Chapter 43: Chapter 16

I squinted my eyes at Cain. “what are you doing here? And what are you wearing?” I asked as Abble flopped to her side on the window seat, unprompted. “Abble, are you alright?”

My hand shook her shoulder, but she didn’t respond.

Cain strolled over, looking around the room for a moment before leaning on the spiralling wood post that held the bed’s canopy up. “It’s a three-piece suit. I think white looks good on me, no? And don’t worry about your little princess. She just taking a nap,” he said, tossing the gem onto Abble’s maroon bedding.

I was about to ask how he got on the boat, but that seemed like a stupid question to ask a Fallen. Having the ability to travel wherever you want in an instant must be nice.

“Sure, what do you want?” I asked as Cain walked over, squatting in front of Abble.

My jaw clenched, and the urge to push him away from her was unreasonably strong. I didn’t know where this protective instinct was coming from, but my hand trembled in anger at him being that close.

The shaking stopped when I closed my fist.

Cain sniffed the air. “Wow, got yourself a little flower here. Virgins are… wonderful,” Cain said, moving her curly hair out of her face. “Absolutely Gorgeous too”—he stood back up—“You should preserve this as long as possible. She will become seduced by you quickly, but I would resist. Her blood is useful for more than just drinking.”

“Abble and I are not like that.”

“Sure, but mortals find us fascinating. Something is alluring and taboo about giving oneself to us, whether for food or pleasure. Some find a thrill in the idea of taming something as animalistic as us. But like one darkest desire, we cannot be leashed.”

“Like I said before.”

Cain’s eyebrow raised. “Mhm.”

“Can I help you?”

Cain glanced at my hand before a grin formed on his lips. “Have you not fed on her?”—His head tilted at me—“Try her. I will make sure you don’t take it too far,” he said, putting his hand out towards Abble. “You know you want to.”

Why does he keep dodging the question?

I glanced at Abble and returned my attention to Cain. “No.”

“What if I take a little nibble?” Cain smirked before licking his lips.

I sprung to my feet. “Don’t you dare,” I growled at him.

Did I just yell at a Fallen… I was going to get myself killed.

Cain chuckled. “Food aggression with your master. Bad, Kade”—he wagged his finger at me—“I’ll let you have your plaything, but next time I say I want a nibble of something you say?”

“As long as it’s not, Abble, sure.”

“It’s, yes, Master.”

I nodded. “As long as it’s not Abble. Yes, Master.”

Cain tittered. “You got some balls talking to a Fallen like that. That demon blood is definitely making you more confident.”

“It’s making me something.”

“I like this, Kade. The future will be amusing, no doubt”—Cain looked down at Abble—“Would you like me to erase her memories? I can make it, so she is just as oblivious to you being a demon as you thought she was. I can even make her obsessed with you”—Cain winked at me—“Tell father what you need.”

“You’re not my father.”

His eyebrow raised. “You can be my child or my slave. You decided which.”

Perhaps Cain was next after I killed my original sire. He created me as a plaything, but I wouldn’t be anyone’s toy. I would be the obedient servant for now, but he would regret letting his guard down one day.

This was another thing I needed to look into at the college.

“Did you need something?” I folded my arms.

Cain mocked me, folding his arms, too, with a smirk. “I just want to congratulate you on killing your second revenant, rough guy. You’re welcome, by the way.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Ah, well, I turned that man into a few days ago. Thought about making him a demon, but I worried he would end up killing you, so I just turned him into a revenant.”

So that is how he got on the boat.

“Did you kill that other man, too?”

“Guilty.”

I paused. “Why?”

“Well, I roughed him up so he wouldn’t double-team you with the other. I might have taken it a tad overboard, but you needed XP and an easy kill.”

“I didn’t kill the other one.”

“Yes. I saw. You shouldn’t of let the girl get those hits on poor Neal. You would have levelled without her help.”

I need to get as much information out of Cain as possible. My questions had to be quick. He was likely going to leave randomly again.

“So we share XP?”

