by Lexi Ostrow
McKenna bit her lip to bite back a laugh. The timing was not right to find folly in the situation, but she was. She chewed the inside of her cheek and tasted blood. She and Jacob rightly could get them killed. In the four months time since she’d spoken to Odette about the encounter she and Jacob had shared, they had not managed to put aside either electrifying interaction they’d had. Every time they were near each other they fought, hissed and generally acted like two tomcats fighting over a rat.
There wasn’t enough chalk in the world to keep a running tally of how many times Felicia, Philippe and Lucius had been forced to step into the line of fire to calm them down. She’d been sentenced to a week of kitchen cleansing after she’d purposefully shot a section of Jacob’s perfect blond hair off. It had felt delightful at the moment, though, even if she’d been trying to nick his ear.
“Philippe, why don’t you run out and get us some tea. You’re less of a people person than I am and I don’t think these two need another lecture on how their infantile disagreements will lead to more danger than is needed on the boat in the middle of a deadly ocean.” Felicia’s eyes narrowed and move from Jacob to McKenna.
McKenna slipped down a hair in her seat, guilt eating away at her because she knew Felicia’s words were correct. Moving her hair, a nervous habit she had since developed whenever she had to politely interact with Jacob, McKenna turned and tried not to glare at him.
“I can see with your terrible aim why it might be imperative for us to learn the types of species we could face, alongside the animal dangers the ocean holds,” she tried to keep the snarkiness out of her tone and failed.
“Knowing any creature’s weakness is an intelligent move. If Jacob’s aim is so terrible, consider this, you are on board to protect him,” Felicia said before Jacob could answer.
His blue eyes narrowed for a moment and then returned to a normal position. There were lines of tension around his lips that slowly vanished as well, and he sighed. “McKenna, I realize I did not wish for you to be a guardian of sorts. However, I will be the first to admit that I do not have the best ranged fighting skills. Much like I imagine your close combat skills would be lacking due to your small stature.”
She saw stars. Rage burned hot, and it took every part of her not to reach out and slap him across the face. “I have no intentions of protecting your self-entitled arse, Jacob. So by all means, study away. I have no need to. This is basics in training, and whilst it might offend your senses that I so recently graduated in my field, remember it means I know what I’m doing,” as she spoke, she stood up from her seat, and Jacob had done the same.
They were so close together, the slightest motion could send them tumbling against each other. He sucked in a breath, and the action created a nasty scowl on his face. His eyes twitched as he likely practiced the control Royals were supposed to have over their emotions. For a moment, she thought he might strike her, but, slowly, he sat back down in the simple pine chair.
A smug smirk spread across his face, and McKenna’s stomach plummeted. She’d stepped into something dangerous, and she knew it.
“Fine, if you’re so prepared to protect me, you won’t mind a partial quiz, will you?”
She turned her chin up and crossed her arms over her chest as she sat back down. “Not at all, Your Royal Highness.”
Jacob’s right eye twitched at the title, and it was her turn to smirk. His lip tremored ever so slightly as well, and McKenna might as well have just killed the Seraphina bitch, she was so happy.
“What is, and how do you kill an Isonade?”
“A Japanese water demon, none have ever been seen beyond the barbed tail that slashes into boats. It is believed that they can grow as large as a Royal Sailing Ship and can sink one and devour the sailors in an instant. To kill one, you must sever the tail. Methods of doing so are unknown, as it has never been achieved so we would be dead anyway. Only patrons on the shore have ever seen an attack for us to know they are real. They are oft confused with the common shark. Despite the rash of out of place demon, the odds of seeing an Isonade are as slim as me becoming the next Queen of England.” Pleased, she grinned at him.
“Lucky guess. A Shen.”
She racked her brains, and a connection to China appeared. McKenna squeezed her eyes shut and forced the information to flow. “A water version of an Illusion Demon. They cannot breathe above the water’s surface. To kill them, drag them on board the ship. Again, not a demon we are likely to encounter. Perhaps the real fear should be of reported sea monsters. Like the Kraken.”
