by Ruby Raine
“The mean one. The one that tried to steal your ring. Her voice is wrong.”
“Wrong?”
“I’m not sure how else to describe it. It just doesn’t fit.”
“I'm not really familiar with mermaid voices.”
“I don't think she was a real mermaid,” Emily suddenly blurted, realizing why the voice seemed wrong.
“She sure looked like one,” disagreed Charlie.
“Well, when do things have to look like themselves around here?” Emily asked in her normal tone. She cocked her head, the mermaid side taking over again. “Her voice, gone now. I hear others... they are happy about sisters returning, and yet sad, and scared. Because of sister lost. And bloodsuckers. Bad.” The way Emily spoke was if she were with the other mermaids, listening to them speaking.
“Let’s get out of here,” reminded Charlie, eager to get Emily away from the water. “I'm sure our help is needed elsewhere.”
She followed him out of the cave. As soon as they had cautiously hiked back across the narrow path and aimed back towards town, Charlie took a moment to check his phone. Thirteen voicemails and twenty-three missed calls. Son of a bitch.
He dialed Michael.
“Where the fuck...” Charlie cut him off.
“Let's just say you’re not the only one with a mermaid problem, and I have your girlfriend with me.”
“Emily! She's with you?” Michael took a deep breath, suddenly feeling as though he had been forgetting to breathe.
“She's fine, Michael. Other than the whole being a mermaid thing.”
His brother went silent.
“Michael?”
“Sorry. I just needed a second to restart my heart. I’m not sure how much more I can take today.”
“Where are you?”
“Just leaving Mr. Jordan's place. He's working on a cure for Emily, and frankly, I have a terrible feeling it’s not going to work. Besides that, William and Melinda just called. We appear to have a much larger bloodsucker problem than we initially thought.”
“Where are they?”
“Beach on the north side, just down the street from a fishing pier. You know the one. Dad took us there all the time when we were little.”
“Oh, yeah, I remember it. We'll head that direction.”
“I'll meet you there, and Charlie, please, please don't let Emily back into the water.”
“Don't worry, Bro. Already on top of that.”
Charlie hung up and urged Emily far away from the shore. They’d take the longer route to keep her away from the water.
She stopped suddenly, spinning around. “Can we keep this a secret?”
“Keep what a secret?”
“Sorry. The fact that, um,” her pinks turned rosy.
“Oh. Yeah. That. I do not want to tell Michael, any more than you do.”
“I mean, it’s not really that big a thing, in the overall scheme of things, it’s just that, well... I can’t believe I’m telling you this. Michael and I have never you know. He’s never seen me naked.”
“Shit. Really? I was so hoping he’d seen you naked. Okay, that maybe didn’t come out like I meant it to. I just don’t need another reason for him to hate me.”
“Yeah, and the fact that his brother saw me in my birthday suit before he did, it won’t go over well.”
“I’ll gladly take it to my grave, Emily.” More like strike it out of my memory.
“Thank you, Charlie.”
“If he brings it up at all, just tell him your hair hid everything and you had the dress nearby and I saw nothing.”
“I hate lying to him.”
“It won’t be lying, just not bringing it up or skimming over that part. It’s not like I really saw anything anyway. It was all very fast and beyond chaotic.” Not true. He’d pretty much seen the entire package and the more he tried to erase the picture, the more it just burned into his brain.
She let out a determined breath. “I can lie. For Michael’s sake.”
A waft of salty mist washed off the shore, inland. Emily breathed it in, like taking a hit of some drug.
“Okay. Let’s keep moving.” Charlie aimed her in the direction of the bloodsucker-filled beach.
“THIS IS GOING TO GET messy,” warned Melinda. She and William decided that the only way to keep the bloodsuckers on the beach was to blow one up. Thus keeping them attracted to the blood, and on the beach, rather than slipping back into the water and popping up somewhere else. They also hoped this would attract any lingerers still in the water, getting them to join the rest on the crowded beach.
