"Can you pass me the salt?" Natalia asked the next morning. Tossing it to her, Reid took another drink of her water that she had already dumped half the shaker of salt into. Natalia was sitting on the end of the dock her feet dangling in the water. Reid scowled from her safe distance away for the water.
Sirens would pop a fin almost instantaneously when water touches their skin. Mermaids, on the other hand, could change at their own gods damned will. It made Reid's blood boil with jealously. Not that it would be much of a problem if she lived under the sea instead of above it.
"Thanks," Natalia mumbled over a mouth full of raw shrimp she had caught that morning.
Reid shook her head smiling at her. "Nat we are going to be late," Reid wined looking out at the rising sun. Late kids always got the most stares, especially when they had hair like Reid's. The whole school could spot her from a mile away.
"Okay, okay!" she sputtered spraying shrimp from her mouth. She got up and they moved inside grabbing jackets and heading out to the jeep. Natalia gave one look at the motorcycle and nearly had a heart attack. She didn't wanna ride in the jeep let alone go anywhere near that thing. In the vehicle, Nat tried to wrap her head around the music playing through the speakers.
"People up here make strange music," she said while looking out the window. Reid was actually starting to like this song. It was one of Daniels favorites.
"It's only strange because it's different," Reid stated with a smile. "Up here they edit it and change it on computers."
"Why?" Nat asked, "Shouldn't it be good enough the way it is?"
Reid new she had a point but things were different up here then they were down bellow. Music below mostly came from sirens. Mermaid and other creatures loved to listen to them sing.
"That's just the way things are Nat." She gave her a knowing smile.
Pulling into the school Reid parked in her usual spot near the back of the lot, and raised her hood over her head. Nat hopped out of the passenger side and skipped around. She had on a black and white patterned skirt with a white tank top and cream cardigan. It was a combination she had borrowed from Reid's closet with out asking this morning. It was a rare occasion for Natalia to actually ask for something she wanted. She usually just took it. She had never had to ask since she was raised with a silver clam shoved ten knocks up her fin flipping butt. She was royal through and though.
They made their way into the school and Natalia smiled to everyone she saw. Her royal status rolled off of her like it was perfume and it seemed to have varying effects. She smiled brightly and waved heavenly only to receive confused glares. Reid snickered.
"What?" Nat snapped looking at Reid with angry eyes.
"Your royal essence won't work up here," Reid said with a smile. "All they see is a strange girl waving and trying to impersonate a fish."
"I am a fish," Nat quipped in a whisper, "a Queen fish to be exact."
"You aren't queen here," Reid said rolling her eyes.
"Well I might be one day," Nat said as a matter a fact hands landing on her hips.
"I doubt that," Reid said rounding a corner and reaching her locker.
"Why?" Nat asked, "Who's Queen here?"
Reid laughed again. "They don't really have queens here," she smiled grabbing a book from her locker and throwing her bag in.
Natalia's eyes seemed to widen so much that Reid wondered if they would fall right out of her head. "Then who tells people what to do!" she half yelled flabbergasted.
"The government," Reid stated shutting her locker and continuing to walk.
"Who is this Government!" Nat asked, "and what a stupid name. Is he the king? Do they have kings here!" Nat looked like she might hurl up all the shrimp she had just ate. There were no kings among the siren and mermaid species. There had never even been a male siren born. It wasn't possible.
"No," Reid said stopping to explain, "government isn't one person. It's a group of them and they all get together and decide what's best for the country,"
"Just to clarify," Nat started looking confused, "a country is this floating thing we are standing on?"
Reid shook her head and kept walking. "You haven't changed a bit," Reid said thinking back to all the stupid questions Natalia had ever asked. Sometimes she was surprised the girl didn't float to the surface with all the air in her head.
"Still as pretty as ever I know," Nat said walking ahead of her. She flipped her blonde hair with her long fingers.
"Nat," Reid called to her. Reid had stopped at the door of the classroom with Natalia way ahead with a newfound surface confidence.
