by Michele Hauf
Chapter Nine
Nolan floated at the top of the cage like a dead fish for days. The sea hag returned regularly to tempt him with promises of sex, riches and everything her twisted mind could imagine that a human turned vampire might desire.
The first day into what Nolan calculated was his second week trapped underwater, she arrived on the back of a kelpie, a dagger in her hand.
"What about blood, vampire? Would you love me for blood?" She held out one smooth green-tinged arm.
The need for blood had been growing in Nolan for days. He closed his eyes, but could feel his body shake.
"Ah...you do need blood...." The sea hag reined her kelpie closer. She hovered above his cage, looking down at him.
"What kind of blood do you crave, vampire? Mermaid? Kelpie? Dragon? Tell me you love me and it will be yours."
The herd of kelpies that always accompanied Melusine on her visits blew air softly out of their noses, and the dragon stirred.
Eyes still closed, Nolan replied. "Will a lie break your curse, hag?"
Melusine slapped her tail against her kelpie's side, causing the animal to shriek. "Don't call me that."
"What?" Nolan opened one eye. Melusine had never shown emotion before. "Hag? The world calls you hag. Didn't you know that?"
"No!" Melusine lowered her tail and whacked it against Nolan's cage, sending it, and the dragon still curled around it, flying. The chain anchoring the cage in place tightened, and the cage jerked to a stop. Nolan slammed into the bars, releasing a grunt as he did.
Holding onto the bars, he forced his body into a vertical position and stared at his captor. "Outbursts won't change the truth anymore than a lie. The world knows you as a hag and a monster, and it appears they are right. Melusine, whoever she was, is dead. This is what you are now."
"No!" Melusine dropped onto his cage, her tail wrapping around it and her hands reaching inside to grab him.
"Truth," he yelled. "You will never find a man to love you and break your curse. No man could love what you have become."
"Then more men will die," she muttered, her hands groping for Nolan, while her tail continued to squeeze the cage.
The kelpies and the dragon had backed away. They floated at a distance now, watching as Melusine raged and clawed, trying to reach Nolan to silence him.
Metal creaked, and Melusine smiled. "I will crush you in this cage, vampire."
"And you will still be alone," he replied, his gaze shifting to the corners of the cage and the metal that was beginning to bend...to weaken.
If the cage broke, he could get free, but could he escape? He hadn't fed in a week.
The tip of Melusine's tail poked through the bars, jabbing the water, searching for Nolan.
Blood. He needed blood.
Not allowing himself to think further, he kicked his legs and propelled himself forward. Wrapping his arms and legs around the sea hag's tail, he sank his fangs into her flesh.
Her blood was cold and thick, and tasted of salt and oil. Nolan's first instinct was to spit out the vile liquid, and pull away, but something told him to hang on and drink as he had never drank before.
He did, guzzling until he thought he would be sick.
Melusine screamed and thrashed, trying to free her tail from his fangs. She slammed his body against the bars, but the more he drank, the stronger he felt. Until he looked out at the sea and saw things differently.
The kelpies morphed, not horses, but women, bound in chains of seaweed with their mouths gagged. And the dragon, was a merman, tied in the same bonds as the kelpies but his entire body wrapped in the stuff so his arms were pinned down and he had no choice but to undulate his body like a snake's.
She's trapped you, he thought. And the dragon lifted his head. A new understanding...hope shone in his eyes. The kelpies moved too, their eyes wide and filled with fear.
Re-energized, Nolan kicked his legs against the bars. They creaked and bent. He kicked again. He felt them give, but Melusine did too. She reached inside the broken cage and grabbed him with her tail.
Then she squeezed and squeezed some more until Nolan heard a new noise...his ribs and spine breaking. His heart would be next—not pierced, but crushed. It would have to have the same effect.
Blood dribbled from his mouth and his senses dulled.
Wishes do come true, he thought. I'm dying.