Melinda focused on one of the bloodsuckers and held her palm, face out, firmly in front of her. She shot off an energy ball, which hit it straight on blowing it up into chunky, bloody bits. Frenzy ensued. The bloodsuckers fought each other to get to the bloody bits first.
Melinda shuddered at the sight. She took a quick glance at the barrier she had created at the back of the beach. It looked to be holding steady. Only she and William would even know it was there, as the barrier mirrored what the beach should look like, rather than what it did look like currently. It ran the length of the sandy beach and stood about twenty feet high, so no one could accidentally see over it.
“I think you need to blow up another one,” William told her. “They are getting restless.”
“Already? Geesh. Haven't these things ever heard of chewing?” She shot off another spell, followed by another and another. “There, that's three. That should keep them busy for a little while.”
“At least long enough to come up with a plan to kill them all.”
“I could just sit here and take them out one by one if I have to, I guess. It’ll take all night...”
“If you start a one-at-a-time mass killing, some will inevitably get away. We could spend days if not weeks searching them out again.”
“Yeah. You're right.” She took a side-glance at him, noticing a bit of wildness in his eyes. “Is the blood too much?”
“The blood is strong, but thankfully not human or I would quite honestly have to leave, or eat.” He sounded far more tempted than usual.
Melinda trembled at the thought of witnessing William on an unstoppable rampage.
A familiar voice hollered onto the beach from behind.
“I can't imagine blood, from actual bloodsuckers, to be very appetizing.”
“Charlie,” returned Melinda, relieved at seeing him. “And Emily. I thought you were with Michael?”
“Um, I kinda swam away,” she bit her lip as if embarrassed and in trouble.
“What are you wearing?” Melinda had never seen Emily looking so poorly dressed. “Wait, isn’t that... I had that in a giveaway pile at the house.”
“Long story,” Emily said, her gaze wandering out to the ocean.
Melinda turned to Charlie, arms on her hips. “So where have you been?”
“Also a long story, but short version, had a bit of mermaid mayhem of my own.”
“Is this entire island going crazy ass bonkers?” Melinda shook her head in disbelief.
“I'll fill you in later,” he promised. “Looks like we've got a pretty nasty situation on our hands.” He looked across the beach at the bloodsuckers.
“Melinda has been keeping them busy,” William explained.
She proceeded to blow up another bloodsucker, causing a new fighting frenzy over the newest bloody bits. “See. Fun, huh? One at a time isn't going to work though. We need a way to kill them all, simultaneously.”
“Emily!” someone shouted.
“Michael,” she called back, seeing him enter the beach.
He raced forward wrapping his arms around her. “You know you're killing me, right? Do you suddenly have some penchant for getting into life-threatening trouble?”
“I do seem to be rather prone to it lately, huh? Sorry.” Emily batted her eyes at him. It was impossible for Michael to stay angry, especially as her long blue locks started to sway in a hypnotizing fashion.
“Enough of that for one day,” stated Charlie. “No mesmerizing anyone,” he chided humorously. “Even if it is your boyfriend.”
“Sorry,” Emily apologized, shrugging cutely. “Couldn't help it.”
Michael’s skin flushed. “If I wasn’t so worried about time running out, I’d be taking full advantage of this situation.”
She giggled, stopping when he swooped in and kissed her. “Just stay by my side,” he pleaded in her ear. “I don't want to lose you again.” He noticed the dress, recognizing it as belonging to his sister.
“Long story,” she sighed. “Short version, some mermaids were trying to trick Charlie into taking off his ring. That’s what I heard when I swam away from you. Charlie had been trying to help the mermaids, thinking they were actually in trouble.”
“It was a setup. They came to the house,” Charlie explained. “Claimed to need my help, and they were bare ass naked frolicking in the yard. So I grabbed some of the dresses Melinda had in her giveaway pile before we went traipsing across the Isle.”
“Tricked you for the ring? How would they even know you have it?” Michael pondered.
“No idea. But your girlfriend pretty much saved my ass.”
Michael looked down at Emily. “You did?” He grinned.
“I’m more than just my brain.”
