Love Magic

Chapter 8: A Magic You've Never Seen

The next day, Nerida woke up earlier than usual and headed down the stairs quietly. Nerida saw her dad standing next to the table with him crossbow glinting in the light.
    She watched him, confused because hunting season wasn't for another few months. She decided to follow him, just to cure her confusion.
    Her dad picked up the bow and left, Nerida following close behind.

    Emma decided to stay as a mermaid for a while longer and just swam. She passed sharks and jellyfish and everything else as she made her way near the beach. She understood that she shouldn't show herself to humans in this form, she can't let out the secret of mermaids.
    She could see the moon through the moving water, it shining through in streaks.
    "Why can't anything be easy?" She asked herself as she laid on the seafloor. She laid there for  who knows how long, she could see the sky changing colors when she decided to stand again.
    Nerida followed her father for a while, he only stopped when they were close to the human land, and we could see a mermaid in a soft light.
    When she moved closer, she could see that it was the girl who kissed her earlier, why was her father following her with his crossbow?
    Kako took out an arrow and inspected it for a moment, a sinister smile forming on his lips. He loaded the bow and took his aim.
    "No!" Everything felt like slow motion once he pulled the trigger. Without thinking, she could feel her body head straight towards Emma like a bullet.
    Her body turned in the water and heat blasted through her palms, heading straight for her father. Just as the heated water hit her father, she felt a piercing pain go straight through her side.
    Emma watched this all happen next to her, and she hurried to Nerida's side.
    "I-I remember.." Nerida coughed weakly.
    "Shut up, you sound like you're dying. I will not let you die! I will not let anyone else I love die." Emma teared up as she pulled Nerida into her arms, blood surrounding them like a cloud.
    "Nerida!" They can both hear Kako calling for her, and EMma quickly swims out of the cloud.
    "You hit her! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Emma kept swimming past him and hurrying as fast as she can to Nerida's.
    "Iremia! Please, help!" Emma called out to her as she swam into the home and placed Nerida on the couch softly, "please, stay with me, Nair. I need you more than you know."

    Iremia hurried inside and gasped when she saw her daughter pouring out blood, "what happened?"
    "I shot her." Kako stood in the doorway, his face was regretful and blistered. Iremia stopped what she was doing for a moment and stopped to stare at Kako.
    "What do you mean you shot her?" Iremia was getting close, a dangerous look in her eyes.
    "Please! I want to beat his ass as much as the next guy, but we need to save her before she bleeds out!" Emma called from the room over and it snapped Iremia out of her rage. She continued over to the kitchen and grabbed the first aid kit and a knife.
    Iremia hurried over back to Nerida, cringing at the torn hole in her side. Pieces of skin were hanging on by a thread, her father had used the arrow that would tear through fish, only leaving an explosion of guts and blood.
    "I'm so sorry, darling. This is going to hurt a lot," Iremia grabbed the sharp end of the knife and heated it until it was a bright orange. Iremia placed the hot knife over the wound and Nerida started screaming.
    "Stop, please- STOP STOP!" Nerida cried and turned, but Iremia held her down, she had to close the wound.
    Emma was holding Nerida's hand, whispering sweet nothings in her ear.
    "Please, hold on."
    "I love you."
    "You can do this.
    Iremia then pulled the knife away, to see how much it'd done, and decided to finish cleaning the wound and wrap it in seaweed and gauze.

    Kako came back to the house and walked inside as if nothing happened.
    "Out, now." Iremia stood her ground once she caught sight of Kako.
    "Please, you can't just kick me out  like this, we're soulmates. It's not like I meant to shoot her! I love her, I wanted to get rid of that.. That girl."
    "That girl is our daughter's soulmate! And quite frankly, she seems to be like a lovely girl that actually cares about our baby!" Iremia never thought that she'd defend someone that was LGBT, but it's who her daughter was destined to be with.
    "Get out of here and never come back." And with that, she kicked Kako out. They only saw him once after those next few years, he was leaving the Witch's cave.