Wicked Good Witches Three Book Box Set (Demon Street Blues, Alpha Knows Best, Bye Bye Bloodsucker) (34 page)

“They're everywhere,” a boy shouted.

“Looks like we’ve got more than a couple on the beach,” Melinda spoke despondently.

William nodded, opened the door and got out, allowing Melinda to slide out after him.

“You kids all run along home now,” Mack ordered, getting out of the car. She started hanging police tape across the entrance of the beach, but knew full well it would not keep out local reporters, who were sure to catch wind of the story. 

“I'll stand guard,” she told Melinda and William. “Holler if ya need me, otherwise I'll just let ya do your thing.”

“I'll put up a barrier as well,” Melinda told Mack. “Should keep people from seeing what's going on.”

Mack nodded and tugged at her gun belt, making sure everything on her person was secure.

Melinda and William ducked under the tape and headed toward the beach, the ground underneath their feet turning into sand the closer they got.

Melinda stopped in her tracks when she saw the beach. “Oh, William! Wow!”

“I'm not sure
wow
quite does it justice.”

“I really didn't expect so many.”

“To be honest, nor did I.”

“Do you think this is all of them?”

A sound come out of him that indicated,
no
. 

Hundreds of bulging charcoal colored bloodsuckers lined the part-sand, part-rock beach, with more slithering out of the water every minute. They did resemble sea lions, except that sea lions were cute, and smart. At least the ones on the Isle. These things were thick, slick, and had just one thing on their mind: blood.

“We really need Michael and Charlie.” Doubt spread, Melinda skeptical of her abilities.

“We can handle this,” insisted William, noting her tone.

Melinda heard the tiniest hint of hesitation and raised her eyelids as if to say she did not believe him. They were going to need something to kill these creatures all at once, and they were going to need it fast.

##

Charlie Howard had his back up against the cave wall, unsure how he would escape the three merladies advancing toward him. The one he saved from the tangled mess of fishing nets was in the middle. Her face savage looking. Her eyes feral, her mouth poised, as if ready to bite him.

“I should have been more careful. Should have trusted my instincts.” Charlie was dumbfounded he’d let himself get tricked. They had seemed so innocent and helpless. And naked, and hot… yeah, it was the naked hotness. He hadn’t been thinking with his brain. He guessed the ring didn’t stop that from happening.

For some reason, the only solution that came to mind was to be honest with them.

“Look… I'm not taking this ring off, and
you
cannot take it off my finger, so this is going to go nowhere.”

The two merladies on the sides seemed to believe him and slowed their pace. They did not act as though they wanted to hurt him. One looked on the verge of tears.

“We must,” she whimpered, her words aimed at Charlie. 

“Yes, must get ring,” the one on the opposite side spoke, her voice wavering.

“Oh stop fucking whining you two,” hissed the one in the middle. “If you won't finish this, I will!” She lunged for Charlie's hand, threatening to use her teeth to bite the ring off his finger. He pulled his hand back and grabbed her by the throat. 

“I don't want to hurt you!” he spoke angrily. “But I will if you force me to. You cannot take this ring off my finger!”

The merlady flailed, her eyes wild, her hands grasping for the ring just out of reach. Behind them, in the pool, something splashed, and a head popped out of the water. 

Charlie dropped the attacking merlady, shock spreading across his face.

“Emily? What the hell?”
Am I dreaming? Did I let them mesmerize me again?
He wasn’t sure he was living in reality at the moment, or not.
 

“You’re not crazy, Charlie. It's really me.” Emily splashed her flippers, thrusting herself upward to get out of the water, sitting on the drying ledge.

“But you’re a…” he coughed and lowered his gaze. Emily’s plastered wet hair was not hiding anything above the waist, and she seemed not to care, or notice.

His eyes focused on her flippers.
Seriously? Flippers. What the hell is going on?

Emily spoke to the two frightened looking merladies. “You cannot do this,” she told them. “It's not right, and I can hear your thoughts. You don't want to hurt Charlie, do you?”

“No. But we must,” one spoke.

“If we do not...”

“I know,” Emily interrupted. “That's why I’m here. I freed your sister. You don't have to do this. Just listen.” The mermaids went quiet.

The nasty one, crawled away from the rest, not yet ready to give up, but determining her next move.

Nothing was making any sense to Charlie, but he needed to be able to look around properly. “Um, Emily. Could you possibly…” he waved his hands in the air, hoping not to have to say it out loud. He did not relish his brother finding out he’d seen his girlfriend’s boobs. 

She pursed her lips, not understanding. Air hit her breasts. She sucked in, her hands flying up to cover herself. “Oops.” She shook out her blue strands and got herself covered.

Charlie wanted to ask Emily what was happening, but once covered, she focused on the mermaids. Her facial features changed, as if having a conversation, though he did not hear her speak a word.

The two frightened mermaids, however, seemed to understand her perfectly. They went silent as well, listening to something Charlie could not hear. Then suddenly, bright smiles spread across their faces.

“Free,” one spoke.

“Not taken.”

“Don't need to hurt.” They sounded relieved. 

“We help other sisters now.”

“Yes. We help fight monsters.”

The other looked at Charlie. “Monsters bad. Killing sisters.” They did not explain further but simply darted past the vicious merlady and dove into the pool, swimming away.

Emily perched her body onto the ledge at the side of the pool, where mermaids dried themselves. 

“Stupid girl,” the angry mermaid shouted at Emily. “Ruin everything!” She stood in between Charlie and the pool to her freedom, torn as to keep up the fight or flee, before it was too late.

