Immortal Unchained(72)

"You attacked him?" he asked with surprise. He'd assumed the man had pulled her off the mattress.

Sarita nodded. "I saw him swim under the mattress. He was heading for you at speed. I was sure he was going to attack you so I dove in and grabbed him. It wasn't until he jerked around that I saw the knife," she added with a grimace and then glanced to the man. "He could have stabbed me right then, but didn't."

Domitian turned his gaze back to the man as well, wondering if he'd allowed his worry for Sarita to make him kill someone who had really meant them no harm.




 

 

"He seemed to be trying to half drown me, though," Sarita added. "Yet he wasn't overly rough while he did it." She frowned and then glanced to Domitian and said, "Dr. Dressler still needs something from us. Perhaps he's given orders that if we came around they weren't to harm me, but could do whatever was necessary to subdue you because you'll heal. Maybe he wasn't really trying to kill me, just weaken me to make me easier to handle."

Domitian nodded and relaxed a little. Sarita was probably right about that. Dressler would know by now that they hadn't just gone for a swim in the ocean and were headed somewhere. He would have warned his people to keep an eye out in case they somehow ended up near the island. Which meant there were probably other hybrids like this one in the water.

"We have to move," Domitian said, releasing the man and taking Sarita's arm to urge her back toward the air mattress.

"I wanted to see his face," she protested. "What I could see of it while we were struggling seemed odd."

"No time. There could be others out here," he pointed out grimly. "We need to move."

"Oh, yes of course," Sarita murmured and stopped trying to turn back.

When she started to swim, Domitian released her and followed the rest of the distance to the air mattress.

"We should pop the lounger," she said as they stopped next to it. "I can swim from here."

Domitian merely nodded, let his fangs slide out and bit down into the mattress. But he was wishing it was a bag of blood. His body had used up a lot of energy to get this far and keep his body heat high. He was starting to cramp with the need for blood.

"Handy," Sarita said with a wry smile as she watched him puncture the mattress twice more to speed up the release of air.

Domitian grunted. "Let's go," he said softly. They'd both instinctively been talking quietly. Voices carried across water.

Sarita nodded and struck out at a steady pace he could have easily outstripped, but didn't. They still had a distance to go to get to the island and then they had to make their way around to the north end. It was better to go at a steady medium pace than to go fast and wear Sarita out. Besides, he wanted to keep an eye out for any more gilled people that might be out there with them. Fortunately, they needn't rush. Either the big island wasn't as far from the little island as he'd thought, or they'd made good time. By his guess it was still a good couple hours until dawn.

Sarita kept expecting Domitian to overtake her and surge ahead to urge them to a faster pace, but he didn't. He stayed behind her as they approached and then swam around the island where Dressler had his labs. They were just turning to curve around the end of the island where the little house she'd seen should be when Sarita realized why he hadn't overtaken her. He was watching her back in case there were more gilled creatures out there like the one now floating in the water on the other side of the island. Which was nice, but there was no one watching him and she twisted her head and glanced back toward him as she turned her face up out of the water to get her next breath. It was something she'd done every other breath since they'd left the air mattress behind, and he was there just as he had been each time she'd checked. But this time, he was swimming sidestroke instead of freestyle, obviously watching for her to look back, she thought when he noticed her looking and stopped swimming to gesture at her to stop as well. 

Sarita obeyed at once and turned in the water to face him. As she waited for him to move up next to her, she cast a glance toward shore. They were much closer now than the last time she'd tried to scan the island. Back then it had been little more than a black blob with lights shining out from behind black shadows here and there. But they'd cut in closer as soon as they reached the end of the island, and in the dark shadows, she could make out the general shape of the beach and where the jungle that bordered it started. She couldn't see the house yet, but suspected they were close.

"Am I right in guessing the house is just around that cliff?" Domitian asked in a hushed voice as he paused beside her to tread water.