He wrapped his arms around her, pulled her in, letting out an instant groan. “Jesus. You are so very naked under that dress, aren’t you?”
“Yup.” She tried to keep it light, keep her emotions in check, hoping he’d drop the subject before realizing she’d been naked in front of Charlie.
“I’d so like to take advantage of this situation.”
“And I’d like to let you.”
He let out a needy sigh. He had work to do first. Bloodsuckers to kill. Find some way to keep Emily from becoming a mermaid for the rest of her life. “Just, do not leave my side, please,” he begged her.
“I won’t. Promise.”
“So, is there any plan on how to get rid of the bloodsuckers yet?” Michael aimed at the others. “Mack’s trying her best out there to keep people off the beach, especially the local newspaper reporters and the like.”
“I put up a barrier.” Melinda nodded to the backside of the beach. “But no. No real plan yet. We need to hurry before they all decide to plop back in the water and move on.”
“Speaking of reporters,” grumbled William. “Excuse me a moment.” He darted to the back of the beach.
“Oh. My. God. They're climbing trees now!” Melinda pointed. “They've always got to try to get a snapshot.”
“You can't blame them for trying,” said Michael. “I mean, it keeps tourists coming back. It's good for business.” Seeing Melinda's hot tempered simper, he added, “Not that I condone it of course.”
William returned a moment later. “Reporter suddenly found himself on the ground, didn't know what hit him. Mack's got him now. But I was nice. I let him keep the camera. He had taken only one, very blurry shot.” He was matter of fact in his tone.
“Nicely done,” noted Melinda.
“So,” started Charlie getting back to the issue of the bloodsuckers, “any thoughts on how to...”
A disturbing scream echoed across the water and onto the beach.
Emily covered her ears as if to block out a terrible noise and started to shake, frightened. “Sisters,” she cried out in angst.
She escaped Michael’s grasp; he grabbed after her but she was too fast. She darted through the bloodsuckers on the beach reaching the water's edge.
“My sisters, they're dying!” Emily shouted back. “I must help.” She ran into the water, diving, her legs and feet transforming as the saltwater absorbed into her skin.
“Holy freaking mermaids...” uttered Melinda, upon seeing her friend swim away.
Michael followed Emily, but stopped at the water's edge. He didn't even bother shouting her name, but rather put his hands to his head in complete frustration. He saw her dress surface and grabbed it. An eddy of blood swirled up to the surface.
Michael froze. He’d lost her. She wasn’t coming back to him. He’d finally just told her he loved her, after being a dumbass for stringing her along all these years, and now he’d lost her.
Warnings shouted in his direction. He spun around to see bloodsuckers plunging their way across the beach right at him. No, not him. They were after the blood. But they wouldn’t stop for anything in their way. It was a mass evacuation of slithering bloated bellies. Each fighting to be the first into the bloody water.
Michael fled out of their path, and rejoined Charlie, Melinda and William.
“We have to do something. Now!” Michael’s chest heaved. “I'd like to at least still have a girlfriend when this day ends, even if she is a mermaid!”
“This is very bad,” Melinda exclaimed, holding her hand to her mouth, fearing she might be ill. “Those poor mermaids, they're all going to die.” Her eyes popped wide in angst when she saw Michael's face.
Charlie’s gaze darkened, his eyes focused on the suckers fleeing into the water. “Not on my watch,” he announced decisively. He jogged to the shoreline running into the water, diving when it was deep enough. He allowed the wolf to surface, just a little. He needed his wolf’s silver eyes to see better under the water. And the strength to fight the bloodsuckers if necessary.
Not far ahead, he saw a frenzy of bloodsuckers and mermaids, tangled in a brutal battle to feed, and stay alive. Much to his surprise, however, the mermaids were holding their ground. Their deft movements through the water kept them from getting caught.
Back on the beach, they’d lost sight of Charlie.
Emily was nowhere to be seen.
