Scarlet Song

Chapter 3

Port wasn't far after that and the whole time, Voltaire had been tracing his fingers softly along the back of my neck to comfort me. He knew something was wrong but, years of being around me before we'd wandered apart taught him better than to pry. He trusted my judgement, even now and knew I would make sure no matter the storm in my own mind everyone here was safe. Once we'd made it to port, Arlemis set forth to dropping anchor for us and I squeezed Voltair's hand gently to tell him I would be back. I wandered to my quarters and let a light smirk dance across my lips as I looked at the messed up papers on my desk from some of the--"heated" moments between Voltair and I as I looked for a dress. I was hopeful that a couple days here wouldn't hurt much in the way of us making progress in our search for his crew while my crew got themselves taken care of and tended to. Once I emerged from my quarters, Voltair wasn't far behind Arlemis and helping him do the last of the docking for the ship. He was less tense as he interacted with everyone. Despite his cocky attitude that I grown to know so well, he wasn't huge on interacting with others. The Captain and I tended to be the extent of his heavy interactions. My curiosity was piqued as to what brought it about but, I didn't question a good thing while it was there. Some of my men had already made themselves at home, wrestling and drinking at a local tavern outside. Once the ship was tied off and set, Arlemis went about arranging for supplies to be ready in a few days time and I took Voltair's hand as he silently offers it with a smile a bow. We wandered along the dock and towards the tavern together, looking around. "I figured we could spend a few days time while we got our bearings again. We can gather information and find out where your crew may have gone. If needed, I can use non-traditional means to find them. That being something that can be done on my own and I'll leave you and Arlemis to keep my crew in line. For now, just get comfortable and try not to intimidate my men too much?" He chuckles and shakes his head perking a brow as he lifts my hand to his lips. "If I weren't so honorable to my role as Captain and ally to your crew, I would object to that but, that's something that can be taken up with you at a later date." I feel my cheeks flush as he says that and I try to divert my mind from it. I lead him over to my men and let him watch as they spar and wrestle with each other before I see the glimmer in his eyes, seeing a couple of my men sparring with their swords. I let out a soft giggle as I nudge him forward and sigh. "I'm heading inside for a drink and I'll return. Give them a taste of what you can do. I won't be long." He chuckles and takes his blade from his hip and messes with it as he wanders over and looks back at me. "Try not to get into too much trouble in there? I'm here to protect you but, I know what you're prone to, Moone." I roll my eyes and Arlemis comes wandering up chuckling. "Her need your help, Sir? Permitted she's told me she learned what she knows of sword fighting from you but, she's far beyond needing help with her own blades." I knew he meant it more to get back at Voltair but, he brushed it off and was more concerned with this new skill he didn't know of and smirks as he leans against the outside of the tavern, waving me to elaborate. I let out an exasperated sigh as I lift my dress and remove my daggers from the belt around my thigh. I tossed one and caught it, looking to Arlemis. "What are the stakes? Since you offered me up to get back at him." He chuckles and bows slightly in apology. "Playing card? From the end of the dock?" I nod and before another word can be exchanged, I appear at the end of the dock and watch him closely as he tosses the card into the air, intentionally raising the stakes by doing so next to Voltair and I let the blade fly from my fingers, fastening it to the wall with the blade, close enough to have clipped Voltair's sleeve. I can see him pry the blade from the wall as I appear back at his side and see a new look in his eyes as he looks it over and smirks, trailing it along his tongue. "That was rather close, wasn't it? Impressive, though. You've improved from before." I try to steady myself as I take my blade and put it back in the belt. "I-I'm gonna go get those drinks now." He nods and chuckles as I wave Arlemis into the tavern and walk inside. "You don't drop this problem you have with Voltair, it will be dealt with, understood? I will not have my first mate challenging my decision and intentionally trying to sabotage and cause problems." He nods and gets our drinks for us and he hands me mine and I drink from it as he wanders back out to the rest of my men. My body was a little too welcoming to the mead as I drank and before I knew it, my cup was empty and I stimbled outside to Voltair. I must've not looked the best because he immediately wrapped his arm around me and gave me his coat as he draped it over my shoulders. "I sometimes still forget that sirens don't hold their liquor very well. Do you wanna go back to the ship?" I shake my head and take his hand, leading him towards town. "I just need to walk it off. It gives us more opportunity to explore the area" He hesitantly nods as we wander down one of the alleyways and we wander for a while. We spend most of our time reminescing about the years we'd been around each other. We were both nearly in tears from laughter when we both hear a crash from a ways away, soon followed by yelling and a woman sobbing and I phase ahead but leave enough distance for Voltair to catch up and me not to be heard. I quietly reach over for a wooden broom and snap the end off of it and twirl it to test how it feels as I creep forward to see what going on. There's a group of guys around a woman, harassing her and she was curled to the wall. Though I'd sobered up, my better judgement was still flaky and it didn't occur to me to warn Voltair of what I was about to do when I came stumbling into the middle of everything and still managed to hold some of the men off long enough for the woman to run off  and Voltair to get involved. After a moment, it became a little more apparent that we were outnumbered and we needed to leave before there was any blood shed. Voltair threw his arm around my waist and put me down towards the end of the alleyway. "We need to go before it get's any worse. There's some woods that lead to the cliffside. We can head up there until things die down." I nod and run towards the trees. I would phase but, I nearly didn't remain on my feet when I did earlier so I was going to have to do this on foot. Once we'd made some progress in giving us some distance, I pulled his hood over my head and did my best to use a basic glamour so that we could go a little less detected as I tossed him his coat again. Now I looked like the barmaid from the night I'd first met Voltair but, my cheeks were rosy from the alcohol still. We covered the rest of the distance and stopped at the edge of the trees and I let my glamour fall. That ended up being a mistake because one of them was still nearby from splitting up to find us. "I'll cut the bloody bitch, I found her!" I stepped forward and reacted in the spur of the moment in hopes it would deter him and let my predator side come out as my eyes went pure white and my jaw extended back and let out a low growl to warn him to stay back. The problem with this method was that it was getting less and less effective, like now. It only seemed to aggitate him. I just end up changing back and sighing as I feel Voltair's arm go around my waist and I get tossed over his shoulder. "Do you think before you act? No one's phased by sirens anymore, dear." I knew he was being a bit cruel with saying that but, he was right. I wasn't as menacing as I used to be. "Heading for the cliffside? There should be water at the bottom, if we jump, we'll definitely lose them. The problem being you have to stop because once we hit that water, I'll end up paralyzing you when I change." He nods and ducks behind a tree, setting me down. "What's you solution then? Make it quick because they aren't far behind." In the time it takes for him to look back at them, I take a blade from my thigh and cut my forearm deeply and lift it to him as his eyes turn a darker crimson when he sees what I did. "Siren's blood can negate the effects I may have on you. The problem being that I'm still a tad inebriated." He shakes his head and leans down to trail his tongue along my blood down my arm and to the gash where he bites down and draws more out to be thorough before he licks the wound and sweeps my legs out from underneath me and runs for the cliff and wastes no time diving off and letting go of me. We both break the surface and sink deep below the surface of the water, even as I change and watch the bubbles clear from around us as we remain out of sight. It's now that it becomes apparent to me that he never required to breathe as his chest remained completely still as he looked up at the surface and back at me. Once we were sure they'd wandered away and gave up, I swam over to him and circled him, still cautious not to touch him. It was beginning to get dark and I my bioluminesence started to show along my tail and my body. Even as I avoided him, he grabbed me and pulled me close, holding my head as he kissed me deeply and wrapped his arms around my body. Something I never experienced in this form nor did I ever think I would.