Content Warnings: Dubious Consent, Age Gap, Sexual Assault Mention

        The skies were treacherous so far from home.

        Familiar winds lay far to the west, further than the horizon. Below, there'd not been land for the last three months. Endless ocean, turbulent winds, and an empty nothingness lay ahead in the uncharted east. No spirit or god of humanity gave answers to what lay past the horizon. Perhaps nothing at all, the edge of the world, or a secret like none other anyone had ever discovered or would ever again.

        Zhen wanted to know and put her life on the line to learn.

        "Helm, adjust heading, null-two port!"

        The call snapped Zhen out of a reverie. She berated herself for letting her mind drift while at the wheel. Obeying the first mate's order, she turned the wheel two hand-lengths to the left before returning it to center. Zhen felt the Sojourn tilt beneath her, slight enough that even the airsick professor below would hardly notice. Back on course, Zhen made precautions against future drifting by locking the rudder control in place.

        "Aye, sir," Zhen called to acknowledge the order. "Null-two port, heading locked. Apologies."

        Lieutenant Idak walked behind her, both hands clasped behind him. The first mate was a huge man, all muscle and beard. It felt to Zhen that three of her could've fit inside him and leave room for her luggage on top of it. His tricorn hat and dark red coat were spotless, even after three months of sailing. Not even the captain had managed that.

        "At ease, crewgirl," Idak said. "It happens. Just mind the crosswinds so that it does not happen again."

        Zhen hunched her shoulders to hide her pout. Crewgirl. She'd hoped that stupid nickname would've left the crew's vernacular by now, but it was seeming more and more like it was going to stick forever. It rankled more coming from Idak's pristinely proper diction. A man looking like the lovechild of a bear and an ogre had no business talking like a lord.

        Idak removed his hat to retie his hair into a tight ponytail. It revealed the discoloration of his scalp, a strange birthmark of a pale lavender color. It went from a point just above his brow to the nape of his neck, mottled in places that weren't covered by his thick head of brown hair. He must've caught Zhen casting furtive glances his way and grinned to show off his big, thick teeth.

        "That is not what minding the crosswinds should look like, crewgirl."

        Zhen fought down a shameful blush and returned her attention to where it belonged on her instruments. "Aye aye, sir."

        "One 'aye' is sufficient."

        Her pout intensified. "Aye, sir," she mumbled.

        Idak laughed heartily and left her alone at the helm. He dropped down to the main deck to bellow orders towards the other hands. Trimming sails, rotating the gyro housings, venting pressure valves, and all manner of busy work. Zhen was actually glad that her own job was less physically intensive. It could be when the weather turned bad, and it was mentally exhausting to stay alert for hours on end, but it was by and large less likely to send her to the infirmary.

        The helm was a coveted post aboard an airship, and there were a lot of whispers among the crew about how it fell on Zhen. This wasn't just her first time on a longterm sky voyage, it was the first time she'd left the ground at all. Zhen was small, inexperienced, and prone to crying if someone yelled at her. The prevalent opinion among the crew was that Zhen offered the captain her body in return for the posting. It was irritating, because that was more or less exactly what she did.

        Things weren't helped by Zhen being the only girl among the hands, which was the source of her beloved nickname. All the other hands were male, most over the age of twenty-five, experienced aviators, and would rather look at a sixteen-year-old girl as entertainment than as a fellow crewman.

        If Zhen had known how hard this voyage would be, it might've been enough to make her think twice about going. The first month especially had been Hell. The first time a crewman cornered Zhen below decks and got handsy, the captain personally pulled him off her, delivered a vicious beating, and ordered the man flogged besides. The second time someone tried it, the captain did the same, then ordered the airship down and kicked the man off the ship; they'd still been in the Five Kingdoms and had set down somewhere in Gaulatia. The third time, the Sojourn was a day out from the ports of Shoto. The captain didn't bother ordering the airship down. The would-be raper was simply pitched overboard. As of yet, there hadn't been a fourth incident.

        Zhen liked to think that the captain would've done so for any female crew member, but it was probably just for the sake of their current... arrangement. The captain didn't strike Zhen as the sort willing to share. The crew apparently shared that assessment, and the leers had fallen away in favor of glares.

