Page 63 of Slaying With Sylphs

“Her skin doesn’t look right.” Dirk drops to a knee and runs his fingers over her cheek. “It’s mottled black. That’s not a mermaid thing, as I remember.”

“No.” I frown.

Lifting my comm, I call Richard to let him know what’s going on. He’ll rally the full set of troops so we can figure out what happened. Whoever did this to Amatheia is out there somewhere.

A groan drifts up from the fallen mermaid, her fingertips twitching. Dirk strokes her hair away from her mouth and nose as she sputters, blinking wide azure eyes at him.

“I—I, where am I?” Her tone is urgent.

Dirk croons, “Shh there, lovely girl. We found yeh fallen in the woods, and yeh’re bleeding from a wound at the temple.”

“I need to go,” she gasps, choking on the last word. A cough blasts from her throat, followed by a black viscous liquid that coats her chest and stomach.

“Get her on her knees,” Dirk barks, shifting his hands under her armpits and rolling her onto her side.

I grip her hips until she’s stable on her knees, face down in the dirt as she coughs up more dark, sticky-looking liquid.

Dirk reaches for Amatheia’s hair and holds it out of the way as the mermaid chokes and coughs, spitting black liquid into the dirt below. She doesn’t try to speak again.

“Have you ever seen anything like this?” I stare at Dirk. He’s traveled so much more than I have, and has probably seen things I could scarcely imagine.

He shakes his head, holding the mermaid in place as she coughs and spits.

Just then, shouts echo through the forest.

I call out for the others. Dirk’s worried eyes meet mine as Amatheia heaves and a pool of black liquid splashes into the dirt.

Lush ferns part, and Slade runs through, sliding to a stop next to us. “Roll her onto her side,” he directs.

Dirk and I carefully roll the mermaid to her left side.

Slade takes quick stock of her, noting the wound at her temple. Black fingers come to Amatheia’s mouth, and he opens it, feeling around inside.

She chokes again, sputtering as more liquid spews from her. Goddess, how much can she hold?

Slade frowns, rubbing the fluid between two fingers. When Amatheia groans and spits up more of it, he looks at Dirk and me. “Pick her up, bring her to my cottage immediately. I need to take a look at her and run some tests.”

“I’ll fly her.” Dirk drops down and picks the mermaid up in his arms.

“No,” Slade barks, his long black horns straightening behind his head. “You’ll shock her, and we don’t know what that’ll do.”

“I won’t go windy,” Dirk says, pulling Amatheia tightly to his chest.

“What do you mean?” Slade cocks his head to the side, but Dirk pushes off the ground and disappears between the trees, carrying Amatheia.

Slade’s mouth drops open. He whirls around to me. “Did he just fly without shifting into his element?”

I’m too surprised by the events of the last ten minutes to process Slade’s shock.

Slade shakes his head. “A mystery for another day. Let’s go.” Without further comment, he takes off the way he came, back toward downtown.

Fifteen minutes later, I’m coated in sweat as I walk through Doc Slade’s front door, through the front room and into the giant examination room at the back. When we enter, Dirk and my alpha, Richard, stand with Arkan, staring down at Amatheia, who lies in a bathtub full of water. Her lower half has morphed back into a long blue and turquoise tail, her single fin draping over the porcelain tub edge. Her head lolls over the opposite side, arms draped over the curved surface.

Richard gives me a look. “You haven’t missed anything. She passed out on the way here, according to Dirk, and hasn’t woken up.”

“She’s not vomiting any longer,” Slade murmurs from his spot next to the tub. He’s got some sort of implement inserted partially into her ear, listening to it. We fall silent as Slade continues to examine the mermaid.

Dirk backs up next to me. “I called Louanna on the way over and asked her to meet us. I dinnae want her hearing this through the grapevine.”

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