Shark Bait (6 page)

* * * *

The rungs of the ladder felt cold and damp under her hands, and the vast cargo hold seemed empty without her jailor. Sophia’s eyes fell on his pile of cardboard and the chain that he’d pretended held him captive.

For the life of her, Sophia couldn’t understand why he didn’t just leave if he had the ability. Then again, she supposed all animals needed a position in the hierarchy, even if that spot was at the bottom.

She walked to where the low cabinet held her dry bag and reached inside. The rubber coating of the pouch fell like a cool comfort in her hands. Sophia ripped the zipper open and clutched her toiletry kit. Sweet mercy, she could wash with soap!

Her satellite phone filled her hand, heavy and reassuring. Sophia tried to click it on only to find the batteries completely dead. She’d have to recharge it soon. She reached for the door of the cabinet, and pale light from the porthole fell across an odd seam in the wood. She pressed at it and felt the edges. It appeared to be a secret compartment.

She’d heard that most sharks smuggled drugs and weapons for a living, but the space behind the trap couldn’t have held more than the smallest stash. Sophia thought of her jailor and his hidden existence. Curiosity overcame her, and she used the heel of her hairbrush to stab at the small door.

The rotten wood cracked, and the handle popped through to the hollow behind the door. She swept the brush end around, clearing the space of splinters, and reached inside.

The loaf of bread and hunk of cheese that would have fed her and the jug of water that had supplemented her daily rations stood at the front. Behind those lurked a brown leather wallet, a piece of coral, and a framed picture.

Feeling like a snoop, she opened the wallet. The clean-shaven face of her jailor scowled from the front of an E.U. driver’s license. The wallet also contained a large amount of cash. Setting it aside, she lifted the frame and saw a mere female with the long blond hair and green-blue eyes holding a very brown little boy. She couldn’t see the child’s face, as it was buried in the female’s neck, but a tiny tuft of white hair stood out amid the black.

The mermaid’s face stared straight at the camera, a little hard and very defiant. Looking closely, Sophia noticed the strength in the way the woman held the little boy, like she would fight for him against all comers and never let him go.

Sophia sniffed back the tears that threatened to fall and shoved the cache of the jailor’s belongings into her backpack. He might not get them back otherwise. Then she slipped the video camera into one of the dry-bag’s smaller compartments. The whole thing should probably get thrown in the ocean, but for some reason, Sophia needed to watch it, just once.

She turned to ascend the stairs, but feet began descending. Her former fiancé led the way, followed by a procession of shark-shifters. The dragons had wrapped their arms in lines of wire, so that if they struggled their limbs wouldn’t simply slice off, they’d be shredded.

“Pardon us, Miss Aleahar, we need to use the cage.”

The shark-shifter crew filled the hold, and Sophia struggled not to let fear and disgust overtake her as she rushed toward the ladder. Her shoulder brushed against her jailor’s, and their eyes met. His gaze said goodbye. She nodded toward the cabinet and then to her bag, trying to let him know she’d watch over his few possessions. His face hardened. He turned away, jostling with the other sharks to get in the enclosure.

Sophia scrambled up the rungs and onto the deck. Tears stung her eyes. It was silly to think that she shared something with the shark. After being rejected by so many suitors, she must be really desperate for a male to like her! Of course
he’d
been attracted to her. He probably hadn’t even seen a female in years.

She escaped the freezing air of the deck through a sliding door that led into the upper level of the ship. Kai had told her that she could have the captain’s quarters, so Sophia walked the narrow passageway to the ship’s bow, looking for the largest berth. To her right, a double set of sliding doors opened into huge bedroom with an attached head. Dirty clothes littered the floor, stinking of sharkshifters. Ugh, she hoped Kai would allow her to swim back rather than accompanying the ship.

She pinched each piece of clothing between two fingers and piled them to the side of the room, trying to open up a cove of personal space. Oddly, Sophia almost missed her cage. At least that had felt like hers.

The tiny head wasn’t much better. Bits of hair encrusted in shaving cream speckled the sink. She snatched a damp hand towel and wiped all the surfaces then tossed the towel atop the pile of clothes that she hoped Kai would let her burn.

