The allure to paradise.

She did not only sink her vangs and leave you alive, she was no ordinary vampire. She wasn’t just thirsty for blood, she was hungry for flesh. An attractive young woman with beautiful tanned light brown skin, eyes that changed whenever she was in the water or on land. All alone, without a home, she was a hunter. Her purpose was survival, all she knew was living to feed herself. She had nothing or no one to live for but herself.

When you begged or pleaded she did not understand, she couldn’t talk for she had not learned. Living in the woods and in water, she had never needed to take the time to learn the language of communication. She had never shed tears, any emotion was foreign to her. 

She held her prey by the neck, a young woman. She begged and pleaded, with tears flooding down her face. Shelby went closer to her, licking the tears. To her, it was a reminder of her second home, it was a reminder of the ocean. She always asked herself why these beings who looked like her tasted like the ocean, why she didn’t? she figured it was a sign that what she did was accepted, that home will always be apart of her even when she was on land. She applied pressure even more on the neck, watched her choke. This part was a drag, she would look at her with eyes of emptiness and starvation. When the woman had finally stopped breathing, she picked her up and pulled her into the darkness. She sank her vangs and drank her blood, that day she wasn’t really hungry, lucky for the prey this time she could keep her flesh. The blood dripping from her chin, she licked her lips, wiping the blood off her chin. She always caught her prey in similar places, people who were camping, people who were at the beach late or nearby. If you were anywhere near the water, you were the next victim.

She got up and ran, sinking her feet in the ocean sand. Walking towards the calm waves, breathing in and out. She loved to inhale the fresh air before going into the water. She rarely hunted in the water, mostly because she had a huge appetite and sea creatures always put up a fight. The ocean was way more mysterious than she had anticipated. She only went in there to eat when there were no humans nearby for her to kill.

She got into the water and dived in, her human skin shredding, forming gills and a tail. Her tail was rough with spikes and a tail that could slice you in half. A fin on her back like a shark, her skin turned a dark grey, with pieces of gold in her skin, she was a monster. Her face still looked the same, only with grey skin and her eyes a piercing blue. She swam deeper into the water, moving her tail fin up and down in the water, slowly. She lived in an abandoned ship, all alone in the deep sea, 

Shelby was hungry, the way to land seemed too far away. She noticed a boat in the water, it was not moving. It was dark, only a few lights on the ship but she was sure they hadn’t spotted her. Her plan was to tip over the boat and grab one of the people to feast, little did she know...

She swam up, peaking out the water to see how many people were there, she noticed a few men, and voices in the distance. There was laughter, the water was calm. They were just sitting, chatting amongst themselves. She swam back down, someone noticed her tail before it faded into the water,

“ Hey look in the water!” He said, pointing in the direction she was in. They shone a light where he pointed, but there was nothing there. Just little movements but that was because the ocean is never still.

She noticed under the water that there was light where she was, which only meant they had noticed. She swam underneath the boat, her eyes started to light up, and a storm started to brew. Lightning and thunder, the wind grew stronger and it rained. The boat started swaying along with the waves, she swam further away and peaked out, hearing the panic arise in the boat.

“ Everybody hang on!” 

There was a first wave, which covered the ship, but not enough to tip it over. The men clenching onto anything they could hold, not letting go. Watching as the sea approached in attempts to bury them. There was only a little bit of water left inside the coughing and shivering as the men held on.

“ Start the boat!” A voice called out, Shelby was getting agitated, realizing that the boat wasn’t tipping over along with the waves, it wasn’t small enough. She formed another wave, which she disappeared into, as the wave grew stronger, a semi tsunami she disappeared into it, blending in with the water. The water lifted her, she swam onto the boat, managing to grab one of the men, pulling him. He lost grip and let go, her tail getting tangled into a rod, she felt a sting but she didn’t notice. Swimming deeper into the water, the man drowning in her arms, she kept swimming till she couldn’t. She noticed that the rod had pierced into her tail and went all the way through, letting go of the man, trying to break free they started pulling her up. She was trying to swim down, swaying the boat. All the men ran over to pull, one girl against 6 strong men, she was going up. She felt a sense of panic, her body going up instead of down. Finally, they had pulled her enough to see a piece of the tail.

