Chapter One.

“Do you even know what you’re doing?”

“Ask one more time and I’ll turn you into shark bait.”

Giving up with a huff, I drop the air tank onto the sand and collapse beside it. The stupid thing is heavy, my flippers aren’t on correctly and I refuse to admit to Logan that he’s right. I have no idea what I’m doing since it turns out diving is different to snorkeling. Who would have thought it?

Why we even have to go after stupid sea creatures is beyond me. For one he’s a Tracker and I’m pretty sure mermaids are out of his area of expertise. When dealing with the supernatural, the ones who keep the world safe can be broken down into three categories. Hunters, Trackers and Slayers.

If you require a flea treatment after coming across them, for example - wolf shifters, werewolves and well, any of those shifter species, Trackers are all over them. Vampires and blood suckers in general go with Slayers like ham goes with cheese. Then again, mermaids are part fish, and fish are animals...

“Calm down Bunny, and put away the knife!” He sighs, shaking his head.

Reluctantly I slip it back into it’s sheath that’s strapped around my thigh. “Fine. You win. I don’t know what I’m doing!”

This time he groans and reluctantly sits down beside me. Without saying a word he fixes my flippers that I had been struggling to put on, and I only get more annoyed with myself for being so useless.

I hate this, and not just this, here and now. I’m not myself, stuck in this weird limbo. While I may have healed enough to feel like I should be doing more, my body isn’t liking it when I do. Plus my brain has taken the whole vacation thing seriously and doesn't want to function either.

Dying, and being brought back to life by some stupid god, isn’t as great as you’d think it would be. I’m healing as slowly as your every day mortal. It shouldn’t be like this. I’m a Hunter. If it isn’t a shifter, or a blood sucker, my kind are the ones to deal with it - then again we do those as well. We’re just lucky like that.  Because we’re often getting hurt or in my case, getting beaten to death - we heal pretty quick and not just that, but my best friend happens to be an Apopythe demon.

He is a giant snake with a bunch of neat tricks, and one them is being able to heal me even quicker. Because he is magic, he can’t do what he normally does and here I am on a vacation to rest and heal. It’s taken weeks for my chest to stop feeling like each breath is breaking my ribs all over again; the last of my bruises and cuts have gone now, but a few have left scars.

It sucks.

“There. Now, please listen to me for once in your life and maybe we can get in the water before sundown.” Logan teases, a lazy grin taking place of the scowl that had been set on his face the whole walk down to the beach.

I don’t blame him for that.

If I had to listen to me complain for fifteen minutes, non-stop, to then chuck a minor tantrum because the air tanks are too heavy, my flippers aren’t the right size and the goggles are too big, as well as hating on mermaids - well I probably would have gone through with the shark bait threat already.

As he goes through the basics, I do remember some of this from the training received back at Huntington’s Academy; a school designed to torture all of us before being set free into the world to take care of the big and bad like we were born to do while trying not to be killed in the process. In that regard, I really am one of the lucky ones because here I am.

“Got it?” He finally asks.

“Yeah.” Not really. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“Putting up with me.” I smile, leaning over to kiss his cheek.

“It’s a labour of love.”

I slap his arm and loosely tie up my hair into a ponytail, while wishing I had been listening more.

“So, what’s the deal? Ailin sent through some info saying all the attacks have been out near some island?”

“We’re on that island.” Logan tells me dryly. “I figure if we head out near the reef, there are some caves a bit further down. The guy I got this gear from said they were good for fishing, but people aren’t going there now because of the sharks.”

“Stupid sharks.” I mumble sarcastically.

“Aren’t girls supposed to like mermaids. What are you going to be like if you ever see a unicorn?” He muses.

“I like The Little Mermaid. Maybe if they showed Ariel as a sharp toothed monster that is pretty much the product of some sick human getting it on with a piranha, and she ate Prince Eric instead of saving him, girls everywhere would have a different appreciation of certain things. Like who decided blood suckers were attractive? They’re no better zombies, except for the smell and the whole having a brain thing, but let’s be serious, even that’s debatable.” I rant, my mood shifting back into sulking mode as we make our way to the waters edge.

“Been holding onto all that for a while haven’t you?” Logan asks as he does something to my air tank, not hiding his amusement.

I don’t answer him and just pout, before reluctantly following him into the water. Before long, schools of brightly scaled fish swim by us like we’re one of their own, and the coral seems to putting on a show; glowing bright in some of the most amazing colours I’ve ever seen.

It’s easy to get lost in this underwater world and despite my legs already starting to feel tired, I push on. We go down through a flurry of orange and purple fish, following the curve of the reef. The water seems endless around us, and it’s hard not to start panicking at how tiny we are when compared to the vastness of the ocean. Blue nothing surrounds us, the aqua colour changing to a sapphire  before fading into inky blackness. Who knows what's hidden out there?