She pulled her dress over her head and started the shower. The water spewed in a cold torrent and she hesitated, letting it warm. Glancing down, she spotted a streak of dried blood against the inside of her leg. She touched it, then moved her hand deeper, into her folds, probing to see if more blood pooled there. Once on a family vacation to Spain, her human reproductive organs had menstruated, but that didn’t seem to be the situation now.

Her mind scanned the events that had occurred in the hold. Nothing that happened should have caused her to bleed. She rubbed her finger against the blood and brought it to her nose. It smelled like the jailor. Why would he have put his blood on her? Unless…yes, it would make sense that if they had engaged in intercourse she would have bled.

Her lips curled into a smile as she ducked under the hot water. She groaned at the sluice of warmth against her skin. It was really a small thing that he had bled for her. A tiny gesture for one as used to pain and injury as he was. As she scrubbed the mark from her thigh, her grin widened at the thought that he’d intended to finish.

Rhoaver scanned the Twitter feed on his sat phone as he lay in bed. Midday light speared between the drawn shades of his quarters on his yacht. Shouts and rap music already permeated from the upper deck. He scrolled down the screen, clicking on the occasional link.

Damn @KrabiShark retweeting every last thing!
He swept his thumb to block the fuck.
Several of the contacts he followed were discussing #articsharkcapture. A couple of dragons and a boatload of mere had stormed the shark vessel
Cape Fear
up around Russia. His eyes scanned the mini-posts. Same old, same old. He was about to zip onto his Facebook account when he saw a tweet from @allsharkrumors: #capefear has #merehybrid on board. http://bit.ly/AgTjqy.
Well, fuck, he might just have to point his ship north.

* * * *

A small air conditioner battled the sweltering heat from its perch on David’s windowsill. His drawn shades blocked the bright sun that over-exposed the Dendric Staff walking back and forth from the labs and offices. He sat on his bed, laptop open, cursing Panamanian internet providers. The first of three message appeared in bold—his mother. He groaned. The next two were sure to be his daily digests from Genetics Today and the epigeneticists.yahoogroups.com. He wished one of his few friends had written. It would be nice to hear from someone sane.

David, it’s your mother.
Her thick New Jersey accent carried even into her email.
Your father and I are very proud of you and your new job, but we’d like to hear from you some time. When are you going to call? I tried to set up that Skype thing but couldn’t figure it out. I convinced your father to stop being such a cheapskate and add long distance. So call.

