Fiction: The Mer
Vampire cops, a secret underworld, killer sea creatures, and a romance that lasts long past death. First published in the anthology Pulse Pounders, edited by Kevin J. Anderson.
The Grey Lady slashed the knife across his partner's neck.
Time stopped as Rick's preternatural ears picked up the sound of metal against bone. Bianca's eyes remained wide, her mouth in a perfect 'O' as her head tilted back and hung for a few seconds, still connected by the neck bone, before the body collapsed at the knees and disappeared in the high, dried grass outside the Beer & Brew.
Laughter danced in the drizzling air. His hair was plastered to the sides of his face and the rain falling from his raven locks blurred the horrific vision in front him.
One hundred years.
His partner for over half his life. He heard the heart continue to beat, slowing as she bled out.
A single beat.
Then silence.
He stood a few feet away, closer to the bar's exterior than Bianca's body. His right shoulder bled from a knife wound. If he wasn't careful, the smell of it would gather more of the rogue Night Walkers than he could handle. He lifted the Desert Eagle in his hand and aimed it at the woman dancing in the mist.
Parasite? Demon? What was it? How could it have taken down a Vrykolakas so fast…so easily?
He fired three shots. Whatever she was, the Grey Lady was solid. Blood sprayed from a hit to her shoulder. The Gray Lady turned and opened her mouth.
The air in front of him folded as colorless sound struck him head on. Nothing prepared him for the blow or the pain. Any closer and he assumed the resonance would shatter his skull, or scramble his brain. A soundless scream like that could only mean one creature.
Mer.
The scream robbed him of his balance and he fell forward, almost on his face. He stopped himself with his hands, his gun gleaming under the moonlight. He fought the urge to puke and put his hands to his ears. They came away with blood. The reverberation destroyed the bones of his inner ear and ruptured his ear drum.
He snarled when he spotted her, running away in the mist, toward the cave entrance to the underground market.
Oh no you don't!
He managed to right himself, but knew he wasn't standing at a proper angle. His gun rested on the ground at his feet, but if he bent over to pick it up he'd land on his face. His inner ear was already healing, but it would take time to regain his balance. He reached behind him for his knife, strapped to his belt, and took off at a less than stable run after the Mer.
The instant his preternatural senses hit the darkness he slowed. The smell of mildew and rotting green along with the cold air of descent caressed his skin. He raked his wet hair back from his face with his fingers and watched in the darkness as he walked the tunnel.
More of that insane laughter filled the heavy air as he moved through the veil that kept this world hidden from the one above. The only souls that found this place were the ones looking for it. The bustling market spread out before him, a hollowed out rock filled with stocked goods and services only those in the Night would require. Bags of blood in packs of ice, bottled vintages as well. Herbs, spices and potions rested alongside freshly slaughtered creatures no one wanted to know existed…except when they were dead.
Clothing of all kinds, most of it stolen from above and resold here for pennies on the dollar.
In the center a fountain of crystal water from the purest spring. The only catch were the parasites living along the edge, controlled by other under market creatures who commanded them to jump into a drinker's pocket and steal their coin.
To the left was the grotto where underground wells bubbled up from the nearby ocean. Water fell from the ceiling, and though the trip into the market had been a short one, Rick knew from experience he was several miles below the surface.
He caught sight of the Grey Lady just ahead and heard her laughter over the cacophony of the crowd. Market patrons, recognizing his black uniform and the small silver pentagram on his lapel, moved out of his way as he pursued her. She bolted through a walkway between caves and he saw her slip into the market's only bar, Nocturnal.
Rick stopped just outside the entrance and drew a green sigil in the air. The image hung for a few seconds before it rose and settled over the door. The shield would prevent anyone from coming in, but it would allow patrons to exit.
And they did, in droves. The proprietor would have been immediately aware of the magic, and its signature. And no one wanted to be in a bar when the law came in.