        Another hour or so passed before Idak blew on his whistle to signal the shift change. It was several hours past dawn, and Zhen's overnight shift was finally over. Being on watch through the nights was for the best. Only a handful of crew members were awake, and Zhen was largely kept out of sight of the ones who despised her the most.

        Diaz came to relieve Zhen from the helm and managed to "accidentally" shoulder-check her into the railing in the process.

        "Captain's whore," Diaz growled, never looking in her direction.

        Zhen rubbed her shoulder, bowed her head, and walked away quickly.

        Before she could escape down the hatch to the lower decks, Idak caught her. "Crewgirl, the captain wished to see you before your turn in the hammocks." He didn't bother lowering his voice. Anyone and everyone within twenty-five paces heard it clearly.

        Zhen glanced about, hoping against all hopes that the order might've gone unnoticed. It shouldn't have surprised her that every hand coming up on deck was now looking right at her. Most scowled over it, but the ones who laughed or ogled her body were worse.

        "Aye, sir," Zhen managed to say.

        She altered her heading and walked briskly towards the bow. The Sojourn's forecastle housed the captain's cabin. A teak and walnut door lead inside. Zhen could feel the eyes on her throughout every step and past the threshold until the door closed behind her. Even then, she could sense their filthy imaginations running wild.

        Inside the captain's cabin, an oil lantern swayed in time with the wind currents. It was unlit while enough morning sunlight streamed in through the glass windows lining the cabin walls. The window at the very bow had its curtain drawn, muting the direct sunlight from due east. The sun filtered through crimson silk, bathing the room in a red hue.

        The cabin was spacious, a luxury when every square foot aboard the Sojourn was priced to a premium. An oak desk, laden with charts and leather-bound journals, sat just inside with the chair facing away from the door. Bookcases lined the walls between windows, each with shelves bowing beneath the weight of dozens of thick tomes. A clutter of tools, trinkets, and souvenirs covered every available surface.

        What pulled Zhen's attention most, however, was the broad bed at the far end of the cabin. It was an emperor-sized, four poster monster. Red silk drapes with gold embroidery hung from the wooden awning, all pulled open for the moment. Zhen felt her stomach sink as her thoughts turned toward what the crew imagined her doing in that bed.

        Strangely, Zhen saw no sign of the captain. She took another three steps further in before taking a breath in preparation for announcing herself. Before a word could come out of her mouth, a delicate hand clamped over it, and Zhen was pulled firmly back to press against a bare chest.

        Hot breath panted against the flesh of Zhen's neck. She tensed, breathing heavily, as much from fear as in anticipation. The captain was being more forceful than usual. It'd been almost a week since Zhen was last called on, so there'd been ample time for an appetite to build.

        Once the captain's hand pulled away from her mouth to quest elsewhere, Zhen swallowed before finding the courage to speak. Even so, her voice quaked. "Captain, this isn't the deal."

        There wasn't an answer, but Zhen was held tighter. The captain's hands were around her waist, untucking her shirt from her belt.

        "Captain!"

        Her shirt was pulled open. Buttons popped from their threads and clattered to the floor. Zhen was willing to put a lot aside to attend to the captain's needs, but she only had three good shirts on this voyage, and the captain just ruined the best of them. She wrenched free, spun, and slapped the captain across the face as hard as she could.

        "You beast!" Zhen hissed. "Am I supposed to go below like this, with my tits out? It's bad enough you let them think I'm bedding you, but you're going to make it look like it, too!"

        The captain, bare to the waist, rubbed at her cheek and glared dangerously at the crew member that just dared to strike an officer. She was a tall, elegant woman appearing in her early thirties, made all the taller while she wore heeled thigh-high boots. Usually so poised and proper, and a paragon of a highborn noblewoman. Sky Captain Jaysa Dominico possessed lustrous, ankle-length, black hair that was now free from its usual ties. Her features walked the line between beautiful and severe, with light scars across her copper skin to give a record of her battles in the sky.

        It was Jaysa's eyes, however, that had Zhen's full attention. Hard, unforgiving, furious, intense, and as red as blood. Her full lips curled back over her teeth to show her fangs. Only here, in her private sanctuary, did Jaysa allow the illusions disguising her true nature as a vampire to fall away.