She could practically see the steam exploding out of his ears, Jacob was so furious.
“Akkorokamui.”
The smile slipped from her lips. She’d never even heard that name before. She glowered at him and leaned back in her chair. “You’ve made that up.” She’d caught him in his own game, and it felt satisfying.
Felicia sighed dramatically from the other side of the training room. “No, McKenna, he did not.”
Her expression dropped off her face quicker than she’d ever thought possible. “What?”
“An Akkorokamui is the demonic version of the Kraken myth. It is a giant creature, with tentacles and an ability to camouflage itself. It survives by sucking the soul out through its suctioned tentacles as it drags you deep into a watery grave.” Felicia walked by, her deep purple bustle becoming stuck on the table corner and tearing when Felicia tugged it. “Bloody hell. Where was I? Right, to kill one, you must sever all of its limbs. It can breathe on land and underwater. Killing one would take more hunters than will even be in the party. So you had best pray the only creatures we meet are the Sirens that guard the entrance and the blasted sea beasts that populate the waters the same way the wolves do the land.”
McKenna was utterly dumbfounded. Her mouth opened and hung there for a moment before she shook her head. “We never covered those. But I thought training was all inclusive?”
Felicia shook her head, almost sympathetically. “You are trained on the logistical things you can handle. There was no need to teach you of the Akkorokamui.” Her eyes lowered to the floor, and the next sentence was little more than a whisper. “There are lots that you will find on this mission you are unprepared for.”
Without another word, Felicia left the room. A natural tingle ran its way up McKenna’s spine. She felt as if she couldn’t breathe. The formal hunter attire felt suddenly constricting. The tight grey corset crushed her rib cage, and the band on the charcoal grey skirt seemed as if it was trying to break her hips. The room spun slightly, and she gripped the desk to steady herself.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jacob’s hand.
“Don’t. Don’t touch me,” the words were quiet and hardly as fierce as she’d meant them.
“You need to lay down, McKenna. You look as if the fainting sickness might come upon you.”
She barely heard him though as his hand touched hers. “Jacob, this ends the same every time. You have little respect for me and know nothing of me or my past. I do not sell my body for the Alliance, and I will not do so for a handout from a bastard Royal.”
His lips curled unflatteringly, and he jerked backwards from her. “Fine, fall down the bloody hall walking to the lift. I wasn’t going to touch you that way, McKenna. What happened in the council room and the alley was a bloody error. I have no desire to take a woman that thinks me hardly a man because I can’t tangle with the violent blokes she’s used to.”
Jacob stood and stomped out of the room. Once again, being alone with him had been disastrous. Only this time, she was actually upset that he hadn’t touched her—that he found her flawed because she was not the weak one.
Seven
“Shoot the bloody fucking demon, Jacob!” McKenna’s voice cut through the shouts in the darkness.
Jacob’s hand was shaky as he aimed the purple, crystal powered gun at the Stranglehold Demon mere meters away from him. The creature was burly, and its nails looked more than ready to punct
ure holes in Jacob’s throat if he didn’t squeeze the trigger.
But he couldn’t.
His index finger shook and trembled as it hovered over the trigger. His eyes locked with the dark brown eyes of the creature, but he couldn’t force himself to move his finger. He’d never killed before, human or demon, and tonight’s hunt would be no different, no matter how badly he knew he needed to.
“Jacob! What are you waiting for?” McKenna shouted, terror lacing her words.
“Mon Dieu! Leave it, McKenna,” Philippe shouted back at her. “Now or never Jacob, that creature isn’t going to wallow because of its leg wound for much longer.”
Jacob heard them and knew he needed to listen, but it wasn’t as simple as that. Killing wasn’t something he was capable of. He was aware of that now.
The demon charged, albeit slowly because of the injury McKenna had given it. A bolt of green light raced past Jacob’s field of vision and slammed square into the demon’s forehead. A deep howl filled the night for a moment, and then the demon slammed hard into the cobblestone street. The sound echoed, and for the first time, Jacob wondered just how people didn’t know about demons with how much noise the hunters made.
