by Ruby Raine
Eva came up behind them. “What. The Hell. Are. Those?” she choked.
Michael tried to answer. “Those are the sickest, most disgusting,” he was cut off by Charlie.
“Sea Hag!”
“A what?” Eva shouted, her eyes bulging.
The brothers did not reply to her question.
Michael stretched out his right hand, his palm facing the Sea Hag.
The Hag turned to face Charlie and Eva, hissing at them through jagged teeth. Her eyes were a milky white and her skin, scaly, and covered in a thin layer of greenish slime.
Eva stayed hidden behind Charlie. Apparently, he hadn’t scared her enough to make her fear him and she looked all too eager to let him protect her. He almost laughed when he saw her face. She may have known about the supernatural, but she had never seen anything like a Sea Hag. The humor of the moment shook off whatever fucked-upness had just happened between them, and helped him refocus on the task.
He was Charlie Howard. Not a werewolf. And he was in control of his actions. He’d figure out some way to explain, and apologize. And hope she understood. She seemed okay all things considered.
“Watch out, Charlie,” Michael warned as the Hag advanced toward his brother, once again off his guard, thoughts wandering.
Michael pushed his arm forward as if shoving something away from his body. Something appeared in his hand- a round, surging energy ball, which he thrust at the Hag. She ducked, it missed, the energy ball smashing into the side of the cave. Slivers of rock fell to the ground.
The Sea Hag skittered closer, her slimy webbed feet easily clinging to any surface. Then, what had only a moment ago looked like stiff quills covering her head started to shift and wriggle, like snakes swimming in water. Each quill-like strand was much longer than it had initially appeared, and each one took on a life of its own, striking out at Charlie and Eva. Each strand came to a sharp, thorny arrow-like point. Something the brothers knew contained a toxin that could easily incapacitate them in seconds.
“Eva, stay away from those things on her head,” warned Charlie.
“Don’t intend on getting that close.”
Charlie handed her three vials. “These are potions that will blow up just about anything,” he explained. “If something happens and we’re knocked out, throw them at whatever’s coming at you, and get the hell out of here!”
She nodded and glanced at her hand in awe of what she now held.
Charlie egged the Sea Hag, trying to keep her attention, while Michael positioned himself for a straight shot at her.
The Hag bared her teeth, a rattling hiss emanating from her mouth.
“Howards,” they heard her speak, in her hissing tongue.
“She can talk,” Eva said, surprised. “And she knows who you are.”
“Most creatures around here do,” Charlie replied. His concern for their safety, as well as the desire to find out if this Hag knew anything about their parents’ deaths, sent his emotions into overdrive. Charlie let out a primal snarl that seemed to catch the Hag off guard, sending her back a few feet to rethink her approach.
“Why are you in this cave? What are these things?” Charlie interrogated.
Behind the Hag, wretchedly bloated, charcoal colored creatures that the brothers had never seen before sucked the walls of the cave, as if addicted to whatever substance they were sucking.
The Hag did not answer Charlie. Instead, she turned to the wall-sucking creatures and spoke to them. “You eat enough, pets.”
To the brother’s surprise, the bloated creatures listened to the Hag and stopped sucking, convening around her, as if she were their mother.
Eva stepped back, watching wide-eyed as Charlie’s human face shifted into the wolf-like one she had seen earlier. Her stare lowered to his hands, as jagged nails grew long, extending outward from his fingers. He snapped his head, his fierce silver eyes shooting warnings at her. “Stay back,” he snarled. She pressed her back against the wall.
Charlie leapt closer to the Sea Hag. “What are you doing in this cave?” he asked in an ill-tempered growl. “Answer now or you will die!”
“You killed my kind before,” she rattled, her eyes blazing with anger.
Michael raised his arm to the Sea Hag, his palm pointed toward her, ready to strike if she attacked.
“Come pets, now you kill!” the Hag ordered, her voice a loathing purr.
