Rising Read online

  Xanthus needed to take a step away. After all, Sara had lived among the humans her entire life. She could live a few more days without him. He was so close to fulfilling this assignment. He needed to get his head back in the game.

  The main office building of Roc was a dark silhouette against the starry sky. The parking lot spread before him, empty. He could smell the remnants of cigarette smoke, perfume, and sweat. They must have left about a half an hour ago. He slammed his fist into the steering wheel again. What would have been an easy round up would end up being a drawn-out hunt. He will have to track down the five members of the inner circle one by one. These five humans had caused the indescribable pain, suffering, and death of thousands of innocent Dagonians.

  Xanthus made a mental list of guilty persons. Number one on his list would have to be the Vice president, Trent McDougall. He was due to take a flight in the morning to the mainland, making his capture a time-sensitive matter. He was probably home at this time. He slept alone. His wife had left him when she’d discovered his mistress and his mistress left him when she’d discovered her gym buddy’s net worth. Mr. McDougall had yet to find anyone to replace either of them.

  Xanthus scaled the side of the McDougall mansion. A large swimming pool lapped just below. He loved coincidences that worked in his favor. He slit a large X in the screen and slipped through the bedroom window. McDougall snored loudly, his large, blubbery body covered in a light blanket. Xanthus moved in close, slapped his hand tightly over the man’s mouth, and pinned his arm across his chest.

  McDougall’s eyes flew open. He attempted to scream but couldn’t get out more than a murmur of a sound. Xanthus pulled the squirming man out of bed. He dragged him through his house and out the back door. At the pool’s edge, he hissed out the words Triton had instructed him to speak. “I give to you a message from the sea. You have brought death to many of our children. You are now summoned by Triton, King and Guardian of the Sea, to answer for your crimes. You may beg for mercy, you may plead for leniency. You will be given as much compassion as you have shown to those who died an agonizing death at the hands of your poison.”

  Xanthus removed his hand from the criminal’s mouth. The man yelled and cursed, but his eyes were wild and darting around, possibly looking for a miracle to save him. Xanthus reached his hand toward the water’s surface and felt power pulse through him. “I send you to Triton to answer for your crimes.” He pitched the man headfirst into the pool of water. Bubbles rose as the man sank, his flailing legs disappearing into the churning water. A minute later, the water was calm and Xanthus knew the man was gone.

  One down, four more to go.

  The morning after her date with Xanthus, Sara’s temper had settled down and the hurt took up residence in her heart. The next four days were long and agonizing. Xanthus didn’t come to see her, didn’t call, and didn’t even show up in the building to supervise the repairs and upgrades that continued on without him. She kept waiting for the ache in her chest to lessen, but it didn’t. If anything, it was getting worse.

  Oh, she used every argument she could think of to try to convince herself he wasn’t worth the heartache. She told herself she barely knew him. She couldn’t possibly care that much about him. She tried to remind herself what a jerk he was, blaming her for something he did. She also tried to tell herself it was for the best—he was a deeply disturbed man who regretted saving a woman’s life and because of that, she shouldn’t be getting involved with him anyway.

  Day five proved to be a continuation of the torment she’d been living. Sara put in her ear buds and turned on her MP3 player. She listened to her programmed list of sad songs while she lay in bed. When her stomach started to grumble, she wheeled out into the kitchen to make dinner. A faint, unpleasant odor alerted her that she needed to take out the garbage. She pulled the garbage bag out of the can, tied it off, and headed out.

  Sara wheeled her chair out the back door toward the dumpster, the trash bag swinging from her armrest as she listened to a haunting tune and sang softly to herself.

  Phantom voices drifted through the trees. “So beautiful… beautiful…” The words misted through her soft voice and gentle music, caressing her ears. Sara stopped singing and pulled out her buds to locate the origin of the strange voices.

  A moment later, a chilling rumble of laughter broke the entranced mood. “Tane, look who’s wandered into our web.” A familiar, thin stranger stepped out of the thick trees. His smile stretched across his face, showing crusty, yellow teeth. It was her creepy neighbor, Slink. To his left and right lurked two large strangers.

