Beguiled (Book 2 Immortal Essence series) (4 page)

“Well, here’s the thing.
Um, t
hey’re in Helker.”

“I
mpossible.” I
stepped
toward the
crashing
waves.

He moved
with
me. “
I’m not lying. They are there. I swear.”

“
Why would you say such a thing
?” I asked, facing him.

His features hardened. “Why do you have to
be so exasperating?
Can’t you trust me? Accept what I’m saying without twenty questions?”

“
Seriously? Y
ou want to know why?
Because up until a few minutes ago I thought you were human. Now I learn you aren’t, yet you wait six weeks to come and find me.
” I poked him in the chest with my finger as I spoke. “
Do you even remember what H
elker is?
”
By the look on
Michael’s face it was obvious he remembere
d and more. “Have you been
?”

Darkness, an angry fury, twisted his features. Frightened me. “As a matter of fact I have.” The words
rumbled
out of him, low and intense.

Afraid, I moved away, my feet splashing in the surf.
A strong e
nergy
abruptly began
to pulsate
from Michael
and
shot through me, pulling at my core.
It didn’t
hurt, not really, but the sensation startled me
.
“Wh
at are you doing?
Stop!
” I grabbed at my
chest;
trying desperately t
o force whatever
he was taking from me
, back inside. “
What are you?
”
If he was kelvieri, he certainly wasn’t like any I knew. Was he human at all?
Terrified,
I
receded
further in the water, but
stopped when it reached the middle of my thighs.
My teeth chattered.
T
h
e hem of my dress
soaked, weighing me down.
I felt trapped between Michael and the water.

Which was worse?
I wondered
.

Michael fell to his knees and closed his eyes.

“Michael?”

“You. Are. Exquisite,” he said, sounding as though he were in agony.
His
arms
fell
to his sides, and dangled
like a rag dolls
.

Anxious about what
might be
wrong,
I
lifted
my dress by the hem, and
pushed through the water
, toward
Michael.

Your soul mate.
The words rushed through my mind.

“Michael,
” I
said again
. As I
walked
, the
sand
suddenly
shifted
beneath my feet, and I fell to my knees.
The frigid water prickled
my
dry
skin
like thousands of tiny
stings
.
I gasped
in
shock and
hauled
my feet under me to stand. A
t that moment
though
, a
very
large
, very heavy
sneaker wa
ve crashed down on
my shoulders
, knocking me into the water
, pressing my chin against the sand
. When it retreated, it dragged me with it
.

I
fought against the current, digging
my fingers into the sand, grasping for anything solid
.

Would Michael notice I
was no longer on the beach
?
A strangled
shriek
surged through my throat.

“He
lp,” I screamed, and swallowed some of the brackish water. I knew
in
seconds
I would
tumble
off the shallow sandbank,
and be lost to the
deep gloom below.

Refusing to give up,
I threw my head above the water and searched the beach for Michael.
Another
wave smashed over me
. It roared in my ears, the sound like an angry tiger.
Unprepared, I took in a
mouthful of water, its briny saltiness
icy
. The wave grabbed hold and pulled me further out, off the sand bar, and into the great nothingness beyond
.

I scrambled
, fighting to regain the edge,
my fingers tearing
on
the
rocky reef
. The wave
continued to
tug me away, and the
sand I
clutched
tumble
d
over the edge, and disappear
ed into
the
pitch-black
depths.

I was sinking
—not drowning
.
Oh, no. I’d live. As a kelvieri only a
few things in the Universe
could
kill me
, and water wasn’t one of them
.

Down.

Down.

Down.

Like a wet sock . . .

Our pa
lace shaman once explained
a kelvieri’s body absorbs salty water like a sponge, weighing us down. I shuddered at the thought of an eternity at the bottom of the sea as a bloated statue.

It appeared I might not have a choice

Colorful fish
mocked my desperation, swimming around, oblivious to my suffering.
I clawed at the water, and moved my feet.
But
I continued to sink.

“Michael,” I tried to scream, filling my mouth with water.

So I wouldn’t die, but
I wouldn’t be doin
g a whole lot of living either.
Random
thoughts skimmed through my mind. Like:
What did I have to show for my life? What
good
had I done? Accomplished?