By the way, remember that nice girl from Stanford who lives in the apartment downstairs? She asked about you again today. Love, Mom
He rolled his eyes at her not so subtle hint. He didn’t mind his mother’s meddling. He’d grown up with it. What bothered him more was the reminder that his parents still thought he was straight. It didn’t bother him but had ended the only real relationship he’d ever had.
He scanned the following two emails, which as expected were scientific in nature. His eyes ran down a new article on histone acetylation, but the information refused to register. The events of the past few days eclipsed any scientific understanding he could glean from reading journals.
Clicking the laptop closed, he threw his shirt over his head and wandered to the bathroom to brush his hair and teeth. He peered in the mirror and tried to tame his mop of reddish-brown hair, and then added toothpaste to his Sonicare. His other hand reached for his contact lens case.
Shit, he was
not
considering wearing contact lenses for that merman. He refused to shift from an almost-world-renownedresearcher to a lecherous evil scientist!
He positioned his glasses back on his nose and spat in the sink, staying the hand that yearned to style his hair.
Co-workers waved in greeting as he walked down the humid sidewalk that connected the dormitories to the lab. So weird that none of these people seemed bothered by what went on here. David supposed that if given long enough, a person could get used to anything.
He sighed in relief when he entered the stronger air conditioning of the main building. His white dress shirt clung to his shoulders. He lifted the material away from his skin, trying not to be self-conscious about how he’d started doing push ups and sit ups again since he’d arrived. His computer screen beckoned, but the call of the tanks was stronger. He’d peek in once and then get to work.
When he opened the rubber screen, he saw two thick-set lab assistants in dark clothing struggling with the merman. “Hank” fought in front of his tank, on human legs, bleeding from several large cuts and gloriously naked. David swallowed heavily, trying to tear his eyes away from how that torso sank into slim hips and the thick hard-on jutting from between blond curls.
He blinked, trying to slow his heart, and then heard a resounding smack as one of the lab assistants backhanded the mere. The male’s pale body twitched at the impact, but he raised his hand to strike back when the Dendric employee pressed a gun to his thigh. “Do eet Hank, and I weell take your leg off. Djou don’t need feet for how Freidson uses djou.”
The merman held his fist aloft, his clenching jaw showing how torn he was about the decision.
“I’ll take him.” David walked forward and snatched the merman’s arm, pulling him away from the two lab hands. He had no idea what the merman was in store for, but…well, he just couldn’t let him go through whatever it was alone.
“We already tried heem with the sharks, but we need to get a sample for artifeecial inseminasion.” His heavy Spanish accent gave him away as a local.
“I’ll do it. You guys take a break. I’m sure you’re long overdue.” He tried to look sympathetic to the workers. “What room?”
“Three. Everytheeng’s set.”
The merman glared mutinously, but when David pulled him toward the smaller room, he didn’t resist. David swung open the door to the tiny, windowless cell and dragged him inside.
The door shut and the sudden quiet made David feel as naked as the subject.
The merman scoffed. “Told you I was studding today.”
David heard the shake in his sarcastic laugh. His eyes fell on the anal probe poised on the countertop. Disgust, at himself, at the company, roiled in his gut. He couldn’t do this. Still not looking at the other male, he grabbed the lab requisition form and a collection cup and reached to undo his belt.
“What the hell are you doing?”
David turned to meet aqua-blue eyes, his trouser button undone. “I’m going to give the sample for you. Um, turn around.” Heat crawled up his face from under his collar. Shit, the mere was just…breathtaking. Five foot ten or so, broad shouldered. Carved like a young god.
David expected him to act relieved, but instead the merman raised a blond eyebrow. “You’re going to ejaculate five times in a row, human? That I have to see.”
He gulped. “That’s not…I mean, you can’t…”
“Yes, human, I can.” The merman grabbed the cup from David’s hand. Their fingers brushed, sending a jolt of sensation up his arm. He watched, spellbound, as the merman grasped the base of his generous cock and began stroking. “And given how much Viagra those assholes pumped into me, I might as well.”
The merman’s lips clenched, the only sign of his discomfort at being watched. David’s chest ached for his humiliation. “Um. I’m sorry they did that…I mean, that they do that.” He tried to direct his eyes away from that muscular arm pumping up and down and the fluid gathering at the uncircumcised tip, and they fell on the electrocution device the scientists normally used to get semen from the subject. The wave of guilt that tackled him only added to the macabre nature of the situation.
The merman said, “Look at me.”
David did as he was asked. The merman’s eyes weren’t hard and manipulative, which was what he’d expected. Instead they asked for something—understanding perhaps, or maybe a blowjob. The expression drew David forward. His own erection pulsed in his dress pants. His body simmered with life, but to undress seemed wrong, disrespectful maybe.
He stood a couple feet from the subject, so close he’d only need to lean forward to take that shapely mouth with his own. The merman’s eyes kept shifting from defiant to unsure and back again, and if David took advantage of his incredibly compromised position, he really would be a lecherous prick.
Still holding the merman’s gaze, he lowered himself slowly to his knees. That beautiful cock approached, clasped in the circle of pale fingers, and David opened his mouth. He felt the subject hesitate.
“I’m Nereus, by the way.” The voice was husky, strangled, and made David’s cock nearly jump out of his pants.
He nodded, eyes still on the glistening head poised before his lips. Then the merman leaned forward, widening David’s mouth with his tip. Nereus’s hand fell into his hair, pet his face, lifted his glasses from his nose and ears. Then the merman’s hand grasped a handful of David’s hair.
Oh damn, he loved this part. He moaned in abandon as Nereus slowly fed the cock down his throat.

* * * *

“Hey, Soph!” Sophia smiled as her best friend’s face appeared on Kai’s computer screen and started chatting with her via Skype. “Oh my God! I can’t believe what happened! Are you okay? We were all so worried!”

Sophia bit her lip. “Is that why my mom and dad didn’t even pay the ransom?”