Page 1 of The Vampire and the Case of the Malevolent Mermaid

Chapter 1

When I answered the shrill ring of my phone, Gunnar's panicked voice filled my ear. 'Bunny!' There was cacophonous shouting in the background. ‘Get down to the North Harbour. Now!’ he barked. When he spoke next, his voice was entreating. ‘Sidnee, honey, come on now. Calm down.’ He hung up.

My heart gave one hard beat before I threw on my rain jacket and my boots. The North damned Harbour: nothing ever good happened at the North Harbour, and hearing my bestie’s name on Gunnar’s lips, begging like that…

A frisson of fear shuddered down my spine. Sidnee had been struggling to cope since Thomas had been taken by the Knight Stalkers, a black-ops spinoff group of the MIB, and right now it sounded like Gunnar was trying to talk her down from doing something stupid.

I feared the worst.

Fluffy barked at me anxiously. He’d heard everything too, and he was standing by the door ready to go. He was already dressed in his Nomo vest; we’d been getting ready for work when Gunnar had called.

I looked around for my troublesome lynx. Luckily, Shadow was asleep on the sofa and I was happy to leave him that way. Today suddenly didn’t feel like a day to put up with his shenanigans.

Locking the front door behind us, Fluffy and I left the house and ran towards the harbour. I couldn’t use my vampire speed because he couldn’t keep up with that pace for long in dog form, but we were definitely moving faster than was humanly possible.

It was growing dark; the sun had dipped below the horizon and the twilight was deepening. This was Portlock’s busiest time of day when the diurnal and nocturnal folks were both abroad, so the paths and streets were busy as I wound through the congested streets. I didn’t stop to apologise for any necessary shoving – I had more serious concerns.

Worry for Sidnee drove me as we sprinted towards the waterfront. The tide was out so the walk down the ramp was steep, forcing us to slow to a quick walk. Fluffy's sides were heaving as he drew in lungsful of air but, like me, he was concerned about Sidnee.

I squinted ahead, the fading light making it difficult for my eyes to adjust. I could see Gunnar with several people on one of the docks near a boat. There was definitely a situation, but not the one I’d been fearing. Something eased inside me.

The mayor, Mafu Finau, was holding back a strapping man and Gunnar was struggling to hold Sidnee. Fluffy ran ahead of me while I assessed the situation, then I upped my pace to full vamp speed and joined him.

Something badhadhappened. Sidnee’s eyes were black and she was seconds away from going full mer. If she finished the transformation, her deadly instincts would kick in – and it looked very much like they were telling her to rip the hulking man in front of her to shreds. That was pretty much a no-no for a police officer, so I had to talk her down.

‘Sidnee!’ I yelled, hoping to break her concentration as she struggled to free herself from Gunnar. Her head whipped around but her eyes remained full midnight. She snarled at me and gnashed her shark teeth. She was a heartbeat from fully transforming, and at that point the situation would go from bad to totally-fucked-up.

‘Bunny, do something, I can’t hold her!’ Gunnar bellowed, panic written large across his face.

I didn’t have time to talk Sidnee down, didn’t have time to entreat my bestie: she needed a shock. I drew back an arm and slapped her across the face with all of my considerable vampire strength.

Her head snapped to the side. When she looked at me, she blinked then her eyes returned to their usual warm brown. ‘Ow,’ she muttered. ‘What the actual fuck, Bunny?’

‘Sorry, Sidnee,’ I apologised. ‘I’m so sorry, but I needed to stop you from transforming.’

She looked around, suddenly seeming to take in the situation, and her shoulders slumped. ‘Oh shit,’ she muttered under her breath.

I turned to face the men. The mayor hadn’t released his charge so I asked calmly, ‘What’s going on here?’

The man in Mafu’s grip lunged forward and I saw that his eyes were also mer black. I took a step backwards out of reach and studied him. No, I didn’t recognise him.

I stared at the mayor. If the guy he was restraining was mer like Sidnee, I couldn’t believe the strength it must be taking to hold him in place. Gunnar had been visibly struggling with Sidnee, but the mayor made controlling this chap look effortless.

Mafu was a big, bulky man, rivalling Gunnar in size, but the man was almost his equal. His hair was dark, though in the harbour lights it had a blue-green tinge to it, and he was dressed in fishing gear like Mafu. They both looked like they’d just walked off a boat after a trip out.

The mayor shook his prisoner. ‘Stop it, you dumbass, or I’ll let her take you to jail.’ His tone was familiar and resigned; he obviously knew the man in his arms, though the edge to his voice said he didn’t especially like him.

‘Stop it,’ I echoed, ‘or I’ll bitch-slap you into next week, too.’

The man snarled at me but moments later his eyes went from full black to dark blue. He appeared to have far greater control over his shift than Sidnee, which made me wonder if he’d started the whole confrontation on purpose.

I studied him. I couldn’t quite place his heritage. Although his skin had a warm brown tone he didn’t appear to be Tongan like the mayor, and he didn’t look like any of the Alaskan natives or Pacific Islanders I’d met. More than likely he was all mer.

Sidnee had some problems with the siren group, especially the other merfolk. Since she was only half mer, they took offence at her parentage – or lack thereof.

‘Who is he?’ I asked Mafu.

He sighed. ‘This particular idiot has the dubious honour of being my son-in-law.’

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