Chapter 14
Lydia's POV
We loaded everything onto the yacht and got ourselves situated. Everyone then retired to their rooms for the night considering the sun was sinking underneath the waves. The yacht began its long journey over the sea, commanded by a captain paid by Elizabet. The yacht kitchens were stored enough for years, so if we were to lose direction, we would not need to worry about food.
I sat in bed, propped up by a mountain of pillows. It was a queen sized bed, and blankets piled on comfortably. It felt like I would sink into my pillows into oblivion. A lamp lit the room, enough light for me to see fairly well. I had a book and read contentedly, unaware of the passing hours. I finished the book by the time it was suynrise. Knocking on the door interupted my thinking with a muffled, "Breakfast is ready."
I slowly got out of bed, hesitating to leave the comfort of my blankets. Oh well. I pulled slippers onto my bare feet and ambled out the hallway to the dining area.
Eggs, roasted potato squares, pancakes, bacon, sausage, milk, and more all attacked my senses at once, knocking me off balance. My mouth started to drool, and Hera slapped my back, "Don't get too used to this. Soon, we'll all be eating canned food."
I took a plate from the buffet line and helped myself to the well cooked food that awaited before. I downed the food quickly, and soon got seconds, thirds, and stopped at fourths. By then, I was ready to barf. It would be so worth it though, and I managed to get one of everything. Well, more than one helping of everything.
I slowly trudged to my room, stomach overloaded. Eh, may as well just watch some TV. Plopping down on my cushioned bed, I flipped through the channels. I stopped at Law and Order, svu. Haven't seen this show in a while. I remembered how I used to watch this with Marlene, and how we'd obsess over it. It was her favorite, and mine too. Oh how I miss those days. I drifted off to sleep.
It was nightfall when I awoke, and outside the ship it was storming severely. The boat rocked back and forth on its journey. I fell off the bed in my sleepiness, dragging the covers with me. I tried to stand but got tangled up in the covers I slept in.
"Dammit," I muttered, but it got drowned out by the sound of lightning.
I finally freed myself from the tangled mess and entered the hallway. Empty. Only thing to greet me was dimly lit hall with painted pictures of all sorts of varieties. Nature stuff really. Right now I kinda missed home, and, I missed Marlene and Ray. They were the people that raised me from five. I owe it all to them for being there for me. I just wish they didn't have to die, because of me.
"So you're up too, huh," Hera said, knocking me out of my thoughts.
"Uh, ya, kind of. I'd prefer to be asleep, but you know," I sleepily said.
There was another boom of thunder, lighting the hall. Wait a minute, there were no windows in here. I put two and two together that the deck was open, even though it was supposed to be closed. Rainwater flowed down the steps, and Hera and I walked out to the night sky rain. It was extremely dark, even for my careful eyes that usually could see everything. Even my sense of smell was drowned out with the smell of the sea.
"I can't see anything in this mess!" I shouted to Hera, hoping that the pounding of rain didn't stop her from hearing me.
"Me neither!" she shouted back. Damn, I couldn't even see her.
Lightning struck the sea again, lighting the sky for a second. Oh shit. I could see the outline of a ship, heading straight for us.
"Did you see that?"
"Ya, and its coming fast."
Lightning flashed several times more, and the ship came closer and closer with no signs of slowing down. The ship was finally near and rammed into the side of our cruise ship, knocking us off balance into the railing. With that kind of impact, there was sure to be a hole in the side of the boat. I could then hear sounds of men cheering. Shit, they've gotta be pirates. The sound of boots landing on the deck told us they were now on the boat.
"Lydia, what do we do?"
"We attack."
I shape shifted into my black panther, and I could tell Hera shape shifted too. My cat eyes widened, and now I could finally see slightly. Adult males boarded our boat, one at a time. They were modern day pirates, they probably thought that they'd take over the boat easily. Well nope! They'd have to get through the shape shifters first.
'Hera, take the left flank. I'll take the right.'
'Got it.'
We snuck up behind the last of the pirates, though, something wasn't right. There was a smell that wasn't human, but I couldn't pin point it due to too many scents hitting my nose. I must have gotten distracted because next thing I knew, Hera shouted demon in my head, and the demon pirate attacked. I sidestepped from his leap at me and tried to bite him as he passed. Missed. Hera rushed him but he pushed her back. I attacked from behind, gripping him with my nails as I tried to bite his head off. Somehow he put his hands in the way and kept my jaws open. Hera then wrapped her teeth into his torso and crushed it, and tore a huge bloody chunk out of him. He collapsed under me and got off and realized that the other pirates got in the hallway of the ship. I dived below deck and saw that they pried doors open and were gathering all the valuables they could. A pirate walked out of my room with my TV, and he probably pissed himself once he saw me as a giant black panther, taller than him, and also advancing towards him growling. Gunshots fired , and bullets hit me in the flank. Roaring in pain, I swung to the greasy looking pirate that fucking shot me. I swiped my paw at him and watched as he flew backwards to the steps and slid down them, eyes glazed over. I turned back to the pirate with my TV and ripped his skull out of place. Screams filled my ears, and I swiveled to where a pirate was carrying Ebony on his back and three other pirates flanked him with guns. Hera went after him and I followed Gwen's screams to her room. Four pirates were there, One had a knife to her throat and Onyx lay on the floor motionless, with her barely breathing and Aries holding on to her. The three other pirates had a hold of Gwen's limbs, trying to keep her down. When I burst in, they were distracted enough so that Gwen could shift into her golden wolf without having a knife buried in her throat. She tore the guy who held a knife to her limb from limb, coating her coat with scarlet red blood. I joined the attack on the other three, knocking them off their feet and tearing them apart. I then left to check on Amber and Drusus, then Andy and Kiera, Snow and Ice, and the rest of the crew.
I shapeshifted back to human form.
"Alright everybody, we gotta get off the boat. When the pirates crashed into us, a hole was made. So everyone gather your things and get on the pirate ship!" I called out.
I hurried up the stairs, and thankfully it was raining, just clear night sky. Hera was on the deck, holding on to Ebony.
"You ok?"
"Ya, I'm fine, just some bullet wounds here and there."
"Ok, good, we need to check to see if there's any pirates on that boat. We can't stay on this one."
"Alright, just let me take her back to her mother."
"Ok, and tell the other to search the bodies of the pirates, see if we can find anything useful."
I nodded and watched as she disappeared down the stairs. I looked around at the dead pirates that were scattered on the deck. I searched a few and found guns, and several knives. Once Hera was back, I handed her a gun and knives.
"Do we really need these?"
"They could be of use, besides, might be fun to use these bad boys."
"Alright, whatever you say."
We boarded the pirate ship, and on deck, no life. Below deck, probably a different story. We snuck down the stairs and were greeted with guns in our face. There were four guys, each with a weapon hand. All of us stood still, unsure who would make the first move. Hera did. She moved fast and shoved knife in the guy's throat, killing him instantly. The other three were quick to fire, but instead of bullets hitting us, we turned into mist. Confusion tore through them, then fear. Each of the three made a circle with the backs to the center, like that would help them much. I selected a target, and neared him. Going back to human form, I was right in his face. Using a knife, I buried it into his abdomen, and twisted. Death took him quickly. The other two quickly noticed and turned to fire at me. I kicked one in the chest for him to fly backwards and the other, Hera appeared and buried two inch long fangs into his neck.
"Check the bodies, then once you're done, throw them overboard."
"Got it."
I left the pirate boat to gather my things, and Hera's. All around me, the others were gathering their things to take to where we'd spend a couple of weeks until we got to where we needed to go.