“ A giant fish!” One man shouted, celebration amongst the men. They pulled her up, she was hanging in the air. They all froze, as they watched this thing, this mermaid. She put up a fight, screeching in terror, they held their ears. She broke free but landing on the boat. One man tried going to grab her, she swung her tail, ripping him into shreds. Some of the men panicked, jumping into the water, away from this creature. But not one, he took out a tranquilizer gun and got her, she was still putting up a fight, pulling her body towards the boat to tip herself into the water, and she did. Though it was too late, the tranquilizer drugged her, and she sank into the water. They dived in to get her, there was no way they were letting this go, they hit the jackpot.

“ Pull it up out the water.” The man who had shot her with a tranquilizer said, “make sure it’s out.” 

“ How long will it be out for?” Another one asked while looking at her laying on the boat.

“ I don’t know, an hour?” 

“ What the hell is this thing?” He says, looking at her.

“ A Mermaid?”

“ I thought mermaids looked like blonde bombshells with tails.” He said, and all the other men laughed before looking at their friend who lay dead beside her.

“ It took out two of our men, I say we kill it!” 

“ Yeah! yeah!” There’s an uproar amongst the remaining men, 

“ Relax, look at it, it has particles of gold, it’s a mermaid. People think it’s not real, there are " discoveries " with no proof, but we have it. Do you know how rich we’ll be, stop thinking small boys, this is the bread we’ve been waiting for?”

“ Even with a slit throat it’ll be a mermaid, come on Dex. It took out our men, this thing deserves to die.”

“ Look man, I know we’ve suffered a tragedy today. But this thing man, this is the treasure we’ve been scavenging. Make sure you keep watering it, we don’t want it to die. Tie it up as well, just Incase it wakes up.”

“ This thing cuts you open with its tail, tell how the hell do we keep it on a leash?”

“ Chop off its tail.” The other man says, the three of them laugh but not Dex.

“ You’re all getting on my damn nerves, keep that thing wet and stop being pains in the ass!” He shouted out, pointing at her.

“ what If it’s merman brother comes looking for it?”

“ We’re gonna get out now, relax,” Dex says. Headed to go inside, he starts the engine. They start heading back for shore, with Dex driving. The three remaining survivors work together to try to tie her up, pulling her carefully.

“ Mind the tail man, pull it slowly.” 

They tie her up, and work together, taking turns to get some water and splashing it on her. She lay unconscious, while they kept taking the turns. Eventually, they all sat down, staring at her in fear. Sitting close to each other.

“ This feels like a nightmare, I’ve been fiddling with my eyes man.” The one-man says, “ Grab me a beer over there man.”

His friend heads inside to grab the three of them beers, they sit facing her drinking their beers. She starts moving her head slowly, 

“ It’s waking up, Dex it’s waking up man!” They stand up in panic, but she only sits looking at them. She doesn’t move, with her hands tied upwards. She sits quietly and still. Looking at them, 

“ it’s looking at us man...” they all move backward.

“ Yeah, it knows we have the upper hand, just stay away from it. Keep splashing water on it from a distance.” Dex shouts out while driving. The ocean is calm, the wind is still, with the sky black. She sits in the corner of the ship, with her blue eyes looking at her surrounding, she is confused by everything.

The one-man gets a bucket filling it with water and splashes it on her, she tilts her head to the side, before looking at him. Anger arising slowly. She thought they were mocking her because they didn’t know that she can breathe outside water, that she changes. She was offended, the more they splashed the water on her the angrier she got. Still sitting calmly looking at them, taking in her surrounding. There was no way of her brewing a storm without being in the water, for the first time she felt powerless. She looked at them and saw fear, she fed on their fear. She pulled her body up, growling at them.

“ Dex man we need a tranquilizer, now!” 

“  Come get it, it’s over here,” Dex replied, he walked over to get it and came back with it. She saw the tranquilizer gun and started going ballistic, pulling the rope, trying to break free.