        Beneath those scarlet eyes, Zhen suddenly imagined fangs tearing at her throat and taking a lot more blood than the agreed upon weekly pint. Her knees shook and threatened to buckle. "I'm sorry," she whimpered hurriedly. "You were just... I thought... I'm sorry."

        To her eternal mortification, Zhen started to cry.

        Jaysa stepped back and took her eyes off of Zhen as she rolled her neck and rubbed at her cheek one more time. She cared nothing of standing in front of Zhen while mostly undressed and topless.

        "You thought what?" Jaysa growled. "That I would take you unwilling?"

        Zhen sniffled and found her voice again. "Wouldn't be the first time."

        Red eyes flashed with anger.

        "You don't always ask. Sometimes I barely step in before you bite down." Zhen took Jaysa's furrowed brow as a sign she'd taken her off-guard. She held a hand to the side of her neck that Jaysa favored, a clear signal that she didn't want to get bit just yet. "You said when I came on your crew. You said 'only when you're ready'. That's the deal we made. You're not holding up your end."

        The captain stepped closer and loomed over Zhen. "Am I not? You have a prime post on what will soon be the most famous airship in the world. No other would give an earthbound alley cat a berth, not unless you open those legs for any low-class cretin pretending to be a sky captain."

        Jaysa didn't think much of the captains of other airships. This was actually one of the kinder ways she'd referred to them in a while. From what Zhen gathered, Jaysa believed there'd only been two or three worthwhile aviators in the last twenty years since the rebellion. Herself among them, naturally. The best of them. Lady Jaysa Dominico was nothing if not self-assured.

        "If that's so," Zhen dared to argue, "why not just say you took me on as a whore? The others think it already. Even Idak."

        Jaysa had a cruel smile whenever one appeared. "Because whores are expensive. Guild rates are five times what I'm paying you. Besides, I take moral offense to paying someone for a job they don't fulfill, and you can at least be another hand on deck when I've no other use for you. I much rather Idak think I'm skirting guild rates by shagging a crewgirl than bring aboard dead weight."

        There wasn't much Zhen had to give in response to that. Even if she could think of something, the captain was ten times too intimidating for her to say it. At least she stopped herself from crying again.

        Jaysa bowed to Zhen in a sardonic manner. "If you've had ample time to prepare, then?"

        Against her better judgement, Zhen did have something to say to that. She frowned and muttered under her breath. "Rather be treated like a harlot than livestock."

        "Livestock," Jaysa scoffed. "Don't be crass. If anything, you're my chalice. You're the vessel within which my drink is served to me."

        "Not much better," Zhen mumbled.

        "Strip, girl. You don't want to be my whore."

        Zhen turned her back to Jaysa and undid the few buttons that survived the earlier rough treatment. Once her shirt was on the floor, the words slipped out before Zhen could think better of it. "For five times the pay, I might."

        Jaysa laughed. It was mirthless and dark. She took Zhen's chin in her fingers to make her look over her shoulder. Jaysa's open-mouthed smile was cold and condescending as her eyes traced over Zhen's lips. "No. I can smell it on you. You're no virgin, but you've only lain with boys."

        Zhen's cheeks prickled. She felt light-headed. "One boy, and I've kissed a girl."

        Jaysa arched a perfectly groomed eyebrow. "Trying to convince me? Perhaps I misjudged. Are you just as hungry for me as I am for you?"

        Zhen pulled her chin out of Jaysa's grasp. "I didn't say that. I just don't like it when folk assume things about me."

        Jaysa made Zhen face forward and tilted her head to the side. "Careful, my little chalice. Keep asserting yourself, and I might start to like you."

        "I just..." Zhen braced herself for what came next. "I don't want to be disliked."

        Jaysa hesitated, and her voice took on an uncharacteristic softness. "I don't dislike you, but we made a deal. I take your blood and nothing else, even if you offer more."

        "I said I wouldn't," Zhen mumbled. "You're too old for me, anyhow."

        Jaysa hummed. "You have no idea."

