Jack was almost chest high in the water when the water nymph dived away from him. He took a step forward to follow her and almost inhaled water as his foot slipped into a hole. He kicked his legs, rising up again, and then examined what lay underneath him.
There was a massive pit thirty feet or so off the coral atoll’s coast, and the water nymph was slowly swimming down into it. She watched him as he watched her, as though daring him to follow. Or perhaps, taunting him over the fact that he probably wouldn’t.
Jack took a few deep breaths. The potion he’d drunk would allow him a certain amount of flexibility when it came to how deep he could dive and how long he could stay under. That didn’t exactly change the fact that he’d be diving into an underwater sinkhole, in the middle of the night, with a somewhat hostile supernatural creature awaiting him.
He looked down into the pit. It was deep enough to be completely dark after a few feet. Anything could be down there, on top of just the water nymph. Sharks. Water snakes. Undiscovered sea monsters. Jack understood why so many people were afraid of deep, open water. He did not like what he was about to do. It made him feel nervous to a degree that threatened his senses.
He pulled his legs in and lifted his arms up over his head, letting himself slowly descend into the blackness beneath him.
CHAPTER 30
The pit was deeper than it had initially looked, much to Jack’s annoyance. He sank quickly at first, but it took a concerted effort after the first ten feet or so. Jack had to reorient himself with his head facing downward into the pit, pulling his arms through the water and fighting against his own buoyancy for each inch.
Something moved out of the corner of his eye. Jack glanced over and saw the distinctive shape and fin style of a large, predatory shark. He almost screamed, barely managing to keep from expelling the store of oxygen in his lungs. His heart pounded so hard in his chest that it made his ribs hurt, and he felt a queasy, nauseous feeling expanding upward from the depths of his bowels.
He watched the shark and blinked several times in confusion as it dissolved, shifting form into that of a stereotypical mermaid, instead. The mermaid swam around him, and a bit of Jack’s tension melted away as he realized that it was only the water nymph playing mind games with him. She’d revealed herself, and that was what he wanted, even if he’d almost soiled his pants in fear initially.
He tried to pull himself closer to her and managed to get within a few feet. As soon as he reached a hand out to make contact, however, the water nymph shifted out of her mermaid shape, exploding into a school of fish. They swirled and spiraled, and then swam deeper into the pit. Against his better judgement, Jack followed.
He could barely see through the water at his current depth. His enhanced vision was only enough to allow him to make out vague shapes and outlines. He saw the school of fish coalesce back into the water nymph’s normal, nubile form and disappear through a craggy, underwater hole in the side of the pit.
Jack approached the edge of it. He reached an arm inside, hoping to get a grip on the nymph. Instead, he found himself grasping at empty water. The hole was apparently the entrance to an underwater cave system.
The horrible mixture of anxiety and nausea he’d been fighting off before returned with a vengeance. Following the water nymph into an underwater cave was a terrible idea. Possibly the worst idea he’d ever had over the course of his entire life.
But the alternative was to give up. To leave the island to potentially face another storm of a degree that transcended the definition of a disaster, approaching apocalyptic levels. He had to stop the water nymph. The potion was working, and he felt like he could hold his breath for at least another few more minutes. There was no reason to stop outside of his own, illogical fear.
He bit his lip hard enough to almost draw blood and slipped through the cave entrance, ignoring the tension in his muscles. The tunnel he found himself in was about as wide as a manhole cover, and he bumped his head against the rocky ceiling a couple of times before figuring out the best way to swim forward.
The tunnel curved after about ten feet. It was pitch-black for a little while after that until Jack reached a section with slimy, luminescent algae coating the rocks in patches. It gave the cave an eerie quality, almost like what he would have expected from the interior of an alien’s spaceship.
Jack reached an intersection, and felt his doubts began to well up again as he realized how expansive the underwater cave system could potentially be. He caught sight of the water nymph’s lower half, blue buttocks and beautiful legs, disappearing down one of the forks. He followed after her, trying to burn the route he was taking into his memory so he could find his way back later.
The tunnel curved upward, and then plunged downward. Jack was getting to the point where he suspected he’d be halfway toward burning through the oxygen in his lungs, even with the potion. The tunnel grew narrower, forcing him to kick his legs and pull his arms with restricted swipes to make any progress.
The tunnel grew so narrow that he realized, in a moment of horrified panic, that he wouldn’t be able to turn around, even if he’d wanted to. The claustrophobia was severe enough to paralyze him for a moment of true terror. And then, he realized that if he needed to, he could always cast Shadow Form and slip out the way he’d came, probably with far more ease than he’d managed going in.
Knowing that gave him the courage to keep pushing forward. He reached a small choke point in the tunnel that he wasn’t sure he’d even be able to squeeze through, but he gave it a shot anyway. It took a lot of wiggling, and a shoulder movement that left the skin of one arm scratched raw by a rough section of rock, but he made it through, and into a wider cave on the other side.
The water overhead looked strange, and it took Jack a couple of seconds to realize that it was because it was a place where he could surface. And he did just that, immediately taking a breath of sweet, though slightly stale, air.
