After dinner, the teenagers migrated to the front porch. Vivian sat in between Alex and Libby on the porch swing, while Squints sat on the edge of a lounge chair facing them.
"We should probably go get your stuff before it gets too late." Alex said to Vivian. She looked hesitant but nodded.
"I don't live too far away, but I don't think Nick would be very happy with us being out late." Alex chuckled and shook his head.
"I still can't believe he was so casual about you staying with us. Good thing he did though, I don't know what I would have done if he said no."
Vivian shrugged.
"You would have thought of something I'm sure."
"It is getting late, I should be getting home."
Squints said, glancing at his watch. Libby jumped up and smacked Squints on the arm.
"Come on then Robert! You're my ride home. Let's go!"
Squints rubbed his arm and shot Libby a look - which she didn't notice - and then he stood up.
"Alright well I'll see you tomorrow Alex."
Alex nodded and waved at his two friends as they pulled out of the driveway. He sat in silence with Vivian for a little while before she let out a sigh.
"We should probably go."
He turned to her.
"So do you actually live somewhere?"
She nodded.
"I did, my Grex had a beach house that was secluded. Natalia could sense Nerissa was getting close, and that's why she sent me away."
"Why didn't your whole Grex escape?"
Vivian lowered her eyes and said quietly."A whole Grex is easy to track. Nerissa would have found us easily."
Alex dropped the subject and stood up, helping Vivian to her feet he gave her a small smile.
"Come on, the sooner we get this done the sooner you can get to sleep. You need your rest."
She gave him a small smile and they got into his car. Alex pulled out of the driveway and Vivian gave him directions to the stretch of beach where the house was located.
Vivian seemed to grow more and more nervous the closer they got to the house. Alex considered taking her back and just coming to her things himself, but decided against it.
"It's just up ahead, we'll have to walk a little ways."
Alex pulled over and parked, he slid the keys into his pocket as he walked around the car and opened Vivian's door.
"Are you sure you're okay to walk? I could go get your things while you wait here."
She shook her head.
"I need to be there."
He nodded and helped her out of the car. She needed closure, he understood that. Closure was something he was never able to have with his mom.
"Okay...let me know if you need anything."
She gave him a small smile and nodded.
"Thank you."
They walked for about a minute before they saw the house. Vivian stopped abruptly and stared at the house.
All the windows were shattered, and the door was torn off its hinges. Wood splinters and glass shards littered the area around the house, and the empty windows stared back at them full of darkness.
Vivian stood perfectly still, staring at her home, and the slaughter house of her family. Her expression was blank, but tears slowly filled her eyes, overflowing and running down her cheeks.
Alex slowly took her hand in his, and held onto it tightly. This seemed to break her from her trance, and she let out a small suppressed gasp, turning to look at Alex.
Her eyes were heavy with burden, and filled with such pain and sorrow, that Alex felt his own begin to fill.
She blinked and took a deep breath.
"Let's go."
They walked slowly up to the empty house, and Vivian, who seemed to gather strength from Alex, led him inside and up two flights of stairs. They walked down a hallway and entered a room furnished with a bunk bed, large dresser, nightstand and desk.
Vivian immediately went to the closet and pulled out a large bag, moving to the dresser she began to fill it with clothes.
Alex moved to the desk and looked over the odds and ends scattered across the surface. He paused when he saw a picture frame, and picked it up to examine it closer.
A girl who looked to be around eight with curly red hair and bright green eyes was smiling at the camera while riding piggy-back on Vivian.
They both looked so happy in the picture, two children playing together.
"Her name was Genevieve. She shared this room with me."
Alex handed the picture to Vivian and said quietly.
"I'm sorry."
Vivian trailed her fingertips over the picture and took a deep breath.
"Nerissa lost her entire family...I can't believe she would cause anyone else that same pain." She looked up at Alex, tears enhancing her already intense eyes.
"How could she do that to someone? When she knows how it feels?"
Alex shook his head.
"I don't know. But anyone who would do something like this has to be beyond feeling."
Vivian sniffed and blinked quickly, carefully putting the picture in her bag, she wiped her eyes and said quickly.
"I just have to grab a few more things, then I'll be ready to go."
Alex nodded, and she disappeared out the door.
He walked out of the room and wandered around the floor, exploring several other rooms and ending up in the main living room.
He paused and carefully looked around the room. The rest of the rooms were almost untouched, still appearing that they were still lived in. But this room appeared as if a hurricane swept through it.
He spotted something on the floor over by the opposite wall, he carefully stepped around the glass scattering the floor and picked up the object.
