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The four men in the fishing vessel talked and joked, the music of their laughter reaching me even beneath the surface of the water. I had been drawn here, but it had nothing to do with the call.
That morning I had hidden in the reeds, watching to ensure the female had been found. She was brave and deserved to be treated with respect. Emotion stirred in my chest when I thought of her. Even before the battle that sent Atlantis into the sea and me into suspended animation, my emotions were dulled.
I had sworn to fight the Lure that was spreading across earth. To do my job properly, I couldn’t be distracted by emotions. The call led me to my targets, to those with souls already damaged by the Lure. Some were evil and had done despicable things, making it easy to complete my mission. Others were like the female, Yashy—good humans that the Lure preyed on. The mission had to be completed regardless. There was no coming back from the Lure, but emotions made it harder to kill those whose souls weren’t completely eroded away.
The Ancients took pity on the Promised, and buried our emotions, giving us the ability to destroy the Lure without hesitation. Once the Lure was defeated, we were to have our full emotions restored. It clearly wasn’t defeated, so why were my emotions trying to surface?
The female had been found quickly that morning. I was forced to remain still in the water to avoid detection. They wouldn’t have been able to catch me in the water, but a hunt would have started. I wasn’t ready for that, not yet. As more officers and bystanders arrived on the beach, my head pounded with the chaotic thoughts.
Just when I thought my skull might crack from the pressure, a man had walked on the beach. He wasn’t as tall as the Atlantean guards, but he carried himself in a way that made him seem taller than the rest of the men on the shore. Unlike the other men, his hair brushed against his shoulders. It was the pale color of the sand, a contrast to his tanned skin. This man spent long hours outside, not hidden away from the sun.
The closer he came to the water’s edge, the more the pressure in my mind eased. I was still in pain, but the sharp edge had softened. The man moved around the body, paying special attention to my bite mark on her neck. I wondered what he had thought about it. Would he recognize the bite? Were there others out there like me?
The arrival of three more men caused a shift among everyone on the beach. Their presence commanded attention without them speaking a word. These men could have stood proudly among the Atlantean warriors. People avoided eye contact, and unconsciously moved out of their way. Everyone reacted, except for the man studying the bite mark. His body remained relaxed, even when the others moved close enough to peer over his shoulder.
The pain in my mind eased a little more. The voices were still there, but quieter. My heart did a strange flutter in my chest, and I had to search my memory to recall the sensation. I had felt this once before, before I became a Promised and swore my life to destroying the Lure. Centuries had passed, but I would never forget him or that single day we had spent in a haze of passion. Now these four men had my heart stirring and my body desiring things that made my cheeks flush.
I remained motionless, but somehow the men sensed my presence. The man with the easy smile and eyes the same color as sea grass had strode into the water in a trance. His eyes were searching, although he had no idea what he was looking for. I knew humans were drawn to me, but only after seeing me. This new form gave me an allure I had yet to figure out. Why were these men feeling it without even seeing me?
A sense of longing washed through me, stealing my breath and forcing salty tears from my eyes. I couldn’t stay here any longer. I carefully sank to the shallow seabed, hoping that would cover my retreat. It took several long minutes to ease myself into deeper water since I didn’t want to risk an accidental splash of my large fluke.
I spent the remaining hours of daylight resting in a small sea cave I had found. There wasn’t a lot of room to move around, but I like the security it provided me. I preferred sunlight (the Atlanteans were a people who thrived in the sun) but it also increased the risk that I would be spotted.
There was only so long I could remain hidden. I had work to do and an oath to keep. At some point, I needed to make contact with the humans of this time and figure out what had happened during the years I was asleep. The problem was figuring out who to approach. I didn’t relish the idea of becoming someone’s dinner, trophy, or pet, and I wasn’t sure how the humans would react to me. The female had been kind, but the others had been cruel, and their thoughts corrupt. I had yet to speak with a human that the Lure hadn’t touched. Maybe I needed to approach the men from the beach. Perhaps that was the reason for my pull toward them.
