by D. N. Leo
There—an empty dome. She swam so fast she thought she split the water in half. Something in Jo’s voice had been desperate, urgent, and commanding. “Get Tadgh out of the water. He can’t breathe.”
That was it. Lavinia had grabbed Tadgh and swum like a super-mermaid, if there was such a thing.
They crashed into the dome. She didn't care if it was a rebels’ dome or a pirates’ or mercenaries’ dome. All she knew was that not breathing for mer-creatures was fine. But for those who lived in an air environment, not being able to breathe meant death.
She looked around. There was no one. No creatures. No mer-people. What kind of dome is this?
Tadgh lay helpless on the sand at the entrance. She put her finger under his nose and couldn’t feel any exhaled air.
Is he dead?
No, Jo said he couldn't breathe, so of course there wouldn't be any air coming in and out of his nose, idiot, Lavinia told herself.
A device wrapped around his wrist made a loud beeping noise that startled her. Then Jo’s voice said, “Lavinia, are you there?”
“Yes. Where are you?”
“I don't know… We managed to get to a dome. Can you tell me Tadgh’s condition, please?”
“Not breathing.”
“I know that. Can you look at his lower back—there’s a faint birthmark there. Can you tell me where the stingray hit him compared to that mark?”
She peeled Tadgh’s shirt off and turned him over to look at his back.
The birthmark on his back was intact, but it wouldn’t be for long. She thought she’d seen Tadgh dodge when the stingray’s tail swung toward him, and that made the hit about ten inches above his birthmark. But a stingray hit was like a snake bite, and the area around it was turning black quickly. It looked as if the black area was expanding toward the birthmark.
Lavinia didn’t know what this was all about, and she didn’t know what the birthmark was. But she knew poison when she saw it. That was no ordinary stingray. It was either from the mercenaries’ camp or the rebel camp. All the stingray needed to do was inject the poison into the body. If it had happened to an ordinary creature, it would be dead already. But for Tadgh, judging by Jo’s reaction, she figured if the poison hit his birthmark, that would have been the end of him,.
“Lavinia!”
“Yes, Jo. The poison hasn’t hit the mark yet, but it will—”
“Poison?”
“Yes, that wasn’t a normal stingray—” She heard a commotion and sounds of fighting coming from Jo’s end. “What’s happening, Jo?”
“We’re being attacked. I’ll handle them… Can you make sure the poison doesn’t hit his mark? Please? I trust you.”
There were loud fighting sounds, and then an explosion. Jo’s unit went offline.
Lavinia looked at Tadgh’s back again. She knew how to stop this. But why should she do this for this stranger? This man was not only from the multiverse, he was from Eudaiz, a universe out of the reach of herself and her people. He was here today, but would be gone the next day. Why should she or her people have to face the consequences for what she needed to do to save him?
Two more inches toward the mark.
One inch.
She popped her fangs out and bit the poisoned area. She drank the poison, drawing it out of Tadgh’s body. The poison flooded her veins, her body. It triggered her senses and the darkest corner of her mind and ability. It mixed with her blood.
It was delicious.
She finished. She tilted her head up and exhaled with a different sensation than before the exchange of blood.
She enjoyed the dark blood and the power that came with it.
From a long distance away, she heard a haunting whistle. She knew the stingray was now hers. She looked at the skin on her arms. It glowed slightly, then darkened and turned blue, and then returned to its normal state.
On the ground, Tadgh gasped and resumed his breathing.
She turned him over so that he lay on his back.
He was a beautiful creature from the multiverse. Much more beautiful than many mermen she had seen. She bent down. Her lips hovered above his. She wanted to taste those lips. To love him. And to take him on the wildest sexual adventure a mixed blood siren vampire like her would be able to create.
A sea vampire!
Her head snapped up. She was a siren. But she was also a vampire. She had sucked the poison out of his body, and it had mixed with some of his blood. Of course she was drawn to him. But that sentimental sensation would quickly pass.
She withdrew and sat down on the sand.
Tadgh groggily opened his eyes. She came over and wiped a stray hair away from his face. “How are you feeling?”
He reached his hand up, touching her face. “Jo?”
“Okay, you’re obviously still dazed. You need to get your hand off me and let me recover before my urges take control.”
“Jo!”
“I’m not Jo.” She yanked his hand off of her face and pinned it down.
He looked at her and smiled in his delirium. She needed all the mental support and strength from the sea gods, goddesses, and whoever she used to worship that she could get, because from this angle, he was irresistible.
Chapter 10
Jo ducked as a beam of electric current hit the rock just above her head.
One of the perks of being petite and agile was that she could dodge blows that were practically impossible for taller people to avoid. Still, she didn’t like being attacked by five sea-mercenaries in Nepolymbus.
From her hiding place in the low entrance of a cave, she heard a roar, and without looking, she knew the last guard Lavinia left her had been killed. It didn’t matter whether a guard was built and had tons of muscles. No amount of extra flesh could protect him from the beams that had just missed her.
What kind of weapon is that?
She cursed to herself as she felt the sandy ground shake with the footsteps of the creatures coming toward her hiding place.
