Soon they were sailing the open ocean again. Amanda went down into the hold to check on Ghost who seemed happy enough. She soon found that the alcohol combined with the moving of the boat was unsettling her stomach though so she returned to deck to watch the ocean sail quickly by. The wind must have been favorable for it felt like they were flying at speeds faster than she had seen them travel at yet. The fresh air was warm and pleasant on her face and made her feel a lot better.

  She was just starting to think about going and finding some food when Sirius appeared beside her with an offering of crackers.

  “Do these have weevils in them?” she asked, not really caring too much if they did or not.

  He shrugged then grinned. “Remember, if you have a choice, always pick the smaller weevil.”

  She frowned. He always said that. “Why?” she asked.

  His grin widened and his eyes lit up instantly. “Because, when you’re faced with a choice between two weevils you should always pick the lesser weevil.”

  It took her a moment to register what he’d said and combined with the boyish look on his face she suddenly realised it was something he’d been waiting for just the right moment to say. He’d been hoping she’d ask that exact question, waiting ever-so-patiently just so he could make that terrible pun.

  “Did you just…” she trailed off.

  His grin widened.

  “Oh that’s so bad.” And she fell against the railing and laughed. And because it was so terrible and because he’d stuck with it for so long and somehow she hadn’t even realised until now, she found herself unable to stop laughing. The look of pride on his face was just too much. “All this time,” she managed to splutter between gasping breaths. “That is the worst pun I have ever heard.”

  “You seem to find it pretty funny,” he replied. The smile never left his face.

  “Yes,” she managed to stop laughing long enough to say, “It’s funny because it’s so terrible.”

  “I bet you can’t do any better,” he teased.

  “Oh, I couldn’t do much worse.” She cracked up laughing again. But then her mind caught on one of the words he’d used. “A bet.” Slowly she stopped laughing. She tired to think of a joke or a pun of her own but her mind had already wandered back to their last bet. The one she’d lost, again. She could still feel the buzz of alcohol in her head. For a moment she thought of distracting herself by pouncing on him but she knew he’d stop her if he thought she was too drunk. Still, she reached out for him, took his forearms in hers, if for nothing else than to touch him. She sighed. “A bet huh…”

  He seemed to know what she was thinking about. “Unless you’d prefer to start our other one over?” He asked more seriously and ever-so-gently. He was always so gentle.

  She sighed and leaned back against the railing. “I think I lost that one for sure.” What did that mean for Ghost? She didn’t think he’d actually keep him but she had lost. She felt she owed him something.

  Before she could think of something suitable for payment Sirius said, “I think you only lose when you stop trying.”

  She cocked an eyebrow at him. “I don’t think that’s how bets work.” She knew that’s not what he had meant though. Maybe she should have another go at staying sober again?

  “It’s up to you,” Sirius replied.

  She leaned against him and closed her eyes. He was her rock, her big soft rock. Sturdy, strong, but always gentle.

  He put an arm around her. “You smell nice,” he said.

  The way he said it suggested it wasn’t something he’d planned to say. Somehow that made it all the better. But there was no way she was letting him get away with it.

  “I smell like horse,” she teased.

  “Horses smell nice,” he replied swiftly and smoothly.

  She smiled. He was getting more confident at handling her teasing. “I noticed there were more horses in the hold?” She glanced up at him questioningly. She’d been surprised by them but Ghost seemed to have appreciated the company. They’d looked like older horses that had been well-cared for too and a breed that had been fast once.

  Sirius nodded. “They’re going to a farm further up the coast. Some place that takes retired racehorses and uses them for packaged treks and farm work. We were going to drop them off first but given the time I think we’ll do them on the way back, after we drop off the blood and the bones.”

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  “The bones. Right. I’d forgotten about those.”

  Sirius nodded. “Hopefully they won’t mind the condition they’re in.”

  “Where exactly is everything going?” Amanda asked, imagining some small port town like Little Rock, only one with lots of inland delivery routes and a large local vampire population.

  She was surprised when Sirius replied, “A vampire colony that live in the cliffs.”

  “What? Like physically in the cliffs, as in caves and stuff?”

  He nodded. “There’s a whole city buried underground. They call it Capilliaria. Or Cap to the locals.”

  “How far away?”

  “We should get there tomorrow afternoon.”

  Dinner was lively and filled with the flowing of music and wine, the latter of which Amanda turned down. She’d had enough of alcohol in the bar earlier that by dinner time she was feeling the effects of a hangover. Food helped a lot and she decided that from now on she’d start her streak off again. Seven days, no alcohol. She knew that tomorrow she might change her mind and for that reason she didn’t tell Sirius. This time she made it a personal bet with herself. She’d tell him once she had won.

  He’d responded so decisively to the threat Sirena had made that it left her feeling guilty at her own reaction.