That is how I ended up watching their boat from a small rock outcropping. I was hidden, but able to observe them. Their thoughts pushed at my mind, and instead of trying to stifle them, I opened my mind, allowing their voices to fill my mind. I needed to know more about these men. The Lure hadn’t touched them, but that didn’t mean they were good. There was evil in the world that had nothing to do with the magik of the Lure. It was possible to be one without the other.
The men’s laughter echoed across the water, sending warm tingles through my body. The largest of the men, I heard them call him Eason, reached out a hand with impressive speed and slapped the emerald-eyed man who was called Kye. Unexpected anger surged through me with a force so strong it forced a startled exhalation from me. What was even more shocking was my breath transforming into a gust of wind that rushed across the water and slammed into the small vessel. I clung to the rock, limp and confused.
The men had just been joking. They were like brothers, relaxed and comfortable with one another. Their playful exchange shouldn’t have caused me to feel anger; I wasn’t supposed to be able to feel any emotions that strong.
I didn’t like to see anyone touch what was mine.
The realization made even less sense. Yes, I was curious about them, that’s why I was stalking them. But they weren’t mine, they were strangers. My mother had told me stories of instant bonding, but it was a myth, not something I had ever seen happen among my people. I couldn’t be feeling a bond with strangers, could I? They were humans, and I was… I didn’t even know what I was.
My body had continued to adapt and change since my wake-up call. Tonight, I had manipulated the air around me. What if I did it again and hurt an innocent? Or gave away my location? Atlanteans possessed gifts, but nothing that would explain the continued changes I was experiencing.
I focused back on the men. Their expressions were serious, and their thoughts told me they worried for the safety of the humans. It seemed they didn’t know what had caused the deaths, but they were determined to figure it out. They had been sent here specifically to hunt down the killer, whether it was a human or an animal. The fact that I was neither might have been funny if I hadn’t been just as clueless as to what I’d become.
“There’s something fishy going on,” the man named Kye had whispered.
I had laughed before quickly clamping a hand over my mouth. I hadn’t laughed since I awoke, and even in my previous life I remembered laughing only on rare occasions. I didn’t get time to dwell on this latest development. A crack, followed by a heavy splash, yanked my focus to the disturbed water at the back of the boat. Ducking my head beneath the water I searched for the human, expecting to see him kicking back to the surface with a smile on his face.
Instead, I saw Kye’s limp body sinking like stone toward the seabed, twenty feet below the vessel. The coppery taste of his blood sent my body and mind into a tailspin. Sharks weren’t the only creature of the deep who could taste blood in the water. I wanted to save him from drowning, but I also wanted to sink my fangs into his neck and taste him. My new nature required blood to survive, but I hadn’t craved blood in the way that I wanted Kye’s.
All thoughts of staying hidden fled from my mind. I wanted him safe, and I wanted to taste him. I shot like a torpedo through the water, not bothering to hide the sounds of my fluke as I used it to propel myself faster than I had ever moved before.
Mine. Mine. Mine.
Sand and silt puffed around him like a cloud when he landed with a soft thump on the seafloor. He remained motionless, a thin line of crimson blood drifting up from his head. His team shouted out orders, I could hear them scrambling for the back of the boat. They were going to jump in as well.
I had nearly reached him when a silver glimmer caught my attention. The panic inside me tripled and I forgot to breathe. I wasn’t the only predator in these waters tonight, and the large female shark that I had grown fond of had smelled the blood as well. She must have been nearby to have arrived this fast.
I was faster than her, but I wasn’t sure if I could outrun her while carrying a body. The beautiful female didn’t deserve to be attacked for simply existing in her own habitat and eating what was available in the ocean. I wasn’t sure I could take her down without a weapon, even if I had been willing to.
If the men jumped in, she was going to have more than one target and I couldn’t keep them all safe. I could try to toss him up on the boat and then get out of there. That was the best choice, the logical choice. But I couldn’t do it. He was mine and he was hurt. I needed to be with him, and I didn’t think they would trust me. With the way my gums ached, I wasn’t sure I trusted me completely either.
I wrapped my arms around Kye’s lifeless body and thrust my fluke hard to send us hurtling toward the surface. Our heads broke the water, and I rushed to expel the water from my lungs. I could breathe above or below the water, but I couldn’t communicate with humans with water-logged lungs. Despite this, I still struggled to speak.
