In Too Deep (Blairon)

Not-So Hired Help

Cormac McLaggen's POV

Hi! You haven't read in my point of view yet. Cormac McLaggen here, unfortunately. This will probably never happen again, so enjoy it while you can.

I set down my phone and sighed. I guess Weasley's boss had shown up, or something along those lines seeing how quickly he'd cut. From across my bedroom, the man- oh, excuse me - mer slept on my bed, snoring lightly. Seeing as I didn't want him sleeping naked on my bed as he wasn't wearing any clothes when I took him from the lab, I'd bought him a pair of loose black shorts. Don't ask me how I dressed him, please. All you need to know is that it was a struggle mentally and physically.

On the subject of why I had actually taken him from my father's lab, even that answer eluded me. That girl that I met whilst fixing Wesley's shower this weekend. The things she had said...

Usually, I turned a blind eye to my father's projects. In my eyes, they were just fish. I'd learnt how to dissect a fish and analyze it properly before I could pronounce my own surname. The lab had been my entire life. I grew up with a scalpel in my hand. But I had chosen to leave however, when I met him...

Him?  You may ask. Yeah, I was the maintenance guy and yeah, I was the son of a dangerous scientist but you couldn't think I was that  boring of a character, could you? We all have our secrets. Me. The mers. Ron Weasley. Everyone has something their ashamed of, or too ashamed to admit. But an uncomfortable sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach told me I'd have to face it eventually.

I hadn't noticed I had completely zoned out until a hand firmly pressed up against my throat so tightly it cut off my oxygen supply. I was lifted a foot into the air, the back of my head banging against the wall.

"You." Growled a voice and my eyes snapped open. People usually do not sound like that... But then again, was this mer really considered a person?

"I s-saved you!" I choked, clawing at his hands. My vision was beginning to blur. The mer blinked before letting me fall to the ground. I gasped for air, rubbing my burning throat.

When I was finished recovering, I stood to my full height and stared at the mer, careful to keep my distance. He looked more or less like a regular human. He had dark skin, hair cut extremely short, a handsome, angled face with high cheekbones and piercing deepset hooded eyes. I would've thought he were a normal person if it weren't for the feral way he looked at me, or the scars littering his body which I soon noticed were claw and  hook marks.

I'll admit, I blushed only a little. I probably would've blushed a lot of he didn't look so tired, sick and blood hungry. Seeming to realize this, the mer sniffed himself, licking his arms and hands and then staring at them as if there were maths equations written on his skin.

"I was dead." He whispered to his arm and then looked up at me. "You heal me?"
I nodded. "I let you soak in my shower for the entire night. Moisturized you too. Fed you crushed sardines," I replied and he cocked his head, still staring at me similar to how one would stare at an abstract art exhibit. With blatant confusion and curiosity.

"You look like him," the mer grumbled angrily. I didn't need to ask to know who he was talking about. I needed him to trust me and after what my father had done to him, my resemblance to him wouldn't go unnoticed.

"Yeah, well I'm not him. I help. He doesn't."

I didn't know how much English the creature knew but he seemed to mull over everything I said. I was pleasantly surprised it hadn't killed me yet.

"My name is Cormac." I pointed to myself. He stared at my finger before pointing to his own chest, "Speciman B."

I didn't know why it made me so sad but it did. He didn't even know his own name. Merlin knows how long he's been under my father's reign. Thankfully though, I'm pretty sure I knew someone who did.

"Do you know a man by the name of Ron-"

I was immediately pushed against the wall with such force my vision swam with black spots and I could feel my head bleeding. The mer picked me up effortlessly and slammed me against the wall and let me go, letting me crumple under my own weight. He bared his serrated teeth, his eyes glowing and I screamed, scrambling to get out of the room.

Terrified, I ran for the door but he was faster. He cut off my path and struck me down so hard blood poured out my mouth and onto the floor. I could feel my blood pulsing through my body, my heart rate going so quickly I was pretty sure I'd gone into cardiac arrest.

The mer growled, stalking closer to me and before I knew it, he bit.

I screamed and kicked him off with all the strength that I had. My shoulder leaked blood so quickly, I didn't think I'd be able to stay awake much longer. As a final attempt to get the mer to not finish me off, I held out my hands (which was excruciating for my shoulder) and shouted at it to wait.

Speciman B glared at me, licking at the blood that coated his lips. My blood.

"Me. Cormac. I help!" I yelled, tears threatening to spill from my eyes. My voice cracked to every octave. "I help you," I croaked, my body aching from having been used as a javelin. "I'll keep you safe, B."

The mer's glare softened so drastically at the letter 'B' he almost looked like a different person all together. I might've been hallucinating from blood loss, but I couldn't tell. The mer knelt down beside me and I flinched.

He began licking my wound, to my surprise. It was an odd sensation but I tried to ignore it. Reaching for my phone with my good arm, I tried not to make any sudden movements. I knew I had about a minute before I'd pass out, so I slowly reached into my pocket and side eyed my screen as I typed in the address Weasley had told me on the phone before I could forget it.

Thestral Boulevard, Manor. 6:00

I let my phone clatter to the ground which made the mer flinch aggressively. I apologized.

"How do you know him?" I rasped, leaning against B's body as he cleaned the bite he gave me. He growled at me and I took that as a sign to shut up. After maybe thirty seconds, he growled again in frustration and muttered, "Scientists hurt me badly. I do not remember my past life before them. Only Ron."

My eyes widened. He had amnesia? What on earth had my father done to this guy...

"I don't want to, but I've got to take you too him. To Ron. I think he can help, too." I said and the mer snarled, his bloody teeth making my heart begin to race again. "He doesn't help," the mer spat. He glared at my wound as if it had caused him all his problems. "We'll go see him. He will help."
I tried for a reassuring voice, but I was in so much pain I couldn't even shift my position without wincing.

"Fine. We go to him." B said calmly and I blinked. "We do?"

"Yes," he said, "so I can eat him."