by Jayne Hawke
Apparently, mermaids were all female. They bred with the men they stole before they ate them. It wasn't the worst idea - they got a post-sex snack out of it. Of course, the men disagreed. There were always some who thought they could get laid and then get away. I hadn't heard of any man pulling that off, though. The sea was the mermaids' domain, and no human stood a chance against them there.
The glitter of a mermaid tail beneath the surface of the gentle waves caught my attention. I hadn't seen them that close to the jetty before. They could have been hunting a fish. There weren't enough dumb men to survive on. Suddenly, a cold hand wrapped around my ankle and yanked me down into the bitterly cold water.
My first thought was, “Don’t panic.” My second thought was to panic. Unarmed and underwater with a deadly oceanic predator was a worst-case scenario. I had no more than a couple minutes to get back to oxygen, and the fight would drag that number lower as oxygen was expended pushing my muscles to their limits.
My body was unmoving as I was dragged down and out by the powerful tail of the mermaid. The drowning process was beginning. Some deeply instinctive part of me was thinking about water breathing spells. Water was partly oxygen, right? That idea was quickly dismissed. If it was even possible, it was way too complex to work out in the next two minutes.
I reached out to the magic around me, hoping to find something I could use. The water itself held magic, but it wasn’t like I could just rejigger it into something dangerous. I filtered it out of my perception as best I could. Once it was no longer overwhelming everything around it, I quickly realized that there was substantial earth magic. The saltwater had earth magic in it, surprising amounts of it. The salt itself was earth, kilograms of it, all carrying magic.
I grabbed onto it, gathered it in, and once I had enough to work with I encased the mermaid’s gills entirely in salt stone. Now we were both drowning. It didn’t put me at an advantage, but it was enough to start to even the odds. The mermaid, still holding me with one arm, began to claw at her gills, even more panicked than I had been. She’d never been without breath before. She could breath underwater and on land equally well, so this was the first time she’d ever been introduced to the experience of holding her breath. She began to swim to the surface with all the speed and power she could muster, both hands clawing at the water like she could climb a ladder to survival. I clutched her shoulders with every ounce of strength I could, dragged up and up, far further than I had realized we even were.
Within seconds, we were back on the surface, the mermaid coughing and panting like she’d never tasted oxygen before. Her desperation had left her magical defences weak, and I tore at her life essence to bring myself back around. I didn’t know how long I’d been down there, but it was nearly too long. She’d be back in form before I would if I couldn’t get a magical boost immediately. Her fear and the monomania it bred gave me just enough time to bring myself back, and once I had I was ready to fight the kraken.
Still attached to her back like the rescued landlubber that I was, I grabbed her in a one-handed choke hold and slammed my first into the side of her face over and over, blood tainting the water around us. She barely seemed to remember I was there, but when she felt her airway restricted she quickly remembered.
With her gills still useless, she couldn’t take me underwater. She slapped at me with her tale, swirled in the water like a crocodile, did everything she could to put me back on the defensive, but she was too far gone. I’d stolen enough essence to make her weak, and she was still recovering from her first experience of drowning. There was nothing she could do as I continued to punish everything I could reach. Eventually, she relaxed and lay flat on her back, hands still clutching helplessly at my hold on her neck, bare breasts heaving with exertion.
“What the fuck is your problem?” I asked. When she didn’t answer, I continued, “Do I look like a horny sailor to you? Do I have a little white cap and a corncob pipe, maybe?”
“Don’t play dumb, you greedy bitch. You’ve won, it’s over. Take my stone and go back to your stupid dirt. I’d rather be dead than continue to listen to you.”
“Your stone? Your heart stone?”
She didn’t reply for a long time. When she finally did, I could hear the tears in her voice.
“I know you killed my sister for hers. I doubt she was the first, and I doubt I’ll be the last. I tried to make the world a better place, save the next mermaid who crossed your path, but that never works out, does it?”
“I didn’t do anything to your sister. I’ve never even met a mermaid before you.”
She laughed, a tiny bitter laugh that didn’t entirely cut through her tears. “Yeah, that figures. You people all look alike to me. Any chance you can fix my gills and we can pretend this didn’t happen?”
I was altogether dumbstruck. In thirty seconds we’d gone from ‘you greedy bitch’ to ‘pretend this didn’t happen.’ I would never understand monsters. I unwove my earth spell, dunked her back underwater harder than I had to, and swam for shore.
"You didn't strike me as the type to swim in the sea," Elijah said as he looked down at me from the jetty.
It was petty, but I was freezing and pissed off. I pulled on the earth magic buried within the concrete and used it to bow the concrete up enough to throw his balance before I yanked on his leg and pulled him into the sea with me.
He spluttered as he surfaced before he laughed at me. I hauled myself up out of the sea and stalked down the jetty. Mermaids were officially on my shit list.
"If you wanted to see me shirtless, you just had to ask..."
