Chapter 13
Daemon was not gone. It was never that easy- not with him.
Below deck, in the steamy kitchens where Zylphia and Olimpia hid there was the thudding of boots on the planks of wood. The chefs had gone to assist the cannon crew, leaving the two timid girls to barricade themselves against the floor. They took up as little space as possible, praying that any stray cannonballs missed them. Just their shallow breaths could be heard underneath the tents of random pieces of wood and cast iron cookware.
"Olimpia-"
"Shhh!" Olimpia slapped a hand over Zylphia's mouth. She would have regretted being so forceful but the cannon fire had stopped and all you heard was the slow and menacing footsteps coming toward the two of them. Their fear permeated the air around them, making them drunk with anxiety.
Each step was louder, approaching their hiding spot, until each one was like the cannons being shot off all over again. Olimpia bit her bottom lip to keep from whimpering, and she felt Zylphia shaking next to her. The strange waves of confidence they had during the fight was gone, replaced by unbearable dread.
The wood shelter they'd built was pulled violently away and both girls cried out in fear, cowering and curling up into themselves.
"Ladies! We've been looking everywhere for you!" The voice was silky and refined. Olimpia looked up to see a young man looking down at the two of them in relief. His strong cheekbones caught her attention first, before it fell onto his plump rosy lips, curled up in a genuine smile.
"Is the fight over? Did we win?" Zylphia asked. The man nodded and offered each of his hands to help the two girls up. With ease he pulled them close. The top of Olimpia's head barely reached his neck, and he towered over the two girls. His smokey scent had undertones of rose, smelling much more like strong incense rather than smoke from a battle.
Olimpia inhaled sharply, and then lightly shook her head. "Where is everyone?"
"They're on the top deck. The captain wanted everyone to be present for the other ships' surrender."
Olimpia and Zylphia didn't argue, and followed where the man led them. Their week in the kitchens meant that they hadn't had the opportunity to introduce themselves to every member of the crew, but they hardly recognized him. A man like this would've been noticed without a doubt, which made Olimpia wonder what his job was that hid him away from sight.
The threesome reached the base of the stairs and the man held a hand out, "Ladies first."
Zylphia waited for Olimpia, following her up the steps. The bright sunlight was shocking as they poked their heads above deck.
They saw the girls trained on ropes dangling from above. The cannon girls stood on deck as well. They stood still, watching as Jonas spoke to Nell.
"-didn't say to bring them back up. Just to cease firing." His tone was calm but his eyes gave his stress away, as they flicked from a pair of uniformed men to the grouping of women. They settled on Zylphia and Olimpia as well, confusion blanketing his expression. "What are you two doing up here? I didn't give any orders-" he cut himself off, his eyes fixing on the stairs behind them. Olimpia turned her attention behind her to where the man was. He was slow coming up the stairs, his head hanging low. A previously charming smile was now thin and tight, and his eyes had become shadowed. Olimpia struggled to remember if he'd looked like that down in the kitchens, but it was like there was fog in her mind.
"Jonas," the man said as if greeting an old rival.
Jonas said nothing in reply. His breath quickened and his hand flew instinctually to his sword.
"Jonas," Cordelia spoke up. She was standing behind the two uniformed men, holding their shoulders in a death grip. "They can see him. Do something."
"What?" Jonas looked dazed. He looked pale as his eyes stayed locked on the sinister man.
Olimpia shuddered as the man rested his fingers on her shoulder. He took both her and Zylphia into a rigid embrace. His alluring incense aroma had vanished, tainted by the smell of metallic blood.
"Don't touch them," Jonas said low. He was still unmoving, but his fingers were white on the hilt of his sword. "Don't."
"My dear friend. They are as much my guests as they are yours, are they not?"
"Daemon." Jonas's voice was no longer low and shaky, but instead threatening. Before he could issue his actual threat, Daemon lifted his fingers off of their shoulders.
He held up his hands, like he was surrendering. "Oh, Jonesy. Why do you have to always be so dramatic? I don't think you want to get testy right now." Daemon put his hands down and started pacing the deck. "I'm sorry about him, ladies. I really am. He's never been one to share the spotlight." He shrugged. "My name is Daemon Stygian. I guess you could say that I'm the home office-Jonas's boss. As you can imagine this means I like being informed of the happenings aboard the Jewel of Hades." Everyone had eyes on Daemon. Tension clung to everyone like sweat and he approached the two uniformed strangers.