He looked for the Grey Lady among the exiting patrons. When he didn't see her, Rick counted to ten after the last person left and slipped inside, through the sigil's magic. The bar looked like it always did. Dark and unkept, just the way the patrons liked it. The owner was a former treaty enforcer and a friend of the force. Rick knew where he kept his weapons and strode straight to the bar to grab one. A colt.45 was the first one up, and that was enough. He would have preferred his Eagle, but he'd take what he could get. His inner ear had healed but nothing cooled his rage at Bianca's loss.
The back of the bar was just a continuation of the grotto from the market, an open pool that fed in from the ocean. The Gray Lady stood by the water, her colorless garments on the ground at her feet. She stood before it naked. He raised his gun and started toward her.
He was about to tell her to halt when he sensed another heartbeat. Rick glanced to his right and stopped.
Jumo Razor sat in a chair propped against the back wall. His hands were crossed over his chest and he was watching Rick with red eyes. Jumo was known to be the craziest mother fucker in the underground. A Vrykolakas who fed on his own kind. There were laws against it, but no one had ever caught Jumo in the act, and no one ever wanted to stand up as a witness to his crimes.
And who could blame them? Jumo was big— maybe three hundred plus—and it wasn't fat. It was hard muscle. Rumor was Jumo was a heavyweight wrestler when he lived and he'd gone crazy before he was turned. Rick didn't care. He just wanted him out of the bar.
It didn't look as if Jumo was going to interfere, and he did find it odd the bastard hadn't run out with the rest of the rats. Either way, he had a murderess about to flee into the ocean. He just hoped Jumo stayed out of it.
"Stop right there!" he shouted as he continued on to stand a few feet from the Mer. "You're under arrest for the murder and decapitation of three sylphs, one leaf eater, and three Vrykolakas, one of which was my partner."
The Mer didn't react and continued stepping out of her dress. Her skin had mottled, no longer the colorless bleach before. Rick saw scales forming as she dipped her toe in the water. Her hair had changed and continued to morph as she shifted into her true form.
Mers were the least understood among the 'ground creatures. They usually stayed down deep in their black homes and only ventured up when they were hungry or bored. And this one had been plenty of both. He nor anyone else on his squad had seen such carnage, all caused by a single criminal.
And Rick was the only one who knew she was a Mer.
"You…are not like the others."
Her voice was a bell in his ears. The tonal qualities continued on long after striking the instrument. Rick shook his head to clear it. “What I am doesn’t matter. What you’ve done is more important. I hereby order you to step back toward me. I’m taking you into custody.”
Laughter again. “Really?” She turned, and he saw the bullet hole in her bare shoulder. It leaked something like black ichor now instead of blood, and the hole wasn’t closing. So no regenerative powers? He wished he’d read more on Mer. “And with what do you plan to take me with, Night Kin?”
Rick tried not to react to the name. This was impossible. No one knew he was Night Kin. No one. Except Bianca. And she was dead.
Everyone who ever met him believed he was Vrykolakas, a Night Walker like Jumo, like Bianca had been. Rick had the pale skin, the dark hair, the roman features, fangs, the need for blood… but he lacked the one thing all other Vrykolakas needed.
Air.
Rick didn’t need to breathe. He didn’t have a heartbeat. He’d been born to this life, not turned.
He was an aberration. A thing no one understood and his mother had known that, hidden that, and made him appear for all purposes, like a Vrykolakas.
“Night Kin aren’t human, my child. Their blood is true life. Your blood will make anyone, any creature, immortal once they drink from you. As long as you live. This makes your life a danger to yourself.”
Those words haunted him, and he’d managed to fool everyone.
Except a Mer.
And now Jumo knew the truth.
Shit.
He heard the burly creature’s chair kick back into place as he sat forward. “Night Kin,” Jumo said in a slurred, dumber-than-a-pizza voice.
Rick acted on instinct. He pointed the gun at Jumo and put two slugs in the monster’s head. Jumo dropped like a load of bricks. Rick got the gun back up and pointed at Mer as she rushed at him.