He felt the slap across his face but couldn’t fathom what had just happened. His gun dropped to the street with a clang. Jacob pulled his goggles off and grabbed the gun quickly, ensuring the crystal was not broken. He didn’t know much, but he knew Eliza didn’t take kindly to her toys being mistreated.
“Are you daft? You had more than enough time to take it down without putting us all in danger. You’re worthless,” McKenna shrieked in his face as she jerked her goggles off and set them on top of her head. “I shouldn’t have had to take that shot. The whole point in you fucking being out with us was to see what you were made of. You’re nothing more than a liar, Jacob Tresay. You cannot handle this!”
“That is quite enough, McKenna,” Philippe said as he stepped in betwixt them and twisted the dials on his communicator until it connected with Karl, the inventor running the Alliance’s tracking system for the night.
“Philippe?”
“Karl, we got it. Can you call in a cleanup crew? After what I witnessed, this lot isn’t ready to learn how to do a cleanup,” Philippe spoke into the communicator on his wrist.
Jacob didn’t hear the rest of the communication, he was too enamored by the communication device. He had one of his own, and yet, whenever the device managed to draw magnetic signals outside of the guild to within the guild, it blew his mind.
“Thanks, Karl. I’ll keep the area secure,” Philippe said and turned to look at Jacob and McKenna. “I have no words for how unprepared you are for what is about to happen. Knowing how to fight and being able to kill are two different things. And let me tell you if something goes wrong, and you’re stuck in Hell, you’re damn sure going to need to kill,” disgust filled the more experienced hunter’s tone.
“He can’t come, Philippe. It will be disastrous,” McKenna said matter-of-factly.
Her eyes were narrowed on him, pure anger shining out of them. It didn’t faze Jacob. It had been months since he’d insulted her, more than half a year, and he did realize he had insulted her now. He’d tried and failed to get Mikal back on the mission. Which had left McKenna stuck as his bodyguard and temporary skills master.
She’d been merciless. Whilst Eliza and the inventors toiled away to get what they were creating finished, McKenna and Philippe had been training him to hunt and to put up mental guards against Lucius. He knew the more they were together, the stronger the desire would grow until he finally took what he wanted. He also knew that McKenna likely wasn’t one to let herself be taken for a ride simply because a man found her breathtaking.
Tonight was nothing short of a disaster, and he almost couldn’t blame McKenna.
“I’ll have you remember, you’re speaking to a member of the ruling class, McKenna,” his tone was bitter, and the remark was stupid.
“Philippe turn around. I’m going to shoot him, and I’ll blame the fucking demon.”
Philippe chuckled. “I have been hunting with partners for too long. Nine months ago, I would have shot you both for making a ruckus, and now, I’m laughing at the mess you’ve made of things.” Philippe shook his head and let out a low growl. “You are both done. I want you to take the motorbikes and leave. Go straight to the Alliance and report to Odette, so she knows how dangerous this mission is going to be for everyone.”
“But—”McKenna started.
“Assez, McKenna,” Philippe said and glared at her.
Jacob took no pleasure in her getting chided since she was correct, he had made a mess of this. He wouldn’t back down, though. They would leave in mere days for what could be the only mission he would ever attend, and he’d tried plenty to make amends to the female. All failed attempts.
For weeks, he’d tried to court her with splendid dresses and fine sweets. All of which she’d either literally thrown back in his face or burned up with the beam from the crystal gun. There had been brief moments in training when they’d touched, that the sensual woman from the council meeting slipped out. However, the moment he’d joke that she was kind, her façade would come crashing back down. It was slowly driving him mad.
She was a vision tonight, dressed in a layered chocolate brown skirt, man’s riding boots and a jet-black corset. She was a sight to behold, and he’d been grateful she was behind him when he’d been trying to shoot the weapon, or he would have been distracted and fearful.