"So, as you all can imagine, I am quite frustrated by the state of things. Not only are there eighteen women aboard but also the ship is under attack." He stepped forward to appraise the soldiers. "What gives you the right?"
"Captain Émile Marseille, French Royal Navy, La Sirène des Bermudes."
"Lieutenant Edward Berger, French Royal Navy, La Nymphe de Sainte Martin."
Daemon chuckled. "Comme c'est adorable. Tout juste sortis de l'entraînement, pas vrai?" [[How adorable. Just out of training, right?]]
If the soldiers were caught by surprise, they didn't show it. Instead, they each repeated their names, ranking and their respective ships. Daemon chuckled. Faster than any pair of eyes could have tracked it, he had stabbed the lieutenant straight through. Choking sounds escaped as he looked down to see the hilt of a dark onyx sword sticking out from his navel. The captain's eyes widened in horror and he grabbed his lieutenant by the arm and slowly lowered him to the floor. "Edward! Non!" The sword stuck out of the poor man's back as the captain stood over him.
"Daemon!" Jonas shouted. Daemon lazily turned around, looking annoyed. He threw his hands out to the sides.
"What?"
"I have an agreement with their home port!"
"I don't, and besides, they were just shooting at you not 20 minutes ago. Looks like your agreement is over."
All the girls had somehow managed to make their way to the corner of the deck, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Robin still preferred being on the ropes, so she climbed instead. She preferred to have a good view point rather than stick close to the group.
This stranger, Daemon, was causing quite a scene. Robin was a big fan of the whole stabbing thing, though reasonably this could be a problem for Jonas.
"What's wrong, ladies?" Daemon taunted. "Isn't this what you all are here for? To become pirates?" Daemon looked annoyed, and pulled his sword out from the dead body.
"Don't you find this danger exciting?" He shouted and started wildly swinging his sword in the direction of the women.
Robin was quite proud when she saw many of them stood their ground, staring Daemon down and daring him to try. The sound of metal unsheathing made Daemon turn around. Cordelia had pulled the sword out of the French captain's belt and was challenging Daemon. "That's enough! Don't you have any maggots in hell you can bother? You've overstayed your welcome."
Daemon smiled, but before he could take Cordelia up on the offer Jonas stepped between them.
"We can talk in private." Jonas turned behind him to face Cordelia. "Finish things up out here. Send the girls below for the night."
Jonas led Daemon into his quarters. Cordelia stood there with the French captain's sword in hand, trying to process what just happened. "Ha!" She shouted and rammed the sword into the wooden railing out of anger. "You heard him!" She shouted at the women. "Go entertain yourselves downstairs!" The group of women slowly made their way down the stairs as Cordelia furiously muttered to herself.
Robin had other plans. She climbed higher, concealing herself in the sails of the ship.
"You-" Cordelia pointed at the captain. "Why would St. Martin attack us? We've had a years long agreement with Governor Schreave. What changed?"
The captain held his hands up, "Captain Émile Marseille, French Royal-"
"Don't give me any of that crap! You're not a damn hostage. We have enough money. Just tell us what we need to know." Cordelia waved over a crewmember. She pulled the pistol from his belt and held it up to the captain's head. "I don't ask twice."
Robin made a note of how much Cordelia liked to steal other people's weapons as she watched from above. The captain broke down, tearfully giving the best explanation he could. It was hard to catch everything between sobs, but essentially the Governor had been gifted a much larger navy from the King of France, thus eliminating his need to take pirate bribes.
There was a tense moment where Cordelia was clearly deciding whether or not to pull the trigger, especially in the apparent absence of the women. "Get back on your own ship," she muttered. She flopped the pistol back into the palm of the crewmember, who followed the captain back to his own ship. Cordelia sighed and began to pace the deck, taking frequent glances at the closed door to Jonas's room. Finally, she sighed and ran down the stairs.
The few remaining crewmembers on deck relaxed. Robin slowly descended the ropes. No one paid her any attention. Robin approached the cabin door and carefully leaned an ear against it. The voices were muffled and it took her a moment to get used to it, but she caught a bit of what was happening.