She stood inches from the barrel. He saw fear in her eyes. And hate.
Immense hate.
“You speak of justice with your enforcers,” she said and her voice was no longer bells but knives on steel. “But who gives justice to us? You kill us, you take us, you murder our children, but no justice. I take justice.” She pointed at herself. “I take!”
She moved—fast. Rick barely managed to turn to his right as she rushed under the gun at him. She clipped him with claws that were once hands, cutting through his black jacket to his pale flesh beneath. The slice was surface damage only, but the effect—
Paralyzing!
His muscles locked from his legs down as he stumbled and tried not to fall. Nothing obeyed his commands as he fell on his left side, as she rushed him again. He just wasn’t there for her to grab. As she moved past, he fired at the back of her head.
Down. She skittered and rolled toward the water’s edge and stopped. Her body looked broken. She didn’t move.
Rick pulled himself to her, his legs dead weight behind him. He needed to make sure she was dead and didn’t go back into the water. He was only guessing at the Mer’s abilities, but he was sure a species like this one hadn’t lived so long without certain protections.
Like the paralyzing venom now eating away at his lower body. Nobody told him about that!
Another stage of panic set in for Rick—was it permanent or temporary?
Was it—
"Rick!"
His partner’s voice shocked him out of his worry as he pulled himself to the Mer. How…how was he hearing her voice? Was he already dead? Was this the After Death?
But then he saw her boots, recognized the cut of her slacks, and looked up into her heavenly face. “How—” He saw her neck, saw the open wound around it, but it wasn’t bleeding anymore. It was healing!
She leaned in close to his ear and spoke with her mind. <I fed from you last night, remember?>
He tried to roll back. She was right. During sex, she’d nipped his neck and gotten a taste of him before he’d been able to stop her. In fact, the night had ended in a fight because of it. <You barely had a taste!>
“I would know your kind anywhere, my dear,” she said as she put my gun in my hand. “Ah…she get you? Mer venom…paralyzing shit. It’ll wear off after a while, but I got a better idea.” She stood, and he watched her move to the Mer.
To Rick’s surprise, she lifted the Mer by her arm and dragged her next to him. Getting down low, she pulled the Mer’s wrist to him. “Drink. It’s excellent healing and it’ll slap that venom right out.”
“I don’t think drinking from a perp is—”
“In the rules? Well, I won’t tell if you don’t.” She winked at him.
Rick was ecstatic she was alive. Strike that. He was ecstatic she was living. He didn’t know how they were going to explain her survival to anyone, not with a cut to the neck that deep. Bleeding out is a nasty way for a vrykolakas to die. They drain out, their heart beating and pumping the body clean, then dry up. The myth was they experienced it all until the last second.
He grabbed the offered wrist, listened for the vein. His fangs slid down and popped the Mer’s slippery, scaly skin. The blood was cold, not warm, and tasted foul. But the strength it gave him as she swallowed was close to euphoria. In fact…
Well…the more he drank, the less he worried about his legs or the Mer or that his partner knew he was Night Kin. The blood made the stress of the important things go away.
“Okay…Rick…that’s enough. Your legs are moving.”
“Yeah…” He pulled back and wiped his mouth on his sleeve as he got up on his knees. He felt…drunk. That was the only way to explain the slipping reality around him.
“Oh, shit…I forgot. It’s sort of narcotic. Crap. Come on. The Captain’s in the market rounding everyone up. Let’s get you—” she stopped, and he looked at her. She was looking away. “Rick…did you know Jumo’s in here?”
“Mm-hmm,” he said dreamily. “I shot him in the head.”
“You know that won’t kill him, right?”
Rick felt a bit…surprised by that. “I thought Vrykolakas couldn’t survive a bullet to the head.”
“They can’t. But Jumo’s too dumb to die. And he’s getting up.” She let him go and stood. Rick watched her pull her weapon as he looked past her and saw she was right. Jumo stumbled around, but was definitely getting back up.