Allera swam by Sarina's side as they returned to the sea hag's home. Sarina had told her sister how she got the soul, but she hadn't told her everything. She hadn't admitted that she loved a human, or what the mermaids would see as a human.
"Why are we returning?" Allera asked as she brushed aside a school of fish that had surrounded them. "Does Melusine have more souls?"
"Perhaps." It had occurred to Sarina that if the sea hag had found Allera's soul she might have found others too, but that wasn't why Sarina was swimming until her arms and tail ached, why she hadn't stopped to sleep or eat since leaving the sea hag's realm.
She was going back to find Nolan—to save him.
She knew their love was lost, knew there was no way he could forgive her for what she had done to him, but she also knew she couldn't leave him to the fate the sea hag had planned for him.
"We should have brought the others," Allera added.
"They wouldn't come."
"For the promise of souls they would have."
Perhaps, but soulless mermaids were too undependable and unstable. They could have been captured by the sea hag and turned into man-hunting monsters in her quest for the love that would free her from her curse.
"We can take the souls to them," Sarina said. She'd tried to get her sister to stay behind, but Allera had insisted on following. At some point she would learn Sarina's true reason for returning to the sea hag's world, but not until Sarina had Nolan in her sights—when it would be too late for Allera to fight her.
It took them another hour to reach the area where the dragon had attacked them. Sarina slowed her frantic pace to a steady flip of her tail.
Allera slowed too. "Something is...off," she murmured.
Sarina nodded and slowed to a stop. "I smell...blood," she said.
Without waiting for her sister to reply, she dove forward, following the scent as quickly as she could—three times their previous speed.
"Sarina!" Allera called, but Sarina had already left her sister behind, and her focus had already shifted—to a scene of mass destruction such that she could never have imagined.
Cages were strewn over the floor of the sea like broken toys. Bones occupied most, or fell from them onto the sandy floor.
Sarina's hands fisted as she tried to stay calm. The bones couldn't be Nolan's. She hadn't been gone that long. He'd survived her test, survived the dragon's too. He wouldn't have drowned, and Melusine wouldn't have killed him. He was too valuable to her; he held too much potential.
"Your vampire wasn't up to par. I want a new human or my soul back." Melusine wove her way through the wreckage. She was alone, no sign of her kelpies, the dragon or any other creatures she might have enslaved to her service.
"Where is he?" Sarina asked, pulling herself upright to face the water spirit face to face.
"Gone." Melusine fluttered her hand. There were gashes in her tail and the human part of her body bore bruises.
"It's your blood I smell." Sarina lifted her eyes and stared the sea hag in the face. "He fought you."
"He insulted me." Melusine's eyes narrowed, and her tongue flitted out of her mouth. Then her gaze shifted, and a smile curved her lips. "My soul. You brought it back to me."
She raised her hand and kelpies surged forward, like green water pouring from a tap.
"Get the soul!" Melusine yelled.
"No!" Sarina threw herself toward the sea hag, but the kelpies flowed between them separating them.
"The dragon has your man."
Sarina spun, unsure where the words had come from.
A blue-green kelpie raised its head to c
atch her gaze. "The sea hag has us bound so we can't shift or speak, but your man weakened her hold." The horse-shifter glanced over its shoulder, toward Melusine. "She doesn't realize her power over us has weakened."
"He weakened her?" Sarina didn't realize it was possible to weaken a water spirit as old and powerful as Melusine.
"Bled her and ingested some of her magic," the kelpie replied, but Sarina could tell talking with her was making the creature nervous. It shook its head, nudging her with its nose. "Go to the dragon."
"But my sister—"
"Her soul is safe." The kelpie whinnied then and reared up on its hind legs. As one the herd began to move, and Sarina was swept along with them. Afraid of being crushed or left behind, she grabbed hold of the nearest kelpie's mane and hung on. A few yards away, Allera did the same.
The kelpies cut through the water faster than the fastest ship, or even the fastest mermaid. Sarina closed her eyes and hung on, praying she was doing the right thing, praying the kelpies weren't leading her astray.
