Beatrice was surprisingly accepting after hearing of the events that had occurred with the beetles back on the boat. It was Nigel who let his anger show more readily.

  “That Sirena woman. She deserves a good talking to.” He bared his teeth in a way that suggested he intended a little more than just talking.

  Beatrice calmed him. “Now, now, Nigel. There’s not much that can be done about it now, and besides, bone is how we all end up eventually anyway. We do not usually bury our dead with the flesh on but clean them first with scalding hot water from the springs in the mountain,” she explained to Sirius and the others. “It is unfortunate that it had to happen this way, that they should be fed on by a lower creature rather than a higher one, but it is what it is and I for one am just glad we have them home now.”

  “I would not trifle with this Sirena woman either,” remarked Sandy. “I have heard of her. “She keeps some rather affluent company although, between you and me, many of them only barely tolerate her.”

  “Well, after a raid in Scarlett, some of them may be distancing themselves,” remarked Shiv from where he’d been leaning against the wall in an almost skulking like fashion.

  “That won’t last,” mumbled Nigel. “Not in Scarlett, knowing what they’re like.”

  Beatrice gave Shiv a curious look. “Oh, come out of the shadows, Shiv.” She turned to the others again, “Now, would any of you like some tea? Or perhaps wine?”

  Beatrice led them into another room that was very clearly a dining room and showed them an array of beverage options that would have put any small bar to shame.

  Amanda briefly wondered if beer was an acceptable choice before she remembered the bet she had made with herself. This time she was determined to stick to it. Luckily Beatrice had many other options as well, including lemonade, although it took almost all of Amanda’s willpower not to ask for a beer.

  They all sat and sipped, and for awhile they discussed business. Amanda wasn’t certain what the roles of each of the vampires were but she soon gathered that all three of them held some position on the local council. They took turns asking questions of Sirius. Mostly questions about trade and taxes and news from far off places. Beatrice and Neko got to talking about music for awhile and Amanda, recognising some of the bands mentioned joined in.

  After awhile she noticed the other end of the table had gone quiet. Glancing that way, she found Sirius watching her and the others watching him. She recognised the look he was giving her, the one that made her feel like she was something special. She smiled at him, forgetting for a moment that they were not alone.

  Beatrice did not miss a thing. “Well,” she said. “It seems we have kept you long enough.”

  “Oh, yes,” remarked Sandy with a glance at his watch. “It will be dinner in a only a few hours. You’ll be wanting to get changed and ready. Let me show you to where you’ll be staying. It’s not far from the hot springs if you wish to bathe beforehand.”

  “Get changed?” Amanda asked Sirius in a whisper as they followed Sandy out after saying their temporary farewells.

  “Uh yeah, we’re gonna need to get you a dress. Sandy, is there somewhere near where we’ll be staying that sells women’s dresses?”

  “Certainly.”

  Sandy showed them to their quarters and then pointed them in the direction of the shops and hot springs.

  They were staying an underground hotel of sorts. The entrance was simply a tunnel connected off the main tunnel rather than a place with a door. The foyer was tall and contained a massive aquarium five stories high with balconies looking down upon it. The rooms felt luxurious despite the fact they were literally caves. The rocks in here were all white, possibly limestone, but given that a lot of the rest of the place had been a different type of stone, and stone much darker at that, Amanda wondered if building materials had been brought in from elsewhere.

  Sirius was more interested in the fish in the aquarium. “Look! There’s a tiger shark,” he pointed it out to her on the way in.

  “It’s like a whole different world from Scarlett,” she remarked once they were alone in his room. They’d been assigned a small room each but she’d already checked out her room and now she was eyeing up his bed.

  Sirius nodded. “Mmm.”

  “What?” she asked sensing he was leaving something unsaid.

  “Cap’s a rich city but there’s a bit of controversy around how they obtained their wealth.”

  “Oh?” She took a seat on the bed. They still had a few minutes before they’d agreed to meet the others by the aquarium to do a bit of shopping.

  Sirius nodded. “Cap is situated almost perfectly between the Fire Islands and Scarlett, who as you know have been at war for the better part of a century or longer. There was a time when Cap used that position to play to both sides. Some of it's just rumour but even rumours are often based in truth. They made money off the feud basically and historically provided a sort of safe port for pirates in exchange for large cuts of the profits, meanwhile pointing the finger at whomever wasn’t currently accusing them of something. The story goes that this is all old news, history, that Cap no longer takes part in such activities. From what I’ve seen this may very well be true but then they’ve always been politically savvy, the council of Cap, and never overtly involved in anything.”

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  “You think they might still be? You think they sent the people who attacked us last night?”

  “I don’t know. Having met most of the council, there isn’t a man or woman among them who I don’t like and I do know some of them quite well.”

  “Like Beatrice?” she asked. She’d sensed something between them, maybe something that had been more than friendship once.

  Sirius caught her glance and he nodded. “We dated for a time, briefly. It wasn’t really anything serious. She’s a bit too… her world is very different from the one I live. And she’s a lot older than you’d think.”

  Amanda raised her eyebrows at him. She wasn’t worried though. While Beatrice had been very beautiful, it was obvious who Sirius had eyes for. Teasing him was fun though.

