Mordred leaped out of the window, blasting half a dozen sirens away. Remy and Zamek leaped out behind him.
Remy landed next to Mordred and began shooting anything that moved, as Zamek unsheathed his ax and removed the heads of two sirens before they could get close enough to be a problem. Diana landed in her werebear beast form, larger and more terrifying than any normal bear that Mordred had ever seen. She tore into the sirens as if they were made of paper.
Hel used the necromancy power inside of her as pure force, blasting sirens over the side of the ship before they’d even managed to touch down on the bow.
Mordred hit an incoming siren that had leaped toward him—deceptively strong arms stretched out to plunge its claws into his body—with a blast of light hot enough to rend flesh from bone. The creature dropped to the deck and screamed in pain, only silenced when Mordred put a round from his MP5 into its head. He fired at the attackers, taking out a dozen sirens in less than a minute as they continued to scramble over the deck of the ship.
When the gun ran dry, instead of reloading, he created a sword of light in one hand and cut through the sirens that continued to attack, until they were almost overwhelmed by numbers.
A siren sliced across Mordred’s cheek, and another barreled into him, knocking him off his feet and into the swimming pool. The siren opened its mouth, showing the dangerous teeth, and screamed, the blast hitting Mordred in the face just as he raised a shield of air in defense.
The water around them boiled as Mordred’s hands turned bright white before he detonated his light magic, causing the siren to cry out, even underwater. It swam for the surface, with Mordred on its heels.
He reached the siren just as it was leaving the swimming pool, only to watch the creature fall back in, a huge chunk of its chest missing. Chloe reached out and offered Mordred a bloody hand. She noticed and offered the other hand instead, giving Mordred a sheepish look of apology as he climbed out of the pool.
Mordred created a sphere of light in one hand and threw it into the air. “Eyes covered,” he shouted and waited for the count of two before detonating the sphere.
The blast rushed out across the bow of the ship, followed quickly by the screams of every single siren that hadn’t been shielding its eyes. The screams continued for several seconds, becoming more and more distant as the sirens dived into the water.
“Well, they know we’re here,” Diana said.
“Good,” Mordred said. “That’s sort of the idea.”
The team made their way to the entrance to the first-class compartment, where Chloe used the key card to open the door. They walked down the hallway beyond before stopping outside room 102 and using the key card again. With the door unlocked, the team stepped inside the lavish suite. Everything was tastefully decorated, and the windows were open, leading to a private balcony.
A man sat in the middle of a large leather sofa. He had bare feet, white three-quarter-length trousers, and an open blue-and-yellow shirt, revealing his hairy chest and six-pack. His dirty-blond hair was long and tied back with ribbons of varying colors.
“Mordred,” he said with a sigh. “I’ve been watching you play with my sirens.” The man pointed to the large monitor on the wall, which showed camera feeds from around the ship.
“Poseidon?” Diana asked. “You little fucker.”
Poseidon’s hand turned into water. “I wouldn’t, Diana,” he said. “Let’s not make this any worse for you.”
“You notice you’re outnumbered, yes?” Remy asked. “There is only one of him, right?”
“I am a god,” Poseidon said.
Remy shrugged.
“You had thousands of people murdered,” Chloe snapped.
“Actually, the sirens did that; I just didn’t stop them. Workers need to feed, you know.” Poseidon got to his feet and paused. “Why are you smiling?” he asked Mordred, walking behind the sofa, putting it between himself and Mordred’s people.
“I wasn’t sure it was you,” Mordred said. “We knew about the cameras, though. We found someone who worked on the ship; they told us that there had been a special request for it. I’m guessing you were in part the financier of this ship.”
“I have lived aboard this ship for some time,” Poseidon said. “Always moving, always near my beautiful oceans. And I like people watching. I paid a lot for the privilege. It’s why I didn’t have the crew killed. I need them to make the ship work, but also to keep me in the manner I’m accustomed to living in. Can’t very well murder the people who change my sheets and cook my food.”
“Well, we also knew that you’d be watching us when we landed,” Mordred continued, ignoring the man who climbed up over the railing from the ocean. He wore all black and had a balaclava on, hiding his face. He crept slowly across the carpet until he was behind Poseidon.
“You’re going to answer some questions,” Mordred said.
“And if I tell you to go fuck yourselves?” Poseidon asked with a smirk.
“You know, I think I’m powerful enough to kill you myself,” Mordred said. “Almost certainly, but someone else wanted to say hi, and I told him if he got here before the questions started, he could take part.”
A blade of lightning punctured out the front of Poseidon’s chest. He convulsed and dropped to the floor, whereupon the masked man removed the balaclava to reveal Nate Garrett.
“Hey, Poseidon,” Nate said, looking down at the man, whose eyes filled with sudden terror.
Mordred walked over and stood beside Nate, looking down at Poseidon. “I think we’ll find a way to get the answers we want. I just don’t think you’re going to enjoy them very much.”
Chapter Two
NATE GARRETT
The Atlantic Ocean
We tied Poseidon up and placed him in a bedroom, and Zamek drew runes on its walls, limiting his power in case he broke the sorcerer’s band I’d put on his wrist. Poseidon was one of the most powerful beings in any realm, and taking chances would get us all killed. The sorcerer’s band ensured he couldn’t use his elemental powers, and if he tried to remove it, the runes on the wooden beads would explode, turning him to steam. I hated the things, but when needs must . . .
“Sorry I almost missed the party,” I said to Mordred. “There are a lot of prisoners belowdecks. A few thousand people. Mostly passengers, but a fair few crew. Lots of sirens patrolling the ocean around us too. Thanks for taking a few of them off our hands.”
“The plan was that I would make a show of it, and they were happy to oblige,” Mordred said. “We found a few crew members too. While you were in there with Poseidon, I sent Chloe to go retrieve them, bring them here. I think it would be best if we got off this ship sooner rather than later.”
Everyone apart from Chloe and Diana sat in the living room of the suite, taking a breather. Diana was on the balcony, scanning for possible siren attacks. She’d smell them well before they got to us.
“Tarron is busy making a large elven realm gate,” I said. “Fortunately we found a lot of sirens so used their blood to make it more powerful.”
Tarron was, to anyone’s knowledge, the last remaining shadow elf. His entire people had been turned into monsters who called themselves blood elves.