Jack was in a small, underwater chamber, with a flat section of rocky cave that rose above the water and narrowed out into a funnel shape that might have led even deeper. He swam forward, finding a place where the water was shallow enough for him to be able to stand, and surveyed his surroundings.
There was evidence of the water nymph’s presence all around him. It almost looked like the nest of a weasel, with a collection of various objects of significance to the nymph. Necklaces and various bits of shiny jewelry were scattered about. Several children’s beach toys, including a pool noodle, a sand bucket, and a few water fins were also in the midst. There was also an odd collection of ocean refuse, including lost life preservers, a few fishing poles, and two or three genuine messages in glass bottles.
It wasn’t all innocent, however. Jack saw a few human limbs, torn from dead bodies, lying partially decayed on the stone floor, with bites taken out of them. There was a pile of women’s clothes as well, and most of them had blood or vomit stains on them.
The water nymph stood in the center of her damp abode, staring at him impassively. Jack felt a sudden surge of frustration. She was so close to being able to understand. So close to knowing better, and yet still so far.
“I can’t let you keep doing this.” He snapped his hand to the side, and he summoned his Spectral Sword. “I’m sorry. I really am.”
The nymph seemed to sense his intentions as soon as he had his weapon in hand. She rose up on her toes and crashed forward, turning into water and then solidifying into a serpent nearly as thick around as Jack’s waist and several times longer than he was tall.
The serpent let out a watery hiss and snapped forward, moving with the speed of an attacking cobra, despite being a hundred times larger. Jack threw himself to the side and swung his sword in a counter-strike. It sliced through the serpent’s gleaming blue scales, but the cut instantly refilled with water and healed as though it had never existed.
He had to throw himself into a dive roll to avoid the serpent’s snapping teeth, and he banged his head against the stone
painfully in the process. He whipped his sword into another slash as he came back to standing, trying to buy himself some space.
It worked, but only for a couple of seconds. The water nymph approached him cautiously in her serpent form, slithering from side to side, trying to find an angle of attack. Jack knew that it would only be a matter of time before it managed to find one. He couldn’t do anything against it with his sword or with his magic.
He waited, watching each and every movement that the monstrous snake made. It grew still for a moment, then shot forward with an alarming amount of speed. This time, it didn’t try to attack Jack directly. It went past him and curled to the side. Jack realized what it was doing a second too late.
The serpent came back around, creating a loop around Jack with its own body. It squeezed together before he could do anything to escape or stop it. Jack felt the air being forced out of his lungs, and it was almost immediately replaced by water, forced down his lungs by the creature’s magic.
He saw black spots dance across his vision as he struggled to remain conscious. He couldn’t execute his plan, not like this. Jack drew from his blood essence and cast Shadow Form, re-positioning himself to the side of the serpent. He coalesced and shot his hand into the pocket of his jeans in a single movement, pulling out the trump card he’d requested from Jessie.
A small amount of water had sneaked into the ziploc bag, but not enough to soak the taser completely. Jack curled his finger through the trigger and pulled it tight. An arc of blue-white electricity danced between the two prongs. He didn’t hesitate, slamming the weapon’s tips into the serpent’s flank.
Electricity danced across the creature, and it let out a bloodcurdling shriek. The serpent’s form wavered, dissolving back into water, which flowed away from Jack and reformed into the shape of the water nymph. She had a furious expression on her face, the kind of look that dripped with cruelty.
Jack pressed his advantage. He moved to cut the nymph off from the pool of water that led back to the caves and the ocean. She hissed at him and swung her fingers in an arc, as though she were a cat clawing at a human. Jack glanced behind him, as though dropping his guard, and then surged forward unexpectedly, slamming the taser into her a second time.
The water nymph screeched, writhing in pain. She splashed onto the stone floor as a pool of water and then reformed, her eyes searching for an escape route. Jack made sure not to give her one, standing with his arms outstretched, ready to attack again if she tried it.
The water nymph dissolved, and this time, she moved away from him and the obvious route of escape. She flowed as a singular stream of water over to the collected pile of junk. Jack watched in disbelief as she pressed herself into one of the empty glass message bottles. It seemed impossible to him that the amount of water that her body consisted of could fit in such a tiny space, but somehow, she managed it.
He stared at the bottle containing the water nymph for a couple of seconds before seeing the obvious opportunity it presented. There was a cork on the ground nearby, and Jack grabbed it in a rush of movement, slamming it into the bottle’s lip to form an airtight seal.
The water inside looked no different from regular water, but it swirled around a couple of times, like a miniature, contained cyclone. Jack flipped it upside down, testing to make sure that the seal was as good as it looked. Not a drop came out.
“…Alright,” he said. “This… could work.”
He hadn’t wanted to kill the water nymph, despite the fact that she posed as much of a threat to the town as she did. She was a killer, but a mindless one in the truest definition of the word. Jack suspected that she didn’t have a concept of right or wrong, perhaps not even the type of intelligence needed for any sort of morality.