“Correct. It’s broken up by who did what percentage of the damage. I purposely chose him since he would be enough to level you, but not kill you.”

I tsked. “That wasn’t an easy fight.”

Cain grinned. “No, but a winnable one.”

I couldn’t believe he had just turned that man against his will. Would he have done that to me if I refused his offer in the alleyway?

“He didn’t ask for that,” I said, frowning.

Kade focus. Ask him questions. Stop getting angry.

Cain’s finger shot up as he walked into the middle of the room before spinning back around. “See, as a Fallen, I can do whatever I want.”

“That sounds like evil. So the Valkyrie’s words in the scripture are true then.”

“Valkyrie, do not differ from the Fallen. We are not righteous or evil. We just are. The system doesn’t have a moral code. That concept is something mortals have created. It’s all relative, my child.”

I tsked. “People suffering isn’t nothing. It’s wrong.”

Cain sighed. “One day, you will understand.”

“I doubt that.”

“So young and hopeful—Adorable.”

I clenched my fist so tight I thought I might bleed. “Do not pass innocent people on to me for the experience,” I said, and my voice cracked a little towards the end.

“I forgot how emotional a young demon is”—Cain rolled his eyes—“Fine. Let’s play your silly moral game,” he said, taking the desk chair and spinning it around. He unbuttoned his jacket before taking a seat. “Let’s see. First, he pushed his brother off a cliff when he was twelve because he was jealous that his mother had given him more attention. Then, when he was nineteen, he had his way with a drunk girl in a back alley in Lockward. He stabbed an old man for his pocket watch a few days before getting on this boat. There is more if you want me to go on.”

“How did you know that?”

Cain crossed his legs and rested his folded hands on his knee. “When you’re as old as me. You see more in the blood than euphoria.”

I slowly glanced over at Abble. “Are you a good person?” I asked, staring at her unconscious body.

“I think you already know the answer.”

My attention returned to Cain. “I do?”

“The rifts are returning soon, and the system doesn’t have enough juice to save us again.”

“By rifts, you mean the crystal?”

Cain nodded. “Yes, sure, whatever you fancy calling them.”

I shrugged. “Rebooting a small area takes that much power?”

“The rift you saw was only one of the thousands that appeared in our world.”

So yes, rebooting that much caused some issues.”

“thousands… What does that mean for us?”

Cain sighed. “It means the Valkyrie, and the Fallen must play nice. Freya and Lucy have struck a truce for now. However, I wouldn’t bet on that lasting long.”

“Wait… Freya, as in the Queen of heaven?”

Cain stood up, straightening his white coat. “I will be absent for some time. You are on your own getting to level two. Try not to die in the meantime,” he said, disappearing as I blinked.

He just… likes to leave mid-conversation, doesn’t he? I had so many more questions.

Damit. I was wasting time getting all upset.

Abble’s eyes fluttered open, and she sat back up abruptly, touching her head as she looked over at me.

“What happened?” she asked, rubbing her neck. “I feel like shit.”

I sat down next to Abble and grabbed my knee, leaning forward. “I had a visit from my… master.”

Abble gestured for me to continue with her hand. “And?”

“He allowed me the chance to erase your memories of me being a demon.”

Abble got lost in thought for a few seconds. “But I still remember,”

I reclined back and folded my arms. “I want you to trust me.”

“Who is your master?”—Abble touched my cheek gently—“Your face is completely shut now.”

“A Fallen named Cain.”

Her hand fell from my face. “Like a fucking Valkyrie Fallen?”

“Yeah… I never really thought about this before, but Cain is a man. I thought all the Valkyries were women.”

“They are in the holy text,” Abble said, looking at me with scepticism. “At least they’re described like that.”

“I am sure he is a Fallen. He spoke of other Fallen with feminine names, so I’m not sure what the deal is.”

Abble nodded. “We need to figure out how to break that bond.”

We kill him… but why would Abble want me to sever the bond?

My head tilted. “Why would we need to break it?”

A grin emerged from her lips. “I am the only one that gets to boss you around, duh.”