Their bulging bodies, thick with whatever substance they were sucking, moved deceptively easily, skimming over rocks and cave debris as if the surface was smooth, like glass.
“Are those?” started Michael.
Charlie finished. “Leeches. Really big ass friggin’ leeches.”
“Never really been a fan of bloodsuckers before, but now,” Michael choked on his words, disgusted.
“How did they get so big?” asked Eva, gagging as she spoke.
There was no time for discussion as one of the leeches approached Charlie. When it was about five feet away, it did something even more surprising. It stopped and stood up, leaning on its backside, as if trying to walk.
Its intention, however, was not to walk. As it stood, the contents of its body shifted, as if everything inside the creature just sank to the bottom. The head of the creature elongated and swung out in a circle, ready to knock over anything that got in its path.
Michael focused on this one, as it was the closest to causing harm and pushed his palm forward, as if forcing energy out of his hand and toward the leech.
A shimmering force field pushed through the cave, knocking the creature over. Michael turned and did the same to two other leeches that were climbing the cave walls, over Charlie and Eva’s heads.
These leeches also slammed down to the cave floor. However, in seconds, had up righted themselves to attack again.
“Use more, Michael,” urged Charlie.
“If you say so. This could get messy.”
“No choice! Do it!” Charlie shouted.
Michael pushed out another energy ball, this time it surged across the cavern and upon impact, ravaged the leech, blowing it into bloody bits. The others, smelling the blood, stopped their attack and raced to the blown up bits, gorging on what was left of their comrade.
“Stupid pets,” the Sea Hag rattled.
Charlie saw his opportunity and lunged forward, knocking the Hag flat on her back, pinning her to the ground. “Did you ever kill any Howards?” he grilled viciously.
“Kill,” she croaked under his tight grip. He ducked out of the way of her poisonous quill-like strands.
“Answer me!” Charlie demanded. “Did you ever kill any Howards?”
She flailed like a fish out of water, opening her mouth as if to speak. At first, Charlie heard nothing. A second later, a high-pitched noise pierced his ears. A moment after, Michael and Eva heard it too.
“She’s going sonic!” Michael warned. “Stop her now or we’ll have more company than we can handle!”
In one swift movement, Charlie lifted his arm and swiped his wolf-like claws across her scaly skin, slitting her throat. She gurgled through the blood gushing out of the wound and seconds later, the Sea Hag was dead.
Charlie’s fist pounded into the cave floor next to her head, and he let out a cry that was a blend of both human and wolf. Killing her was the right thing to do, but he had not gotten the answers he had desperately wanted.
He angrily kicked her dead body into the water.
One after another, the leeches plopped in after her, seeking out the blood.
“Charlie,” called out Michael.
Charlie gave him a sign that he was okay, and just needed a minute to regain his composure. He leaned on the cave wall, resting his forehead against the cool, damp, rock, his breathing still coming out in ragged pants.
Michael turned to Eva. “You okay?”
She just nodded in bewilderment.
“A little more than you bargained for, eh?” Charlie’s breathy human voice jeered from a distance. He cast war
y blue eyes in her direction.
“Something like that,” she returned in the stupor of a woman who’d just had a major reality check.
“What do you suppose those things were eating?” Michael asked, investigating the walls of the cave more closely.
“Don’t know. Never heard of anything in these caves that any sea creature would find edible,” said Charlie, joining him.
“So those things were once bloodsuckers... leeches?” confirmed Eva.
“Still are. Just much, much bigger than they should be,” Michael said.
“Those aren’t in the bay, are they?” Her mouth twisted downward as she thought about what she was asking.
“God I hope not,” droned Charlie. Just thinking about it made his stomach turn.
“My guess would be no,” thought Michael. “I’m sure there would have been reports of monsters in the lake by now if they were. Which begs the question, where exactly are they hanging out? And just how many of them are there?”
“Better inform the sheriff, just in case,” said Charlie.