"What?" Nat called back over her shoulder looking irritated.
"Uh, this is where we stop," Reid gestured to the open door. Smiling at her. Kids all around watched her like she had grown three heads.
"Right," she said turning around, "I knew that."
Reid shook her head and entered the room with Nat close behind. Everyone was in their regular seats. Even Rebekah.
Beka smiled at Reid but when she saw Natalia trailing behind her face dropped. Reid quickly glanced away and walked to the opposite end of the room, Natalia in tow. Sitting down Reid opened her books feeling the hole burning into her skull from Rebekah's confused gaze.
At lunch while getting food, Reid saw Rebekah and Daniel waiting at their usual table. Daniel smiled and waved her over but Reid just shook her head. They couldn't sit with them, Natalia would open her big fat mouth and say something stupid, most likely blowing her cover. Grabbing Natalia's hand she half dragged her to the library where they sat alone.
This was going to be a long day.
~~~~~
Later that night, after the sun had gone down, Nat and Reid were settling down to watch a movie. Natalia was in the kitchen stuffing her face with more seafood and Reid was digging through her movie box looking for her favorite movie to show her friend.
Reid pulled the disk out of its case and was just putting it into the player when she heard Natalia scream from the kitchen. It startled her and the disk clattered to the floor. She signed. Natalia had probably got her fingers stuck to an ice cube or slammed then in a drawer again.
"What-," she said rounding the corner but her words stopped short in her throat.
Xavier had Natalia bent over the kitchen island, arms behind her back and his gun pressed into her temple.
"What is this," Xavier said his voice deathly calm. Reid's scaled rattled under her skin.
"What is what?" Reid asked voice raising. Natalia's face was contorted into something of complete terror.
"This is my territory, is it not?" Xavier half growled. "I was kind enough to let you stay because of my family's insistence but I am not known for being kind Reid." He spat her name like it was poison in his mouth.
"What are you talking about," Reid hollered confused. Her canines pricked her lip.
"This isn't some party to invite your little friends into my territory! Get her out! Or I'll see to it myself!" His lips were pulled back into a snarl showing his fangs. Reid clued in then. He thought Natalia was another vampire.
"No," said hands raised, "She's human."
"Prove it," he snapped. Xavier clicked the gun back ready to shoot. The sound echoed through the kitchen like a thunderstorm. Natalia shook under his weight. Natalia wasn't Reid, she wouldn't be strong enough to throw him off.
Reid's mind raced for something, something to prove she was human, and something to testify to her claims.
"Her breath," Reid yelled, "smell her breath. She was eating food, real food."
Gripping her chin he pulled Natalia's face back at an awkward angle. His fingers were digging into her cheek, they would leave marks tomorrow. He paused for a moment enjoying the way Natalia fought for oxygen with her neck bent at such a sharp angle. He had enough proof in that, lack of oxygen like that would never effect his kind. Let alone her neck would probably snap if he pushed any harder. He could already hear the bones grinding in her neck. He pulled his weight off of her, picking her up by the back of the throat and tossing her to the side like she was nothing. He smelt her then, she had a scent, a sea salt fishy scent, but a scent, unlike Reid who had no traceable scent, no scent unless he was close. Natalia coughed from the ground as she gasped for air. Reid could smell the blood seeping from the cut on her scalp.
His gaze snapped to Reid and in the next second, he had her pinned against the wall. His hands were on either side of her head and he had put all the weight of his body into hers, holding her still. Reid's breath caught in her throat. She fought the urge to throw him off of her.
"Don't test my patience Reid," He said into her ear. His nose grazed her throat. She knew his fangs were only inches from her throat, ready to tear it out. "You're too tempting a kill."
And in a flash, he was gone.
"That was one of the vampires wasn't it?" Nat asked her eyes filled with terror.
Reid nodded slowly swallowing, but she wasn't scared. All she could think about was how he had almost assaulted a queen and sentenced his whole species to death.