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Danny readjusts the rope into a bigger loop, ignoring the stinging on his bleeding ankle. He used his 10 years worth of research on cowboys in movies like, 'the ridiculous 6,' and video games to throw the rope towards the edge of the boat. It was slowly floating farther away and was just out of reach.

Danny cursed in fear when the rope landed in the water a couple feet away from the edge of their only salvation. He looked down at his feet and wanted to scream in frustration when he found that he was only just inside the comfort zone away from the edge of their little island.

He didn't have time to contemplate anything, the boat was not going to wait for him to stop being afraid. He drew the rope back in and nervously took a couple steps closer to the edge of the island, looking around as he did so for any sign of the mermaids.

"Come on, come on!" He expertly threw the rope at the boat again but missed it by mere inches. "Fuck!" He couldn't get any closer without stepping into the water.

He needed to get that boat back before it was too late.

He breathed and prayed to whatever higher power was out there that he would be okay. He looked around himself once more and tentatively stepped down into the water leaking onto the island, the tide coming in an unforgiving pace.

He only had the balls to step down ankle deep, but he pulled the rope back in and threw it once more. He wanted to cry when the rope barely missed it's target, latching on only to fall off back into the water with a splash.

"No."

...

Glowing green eyes stared up from the yard down under the surface, waiting, and observing.

The boy doesn't react to the siren's singing, huh? Phantom thought curiously as he sat on his little rock, looking up at the foolish boy who freed him. He smirked evilly as he watched the human pointlessly throw the rope towards the boat floating hopelessly out of reach.

He looked delicious.

Phantom was the only male in the cove and by far the most powerful. Every mermaid had one special power, but he had multiple powers. Unlike all the mermaids who had a fire core, Phantom an ice core, so he could live in extremely cold temperatures, but it was detrimental to his health that he never gets too hot. It was the opposite for the females in this cove.

The only one in the entire cove and the only one Phantom had ever heard of, that wasn't able to sing like a hypnotic siren, was Ember. The blue haired, black tattoo decorated mermaid, with a black tail and blue fins.

Poor thing. She was considered the handicapped because the only thing she had going for her to hunt was her beauty. It was much harder for her to get her prey when she couldn't hypnotize them into walking right into their deaths.

Right now the mermaids were in the cave, resting after being injured by the humans strange gun. They knew the tide would come in and the humans would be without the safety of land, so they were waiting patiently.

Phantom watched in amusement when the human had the gull to step foot into the water. The smell of the human's blood hit his nose, and he knew his eyes flashed red briefly. The kid's ankle was bleeding and the human didn't even seem to notice that he was practically baiting merpeople to come after him. The human so ignorantly made himself an easy catch when there was a merman sitting right beneath his nose just out of sight, but definitely not out of reach. If Phantom wanted to, he could reach out a clawed hand and drag the unsuspecting boy down before he could even know what was happening.

"Awe that's cute, he thinks he can get out of this alive." Phantom thought, wondering if he should just grab him and drag him down; he sure was hungry and the human looked and smelled so good.

But Phantom was willing to give the human a sporting chance, a small thank you for freeing him. He would allow him to pathetically try to fight for his life, and avoid his impending doom. Phantom watched, smiling when the boy's rope fell into the water, "Oh he almost had it that time," the poor thing was trying so hard.

A few seconds passed after the rope was dragged back in, and Phantom wondered if the human had given up.

How anticlimactic.

But he was happily surprised when the human stupidly stepped further into the water, his desperation to survive bringing him in almost knee deep. Much closer to the merman sitting just short of a foot away from him. Phantom smirked ear to ear, adoring the kid's effort and wanting to cry out in laughter.

This kid was either very brave or very stupid.

Either way, Phantom liked him.

Phantom clapped his hands under water when the rope latched snuggly around the front of the boat, the sound of cheering above the surface making him giggle.

He wanted to play with the human a little.

So as the human was dragging the boat back, he reached out a webbed hand and grabbed his bleeding ankle.

The reaction was immediate, and Phantom released his ankle to watch with a satisfied smirk as the kid scrambled to get out of the water, making a scared noise that sounded between a whimper and a scream. He couldn't wait to see his reaction when he tore into his flesh to feed off his warm alive body.

Later though.

Danny dropped the rope in his panic, and the human made a mad dive to try and grab it before it fell out of reach beneath the water. That's when Phantom decided to pop his head out of the water inches from the humans scared blue eyes. Drops of cold water splashed up at Danny, enough to soak into his hair and make his clothes more than a little wet.

Danny could see the evil in those bright glowing green eyes, wet white hair fell to frame a pale scaled face of a smirking merman. It was the same merman he had caught, and let go. The same beautiful creature he had shown mercy to just half an hour ago, inches away from him.

He completely forgot about the rope, crawling back away from the creature and out of the water faster then he could even blink. It could have just grabbed him right there, and Danny would have been done for. It could have dragged him down when it grabbed his ankle, but it didn't. Was it playing with him? Was this some sort of game to it? The evil smirk was looking more and more playful the longer he stared at it.

Danny looked around for the gun, but he made the mistake of taking his eyes off the merman, and when he looked back to aim and fire, it was gone from sight.

"Shit." Danny had never cursed so much in 1 hour in his life.