        It began as a sharp pain in the side of her neck. Zhen winced as Jaysa's fangs broke the skin, then surrendered to the muddled haze that followed. She didn't know if this was a spell of some sort or something intrinsic to vampires, but it was a little like the warm feeling after drinking too much whisky— far too much whisky— only there was no nausea coming along for the ride. And it didn't dull her senses, rather it sharpened them. Being fed on by a vampire was nothing less than ecstasy.

        Zhen grew sensitive to any and all sensations. The fangs withdrew from the wound, and the pain of getting pierced disappeared. Jaysa's tongue lapped up the blood as it emerged, but Zhen felt a small trail escape and leave a scarlet track down her chest. It was for that reason they did this shirtless— a bloodied shirt would be one more small clue for Jaysa's crew to learn the truth of her.

        Conscious thought all but vanished. Zhen felt as if she became a creature of pure instinct, lacking control or any semblance of compunctions. She could only stand in place, gasping for air, panting with the heat building up inside of her, and soon enough, moaning her pleasure. It felt so very good. As it'd been with every other session, Zhen began to think she would climax in Jaysa's arms.

        The captain held Zhen securely around the waist so that she wouldn't stumble. Zhen reached over her shoulder and held Jaysa by the hair, whether to steady herself or press Jaysa's mouth closer, she couldn't even begin to wonder.

        Zhen couldn't take it anymore. It was impossible to hold back. Her earlier hesitance seemed such a distant thing, wholly separate from the truth of the present. This was unmitigated pleasure, and Zhen couldn't imagine ever wanting anything else. She wanted it forever.

        "Please," she moaned. "Don't stop."

        Jaysa didn't respond.

        It was nothing Zhen hadn't said before on separate occasions, so she tried something new. She pulled Jaysa's head back by the hair, turned around, and kissed her hungrily. Zhen tasted blood on the captain's tongue, her own blood, and she didn't care. Her hands fumbled over Jaysa's belt, desperately trying to get her leggings off.

        The captain seized Zhen by the wrists, pushed her onto the bed, and lay on top of her. Her red eyes were cold and irresistible as she glared down at Zhen. "I wasn't finished. Be a good girl and hold still. Do not try that again."

        Zhen licked her lips and nodded. The captain returned to her neck, and Zhen wrapped her arms around her to hold her close. As Jaysa drank her fill, Zhen squirmed and writhed beneath her while crying out with rapture. Her fingernails left scratch marks on the captain's back.

        Then, abruptly, Jaysa sat up. Zhen whimpered, pleading for more, but she was denied.

        "Breathe, my little chalice," Jaysa said. "Come back to yourself, and try not to be so horrified this time at what you turned into. A lady could get insulted."

        By degrees, the haze lifted away from Zhen's mind. With each breath she took, she became more and more aware of exactly what giving blood did to a mortal. She sat upright like a shot. Zhen quickly turned her back and covered herself with her arms. Light-headed once again, she wasn't sure if she was turning red as a beet or white as a ghost.

        Jaysa hummed as she sat beside her. "At least you didn't scream this time."

        Zhen shook with embarrassment. She tried to find a way to wipe at her eyes while keeping herself covered. "I'm... I'm sorry, Captain."

        She felt a touch on her neck and flinched away. Then she settled when she remembered Jaysa's ritual that came after. Zhen eased her tension and allowed the captain to proceed.

        Jaysa had a small tin filled with a thick balm in her hand. She dipped a finger in and began massaging it gently into the puncture wounds on Zhen's neck. It must've been a spell purchased from an alchemist, because the wounds sealed without leaving so much as a mark behind. "We had a deal," she said simply.

        "Aye, Captain," Zhen said, her voice gone hoarse. She had no idea how much restraint Jaysa showed by not relenting to her addled begging. Maybe it was all the captain could do not to ravish her like an animal, or maybe she truly did find Zhen unappealing. To be honest, Zhen had no idea what Jaysa's courting preference even was. It could be she was just more comfortable doing this with another woman, given the intimacy of it all. Perhaps she was making an effort to make it as nonsexual as she could. "Sorry, I... I said it wouldn't happen again, but..."

