“Ahoy!” Captain Flaceed called, his mellifluous voice flawed only slightly by the lisp his fangs caused. “I see something!”

“Captain?” Jimmy, the first mate, called from nearby. His hands on the steering wheel, the bronzed young man peered around. Being only mildly enhanced by his bond with the captain, Jimmy’s eyes were not strong enough to pierce the gloom.

Fog had come in early that morning. In colors of brutalist blue and purple, it clung to the rigging, slicked the deck to where only a few of their sailors could walk with confidence, and blinded them to progress. They’d gone off course to evade a fleet of enforcers who’d caught wind of the Merry Complications when a storm had caught them up, depositing them in this mess.

The captain, wearing his most bespoke vestments and flamboyant hat, complete with peacock feather, gestured with one hand. “Out there! Over there! I see an island. It’s strange though. It looks as if…”

Voice trailing off, the captain winced as a sonorous melody arose from the mysterious shore. Beautiful and decidedly female voices filled the unnatural silence of the fog, echoing throughout the vast hull of Flaceed’s pirate galley.

“Aye, what is with that racket?” Jimmy asked, sticking a dirty finger in his ear and jiggling it about vigorously.

A loud rattle arose from the galley door as a young woman, barely five feet tall, and dressed in bright scarves and tights, stomped barefoot onto the deck. She was carrying half a dozen little metal stars in one hand. “Captain,” she called, “are those sirens I hear?”

Behind the girl came her two companions. One was tall and willowy, with glasses, and had the pursed, rosebud mouth Flaceed associated with a scholar. They always looked tight-lipped around him for some reason. The other was dark-skinned, with braided hair and a scowl. Both newcomers wore standard ship’s garb, simple tunic and trousers.

All three had been part of the trade ship that Flaceed and his men had captured months ago. They’d been destined to join some royal harem in a far-away land and had opted to join the crew rather than continue as they were. Each of the trio had done more than a little to prove themselves in that time. Although seeing the enraged expression of the speaker, Flaceed was feeling more than a little uncertain.

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“Minerva,” Flaceed began, “darling, there really is no need to worry. Most of my men are quite immune to mind games like that.” Drawing his lips up, he tapped at his fangs to accentuate the point.

Lorinda, one pace behind Minerva, spoke in an almost bored voice, “Blood bond. Vampiric. Makes his crew nearly invulnerable to any mind magic but his. Quite useful in enslaving people.”

“I do not enslave people!” Captain Flaceed began, his lisp prominent when he said the word ‘enslave’. It sounded like ‘enthlave’.

Jimmy echoed his captain’s protestation with a vehement, “He does not enslave us! He loves us and we love him!”

Lorinda’s mouth tightened. “Point made, I think.”

“Come now, Lorinda, we’ve been aboard long enough for you to trust the captain’s intentions.” The third girl, Julieen, slid around her friends and padded toward the front of the deck. The woman’s hips swayed with unconscious vigor as she moved, attracting Jimmy’s attention until Flaceed swatted his chest.

“You’re my first mate and we do not allow fraternizing on this boat!” Flaceed warned. Fraternization sounded like, ‘frathernization’. No one called him on the lisp. For a vampire, Flaceed had overly exaggerated canines, and he was quite touchy about the impact they made on his speaking voice.

“Aye, captain,” Jimmy said.

The cries of the sirens were louder, angrier as the great ship continued on its trajectory. “Throw anchor!” Captain Flaceed announced, voice taking on the basso timber of true command, all jocularity gone in an instant.

One of the more sure-footed deckhands ran to the back of the boat to lower the anchor.

Minerva glared around, brandishing her bits of metal. “I can’t see anything, Lorinda. Do you mind casting a spell or summoning a Djinn or something?”

“You know I don’t have that many spells. And you also know what happened the last time I summoned a Djinn.” She gestured at Julieen’s back.

“I mean, she’s not undead anymore,” Minerva said defensively.

“Hey, what’s wrong with the undead? They are some of the best people I know,” Flaceed protested.

The ship slowed abruptly, just as the front ground against some unseen surface. Jerking forward against the shallower waters, Flaceed fell. Hat flying, he jerked a hand out, turning the abrupt motion into a somersault. He landed on his expensive, well-oiled boots, managing to both catch his hat and strike a daring pose all at once.

No one paid him any attention, not even Jimmy. Sirens were climbing onto the boat.