Shit.
“Don’t move, Jumo. The force is just past that door. No trouble.”
“Night Kin,” he muttered as he fell back and tried to get back up. “Night Kin!‘
Oh hell, he’s going to tell everyone in the whole damn underground. Rick started sobering pretty quick as he pushed himself up on his knees then stood. He picked up his .45 and was about to shoot the big shit in the head again when the Mer at his feet moved. Rick jumped back and watched as it started slithering its way to the water.
Oh, hell no you don’t!
“Stop!” He trained his weapon on her slithering form and fired. Between her jagged movement and his still fuzzy reflexes, he missed. “Shit.” He started after her, his gun aimed at her, and ordered her to stop again. They were inches from the water, him just behind her. The Mer stopped, turned and opened her mouth wide again.
A larger colorless wall of sound vibrated the air in front of him. This time, it felt like he’d taken the full blast of it to the face. His eardrums shattered again, and he dropped the gun. A silent scream of his own escaped his lips, heard only by those around him as he went down on his knees. He knew every bone in his inner ear was dust. He put his hands to his ears. They came away bloody.
“Night Kin!” Jumo was up and running at his partner.
But Rick didn’t hear this. He started falling sideways as his equilibrium vanished. Something cold and wet caught him, stopped him from slamming into the rock. The Mer pulled her to him and sank her razor-sharp teeth deep into his shoulder.
His body immediately shut down. Nothing moved. Not even his eyes. He stared straight ahead. He could feel, but he couldn’t move, even as his ears rebuilt themselves inside. His hearing returned, but it was more like listening to something through a six foot thick cotton wall.
She dragged him with her to the water and then he was under it, the cold of it shocking him. He inhaled water when he gasped, but wasn’t able to expel it. Just because he couldn’t breathe didn’t mean having water in his throat and lungs didn’t burn.
It did.
It was agony.
She pulled his inert body down deeper, her hand on his shoulder, her claws sunk into his skin. He knew he was bleeding from the wound she’d made and wondered if it would bring sharks.
Or something worse.
The deeper they went, the darker it was until he couldn’t see anything at all. He was blind, nearly deaf, and unable to speak or fight back.
The cold got to him as well. As they traveled, he felt things moving against his skin, and with every touch, he felt more venom in his system, numbing where it caressed.
Finally, she stopped and let go of him. He sank just a few inches before settling against the soft sand. Yet, she still had more to do with him. She turned him over and roughly pulled his hands behind him. His wrists were bound tight with something strong. She removed his shoes and bound his ankles the same way. Then she wrapped it around his eyes several times, then pulled it between his teeth where she wound it again, and then around his neck.
Even if he could move, he wouldn’t be able to. His lungs burned from the cold water.
She yanked at him again, this time taking him against her as she swam up. The water warmed as they traveled and within a few minutes, they broke the surface. She dragged him with her and then all but shoved him face first onto another rocky surface. Water rushed from his lungs as he coughed and choked over the leathery ties in his mouth. She rolled him onto his front as his stomach heaved and he lost the blood he’d ingested. He smelled salt in the air and the constant rushing of water.
“What is it?” This was a fresh voice. Female. Not as high pitched.
“Night Kin,” came the one that took him. “He tried to kill me. They kill us. So we take him. Taste. He is so good.”
Something touched his cheek. Rick still couldn’t move because of the venom still in his body. Hands moved his head to the side and then he felt another bite on his neck. This one was painful, though not as harsh. He made a small sound in his throat as she drank from him and a new venom was introduced.
When she released him, he cried out inside. He was captive with no means of getting free. Or none that he could see. He thought of his partner, concentrated on her. It was said the Vrykolakas could sense their kind by blood. Even though he wasn’t a pure-blooded Vryk, he was at least a blood relative.
And as he finally touched Bianca’s mind, he heard something that made him grow cold.
“…plant the eggs. In here,” someone said and touched his stomach. Hands moved his clothing and tore it away to expose his skin.