“ Shoot it, man!” The man shouted out, moving away from her. She started screeching, the sound would penetrate right into their eardrums. Usually, this was a cry for help, but hers was different from the normal mermaid calling, mermaids had been told of her and no one dared to help her or they would be banished.

“ Shoot!!!” 

He attempted to shoot her and missed, his hands shaking. She was still fighting to break free, 

“ Get closer man get closer!” They said, pushing their one friend towards her, she saw an opportunity lifting her tail and she slit his arm. He dropped the gun, and it slid and landed right next to her. He was screaming in agony, his arm was bleeding.

“ Apply pressure!”

Shelby started to cry once more, she knew that no one would come for her but she kept signaling for help. 

Just then the water went completely still, the boat stop swaying, the ocean was silent, no movements, not a single wave in sight.

“ What the hell...” the one man gasped.

The water started to light up golden. Like a million stars shimmering, a light of allure.

Shelby watched as all the men started walking into the water, jumping in with no return. She sat in the boat, pulling her body, slithering like a snake to hang onto the edge of the boat, to get a better look too but everything went dark.

She tipped her body into the water, swam down, and stopped right in the middle of the ocean. Her tail swayed, her arms too as she looked around.

“ Come...come... “

A voice called out before the golden light appeared underneath her. She found herself swimming down towards the golden light of allure. 

Everything went blinding bright, she lost control of her body. Whatever it was had gotten control of her as she sank deeper and deeper into the ocean. Her eyes closed, the sounds of voices, soothing her. She felt safe, she felt at peace, was she dying?

S I l e n c e...

“ Are you okay?”

She opened her eyes, the sky was a clear purple, with clouds like crystals, the place looked unfamiliar. She looked up and saw a man, his eyes a piercing blue.

“ Are you okay?...” he repeated, she squinted as he pulled her body to sit up, how could she understand him?

The sand was soft, she dug into it, closing her eyes.

She stood up, looking around at this magnificent place, where was she?

“ Hybrid, welcome home.” He said, “ this is your home, and you are welcome to stay here as long as you want.”

She didn’t understand, how did he know about her? She thought no one would come for her, but now she was in a place that looked and felt unreal.

“ Am I dreaming?” She said, it was her first time speaking and she didn’t even know she could. Her voice was sweet and gentle, she held onto her neck.

“ No, it’s all very real.”

She looked around, “ You are all hybrid?”

“ Yes, though we’re not all formed from vampires and mermaids, in-fact my father was human.” 

She turned and looked at him, the humans she had been killing with no remorse, she looked down.

“ It’s okay, we’ve all done things we’re ashamed of. We’re not here to judge you, we’re here for a second chance.”

“How did you find me?”

“ Hybrids are known as the demons of the sea, but they got it all wrong. We’re the Gods of the sea, we’re pure, we’re a special breed, with powers and only we can enter this wonderful place.” He said, showing her around.

It was indeed wonderful, it was a breath of fresh air with each pull. 

The sand was a peach, with golden shimmers. The ocean a light blue, with very gentle waves. 

She noticed a bright golden flair in the water before closing her eyes, it was a man with massive wings, he walked towards them, the wings fading into his back. She blinked in disbelief, these people, this place—they were all magical.

“ Hey.” He said, smiling down at her, he was slightly taller.

“ Hey.” She replied, giving him a little smile too, he was unbearably handsome.

“ This is Apollo, just in time. He’ll show you around, I have somewhere to be, you take care.” The other man said, before she disappeared into thin air, leaving golden particles, she watched them fall onto the sand, before turning to face Apollo.

“ May I show you my favorite part of this place?”

“ Yes.” She said before he pulled her into his arms and flew. They arrived so quickly, she opened her eyes as her feet touched the ground. Her eyes widened at the sight of this place,

“ Welcome to paradise.”

She looked at him, before turning to look at the waterfall which had a silver flare. The sky had scary massive birds, like dragons.

“ Those are known to be extinct.” Apollo added, “ there’s much more to see, this is only just the beginning.

She stepped forward, the grass lit up with each step, she smiled, after all the hunting, the killing, this was her redemption. She was no longer alone, she was in paradise, with people like her, she was a goddess.