“Just that day,” she answered. Before he could question her further, she added, “I am more of a freelance kind of gal. Work here. Work there. Wherever my talents are needed.”
She could practically see his brain rolling with questions. She grabbed the picnic basket and threw it onto the bike. He hopped over and strapped it down.
“Sorry I have to interrupt our day again,” she said in a disappointed tone.
He leaned in, kissing the tip of her nose. “There’s plenty of days ahead to spend together. Although, I’d be lying if I said I wasn't a little unsatisfied leaving so soon. I was planning a much better ending.”
“Tease,” she whispered hungrily.
“Me? If you could see you right now... you’re lucky I don’t drag you back inside the cavern and...” She put her hand over his mouth, a dazzling smile breaking underneath her fingers. He nipped playfully and she shook her head.
“Are you trying to kill me?”
“I just don’t want you to stop thinking about me,” he told her.
“That’s an impossibility.”
“Then my job is done... for now.”
She refused to reply, afraid her only response would be to drag him back into the cavern and forget completely about her duties.
Instead, she straddled the bike, tucking her short summer dress under her butt so it wouldn’t blow up in the wind. Riley got on and reached back, letting his hand run down her thigh. Pleased by her response, he let go, let out a low chuckle and kicked the engine to life, taking them back towards town.
Melinda toyed with reaching around him and placing her hands precariously low, but changed her mind when she realized she’d prefer to reach her destination alive and in once piece.
She shouted directions over his shoulder, having him pull to a stop a few houses from the sheriff's, preferring to keep him secret from Mack and William, at least for now.
“So can I see you tonight?” he asked, taking her hand, helping her off the bike.
“Hmm, let me think about it,” she said. “Okay. Yes.”
“And you promise not to stop thinking about me until then?” he asked her. He didn’t let her answer, leaning in, occupying her mouth with his lips.
When he pulled away, she groaned her reply.
“That’s the answer I was looking for,” he uttered.
Melinda had no idea how she was going to concentrate on her job. She wanted her hands running all over his body, and his all over hers.
It was going to be a long afternoon.
A shudder pulsed through her body as Riley straddled the bike again.
“How about I pick you up at eight, at the Wicked Muddy.”
She nodded her answer, afraid if she spoke, her voice would sound awkward and broken.
He leaned over and gently kissed her forehead, his mouth sweeping down to her ear as he whispered, “I would plan on getting home very late, if at all.”
Melinda sucked in deeply, her brain a flurry of befuddled giddiness. Her body a boiling kettle about to blow.
Riley slipped his helmet back onto his head, but before he sped away, shouted, “Don't forget, you promised me you’d eat something.”
She nodded yes, absentmindedly, watching Riley drive out of sight.
She wished she could fly right through the afternoon and run directly into eight o’clock. She shook herself back into the moment.
Bloodsuckers.
Emily.
Mermaids.
Need to help Mack and William. And Michael...
She scurried down the sidewalk and up the steps onto Mack's porch.
She reached out to open the front door but someone beat her to it.
William stood in the entrance with and odd look in his eyes.
She stood there in front of him, her eyes wide, a look of complete guilt.
He knew.
She hadn’t hidden it well enough. She hadn’t stopped far enough away. She should have stopped a few more blocks back, out of William’s hearing range.
Oh God! He heard everything Riley just said to me.
They stood there, neither saying a word for a good long time.
Why hadn’t she just told him this morning? She could have avoided all this if she’d just been daring enough to tell him she’d met someone.
She ached all over, instantly, as if what she’d just done had caused her physical pain. For a moment, she saw that same pain in the vampire’s eyes but was surprised when he moved aside, asking her to come in.
“We are making plans to combat the leeches,” he explained, his voice even.
“I assumed as much,” she replied. Her throat felt heavy and burdened by the effort of speaking. “William...” she didn’t know what to say. It felt like anything she said would come out wrong.
“You do not need to explain, Melinda. We have other, more pressing issues to deal with,” he reminded.
She stepped inside, William behind her, as she made her way into the kitchen/living room of Mack’s cottage house. The sheriff waved and motioned for her to help herself to anything she needed, while she chatted away on the phone.
“Ya heard me right!” she said into the phone. “Attacking sea lions! Like it or not, we need to clear the beaches on the northern shores. Better safe than sorry, don't ya think?”
Melinda chuckled as Mack worked her magic. “Attacking sea lions... this is what we’ve been reduced to for excuses now?”
William tossed her a bemused smile.
At least the tension didn’t feel quite so thick.
Mack had an open container of donuts sitting on the counter. Since Melinda had promised Riley, she helped herself to one, jumping up to sit on the counter. She could hardly swallow more than a few bites, and quickly jumped down grabbing a coffee, laying the partially eaten donut back on the counter.
Just as Mack hung up her house phone, her cell phone rang. “Some days!” She rolled her eyes. “Hello!” There was silence as Mack listened to the other line. “Odd looking sea lion, you say... attacking eh. Okay, secure the area, I'll be there in a jiff!”