Nothing of great importance.

Except, well I’d been kissed. I knew what it meant to love and be loved. Didn’t I?
But
a kiss?
Loving? Those weren’t really contributing to the greater good of
my planet.

In
that
bleak
moment I realized I wanted to
—make a difference
. Somehow, and in some way I wanted to
improve
the
lives of my fellow countrymen. I couldn’t
from
the dark depths of the Alayeahean Sea
though
.

“
Cret
,” I tried to shout, swallowing more water
, hating my need to be rescued
.

My dress
stirred
around me like a colorful cloud. My jacket
grew
heavy, as though
it was
sewn together by thread as heavy as bricks
, pulling me down more rapidly
.

I
was
so concerned about my
lame
attempts at being leader, being a good girlfriend,
being the kind of kelarian my parents would be proud of. None of
those things
mattered
now. I’d hang out with
the fishes, the whaletins, and . . .

A
dark shadow swam past. If it was a sharire I might be in trouble.

Michael
must realize
I was gone by now
. Would he think I
used Britorent and left
?

Offering a silent
plea
to
the
gods, Ith and Aetha, I prayed they’d help me out of this mess.

3.
Black Hole Sun

The moon’s light didn’t reach this deep, and
the inky darkness
churned
.
My kelvieri eyes allowed me to see though.
A large, sleek shape move
d in my direction. It cut slowly
through the water
like a
knife
through flesh
.

Closer and closer.

I
saw
its rounded nose. Two big eyes zoned in on my
floundering
form. Its mouth slightly opened, giving me a view of all its razor sharp teeth. When it got close enough I would fight it, probably even kill it, but I wasn’t loo
king forward to the encounter
.

The sharire was within ten feet now, and closing fast. It
must’ve
realized
my predicament
because it
suddenly
shot below
and aimed its body so it was directly under me
,
and vertical.

I’d be swallowed
whole.

Huh, I hadn’t thought about the prospect of s
pending
years
in the belly of a sharire.

“No!” Ag
ain I tried to claw my way
to the surface.

Why
was I so
stupid? Michael wasn’t that scary.

The sharire
traveled
upward. It
decided to meet me halfway. Maybe
if I
moved my legs
as if I walked on land, it would help.
I
tried to take
a
step, a
nd
suddenly
shot
upward and
sideways
through the water.

Whoa
. Had something so simple worked?
Turning
,
I
saw Michael. He
punch
ed
the beast
directly i
n the nose. The
sharire
shook its
head back and forth. Michael trea
ded
water, moving his hand
s
as though
waving, his feet
hanging precariously close to the sharire’s mouth.
I guessed he waited to see if the creature would swim away.

Relief flooded
my veins. He
saved me
—again.

My reprieve
was short lived though.
The sharire recovered and came at Michael
again
, its tail whipping as it jetted
toward him
. Michael moved to the right at the last second and grabbed the sharire by an eye socket a
nd the top of its mouth
,
and
twisted.
A
loud crack
reverberated through the water
. The sharire’s tail flicked a couple more times and then the beast was still.

Michael killed it
.
He certainly wasn’t human if he could manage such a feat. He was as strong as a kelvieri.
Maybe stronger.
 

I tried to move my hands the way Michael did, and kick my feet. It didn’t help.
My body
was descending
again, and I swore if I made it out of the sea, as soon as I had the chance, I would learn to swim.

Michael let go of the sharire
.
I watched it slowly float away, leaving a trail of red blood.
This area
would be full of
ravenous
beasts
within minutes.
One shar
ire was bad enough. But dozens
. . .
I shuddered.

One of Michael’s arms wrapped around my waist, and
he
began to tow me away, out of danger.
As we went
,
I watched
sharire
after sharire
emerge
, circling
, their senses honed in on the blood, on an
easy meal. A
cerulean serpent
, twice the size of
the largest
sharire,
s
lithered into view causing the
sharire
s to dart away like
scared gup
pies.
The serpent
nudged the dead body
with its nose
once
, opened its mouth and
ate the
carcass whole.