Chapter Fifteen ★ Bond

｡☆✼★━ Luna ━★✼☆｡

​

The pulse of clarity that hit me wrestled to stay in the forefront of my mind. Yet, a dark cloud of red consumed the last bit of control that I had left within me before the primal urge to kill took over. He was mine.

Using his retched scent of pond scum and rotten eggs he was easy to follow through the shadows of the shack. Like chasing after a rat on pavement during daylight. Sure he was fast as heck but that didn’t matter. No, this was only part of the fun.

Over to my left boxes toppled and scattered onto the deck while more pails banged against each other. There were more of them. Interesting.

I licked my lips being careful of the several rows of sharp teeth and went for the closest prey. He was hiding behind large wooden crates hunched close to the ground. I peered over and smiled, “Gotcha.”

He let out an ear piercing shriek as I leapt over the box and bit off the top part of his body. Warm blood gushed down my throat but did not slake my thirst. No, it burned and ached for more. 

His body, what was left of it, slumped down to one side and fell over. Blood continued to pool around his remains and drip into the water below. 

The others scampered on the slick wooden deck seeking out a safe hiding spot. Suckers. There’s no way they can hide from me. Especially with their scent.

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾ – TO BE CONTINUED… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Chapter Fifteen ★ Bond

｡☆✼★━ Luna ━★✼☆｡

​

I waited. Counted one hundred heartbeats and let out several steady breaths way after his footsteps faded away. Still I could feel a presence close by but I couldn’t find out where it was hiding.

Daniel and Pearl don’t have time for me to figure out if someone was waiting to ambush me. Time to go knock some heads together and save my friends. With a power swish of my shark tail I swam towards the ladder that led up to the dock.

Grabbing the rungs I pulled one hand over the other until my bottom half was out of the water. I kept crouched under the dock until my legs materialized. Daniel was getting further away for the hunger inside ached to be let out.

I ignored it and focused on the task at hand. Placing one foot on the rungs of the ladder I shimmed the rest of the way up while staying close to the shadows of the deck. If someone was here then I don’t want to be an easy target.

Safe in the shadows I leaned up against a wall that lead into the boat shack and let out a breath. It would be so much easier to sneak around if I was still in my small form. But no, now on the nights of the full moon I’m cursed to become a freakish shark abomination.

Sure, sharks are cool but I miss my mer-form. It was small and could camouflage easy with the surroundings. I hope to Triton that Ray was wrong about needing to kill the werewolf to break the curse.

I let a sigh slip and my heartbeat skipped a beat. Dang it. Can’t get cozy here. Especially since there’s some sort of critter hanging out in here with me.

A shadow skittered to the other side of the shack. I squinted trying to clear up the blurry darkness that expanded out in front. Nope, that ain’t going to work.

Inhaling a deep breath the scent of rotting pond scum and beached fish filled the air. Whoa. How’d I miss this smell? It’s horrid. Pictures of the bloated alligator man and his ilk the crocodile man flooded my mind.

One of them, eh? I think I can deal with him.

Following the scent trail the creature knocked over buckets and other junk that littered the docks. He was running. The shark in me reveled in the prey’s frantic pathetic attempts at escape.

Another part of my brain stopped me in my tracks. He was making a lot of noise. Was it because he was afraid? Or is it a trap?

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾ – TO BE CONTINUED… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Chapter Fifteen ★ Bond

｡☆✼★━ Luna ━★✼☆｡

​

Where was their hideout? Was it really under the pier over at the creepy amusement park? I continued to swim just under the boat so they didn’t see me. Somehow Daniel was knocked out.

It could have been that weird net that Ray threw at him when this all went down. Dang merlock. I hate them so much and the fact that this one has teamed up with the witches meant trouble for all of mer-kind.

I needed to follow them and learn more of their plan. Got to keep my cool no matter how much I want to launch myself back up on the boat and gobble them down. There’s something bigger brewing here and it involves Daniel and maybe his father.

“My arm’s getting tired.” The witch complained.

Ray said in a low tone, “I can lop that one off too so you don’t have any to complain about.”

“Uh.” She backtracked. “Nevermind. My arm isn’t tired at all. I can keep the water spout going for hours.”

“Good.” He replied. “See that you do. Last thing I want is for a surprise attack to happen.”

I imagined him shifting his head about and looking over his shoulder to see if I was lurking in the shadows. Heh. Serves him right. Hmm, didn’t he have a french accent before? Was that part of his ruse too?

Ugh, fake merlocks. I want to pluck each and every last weed of their kind from the ocean. They are nothing but greedy, back-stabbing, low-life and no-goody two-shoes.

Still can’t believe that I fell for his glamour. Pearl did too. He must be a powerful one if he had all of the base fooled or some sort of artifact to mask his identity. The witches might have supplied him with an artifact that might do it.

Even more the reason for me to find out what they’re planning in my backyard.

