point to hop aboard. I leap from the water and land lightly on the railing on my feet, restoring my glamour as I stepped down and walk towards my quarters. Arlemis is inside as expected and pleased to see that I was still alive. He filled me in extensively on what had been collected from the supply ship but, I was hardly listening. I waited for a moment to speak, finally making eye contact. "We need to head to the North, to a small island not far from here. A dear friend of mine washed ashore with me there and I've been searching while he remained there." He nods and asks minimal questions about how I got back and I sigh in relief. We make perfect time and the sun is barely over the horizon when we drop anchor. He is completely dressed again when we drop the ladder and he makes his way up. All seems fine until Arlemis storms forwards and points his gun in Voltair's face. "No way I'm letting a drow on your ship, Captain. Let alone a vampire." I glance to the horizon and back at Arlemis, knowing Voltair was at a disadvantage in some cases. He could probably best Arlemis with his hands tied behind his back but sword skills ranked little to none with a gun to his head. "What's so wrong with the two, Arlemis?" He chuckles and shrugs. "You should ask what's good about them. Nothing. The only beings I trust are humans." I had no idea he was so opposed to other beings but, I still had to deal with this. "Do you trust me?" He doesn't hesitate at all in answering. "Of course, M'lady. Why wouldn't I?" I sped over and pushed the gun towards my own head and released my glamour while holding my ground. I folded my arms in front of my chest and stared at him. "If it's a monster you choose to pull the trigger on, then you should point it at me. I'm not human, I never have been. Nor will I ever be. I sink ships. I am the thing that plagues the deep. I'm the monster you speak of luring you to your death. I'm the one that turned on someone who was supposed to be able to trust me." I glanced at Voltair and back to Arlemis, sighing and closing my eyes. "Do you still trust me?" It takes a moment before the gun leaves my forehead and I open my eyes to see Voltair's hand over it and making Arlemis lower it. Arlemis looks unsettled but nods. "Of course. Monster or not, you've never steered me wrong. My apologies." I nod and head for my quarters without another word. I listen for the door to shut behind Voltair, knowing he was close behind and I sank behind my desk onto the floor. I can hear him wander over towards me and mess with the papers I had laying about on the desk before sinking down against the wall opposite to me. "I-I owe you an apology. You never did forget about us, did you? There's notes about me and his disease up there. Has this what you've been doing for the last 100 years?" I glance at him and nod. "That and finding some way to bring him so I could cure it once I found out how. I know I'm the monster here. There's so much to humanity that I don't know. His blood is on my hands for not being there, for not stopping it." He leaned forward and grabbed my hands and I looked back at me. "No, it's not, LaRue. That was cold of me to say to you. You've never had to experience watching family die nor have you probably ever gotten attached like that. But, if there's one thing I know, it's that the only with his blood on their hands is me. In his final moments, he asked me to end it for him so that he could go peacefully rather than slowly." I could see the disgust in his eyes as he swallowed back how awful those words tasted coming out and I just dove against his chest and sobbed. "I'm so sorry, Voltair. I should've been there I should've fixed it. I should've stayed. I should've--." Before I could finish, he grabbed my face and pulled me in as he kissed my lips harshly and I kissed him back. The red in his eyes was bright was emotion as he looked back at me and shook his head. "I-I'm sorry. It's just that that was over a century in waiting and you wouldn't stop talking." The last part made me shake my head as I leaned in kissed him back again and his arms wrapped around my waist and tightened, pulling me in close. He wasted no time in letting his hands wander to my breasts as he freed them of my blouse as I freed him of his pants and we made love where we sat. When we finished, he stood up and I wrapped my legs around him until he sat me down on my desk and leaned down to lick along my neck and heal where he'd bitten down on me and looked me in the eyes, kissing my forehead. "Don't blame yourself for what happened. You're here now, I found you and I'm not letting go." I gently kiss his hand before he trails it down my arm. "You say that now but, you have a crew to return to. Would your men so easily follow if they were told they would have to ally with the same men they just fought?" The look in his eyes goes rigid as he doesn't blink. "That's precisely what I'm proposing and that's exactly what is going to happen whether they like it or not. I don't say what I don't mean and I say that you are stuck with me for the rest of time, LaRue." I watch him and nod, knowing he was telling the truth. His word was one of the truest things I knew in all my time around him. I smile warmly as I appear by the door and slide into my coat. "Shall we cause some trouble then, Captain LaCrue? We should find that crew of yours." He follows closely behind and smirks as he places his hand on the small of my back as I open the door. "I follow your lead, Captain Moone." I look over the men as they are bustling around and I find Arlemis among them, having to double take to remember this was what I really looked like. "Evening, Captain. What are the orders?" I look over the water and check the horizon. It was nearly mid-day and there was a port nearby. "We're sailing for the nearest port and dropping anchor there for a while. We need to assist LaCrue in getting back to his own crew, upon which we will be meeting our new allies formally." He looks to Voltair and nods after a moment, knowing his opinion nothing to do with the way I was going to run the ship and my crew. As unsure of myself I was in this position, I couldn't show it and something in the pit of my stomach turned in hopes I was making the right choice. If this decision backfired, it could mean my reputation as captain would be nullified and made a joke. That all going to say that it probably wouldn't considering Voltair could probably easily kill me. I shook the thought from my head quietly led Voltaire to the front of the ship as I sat down, trying to make sense of what I was doing.