All he thought about was the passion betwixt them. It had been fleeting, yet it had consumed him. He had tried to bed other women and had failed. He’d start all right, and even had no trouble getting his prick to stand up, but the moment it came time to pleasure himself with a woman, he couldn’t finish. He’d tried furiously, but all he could think about was the way he’d treated McKenna.
They were both human, so it was impossible that they were mated. To make sure, he’d sought Odette out and asked in light of the Guildmaster’s own secret. Jacob was simply not used to being spurned by the opposite sex. Wealth and possible power had women falling at his feet, and he suspected until McKenna at least forgave him for his callous slip, he was going to desire her every second he looked upon her.
“Are you coming or not, Your Majesty?” McKenna’s whispered voice was hard to hear from her distance from him.
“Would you honestly let me ride behind you?” he asked as he walked up to the bike he could hardly control.
“I have no choice. As I told you, I follow my orders, and after Philippe told me how his unwillingness to almost led to Odette’s death and all the evil that has fallen upon us, I’m not interested in making that mistake. So get on,” she said the final words through a tightly clenched jaw.
Jacob sat on the bike and pulled the large copper key from his pocket. “Do we honestly start these right under people’s residences? Can they not hear them?”
McKenna sighed and slipped her goggles back down to protect her eyes. “They would have woken already if they did, but we were trained to go around to busier and louder areas before starting them up if need be.”
Jacob watched as she slipped her golden key into the hole. The green and purple crystals at the back of the bike began to glow as he watched the cogs spin and press together. Within seconds, a small amount of steam had been built up from the friction of the gears. A low purring sound, hardly louder than a cat, filled the open space, and McKenna wasted no time as she pulled her feet up and took off on the bike.
Exasperated he turned to Philippe, who was frowning.
“I’ve been there, on her end. Guarding someone who thinks they do not need it is a difficult task. Guarding someone who truly needs it and won’t admit it, it’s insulting and infuriating. You have skill, Jacob. But if you get in the way of this mission once we are out to sea, I will not help McKenna look after you. It’s my fault any of us were in Hell, to begin with. I’m going to get my partner back, and I d
o not care if McKenna fails in her mission or not. I don’t play well with others, and whilst I have come to terms with some hunters, you are certainly not one of them. Now go.”
Philippe turned his back on Jacob, and Jacob felt anger brewing. He was a bastard, but he still had title and land. No one at the Alliance treated him as such, and it was beginning to grow on his nerves. He liked Kellan, the lad came from money, and they’d known one another before he’d joined the Alliance. After this mission, he was resigning his post.
Digging the goggles out of his pocket, he tightened the strap around the back of his head and took off on his own borrowed steam bike.
Eight
McKenna couldn’t stop checking the pocket watch on her nightstand. The room was small enough that she could lean over from any space and grab the watch. “A quarter past the hour later than the last time you checked.”
She sighed and dropped down onto her small bed. Tomorrow, she would either go on her grandest adventure or her only adventure.
Her mind was a mess of thoughts. She’d never been out to sea, and she’d heard of the terrible sickness that could lay a man flat on his back for weeks in a journey. Then she’d heard of storms so strong, the waves crashed onto the wooden decks with the force of a cannonball, sinking the ship. The thoughts of ship chaos hardly rivaled that of being in Hell.
McKenna knew she would not be descending into Hell, but it didn’t mean she liked the idea of being left behind whilst the others did. Anything could capture them, and she and Jacob would likely never know. Kellan could be lost forever, and Lucius, Felicia and Philippe could be well on their way to joining him whilst she sat topside and played nursemaid to a man who didn’t even need to be attending in the first place.
Her eyes drifted over to the small, black duffle. Per Odette’s orders, they were to take nothing but a few items of clothes, two crystal guns, their communicators and their pocket watches, should any water demons they are unaware lurk too. All McKenna had packed were two corsets, three blouses and four pairs of breeches, the bag was nearly exploding open.