The boat above slowed down and I matched its pace. Salt, algae and slow decay of cedar wood assaulted my nostrils. We were getting close to the pier. Part of which the amusement park was located.

Guess, I might be right. Shadows grew darker and thicker then swallowed the boat and I as we went further into a housing area for boats. I hung underneath the boat and did the best imitation that I could think of for a sunken log.

Loud hollow footsteps plunked along the wooden pier out to the boat. The Longman’s voice said, “Greetings. I suppose that tornado out there is yours, Priscilla ?”

“It’s a water spout.” She snapped and released the spell. “Learn the difference.”

Shoot, I forgot she had one tailing us the entire way here. Thank Triton for mermaid powers to cut through rough waters like hot butter on taters.

“My apologies.” He replied then said, “Master Ray. I assume all went well?”

Chains rustled and clunked on the floor of the boat then onto the deck. Ray gave another heave as the boat rocked for a few moments followed by a great thump. The metal net clattered on the wood as Daniel let out a whine.

Ray said, “Could have been worse. Tend to Priscilla before she become completely useless.”

“I’m fine.” She complained.

He replied in a steely voice, “You’re missing an arm. Go with Longman and get it rectified or else.”

Longman interjected, “What about the boy?”

“I’ll take care of him.” Ray said and leapt out of the boat then landed square on his feet. He bent down and picked up Daniel over his shoulder in one motion. He added, “I have the wolf. Deal with the witch before she bleeds out.”

Longman bowed, “Of course.”

Then led Priscilla up the dock and out sight. Ray turned around surveying his surrounding. No one else was on the dock. He said aloud, “I know your there. If you treasure your friends life then you’ll do nothing.”

Crud. How the heck did he know that I’m still here? No, he’s just bluffing that’s all. Otherwise he’d be looking straight at me right now.

Ray added, “She will be returned to you once the witches and I complete our mission.”

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾ – TO BE CONTINUED… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙

Chapter Fifteen ★ Bond

｡☆✼★━ Luna ━★✼☆｡

​

It was too late to change directions. I was coming down on the drunken powered witch when she shifted and sent another lightening bolt my way. The world went fuzzy.

My body flopped and flipped out of the boat then crashed into the hectic ocean waves. The water spout closing in to where I laid prone on the water’s surface. Everything spun and whirled around.

The roaring got louder and I knew I needed to get up. Far off I heard the witch let out a keening cackle as they got further away. Inside the beast clawed to get out and without Daniel close by it was a losing battle.

Red tinged my vision as my blood hummed and thirsted for the rush of the kill. The powerful shark tail refused to budge as the impending doom of the spout got closer.I needed to get the heck out of here.

 I needed Daniel. 

Sure, I wanted my friend Pearl back. But, in the small amount of time that I spent with Daniel I realized that he and I had more of a intertwined path. Guess you could say that he and I were destined to be together.

Focus Luna. Focus. Ya got a dang water spout after yer butt and here yer swooning over a dang werepup. I shook my head and dove under the surface.

The water that followed the spout whizzed on by and only pushed me slightly out of the way. Deep down it probably was stronger but the red heat that was surging throughout my entire being was winning.

Gnashing together shark teeth I swam in the last know direction of the boat. That witch is dead meat. Glorious dead meat. The inner shark agreed that she would be tasty.

I could feel the shark let some of my natural merpowers slip through which allowed for easier navigation of rough waters. Again I caught up with the boat but did not surface. Instead I kept low and listened.

Sure, shark eyesight can be cruddy but our hearing and sense of smell is off the charts. The blood from the witch left a palatable trail that I could follow. This was the correct boat.

Above I heard her speak, “That shark ain’t gonna cause no more troubles.”

“I wouldn’t write Luna off, just yet.” Ray said then added, “When she puts her mind to it then she will not let it rest.”

The witch cackled, “Did you see her turn into barbequed shark? I could smell her meat cooking from that last zap. Mmmm. Makes me want some calamari now.”

“Like I said…” Ray began. “I wouldn’t consider Luna to be dead yet.”

The witch whined, “Can I call of the spouts at least? They’re draining my reserves.”

“No. Keep at least one that you can call on just in case.” Ray demanded then turned the boat.

I followed just underneath. Attacking them outright wasn’t getting me anywhere. I needed to find out where he was taking Daniel and where he hid Pearl.

“But I’m tired.” The witch pouted.

“Not my problem.” Ray argued back. “You were hired to be my guard. Until we’re back in port then your job isn’t done.”

Footsteps on the boat echoed into the moving waters. The witch kicked something and it let out a whine. She groused, “If Longman and his cronies had done there job then we wouldn’t be needing to do this right now.”

“Leave the werepup be.” Ray said then ordered, “Just sit. Keep one of your spouts going for protection. We only have a little bit more to go.”

“Fine.” She pouted once more.

‧͙⁺˚*·༓☾ – TO BE CONTINUED… –☽༓･*˚⁺‧͙