  Sara froze. She was behind her building, completely isolated, and there were three scary-looking men staring at her with wicked grins plastered on their faces. Behind them was a thick, darkening grove of coconut trees. Her trusty pepper spray sat ready in her purse—on the floor next to her living room couch.

  “Oh don’t stop singing, haole girl,” the man on the right said. “Your song is very pretty. Just like you. Don’t you think so, Ettie?” He glanced at the large man on Slink’s left.

  “Oh yeah. That song sure has put me into the mood for tonight’s activities.”

  Oh, dear heavens. What had she rolled into? She’d just wanted to take out the trash, not usually a dangerous event. She was in a panic as she stared up at the obvious threat.

  “I have a phone.” Thank heaven she’d put Xanthus on her speed dial. He may not like her or want to talk to her right now, but she was sure he didn’t want her raped and murdered.

  Sara yanked out her cell and punched his number. She had just pushed the send button when it was yanked away from her.

  “I don’t think so, little haole.” Ettie walked over to the brick building and slammed the phone against the wall. Small fragments of the phone flew everywhere. Before Sara could react, she was nose to nose with Slink. His rancid breath filled her nostrils, making her gag.

  “You should be afraid,” she said, trying to take control of the situation. She knew her best bet would be to talk her way out of this. Physically, she didn’t stand a chance.

  Ettie laughed.

  “And why’s that, princess?” Slink smirked.

  “You obviously haven’t seen my boyfriend. He owns this building. He’s about seven feet tall, two hundred-fifty pounds of solid muscle, and very protective of me.” Lying seemed to be her best option.

  “That’s what I’m counting on,” Slink said. “Your boyfriend evicted me. He told me he didn’t like the way I was looking at you. Well princess, he’s really not going to like what I have planned for you tonight. But I’m sure going to enjoy this. I’ve wanted to do this for a long time.”

  “He’ll kill you.” Sara’s eyes darted around, looking for a rescuer.

  Slink barked a laugh. “I don’t think so. He’ll never know what happened to you. No one will. And I’ll be long gone before he wonders where you are.”

  Sara knew it was a futile attempt, but darn it, she had to do something. She tried to make a break for it, turning her wheels hard. Her goal was to reach the front of the building. If she could just get there, maybe someone would see her and help her.

  She heard laughter from behind as her chair turned in the opposite direction. Before she knew it, she was bumping along over a dirt path into the trees.

  Grabbing onto her wheels didn’t seem to do much more than burn her hands. This situation was quickly spiraling out of control. The darkness deepened as they traveled into the foliage. She had to do something. She always told herself that if she was ever in this situation, she would go down fighting.

  Not seeing an alternative, Sara pushed herself out of her seat. She landed hard on the ground, her body hitting the metal corner of the footrest.

  Slink chuckled, still holding onto the handles of her empty chair. “Nice try, little, crippled haole. Tane, you take her feet, I’ll take the head, and Ettie, you take the middle.” Slink wrapped his skinny arms around her chest and picked her up off the ground. The other t
wo lifted the rest of her and began carrying her down the path.

  Sara fought them with each step—squirming, flailing, and clawing at Slink’s hands locked around her. The rumble of the surf interrupted her struggles. It was growing louder. That was their destination. Oh, please no! Anywhere but there. But that’s exactly where they were taking her, she was sure of it. How better to get rid of her body, than to toss it bleeding into the surf? The sharks would come shortly and get rid of any evidence. She would die in the water, just as she’d always feared she would.

  “Please, please no,” she begged as she increased her struggle. Maybe if she fought hard enough, they’d murder her now, before they raped her. More importantly, she wouldn’t have to go into that ocean alive. Maybe that sounded twisted, but who said phobias made sense? Sara’s fear of water by far outweighed her fear of death.

  Finally, Sara wriggled out of Tane’s grasping hands. Desperate to keep hold of her, Tane clawed, grabbing hold of the spandex wrap. In one smooth slide, the wrap came off, falling in a heap onto the dirt path.

  “What the…?” Tane shouted as he jumped back.

