Don't Leave Me Behind

Nine

Bret and Rikki tried to grab their friend and jerk him back, which seemed to please the guy that was essentially holding their Mermaid friend hostage. They shoulda known that wasn't gonna work, though, 'cuz when the bassist cared about somebody enough to let out his protective bent, he'd stop at nothing till he was dead. There wasn't the slightest bit of difference here as he elbowed both blondes, easily shaking them off as they yelped and grabbed their sides.

        He might not've known her for very long, but Bobby considered Rina one of his closest friends aside from the pair he'd just elbowed. For the Love of all that was Holy, she'd saved his Life in this very Cove when she didn't have the slightest obligation to–she coulda just let him drown, only to be found when he finally floated back to the Surface!

        Add in the fact that she'd given him something so precious the previous Night when she coulda told him the best he'd get from her was a hand-job, and he really felt protective over her. He didn't care what this other guy did to him, and whether it killed him or not–as long as the Mermaid he held a jagged whatever to the throat of survived, the bassist'd be able to die a happy man. With that resolve shored up so that not even his friends'd be able to get through his hard head and Change his mind, he continued wading out till he was just barely able to keep his feet on the Natural ramp below him without having to tread Water.

        "Let her go, asshole," he growled when Rina's attacker tightened his grip on her.

        "She's mine!" the guy hissed, and based on the movement of the Water around his legs, he realized he was dealing with a Merman. "Sereia was promised to me, and now you've soiled her, human!"

        "I wasn't promised to anyone, Caspian!" Rina hissed, clearly trying to throw him off balance–if that was even possible in the Water–or at least to free an arm.

        "Your parents, your mother in particular, promised you to me!" the Merman, whose name was apparently Caspian, snarled as he simply tightened his grip on her even more.

        "And you're insane–there's no way Mother'd have promised me to anyone, let alone someone with tendencies as violent as yours!" she said, groaning in pain from the pressure no doubt being exerted on her ribs.

        In all Honesty, Bobby wasn't really sure there was anything he could do to help her, although he was carefully looking for any kinda opening to use to his advantage. While he might not've been quite as much a brawler as the rest of his band–unless he was drunk or pissed-off enough, that is–he was certainly a scrapper. There wasn't a single fight he'd ever gotten into in his Life where he'd fought clean and fair, and this one–if it turned into a full-on fight–wouldn't be any different.

        Even as he listened to this Caspian guy rant about how the Mermaid had been promised to him by her mother and now had to be killed 'cuz she wasn't a virgin anymore, he studied his opponent. He could feel the eyes of Bret and Rikki boring holes into his back, and he knew they were wondering just what he Intended to do and how it'd turn out.

        Luckily, even Rina hadn't seen him strap something to his thigh since he'd changed in the bathroom on the grounds that he'd to piss, too. Nobody knew about the nasty, serrated hunting knife that was perfect for use on or near the Water, which was why it was currently hidden by the leg of his trunks. As long as he could get to it without drawing too much, if any attention to what he was doing, the bassist knew it might actually give him a leg up on this bastard. He might not be nearly as strong, nor as skilled in hand-to-hand combat, but that serrated blade was gonna do more damage to the Merman than what he suspected was a jagged piece of rock was gonna do to him.

        Able to get his knife outta its sheath without anyone seeming to notice, Bobby kept it pressed against his leg as he stared Caspian down. He was almost Silently daring him to so much as draw a breath, and if he hadn't been so pissed and ready to fight, he'd have sworn there was a sudden spark of Admiration in the guy's eyes. Then again, even if there had been, it was gone as quick as it'd appeared, so there was no way to really be sure of that from a distance of at least six feet. Besides, he didn't really care whether this guy admired him for being willing to stand up to him–he just cared about the Mermaid and her safety.

        "This stand-off's pointless, human," the Merman growled. "Either way, she dies! She's unclean in no longer being a virgin!"

        "What makes ya think she's not a virgin?" he asked, still watching him carefully.

        "You must think me a fool," Caspian snorted. "I can smell your scent all over her, sense your seed inside her."

        The bassist didn't give the slightest of reactions, even as he heard his friends gasp behind him. "So what, if I was the one to get that precious gift from her? She gave it willingly, and that's what matters to me."

        "She's mine!" he practically screeched, his grip suddenly loosening enough to avoid catching Rina if and when he did anything to him.

        Without the slightest warning before he did it, Bobby lunged forward and sank his knife into the Merman's side in a way that'd cause the teeth to act like a saw on the ribs above and below where he stabbed him. Naturally, he howled in agony, but it managed to buy enough Time for the Mermaid to extricate herself from his grip and swim far enough away that he couldn't grab her again. That was all he cared about, and now that she was outta harm's way, he didn't really give a fuck about what could happen to himself.

        Somehow, the bassist wasn't surprised when Caspian glared at him as he ripped the knife from his side and flung it into the Cove. He also wasn't surprised when it took him only seconds to feel something hard and powerful sweep through the Water and slam into his legs, which easily knocked him down. Already saying his prayers to any listening Deities and hoping they were kind enough to at least let him Reincarnate as something bigger than an Ant, he hit the Water with a full breath he didn't think was gonna last very long. Sadly, he was proven right when he almost instantly felt something sharp ram into his own side, and the only thing he could think was that he was about to die by one of those deadly Merfolk spikes.

        Even as the breath he'd been holding exploded to the Surface in a group of bubbles and his blood started turning the Waters of the Cove even redder than they already were, Bobby knew he could die happy. He didn't even care that, despite Rina saving him just a couple months ago, this Cove was still gonna become his grave, ironic as that was. He just cared that she'd gotten away from her attacker, and he prayed that she either killed the bastard or managed to outrun him for the rest of her Life. That was the last conscious Thought he had before he passed out from a lack of oxygen combined with bleeding heavily.