It almost felt like she’d issued a challenge as she reentered the water on the other side of him, breaking the surface with only the slightest of splashes. Jack sucked in a deep breath, removed the safety tether, and hurried after her, pumping his arms and legs in unison to try to match her speed. A high-pitched, clicking laugh pierced through the water at an intense enough frequency for him to hear it, and Jack grinned as he tried to keep his eyes on her speeding around him.
CHAPTER 8
It became a game between them. The water nymph would swim in close or jump over him, and Jack would try to grab her or touch her. He wasn’t quite sure what would happen, once he did, but just making the attempt seemed to encourage his swimming partner to become even more playful.
She would touch him too, whenever she could find a sneaky opportunity. She’d poke the bottom of his feet or run her fingers down the back of his neck. Jack almost took a breath of water when, at one point, she slipped a finger into the waistband of his swimming trunks and gave them a teasing snap.
It wasn’t until they’d been playing for a while that Jack returned to the surface to breathe and noticed for the first time that the beach was no longer in sight.
He frowned, feeling his confusion shift to dread as he turned in a slow circle and saw nothing but blue ocean in every direction. He couldn’t even see a smudge of land on the horizon or any indicator of what direction he’d originally come from.
“I… am a fucking idiot,” he muttered. “I am so incredibly, unbelievably stupid.”
The water nymph surfaced within inches of him and stole another quick, girlish kiss. Jack scowled and pulled himself back up onto the paddle board.
Almost as soon as he’d gotten his balance, the paddle board began to move, slicing forward through the water at a far faster speed than what he could have managed with the paddle. He looked down into the ocean’s depths and saw the water nymph dragging his simple craft along with one hand by the loose safety tether, kicking both legs in rhythm, her naked body almost looking silver in the gleaming sun.
“Are you taking me back to the beach?” shouted Jack.
He doubted the water nymph could hear him, let alone understand the English language, and he wasn’t surprised when no answer was forthcoming. Jack sighed and held onto the paddle board as tightly as he could.
It only took a few minutes for them to approach their apparent destination. It wasn’t the beach, and it wasn’t anywhere that Jack was familiar with. A small coral atoll in the shape of a crescent moon poked out of the water in the distance. It was no more than a quarter of a mile across, as far as he could tell, but had accumulated a thick strip of vegetation and palm trees.
“Is this your home?” asked Jack. He knew the question wouldn’t receive an answer, but he asked it as a way to convey his curiosity. The water nymph poked her head above the water for a second, letting out her high-pitched, clicking laugh again.
The water around the atoll was a gentle teal color, and Jack could see clearly enough through it to pinpoint the moment when it became shallow enough for him to stand. He hopped off the paddle board and walked the rest of the way onto the beach. The water nymph didn’t follow him at first, only leaving the deeper water after a couple of seconds of careful, cat-like contemplation.
Jack met her on the edge of the shore, watching as she drew near to him. Though she made no move to cover her nudity, there was still something shy and girlish about her movements. She reminded him of Ryoko a little, but more innocent and with a natural, oblivious kind of confidence.
“Why did you bring me here?” asked Jack. “Do you want to show me something?”
The water nymph blinked several times in rapid succession, and then reached out with one finger, poking him in the cheek. Jack felt an odd tension at having her so close to him, as naked and eerily beautiful as she was. He risked a glance down at her purple nipples, which were rather pointy and perked slightly upward as water droplets glistened on her breasts like drops of drew.
She suddenly exploded into movement so fast that Jack flinched back before he even knew what she was doing. She lashed out at him, and he wasn’t quick enough to stop her. He tripped backward onto the sand as the water nymph seized him by the swimming trunks and pulled them down in a single, swift movement.
She didn’t just pull them down. She pulled them completely off him, and then took off into the water, letting out that reverberating, clicking laugh again. Jack felt his face flush with embarrassment even though there was nobody present to observe his bare body. He sprinted after the water nymph, feeling a little silly as his lower parts bounced around a lot more freely than he was used to.
The water nymph didn’t retreat that far, and Jack got the sense that she was being playful and giving him a sporting chance. She circled back once she’d reached waist-deep water, swinging his swimming trunks over her head and hopping up and down. Her breasts jiggled in almost perfect symmetry, and it was a sight that Jack found both captivating and weirdly arousing.
“Give those back!” he shouted, as a foolish grin snuck onto his face. “You little brat!”
He drew near enough to her to make a grab for them, but she pulled them just out of reach of his hands. Jack tried to grab her instead, seizing her by the arm and slowly pulling her into him. The water nymph laughed, slipping loose and diving under the water to escape from him.
She resurfaced behind him, pulling him into a quick hug that caused her breasts to glide across his shoulder blades. Jack whirled and dove at her, tackling her into the water around the waist. Despite her blue skin and sleek appearance, she felt warm to the touch. She wriggled within his arms, squirming and pressing her soft breasts and body against him. Then she kissed him.
Jack’s arousal had been building steadily, fed by the nymph’s innocent display of her own nudity and playful teasing. He kissed her back, pushing his tongue into her mouth and feeling a watery, rushing, and not entirely unpleasant sensation greet him in return. The water nymph wrapped her legs around him, wiggled her hips from side to side, and opened her thighs.