William eyed the suckers slithering across the sand. He let out a growl and flicked his head to Melinda and Michael. “I’ll handle the beach. You deal with the water.” Blackness engulfed his emerald eyes, burning with a predatory hunger. He sprung into the air sailing twenty feet away, letting out an enraged snarl as he landed. Icy fingers connected with hot bloodsucker. William yanked the sucker’s mouth open and with one thrust, tore it down the middle. Ending its bloodthirsty reign.
Melinda sucked in a quick breath, her eyes wide at the sight. Any show of William's strength always gave her pause. Her William, the man she saw most days, made it easy to forget he wasn’t a normal guy. That he was capable of dangerous and deadly things. It didn’t scare her in the least. It only made her want him even more. Really, Melinda? He’s off fucking limits so get over it already! You’ve already crushed him, isn’t that enough damage for one day?
William groaned. Melinda’s heart did that flutter again. He could hear it even across the beach. He twisted to catch a glance of her and caught her looking away from him. This human is going to be the death of me... he tore his gaze away, focusing on the closest bloodsucker and lunged. He landed with a soft thud, grabbed hold and yanked its soft jaw free from its body.
Michael grabbed Melinda and pointed out across the water. Charlie’s head surfaced. They ran to the water’s edge to meet him. Michael’s heart stalled when Emily popped up next to him.
“Two sisters injured, but they got away,” she told Charlie.
Charlie nodded that he’d heard her.
“We know what to do,” Emily continued. “My sisters can stop them. But they need time to gather.” She never stopped moving the entire time she spoke, swimming nimbly through the churning currents, avoiding the bloodsuckers and the blood trails swirling around them.
“Blood not sister’s,” she went on to say. “Found dead shark. Its blood attracts creatures. It’s war down there!”
“Sounds like we need a distraction,” said Charlie. “And nothing attracts a bloodsucker like more blood.” He turned to see Michael and Melinda stepping into the water.
“Don’t come in any deeper,” advised Charlie. “Use that dinghy.” He pointed with his head. It wasn’t far away.
Michael raced to the dinghy to see if the pad
dles were inside. They were. He untied it while Charlie explained to Melinda what he wanted them to do. Michael dragged the dinghy over to Melinda. He froze for a second when he saw his sister blow up a sucker and go elbow deep in its bloody chunks.
“This is so totally the grossest thing I have ever done,” she said hotly, as she threw the bits into the dinghy.
“Yeah, I kind of have to agree with you on that one, Sis.” Regardless, Michael dug in, helping her. Once full, they hopped into the dinghy and paddled out, meeting Charlie.
“Wow. You two are covered...”
“Shut up, Charlie,” Melinda and Michael said at once.
Melinda took a bloody chunk and threw it in the water.
Emily dragged Charlie away from the boat as the bloodsuckers began racing mercilessly towards the bloody chunks. Melinda and Michael hoped the sucker’s frenzied movements wouldn’t capsize the dinghy. It wasn’t that sturdy. Meant only to get passengers to larger boats, docked further out. It wasn’t meant for strong currents.
Once out of harm’s way, Charlie asked Emily what the mermaid’s plan was. For a second, Emily sounded a bit more like Emily, and less like a mermaid.
“My sisters will use their sonic call to kill them. The only problem is, it will also kill every other living thing in the water that’s too close.”
“I think I can help there,” said Charlie. “We can put up a barrier, like we did on the beach, which should keep the sonic call within its confines.”
“I tell sisters.” Emily sounded mermaidish again. She did not leave, however, but rather went silent. After a moment, she smiled at Charlie. “They agree. They think will work. They gather now, just below, as creatures surround boat.”
Charlie shook his head, looking at Emily. She grinned, even in all this chaos and battle raging. It wasn’t really her though, he knew this. The mermaid was taking hold. He started to worry Michael might lose her to the ocean...
He had to set that concern aside. It would do no good right now. He shouted for Michael and Melinda, filling them in on the mermaid’s plan. “Just keep the blood coming and keep them busy as long as possible. I’ll be back as fast as I can.”
Emily dove into the water. Michael’s heart stalled again. Each time she disappeared, he wondered if it would be the last time he’d see her.