Bubbles roar upwards from our masks and I point out the black and white snake that kind of reminds of Annipe, our other Apopythe and as we leave the light filled water and float close by to the rocky surface, where dark depths lead into caves.

A tiny crab lunges at me, throwing his claws around like he’s at a rave, before retreating back into the crevice he came out of. We go past sea horses and anemones. We go down a little deeper, with the coral and growths becoming neon in colour. I almost don’t want to leave. A shadow above me makes my heart stop.

Until I look up.

Reaching out to Logan, I grab his arm and point up. A sea turtle lazily passes, before turning to look at us with much curiosity as we have for it.

This is, amazing!

I don’t feel so tired anymore, and as I start to follow the turtle all my worries seem to disappear so I am left completely at ease. A small toothless shark rushes by my flippers and why Ariel would ever want to leave this world is beyond me. Sebastian had it right, down here is not only wetter, but better.

Logan takes my hand and I try to stay focused on why we're actually here, but it’s impossible to do with so many things distracting me. He makes some hand motion and then points up, so I just nod and go along with it, letting him start our ascent back to the surface. As soon as I can, i’ve pushed my goggles up and grin at him.

“That was awesome!”

“Yeah it was, but no sign of mermaids.” He sighs.

“Any chance they’ve moved on?”

“Ailin really wanted it checked out, so I doubt it.”

The President of our Council was firm, but fair and I trusted her. If she said something needed looking into, I wasn’t going to argue. The fact there had been a few deaths because of the underwater residents, I understand the importance of it too.

“So, we gonna come back later?” I ask.

“Yeah, but that's enough swimming for today.”

We head back to shore and I eagerly strip off the equipment. I should have protest when Logan picked up my gear, but the walk back was killer. It was all sand, the heat of the afternoon had arrived and now I was no longer floating around like a butterfly, I was exhausted. If I thought the walk there was bad, this was hell.

“Stay here, I’ll go to the hotel and grab a bike to give you a lift back.” He offered.

“I can do it.”

“You’re just being stubborn.”

“You are.” I snap back, and Logan simply shakes his head.

“Fine.”

I don’t talk the rest of the way back, mostly because I can’t. Logan goes on without me, and I let him because we’ll probably just start arguing and he’ll remind me why we are here apart from having a holiday, and did I mention how hot it gets here?

Giving up, the hotel is in my sight and the jetty with all the bure’s branching out from it extends over ocean; mocking me. I can see our villa, well I think it ours at the end of the pier and here I am, so close yet so far.

Luckily the shade offers seem relief and flopping down, I close my eyes and completely give in. The peace and quiet doesn’t last long though as I hear footsteps and looking up, Logan is back and out of his wet suit, in simple board shorts and a vest instead.

“So, you can do it on your own?” He taunts.

He helps me stand and my leg starts to cramp. Great. “I just want to be back to normal!”

“Well, hate to break it to ya, but you’re not. There’s only me here Bunny, you don’t have to pretend you’re fine and act like nothing is wrong. You’re only going to hurt yourself and need even longer to recover.”

“I know! I just, hate it!” I mumble.

“I know.” He pulls me close and I lean against him. “But you did good today, and you are on your way to getting better. It’s not permanent.”

Logan kisses me softly, and distracted by that I miss the way he leans down slightly. His arm slides down towards my thighs and just as I go to ask him what he thinks he is doing - I’m being lifted.

“Put me down!” I squeal like a ten year old, which only makes him laugh.

“I would dare you to make me, but we know how that would end.” He adjusts his hold on me slightly and starts to walk. “Come on, you love it. Help me out would you.”

I glare at him before putting an arm around his shoulders. making it easier for him to carry me.

“For the record, I don’t love this and you’re just lucky no one I know is around to see this buddy. I have a rep to maintain!”

“Of course you do.” He agrees seriously; yet the amusement is all over his face.

“Jerk.”

“Love you too.” And he places a big wet, sloppy kiss on my forehead.

-x-

After a nap, a massage and a long hot shower, I’m starving. Apparently Logan has a surprise for dinner tonight and coming out of the bathroom I am dressed and ready. I stop though, catching him strapping a knife against his calf. I hesitate in the doorway, curious about what he is doing only he senses me coming and quickly rolls down his pants. As he turns to look at me, I keep walking and he offers me a smile.

“Ready?”

“Yeah.” I wonder if he has anything else to add, but instead he reaches for his wallet on the table. “So, ah, where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” He answers cryptically and judging from the way he adjusts his shirt; the knife isn’t the only weapon he has on him. We haven’t exactly been gearing up since we arrived, and I wonder what's going on.

