Page 44 of Demon's Prey
But she soon started shivering, more likely from shock than feeling cold. He rubbed her back but knew they had to get out of the water.
“Here,” Kurse said, pointing to his back. “Climb up. We need to get you home.”
Faith nodded, climbing on top of him without a word of protest. Kruse ached for her, knowing that she had been drained from fear, almost drowning, and probably dehydration. He wanted to make everything okay for her before he was finally able to profess his love.
They swam toward her parents' yacht and were almost there when Kurse felt something pulling at his feet. He looked down as he swam and noticed a dark shadow hovering beneath him with a glossy glow. Kurse sighed and lifted Faith over his head.
“What are you doing?” She screamed.
“There’s a shark following me. I need to get rid of it. Go, get on that boat. I will meet you there!”
Before she had time to say anything, Kurse threw her across the waves, landing almost ten feet away from him. That was perfect for Kurse, as he didn’t want to have her get in the way of his assault on this mammoth creature.
Kurse sank below the water and noticed how giant his opponent was. Almost eight feet in length, silver, sharp, with eyes as black as a dolls. It had noticed him and swam toward him, not out of interest, but with intent to kill. Kurse was ready for anything then.
He fired his fist into the shark’s face, connecting with its nose. The shark was only moderately deterred by this. It whipped back around and lunged into Kurse’s neck, its blunt teeth digging deep into his scales.
Kurse screamed underwater. Bubbles formed around his face and blocked out his vision of the shark. It used this to its advantage and began shaking Kurse back and forth, loosening his scales and shooting pain deep into his body.
Kurse managed to pry him away from his body with a few punches and a forced tearing from his body. The shark swam away, quickly regaining its strength.
Kurse swam back to the surface and breathed in hard. He would have no chance swimming away from this monstrosity. He went back underwater and watched as the shark ripped through the water like an arrow through air.
That time, it landed its grip on his gut. It sent him backward, and he bellowed in agony. The strength of its jaw was unlike anything he had ever experienced back home. He tried to pry it open, but it was really no use.
The shark was using his skin like wallpaper, ripping it off easily as he shook his head back and forth. Kurse gripped onto the monster's head, attempting to push his fingers into its skin, but it did not budge. His nails slipped off like a butter knife trying to cut ice.
Kurse could feel himself being pulled deeper and deeper into the ocean. He could definitely hold his breath for a while, but he couldn’t hold it forever. He wondered as the shark clung to him if this was how he was going to die. No epic battle, just a simple, boring drowning.
He saw Faith in his mind as the sunlight dimmed and shrunk in front of his eyes.
24
FAITH
Faith swam like her life depended on it because she knew that it did. Her body was heavy from exhaustion, but she knew that she was going to have all of the time in the world to relax once she was able to get out of the water. She arrived at the ladder and noticed the name of the yacht inscribed on the side:
Faith
She frowned, climbing the ladder. Was that her parents' yacht? How the hell did Kurse manage to find it? And there is no way her father gave it away cleanly.
Faith climbed the ladder and collapsed on the deck. She laid there for a long time, trying to find her breath and come back into the present moment. As she closed her eyes, she felt someone towering over her. She opened them to see a silhouette of Kurse, and he was holding something in his mouth.
“Kurse!” Faith stood up and went to embrace him. He, however, pushed her away softly, then went to one knee.
Faith was so exhausted, she thought that she might be having a fever dream. Kurse was soaking wet, with streams of blood pooling at his feet. He had a large section of scales ripped off from his stomach, where the blood had been falling from. But it was what was in his mouth that shocked her the most.
It was the head of a great white shark, torn like a cork from its body. Kurse held it in his teeth by a loose ligament, the stale face of death staring deep into Faith’s eyes. She shuddered and stepped away from him.
“Kurse! What the fuck is that?”
“It’s the head of my enemy, my love,” he said through gritted teeth. He tried to reach for her hand when she pulled away and pointed at the severed head.
“Please put that down first. I’m very proud of you, but it's giving me the creeps.”
“Oh,” Kurse said, then spat the head onto the dock. It thumped like a greasy piece of meat. Kurse chuckled, then reached for her hand again. This time she held it there and looked into his large yellow eyes.
She thought there were tears in them.