I turned to see Elijah standing at the end of the jetty dripping wet with his shirt in his hand. His lightly tanned skin glistened in the golden sunlight, which only served to highlight how toned he was. Powerful shoulders melted into strong muscular biceps. His chest was firm and defined, and his abs would put a washboard to shame. He drank in my figure as I looked him up and down. I felt his eyes wander over my curves and realised that I was wearing a white shirt. I was almost as naked as he was.
"White suits you," Elijah said with a grin.
I wasn't going to dignify that with a comment. Turning, I began pulling on the threads of sunlight magic all around me and wrapped it around myself to warm and dry my clothes while I set off at a gentle jog. The damn fox had better not have set that whole thing up.
Seven
Castor had been nowhere to be seen when I arrived back home. I'd changed into a sensible pair of jeans and knee-high boots with a fitted blouse to go over to Ms. Briggs' house. I only wore suits when I had no choice. Jeans were my clothing of choice. Unless I was acquiring something, then I wore my battle leathers. You never knew who or what you'd bump into. Plus, black blends in far better.
I was unsurprised to find that Ms. Briggs lived in a large house on the far side of Brighton. The old white building sat upon a hill overlooking the city and the ocean. Four cars were sitting outside on the large driveway. I swore I recognised the sleek black sports car. Shrugging the feeling off and deciding it was just another rich person, I plastered on a smile and approached the heavy wooden door.
The house was classical and uninspiring. The white was slightly grey and needed a fresh coat of paint. The rectangular windows were evenly spaced without any attempt at decoration. Small stout bushes lined the driveway but were also uninspired in their neat, mostly round shape. I was used to people with this amount of money flashing that money and having ornate decorations on everything. At the very least, they had rare and unusual flowers that required an entire team of gardeners to look after.
A young woman in black trousers and shirt opened the door.
"Miss Harper?"
"Yes. I'm here to look at the scene of the theft."
The woman nodded and stepped to the side, allowing me to walk into the hallway. Dark wooden floors stretched out before me. The pale-grey walls were almost industrial in their tone. Brightly coloured pieces of modern art were unevenly scattered along
the walls. I glanced at them as I walked by, but the young woman walked at a quick clip, which didn't give me much time to take in the details. Fae magic clung to the corners of the hallway. It was just residual from many fae walking the halls for decades or more.
I was tempted to gather the threads up and tuck them away for later use. Fae magic was potent, and sidhe magic in particular was very versatile. Sidhe magic was almost a blank slate. When a fae used it, it changed to suit the fae personality. A talented witch could bend it to do just about anything they wanted. That meant it went for a lot of money when it was captured and sold. Of course, the fae hated that and did their best to ensure their magic never left their own hands.
I was led into a large room near the back of the house. A black double door had been opened to reveal a square room with highly polished dark wooden floors. Pausing in the doorway, I reached out with my witch senses to check for any odd magical threads or signatures. Every magic user has a distinct mark they leave upon magic. It was entirely unique to each user. If you could identify it, you could find the person.
Nothing stood out. There were the old fae threads hanging like cobwebs, but nothing else. Frowning, I walked into the room and looked over the details. The round table in the very centre of the room was bare and polished without so much as a scratch on it. A stiff couch in an awful yellowy colour had been positioned to look out of the two windows, which offered a view over manicured lawns.
The windows were entirely intact, without a single thread of unusual magic there. I couldn't find any signs of forced entry, blood, or life essence.
"How did the thief get in?" I asked.
"I don't know," Ms. Briggs said from the doorway.
"When were the items taken?"
"At around 3:00 am. I was mostly asleep. A soft shift in the house's internal magic woke me."
"And you didn't investigate?"
"No, it was there and gone."
I pursed my lips and looked at the shallow shadows tucked in the corners. As far as I was aware, I was the only shadow walker in the city, potentially the country. My gift wasn't one that came from witch or fae magic. The shadows altered slightly when I stepped into them. It wasn't something a non-shadow-walker could detect, as far as I could tell. There was a tiny rippling of the shadow that took a few days to fade away again. I'd assumed it was where I had to distort it to step within it, but there was no one around to really explain the fine details to me.
The shadows all looked to be smooth, unaltered. My stomach dropped a little. I hadn't realised that I'd been quietly hoping there was another like me. Someone I could talk to about it all.
That left me with as much information and leads as I'd had when I walked in. None. This was going to be a very frustrating case.
Eight
I was just walking to my car when a familiar magical signature brought me out of my ruminations. Looking up, I spotted Elijah strolling over to me. His hair was slightly mussed, and I hated that I wanted to run my fingers through it. Something was clearly wrong with me. He grinned at me.
"Recovered from your swim earlier?"
"It was delightfully bracing," I said sweetly.
"You really should wear white more often..." he said with a wicked smile on his face.
I said nothing. I got into my car. The case was bugging me. I was back lost in my thoughts before I'd even turned the key in the ignition. It was rare that there was a thief good enough to leave absolutely no traces behind. They must have been using an entire array of magic. Something to wipe away their magical footprints, something for speed and silence. It was the entry and exit that really bugged me. They couldn't have been going up and down the damn chimney, after all.