It was a wooden bolt about a foot long, one end was pointed, and had a slight barb on it. The metal tip was stained dark purple, and he wondered what made it that color.
"I'm ready to go now..." Vivian's voice trailed off as she entered the room. She looked around in shock, and after a moment shook her head.
"Um...I have everything I need." Then noticing Alex was holding something, she walked over to him."What is that?"
Alex turned around and held the bolt up.
Vivian's eyes widened, and she stumbled backwards as she drew quickly away from him. Her skin paled and her eyes flashed gold briefly.
"Throw it away!"She hissed, backing further away from it. Alex quickly threw it out the window, and turned back to Vivian.
"Are you alright?" She took a deep breath and straightened up, the color returning to her skin.
"Yes I'm fine."
Alex raised his eyebrows and asked slowly.
"Your eyes changed...they turned gold, and I mean like the metal." She blinked several times and looked down at her hands.
"Yeah your skin was really pale too."
She rubbed her forehead.
"I...seeing that triggered me."
"Triggered? Triggered what?" Vivian shrugged.
"My power. Defense mechanism."
"So can you turn it off and on whenever you want?" Vivian nodded.
"Can you show me?" She hesitated, glancing out one of the broken windows.
"You don't have to."
"No it's fine."
She closed her eyes, and lowered her head slightly. Putting her hands palm up, she took a deep breath and her skin slowly lightened until it was practically white.
She lifted her head and opened her eyes.
Alex gasped and slowly smiled. Her eyes looked like liquid gold, shimmering and swirling.
"My kind usually has blue eyes." Vivian said, her voice sounding different, more powerful.
"Why aren't your eyes blue then?" She shrugged.
"Natalia said that I was special. I have different power than any other nymph. Watch."
She lifted one of her hands and golden light seemed to leak from her eyes, her hand slowly began to glow gold and all the broken glass around her slowly floated up into the air.
The shards assembled in front of her, and she waved her hand over them. They slowly melted and twisted together, finally solidifying into a crystal mermaid figurine.
Her eyes and skin turned back to normal, and she caught the figurine as it fell.
"Okay, that was pretty cool."
She smiled at Alex and tossed him the figurine.
"I don't usually have the chance to use my power, so I'm not sure exactly what I'm capable of. I do know that if we call upon our power and let it completely fill us, we can become incredibly dangerous. Natalia always told me that we would search for the Scientia Grex, and they would teach me to use my power, and how to control it." She looked at the floor and added quietly.
"I guess I'll never know now."
Alex shrugged and said.
"Maybe we can find them together."
She looked up surprised.
"You would do that for me?" He smiled and nodded.
"Once you're completely healed we can start searching. Maybe once you learn how to use your power you wont have to run from Nerissa anymore."
Vivian narrowed her eyes and anger flashed in them.
"Nerissa isn't the only threat, she has help."
Alex glanced out the window.
"That bolt?"
Vivian nodded.
"It was tipped in Nightshade, one of the only things that can kill us. If Nightshade enters our bloodstream, it kills us almost instantly and drains us."
"Drains?"
"Of our power, our life force."
"Oh...do you know who it is that's helping her?"
Vivian nodded.
"Hunters, they've been around almost as long as we have. Humans who learned about us, and our power. They would hunt us down and kill us for it. Anything from our blood to our tears can be harvested and used."
"Used for what?"
Vivian shrugged.
"If harvested and preserved the right way, it can do a variety of things, and mixed with other substances it does even more. Our blood for instance, if mixed with metal can turn it into silver. That's where the legends of turning lead into gold came from. But since our blood was so rare, the process only worked a few times. Hunters are smart enough now not to tell people about it unless they can pay the price."
"Wow..."
Vivian smiled slightly and poked his shoulder.
"Don't get any ideas."
He grinned and shook his head.
"No worries, I'm here to protect you remember? Come on, it's time we were heading back."
Vivian nodded, then said.
"Before we leave, I have to do something."
They went down to the beach, and Vivian took the glass figurine from Alex. Walking out waist deep into the water, she used her power and made the figurine hover a few feet above her outstretched hands.
Light radiated from the glass, and a haunting, mournful melody began to play. The ocean seemed to hold its breath as the song played, and Alex felt like the air had been taken from his lungs as he listened to the tune.
Finally the figurine exploded into a thousand pieces of light and rained down into the ocean, for a moment the surface of the water glowed brightly, and then the light disappeared alone with the tune.
Vivian walked out of the water and up the beach. Alex finally managed to get his breath back, and he gasped as he asked.
"What was that?"
Vivian looked out at the water and sighed.