  “What are you freaking out about?” Slink asked. Sara continued to struggle in his grasp.

  “She’s a… She’s a…” Tane said.

  “Stop babbling like an idiot, and pick up her feet,” Slink said.

  “She doesn’t have any feet.”

  “Well, she was in a wheelchair. There had to be a rea... son. Stop fighting me, b—hey…” He glared at her as his head bobbed. She was making it difficult for him to hold onto her flailing body. Well, there was no way she was making it easy for him to put her in the water.

  “No, man, she don’t have feet, she’s got…” Tane began.

  Just then, Sara swung her body with all her might and smacked Tane across the face, knocking him clear off his feet.

  “Whoa.” Slink and Ettie dropped her and scrambled away as her body slapped hard against the ground.

  “What in the…” Slink’s eyes were wide open in shock. He crept forward as he looked carefully at Sara. Even in the fading twilight, he could see her. Her dress was draped over her body, hugging each feature, giving them a clear picture of her shape as it showed pale against the dark sand. “We’ve kidnapped a… a…”

  “Exactly,” Tane said, keeping his distance.

  “I’m not a mermaid,” Sara shouted, turning on her side. Only then did she realize that maybe it would be best for them to think she was a mermaid. Maybe then, they’d think twice about killing her. Of course, they might still kill her, put her in a tank of formaldehyde, and sell her body to the highest bidder. The tabloids would have a field day with her.

  “Yeah right. Girl… mermaid… whatever. You just shut up while I think,” Slink said. He seemed to be thinking very hard. His eyes narrowed and a slow smile spread across his face.

  “Ettie, get the van. We’re taking her with us. She has to be worth a fortune. We may have to keep her for a while. We’ll just need to find the right buyers. And I know a guy.”

  A low growl snaked through the trees. It grew louder, driving chills down Sara’s spine, and causing the hair on her neck to stand on end.

  “What… is… that?” Tane stepped back. Fear was thick in the air. Sara was terrified too, but this time it wasn’t the fear of these men that caused it. If a wild animal were loose around here, she was definitely the most helpless of the group. This was turning out to be a very bad night.

  The three men stood unmoving, their eyes searching the foliage around them. Darkness blanketed everything and, out of that darkness, an ominous figure emerged. Sara recognized him at once and nearly fainted with relief. Her three kidnappers didn’t share her relief. In fact, after looking at Xanthus’s fury, they would rather have dealt with a lion than this hulking specter of death.

  Xanthus spared Sara only an incidental glance. His focus was on his prey. Sara looked back at Slink and his friends. Slink yanked a gun out from behind his back, making Sara’s heart skip a beat. A shadow flew over the ground, distracting her for a moment.

  When she looked back to see Xanthus, he was gone.

  A rasping, choking sound caught her attention. She turned to see that Xanthus had Slink by the throat. How had he moved twenty feet in a split second? Her eyes darted back and forth, stunned at the impossibility.

  Xanthus held Slink high above the ground. The gun dropped as Slink’s feet kicked and flailed. Xanthus spoke. His voice was unlike anything Sara had heard before. It was raw, grating, animalistic, and terrifying. “You dare to touch a daughter of Calypso, human?”

  “Please don’t kill me,” Slink said as he clawed at Xanthus’s hand around his throat. Ettie and Tane didn’t spare their friend a thought as they scrambled into the trees.

  “Oh, your fate is sealed. I will do what the law requires.”

  Xanthus raised a trident. Its three spikes glimmered in the fading light, the razor-sharp points reflecting the moonlight. A slick, metallic sound made Sara shiver as the middle spike retracted, leaving two points forming a U-shape.

  Xanthus’s movements were quick and fluid. He let go of his grip and speared his trident at Slink’s throat. Slink shrieked as the trident came toward him, straddling his neck and pinning him to a tree. His scream choked off as he grasped onto the prongs, struggling to keep his weight off his neck.

  Why wasn’t he dead? Sara felt sick at the conclusion she’d reached. Xanthus didn’t intend to kill him quickly. One look at Xanthus’s face left no doubt that Slink was not getting out of this alive. What kind of monster was Xanthus? Granted these men had intended to kill her, but he was being just as barbaric.