“Am I dressed okay for it?”

What I really mean is, should I ditch the maxi-dress for pants and swap my sandals for actual footwear. He meets my gaze and I raise an eyebrow, wanting him to tell me what’s going on without having to demand it.

“You are dressed perfectly.” Logan tells me smoothly as he comes closer. “In fact, we could always pass on dinner and-”

“Not a chance, I’m starving.”

Looking up, I stare at him; mentally commanding him to tell me what's going on. Clearly I haven't managed to develop those skills as all he does is give me a lazy grin. The cologne he has on is one of my favourites and he has dressed up a little bit too. The white collared shirt isn't a style I'm used to seeing on him, just like the dress pants and shoes. For a second I forget about what I had seen, and instead focus only on him as his offer is sounding more tempting now.

He hand becomes entwined in mine and he kisses my knuckles. “Come on then, don’t want to be late!”

Another quick kiss is placed on the tip of my nose, and suddenly I'm being led towards the door.

“Sure I don’t need to bring anything, like I dunno, strap a hunting knife to my leg? This dress will hide it well.” I challenge.

Instantly he frowns. “No. You’re fine. I’m just being, cautious.”

“Logan.” The warning is impossible to miss.

“Something Ailin said stuck to me, that's all. We don’t want to be late.” Tugging on my hand, I end up grabbing my purse despite not planning on taking one, because if he gets a weapon; so do I.

A shuttle bus is waiting for us when we get to reception and a few other tourists are already seated. Before long, we’re getting on board the catamaran style boat. Tables have been set up on the rear deck and this all seems a little too luxurious for Logan to have organised. Champagne is served as we’re seated, while a waiter comes by soon after with a tray of canapes. I'm pretty sure I take more than what is socially acceptable too.

“So, what do you think?” Logan asks almost proudly.

“You did good Logey.” I reach over and pat his cheek to annoy him. “I’ll keep you around a little longer!”

“Good to know.” He rolls his eyes and I sink back into my chair.

We both go quiet as the boat heads towards the horizon and just enjoy the fresh sea air. The sky is a bright orange as the sun fights to keep it’s hold on the world. Music starts from the other side of the space and looking over, a man in a grass skirt is behind the keyboard while two ladies in brightly coloured sarongs start to dance around the tables.

The sunset is perfect and the whole setup is almost sickeningly romantic. I guess this whole almost dying thing really turned me into a sucker for this stuff. We moved to the back of the boat, and like we’re in a scene from the less traumatic part of Titanic, Logan traps me against the railing and turning around to face him, I don’t care about our rather over the top PDA. Smells of dinner drift out over the deck and cuddled up together, we watch the sunset until the captain announced the food is now being served.

Once that part is done, the dancers return and the old couple on the table beside us have me up and dancing with them since Logan had excused himself to go to the bathroom and I was left sitting there alone. It’s dark now, the sun long gone and after the third song I start to get paranoid. When dessert is served, I’m still waiting for Logan and ditching the ice cream, I head into the boat to find the toilets.

Knocking once, there was no answer and going in they were empty. Heading back to the main area, Logan definitely wasn’t around and giving into instincts I hadn’t been using, focused on trying to find him. Sneaking down the side, I used to the rails for balance and small splash from the water made me look down.

I really wish I hadn’t done that.

The lights from the boat lit up the calm surface and the shadows of movement beneath us made my stomach drop. Since we were anchored, I knew they were what was moving; not us and leaning over the edge, the skin on the back of my neck tingled so what ever was out there wasn’t typical marine life. Right on cue a silver form surfaced just to my left, revealing an almost human back before a tail flicked completely out into the night. Mermaids.

“Fuck.” I mumbled.

Sneaking up the side of the boat, Logan definitely wasn’t here and hitching up my skirt, I climbed up the tiny staircase and crossed the front of the boat. I knew in a second who the figure was below me, and watched as Logan threw something into the water. He put his knife away and held his hand out over the edge which was clearly getting the mermaids attention as the water began to stir below us.

Going down quietly was impossible and he was there to help me onto the small path. Grabbing the railing, I nearly tripped on the length of my dress, but Logan kept an arm around my waist.

“What, the hell are you doing?” I hissed at him, frowning as I saw the cut on his hand.

“Getting their attention. I spoke to Ailin when you were in the shower and she said to see if our blood could get a response from them. Sorry, I was hoping it would all happen a little quicker and you wouldn’t have noticed me being gone.”

“Tell me next time Loges, what if you fell overboard or something?”

“Well, I was given orders to keep you out of it all. You know Ailin, and well, judging from the movement down there, we found their location.” He shrugged.