"It marked the passing of my Grex. Now every creature in the ocean knows that they are gone. It celebrated their life, and honored them in death."
"So it was a funeral?"
Vivian nodded.
"Of sorts. Now I can leave in peace."
Alex took her bag for her, and carried it back to the car. The ride home was quiet, each of them thinking their own thoughts. When they arrived back, the house was dark, and Alex guessed that Nick had gone to bed.
He showed Vivian the guest bedroom, and where the bathroom was downstairs. After making sure she had everything she needed, he bid her goodnight and slipped upstairs into his own room.
* * *
Nerissa sat bolt upright in bed and inhaled sharply, gasping several times and clawing at her neck. Douglas quickly sat up and grabbed her hands, holding them away from her neck, which was lined with scratches.
"What's wrong." He asked quickly.
Nerissa was shaking slightly, and she pulled her hands away from Douglas. Swinging her legs out from under the sheet, she stood up and walked to the window.
She threw it open, the shutter clacking noisily on the wall of the beach house. She stared at the ocean, her stomach twisting as she saw the ethereal glow on the surface. It disappeared and she closed the window with a furious growl.
Douglas sat on the bed watching her pace, not sure what exactly had upset her, but knowing better than to ask at the moment. After she had calmed down a bit, he pat the bed next to him.
She hesitated for a moment and then walked over and climbed into bed. He lied down and crossed his arms behind his head. Nerissa lied down as well and rested her head against his shoulder. He draped his arm around her shoulders as he asked,
"Do you want to talk about it?" She shook her head.
"Let's just say I now know that the girl is still in legged form, and she's in the area." Douglas sighed and closed his eyes.
"Well that's good for us." Nerissa didn't reply, and a moment later she knew Douglas had fallen back asleep by his heavy breathing.
She turned her head away from the window, refusing to admit to herself that what she was feeling, was fear.
* * *
Alex woke up in the middle of the night and rolled over onto his back, blinking several times and wondering what had made him wake up. Suddenly he sat up and pulled the covers back, slipping out of his room, he snuck downstairs and very carefully eased Vivian's door opened.
She was curled up on the bed in a tight ball, clutching the sheet in a death grip. Her face was lined in a worried frown, and Alex knew she was having a nightmare by the small whimpers and the tears on her cheeks.
He walked over ahd sat on the bed and gently rested his hand on her shoulder.
"Vivian, shhh it's okay." She opened her eyes and sat up, sniffling and looking around confused.
"What...what happened?" Alex wiped the tears off her face with the sheet and brushed the hair out of her face.
"You were having a nightmare, it's alright you're safe."
She still looked frightened, so Alex wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly. She clung to his shirt and hid her face in his shoulder.
"You're trembling."
He said gently, rubbing her back slightly in an effort to calm her. Finally her breathing slowed and she relaxed slightly in his arms.
"It was horrible..."
"Shhh...it's okay, I'm here now. You're safe."
She lifted her head and met his gaze, she looked so vulnerable and scared.
"Would you...would you stay with me?"
Alex nodded and lay down on the bed. She curled up next to him and rested her cheek against his chest. He kept his arms wrapped around her tightly and let out a sigh.
"Get some rest Vivian, you're safe now."
She closed her eyes and in a minute was fast asleep, breathing peacefully.
Alex wondered how he knew she needed him. But then he remembered how she knew where to find him when she was in trouble, and when he needed her. Somehow, he had known that she was in trouble and she needed him to keep her safe.
He slowly rubbed his hand up and down her back methodically, automatically continueing even though she was asleep. He was about to doze off when he noticed a pale golden glow. He frowned and looked around for the source.
His eyes finally landed on Vivian's right shoulder blade, where the light was radiating from. He gently traced over the glow with his fingertips, pulling them back quickly when a tingling sensation shot up his arm.
Vivian shifted slightly in his arms and then resumed breathing deeply. Alex decided to ask her about it in the morning, but right now, he needed sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Authors Note: Helllooooo readers! Thanks so much for checking out my story, and I hope you all have enjoyed and will continue to enjoy this magical tale ;)
A few things I wanted to mention.
One: This chapter is dedicated to Trinama for their amazing message and awesome dedication to go back and make sure they voted on each chapter. You rock! And thank you so much for all the support I really appreciate it :)
Secondly: The picture on the side is what Vivian's eyes would look like while she was using her power. It isn't what SHE would look like per-say, just her eyes.
And last of all, if you are liking the story I would really appreciate it if you voted and or commented, it really helps motivate me to update faster when I feel like a lot of people are looking forward to it :)
Until next time!