Outside a massive sea cave, still within the sea hag's realm, the kelpies slowed.
Sarina loosened her hold on the mane she'd held and floated to a stop.
"The dragon," the kelpie who had spoke to her said, then whinnied to the others and turned to leave.
Allera swam up to her looking dazed and uncertain. "What happened?" she asked.
Sarina shook her head. "I don't know. One told me—" She broke off her response. She hadn't told her sister about Nolan. "One told me, the sea hag had bound them so they can't shift or speak."
"But they took us away from her."
"And she won't be happy." Sarina hoped the kelpies could handle Melusine, but the creatures had given her and Allera their assistance of their own free will. She had to believe they knew what they were doing when they did. And now she had other issues.
She turned to Allera. "I have to tell you something."
"Do you?" Her sister's eyebrows lifted.
"There's a man...a vampire...I traded him to Melusine to get your soul. And now I have to get him back."
"A vampire? They are real?"
"Yes." Sarina was surprised Allera knew of vampires, but, she realized, she hadn't seen her sister in a very long time. They hardly knew each other anymore.
"And you are risking yourself to save him?"
There was no censure in the question, just curiosity, but still Sarina looked away. "I have to."
"I see."
And maybe Allera did. The young mermaid she'd been when the pirates stole her soul couldn't possibly have understood, but this Allera was older...changed.
And so was Sarina.
She placed a grateful hand on her sister's arm and swam into the cave.
The place was dark, darker even than the deeper part of the ocean where Melusine's cages had been. Sarina sensed the rock formations that jutted from all sides of the cave. She swam around them instinctively while her other senses stayed alert for other living presences.
She quickly sensed one...a large one...the dragon.
It was curled into a spiral at the back of the cave.
"Mermaid," he said. "You've come for my treasure."
"Treasure?" Sarina paused. "No. The kelpies said you have the vampire." Her eyes roamed the area around the dragon, but there was no sign of Nolan, no sense of him either.
"Treasure." The dragon lifted one loop of his body. Nolan lay tucked against him like a baby. "He's dead."
"Dead? No. That can't be." Sarina rushed forward.
The dragon's tongue darted out of his mouth, brushing against her chest. "He gave me the strength to swim away."
"You too?" Sarina edged sideways, wondering if she could call Allera, wondering more what good it would do. Two mermaids against a dragon that equaled fifty of their kind in weight.
"But I'm not free, not completely. I thought if I brought him here, I could save him—so he could finish what he began."
"Finish?" Sarina paused. The dragon didn't want Nolan dead. It wanted the vampire alive. She moved forward a foot. The tongue pressed against her chest again. "I can save him." Her hand moved to her vial.
Nolan wanted a soul. She couldn't give him Allera's because it wasn't hers to give, but she could give her own.
"A mermaid soul," the dragon muttered, causing Sarina to hesitate. Dragons were dumb creatures motivated by base needs and greed. They didn't know about souls or mermaids.
This dragon wasn't what it appeared.
Before she could ponder the thought more and think of how she might use the realization, a voice called out behind her.
"Stop!"
Allera stood in the opening of the cave. Realizing her sister had figured out her plan, Sarina spun.
"You can't understand. I have to save him."
"Because you used him to save me."
Sarina shook her head. Her hair streamed up and outward. "Because...because I love him."
"Love?" Shock was clear on Allera's face.
Sarina bit her lip and turned back to the dragon. Allera could judge her, would judge her, but it didn't matter, because soon, without her soul, Sarina would be like every other soulless mermaid—an unfeeling shell devoured by hunger and knowing nothing else.
Chapter Ten
Again Sarina reached for her soul.
Allera raced forward. Arms outstretched, she knocked into Sarina, sending the mermaid flying into the cave's wall.
"Allera, I—"
Allera stood in front of her, her hand raised in a stop gesture. "You'll kill him."