William must have heard what was said, as he dashed away, already heading to the scene. Melinda felt a twinge of relief that she had a moment to gather herself.
Mack disconnected her call.
“Those dang bloodsuckers have left the water. Just attacked a fisherman. He wasn't seriously hurt thank God. And the only good thing I can say is at least those things resemble sea lions. Attack of the sea lions! Ha! Never thought I'd see the day I had to use that one.”
Melinda laughed. She didn't know how Mack kept her sense of humor living in this crazy town.
“I'm wagering that William has already arrived at the scene,” she told the sheriff.
“Don't know what the Isle would do without him! I wish I had an army of vampires just like him.”
“If we had an army of Williams, we might actually get to take vacations, off the Isle,” Melinda said.
“Imagine that... vacations,” Mack said, as if debating how to actually find herself an army of Williams.
“Or, we could just get our kicks killing some bloodsuckers,” Melinda said.
Mack winked and they headed out to her police vehicle.
She turned on the siren and they raced to the scene of the attack.
##
Charlie followed the two merladies through his back yard, into the woods and onto a trail which came out just down the street from his home. He laughed in secret. If he had realized where they were taking him, he would have just brought them through the front yard and to the street.
The girls were easily sidetracked as they sauntered through the town. More than once, Charlie had to stop the girls from accosting women wearing shiny jewelry that the girls wanted to look at, and touch. They also turned many heads, as it wasn't often that blue haired girls walked down the streets of this small island town.
“Remember you are taking me to save your sister,” Charlie said, after apologizing to a third woman t
he merladies accosted. She wore exuberantly colored, oversized earrings that they would have surely pulled out of the woman's ears if Charlie had not intervened.
“Yes. Sister,” one said.
“Sorry,” spoke the other.
“Yes. Sorry,” the first agreed. “So many shiny things,” her voice spoke wondrously.
“This way, Charlie who is a Howard,” the other said, taking hold of his hand.
“Not far now.”
They hurried along, taking a side street, which came out on the backside of several shops. They scurried in between garbage cans and parked cars, hopping onto a trail that shortly came out to the shore. The path veered suddenly, now following alongside the water's edge. Soon, the merladies led Charlie off the pathway and onto a small stony beach.
“Not far. Not far,” one of the sisters repeated. The path was narrow, forcing them to walk single file. The sisters were cautious not to touch the water, so as to keep their human feet from turning into flippers.
Charlie stepped cautiously, following as they worked their way around a jagged, rocky corner. He was surprised when they rounded the corner that there was a cave entrance.
“This is where we change,” one of them whispered, as if revealing a long held secret.
“When we come to land,” the other added.
It’s the perfect hiding spot for a mermaid to dry out, Charlie thought.
They had to duck to enter, but once inside, could easily stand up straight.
Once inside Charlie saw the trapped sister instantly.
“Sisters,” she cried out.
“We are here.”
“Yes, we found Howard,” the other replied.
“You really got yourself into quite a mess,” Charlie noted as he took a closer look.
“Yes. Mess. Hurts.”
“Don't worry. I'm going to get you out of here.” He flashed a bright smile, which seemed to calm the trapped merlady.
Charlie knelt down trying to figure out where to begin. The merlady was completely ensnared by an old fishing net, which kept her unable to walk or swim. Charlie took out a pocketknife and painstakingly cut piece after piece of the net, slowly freeing her.
After about twenty minutes, she was finally free. She instantly leaned forward, planting a kiss on Charlie’s lips. She let go, his lips feeling a tinge of numbness.
“Thank you,” she told him. “Thought I was dead.”
“Would have died,” another sister spoke.
“Yes, you save sister,” the third added, her voice suddenly seductive.
Charlie stared as the three joined each other, approaching him with a single fluid movement, in perfect sync with each other.
Their blue strands swayed, as if in slow motion.
Charlie’s breathing slowed, his eyelids getting heavier, harder to keep open. Everything started to blur.
He felt a hand run up his chest, another down his back. The sister he had freed stared into his eyes, never blinking. Somehow, they had taken off his tank top. He saw it slide to the ground.
He felt lips sliding across his skin, leaving behind a scorching sting. It didn’t hurt him. He wanted more.
The three sisters started to sing, serenely, encircling Charlie.
The newly freed sister grabbed hold of his hand, tugging him gently toward an opening at the back of the cave, which was the entrance and exit they used to come to dry land, and reenter the water.
“Return with us to the sea,” one of them said.
“Yes, come home with us,” the second added, her voice inviting.
He felt lips caressing his skin, but he didn’t know where. It felt like everywhere.
“Yes,” he said. “I’ll come with you.” He closed his eyes, a feeling of complete bliss pulsing through his body.
“First, you must take off the ring,” the newly freed one soothingly coaxed. “It’s the only way to come with us.”
Charlie looked at his finger. What did he need the ring for when he could have these three god-like creatures instead? Charlie rubbed the ring. He could easily just slide it off his finger.
The mermaids urged him closer to the pool at the back of the cave.
With each step he took, Charlie's body became heavier; his feet feeling like cement blocks dragging underneath his legs.