        Jaysa laughed, and it was, again, uncharacteristically soft. Come to think of it, she often was afterwards. Must've just been the feeling of satisfaction that came after a large breakfast.

        "You surely realized by now," she said. "You're not my first chalice. Not by a long shot."

        Zhen swallowed. "I figured."

        "I don't hire someone on for this role often. Only for the longer voyages, and there isn't often a reason to be out in the sky for more than a week. Even so, I've had a long career, and there've been a dozen or so girls in your position before." She touched Zhen gently on the cheek and turned her to look back. "I've taken care them all, as I will take care of you."

        Zhen frowned. "Because that's not a phrase that might have double meanings down the line. I've read books, y'know."

        Jaysa chuckled and gave her cheek a pat. "It means you'll get a purse of gold marks in addition to your cut of the Sojourn's profits. I picked you because I thought you could be discreet, not because no one would miss you if I made you disappear."

        It bothered Zhen how the captain was more amused at the notion of erasing her than horrified by it. "Wasn't because you think I'm pretty?"

        Jaysa shrugged. That seemed to be all Zhen would get out of her on that subject.

        "Don't you..." Zhen's voice trailed off.

        "Speak candid," Jaysa prompted. "You've earned that much."

        "Wouldn't it be easier to just have... one? Bring a lover or... or someone... to help you with this every time?"

        Jaysa held her gaze for a long moment before answering. "No. No, it wouldn't."

        "Why not?"

        "It's complicated," Jaysa said while screwing the balm tin's lid back on. She glanced up to Zhen's face and sighed. "I suppose it would be best to explain, if just to settle those questions."

        Zhen swallowed nervously. "I don't mean to..."

        Jaysa set the tin down on a bedside table. "You know of House Dominico."

        It wasn't posed as a question.

        "Course." Zhen nodded. "You're from the biggest noble house in Nadia."

        The captain pulled a red blouse on as she spoke. "My father, spirits guide his soul, was second only to the king in power. Answer me this, girl. Do you think a vampire would last so long with so many political enemies who'd expose what he was to fiend hunters?"

        Zhen hunched her shoulders.

        "My father was not a vampire. Nor was my mother. As I explained when I hired you, my kind isn't turned into this. Vampires are born."

        "So, how...?"

        "I call him my father," Jaysa said curtly, "but he didn't sire me."

        Zhen felt cold. "Your mother and... and a vampire?"

        "Not by her choice," Jaysa said in confirmation. "There was no deal. No consent. The instant his fangs reached her throat, she was his. She let him take anything he wanted from her, because she couldn't do anything else. If I wanted to slake my lust on you, do you think there would be any part of you at all that could resist me?"

        Zhen looked down at her knees and shook her head.

        "Of course not," Jaysa said. "Only afterward would you realize what was done. It could destroy you, as it devastated my mother. Were I a man, you might even be left with a permanent reminder of exactly what was done to you on a vampire's whim."

        "I'm..." Zhen shut her mouth and felt that anything she might say would only make the captain angry with her.

        "I may become... rushed... when the hunger strikes," Jaysa said, and her tone was closer to contrition than Zhen ever heard it get before. "I may tease, I may flirt if the fancy strikes, but I will never take more than was agreed on. You've my word on this."

        Zhen nodded. It was hard for her to decide what she should say, and she wished she could get away with saying nothing. But the captain had her fixed under an expectant eye. Jaysa all but demanded she say something.

        "But she kept you anyway," Zhen offered. "Your mother. Most girls in that position go to a sky woman to... take care of things. Or they give the child up to an orphanage. She must love you, despite how she got you."

        Jaysa blinked, apparently taken aback by the observation. "You may be the first to say so after hearing all that. It's more that by the time she knew she was with child, others could see it. Nobles are under more scrutiny than commoners."

        "Then..."

        "Yes," Jaysa said with a roll of her eyes, and her tone grew oddly petulant. "You're not wrong. My mother loved me. She chose to. She let my father think I was his. She helped me hide what I am." Her red eyes snapped to Zhen with a heated glare, as if angry at having that admission pulled from her. "So you must understand my hesitance. For that very reason, I do not take blood from lovers."

