Chapter 13 Elodie #2
I stumble back, gaping at my hands as he slumps to the ground, but I’m too in awe of the fact that I was able to stop siphoning on demand. Looking around the space with fresh eyes, my soul draws me closer to the fountain as I peer over the edge of the water again.
I'm moving without thinking. Rion's voice cuts through the air as he calls out my name, but it's quickly muffled as I dive into the water, the depths darker than I imagined, but as I recall the riddle, I know that I'm in the right place.
Panic takes hold of me as I quickly start to flail.
I can’t swim.
My eyes widen, but my breathing doesn’t tear at my lungs as I expect.
Maybe it’s the vampire abilities coursing through my veins? I don’t know, but I have zero clue how to make myself go deeper.
Desperation has me spinning on the spot, when my gaze latches onto the wrought iron bars acting as steps down the marble wall beside me, edging deeper into the water. Hope blossoms in my chest. I can use them to plunge myself deeper.
It’s my only hope, and it has to work because the only alternative is defeat.
Determined, I curl my fingers around the first one and pull myself deeper, skipping a few as I keep my arm as outstretched as possible. Except, I don’t find the next one as something wraps around my ankle, halting me in place.
My gaze darts over my shoulder and bubbles steal my scream as I find myself staring into the bloody eyes of a mermaid.
Horror burns through my veins. Their skin is still the color of marble, but they’re no longer frozen in place.
Instead, jet-black hair floats in the water around their face, while deep-red eyes bore into mine and razor sharp nails pierce the skin around my ankle.
Attempting to yank my leg from their grasp is futile in their deathly grip, but rage burns through me, starting deep in my soul, and accelerated by the vampire thirst coursing through me.
Their mouth parts, revealing jagged teeth, and another scream tears from my lungs, only to be muted by the water.
I’m going to die.
Of all the threats I’ve faced, this is going to be the one to take me.
I hiss as something else punctures my skin as I spy them digging their nails into my other leg, higher up this time, making me even more immobile.
Give up or fight.
Both are impossible, but the latter has to be my only choice because survival by any means necessary is all I know.
Clutching for ideas, I tighten my hold on the bar in my right hand and quickly jerk my body toward it for better leverage. The mermaid moves a little with me, sprouting the smallest hint of an idea and springing me to action.
With all of the strength I can muster, I drag myself deeper and deeper, tugging them along with me. My arms burn, and my legs throb from where they continue to stab me with their ridiculously sharp fingernails, but I keep moving. It’s the only choice I’ve got.
My vision blurs and my face pulses from the pressure as my head collides with a hard surface, confirming we’re at the bottom.
But it’s almost futile due to the fact that I can barely keep my eyes open.
I’m certain the only thing keeping me going is the vampire essence still thrumming through my veins.
As if sensing the thought, the vampire thrumming through my veins incinerates the inability to focus, and before I realize what I’m doing, I reach the final bar and yank the mermaid closer.
With speed.
Vampire speed.
My ear drums are on the brink of bursting from the almighty cry that carries through the water the second before their head collides with the floor, with much more force than mine had, and as every fiber of my being hoped, it shatters.
The pain subsides in my legs as their grasp ceases to exist, but cuts lance across my skin as marble splinters in every direction.
Despite the pain, I reach for the metal bars once more and start to drag myself back toward the surface, the remnants of the vampire abilities disappearing as I struggle to breathe.
Lurching from the water with a gasp, I throw my arms over the side, only to feel a set of hands grab for me. I’m soaring through the air before colliding with a firm body.
Hands smother me, more than one pair, but it takes me a second to open my eyes properly to see what’s going on. The first thing my gaze lands on are Thorne’s eyes.
Darker than dark, and riddled with undeniable fear.
“Echo,” he breathes, and I splutter, struggling to process what on earth is happening.
It takes a second for me to acknowledge I’m wrapped in Thorne’s arms, while Rion and Ocean crowd me with a sense of urgency.
Rion grabs my chin and tilts my head to face him as Ocean whimpers my name.
I’m sopping wet and hopeless.
“I couldn’t see, I—”
“Fuck finding it, Elodie. We couldn’t get in, we couldn’t help you. Where’s the mermaid?” Thorne rushes, and I shake my head, bewildered.
“Gone.”
His hands flex at my sides as Rion speaks.
“It all happened so fast, Petal.”
“What did?” I manage, wiping a wet hand down my even wetter face.
“The second you went into the water, the mermaid came alive and followed after you. As soon as we tried to help, the others created a barrier. We managed to destroy one, but those fuckers are insane, and before we could get through another, you reappeared,” Rion explains, my head reeling over everything as Thorne squeezes me one last time before slowly lowering me to my feet.
He places a soft kiss on my forehead before I take a step back, trying to suck in a deep breath of air, but it’s pointless.
Despite the horrors that just unfolded in the water, I slump against the side of the fountain, my head sagging between my shoulders as I attempt to gather myself.
“I couldn’t see it. I could try again, but, fuck…” My teeth chatter from the chill that runs over me.
“We can keep looking,” Ocean insists, planting a hand on my arm, but I shake my head.
“It's pointless. I was lucky tonight. God knows what will happen the next time. Vampire or not.” I scoff, the sound hollow as I take a deep breath. “I’m not a vampire, siphoning it or not. I am a scythe. That means I'm not the same, no matter how much I try. It also means I don’t really stand a chance against something like that,” I admit, pointing over my shoulder to the statue mermaids, which now has a blank spot.
“It's okay, Elodie,” Ocean consoles, and I nod, chest heaving as I slump back against the fountain, head tilting up to the ceiling.
It’s not easy to have to acknowledge that this is who I am in any capacity, but I know deep in my soul that it has to be enough, even if that means I can't find the answers that we need.
“I’m a monster to this world. I don't feel like a monster, whether that's how they brand me or not. I'm a scythe, and I'm determined to find this book if it's the last thing I do. I just don’t know how the hell that’s going to happen.” I don’t know where the words are coming from, but they fuel me.
Focusing my gaze on everybody else in the room, the random vampire gone, I bask in the closeness of my friends and more, each nodding in acknowledgement, like they're silently vowing to be with me every step of the way.
But as I tilt my head up, a shimmer catches my attention, and I watch in slow motion as a piece of paper flutters down from the ceiling, landing on my lap.