A surge of adrenaline raced through his blood and Charlie’s body shook as if he’d been doused in ice water. He rubbed his eyes and stepped back, with each step his body becoming lighter, his mind becoming clear.
“The ring...” he whispered.
It was saving him.
He gazed back up at the merladies.
“Why are you dong this?” Charlie was pinned against the wall now, with nowhere to go.
How did they know about his ring? Moreover, how did they know that he had to be the one to take it off? He had told no one except Michael.
“Why?” he asked again, anger rising.
Before they could answer him, the two sisters that had found him at his home, fell to the ground, crying out in pain.
“Lost,” one said.
“Sister gone,” the other spoke, as if her heart was breaking. She reached out to the second, grasping her hand. The second pulled the other in, embracing her. Each in sudden tears.
The third merlady turned to the two sniveling on the ground, her face sour. Her eyes narrowed and her teeth elongated, coming to pointy ends. She hissed at them hatefully.
They did not notice.
“Wait!” the first one added, her eyes widening. “New sister.”
“Yes, new sister,” the second spoke, her voice suddenly changing from sad to happy.
The first one shook her head. “Confused.”
“Unwilling.”
“Scared.”
“She will grow to love,” the first one said, smiling at the second.
“Will you two moronic creatures shut up!” the third one shouted. “The job is not finished!”
“But sister lost, and now new sister scared,” one whimpered.
“We must go to her,” the second explained.
“I. Do. Not. Care,” the third replied mockingly.
The two sisters stood, cowering next to each other.
“Now get that ring off Charlie Howard's finger,” she spit out.
Charlie's head was spinning in confusion, but he knew he needed to escape before they somehow mesmerized him into taking off the ring. He still did not know exactly what the ring would and would not allow to happen, and he did want to chance they could get it off his finger.
He could not believe that just one day after getting the ring something was already trying to steal it. And how did they know? How did they find out? How could they have even known that he had the ring, never mind that he had to voluntarily remove it from his own finger?
Unfortunately, there were only two ways to escape the cave, the way he had come in, currently blocked by the merladies, or by diving into the pool of water, which could lead anywhere.
##
Emily had dried off, standing on her human legs once again. She stood on the beach soaking in the rays of sun and letting the ocean mist fill her nostrils. As the minutes ticked by, she felt desires growing in her heart. Desires that were getting harder to ignore by the second. Desires that set her heart a flutter with anticipation.
“Emily,” shouted Michael. “Why don't you come inside, Mr. Jordan is working on a cure.” When she did not answer, he hopped off the pier and strode up to her. “Emily,” he called out again.
“Oh, Michael. I didn't hear you. Sorry.”
“You doing okay?” he asked.
She gazed over the vast ocean. “I want to go out there, Michael. I can hear all of them. My sisters... there's so many. I never knew there were so many.”
“Yeah, that's not a good idea, Em. You need to stay on dry land.”
“I know. Sorry. I don't want to be a mermaid. I know I don't...” her voiced trailed off as if uncertain.
“God, I'm s
o sorry. If I hadn't talked you into coming with me today...”
“It's not your fault Michael. It’s just, the call of the ocean is like nothing I have ever felt. It's like... it's like I can feel the water, without being in it. Like it's my home. Where I am supposed to be. I feel wrong here. This sand is dry. Scratchy. Hot.”
“You're going to have to fight it,” Michael told her firmly, grasping her shoulders. “I will find a way to fix this.” He did not like hearing her speech sound like that of a mermaid.
“Couldn't I just go, for a few hours?” she begged, taking a step toward the water.
“No!” he spoke harshly.
Her face turned sad as if she had been reprimanded. “You're mad,” she whispered.
“Oh, no. No. I'm not mad. I just want my Emily back. If you go into the water, I'm afraid you'll never come back to me. Need I remind you of the dangers lurking out there right now? We still have no idea how many bloodsuckers there are.”
“But they need me, Michael. I feel my sisters, right now. They are in pain. They are in pain over the sister they lost, and sad, for me. Because they can hear my true voice. I don't want to be one of them.” Emily closed her eyes for a moment. “I don't want to be one of them,” she repeated as if reminding herself of who she really was. Her frightened eyes found Michael's. “It's happening so fast! I don't have much time, do I?”
It was like the two sides of Emily were fighting to see which would win.
Michael did not know what to say. He just needed to find a way to fix it.
He watched her expression turn from sad concern to curious and then angry.
“Emily, what's wrong?”
She said nothing for a moment, but looked as though she was listening to something. “Charlie?” she questioned softly. “Why are you trying to hurt Charlie?” she asked, as if someone could hear her.
“What about Charlie?” asked Michael. He still had not successfully reached his brother.
Emily gasped. “Oh no!” Her head snapped to the ocean and before Michael could stop her, she ran straight into the water, diving.
He shouted after her, but to no avail. He stood just inches into the crashing waves, searching for any sign of her. For a moment, his heart felt as though it might stop beating. She was gone. Just like that. Gone.
Witches of The Demon Isle Box Set, Volumes 1, 2 & 3 Page 23