"No, I...." Sarina glanced from her sister to Nolan.
"You said he's a vampire. Vampires are immortal, or close to it. If you give him a soul in the state he's in, he will be human. He will die."
Sarina rose onto her arms, then slowly, pushed herself upright. She swam forward, closer to the dragon. This time the creature, its attention shifting between the two sisters, allowed her to approach. She lowered her body into a kneel and placed her hand on Nolan's chest. No heart beat, but there was something else....
"He's alive," she murmured, to the dragon, her sister, herself. She just needed to say the words, but she couldn't keep from admitting the truth either. "Barely."
Allera blew air out of rounded lips. "He needs land. Just surviving here has to be draining him—too much for him to heal."
Land. It was an idea. Nolan wasn't a creature of the sea, and despite the fact that he'd been able to tolerate staying so long beneath the water's surface, it made sense that he would fare better on land.
She looked at the dragon.
The creature's tail closed back over Nolan, hiding him.
Holding very still, Sarina waited. The dragon had said he wanted to save Nolan, but he had also called him a treasure. Dragon's didn't hand over their treasures lightly.
"Let me try," she murmured.
The dragon stared at her. His tongue flicked out again, but this time didn't touch her. "You'll bring him back to me?"
Sarina couldn't promise that. She froze, but Allera saved her. She swam forward and placed her hand on Sarina's shoulder. "If he won't come, I will and I'll bring the mermaids. We'll figure a way out of your enchantment."
Surprised again by her sister, Sarina's eyes widened. Allera seemed to have knowledge and instinct that Sarina lacked.
"Enchantment?" she asked.
"He's a merman," Allera replied. "The sea hag trapped him six decades ago. Whatever your vampire did, broke the bonds, but not the enchantment. He's still stuck in this realm and this state."
The dragon lifted his head. "If Melusine finds me before you return...."
Allera folded her arms over her chest. "I know, but I won't forget or forsake my promise."
The two had lost Sarina, but that didn't matter. What did, was getting Nolan to land. While the dragon stared at her sister, Sarina leaned forward and carefully pulled Nolan free.
Then, with his body wedged under her arm, she swam for the surface.
>
Days later...
Nolan gagged and began to cough. Rolling over, his body began to heave until the contents of his stomach, nothing it seemed but sea water, flooded onto the ground beside him.
Ground. He was on solid ground.
He coughed some more, his hands gripping the rough wooden deck he lay on. His fingernails dug into the planks, tearing them to the quick. His skin felt shriveled, and his clothes were heavy and wet.
He coughed again, expelling more sea water until his throat burned and his stomach ached.
A foot nudged him in the side, shoving him onto his back. "What are you? That you survived her tricks?"
He looked up. The bartender stood above him. The moon shone at his back, clearly illuminating the pistol in his hand.
"Are you part fish? A witch?" The bartender cocked the gun and held it up, his hands and the weapon shaking.
"Where is she?" Nolan rasped. His voice was rough, and it hurt to speak.
"Gone. She dumped you here and left. With luck, she won't be coming back."
But she had to come back. Nolan had to get her back. He pushed his body to a sit, the world shifted as he moved and his head ached. He clasped it in his hands.
"I should ignore her threats, and kill you now," the man beside him muttered.
Nolan glanced at him again. "Threats?"
The man's lips thinned and his hand moved to a pocket. "If I give it to you, will you leave? Never come back?"
"Give me what?" Nolan couldn't imagine what the bartender could have for him.
"I wouldn't...but she was different this time...hard...cold. I could see she didn't care, meant every word she spoke. She'd have eaten my liver and fed my brains to the birds, then sent her sisters to hunt down all I've loved." The man's thumb caressed the gun's hammer. "I ain't got much, but I've fought for what I have. I don't fancy losing it to the mermaids."
Nolan staggered to his feet and threw his body against the bartender. His hands, still stiff from their time under water, gripped the man by his shirt. "What did she leave for me?"