She was in an abandoned desert-lookalike dome at the bottom of the sea. She’d barely had the chance to finish the conversation with Lavinia before they were attacked again.
She had to end this.
She took a calculated risk and switched on her special eudqi. Then she waited. The footsteps moved closer, and closer, and then they stopped on the opposite side of the rock behind which she hid.
She crouched very low to the ground, then inched her agile body around the rock until she saw the feet of the creature—or what looked more like metal boots. Perfect! she thought. She reached her hand out, concentrated, and in a flash, she liquified the combat suit.
She knew how to use her talent well. She could liquify almost anything, with the exception of living flesh.
The mercenary’s combat suit melted instantly, along with his weapon. Jo stood and stabbed her small dagger through the spot she hoped contained his heart. She would have rather aimed for the head or throat where she knew what she was hitting. But she wasn’t tall enough to get there.
However, it worked. The mercenary dropped dead instantly.
The other four saw what she did. They fired at her but didn’t approach.
She ducked and hid again.
The mercenaries now knew they couldn’t be in direct contact with her. But they couldn’t shoot her from the other side of the rock. Jo was relieved she had bought a few seconds to strategize her next move.
What if they have something like a grenade?
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, a small round ball dropped right in front of her. As she dove out of her hiding place, it exploded. Her small body was thrown into the air. She tried to protect her fatal point because she had her eudqi on. If that spot were hit, she would be dead.
Tadgh’s fatal point was on his lower back. Hers was on her left-hand side at her hip. Her hands covered it now. Flying through the air was no problem. But the landing wasn’t great because both of her hands protected her fatal spot, and she couldn’t
support her body when she hit the ground.
But there was no time to wallow in pain. She scrambled up from the ground as soon as she landed on her backside and dove behind another rock just as another small bomb rolled toward her previous position.
She couldn’t keep doing this. How many grenades did they have, and how many times could she jump away before she was hit?
She stood and limped out. When another one hit the ground near her, she dove at it and liquified it before it exploded. She stood, water still dripping from her fingers to the ground, and smiled at the mercenaries, who had just realized they’d lost their advantage.
She ran forward and hid behind another rock before they started firing at her. They were too fast for her. She couldn’t liquify their beams or their bullets.
Then, instead of footsteps and the sound of beams firing, she heard them roaring in pain and then thudding sounds.
She didn’t think she had any allies here, but she was thankful to whomever it was who had killed the badasses. But her combat experience and her year of developing computer games had taught her that this savior might be a new opponent of an even higher caliber. Perhaps it wanted whatever the mercenaries had wanted from her, and it would bully its way in.
All was quiet.
She stepped out of her hiding place. “All right, I don’t have what you want,” she said, hoping another weapon wouldn’t be discharged in her direction. But instead of a mercenary or a mer-creature she couldn’t identify, a beautiful merman stood in front of her.
He looked just like a human male, except his skin was light blue. And thinking he was a merman was pure speculation based on the fact that he had one head, no tail, no horn, and the smile of a dark angel.
“How do you know what I want?” he asked, and his voice had a slight, strange accent but was, otherwise, perfect English.
“How did you know I speak English?”
“I haven’t seen you here before. The news suggested there are two visitors from Eudaiz. I figured you must be one of them. But Eudaizians have a certain look that you don’t have. And they wouldn’t send low-ranking commanders to Nepolymbus. So you must be high-ranked Eudaizian commanders, and thus, you originate from Earth, as humans, and you speak English. Does that answer your question?”
Jo couldn’t help but smile. Usually she was the one giving this sort of rant to intimidate the opponent.
“You’ve done your homework. Who am I talking to?”
“Clines.” He approached and bowed slightly in greeting. “I don’t know Eudaizian etiquette. My apologies.”
“You can call me Jo. I don’t know how Nepolymbians greet either. So let’s call it a draw. Thank you for helping me.” She nodded her head at the dead mercenaries.
Clines smiled. “Don’t mention it. They shouldn’t have treated our guests that way.”
“So you know there are two of us. Have you seen the other?”
“I saw the attack, and I saw you separated. I went after the others because the man appeared to be injured.”
Jo felt a lump in her throat. “But you’re here now. So how is he?”
“They ran into a dome I didn’t have access to. But from the outside looking in, it seemed like the woman saved the man. I saw him sitting up, so I thought I’d come back to check on you.”
Jo felt as if a mountain of worries was lifted off her small shoulders. “I guess those mercenaries aren’t on your side. They attacked a royal vehicle. If they are the rebels, then you’re not with the rebels.
He chuckled. “Don’t be alarmed. I am indeed with the rebels. Destroying the Nepolymbian royals is my life’s mission. But I’m a friendly rebel.”
Chapter 11
Faye entered the headquarters of the rebel camp, which was located in the most mysterious part of their dome. Outsiders couldn’t navigate here. The rebels occupied several domes in Nepolymbus, but they didn’t have legitimate ownership. They were outlaws, and no matter how powerful they were, they were still the unwanted and unloved in the mer-world.