The idea of someone else striking the whip really got her determined. After hearing a quarter of what I had said, most people would be unwilling to associate with me, but Abble wanted to run headfirst into this.

It was flattering, Abble wanted me to herself….

This friendship made me feel… wanted. It made me feel good. I was always the loner in Draycott Village, and even when I tried to make friends, it felt one-sided.

She genuinely wanted my attention.

How many times did I ask to participate in hunting in my village, but no one ever let me? Abble was ready to teach me sword fighting with hardly any resistance.

With our wrestling around, Abble never got annoyed at me for being bad. Instead, she would just laugh and teach me again. If anything, she enjoyed our practice.

Abble annoyed me sometimes, but she wasn’t fake. She didn’t need me for the trip to the college. It would have been easier to just throw me overboard.

Our friendship was recent, but I could see us being friends for a long time.

I rubbed my neck, looking away from her. “Abble… I… appreciate you. Even if it feels like I am irritated at you a lot. You siding with me over this demon thing… it’s… it’s cool of you”—I looked back at her—“I will remember this, and I hope one day I can be useful to you.”

A smirk arrived on Abble’s face long before I even finished. “You know, when you’re being cute, it makes me want to crush your head.”

“What… That’s not the response you should have.”

Abble burst out laughing. “You looked so worried—Have you never seen something cute and wanted to squeeze it to death?”

“No!”

“Weird.

And then she says things like that, and I question my feelings.

“Abble, we need some ground rules for this friendship. One: I like my alone time. Two: I prefer not to be treated like a pet.”

“Awe, Kade said he doesn’t like being a puppy”—Abble puts her finger on my nose—“What about compliments? Can I tell say you’re a good boy?”

“If this is how you make friends, your flirting must be comical.”

Abble finger dropped from my nose. “I am flirting with you now.”

I rolled my eyes. “You just found out I am a demon, and I have blood all over me. Nothing attractive has been going on.”

Abble shrugged. “I told you I was a psycho.”

“I believe it.”

Abble laughed. “Kidding”—her hand landed on my head—“you’re cute but just too short, sorry. It wouldn’t work.”

My lips pressed together. “I am like two inches shorter than you,” I said, tossing her palm off my head.

I stood up, looking at my health bar.

“What are you looking at?” Abble asked, and I sighed.

“Let’s save that question for another day. First, we must figure out how we’re playing off my face healing,” I said, walking over and picking up my bloody shirt with holes in its side. “I need a fresh shirt.”

Abble sat quietly for a moment. “How about we keep you here until the trip’s end? I’ll say I am taking care of you. If you walk out looking fine in Endeavor, there is nothing to worry about. You just get off the boat.”

I pulled the shirt over my head. “That could work, but I wouldn’t get any sword work done.”

It felt weird walking around without my shirt on in front of Abble.

Abble sighed. “Yeah, this room is a bit small for that.”

I added to her sigh. “But that is the safest bet.”

Abble rose to his feet. “You should’ve left your shirt off. I was going to help you clean up,” she said as we heard a knock on the door.

She walked over and opened the door to Wrecky with three of his men holding lanterns and swords.

Great. He was going to throw me off by force. I guess I was going to find out what living at the bottom of the sea was like.

“Abble, we’re going to put him in the cage for a few days, and if he’s not losing his mind, I promise you we will let him out,” Wrecky said, and I stepped up behind Abble.

“How about you fuck off?” Abble snapped, clenching her hands. “I am not in the mood for you all to act like paranoid pricks.”

I put my hand on Abble’s shoulder. “It’s fine. I’ll be okay,” I said, and she glanced back at me.

Abble frowned. “Are you sure? This isn’t fair.”

“No, but this is the best option. I do not wish anyone to get hurt over this.”

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Abble groaned before stepping to the side, and I walked out the door, stopping in front of Wrecky.

I looked up. “Let’s go.”

Wrecky face made it clear he noticed my injuries had healed. Surprise definitely surfaced for a moment before he tried to pretend it wasn’t a big deal.

I still hadn’t come up with an excuse for that yet.

