Hunted

Chapter One

Chapter One

{Texas, 2003}

Eighteen year old Tegan Johnstone felt the cool, yet not cold, water of the Gulf of Mexico touch her toes and the bottom of her feet as she stepped into the water, her waist-length blonde hair rustling in the slight wind that blew across the shore. Her parents had warned her many times about going anywhere near the water, but she paid them no mind. If they had their way, she'd never come within a hundred feet of any body of water, ever. What with all the hype about mermaids and all.

Two years ago, it had blown up on the news. The entire world was going nuts, since some older guy not that many towns over from where Tegan was now had discovered the first ever mermaid.

In the back of her mind, a little voice was telling her that it was a big deal, and she should be more careful, but she couldn't bring herself to care. Ever since she was a little girl she had been obsessed with everything mermaids. Watching The Little Mermaid, reading books about them, anything. Well okay, maybe 'obsessed' wasn't exactly the right word... she just thought they were fascinating, really.

So, with that reasoning, she saw no problem with sticking her feet in the beautiful water. Which, by the way, was right in her backyard, so why shouldn't she be able to enjoy it?

She knew the dangers everyone was talking about - the mermaids, or as they are technically called, sirens, were a force to be reckoned with. They had no mercy for humans, luring them into the ocean with hauntingly beautiful songs and their otherworldly magic; but that kind of figures that they would hate us, because all we wanted to do was kill them.

For the past two years, everyone who thought themselves brave was doing everything they could to learn about sirens: how they lived, how they fought, what their strengths and weaknesses were. Groups of hunters had popped up all over the place, thousands upon thousands of people eager to get their hands on a real, live mermaid.

Personally, Tegan was disgusted by it. They were people, just like us! They were no different other than they lived in the water and had a tail. What was the big deal?

Okay, so they had super sharp fangs and claws, and tails that could knock you out in one swing. But Tegan had read many times, in articles written by the many people who opposed the mistreatment and hunting of sirens, that they only attacked when they felt threatened. Just like anybody else.

So far, nobody had been able to successfully communicate with the sirens. Either they did not understand us, or they were keeping silent on purpose. Whatever the reason, Tegan was not surprised. If she were treated that badly, she wouldn't talk either.

They were hunted for their hair and tails. She didn't really understand the hair part; well actually she didn't understand hunting them for anything, really, but still. It was just hair, even if it did grow in a multitude of other colors. Siren hair ranged from anything to light blue to deep, otherworldly purple.

How the hunters obtained the sirens' tails was a bit of a gruesome explanation, and one of the reasons that Tegan loathed the idea of hunting mermaids. She stopped herself before she thought any more about that.

However, the real prize the hunters were after was the siren itself. A whole, dead siren was worth a lot of money, but a whole, live siren? That was worth a small fortune. Most of the time though, the siren would rather fight and die than be captured by us humans.

So far, there have only been two sirens successfully captured alive. Nobody knew where they were, or if they were still alive. Supposedly the government was keeping them for 'research.' Tegan had a sneaking suspicion that was bull, but she never really said that. In fact, her family and friends hardly ever talked about the recent discovery of sirens, and if they did the discussion was brief. More often than not her parents were just telling her to stay away from the water.

Speak of the devil. Her mother Helen stuck her head out of the window at the back of the house, hollering in an annoyed tone of voice, laced with an undertone of fear, down to her daughter at the water's edge. "Tegan Johnstone, you get your sorry ass back in the house before I skin you alive!"

She sighed and rolled her eyes. Her mother always had such a way with words. She walked up the shallow slope of sand until her feet finally met with dry land instead of cool water. Her heart pinched painfully as she left the welcoming ocean, preparing herself for yet another confrontation with her mother.

So royally pissed off, she failed to notice the ethereal purple eyes that watched her from the water, just a few yards away.

*****

Liara watched just above the calm waters as the girl stepped back inside the dwelling the humans chose to live in. The lady calling to her - who sounded like her mother - was smarter than the girl. What was her name again? Tegan. The older woman was smart to fear the ocean.

She wished all humans were like the woman in the house! She wished they'd just leave her kind be and stick to the land. But no, instead there were those moronic and cruel enough to venture out into the ocean like this girl. People like her would grow up to be hunters. And Neptune knows we need another one of those around, she thought sarcastically.

The thought of this innocent-looking, blue-eyed girl growing up to become one of those monsters made her blood boil. She loathed the very thought of the things those bastards were doing to her kind. How dare they!

Liara took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. Soon, she would get her revenge. Small though it may be, she relished the thought of making at least one human see the other side of things.

She would lie in wait. This human girl was relentless in the act of defying her mother. Liara witnessed it herself as almost every day the girl would wander down to the water's edge and step in, never immersing herself deeper than her ankles, as if a hidden force or fear were holding her back, but Liara knew it was enough. In a matter of days, she would have her revenge.

With that thought in mind, she sunk beneath the waves once more and disappeared into the dark water.

*****

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