83: Weak

There was something so peaceful about the colour blue. This was especially true for the brilliant blue I found myself surrounded in. It shimmered and glistened and seemed to pull me in, drowning me in its tranquillity. I couldn’t keep track of how long we’d been swimming for, but by the lightness in my head, and my newfound appreciation for this water, I could tell it had been quite a long time. We’d been successful in finding one breathing gem so far, but it was no surprise when neither Liam, Xavier nor I chose to use it. I was still of the opinion that my immortality would save me from this deadly sense of tranquillity all around me. Liam and Xavier, however, had an entirely different reason for not using the gem. I assumed it was because they couldn’t bear the guilt of taking it, of depriving the other from a chance to live. Although I could understand their reasons for refusing to use the gem, I couldn’t shake the feeling that perhaps one of them should have used it.
“Up ahead… be careful!” David said as he pointed a finger to the shimmering body of a mermaid up ahead. She saw us as soon as we saw her, and immediately bared her fangs. But we soon discovered that she was not alone, and slowly, we began to realise why.
Hidden in the centre of a circle of viscous mermaids was a bright blue portal in the ground. This was it. The way out, and we could not have reached it any sooner, because as I gazed towards Liam and Xavier, I could tell that they were holding on to literal threads of air in their lungs, and so was I. We wouldn’t last much longer.
The mermaids began to circle around the portal faster and faster until they were moving so quickly, they began to form a giant whirlpool and immediately, all four of us lost our balance and began to get sucked in. Water rushed past me, spinning me around and around and around. The motion of it had begun to make me nauseous, and the lack of air in my lungs was not at all helpful.
Suddenly, I felt a pair of hands on my shoulders. I let out a frightened shriek and turned around, only to be met by Xavier who looked just about ready to pass out. He pulled me closer towards him so that our bodies were now swirling around in this rapidly moving water, together. Slowly he reached into a compartment in his swimsuit, and he held tightly onto the gem in his hand as he pushed it towards me. As much as I hated to admit it, the soft blue glow of that breathing gem appealed to me more than I would have wanted it to, especially after that wasted breath on my earlier shriek. I could practically feel the back of my throat ache and my lungs burning. The want for air was as deep and as ravenous as my bloodlust was half of the time. And as such, it took every ounce of willpower to shake my head at him and push his hand away.
Xavier blinked a few times at me, astonished, and then his brows furrowed, and he forcefully pushed it to me again. But as he held out his hand, the gem that was once there vanished as a shimmering glow of blue passed us by.
She was beautiful with pale blue hair which flowed softly in the water while we spun around and around, but it almost seemed as though the force of the swirling water had no effect on her. She smiled, exposing her sharp, yellowed teeth and then lifted the gem to her lips. I felt a surge of urgency pulse through me. That gem was our last chance a buying us some extra time, and this mermaid was just going to eat it. And so with all of the left over strength I could muster up, I bolted towards her, fighting against the rapid water which threatened to pull me backwards, to let me float around again into nothingness. A part of me knew that I didn’t have the strength to do this, but still, I kept pushing, because when I looked to my side, there I saw Xavier being joined by Liam and David. Liam immediately grabbed hold of Xavier and pulled him against his chest before placing a kiss on his lips. But it was more than just a kiss. As his lips moved against Xavier’s I saw a shimmer of blue. Liam had found another breathing gem and given Xavier a breathing gem. He sacrificed his ability to breathe all for Xavier. And now, I had to do the same for Liam.
She was fast, but I was determined, and so when I grabbed a hold of her, I held onto her as tightly as I could. She thrashed in my grasp and even managed to bite into my arm at one point. I bit hard into my lip as I tried my best not to let out another shriek. Carefully I reached for her hand and, after what seemed to be ages of wrestling and struggling, I finally managed to pry her fingers off of the blue gem. And once I did, I tried to shrug her off of me. But she was so strong, and my air supply was on the verge of depleting. She grabbed onto the collar of my swimsuit and made an awful, ear-deafening screech in my face. She was clearly not happy that I’d taken the gem she’d taken from me.
She opened her mouth wide, ready to devour me. But I didn’t flinch, not once. She couldn’t kill me, and I knew that. And as for the pain I knew she would inflict, pain and I were old friends, good friends.
But strangely enough, it seemed that my reaction was not the one she was looking for and her ravenous expression turned into one of confusion… until her eyes flickered to over my shoulder. I craned my head to see what had caught her interest, but was mortified to find Xavier, Liam and David closing in on us. That, was the reaction the mermaid wanted- *fear*- and I was trembling.
The next few moments seemed to unfold in slow motion. It began with her grip on me tightening, and then, she flung my body downward and to the right with such a force that I began crashing through the whirlpool. As I did, I lost my grip on the gem and it when flying from my hands, but that was the least of my problems. The mermaid had now decided to race towards Liam, Xavier and David, who’d in turn begun racing after me with a trail of mermaids behind them as well. I reached out and shrieked again, trying to warn them. But the second I tried uttering something, a deep blue glow began to form all around me. I tried to turn, but couldn’t fight the downward motion I was in. All I could do was watch as she dove into Liam, the only one of the three who hadn’t gotten a gem. And it was then that it all began to make sense. These mermaids right here, they were working for Meera. That was the only explanation. Otherwise, she would have eaten me. Instead, she just wanted my reaction… she wanted my fear, and now she had it. It coursed through my every vein and the more I screeched and fought against the portal which now sucked me in, the more air I wasted. But it wasn’t the fear or the lack of air which made this whole thing unbearable. It was the fact that right now, there was nothing I could do to save them. I entered this game not only to win, but to protect the men I loved, and right now, I was failing miserably. The last thing I saw as the portal dragged me inside was the open mouth of the mermaid and that devious look in her eyes as she prepared to bite into Liam. Mermaids closed in on the three vampires, and I felt my heart sink in my chest and my throat close up. I had no more fight left in me, and the black dots clouding my vision grew larger and larger until all I saw was black, and all I heard was nothing.
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Hello everyone!!! I bring with me an update! Yes, I am beginning to update again, but updates will still be quite slow. Thank you for sticking with me and for all of your wonderful, supportive comments!💕😊
Stay safe! Stay healthy! Sending my love!