My night had turned up a small potential lead. Like so many things in the supernatural world, a deal needed to be struck. I'd gone into my office in my prettiest summer dress complete with a full face of make-up. The sidhe I was meeting liked pretty things. If I made an effort, it would be easier to bring him around to my way of thinking. He had said that he'd heard about a new guy in town, someone asking a lot of strange questions.
James was five minutes early. He walked into the office without knocking. His black suit had threads of night sky woven through it, deepening the black and making sure everyone knew just how much money he had to throw around. Many women were awestruck by his brilliant violet eyes; I couldn't say that I saw the attraction. They only added to the otherness.
"Lily, darling," he said with a purr.
"James, you look fantastic."
We exchanged air kisses. I hated air kisses.
"It seems that you've become embroiled in a very interesting case."
"I must admit that it isn't what I was expecting."
He sat down in the seat in front of my desk. I perched on the edge of my desk and smiled at him, waiting for him to get to the point.
"Someone new in town has been asking odd questions. Do you remember that awful case with the coven in Inverness? The entire coven was slaughtered one night?"
My blood ran cold. I fought to remain relaxed and mildly curious.
"I believe so. I was locked away in my own coven at the time."
"Yes, of course. It's hard for young witches to learn anything about the outside. Such a shame, really."
"That person was asking about the coven?" I pressed.
"Hm? Oh, yes. Rumours are that the coven had some rather interesting artifacts and books in their possession. I wondered if perhaps those were the same artifacts that you were currently hunting."
"You know I can't give any case details," I said with a pout.
"Just between us?" James asked as he leaned in and rested his hands on either side of my hips.
The urge to drive my knee into his chin was strong. The sidhe set me on edge. All fae were predatory, apart from maybe brownies. It was just who and what they were. I was quite comfortable around predators. But there was something else, something more insidious about him.
"One little whisper and my entire reputation would be shot," I said sadly.
He sighed melodramatically and, thankfully, leaned back in the chair.
"Well, this person is apparently a rather talented witch. Was there perhaps some witch magic at the scene?"
"James, darling, we went through this. I can't tell you anything."
"Well, do let me know when everything is said and done," he said as he stood.
I stood and squeezed his hand.
"Thank you for your time and information. It doesn't seem connected at the present, but I'll let you know if it provides a breakthrough."
"I look forward to it. We'll have to do dinner some time."
"I'd love to. One day when I'm not so wrapped up in work."
Never. The idea of going to dinner with him was worse than swimming through a sewer naked. James left and closed the door behind him. I sank down into my office chair and took slow deep breaths. Why was someone looking into what happened with my coven? Nothing good came from this.
Nine
I'd indulged in a large slice of chocolate cake with my lunch of fish 'n' chips. I needed something sugary to help shake off the shock that someone was looking into my old coven. I kept telling myself that people had poked at the story before, most of them trying to get their hands on the coven money. It was nothing. It would blow over as it had done in the past. Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something different about this time.
Elijah was sitting in my chair behind my desk when I walked into my office. I glanced at my door and saw that the bastard had picked the lock. I hadn't felt the need for high end security, as the building was wrapped in good security systems. Enough to keep anyone who meant me harm out.
"I have a business proposition for you."
"How about we start by you getting the hell out of my chair."
He stood slowly, stretching as he did so. His t-shirt rode up, revealing the V that dipped down into his black pants. His black t-shirt with a flash of blue fire o
n it sat snugly over his muscular chest and tight against his biceps.
"Business must be shit if you can't even afford t-shirts that fit," I said.
He smirked at me and slowly walked around my desk.
"Don't worry about my business. We have an entire building devoted to our offices, rather than one little office."
Crossing my arms, I stared him down and waited for him to get to the point. My mood was foul thanks to the news James had brought.
"It seems that dear Ms. Briggs hired us both to look into the thefts."
I narrowed my eyes. My reputation was stellar, why would she hire someone else? It wasn't as if either of us was cheap.
"I wasn't amused either," Elijah said.
"Well, you'll just have to explain to her that she already hired the superior acquisitions expert and you'll be returning her down payment," I said sweetly.
He laughed, a big delighted sound that sent warmth through me.
"We both know I'm the best acquisitions guy here," he said, matching my stance.
Sighing, I refused to drop eye contact. It was a challenge that no shifter could ignore. I wasn't afraid of him or his big muscles.
"Why are you here, Eli?"
"Elijah, my name is Elijah," he growled.
I smirked. It felt better than it should have done to get a rise out of him.
"That didn't really answer my question."
"I propose that we work together."
"Why would I want you slowing me down?" I said with a laugh.
"Because the alternative is that we work as rivals and I ruin that flawless reputation you're so proud of. I can hear it now, ‘Lily Harper beaten by the Sentinels. She must have been lucky before now.’ Everyone will come flocking to us."
I ground my teeth. He wasn't wrong. There was no denying that he and his Sentinels were talented. They had numbers and potentially resources on me. Still, I wasn't going to give up the case entirely. If nothing else, I was curious about who could get in and out like that.