Just a quick note before the story starts. All of my stories are in a program on WP that generates ads between some chapters in the phone app. If you would take a moment to glance at them, I would greatly, greatly appreciate it. These chapters take 3-5 hours of my time, so please lend me a few seconds of yours as you enjoy the series :) 

Also, please give a BIG thank you to those who have done the app program so far. They've helped me bring this back so everyone can have it for free again. Please keep doing the  program so I can start bringing back even more stuff :) 

"Hey, Doc."

Glancing up, I shielded my eyes from the dwindling sun.

"Yeah?"

"I can see something in the water. Wanna take the boat out? It might be what's been tearing up my nets."

My gaze roved over the seemingly deserted waves... but one could never really know what was under the smooth surface.

"Yeah. Let's go out."

Kenton, the captain of the main fishing vessel in the harbor, walked over to me, offering a hand, which I quickly shook. He was around thirty-five or so but looked a bit older due to the amount of time he had spent out on the boat every day. The man was an avid fisher and even went out during storms to make a promised quota.

"Wanna take the glass-bottom boat?"

I nodded and headed to the far end of the dock where he had the smaller vessel tied up. It was only about twenty feet long, but that was just big enough for small tour groups who were more interested in watching the wildlife than catching it. We both jumped down into the waiting boat, then I untied the craft as he started up the engine. It was a fairly quiet boat, too, so whatever was out there would hopefully not try to swim off at the sound of the small motor.

Kenton steered us away from the dock while I settled in one of the seats at the side, watching our progress through the see-through floor. The reef there was surprisingly well maintained, which made the water amazingly clear most days.

"Put the dimmers on," I mumbled to him, my eyes still focused through the floor.

A faint green glow suddenly illuminated the reef seven feet below. So far I couldn't see much, just a few larger fish coming out to hunt any smaller ones that hadn't hidden fast enough within the corals. Even at night it was possible to see all the different colored creatures if you focused. The reef never really slept. There was always something moving about or waiting and watching.

"I have a net out about fifty yards north with some precaught stuff."

"Hm, hoping to lure it out?"

"Hell yes, that thing's been killing my profits this month."

I gave a light chuckle before I caught sight of a large shadow darting beneath the boat.

"I see it."

There was a slight splash about ten yards away a minute later, making Kenton cheer and reach for his rifle.

"You know it could just be a shark, they do move into the area at night to feed sometimes."

"Nah, sharks don't tear up my nets. They aren't stupid... well, most of em."

He set the large gun on his shoulder and closed one eye.

"Come on, you bastard, splash again."

We waited with bated breath, our gaze roving over the small swells. After five minutes, he began to lower his gun, only to see a big splash right beside the net.

"You're sushi, fish."

He hefted the gun and quickly pulled the trigger, causing a huge, panicked splash as it seemed to hit whatever was beneath the water. Kenton yelled and pumped his fist in air with excitement.

"Hell yeah. That's how it's done, Doc."

I laughed at his nickname for me as he set down his gun and got the boat headed toward whatever it was that he'd shot. I could barely see something decently large floating near the surface, it's shadow making me guess that it was close to seven or eight feet long.

"It looks kind of like a dolphin."

"Probably. It must be sick to try to mess with the nets. The things aren't stupid, but when they're hungry, they turn desperate."

Rubbing the stubble on my chin, I nodded in agreement. I was a scientist that studied the local marine life, and I had seen several injured animals try to go after bait and nets in the past when they'd been too injured to hunt normally.

The creature thrashed about ten feet away, drawing our attention to its exact location. Ken quickly cut the motor and began circling it as he shouted back to me.

"Get the trawling net."

I jumped up and did as told, but by the time I had it out of storage from beneath the floor and up to him, the creature was gone.

"Dammit all. Well, at least I definitely hit it. There's blood in the water, and nothing lives long on a reef if it's bleeding."

"Yeah, it'll probably be gone by tomorrow. Let's head back."

He grinned and nodded, revving the engine back to life before turning us around. When we got back to the docks, I tied the boat, then climbed up and out.

"Alright, thanks for coming out with me. I'll see you tomorrow, man."

"Yup. Have a good night."

I waved and then walked over to an old white boat chair I kept a few feet from the edge of the dock. The sun wasn't quite down yet so I decided to just relax and watch the waves. This was exactly where I loved being. Outside, near the amazing ocean. All of its animals, from the gigantic whale shark to the tiny clown fish, everything in the ocean held such fascination to me. It never got old, and I knew it never would.