It was that easy. She seemed willing, and moreover, it felt as though she was the one seducing him. Jack gripped a buttock in one hand and a breast in the other and pushed into her. She was tight, and her entire body jiggled like a plump water balloon as he thrust forward.
They’d drifted back into the shallows at some point, and Jack lowered her down to the wet surf, kissing her deeply as the waves continued to crash into them. He pushed into her hard, fast, and rhythmically, as though delivering a teasing punishment in return for the mischievous robbery of his swimsuit.
The water nymph let out little uninhibited cooing noises, moving with him. She ran her hands through his hair and kissed him over and over again, keeping her eyes wide and focused on him.
Jack felt a natural, primal lust that amped up with each of his movements. It was a heated, magnetic encounter, almost like a one-night stand fueled by chemistry rather than booze. The water nymph’s carefree attitude was infectious.
All of his thoughts and worries fell to the wayside as he kissed her breasts and buried his shaft deep within her. The waves kept him cool even as he began to work up a sweat, both punishing and rewarding the nymph for her playful seduction of him.
He felt bliss wash over him as he released inside of her. For an instant, everything felt simple, easy, and perfect. The water nymph let out a long series of giggles. She pulled back a little and tugged on his softening shaft, in a clear and very innocent attempt to extend the encounter.
“Give me a few minutes,” said Jack, grinning at her. “Honestly, that was fun. If you can behave yourself around the shores of Lestaron Island, I wouldn’t mind stopping by the beach again to…”
He trailed off as he looked up and past the water nymph, through a gap in the trees of the atoll. The was a small, rusted metal yacht beached on the other side of the shore. Jack frowned and stood up slowly, not wanting to believe what he saw on the deck of the ship
wreck.
The remains of at least two skeletal humans lay across the bow section, still wearing the clothes that they’d died in. The water nymph made a purring noise and planted a quick, innocent kiss on his cheek.
CHAPTER 9
“Did you bring them here?” asked Jack. “Did you… kill them?”
The water nymph looked at him blankly, clearly unable to understand the question. She cupped her breasts with her hands and lifted them up slightly, letting them fall with a generous jiggle as they came loose from her fingers.
“You did…” said Jack. “You must have.”
It was easy for him to picture. Maybe it had been a couple on a boat, enjoying a day on the ocean. He could see them discovering the water nymph, much as he had, and being mystified by her. He could see the water nymph acting playful, leading them out to her island, and then…
Jack coughed as the memory of the way the water nymph had used her powers to clog his nose and mouth during their first encounter. He tried to keep his expression neutral as he considered what would need to happen next.
The water nymph frowned, as though she could instantly sense the change in his disposition. Jack took a step forward, and she took a step back. He took a slow breath, and then surged toward her, trying to get a hand on one of her wrists.
It was a sunny day, and it undercut his attempt. Without his vampiric speed, Jack was only as fast as an above-average human. He missed the water nymph and his chance to bring the situation to an easy and reasonable conclusion.
She took several long, loping steps, her naked body moving with eroticism and grace. She broke into a dive as soon as the water was up to her knees, and her body gleamed for an instant as she moved through the air, dissolving into a mass of liquid like the contents of a tipped glass of water.
Jack swore under his breath. He grabbed the paddle board and pushed it out onto the water. He had no idea where he was headed, but it wasn’t as though he could just stay on the coral atoll and take his chances. The sun had started to dip slightly in the sky, and he used it to orient himself north, since the beach he’d taken off from had been on Lestaron Island’s south side.
He only needed to take a few swings with an oar to pick up speed, which didn’t make sense. Jack wobbled slightly on the paddle board as he began to move fast enough for the wind’s drag to be a factor. He dropped to his knees, trying to spot the water nymph underneath him, towing the paddle board as she’d done before. He didn’t see her anywhere, but that didn’t make the strange current he was apparently caught up in any less suspicious.
A few minutes went by. Jack used the time to come up with a plan of action. If he could just get close to her again, it might be possible for him to get his fangs into her neck. He had no idea how enthrallment worked when it came to supernatural creatures, but it was the best chance he’d have to bring the water nymph under control while the sun was still out.
A smudge appeared on the horizon, expanding slowly in size until Jack could identify it as Lestaron Island, his childhood and current home. Watching the beach draw closer at what felt like a snail’s pace only served to emphasize just how far out in the ocean he’d been. It gave him flickers of anxiety to imagine what would have happened if he’d stayed on the coral atoll, or worse, never found it to begin with.
The lifeguard spotted him right as he reached the buoy again, and she immediately let loose with her whistle and started climbing down from her tower. Jack jumped off the paddle board and into the water, hoping that he could find the water nymph again before the situation spun out of his control.
A few hundred feet to his right, he heard someone let out a panicked shout. He looked over in time to see a teenage boy frantically struggling to keep his head above water. It looked as though an arm made from the water itself was looped around his neck, and a second later, he vanished completely under the surface.