Eggs? In my stomach?
He screamed against the gag and realized he wasn’t making a sound. Nothing. He couldn't move at all.
They turned him on his back, his arms beneath him as they cleared away all of his clothing. He reached out to his partner again and again, sending waves of fear and helplessness.
This is not the way I want to die! He didn’t even know if he could die, or if he’d just be an incubator over and over again.
Something shook the rock beneath him. The Mer squealed and screamed in a language that hurt his ears. He continued trying to move as he made out an explosion. Then another. Water rushed around him and he panicked. He didn’t want to go back into the water…
Rocks struck him in several places as he lay unable to see or speak. The voices of the Mer had vanished, abandoning him.
“Rick?”
Again, the rock shook under him as he felt hands on his face. They cut away the bonds on his wrists, ankles, and eyes. Then they removed the gag from his mouth and neck. He looked up at his partner and noticed that her neck had almost healed. “Rick, can you hear me?”
He stared at her. That was all he could do.
“What’s wrong with him?” That was the Captain’s voice. The only Lycan on the force.
“Mer venom. And there’s a shitload in him. See those little pinholes all over his skin? Those are their stinger marks.” He watched her bite into her wrist and felt her press it against his lips. Her blood poured down his throat, warm and rich.
Abruptly, he could swallow. And he did. His muscle movement came back to him, a bit more with each swallow, until he reached up and took her hand in his. Then, once he felt it was enough, he pushed her wrist away and kissed it.
The wound would heal fast. “How did you find me?” His voice was hoarse, but it was good to speak again. His throat still burned from the salt water.
She tapped her forehead. “I used your emotions like radar. But we’ve got to get out of here. The fleet’s outside of this place, ready to take it down. We did it, Rick. We found the nest.”
“So,” he said as she helped him to his feet. “They’re going to kill all the Mer.”
“Yes,” she pulled his arm around her shoulders to support him. “You okay with that?”
“Hell yeah I am. But I want the one that took me. Bitch was going to implant eggs in me.”
The captain snorted. “That’s what they do, Rick.”
A louder, larger explosion nearly knocked them off their feet. Rick looked around, realizing they were in another grotto. Lamps of trapped pixies hung everywhere, and he realized the same time the captain did that he’d been laying on a stack of Lycan pelts.
Scavengers. Poachers.
Disgusting Mer.
“We can’t go back that way.” The captain motioned for them to follow him down a side tunnel. But Rick stumble-ran to the hanging pixies and opened their cages. Instantly, the tiny dots of light gathered and shot into a different tunnel. “Captain! This way!”
“He’s already gone.”
Rick licked his lips. “The Pixie way is the best way out.” He pushed her in that direction. “Follow them. I’ll go get the Captain.”
“Like hell. I’m not leaving you here, not after thinking I might have lost you.” She put her hand to the side of his face as a chunk of the cave came down to their right.
He smiled at her and grabbed her hand. “Maybe there’s another way.”
The two of them ran through the same tunnel the Captain took. It felt as if the whole thing, cave, whatever they were in, was after them as chunks of rock and gushers of water rained down on top of them. He pulled her out of the way for some, and she pulled him to safety with others.
Ahead of them, Rick could make out the back of the Captain for a about five seconds before half the tunnel caved in on top of him.
“Look out!” she managed to call before they were both swept away, back down the tunnel they were running out of. The water filled to the top and for a brief second, Rick lost his hold on her.
The current of the water, the rush of it carried them back and dumped them into the water of the grotto. It was filling too and his head broke the surface in time to see her pop to the top as well, unmoving. He realized a beat later that as Vrykolakas; she had to breathe.
Rick pulled her head above the water. He listened to her heart beating…faint but slow. The tunnel the pixies took was just visible in the rush of water. In minutes, the tunnel would be underwater—and as far as he knew—that was their only way out.
Maybe if he could bring her with him…maybe she could survive without oxygen for a while? He didn’t know. What he was aware of was that if they were trapped there, she would die and he’d be undead…and rotting.