He looked around him, standing up on shaking feet, and aimed the gun wherever his eyes landed. He would fire at anything that moved, any sign of life other than his father he would shoot. He didn't care what it was. His heart was beating out of his chest, and his legs felt like they would give out any minute now. He lost the rope to drag the boat back, and it was still too far away to grab. That was his only hope and he blew it, now he and his father were literally sunk. Even if the merman didn't do anything now, the tide would come in within the hour and this island would be below the surface.

He panted as he sank to his knees, pure panic invading every sense that he had.

And that's when the singing started.

His eyes widened as the sound came softly from behind him. More beautiful than any noise he'd heard in his life, not even the harmony of the siren's earlier compared. His heart beat harder, and his ears tingled as his grip on the gun loosened. He turned around slowly to stare at the white-haired merman as it slowly came closer.

Or was Danny walking closer?

It didn't matter, the only thing that mattered was that the distance between them was shortening and Danny was dropping the gun as his legs moved without permission. He got down on his hands and knees and crawled to meet the advancing creature at the edge of the island. As soon as Danny got close enough, he felt webbed hands grab either side of his face and pull him closer. The merman's singing was slurred and lazy, but it only made his rhythm sound like a sweet lullaby, and it had Danny falling into the deep pits of unfamiliarity as the creatures face got closer.

When salty wet lips met his, Danny was only half aware of his father screaming out behind him as he was dragged into the water.

...

A hand was running through the strands of his hair, and slowly Danny opened his eyes. Blue pools of crystal looked around, it was dark, but he could tell he was surrounded by jagged rock walls.

He briefly panicked when he realized he was underwater until he found that he could breathe normally.

How though?

There was a soft hue of glowing white light shining from behind him, and Danny's brain finally registered that his hair was being touched by something alive.

He immediately started to struggle, able to squirm out of scaled arms and swim away just enough to turn and look at the creature behind him. He was once again greeted by the halfa he had freed, and the glowing green eyes could be seen shining even threw the sea water between them.

He soon realized that his left leg was tied down by a large metal chain, keeping him from being able to swim too far.

How long was he out? He looked around for his father, afraid to find only pieces that the mermaids left behind after devouring him, but he didn't see any sign of the man. Where was he then? Was he still on the island? Was the island even still there anymore? Why was he still alive?

The merman got up from his spot sitting on a rock and swam up to align their faces inches apart. He reached up a taloned hand and brushed the hair away from Danny's face, the water flapping it around as if it was made of feathers.

Danny tried to move away, but with the lack of leverage underwater, and the chain keeping his ankle hostage, he wasn't able to gain an inch of distance.

"Food." The voice entered Danny's mind without permission or warning, and it had blue eyes widening in shock. That was the only thing the voice said, nothing else. Danny still didn't know why he was here, or how long he was going to stay, or if he was going to get out of this alive. Would the merman keep him here until he rotted? Or was he just letting his human body tenderize under the salt water of the sea so he could devour him later?

Danny looked down at himself and blushed, he appeared to be naked. His body was bare and barely illuminated by the glow of light the merman emitted, but Danny could see that he was now dressed in old looking jewelry. The white gold was slightly blackened with age and probably from being underwater for years. The black pearls dressed around his neck, arms, and waist complimented the blue gems that sparkled against the natural light the merman had.

What was this? Why go through the effort? Why waste the time if he was just going to eat him?

That wasn't his main concern though, what he worried most about was where his father was. Was he still unconscious? Was he still lying there on that rock? Was he looking for him? Was he even alive?

Danny needed to know, he looked in every direction, his breath coming in short, overworked pants. He was in some sort of cave, and he couldn't see the surface, let alone a way out, he had to be very deep underwater. A tear escaped his eye, feeling more hopeless than the did earlier on the island. He hated himself for not getting the boat back sooner, envious of his past self. He had been fully clothed, with a weapon in his hand, and a chance to get him and his father back safely and look at him now.

Bare.

Stripped of everything, but his self-misery. Left with nothing on him, but his fear.

If he wasn't already under water, he knew that he would be able to feel dozens of tears as they would drop from his face. He wouldn't even care if anyone saw him like that, week and pathetic. He couldn't imagine anyone who wouldn't cry given this situation.

His father was either dead or about to die very soon, and he was trapped who knows how deep below the surface of the ocean.

Seems like a good time to cry a little.

Phantom stared at the human with interest as it gathered the situation it was currently in. The concern he had over the fat human above them seemed to upset him a great deal, and the amount of panic could be seen clearly in the blue eyes of the human he held captive.

Phantom tilted his head, interested in the fact the human wasn't begging for his life like all the other humans he had played with before eating.

He couldn't stop smirking, aware that the human still wouldn't kill him even if given the chance, even after the torment and horror he and the rest of the mermaids put him through. Unlike all the others that had been consumed before him, he wasn't thinking about how he would kill Phantom and get away. Phantom was sure that even if he handed Danny the one thing that could kill him, the human wouldn't use it. It was simply not in this humans nature to kill.

How pathetic.

Phantom grabbed the kids face with one webbed hand, forcing the raven to look at him with those fearful eyes. His talons dug into the boy's cheeks painfully but didn't pierce the skin enough to draw blood. Phantom's smirk never left his face as he stared at Danny, reading his every thought.

Seeing that the boy was definitely scared, Phantom winked, purely just to mess with him, before biting into the meaty part of his right pectoral.

His eyes glowed a bright red as the human screamed as loud as he could under water. