Greed and Other Dangers

by TJ Nichols

  He checked the headphones were still in his pocket, though he didn’t know what good they’d do if he ended up in the water.

  Edra strolled down their pier, looking more like a tourist than a cop or even a mytho cop. He had on shorts, the ones he’d been given when naked in the Presidio, and a T-shirt and a pair of old runners.

  He gave Jordan a once-over and lifted his eyebrows. “You aren’t dressed for a swim.”

  “And you are.” What was going on?

  “If I have to shift in a hurry, I’d rather be wearing cheap clothes.”

  “You’re expecting this to go badly.”

  He gave a sharp nod. “It’s mermaids. Of course it’s going to go badly.”

  They stepped onto the boat, and Edra shuddered and clamped his teeth together. Then he sucked in a breath, stepped farther aboard, and found a seat. Jordan let the officers know they were ready to go.

  “Don’t get too close, and don’t go too fast,” Edra said, his face pale.

  Jordan leaned on the railing next to him so he could watch the water. “Do you not like boats?”

  Edra looked up. “I fly. This… this is….” The boat pulled away from the pier, and Edra swallowed.

  “They sell seasick tablets.”

  “Mmm.” Edra closed his eyes.

  “Did you want to fly?”

  “I can’t talk to them if I’m a dragon. Shut up and let me not think about this.”

  Jordan smiled. Dragons had weaknesses. He breathed in the salt water spray as the boat skipped over the waves. Several tourist boats were out—twin-hulled catamarans and speedboats. All were avoiding the area marked off with warning buoys, but the police boat slowed and then crossed the line.

  Edra straightened and opened his eyes. “Keep your gaze on the water. They won’t let us get much closer.” He stood and gripped the railing so tight his knuckles whitened. He jerked his head at the island, where mermaids had been sunning themselves. “Look. They’re sliding into the water.”

  Like so many bony gray seals, they wiggled off the rocks and into the water. Their hair streamed out like seaweed as they made their way toward the boat. While six remained on the surface, the rest vanished. Jordan had never felt more like prey, and mermaids were smarter than sharks.

  The boat didn’t feel big enough. He glanced at Edra. Coming here was a bad idea, and Jordan couldn’t fly away if they got into trouble.

  A knock sounded beneath the boat. Then another.

  “Kill the engine,” Edra said.

  The driver ignored him. Something scraped along the bottom of the boat, and the hull screamed as though it were being cut open.

  “Do what he says,” Jordan said. The sound echoed in his bones.

  The boat stopped and was silent, rocking dead on the waves. Up until that point, it had seemed like a routine outing. Now, as one mermaid approached the boat, her eyes wide and pale like pearls, Jordan wished that he hadn’t been so insistent. But he was the cop responsible for mytho crimes, so he had to do this.

  The boat tipped to the side, and Edra swore. He shot Jordan a glare that was almost as terrifying as the mermaid now staring up at them. Jordan gripped the railing a little tighter because he didn’t want to fall in.

  “What do you want, knight?” There was no respect in her use of the title.

  “I need to speak with the water dragon.”

  She squealed like worn-through brakes. “There is no water dragon. Why did you bring humans here?”

  “This is Inspector Kells. We’re investigating some stolen elf armor. I spoke to the water dragon only a few days ago.”

  “Are you good to eat, Kells?”

  The boat lurched as it tipped further, and a wave sloshed over the side. Jordan gripped the railing with both hands and wished he’d worn a life vest. “They’re going to toss us out.”

  “Yeah, probably. Then they’ll torture us to death and eat us. Happy?” Edra muttered. “Where is Mistress Selena?”

  “Not here.”

  The knocks on the hull continued, interspersed with scrapes, as though they were peeling the boat like a metal orange and he was the juicy flesh inside.

  “Who are you?” Edra asked.

  She laughed, and Jordan had to fight the urge not to shudder.

  “What about the dragon eggs? Where are they?” Jordan said. They weren’t going to get anything of use out of the mermaids. Edra had said they were difficult, but it wasn’t as though they could haul them into the station for questioning. Or could they? Jordan lowered his voice. “Can we bring her in?”

  “Are you—”

  The boat pitched and Jordan slipped, smashing his elbow on something metal. He swore and tried to get his footing. The mermaid grabbed a handful of Edra’s shirt and pulled him over. Jordan reached for Edra’s leg, but his fingers only brushed his skin. Then he was gone beneath the water.

  “Edra! Fuck.” He toed off his shoes. The banging and rocking had stopped. It was safe.

  A hand on his arm stopped him. “I wouldn’t,” said the officer in charge of the boat.

  Jordan shrugged off his hand. He needed to get Edra. But as he looked at the water, his courage faltered. Mermaids surfaced all around the boat, all of their pale eyes on them like so many hungry sharks waiting for dinner to drop overboard. Jordan stared back. They were barely inside mermaid territory, but it didn’t matter. They would never reach the border if they started the boat or tried to swim. They were being detained.

  Chapter 9

  THE WATER was cold. It squeezed Edra’s lungs, but he didn’t breathe out. He could hold his breath for longer than a human, and that might matter. Drowning might be easier and less painful. The water darkened as he was dragged down until the surface was barely distinguishable from what was below.

  Her hands were strong, and he couldn’t twist out of her grip. He pulled off the T-shirt, but her hands found purchase on his arms, her fingernails like spines dug into his flesh. But the poison was in her tail, and so far that was well away from him.

  If above mermaids were gray and ghastly, the opposite was true below. The sunlight they absorbed made them glow with a blue phosphorescence that turned them into something far beyond beauty. These were the mermaids the tales spoke of. He could appreciate that and fear it in the same heartbeat.

  Those who saw a mermaid in the deep and survived were few and far between. He wasn’t ready to die, and he didn’t want this cruel beauty to be the last thing he saw.

  He kicked out, not certain if they were going up or down or sideways. He was disorientated. It wouldn’t matter how long he could hold his breath if he didn’t know where he was swimming to.

  When she opened her ghostly lips to sing, all he wanted to do was breathe in the beauty and swallow the bay.

  He tried to cover his ears, but her hands were on him, pulling him down. Deeper and colder. His lungs were burning. He wanted to stay there and live in this terrible moment. He knew there was something else to live for, but it was just out of reach. Her song wrapped around him until he didn’t want to even try to get free.

  Then something barreled into his side and sent him tumbling through the darkness.

  The song stopped and turned into something harsher as two mermaids argued.

  For a heartbeat he mourned the loss of the song and the comfort of death. Then he blinked, and the burn in his lungs cut through the fog.

  Edra breathed out just enough to see which way his bubbles went, by the light of the mermaids, and he kicked in that direction, not knowing how long he had or what was going on. When arms grabbed his waist, he pushed at the mermaid’s cold, slick skin. He didn’t want to drown.

  She dragged him up far faster than he could swim, and they broke the surface, Selena still holding him.

  “Release the… the man,” the cop on the boat said, pointing his gun at Selena.

  Edra heaved in a breath and then another until he was able to speak. “Different mermaid. This is Mistress Selena.”

  Jordan
tapped the guy’s gun down and lowered his own.

  “Before I go back to the boat, I need to know who the water dragon is and where the stolen dragon eggs are.”

  Selena released him. “I should’ve let you drown. You’re trouble.”

  “I gave you a boat and a human, and you haven’t eaten him yet,” Edra said, just loud enough for her to hear. He trod water, not glancing down even though mermaids’ glowing bodies swirled beneath him as though they waited for another chance to drown him. He’d been lucky, but he didn’t know if it would hold. The boat was only about twenty yards away. It might as well have been on the other side of the ocean.

  “He hasn’t been out yet. If he had….” She snapped her teeth.

  “I need the dragon eggs back. They have to stay warm.”

  “It’s love trials. I cannot interfere.”

  “It’s kidnapping. You would sink a city if your children were stolen while still in their soft egg.”

  She tossed her head and glanced at Jordan on the boat. “He was there last time. He gave me a gift.”

  Something brushed Edra’s bare leg, but he didn’t dare look down. He kind of hoped it was a shark and not a mermaid. “He is the human… knight.” Selena wouldn’t know what a cop was, or care.

  Something grabbed his ankle and he went under, only to come up spluttering. Was Selena playing with him before she killed him?

  “Let me speak to him.” Her words were sharp, like broken glass.

  “No. You cannot have him. He is mine.” The words were barely out of his mouth before he went under again. He could hear the laughter but not understand the words. Their language below was not made for nonmermaid ears. He was dragged farther down.

  Fuck. He shifted to his dragon form in an effort to break free, and the mermaids released him, giving him time to flap and push himself out of the water and into the air.

  He spun around, oriented himself, and headed for the boat, but he couldn’t beat Selena there. She hung off the side, out of the water, and her tail arched over her, spines out. Edra landed on the boat with a wet skid but found no purchase on the metal deck. He yanked Jordan away from the edge with the claws that tipped his wings.

  The other two men swore and cowered in the cabin with their hands over their ears, as though that would save them if the mermaids upended the boat.

  Edra shook off the shift so he could speak, but he kept his grip on Jordan.

  “You want to have fun, don’t you?” Selena beckoned to Jordan. “We are more fun than dragons.”

  It was only then Edra realized Jordan had his earphones in. The bright blue buds sticking out of his ears were almost hidden by his hair.

  Edra tried to reason with Selena again. “Mistress, I would not interfere with the love trials, but stealing the young of another is wrong.” Even by mermaid standards it was wrong. “You know that.”

  “I will find the eggs, but you will owe me.”

  “Want to make a storm?”

  Her eyes widened. “Why?”

  “The fires. The mayor in charge of the city thinks you making rain will create some goodwill. You might even get some bodies.”

  She lowered her tail, and Edra’s heart stopped madly trying to escape. If the mermaids attacked, there was enough poison in each spine to kill a dozen men.

  “Tonight?”

  “No.” The mayor wanted to give people time to prepare. It was Thursday—not that the mer counted time in days of the week. “The fourth day. And I want the eggs first. If they are cold and dead, someone will have to pay.”

  Selena considered him for a moment, and then her gaze slid to Jordan. Edra was still holding him too close, with one hand on his arm, the other around his waist. Too intimate. She’d noticed. Had the other men on the boat? He eased his hold.

  Selena smiled, all conical teeth. “Very well, knight.”

  Jordan pulled his earbuds out. “Do we have a name for the water dragon?”

  “Narv Skery.” She dropped back into the water. “For all the good it will do you.”

  Chapter 10

  JORDAN SLAPPED the railing and peered over the edge, but she was gone, a flicker of blue light in the water. “Christ.”

  He raked his fingers through his hair and turned to face Edra, who was dripping. He put his arms around him and squeezed hard, not wanting to let go. “I thought you were gone.”

  “So did I.”

  He didn’t want to let go, but there were two other cops on the boat, and they were both staring. He gave Edra a slap on the shoulder, as though they were buddies and nothing more. “Get him a towel and get us out of here.”

  “You didn’t say he was one of them.”

  Edra turned, his head swiveling a little further than should be humanly possible. “One of what?”

  “Mytho,” the older cop replied.

  The younger one, the one who’d been keen to come out to the island, handed Edra a towel with a grin. “You’re a dragon, awesome.”

  Edra wrapped the towel around himself and didn’t respond. He didn’t seem hurt. He had a few scratches on his arms and legs, but they weren’t even bleeding. When he’d burst out of the water as a silver dragon it had been one of the most amazing things Jordan had ever seen.

  The boat started up, and they headed away from the island. Edra stared at it until they crossed the buoy line. The mermaids either sank beneath the water or returned to the rocks, their afternoon of fun over.