Jack had already started toward the struggling teenager when another person nearby, a girl around the same age, let out a water-choked scream and sank like a rock. He gritted his teeth, knowing that there was almost nothing he could do to get to either of them in time.
The sky had been crystal-clear when Jack had left the coral atoll, but at some point in the intervening minutes, several dark storm clouds had taken over the sky. Lightning flashed in the distance, followed by an ear-splitting crack of thunder, and rain began to pour down heavily enough to put most tropical storms to shame.
It was a mixed blessing. The water around Jack became significantly choppier, but everyone in the water immediately began to head toward the beach, excepting himself and the lifeguard. She arrived at the spot where the two teenagers had gone under on a paddle board of her own, right around the same time Jack did.
“Can you take one of them?” shouted the lifeguard.
Jack nodded, but it was clear from her tone that she already knew it was too late. Jack pulled the girl’s cold, waterlogged body onto his paddle board and carefully brought her back to the beach.
He didn’t know CPR, but another woman stepped forward to help in his place. He watched as the lifeguard and the second woman tried valiantly to revive the two teenagers for more than twenty minutes straight. He watched until his frustration and guilt over not having immediately recognized the water nymph for the danger she was threatened to overwhelm him.
“Are you okay?” asked Mira. She was thoroughly soaked by the rain, and she hugged her shoulders, shivering slightly from the cold.
“I guess.” Jack frowned and looked past her, toward their spot on the beach. “Where’d Ryoko go?”
“Back to the mansion,” said Mira. “She wasn’t feeling well. Said that we should call her for a ride when we’re ready to go.”
Her words were a little concerning to him, given how low-energy Ryoko had been as of late. It made it hard for Jack to focus on the situation at hand.
“Did she say anything else?” asked Jack. “Like, why she wasn’t feeling well?”
Mira shook her head. Jack scowled and looked over his shoulder, in the direction of the oncoming ambulance siren. A sheriff’s cruiser followed directly behind it, and both cars skidded to a stop on the edge of the boardwalk.
A group of two EMTs hurried to bring the victims onboard, but their skin had already started to take on a pallid color. Jack looked away, feeling more responsible than he probably should have. It felt like he could have done more. If he’d picked up on the water nymph’s tendencies in time, or thought ahead to what would happen when she encountered the people on the beach, then maybe…
“Jack Masterson.”
Sheriff Carter’s voice was stern, though not unfriendly, a little like Jack’s grandfather’s voice had once been. He was old, with only a few wisps of white-grey hair left and a face filled with wrinkles from the accumulated effects of decades of working a job that often placed him in the sun. His eyes were still sharp, though, and he shook Jack’s hand firmly as he greeted him.
“Sheriff Carter,” Jack said, not quite managing to smile. “It’s good to see you. Though I do wish we could occasionally meet under better circumstances.”
“Seems it’s always that way with you,” said Sheriff Carter. “What you can you tell me about what happened here?”
If he’d spoken the words in a different tone, they might have sounded a little accusatory. But the sheriff had known Jack’s grandfather, and he tended to dismiss the way both were so often involved with suspicious incidents as being an eccentricity that ran in the family. In a sense, it kind of was.
“Two teenagers,” sighed Jack. “Both drowned. I was on my paddle board when it happened. Helped bring one of them to shore.”
Sheriff Carter nodded, and his eyes took on a sad quality as he glanced toward the corpses and saw the ages of the deceased. They’d been teenagers, but young ones. Still just kids, really.
“Is that it?” asked Sheriff Carter. “Could have been a stray riptide. Or maybe just an accident.”
“Could be,” said Jack
.
A woman wearing the tan uniform of the Lestaron Sheriff’s Department sidled up next to Sheriff Carter. She was tall, with a wiry build and olive skin. Her hair was dark brown and styled into a short pixie cut, and if not for the distinctly feminine quality of her lips and face, he might have mistaken her for a man.
“Jack Masterson,” said Sheriff Carter, with a nod. “This is Deputy Jessie Amari.”
Jack shook her hand, and Jessie gave him a polite nod but no words.
“A new deputy?” asked Jack. “Did something happen to Bruce?”
Bruce, Katie’s former fiancé, was probably the person who’d harassed Jack the most in his time on Lestaron Island. He and Katie had separated a little more than a month earlier, and he hadn’t heard much from him since.
“Bruce is… pursuing opportunities elsewhere,” said Sheriff Carter with a small grimace.
“Ah.” Jack could tell he wasn’t going to get anything more out of the conversation or the crime scene. “Well, good luck with your investigation. I think I’m about done swimming for today.”
The sheriff nodded. He looked extremely tired as he moved past Jack toward where the EMTs were loading the bodies onto stretchers.
Mira was already striking down their small beach site, rolling up towels and setting everything into a neat pile. Jack took his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to her.
“What is this?” asked Mira.
“To call Ryoko,” he said. “I’m not heading back to the mansion immediately and don’t mind walking.”
Mira furrowed her brow, glancing from the phone to his face.
“You… trust me, with your phone?” she asked.
“I’ve trusted you with more than that before,” said Jack. “Why? Does it make you feel weird?”
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