"-done. I want out." That was clearly Jonas's voice.
"Why would you want out? I've given you everything."
"Except you conveniently left out the part about being traumatized by dead people!"
"That's not my fault. Magic comes with some nasty side effects."
"Daemon these tasks are impossible. I only have two actual candidates for taking over the ship."
"Cordelia?"
"I could never ask that of her."
"Then you better figure out your shit, kid. I've been nothing but helpful. I give you everything you ever ask for and now you want more. Well trust me, I'll give you more."
There was silence. Followed by whispers- pleading whispers. What was Daemon doing to Jonas? Robin almost left it alone, positive that this wasn't her business anymore but soon the whispers became cries for help. She took her ear off the door. The heavy wood blocked most of the sound. Nobody on the deck heard Jonas cry out. Once again Robin held her ear to the door. This time the cries sounded pained. Tortured. Robin tried to overcome her urge to walk away, but something told her it was important. She knocked very lightly on the door, but Jonas must have not heard. She turned the doorknob, surprised to find it open. She peeked inside to hear Jonas crying out more clearly.
"Hello?" She called in.
She opened the door and closed it, searching for the two men. Daemon was nowhere to be seen. How had he escaped the room? Robin had been blocking the front door. She heard Jonas though. She followed his voice to find him in the corner of the room. His eyes frantically flew around, and he was shouting for whatever he saw to 'leave him alone'.
"Jonas?" Robin asked, unsure of what to do. "Jonas!" She shook him.
The door opened again. Cordelia dropped the metal cup to the ground, her wine spilling on the floor. "Oh shit!" she hissed as she flew to his side. She gripped his shoulders and face, forcing him to look at her. "Jonas, Jonas look at me! I'm real! Jonas, please snap out of it!" She was panicked and pulled him down so his head laid on her shoulder. She cupped her hand over his eyes. "Jonas, hear my voice. They aren't real." Slowly, Jonas calmed down. He panted, exhausted. He held his hand over Cordelia's, still over his eyes. He slowly lifted her hand off his eyes and looked around. His eyes fell on Robin, but he said nothing.
"Robin," Cordelia said, "I think it's best if you left us."
"No." Robin stared Cordelia down.
"No?"
"I need to know what the hell is going on before I do. Who the hell was Daemon, and what did he do to you?"
Jonas exchanged a look with Cordelia. "Cordelia could you leave us just for a moment?" You could tell by the look in her eyes that she didn't want to leave him. Not right now, but she did anyway. Jonas sighed, sitting up straighter. "If I told you everything, you'd be here for hours. But I'll tell you that Daemon is the- the being, that gave me the ability to heal like you all saw, that ensured numerous victories on the behalf of the Jewel of Hades, that basically raised me, and found Cordelia for me. I- I thought my life was set. I didn't have to ever go hungry, I was surrounded in luxury, and I had a loyal crew. I dined with royalty regularly, and in return I killed who Daemon wanted me to kill, and I was his fearsome errand boy." Those words fell out of Jonas's mouth like they tasted bad. "I don't want to be the Pirate King anymore. I just," he took a deep breath, "I just want to retire. I want to hide away on an remote island with Cordelia and never have to kill someone ever again."
This made sense to Robin. All her life she'd been working from ship to ship just so she could survive. Retiring with someone you loved and a boatload of money seemed too good to be true.
"Is that what the tasks are for?" Robin asked.
Jonas looked at her incredulously. "How did you know that Daemon gave me tasks?"
"I was listening through the door," Robin replied boldly. She wasn't concerned in the least that it was an invasion of privacy.
He shot her a look but evidently didn't care too much because he continued on. "Yes. The tasks are Daemon's way of making sure I am never able to quit. If by some miracle I manage to complete them all then that means at the very least he'll get a successor. A successor 'in the form of Venus'."
"That's one of them?"
"Yes."
"So that's why you brought all these girls aboard."
Jonas nodded. "Yes. I had my eye on either you or Florence to take command. You both were naturals at pirating already. At this point most of the girls have the basics down but there's no substitute for experience."
Robin considered this. Was Jonas asking if she wanted to become captain- that is, if he managed to complete the rest of the tasks that came with it? Robin briefly imagined her life if she were to say yes. The riches, the status, the power that would be thrown upon her.