  “And if I weren’t mytho, you’d all be under water.” Edra sat. Water dripped off his hair and traced over his skin. He flexed his fingers and kept his gaze on the deck.

  Jordan wanted to touch him, make sure that he was okay. When the mermaids swam close to the surface, they moved like glow-in-the-dark sharks. You could see them coming, more terrifying than any horror movie.

  He’d put the earbuds in because he didn’t want to be lured into going over, and to stop the shrieks and taunts as they tried to lure him in. The other two cops had cowered.

  Jordan sat next to Edra and fingered the edge of the towel. “Are you okay?” he asked softly.

  Edra nodded unconvincingly. “I don’t think she would’ve drowned me. She was protecting her lover.”

  “Narv Skery? Is he the thief?”

  “Selena all but admitted it. She warned me not to get involved.” Edra lifted his gaze. “I don’t know how you’re hoping to solve this. The best I can hope for is getting the eggs back alive.”

  “The armor is gone?”

  “You want to go in and get it?”

  He wasn’t sure he would ever go in the ocean again. Above the city, the sky was burnt orange. “A water dragon didn’t set fire to the hills.”

  Edra drew in a breath and shook his head. “Not unless he was carrying matches. Lesser dragons don’t breathe fire. I’ll interview the dragons again, but it’s like talking to a child. They have a few hundred words, and time has no meaning to them. Cause and effect are fluid.” He shrugged and glanced out at the water. “The tales about the merfolk tell of their beauty and their song….” He sighed. “I didn’t realize the devastation of their beauty. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “You were down there a while. Do you need to be checked out?” Mermaids were not beautiful. Was Edra’s brain oxygen starved?

  Edra’s lips twitched into a smile. “It’s different below. Dark, lit only by them.”

  Jordan stared at him. “Maybe you shouldn’t go home alone.”

  He was going to have to write this up somehow. He glanced at the uniformed officers. For all of the young man’s bravado, he’d been terrified. He kept glancing at Edra as though expecting him to shift. They would have to mandate noise-cancelling headphones for anyone out on the bay.

  Jordan didn’t know where to start with his report, but he had a name, and that was something.

  “Why did Selena pull you up?”

  “Because she still respects what I was. How much longer that will last, I don’t know. Everything is changing. Th
e old rules are losing meaning. Maybe it all means nothing.” He covered Jordan’s hand with his. “Swear you’ll never go out on the water without me.”

  Edra’s grip tightened to the point of pain.

  “I swear.” It wasn’t a hard promise to make. He’d never seen Edra truly afraid until today.

  JORDAN EXPECTED Edra to put up more of a fight, but he got in the car, and when Jordan parked in front of his apartment, Edra followed him upstairs, still wrapped in the towel, leaving only a damp butt print on his leather seat.

  As he drove, Jordan had called to request info on Narv Skery, fully expecting nothing to come back. He also requested information on all mytho artifact thefts in California. The officer had grumbled about the paperwork. But if Narv was a thief, the odds were good he’d committed more than two crimes.

  Narv was unregistered and water dwelling, which meant he could go anywhere. He could skip town before anything got pinned on him, and most people would never realize Narv existed.

  Jordan had spent two years working burglary, where he wrapped up a big fence case. Even though he nailed d’Angelo, there’d always been something about it that had bothered him. D’Angelo was a middleman, and he hadn’t named anyone higher, preferring to go to prison. They arrested some of the thieves who worked for him, but they were all human and some had long sheets. But there were prints with no matches, so the thief was still out there.

  He shook his head. Narv was doing a love trial. He wasn’t a common thief.

  Sinner bounded up the stairs and raced them to the door, only to hiss as Edra approached.

  “Stand down, kitty. You aren’t going to win this.” Jordan’s hand shook just a little as he put his key in the lock. Stress. He’d just watched his… dragon… almost drown.

  There was a knot inside of him that he’d felt even before the boat trip. He wasn’t sure when it started. When Edra left after the movie? Possibly. Jordan had put it down to pent-up lust, a classic case of blue balls. But he’d taken care of that.