The Hunters: Paranormal many shots

Interlude: Jealous Mermen and bearded giants

Jared's entire body went rigid, his jaw tight. He seemed to be quivering with excited energy. Annie took a few steps back, unsure of what he might do.

"Where?" Jared asked. "Where is he?"

Tom shook his head and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder. "No, we aren't ready to go after him. Quinn is keeping a close eye on him, but he's far too powerful to go after without a solid plan." Jared became visibly irritated. He began pacing back and forth, closing and unclosing his hands. "In the meantime, we are to keep up with our duties. Also, dad wants to mean her soon." He pointed to Annie.

Jared looked over her and then back to Tom. "He wants to meet her?"

Tom nodded his head. "He's very curious. Oh, here," He reached into his jacket and pulled out a file. "your next assignment."

Paul stepped up and grabbed the yellow folder from Tom. He opened it and tipped it on an angle, sliding the contents into his hand. He scanned the paper, his eyebrows pulling down as he did. He turned to Tom "A Merman?"

Jared wandered over to Paul and read the file over his shoulder. "Merman? What in the shit is a Merman doing in our folders?"

Tom pointed at the file. "Normally, they don't come close enough to shore to cause a problem, but this one seems to have some business on land. Take a look at the photo, Jared."

Jared took the folder from Paul and flipped through the pages until a small photo fell into his hand. He flipped it over and inspected it. His face seemed to drop and he shook his head. "Are you serious?"

Tom nodded, grinning humorously. He patted Jared on the back. "Have fun, brother dearest," He said.

Paul looked at the picture and burst into laughter. "Oh my gosh," He said, pointing at the photo. "That's Rahal."

Annie stepped up and inspected the photo. It was of a pale man, bobbing in the ocean. He had short brown hair and slitted iris'. He had a crazed expression on his face, like he was mad about something.

"Who is Rahal?" Annie asked, taking the photo to get a better look.

Paul laughed as Jared ran a hand through his long hair. "He's a Merman that Jared had a thing with," Paul said, giggling. "He turned out to be totally crazy."

Jared threw his hands up. "I didn't know that when we hooked up. We had a great date and I figured it could go somewhere. It was going great until we slept together; after that, he got super possessive."

Annie tucked a lose strand of hair behind her ear. "Possessive?"

"Yeah. He started calling me all the time, asking me what I was doing and who I was with. He started telling me he wanted me to spend less time around my male friends and even went as far as threatening Paul; under the assumption that we were knocking boots."

Annie let out a sharp peel of laughter. "You and Paul? Fuck, he is nuts."

Paul laughed and nodded. "Yeah, it got so bad that Rahal was even spending more time on land than in the ocean. Merpeople need to spend at least six hours in water per day. Merpeople that are allowed to live on land usually sleep in a saltwater bathtub. Their gills are capable of storing oxygen from the water and they use that to breathe during the day while on land. In all ways, they look like regular humans. However, due to the increased risk of exposure in this process, most Merpeople aren't permitted to live on land. They are usually granted an extended stay passport, which expires after a maximum of a month; although there are exceptions, but they are rare. Rahal received one of these but violated its terms. He was arrested and sent back to the ocean. Seems he's completely skipped the passport part and has come looking for Jared."