He gave the bottle a shake. The water reverberated against the interior of the glass for a couple seconds longer than it should have, but nothing else happened. He let out a sigh of relief, slipping the bottle into his pocket. There was no need for him to decide what to do with the water nymph immediately, now that she’d been contained.
Jack made his way over to the water and slowly slid his way back down into it. He really hoped he could remember the route out of the underwater caves.
CHAPTER 31
It was far easier for Jack to retrace his steps—or more accurately, his floundering kicks—than he thought it was going to be. He was forced to cast Shadow Form to navigate through the narrow section that had given him trouble before, but aside from that, it was relatively straightforward.
The fact that he was leaving, rather than entering, certainly helped his morale. When Jack finally broke out into the open ocean and made it back to the surface for that first taste of fresh, night air, he let himself breathe a sigh of relief.
Of course, he still had to make it back to Lestaron Island from where he currently was. In the middle of the night. With no boat. No phone to call for help. Not even a GPS or hell, even a compass to navigate by.
He made his way onto the surf of the coral atoll, finding his paddle board and doing his best to ignore the bodies. Jack still had a sense of the direction he’d come in from originally, and after debating the pros and cons of hanging out at the aquatic graveyard in hopes of being rescued by a passing ship, he decided to take his chances.
Waiting until the next day or possibly even longer than that to be spotted, was betting on a long shot. Besides, there were a few advantages to setting out while it was still night that he hadn’t considered before.
As soon as Jack was balanced on the paddle board, he focused a sliver of his remaining blood essence to cast Spectral Hand. He extended the shadowy, ethereal tendrils out from his shoulder blades, positioning himself on the board so that he was flat on his stomach.
Then, he began to use the tendrils to pull himself forward. It was very similar to how a person might have performed the front crawl on a paddle board, but with eight arms instead of two. Jack immediately began to pick up speed, and his focus shifted from maintaining speed to navigating. He dipped the paddle in the water behind him, leaning it from side to side in the manner of a crude rudder.
It took him a little over an hour to reach Lestaron Island, but it felt far longer than that. The stretch in the middle after he’d moved out of easy sight of the coral atoll but before he spotted the main island was basically a long series of anxious, doubtful moments over his chosen course.
When Jack reached the shallows of the same beach he’d taken off from, he was almost too tired to stand. It had been a long, eventful day. He brought the paddle board back over to the remnants of the rental stand, found his shoes and personal effects over by where Mira had set her towel down, and started into town.
As tempted as he was to head straight back to the mansion, the municipal building was essentially right on the way. There weren’t many people on the street as he traveled down the sidewalk, but given the time of night and the state of the town, he wasn’t surprised.
There was shouting coming from the doors of the building when Jack arrived, which gave him pause. He made the last stretch up to the entrance slowly, keeping out of direct line of sight.
“I’m trying to warn you!” shouted the voice of a loud man. “I swear I’m not crazy! I know what I saw!”
The conversation sounded heated, but only on one side, and whoever was responding to the man spoke too quietly for Jack to overhear.
“No!” said the shouting man. “He’s a monster! He killed Davis, and he… did something to Kelly. I don’t even know what! She’s just not like she was before.”
Jack exhaled through his teeth. He’d left more than one of the looters alive, as he recalled. It had seemed petty and unimportant to kill the unconscious man, at the time. He’d assumed that killing two of the man’s friends and enthralling a third would be enough to deter him from trying again in the future.
Sliding up to the edge of the open door, Jack risked a glance around the side. The man whose life he’d spared stood in the middle of the sou
p kitchen. Around him, a dozen or so people were lying or sitting across the floor, most of them on makeshift beds. All of them cowering in fear from the looter with the gun.
Jessie, Mira, and Bruce were the only people in the room still on their feet. Jessie was gesturing with one hand, trying to get the looter to put his gun down. Jack considered the situation for a moment. He slipped through the door, holding his hands up.
“Hey,” he said. “What’s going on here?”
The looter whirled on him, recognition quickly dawning on his expression as Jack stepped into the light. He let out a tiny, squeaking noise, and aimed his gun at Jack in a shaky hand.
“That’s him!” shouted the looter. “The… the monster! He killed them! He killed all of them!”
Jack kept his expression neutral, even as a twisting feeling took hold deep within his gut. Being exposed as a vampire would mean… well, he wasn’t exactly sure what it would mean. He just knew that the thought of it made his palms feel clammy, and a lump form in his throat.
“I tried to talk them down,” Jack mumbled. “The looters, including this gentleman, were in a standoff when I arrived at the movie theater.”
“He’s lying!” shouted the looter. “He came in and started, started… he turned invisible. And then he had a sword, and, and…”
Jack held his hands out and tried his best to look dumbfounded. He was so worried about being outed that he didn’t realize how crazy the looter actually sounded until glancing at Bruce and Jessie, seeing the amusement on their faces, despite the nature of the situation.
“It was dark in the theater,” said Jack, addressing everyone but the looter. “This guy and his friends… I just assumed they’d found someone’s drug stash and were a few lines deep.”
Water Nymph Page 17