  Sirena suddenly jumping her out of nowhere and pressing a knife at her throat had left her shaken. At the time she’d felt like she’d been asked to choose between Ghost and Sirius. Her immediate thought had been that Sirius was the obvious choice but every time she’d pictured herself delivering Ghost to that woman she’d found herself frozen. Paralysed by indecision she’d walked into a bar, figuring maybe if she could just relax for a moment or two that the answer would come to her. Next thing she knew, one drink had turned into several until she hadn’t felt capable of making any decisions at all. The answer seemed so obvious now. It was the same conclusion she’d come to back on the Wolverine when they’d been attacked by the Slicer, ask for help.

  Sometimes it wasn’t an option. It hadn’t been an option back in Scarlett with the prince and she didn’t regret what she’d done there. It was something Sirius was good at she realised. He listened more than he talked and he only fought for something when he had to. Despite what he said, she didn’t believe he wouldn’t have helped the old man either though. Maybe he would have done a better job of it? She tried to imagine it from his perspective. Would he have intervened with words instead of threats? Would that have worked? Maybe he would have gone for help? Maybe there was somewhere nearby help could have been found? That wouldn’t have been any use for her unless she’d known about it beforehand though. Maybe that was her mistake? Just barging into Scarlett with no knowledge of the place.

  The sort of reading and research that Sirius did was not her sort of thing. She preferred to get her knowledge from experience and people. Maybe being a woman of action was just who she was. Maybe that was okay. Maybe with Sirius around they could balance each other out. Maybe, just maybe, that meant they were the perfect team. She smiled happily to herself. She liked the idea of that.

  “Silver for your thoughts?” Sirius asked noticing her smile. He had that inquisitive boyish look on his face.

  Her smiled deepened, all the way in to the middle of her belly. “Oh, nothing,” she replied. “Nothing at all.” But in another moment of uninhibited action she slipped her hand subtly onto his thigh and gave his leg a brief and gentle caress.

  She enjoyed the blush that crept into his cheeks.

  Sirius got over any worries he had about a little blood later that night and after a fun tussle they fell asleep curled up close together, fingertips touching lightly under the blankets.

  They slept peacefully until about 4 am in the morning when a shrill scream shattered the silence of the night.

  At first Amanda thought it was just part of her dreams but she couldn’t remember being in the middle of dreaming of anything. And then came more screams and the clash of swords and people moving outside in the corridor.

  Sirius was out of bed before she was, putting on his coat and boots before she’d even had the chance to sit up properly.

  “Stay here,” he commanded as he picked up his sword and headed for the door.

  Amanda didn’t listen to him. It was obvious there was fighting going on. There was no way she was just going to sit in bed and wait for some enemy to come bursting through that door and attack her. She was going to help in whatever way she could.

  She threw open the cabin door. She could hear yelling and not far away she could see shadows moving beyond the blue glow of the corridor lighting.

  Moving in that direction she found Sirius fighting an extremely pale looking man. The man was pinned between Sirius and another but he moved so fast that he was proving more than capable of handling them both. His strikes were faster than any Amanda had ever seen and she was certain that if Sirius had been fighting the man alone he would have lost.

  She watched one strike cut through Sirius’s coat and she didn’t hesitate. She called forth her fire and burned the man from the inside out. Just before his outer shell erupted into flames he turned toward her, his red eyes glowing almost like the lanterns on the walls.

  She didn’t give him time to scream and she snuffed her flames out as fast as she had summoned them the moment his form disintegrated.

  The man who had been helping Sirius from the other side collapsed against the wall, clutching at a bleeding wound in his side. He slid down and sat beside the pile of ash that had previously been his enemy.

  “Can you tend to him?” Sirius asked her with a glance back as he stepped past the injured sailor and the ash. “I need to help the others.”

  She nodded, half torn because she worried they might need her too, and she worried about Sirius encountering another who was just as skilled as this one had been. But she couldn’t leave a man bleeding on the floor either. Sirius had given her no choice but to help.

  It turned out to be Pierre on the floor and despite what had initially looked like an extensive amount of blood, it turned out his wound wasn’t too bad. The attacker’s sword had sliced off a large section of skin but it had not gone in very deep. The wound would need to be wrapped and kept clean but it would be an easy one to heal and he was at no risk of bleeding out.

  The first aid room was close so she ran to that to fetch supplies. Then she cleaned and wrapped his wound as fast as she could, eager to go and see what else was happening. The fact that even Pierre, who was a quickfoot with the power of super speed, had had trouble with that enemy only increased her worries.

  The battle was over fast however. It took her only minutes to get Pierre into a condition where she was happy to leave him but seconds shy of finishing off her bandaging the shouts and fighting ended. Or at least, everything around her suddenly fell silent.