But like she'd already thought before: it was too good to be true. "And whoever you pick to be captain would get tortured. They'd become Daemon's plaything and wind up on the floor screaming about dead people every night?" Robin asked, offended. "That's not anything anyone would want. You're out of your mind. You can count me out." Jonas's face fell even more. He knew it was wrong to force a lifetime of torture upon any of these women. The pirate in him didn't care. He was selfish in that way, despite knowing what was right.
He still felt ashamed though. "I understand."
"But," Robin started, "I do think Daemon is a prick. I won't take over your burden but I'll help you get out of this."
"Why?"
Robin shrugged, and smile tried to curl up on her lips but she held it back. "I have nothing better to do. Plus you guys serve better food than any other ship I've worked on."
Jonas chuckled. He saw a lot of himself in Robin, and he didn't feel like he needed to pretend to be more grand than he was around her because she saw straight through it anyway.
"I've gotta go. I'm sure Cordelia is itching to get you back," Robin teased.
"Eh, it'll do her some good."
Robin stood and helped Jonas up. While he walked to his desk she exited the room.
Cordelia was leaning against the wall outside the door. She stood up straight as Robin crossed the threshold. "You," Cordelia spoke to Robin, "I want to make something clear." Cordelia approached her, sizing her up and towering over her. "Leave Jonas alone. If you have any problems, you come to me. Don't ever go into his quarters again or I'll have you thrown overboard. Am I clear?"
Robin was silent. She refused to give any satisfaction to Cordelia. Robin didn't care how close she was to the captain.
Cordelia didn't wait for a response, though. She pushed past Robin to get into Jonas's room.
Robin scoffed, and went down below deck. She wanted to talk with Florence about what she'd discovered. Florence was the other choice for Jonas, and Robin didn't want to wait for Jonas to decide to tell her the situation. It'd be easier if she and Florence were on the same page.
It was still early in the evening. Most of the ladies were in the yellow sitting room. Robin knew better though. She and Florence liked to play cards with the men in their lounge area during their time off. Upon approaching the crew's deck though, she noticed Florence wasn't there.
"Manny," Robin called to one of the pirate's she'd befriended. "Have you seen Florence anywhere?"
"No, esé." He brushed her off and went back to his game.
Robin searched other floors and even knocked on Florence's door but there was no answer. Her last resort was the depths of the ship, where Cordelia's collection was. If she wasn't there Robin figured she'd talk to her tomorrow.
But while descending the stairs she heard voices- one of them being Florence.
"Hey, Florence, we need to talk," Robin said while rounding a corner. In the room, Florence and Joyce were sitting deep in conversation.
"Robin," Florence said, "What do you need?"
"I, uhm," Robin wasn't expecting to see Joyce down here, and didn't feel entirely comfortable talking about everything with her there. They didn't know each other that well, especially since Joyce was a wealthy noble woman.
"Actually," Joyce interrupted, "Florence and I were a little busy. Can she catch up with you later?" Joyce was firm and there was a hint of concern on her voice that Robin immediately caught.
"... Yes. Florence when you're done I'll be with the crew." Joyce stared at Robin until she left, which made her uncomfortable. They didn't continue their conversation until Robin was out of earshot.
That didn't sit right with Robin. Why would Florence be hiding down here with Joyce? They had never talked before- not that Robin had ever seen. They didn't have anything in common either, so Robin was left wondering and suspicious of her only close friend aboard the Jewel of Hades.
I hope you liked this chapter!
Thanks to everyone on Discord for keeping me on task. I literally lose track of how many days have passed between school and work. TO make up for it I'm trying to get used to writing the chapters a bit longer each time, to make the wait more worthwhile.
Anyway, what did you guys think of Daemon? Love him? Hate him? Strangely curious? Also, I love writing protective!Cordelia. She's easily one of my favorite characters to write about, stealing weapons and being sassy and angry all the time, haha! What did y'all think of her?
Also, most of Jonas's secrets are out to y'all (one more big one lol). I'm taking a Mental Health Nursing class right now and learning about schizophrenia and I think I may have accidentally made Jonas schizophrenic... But they're real tho, Daemon's causing them. JS.
Thanks for reading! Can't wait to see the reviews, because they keep me inspired and tell me how I'm doing at explaining everything the right way, so please review!