Wrecky tipped his tricorn at me. “Thank you, Kade. This will make them less uneasy about what happened.”

“I understand. Let’s get this over with.”

“Yo,” Abble said, waving her hand in the air to grab everyone’s attention. “If anyone touches him without my permission, I will cut your cock off and use it for fish bait.”

Wrecky guys all gave her a quick nod, except for one.

She actually had these grown-ass men scared. It was pretty amusing.

They stepped out of the way, and Wrecky led me down the corridor, with the three men following closely behind. They ‘accidentally’ bumped into me a few times with grins.

“I am very much capable of doing what I did to Neal again if you want to keep touching me.”

One of them pushed me, and I bounced off the wall before spinning around like I was actually going to fight them. Even if I wasn’t going to, I pretended little for my confidence.

I would not be a pushover anymore. At least not for people I didn’t know or like.

Wrecky flipped around. “Do that again, and I will hang you off the back of the boat for the rest of the trip.”

“He tore Neal’s neck out. Even if he’s not a bloodsucker, he’s still a freak. He needs to be thrown overboard,” the man said; which I assumed was who pushed me.

“Did you not hear what Abble said, Anthony?” Wrecky barked, stepping up to him.

Anthony tsked as he looked up at Wrecky. “You’re letting a fucking bitch tell you what to do. Harper made a mistake giving you the reins.”

Wrecky fingers wrapped around Anthony’s neck, yanking him up off the floor with one hand. “Say another word, and I will pop your head off your shoulders.”

It was a matter of seconds before Anthony’s face flushed red, and he tapped Wrecky’s arm in submission.

Wrecky waited a moment before dropping him. Anthony slammed into the ground, gasping for air. The other two men looked terrified and crept away from Wrecky and me.

“I will have a talk with Harper about you. You are not worth the trouble,” Wrecky said swiftly, continuing his walk down the hall with heavy steps.

Glancing at Anthony panting and rubbing his neck on the ground, my eyes caught his attention.

I don’t know if I really wanted Wrecky to do that, because Anthony over here was looking at me with a snarl that clearly said what he was thinking. I will remember this.

We came out to the moonlit deck, and many of the sailors were still outside. They all stared me down as Anthony left my small escort, mumbling to himself and glaring at me.

Whispers filled the air as we entered down into the haul. Hopefully, one of them wouldn’t take things into their own hands.

I know Anthony was ready, too.

As I passed the first floor of the ship, I could see a little of the interior now. Men were walking through with lanterns, and others were taking advantage of the rows of hammocks to sleep. Iron Cannon lined the sides of the walls with their muzzles almost pressed to the wood hatches they faced.

Based on what I could see, the following levels of the ship appear to be dedicated to cannon fire or storage. This ship was quite large. You would think a vessel this big wouldn’t be fast enough to chase down ships to rob them.

Unless it was a mother ship, which was likely.

We reached the bottom of where this mess had all started, passing all the barrels and crates in the must-filled air. Unfortunately, the smell of rancid meat was still noticeable.

A man with one of the glowing gems tied around his neck like a necklace was picking up the dead rats and tossing them into a bucket.

Wrecky stopped at a thick brown blanket about halfway down the ship and pulled it off to an iron cage that was probably big enough for me to lie down in. Dust was thrown into the air, and when Wrecky opened the cell door, it creaked open like the hinges hadn’t moved in decades.

The sound was extra loud to me, I’m sure.

Even the bucket in the corner looked like it was ancient.

“When was the last time you opened this?”

“A while. Normally, we don’t ask questions and just toss problems overboard,” Wrecky replied and handed me his lantern.

I took the lantern from him and walked into the cage.

The metal bottom was rusted, which would not feel great to sleep on. It would be highly irritating if I had to stay here for over three days. There wasn’t much to do on this boat, but the smell and cramped quarters down here would drive me insane.

Wrecky closed the door, and as the lock made its loud, turning click, he stared blankly at me.

He put the key into his long coat and glanced over at his crewmembers. “You guys leave,” Wrecky said, and they nodded, handing him one of their lanterns. “You too,” he gestured to the man, picking the rats up.