Her eyes shouted disappointment at not winning her prize, and a deep rumble rose in her throat seeping out through her teeth in thick streams of resentment. She stepped closer to the pool, her eyes drifting between Charlie and Emily. She hissed at Emily, ready to attack. 

Charlie willed the wolf to surface, allowing its strength to envelop him. The ring knew just the right amount to let free. He bent his knees and lurched forward, his body easily passing right by the merlady and landing at the side of the pool, guarding Emily.

Admittance of her defeat came quickly, and freedom won out. The merlady jumped into the pool feet first and disappeared out of sight.

Part of Emily wanted to dive in after her. She felt the ocean’s call tugging at her like the unavoidable ebb and flow of the tide. There was also something off about that mermaid and she desired to follow it and discover why.

“Emily,” called out Charlie. The ring had already reclaimed the wolf as he knelt to her side.

“Oh, hi,” she muttered. “Can't go back into the water. Told Michael I would return to him.” Her eyes glazed over as if her mind was somewhere else.

Charlie took a confused breath.

Emily's eyes lost their gloss and she saw Charlie more clearly.

“Are you okay?” she asked him, suddenly her usual self.

“You're asking
me
if
I'm
okay?” His gaze screamed 'I'm not the one that's been turned into a mermaid'. “What the heck is going on?”

Emily's reply quickly became nonsensical, confusing Charlie even more.

“Lots, I'm afraid. Obviously, I'm a mermaid now. Everyone was worried. You were not answering your phone. Then I heard the sisters talking about you. I had to come right way once I learned what was going on.”

“What
is
going on?”

But Emily suddenly seemed sidetracked. She took hold of his hand, rubbing the ring on his finger. “So smooth. So shiny.”

“Um, okay, Emily. Why don't we get you dried off,” Charlie suggested.

This shook her out of her momentary lapse. “Yes. I need to dry off. I have to call Michael. He's probably near death freaking out right now.”

“I can only imagine,” mumbled Charlie. “How is it, that everything can just go so crazy, so fast?” he asked no one in particular.

He grabbed his tank top from the cave floor and helped dry her legs. She laughed and giggled, saying it tickled, using her mermaid voice again. Charlie cringed.
I think I will never tell Michael about this.

But the more he kept her talking, and the drier her skin became, the more sense she started to make. Emily explained the bloodsucker's attack at Anthony Jordan's, and how she was turned into a mermaid. She explained that Melinda and William were helping Mack attempt to control the bloodsucker problem.

“Mr. Jordan seems like a real nice man,” Emily told him. “He's helping Michael research some way to change me back before sunset.” She looked longingly into the pool of water as she spoke again.

When her legs finally dried and her flippers disappeared, her human legs returned, Emily, the real Emily, reappeared. She turned bright red and wrapped Charlie’s wet tank around herself. She peered down and gasped, horrified. White, wet tank.

“Um,” stuttered Charlie. His eyes scoured the cave, stopping at the side of the pool.

One of the mermaid’s dresses was at the side of the pool. Torn a bit, but wearable. And not wet with salt water. “Thank. Fucking. God.” He reached down and scooped it up. “Sorry, it’s torn a bit, but definitely better than the alternative.”

She took them gratefully.

He turned while she pulled one over her head.

It took longer than he thought it should, and he called out her name to see if she was done. When she didn’t respond he turned around cautiously. Emily was dressed but peering into the pool longingly.    

“Yeah, why don't we get out of this cave, make a few calls and keep you away from the water?” Charlie grabbed hold of her arm before she jumped back in. 

“Sorry. I can't help it, Charlie. The water calls to me. My sisters call to me... except...” she got an odd expression on her face.

“Except...”

“The mean one. The one that tried to steal your ring. Her voice is wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“I’m not sure how else to describe it. It just doesn’t fit.”

“I'm not really familiar with mermaid voices.”

“I don't think she was a real mermaid,” Emily suddenly blurted, realizing why the voice seemed wrong. 

“She sure looked like one,” disagreed Charlie.

“Well, when do things have to look like themselves around here?” Emily asked in her normal tone. She cocked her head, the mermaid side taking over again. “Her voice, gone now. I hear others... they are happy about sisters returning, and yet sad, and scared. Because of sister lost. And bloodsuckers. Bad.” The way Emily spoke was if she were with the other mermaids, listening to them speaking.

“Let’s get out of here,” reminded Charlie, eager to get Emily away from the water. “I'm sure our help is needed elsewhere.”

She followed him out of the cave. As soon as they had cautiously hiked back across the narrow path and aimed back towards town, Charlie took a moment to check his phone. Thirteen voicemails and twenty-three missed calls.
Son of a bitch.

He dialed Michael.

“Where the fuck...” Charlie cut him off.

“Let's just say you’re not the only one with a mermaid problem, and I have your girlfriend with me.”

“Emily! She's with you?” Michael took a deep breath, suddenly feeling as though he had been forgetting to breathe.

“She's fine, Michael. Other than the whole being a mermaid thing.”

His brother went silent.

“Michael?”

“Sorry. I just needed a second to restart my heart. I’m not sure how much more I can take today.”

“Where are you?”

“Just leaving Mr. Jordan's place. He's working on a cure for Emily, and frankly, I have a terrible feeling it’s not going to work. Besides that, William and Melinda just called. We appear to have a much larger bloodsucker problem than we initially thought.”

“Where are they?”

“Beach on the north side, just down the street from a fishing pier. You know the one. Dad took us there all the time when we were little.”

“Oh, yeah, I remember it. We'll head that direction.”

“I'll meet you there, and Charlie, please,
please
don't let Emily back into the water.”