  “I don’t mean like…” he stammered, trying to find the right words.

  She smiled. He was so adorable when he was flustered.

  But he caught her look and seemed to understand that she wasn’t worried. He laughed and then gave a sigh. “She’s twice Shiv’s age,” he explained simply.

  Amanda knew vampires lived a lot longer but still, the fact that Beatrice was that old, did genuinely surprise her. “Twice Shiv’s age?” She looked like she was in her 20s!”

  Sirius took a seat on the bed opposite her. “Yeah, and then she’d go talking about something that happened decades before I was born like it was yesterday. It felt a little weird to tell you the truth.”

  “So is she the oldest woman you’ve been with then?” Amanda teased with a smile. She leaned forward so she was closer to him.

  He smiled back and put his face inches from hers so she could see just how green those emerald eyes of his were. “We’re supposed be going shopping soon,” he reminded her.

  She rolled her eyes. “Oh, right. So I need a dress? I don’t think I’ve worn a dress since my high school ball and that was against my own volition.”

  “What, the teachers forced you?” he inquired with a laugh.

  She shrugged, “More like it was socially expected and I’m not that brave.”

  He narrowed his eyes, obviously not believing her.

  She smiled and got to her feet. “Okay, maybe from time to time I don’t mind. As long as it’s not too fancy. Nothing tight or floor-length or which you can’t walk in, and I did wear boots, the chunky kind.” She pointed a finger at him.

  “Nothing too fancy, I promise,” he told her.

  It took them awhile to find the stores. Even with all five of them and the seemingly simple directions that Sandy had given them, they still manged to get lost. Shiv and Neko had a long debate about whether they should stop and ask someone which way to go, while Bob-bee suggested that he could always try shapeshift into something that could smell their way there. Finally they agreed that was a good idea and next thing they knew he’d led them to a donut shop which just happened to be conveniently next to a dress store.

  “We’ll be having dinner in an hour or so,” Sirius reminded Bob-bee as he disappeared into the donut shop.

  He waved a hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll still be hungry by then.”

  “The man does a better job of eating a horse than he does of turning into one,” Shiv remarked as he followed after Bob-bee. Meanwhile Neko went into a nearby shop labelled ‘Magazines and Maps’ to see if they knew which way the hot springs were, and Sirius followed Amanda into the dress store.

  Sirius was easy to please. According to him, everything she picked looked lovely and she could see he meant it.

  “You’re useless,” she told him playfully. “How am I supposed to pick something if they’re all lovely?” But the truth was she’d never been much of one for fluffing about. The main problem was that she wasn’t sure how formal the thing was supposed to be and she suspected the shopkeeper was trying to up-sell her.

  She ignored the shopkeeper and went with a simple pale blue wrap dress which Sirius said was perfect, just like all the rest. At the very least it was a dress she found comfortable. It was flowy and loose and easy to move in.

  A few doors down they picked up a pair of white low-heeled shoes that the shopkeeper called ‘kitten-heels’ to go with the dress.

  “What are you wearing?” she asked Sirius as they followed Neko and the others in the supposed direction of the hot springs.

  He grimaced. “A suit.”

  “A suit? Like a full on suit?” she asked, worried that she had picked something too informal after all.

  “No tie,” Shiv remarked helpfully.

  “I borrowed one from Mathias,” Bob-bee remarked, “It’s both too baggy and too short.”

  “You can see his ankles,” Neko chipped in.

  “I hate the way suits feel,” Sirius added.

  “Maybe we should all wear dresses,” Neko said. “Where I grew up, that’s not uncommon, although the style is a bit different.”

  At the skeptical look the rest of the men gave him Neko added with a shrug, “It airs your balls quite nicely.”

  Amanda scrunched up her face and was glad when there was no more talk of balls.

  They reached the hot springs without getting lost this time and it was only then that Amanda wondered what they would be swimming in, for she had no bathing suit.

  “Every one goes nude,” Shiv said without batting and eye. “It’s tradition here.”

  “Uh.” Amanda paused in the doorway and sent Sirius a worried look.

  “Don’t worry. There’s plenty of nooks and crannies that you can find somewhere private to get in. After that the water’s pretty murky and there’s plenty of rocks to hide behind.”

  It was pretty much just as he said. In fact, she didn’t see the rest of the crew for the entire time they were in there, which wasn’t very long on account of the water being exceedingly warm. But for a time it was like she and Sirius basically had their own private bath together.

  She splashed him playfully a few times while he floated lazily on his stomach. He kept dipping down into the water up to his nose as if he wanted to dive right under.

  “The sign said not to put your head under,” she reminded him.

  “Mmm.” He blew bubbles at her under the water in response but still he kept his nose above the waterline. With a sigh he replied, “I wish they had a pool you could dive under in.”

  He seemed a mix of both lazy and restless at the same time which she understood. He liked the swimming part of being in the water but the heat made it hard to do that. The heat made it hard to do much of anything. Perhaps that was the point? She enjoyed just being there with him though in the peace and the calm. Life on the ship felt so far away again. All the bloody battles and death felt like a distant dream.