He’s right, I did know Ailin and my involvement in all of this was supposed to be minimal. I’d been given the book work side of things to help Logan out, but really I think that was all a distraction too since I saw he’d been emailed his own set of notes. I know I’m not being included in a lot of what’s going on and luckily, Logan wasn’t really holding out on me, not a lot like what had happened in the past anyway, but tonight proved otherwise.

“Now what?” It wasn’t like we could do much with a boat full of people with us.

“I was hoping to talk to one of them, but now you’re here, I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” He smirked.

“What’s that suppose to mean?” I snap, pushing his arm away.

“Well you-” He didn’t get to finish as the boat suddenly jolted to one side; almost like a wave had hit it. I wish it was that simple as instead a funnel of water rose up to our height and sure enough, Logan got his wish.

“Recklesssss humansss.” The serpent woman hissed, suddenly lunging at us like a striking python. “You seek to summon us. You seek death.”

Logan was ready though, and pushing me against the side of the boat, blocked me from the attack as he raised his knife to strike. It cut her arm and instantly she retreated, while a mouth full of sharp teeth were bared at us.

“We don’t want to fight you!” Logan told her.

Seaweed clung to her skull in place of hair and her silver form seemed to glow in the unnatural lighting. Her figure was similar to that of a fish, only her scales parted from where a belly button should be to reveal smooth skin and the shape of her breasts were barely covered by the algae she called hair that hung limp over her shoulders.

Her face though, well how sailors were ever entranced by these monsters was beyond me and I’d seen prettier demons. The dome of her skull was almost like a dolphin’s head, except her jaw was more human and the fish like scales that covered the rest of her were less defined so she simply looked shiny. Movement at the base of her neck startled me as I could see something flapping against her skin until I realised they were gills.

I know you shouldn’t stare at people or, things, that are different, but I’d never seen a mermaid so close before and the pictures we had at the Academy didn’t really do much to prepare me for this. All that information also forgot to mention the disgusting smell.

“We came to talk, I am a Tracker, and-”

“I know what you are.” She muttered, her speech slow and hard to understand. Maybe English wasn’t her first language. Considering what she was, that was probably likely. “What you both are.”

Her almost reptile like eyes turned my way and since I was openly gawking at her, there was no point in hiding that. The bump I’d call a nose opened, looking more like some kind of gill and inhaling deeply, she inched closer towards me..

“Then you know why we are here.” Logan continued. She grinned, her mouth widening to reveal all her teeth as plump lips lifted to reveal black gums.  “This is your only warning, if you do not cease your attacks on humans we will have no choice-”

The mermaid laughs, cutting him off. “You, Hunter will not stop us. Death, it follows you. I smell it!”

“I really doubt that’s what you smell.” I look her over, making what I’m implying clear. She only continued to glare as her smile disappeared. “Do fish really have brains the size of their eyes?”

“Elise!” Logan warned, my name coming out as more of a growl.

“This is your only warning.” I told her, hoping the message was clear enough for her to understand.

Clearly she did as she snapped her jaws in our direction before retreating back into the ocean, yet her own threat lingers in the air behind her. "No, it was yours."

Just like that they were gone.

“That went well.” Logan sighed. “What was Ailin thinking? Talking it out rarely ever works and they’re probably going to do something horrible now as an act of defiance to the treaty. I was really hoping we wouldn’t have to kill anything while we were here.”

Sometimes that treaty is more of a pain in my ass than something that is actually, good. No, not really. My ancestor had the right idea in it's creation and for years the bulk of the supernatural world has lived in peace with the humans. We've managed to remain basically undetected from everyday civilians and until recently no one has really fought against the rules we all abide by.

When vampires get egos or werewolves have stupid ideas and demons decide they want to do what they want, it's why we exist - to keep them in line, more so since the treaty than ever before. In the old days it was kill first, then maybe ask questions. Sometimes I think that might be a better way, but I know I could never really enforce it. Like my vampire friend V used to tell me, I'm not like the other Hunters.

Stupid conscious.

Stupid righteous family.

Stupid mermaids ruining my recovery holiday by having to turn divers into snacks.

“Hey you two! That’s restricted access!” The sound of someone yelling got our attention and the pair of us obediently headed back to the deck.

Logan mumbled some kind of apology, lying about how we thought we saw dolphins and the boat began the journey back to shore. Trying to stop that from ruining our night, we went and joined the other dancing couples. The party was in full swing and the champagne was flowing freely, so much so in the half hour trip I got my buzz back as I didn’t shy away from whatever was offered to me.

By the time we got back to the hotel, I was begging Logan to carry me again and this time I wasn’t so lucky. Then again, neither was he, because as soon as I got back to our bed; I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.