“Yeah, good idea,” agreed Michael.
“The local police know about all this crazy stuff too?” Eva clarified.
“Um. Not all of them. Just the town sheriff. She’s from the Isle,” Charlie answered, curious as to why Eva would care if the police knew about the supernatural.
Michael ran his hand over the surface of the wall. “What is this stuff?” Rust colored specks spackled the entire cave wall. He scraped bits of the substance into a plastic bag he had stored in his diving suit.
“Whatever this is, I’m guessing it’s what transformed those leeches,” guessed Charlie.
“They were clearly addicted to it,” Michael remarked.
“Plus they can now move on land and in water,” Charlie added. “We’re going to have to keep watch I think, even after warning the sheriff. We can’t have those things showing up on beaches,” Charlie stopped himself. “I mean that I will keep a look out.”
Michael averted his brother’s gaze and did not reply, but did nod just slightly. This was Charlie’s subtle way of accepting that he was leaving the Isle. Michael was really going to leave the Isle. “Once we get home I’ll run some tests,” he said after collecting what he hoped would be a sufficient amount of the rust colored leech food. “See if I can figure out what this stuff is.”
After a few minutes, they began the trek back towards their diving gear.
“Do you think this stuff is why our parents were down here?” asked Michael, as quietly as he could, hoping Eva would not overhear.
“No idea. I don’t think we’re going to get the answers we came looking for today. But at least there’s one less Sea Hag to contend with.”
Slowly and carefully, they made their way back into the water and out of the cave. Charlie used his underwater breathing spell to swim back to the surface, allowing Eva to use his air tank. Once out of the water they headed for the jeep. Michael worked on packing up, while Charlie grabbed the first aid kit to clean and dress Eva’s leg wound, properly. He was surprised that the cut did not look as bad as he’d first thought.
He nervously grasped her leg, letting out a relieved breath when nothing out of the ordinary happened. He’d thought about asking Michael to fix her up, but he’d wanted to see for himself that it was all nothing. Just some freak thing that would never happen again. Whatever had happened in the cave was messed up to the tenth degree, but a onetime thing.
Charlie tried to get a read on Eva, she didn’t seem fazed by what had happened. She watched as he fixed up her injury.
“So, do you like being your father’s assistant?” he asked, making small talk while opening a tube containing an antibiotic ointment.
“Sure...”
There was an inflection that made Charlie believe otherwise. “What do you think about your father’s work after today?”
“Actually, today just made it all quite real. Not that I haven’t always had complete faith in my father. I always believed him. But today... yeah. Real. So very, very real.”
Charlie smirked. “I still remember my first time.” He grinned smugly as he stroked ointment across her calf.
She made a face that begged him to tell her more.
“I was just turning seven. I knew I was a witch, but my parents, they did everything they could to keep us away from the scary stuff. Didn’t want us growing up too fast I guess. One night though I snuck out. Followed my dad into the woods. Let’s just say I got a pretty huge dose of reality and got myself pretty nearly scared out of my wits.”
Eva laughed. “Sorry. I’m sure it wasn’t funny at the time.”
“No. It wasn’t. But I did decide that night that I wanted to be just like my dad. He wasn’t scared at all. Just did his job and headed home like another day’s work was done.”
He finished wrapping a bandage around her leg and put away the first aid kit. “It’s not quite good as new but a lot better than what it was. You might want to get that looked at by a real doctor though.”
“I can almost guarantee there will be no need. I’m the daughter of a plant expert. My dad will mix up some remedy that’ll have it healed up in no time.”
“You need a ride somewhere?” Michael asked Eva, seeing as she was back on her feet. He was putting the last of their gear back into the jeep.
“Nah. My car is just around the other side of the beach.”
“You sure? Hate to leave you stranded out here, especially wounded,” Charlie said.
“I swear to you, I’m really not the damsel in distress I was made out to be today.”
