They came and they kept on coming. She had hoped that having consumed the crew of the Feather and faced with the bite of the Skate that they would reconsider. But she hadn’t counted on their being so many. More of them than she could have imagined poured from the sea and began to attack the skate, each one a gaping mawed horror with just enough human in its features to be all the more monstrous. Some of the men they attacked came back to themselves enough to try to defend themselves, others smiled as they were eaten, so lost to the song were they. 

She cut and slashed and was cut and slashed in turn. She felt throbbing agony in her shoulder where one had bitten through the thick embroidery on her coat and into flesh. The wound would go necrotic if she didn’t see to it soon. She could all but feel the filth in that creature’s mouth seeping into her blood with every pulse beat. If she lived through this night she’d worry about it. She moved down the deck, sweeping it clean with all the skill she had to bring to bear, tricks from the Navy, tricks from Yan, things learned in countless fights as a pirate. The Sirens for all their ferocity and fury were not very good when faced with a creature who fought back. She supposed that in their evolution that they did not frequently have to face food that protested being eaten. They were dangerous, for certain and their numbers made them formidable, but she had faith that they would see this through. If she could just kill enough to make this morsel not worth the nibble. 

She heard Jax’s scream and turned first to him and then as his words sank in she turned to watch as the Captain fell to the Deck seconds before Antonia did. She moved, letting the crewmen who she’d been defending go to the fate they smilingly accepted. There was something more important to defend than a weak-willed sailor or two. There was the Captain, her captain. 

Between one step and the next it seemed, the storm hit in full force. The winds that had been fighting Jax and the waves that battered the hull suddenly increased, as if they had been released by Antonia’s fall. Nicki didn’t know why she thought that, but something about the connection made sense deep in her gut. Antonia was at the heart of the storm. It made her journey to the Captain’s side more harrowing but it also made the progress of the creatures just as hairy. They were not used to solid surfaces, and the storm that would have rocked and soothed them in their watery depths was no friend to them on the alien surface of the Dusk Skate. She heard splashing as some of the creatures, sated and done with prey that was too much effort fled to digest what they had already consumed. Some but not all. 

Nicki screamed and dove forward, her sword slashing out to intercept the cruelly hooked claws that were reaching for the Captain, intending to drag a snack down into the depths to ride out the storm with. She hit with full force and felt the impact as her blade sank deep into the bone of the creatures arm. It screamed and wailed and pulled back its arm, dragging her blade with it. Nicki cursed and stumbled as the thing hissed at her before turning and undulating towards the rail, her sword still in its flesh. But the danger wasn’t over and she was unarmed and there was still one more creature who crouched over the insensate Antonia a cruel light in its eyes as a black, forked tongue flicked out to lick at razor teeth encrusted with bits of sailors, the flesh red and dripping still. 

“This is my ship and your feast is over.” She screamed at the thing, not even certain it would understand the words but certain it would understand her tone, her body language as she stood over the captain. She was wounded and unarmed and still would not back down. This was her ship, this was her Captain and his lady. This creature was done feasting. She did not let herself fret over the growing stain of blood on the Captain’s abdomen. She would not think of what those filthy teeth would have done to his gut. That was a worry for later. 

The thing narrowed its eyes and it crouched over Antonia, its black tongue snaking out and slowly licking along the woman’s delicate, vulnerable throat. Nicki’s lip twisted in a snarl, her eyes never leaving the creature, all her sense seemed hyper aware of any impending movement. Around them the storm raged on, battering the ship, screaming in fury around them. More than once Nicki thought she heard voices in the wind, lilting, rolling voices with an accent that reminded her of the Lookout’s. She never caught the words but she felt them in her bones. The air between her and the creature crackled with tension until finally the pressure was too much. She wasn’t certain who moved first, she or the siren but she dove just as the creature lunged. Its head dipped towards the unconscious woman and somehow Nicki found Antonia’s dropped dagger in her hand, the hilt strangely warm despite the coldness of the raging storm. She screamed and thrust and the impact of the dagger into Siren flesh sounded like a clap of thunder and a surge of something flowed into the monster’s flesh. There was a flash of light and both Nicki and the siren were blasted backward, Nicki skidding across the deck and the Siren flying over the side. 

She blinked, after-burn from something blinding her. She could hear satisfied laughter in the wind down and felt something’s attention on her. Something she didn’t like but didn’t feel overly malicious. She groaned and rose and called to those who could hear. For now she was captain, then she would be Doctor, then she would be sore. 

“Get the wounded below decks, lower the sails and batten the hatches. We need to ride this storm out and take stock when it is over!”

She didn’t know how many were lost, she didn’t know how many were functioning but if they didn’t get to work they would all be lost. She heard muttering, worldly muttering from the crew and there was some comfort in that. She dragged herself over to the Captain, catching the arm of a Sailor who was stumbling past. 

“Take him into his cabin, then bring in Antonia.”

She let herself turn, let herself see the figure at the helm and sagged in relief. Jax was well, seemingly unharmed. She would be able to return his boots after all.