        "Because you then couldn't trust their feelings are real," Zhen ventured.

        Jaysa appeared uncomfortable. She stood and crossed her arms as she walked away from the bed. "Get dressed. Take a shirt from my trunk. I'll have yours mended."

        Zhen hurried to obey. She knelt down in front of the captain's luggage and grabbed the first shirt she saw. She stuffed her head through but slowed when it came time to push her arms through the sleeves. Her eyes followed Jaysa.

        "You know, Captain..."

        "What is it?" Jaysa snapped.

        Zhen swallowed her anxiety. She almost muttered that it was nothing, but the haziness must've still been clouding her head and loosening her tongue. "From someone who's been bitten, it's just lust. Wild and crazy animal lust, but still just that. Love is... a whole lot more."

        Jaysa looked her way.

        Zhen averted her gaze and finished putting the shirt on. "Or, so I'm told. I wouldn't know."

        The captain looked ready to serve up a biting retort, but she only sighed instead. "I'm aware. I had the chance to see it before we left Nadia."

        Zhen made a curious sound. "Oh?"

        Jaysa stared through the starboard window, looking out over the endless horizons-worth of ocean far below. "The Althandi princess and her paramour made a surprise appearance at Old Fen's gala before we left Drok Moran. You can't see two people look at each other like that and not understand what love should be."

        "What should it be?"

        "Devoted. Layered but uncomplicated."

        What Zhen heard more than anything else was that Jaysa Dominico was the type of person who attended galas put on by royalty and mingled with princesses and their paramours. Strange that it didn't surprise her in the least.

        "Head below," the captain ordered as she stepped away from the window. "Get some rest. I'll tell Idak you're on light duty for tomorrow." She sat at her desk and gestured towards a flagon hanging from a hook on the ceiling. "And don't forget to drink that before you go."

        Zhen hummed and went eagerly to the hanging flagon. It was chilled fruit juice, extremely sweet and citrusy. She'd never tasted anything like it before coming aboard the Sojourn, and Zhen wasn't afraid to admit that this was the highlight of the entire arrangement for her. Jaysa had said something of how the juice was supposed to help her replenish her blood, and Zhen supposed she was grateful for the captain sparing some consideration for the health of her chalice.

        The drink was only spoiled somewhat by Zhen's irritation for how that nickname wormed its way into her head. Though, she supposed it was better than crewgirl, if only marginally.

        After she wiped her mouth and hung the flagon back on its hook, Zhen turned and found the captain holding a leather-bound journal towards her. She reached for it tentatively. "What's this?"

        Jaysa didn't look up from her charts as she handed it over. "Take it to Salazar on your way to your hammock."

        "The professor?"

        Jaysa nodded absently and made a dismissive gesture. "He might have something he'll want sent back to me, but tell him it can wait. I'll go to him at midday for his opinions."

        Zhen backed away and held the journal to her chest. "Aye, Captain. Taking my leave."

        She was midway through opening the cabin door when the captain called out to her. "Wait a moment."

        "Captain?" Zhen held the door closed and turned back.

        Jaysa had her head tilted back. She finished administering eyedrops, blinked, and faced her. The red in her irises was gone, replaced by bright hazel. When she spoke, there was no sign of her fangs either. Her illusions were back in place.

        Discomforted by the intense way the captain stared at her, Zhen shifted her feet. "Was there something else?"

        "Why did you accept?" Jaysa asked.

        Zhen tilted her head in confusion.

        "You've never been outside Nadia before. I'd put marks on you never leaving Drok Moran. Why would an alley cat like you be so desperate to leave everything behind?"

        It was hard to articulate. Zhen gave a half-hearted shrug. "Never had much back home. There's nothing on the Continent for girls like me. Maybe I thought that if what you said is true, there might be something for me on another one."

        Jaysa scoffed. "The longer we're out here, the more I doubt there even is another continent."

        "Has to be," Zhen murmured. "The one back there is too trash to be the only one. There's gotta be something better somewhere."

        Jaysa appeared to consider that. She hummed quietly and returned to her charts. "Off with you, Zhen. Until next week."

        "Wind's blessings, Captain. As you say."

        Zhen opened the door and quietly slipped out.