Charlie smirked. “I’m still not sure I believe you.”
She reached out her hand, daringly, and stroked his bare chest as he had not put on a new tank top after tearing his into pieces, to dress her wound in the cave.
“Sorry about that.”
“Just a shirt,” he answered, grasping her hand and gently pushing it away from him. He wanted to make it clear nothing would ever happen between them.
Charlie had already let the wolf out enough today. Plus he still had no explanation as to what had happened in the cave, the intoxicating smell that had nearly hypnotized him into doing potentially fatal acts of violence.
And if Eva was responsible for that smell, he could not trust himself around her. Being with a human woman was too dangerous. They were too frail. Too breakable. They could not protect themselves from him. One bite would change their lives forever if he didn’t accidentally kill them first.
And for a reason he did not understand, this particular woman was in a lot more danger, as she appealed to his wolf. Something he had never experienced or dealt with before.
“I’d be more than happy to replace the shirt for you,” Eva insisted. “I mean, you saved my life, it’s the least I can do.”
Charlie lingered in her gaze for a moment, ignoring her request. Something in her eyes tugged at him, begging the wolf to come out and play. Worse, he felt a sudden, inexplicable urge to lunge at Eva, pin her to the ground and sink his teeth into her luminous skin.
He took an uneven breath, shaking himself back into the moment. He said nothing, his fierce blue eyes flashing flustered confusion. He wanted to attempt explanation, to apologize, but nothing came out. What threw him off most was that she acted okay with it all. The woman was asking for more trouble than she understood. She didn’t see the monster lurking just underneath his skin clawing for freedom.
Eva’s mouth twisted in a mysterious smile as she backed away.
“Bye, Charlie,” she mouthed.
He said nothing in return. Did she have any idea what she was doing to him?
No. of course not. She was just a girl flirting with him. She had no idea she was flirting with her own destruction.
What about this woman made him want to literally, devour her? Was it even her? Or something about the upcoming full moon? Was the wolf getting stronger?
That thought terrified him.
“You k
now, Michael,” said Eva, as she turned away from Charlie. “My dad and I are here for the duration of summer. If you’d like to meet him, he’d get quite the kick out of meeting a real witch.”
“Actually, I’d love to meet him,” Michael replied. “I could spend hours talking about his book.” He made a face when he realized his geeky side was making an appearance again.
“I guess I’ll be seeing you around then.” Eva laughed, waving. She walked back onto the beach and around the corner out of sight. Charlie noticed she didn’t seem to be limping. He hoped that meant her injury wasn’t as severe as he’d first thought.
Michael shot Charlie a knowing smile.
“What?”
“She’s so into you, dude.”
Charlie narrowed his eyes, annoyed.
“Not lying, Bro. And even with this face around,” he twirled his hand around his own face. “Apparently she likes the doggy paddle.”
Charlie still said nothing.
“Ah, C’mon. I saw that twinkle in your eye.”
“No twinkle,” Charlie insisted solidly. “Believe me, there was a complete lack of anything remotely twinkle. There is something about her.”
“She’s attractive, only here for the summer, which is your kind of fling, and she knows about the seedy underbelly that is our everyday world. Even better than attractive if you ask me.”
“That’s the thing though. Her knowing about magic. Us finding her. Something about it just seems...”
“Perfect!” Michael shot back. “Don’t be so freakin’ paranoid all the time. Some people are just that. People.”
Charlie shook his head. “Maybe you’re right,” he conceded. “Still, she’s a human woman. You know that doesn’t work for me. Especially not this close to a full moon, and especially not this full moon,” he found himself admitting.
“What do you mean? Does this have anything to do with what happened back in the cave?”
“Not sure exactly. Something is just different this time.”
“Perhaps William can...”
“He’s already working on it,” interrupted Charlie. He opened his mouth to say more, but stopped when his cell phone buzzed from inside the jeep. He picked it up. There was a message. As he listened, his face turned grave.