The majority of the citizens loved the royals. At least, that was the “official” word. But from Faye’s perspective, it was information the royals used to keep their citizens’ loyalty.
Faye sided with neither the royals nor the rebels. She tried to keep a low profile so she could stay there for as long as possible. For the greater cause, it was worth it.
The entire building was made of heavy sea rocks that were bullet- and beam-proof and would withstand a multiversal attack, should that happen. The heavy oak doors opened automatically in front of her, and inside sat Saiyan—the right hand of the Core, or at least that was what he told the people.
Nobody of a lower rank in the rebel camp had ever met the Core in person, but they had witnessed Saiyan’s power. Therefore he was simply accepted as whatever he claimed to be.
“Faye, beautiful as always.”
She arched an eyebrow and smiled.
“I know you’re thinking I’m as old and ugly as usual.” Saiyan chuckled.
“The thought never crossed my mind, Saiyan.”
Saiyan stood from where he was seated on a stone bench and came down a few steps from the raised platform. He was a trained mind reader. Faye knew he sucked at it, so she controlled her thoughts and said nothing else.
“Do you know why I called you here?”
“There was an incident in the lab that disturbed the subjects. But I would be able to serve the Core better if I stayed in the lab and investigated the cause of the disturbance.”
Saiyan wagged his bony finger. “Oh no no, why would I let you investigate something that you yourself caused?”
“I don’t know what you mean, Saiyan.”
“Do you think I believe that the test subjects in the lab, including the main one, went crazy for no reason?”
“The main subject wasn’t affected.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes.”
“So why did you lock up your second in charge?”
“Because Kai made a mistake in his latest capture. I had to kill a test subject because of him.”
Saiyan walked around her like a stealthy predator playing with its prey before the kill. “Kai doesn’t make mistakes. He’s your best hunter. From what I’ve heard, he was carried out of the secret compartment. Did the subject wake up? Did she reveal her power?”
“Kai had to be carried out because I knocked him out with a keyboard. He entered the room without my permission, and he was trying to get a look at the subject up close. I was afraid he was going to wake her.” She looked straight into his eyes. “If you don’t believe me, why don’t you check her out for yourself?”
Saiyan picked her up and threw her across the room. “That’s a cheap trick, Faye. You know damn well that siren controls minds when she wakes. She could be your ally if you trained her well. You were perhaps hoping I’d walk into a trap?”
“Why would I want that?” She stood and wiped the blood from her split lip.
“Oh, you’re wicked smart. Do you think I believe you’re just a scientist, that you’re valuable but perhaps a little more so because you spent time on land and understand humans?”
“And the Core …”
Saiyan forced a smile, which made his wrinkled face looked even more ancient. “Ah yes, the Core brought you in, not because he believed your story, but because you can make him what he needs. And you have, indeed, survived on land. Paying for you is cheap, and the very second he’s finished with you, he’ll return you to where you belong—back to being a low-class drifter …”
He grabbed her by the neck, moving his face so close to her that she could smell his putrid breath. She reached up, grabbed a hairpin from her head, and swung it at his hand. The broken skin where the pin scratched him sizzled. Saiyan grabbed her hand, twisted it, and took the pin from her.
“You think this pathetic poison can kill me?”
The giant mirror on the wall flashed, showing Kai sneaking into the bui
lding. Faye knew the mirror was a security monitor, but Saiyan had decorated it as if it were a talking mirror from an ancient fairytale. She didn’t need her communicator. She and Kai were spiritually connected. All she needed to do was to whistle—Kai would hear her and know she was here.
Reading her mind, Saiyan twisted her elbow so hard she thought her bones would snap. He tossed her into the corner and then pushed a button on the stone bench he’d been sitting on when she entered. Another monitor on the wall was exposed. This one showed a little girl sleeping on a four-poster bed.
“One more utterance and I’ll feed that girl to my pets.”
Faye knew the girl had been drugged. Beneath her bed was Saiyan’s shark tank.
On the other monitor, she watched as Kai found her belongings on the floor. They had set a trap for him. It had all been prearranged. Her coat had bloodstains on it, but it wasn’t her blood.
Saiyan smirked.
“Don’t test me. You don’t want me to feed little Tamari to the sharks, do you? I don’t care whose side you’re on—ours or the royals—but I know you don’t want a little girl to die because of you. Am I right?”
“What do you want Kai to do?”
“He’s your best hunter, and he loves you.”
She was about to speak, but Saiyan raised a finger to his lips.
“The Core trusts you, but I don’t. So I’ll need your boyfriend to go to the palace to get me something for leverage.”
“You think I’m spying on you. You think I’m with the royals.”
“I don’t know for sure. But I know you are not with us.”
On the screen, Faye watched as a creature pretended to be friendly with Kai. It gave Kai her bloody clothes. She didn’t need to hear the conversation to know the creature was telling Kai the royals had prepared an ambush and had taken her when they were trying to bring her here. Kai was smart. But when it came to her safety, his judgment was clouded. He charged out the door.
“Now what?” she asked and looked back at Saiyan just in time to see him point his bony finger at her head. With that gesture, she was sent flying into the wall at the far end of the room. Then she saw nothing else.