A splash a good ways from the dock had me blinking open eyes that I hadn't realized I'd let close. Ah, it was over by the net where Kenton had shot that animal. There were several shark fins circling the splashing creature, making my heart sink a little.

I wish we hadn't had to shoot it. The poor thing is probably just starving.

It splashed one more time before disappearing beneath the waves. I thought it was dead, but the shark fins abruptly turned and began heading toward the dock. I jumped up from my seat and ran to the edge, looking down into the dark water just in time to see the creature dart beneath the planks under my feet. Several sharks followed, but they were generally small since the bigger ones couldn't risk getting stuck in the shallow waters.

Thinking that the animal was probably going to beach itself to avoid predation, I quickly turned and ran back down the long dock. I didn't agree with interfering in the natural order of things, but knowing where it would die meant I could come back once it had passed and collect tissue samples as well as figure out what had caused it to start feeding on things it normally wouldn't. When I saw it splash over in the shallows, I grinned and hopped down into the sand. Curiosity drove me to run over to it, but what I saw there, being tugged on by tiny sharks and fish, was the most incredible thing I had ever seen.

"Beautiful..."

Giving a quick jerk of my head, I snapped my mind back into focus and ran forward, kicking the water and scaring off a good portion of the annoying little predators. Some of the fish tried to tug at my pants, but I ignored them and turned to the large creature struggling a few feet away. It was definitely afraid of me since it had tried to swim off as soon as I got into the water.

Smart. Never trust humans.

Unfortunately for the creature, it was way too injured to go very far without being intercepted by larger sharks. They were waiting in the ten foot water just barely offshore, leaving the wounded creature to literally pace in the shallows, dragging a trail of blood behind it. I knew I had decided to never get involved in what was supposed to happen when it came to wildlife, but... I bit my lip and ran back to the dock, grabbing the first casting net I could find before stumbling back along the sand, soaked shoes splashing and sinking into the shifting ground.

I have to get it out of there, or it is as good as dead.

When I noticed the creature blur past me in the shallows, I quickly ran into the water to about knee deep, then waited. The small splashes of excited fish told me where it was, even when it didn't surface. So, when the fish started making a ruckus nearby, I counted to three and threw the net as hard as I could, then held on for dear life as it landed perfectly... and I was literally yanked off my feet and flew face-first into the water.

The net had fallen over the creature just right, but it managed to pull me about twenty feet along the shore before being forced to turn away because of predators. That's when the net began to twist and tangle around the creature, letting me get to the surface and start pulling it toward the shore. Thankfully, it mostly took me parallel to the beach so we didn't go into deeper water, but holy hell was it heavy. Add on the fact that it was thrashing around like crazy and I nearly didn't make it back onto dry land with the thing.

At first, I promptly fell over, panting heavily as my body tried to regain some kind of stamina. When I could finally breathe without my vision blurring, I pushed myself to my feet and turned with a tired sigh. The creature was thumping its smooth gray tail against the damp sand, trying its best to get back to the water but just not having the energy to move its heavy body and get out of the tangled-up net. That wasn't really what I was focusing on, though. No. I was much more interested in the fact that I was looking at a real, live merman.

"You are gorgeous."

Its head snapped up abruptly so it could see me. The net blocked some of my view, but I could easily tell that it was a male by his looks and musculature. His eyes were a mix between dark blue and a brilliant bright purple as they stared at me in fear. The colors swam together like the ocean itself, nearly stealing my breath away.

The mer species was thought to have been extinct hundreds of years ago. Now there were only a few partial skeletons in the Smithsonian and I believe a museum in Britain. They shouldn't exist...

...but I have a live one, right here.

My thoughts refocused when I heard a bubbling hiss from the young merman. He was holding his weight up slightly with his left arm, but his right one was bent and red was pooling in the sand around it.

Okay, so that's where Kenton got it, but...

I let my gaze roam over the human portion of his body, my inner biologist hungry to get my hands on the three slits of large gills on his left torso that, no doubt, mirrored what his right side had. I had also noticed a few small slits just below his jaw on both sides, but I couldn't focus on those things just yet. I needed to find the reason why he was tearing open dangerous fishing nets instead of catching fish in the open ocean. Giving my head a shake, I let a light chuckle slip from my lips and promptly got another hiss in response.