  In a flash, Xanthus was gone. A few short moments later, Sara heard torturous screaming in the distance. Then silence.

  She didn’t know if it was Ettie or Tane, but she knew that whoever had made those terrible cries was now dead.

  Slink continued to kick and flail from his perch. “Please. Get me down.”

  “I can’t,” Sara said. “I can’t reach you.” She knew that even if she could, she’d never have the strength to pull the trident out of the tree trunk.

  Sara heard another wail, fainter than the first. A few moments later, it cut off. Another one dead.

  Xanthus would be coming back. Sara shook, terrified at the prospect. He was a homicidal maniac. What law required him to kill these men? There was no such law in the state of Hawaii. And Xanthus had called her a daughter of Calypso and these men humans? He was completely delusional. She’d be lucky to get out of this alive after all.

  Sara’s heart was beating out of her chest when he returned. She wanted to tell him not to hurt Slink. Slink may have deserved to spend his worthless life in prison, but she didn’t want to lie here and watch Xanthus kill him. Sara was so terrified that, despite her good intentions, she couldn’t speak.

  Xanthus walked up to Slink as he flailed about. Grabbing him by the throat, he jerked the trident from the trunk. “Let’s take a walk, human.”

  ***

  Xanthus simmered in lethal anger as he held Slink several feet above the ground. He was skinny for a human, and reeked of drugs, alcohol, and body odor. Xanthus forced himself not to crush the human’s windpipe. Just the thought of this vile creature putting his hands on Sara had Xanthus feeling murderous.

  “Please, don’t kill me,” Slink said.

  “I would love nothing more than to kill you. But I won’t. If you had succeeded in your plans tonight, I would have killed you without hesitation. Instead, I’m sending you to a place where you can never harm or threaten another innocent, and if you knew what fate awaited you, you would be pleading for death.”

  Xanthus stepped to the edge of a rocky overhang and pointed his trident toward the water lapping below. Slowly, he lowered Slink into the water. “I send you to the Panthon Prison human cell block to answer for your crimes.” Xanthus knew the prison would accept humans without question.

  Small shoots of seaweed sprouted from the san
d and slid over Slink’s feet. They slithered up and over his skin like a hundred thin, green snakes, cocooning him as they moved up his body. His eyes bulged as he opened his mouth and gave an ear-piercing wail.

  Xanthus had also wondered if the screams came more from fear or pain. Triton had explained how the Heitach worked and had given Xanthus the power to command them. They required water to call them forth, and when they came, they not only covered their victims, but also poisoned them, causing an excruciating amount of pain before temporarily shutting down all bodily function. Miraculously, the cocoon would keep the human alive for transport to any place Xanthus commanded.

  These were resourceful creatures. They could get through any barrier, travel any distance around the world, and they instinctively knew the exact place you ordered them to go. If he wanted to, Xanthus could send this man to the United States president’s oval office and the secret service would be powerless to stop them.

  Slink drifted away from shore. His wails were cut off as the Heitach covered his face just before he slipped under the surface.

  Xanthus made his way back to the grove of trees. There, encircled in darkness, he found Sara. She was curled up, weeping, her body trembling.

  Xanthus felt tormented, guilty. He’d known that she wasn’t safe among the humans. But he’d left her anyway, to complete his mission. Well, his mission was nearly complete. Only one guilty person remained to be sent to Triton. Regardless of his duty, Xanthus should never have left Sara unprotected. The humans were dangerous beings. Of course, Xanthus knew she wouldn’t be any safer among Dagonians. What in Hades was he to do with her?

  What he wanted to do was carry her off to his home and lock her up safe, where no one could hurt her again. In those long moments tonight when he had been unsure whether she was dead or alive, he’d been frantic. Then it struck him.

  He loved her.

  He loved her with his whole heart, soul, and being. Xanthus knelt down next to her small form on the hard ground. For the first time, he saw with his eyes the evidence of what she really was—a true daughter of Calypso. Her perfect tail fin shone pale against the dark sand.