He quickly finished moving past my cage like he was certain I was rabid.

These men had already made up their minds. I was guilty until proven innocent. Even if exonerated, it was probable I would get tossed overboard.

As the men disappeared up the stairs, I spoke. “How long am I staying in here?”

Wrecky didn’t respond for a moment. “Your face is completely healed.”

“It is.”

Acting surprised would do me no favours. Whatever Wrecky was thinking, he wouldn’t be convinced otherwise. I couldn’t blame him. This was damning, among other things.

“Abble is attached to you. She hasn’t been friendly with anyone since her mother passed four years ago. This is a hard decision for me. Harper would’ve cut your head off immediately, but—”

“You care about Abble and want her happy.”

Wrecky nodded. “Yeah. I do. I have known Abble since we were kids.”

How old was Wrecky? He had to be no younger than thirty.

“How old are you?” I asked, wrapping my fingers around the bars.

“Twenty.”

Ah. If that was what a twenty-year-old was supposed to look like, maybe I do look like a woman.

My mouth opened a few times, trying to speak, but I wasn’t sure what to say.

“Wow. You’re huge… and a captain of a very infamous crew. Is that normal?”

“No. I started leading jobs at seventeen. Harper, despite all my many faults, saw something in me.”

“When we talked, you said, ‘I’ve seen that look before,’ and ‘Nicholas was like you when he was younger.’ that made it seem like you have known him for a while.”

Wrecky nodded. “Because I’ve seen that look in the mirror, and Nicholas said that all to me once. I was just repeating a conversation I had with him, and I felt Nicolas’ struggles were more impactful than mine. He is the King of The Pirates and all. The Red Tide even respects him.”

“I think you got me on the success part.”

Wrecky huffed. “Not by much. I was a wreck most of my life. Why Nicholas kept me around, I will never understand.”

“So, your name.”

He nodded. “Our good friend, Abble, gave me that nickname.”

“I’m blown away.”

“About?”

I point at Wrecky. “That you’re not like forty.”

Wrecky tsked. “I am not that old.”

“You look like you’re thirty.”

Wrecky rolled his eyes. “Thirty’s better, I guess.”

“Tell me how I grow a beard like that. It was stubble a week ago.”

Wrecky laughed. “I started being able to grow this around fourteen.”

“I haven’t even had a single hair yet,” I said, dropping my head.

It would be great if I could look at my age sometime soon. If I was lucky, this demon thing might move it along. There was no way this was my prime.

If it were, I would just take my ring off and walk into the sun.

“You wanna tell me what you are?” Wrecky asked, but his face showed he didn’t really want to know.

“Human,” I shrugged. “Always just been Kade.”

Wrecky nodded. “You’re not going to hurt her, right?”

“I don’t think I will…”—I shook my head, restarting—“I am certain I will never hurt her.”

Wrecky sighed. “I don’t mean just physically. Suppose I convince my crew that you are not a monster. You, Kade, may not tire of her, you understand? Abble is broken, and she can only crack so many more times”—His jaw clenched as he looked down—“after she realizes the Guild will not provide what she is looking for. You bring her back to Lockward safe. You got that?”

He really cared about her. The expression he gave was one of such endearment. Something was going on here I didn’t know about. Abble never mentioned being actual friends with him, but this fondness wasn’t out of nothing.

“I understand.”

“In a few days, I’ll have Abble dangle her blood in front of you on the deck. Then you will prove you’re not dangerous on or off the boat.”

Shit. That might be a problem.

If my eye glowed, it would be all over. I needed to think of something quick for when that time came.

Speaking of shit, I don’t do that anymore. I haven’t even pissed in over two weeks. They were probably going to be alerted by the lack of peeing.

“Okay.”

Wrecky nodded at me before leaving for the deck, and I just sat down, leaning my back against the bars. I sat there for about an hour before I became bored out of my mind, opening the system and looking at my stats.

I would improve my health and strength since that is my biggest concern right now. Defence, agility and… health regeneration next.