"Yeah yeah, I know. Terrible human and all. Caught me in big net. Very mean."

I returned my gaze to his body, this time moving down along his tail fin. There were quite a few scars along its length, but that was normal for anything that lived among predators.

Tough male...

There were a few new reddening marks, likely from the sharks trying to get a bite of him, but I skipped those for the time being and continued downward. He flopped his tail a few times, I assumed to try to scare me, but that actually made the item that had likely caused him to start going after trapped fish flash in the moonlight.

"You're hooked... badly."

A giant shark hook was protruding two of its three spikes near the base of his fluke. The wound would normally not be too bad for an animal, but it looked infected and that would definitely cause the mer great pain. Well, being the idiot that I was, I took a few slow steps closer to him, then began kneeling down so I could get that hook out. Of course he snarled a warning, not too happy that I was getting anywhere near him. Bubbles began to foam through his gills right before he lunged, pushing himself just fast enough to make me have to jump back.

"Okay. Uh, that's not going to work."

I could just barely see his teeth as he panted. From some of my college research I did a while ago, I knew that mer had serrated teeth that looked fairly similar to humans but were made to tear apart fish quickly so that they could escape any possible predators their kill attracted. They tore off big chunks, swallowed them mostly whole, then bolted for cover.

Hmmm, wait a second.

With a slight grin, I turned and ran back toward the dock.

Sorry, Ken. Gotta steal some of your fish to feed the thief.

I snatched a big bucket he had made about two hours ago of freshly caught fish, no doubt to use for bait tomorrow. Oh well, he could just put another one together tomorrow 'cause I was hijacking this one. After grabbing the bucket and a knife, I ran back to the young male mer. He was still trying to look strong by flaring his gills and hissing, but it was blatantly obvious he was hurt. Well, that's how it worked in the water. If you looked injured, you died.

I came to a stop a few feet from him and knelt down, leaning back on my heels as I grabbed a fish from the bucket. His demeanor immediately changed to one of cautious hunger. While he stared at the fish, I took another glance at his body and sure enough, he was really thin. There was no way I could just leave him there, he'd get dehydrated by the sun or, if he managed to get back into the water, he'd get eaten before sunrise or drown with the net on. I was just refocusing on his face when I felt the fish get snatched out of my hand.

Whoa! The guy is fast when he's hungry.

Granted, he couldn't really back up with his heavy body on the shifting sand, so instead of trying he just hissed at me again and bubbled a bit from his gills.

"Yeah yeah, I'm backing up."

I did just that, scooting back on my knees and taking the big white bucket of fish with me. We were both generally silent as he tore into the small fish, devouring everything, including the bones, in less than five minutes. Oh wait, nope. He spit out the entrails... so most of the fish.

"Do you want another?"

He bristled up and hissed again, but I just rolled my eyes as I dug into the bucket and pulled out another morsel. Considering I had only moved back a foot or so, he didn't have to reach far to grab the offered fish. It, too, disappeared in mere minutes. This time, though, the young male pushed himself closer to the bucket, easily knocking it over to reveal the twenty-something fish inside. The way his eyes lit up with excitement had me scooting away a little more. He watched me as he ate the next two fish, but on the third, he simply dug in, obviously not minding my presence as much as he was minding filling his empty belly.

Well, maybe this is my chance.

Being as quiet as I could, I carefully got myself up and, after nudging my shoes off, walked around toward his tail. The mer was so focused on eating—I think he was even working on two at the same time right now—that I was able to squat down right next to his injured fluke. It had long since stopped bleeding, but all around the hook was a blackjsh color, showing that an infection had set in a while ago, definitely not good. I really wanted to go home and get my dissection kit so I could cut it out without doing more damage, but I highly doubted he was going to sit still for it.

Guess I'm going with the basic grab-and-yank-and-hope-he-doesn't-eat-you plan!

I grinned and mentally called myself an idiot before promptly grabbing the hook and pulling as hard as I could. Of course the thing didn't come out fast like I'd hoped, and, yup, there was now an extremely pissed-off merman trying to eat my face! We spun in circles for several minutes before I could finally give another sharp tug, and thank god! It came out with a good amount of dead tissue, sending me stumbling back a few yards before I tripped, turned, and face-planted into the sand.

Okay... that went well?