With a burst of adrenaline, he grabbed her arm and dove under, heading directly into the tunnel. About five seconds inside, the light from the stones disappeared, and he had to slow down. Rick had to feel his way through, touching the walls and worrying the entire time whether he was going to make it, or worse, terrified that his blood had saved his partner’s life only to have her drown looking for him!
He kept the water out of his lungs this time, but the pressure against his eyes gave him a headache as he moved. Rick felt overwhelming despair as the water suddenly propelled them forward and he smashed his head against the rock, trying to protect her body.
Abruptly, the water temperature changed, and he found himself tumbling down and then…
Light.
Magnificent light!
He kicked toward it, Bianca in his arms, until the water became warm and they broke the surface.
Rick gasped and pulled her up immediately. The sun was just rising and he could see her in the light. Her skin was blue, as were her lips. Dammit! He looked around to find land and spotted the docks. They were maybe a hundred yards down from the launch. The beach was closest. If he could get her to land, he could give her blood.
It had worked before to save her life; it had to work again.
But as the sun crested the horizon, the lethargy it gave him seized his muscles. He fought against but it was like moving through thick mud. Rick cursed his race—of which he seemed to be the only one—just as his foot banged painfully against something solid.
He found land.
Slow and steady, he dragged himself and her onto the black rock. He had to pause periodically to build up enough energy to make a movement. As the sun rose higher, the harder it grew for him to drag her away from the water, and she was cold.
As cold as he usually was.
Once he had her half out of the water, he straddled her and had to smack his face to stay away, and even cupped water into his hand and inhaled it so the burning pain from breathing it would keep him awake.
He bit deep into his wrist, heard the pop of skin and vein before he put the wound over her open mouth. Rick braced himself with his other hand to keep himself up. But the sun was so high and the need to Sleep was going to take him. They were going to die on that beach, victims of the sun and her punishment for being of the night.
Rick had no idea how much time passed before he felt her stir beneath him. He felt her move with a jerk and then a gasp before he lost all sense of self and surrendered to Sleep.
“Hey… “ came a voice in his ear as he opened his eyes. “You okay?”
Okay.
Am I okay?
He blinked a few times. His skin felt tight. Raw. He put his hands to his face, and she pulled them away.
“Careful. I tried to shield us both and managed to pull trash over our heads before the Blinds found us. But we both got pretty burned before that happened.”
The Blinds, the Night Walker equivalent of a homeless shelter on wheels. They traveled the early morning looking for Night Walkers who weren’t able to make it back home.
But they weren’t on a bus. They were…
“We’re…” He looked at her. She looked red and shiny. She was beautiful. “Where are we?”
“My place. Well, my latest lair. You’ve never been here.”
“No.”
“It’s okay. We have heal time coming. Already talked to the new Captain—”
“So soon?”
She frowned at him. “It’s been a week, Rick. You’ve slept a week.”
A week? Why? And his face must have asked the same question.
“I think it’s part of what you are. Of which I’ve told no one, so don’t look so worried. And don’t worry about Jumo. He apparently can’t remember who was a Night Kin, and no one is taking him seriously.”
Rick pushed himself up on his elbows. He was naked under a thin sheet. “And the operation?”
“A success. The grotto was cleaned out, and the Mers destroyed. We found all nine hostages, including you. Unfortunately, they were all impregnated, so they were burned.”
He frowned at her. “Impregnated?” He remembered the Mers talking about sticking eggs in his stomach and nearly threw up.
"Yeah…you were checked too, which I suspect is part of why you slept so long because they went through your insides with a fine-toothed comb. They didn't think you'd take that long to heal, but they believe you're like me."
"Yeah."
"Rick?"
"Yeah?"
She kissed his lips. "Can I have another taste? Of you? I didn't want to till you woke up and said I could. And you taste so good."
He smiled at her. "What do I taste like?"
"Forever."