With a higher rank regeneration, I wondered if I could heal faster than the damage I took. I was definitely recovering my health bar much quicker than before.

Although it was unlikely that dream scenario would happen, having high health and regeneration was undoubtedly an excellent way to avoid death.

Moving forward, I would focus on those for a while.

But there was also a defence which I couldn’t ignore. If I was taking less damage, that was good too.

I ran my fingers through my hair, sighing.

As far as I knew, this was permanent, and that was an enormous commitment that stressed me out. I couldn’t just toss XP wherever. There must be some planning, or I could see this becoming horribly unbalanced.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed something moving swiftly between barrels, causing one to fall over and roll towards me.

That barrel was definitely pushed. I wasn’t seeing things.

“Hello?” I said as my words echoed a little down the hull.

I hope Cain didn’t leave me another surprise. His gifts were awful. I rather he just stop.

Minutes passed as my eye stayed focused on where that noise was from came from. That wasn’t from the slight rocking of the boat. Someone… or something was down here.

Just as I was about to look away, I saw two red glows sitting in the darkness on the other end of the boat. The illumination became more prominent as it approached me.

A snout slowly emerged from the shadows, and out stepped the ebony wolf that had been following me on this whole adventure. It sniffed the air towards the stairs before walking over to the cage sheepishly.

I probably should’ve been shocked, but I wasn’t. At this point, I was kind of just accepting what life threw at me. So why not just toss a hound of hell into the mix of chaos?

Eventually, I would ask Cain about this animal. Its eyes were the same bright red as his, and its presence held the same intimidating pressure. If it weren’t completely ludicrous, I would wonder if Fallen could turn into beasts and if this was one.

There had to be a reason for this wolf following me.

A few more smells were examined on the bar of my prison before the black wolf just stared at me with those red eyes, not blinking.

“How did you get on the boat?” I said, crawling to the front of the cage and sticking my hand between the bars.

I wasn’t expecting the wolf actually to let me touch it, but it walked closer, letting my fingers brush through its soft neck hair.

Its ebony coat was nothing like my jacket.

The hair was smooth, almost silky, with hardly any stiffness. Besides its texture, the black colour with what looks like a blue tint at the right angle was beautiful. I didn’t even know wolves could be this shade of black.

After stroking the wolf’s neck for a while, they lay down against the bars, and I rubbed their back as they rested their heads on the ground.

If I had Abble and a hound of hell on my side, then maybe killing the demon of my bloodline would be easy. However, I was confident Abble would get even stronger at the college, and with a mythical beast, this whole situation looked promising.

Perhaps I still had some luck left.

“You wanna be part of my group?” I laughed, not really expecting anything to happen.

What… The… Hell…

I had questions.

The first question is: Why does this wolf have a human name?

Question two: Does it see the system?

Third: What the heck is going on here?

I wish I could communicate with animals because I wanna know how they got this name. Maybe it’s the name someone gave them? Like someone’s pet. That kinda made sense. Forsteulv might have been its owner’s last name. That was an odd surname. It had to be an unfamiliar language.

Good job, Kade. You might’ve figured out a silver of the truth.

Patting myself on my back for common sense ideas was my strong point.

Only I was impressed with myself.

Sigh.

“I hope you’re strong, too… Jordan.”

That felt weird saying.

The wolf let out a huff which felt like it was for my words. I lay down on the ground, looking up at the top of the cage and rubbing her side.

This was going to be a long couple of days. Hopefully, I could sleep for most of it. The floor inside was rough, but Abble would likely come down at some point, and I would ask her for a pillow and blanket.

The stairs creaked as someone was coming down with a lantern. My hand fell to the ground as Jordan vanished without warning.

I sat up as Abble tossed a pillow on the ground next to the cage and stuffed some through the bars. She plopped down on her cushion, wrapping her arms around her legs.

Abble’s chin rested on her knees. “It smells like shit down here, but I can’t let my friend sit by himself,” she smiled.

I smiled at her, averting my eyes soon after. “Thanks.”

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