by Lani Lenore
“A lovely way for her to hide her own weakness,” she returned.
“You meant for me to stay here, didn’t you?” the girl accused. “You always meant for that. Planned it.”
“I told jou dat I predict every outcome. I did what I had to do. But jou are alive, aren’t jou?”
Alive, yes, but this was not living. It never had been.
“What happens now?”
“Now, I need jou to continue jour work like jou have promised to do. Watch. Listen. Learn everyting.”
The golden one cringed. She knew what she had promised. She had exchanged it all for a dream, the greater portion of which had washed away, leaving only a film of residue.
“And what of you?”
“I will stay on my own for a while. I will find a place to hide away, though after what was done, I do not tink dey will hunt me.”
“That was your intention.”
“Jes. I can still see through jou. As long as jou are in place, I can learn what I need to know.”
“About what?” Innominata asked. “You never told me.”
“De rise of de Mistress,” Bliss said. “Soon, she will have an opportunity to attack de human world, and she will not be able to resist. What she does not know, however, is dat it will be a time of weakness for her. Tings will play out de way dey should—in de end.”
“When?”
“Not so far off now.” She always said things like that. Innominata had stopped believing.
“Do not trouble jourself over me. I will be gone, but close. Speak to me when jou desire.”
“Will you answer?” she wanted to know, already skeptical over the response she would receive.
“Perhaps. But one last ting: leave dat human alone. No need to get jourself killed over him.”
Chapter Eleven
Savior
Time slipped by like the water through her fingers. On a night when the moon was full and a storm was gathering overhead, the children of the sea once again gathered for a feeding.
Innominata was among them, but her mind was distant. She had seen more than her share by now, and she had learned to block out the unpleasantness. There was little she could do otherwise. She could not save the sailors on those ships, just as she could not save her own kin. She was only to be what she was and never stray again.
She had promised. There was no way out.
The harmony of the nymph’s voices was like a stream of razors cutting through her head. The ship was approaching, and she had learned by now that she shouldn’t look, but—
She saw the wooden carving on the front of the boat—a very human-like depiction of a winged siren—and she recognized it immediately. Her muscles clenched and her jaw fell open.
This is not happening.
This ship was a pirate vessel—the Blood-Red Siren—and she knew it. She knew it because Nathan was on this ship.
She had ceased to watch him since the dream, but she remembered. She had watched him leave the burning settlement that night, and he had not been on another ship since. Now, it was her captors’ target, simply because it was on these waters at this moment—a random encounter and ill fate.
Innominata wondered what was to happen, though she knew it would play out as it always did. Even now the ship was veering toward the rocks. The hull would smash and then men would be emptied into the sea like mana. And then the feast.
Nathan… The nymphs would call them all into the water. They would leave no survivors. The girl’s gut wrenched with fear. They would take him as well.
A thought flashed across her mind. She could let her captors have him and be free of him forever, but no. The wicked temptation was gone as quickly as it had come. She could never do that. The thought was there and then it was gone, and she was awake.
The ship rammed into the rocks, the frame splintering, and her thoughts were shattered just the same. Resolve and desperation took its place as the men began to fill the water and her depraved sisters took action.
Innominata had no choice now, only to act. She was afraid of what she was about to do, but she had to do it all the same.
She plunged into the water while her sisters were distracted, searching for him, desperately hoping that he was not one of those unfortunate ones that her captors already had their teeth and nails into.
Where is he? Nathan… Where is he!
She was frantic, could hardly manage her own breath, and then finally amidst the wreckage, she saw him. He was sinking fast, blood on his forehead, but none had claimed him yet. She could not let him drown, could not let him be eaten.
Her captors had already begun their motion against the others, seducing them, riding them to completion before ripping into their throats. The night was filled with groans of pleasure and screams of pain in this grim orgy, but Innominata could not hear.
She caught Nathan, finally, touching him for the first time, but she could not think about that either. She had to keep his head above the surface, keep him breathing, and get him away from here. He did not struggle against her. He was languid and almost blank, but she did not want him to see what was happening. No one needed those images before their eyes. She began to sing into his ear, a tune that would soothe him into sleep, and even for her own sake as she struggled to remove him before it was too late.
She thought about the punished slave from so many years ago, who’d been caught with a human during a feeding. What would happen if someone—even one of her fellow imperfects—witnessed what she was doing? She did not want to think of that, but coming down to the truth of it, she thought she might gladly die if it meant saving his life.
Innominata managed to maneuver his weight in the water, which despite her strong tail, weighed her down. She pulled him further into the rocks, feeling more comfortable once they were hidden, and from that point on, she concentrated on keeping him above the water and swimming as quickly as she could. Away.
The mermaid did not know where she was going, only to get him to safety. She did not know what would happen and could not care. Not for herself, but for him. He was the only thing that mattered to her, and no matter what she might suffer at the hands of the Mistress, she would not let him die.
Through the night, she swam, far removing herself from the rest, until finally a landmass came into sight. It was a small island, but she didn’t have the strength to carry him all the way back to civilization. She would have to take this one moment at a time. It took the last of her strength to pull him onto the sand, away from the retreating water. When his head and body were free, she rested herself.
He had not gone under completely. He was breathing. She brushed wet hair from his face with a hand that was shaking, as much for excitement as for fear. She had disobeyed in the most extreme way—she was here with him, and nothing else mattered.
She rested there beside him on the beach, waiting for the moment when he would open his eyes.
DAUGHTERS OF THE DEEP is a companion to the full-length novel DARK DEPTHS
Mermaids are soulless, flesh-eating monsters of the sea, wicked in all ways—but some are born with more humanity.
Nathaniel Thomas believes in monsters. He’s seen his share since joining the pirate crew of the Blood-Red Siren. Tales are rampant, especially of mermaids—the deep sea nymphs. With their hypnotic songs, they lure ships to crash and then feast on those aboard, stealing the seed from a man’s loins while drinking down his blood. But Nathan has learned not to believe in things he hasn’t seen with his own eyes.
All of that seems foolish when he witnesses hideous, scaly-skinned abominations peeling the flesh from his shipmates, but Nathan manages to avoid death. He is rescued by a similar creature, and though he is wary of her, he soon finds that she is nothing like her kin.
He calls her his Treasure, and she is beautiful beyond anything he’s ever seen. There is goodness in her. He knows they do not belong together, even if she does not. She will not leave him. Likewise, he cannot purge her from his thoughts.
> Nathan is introduced to truths he never would have believed, to a love he never thought possible, and to a war that he could not anticipate. There are secrets and horrors in the dark depths, and he is out to uncover them, even if the truth costs him his own humanity.
About the Author
Lani Lenore is a writer of gothic horrors and dark fantasies. In addition to rewriting well-known fairy tales with a twist, she also writes original stories in a style she calls ‘dark fairy tale’, which uses fantasy elements to build horror stories. Most of her tales, though horrific at times, have a subplot of romance. She loves to keep readers on the edge of their seat, spook them, and immerse them in worlds of beauty and terror.
She currently lives in Tennessee with her husband, two dogs, and a few too many cats.
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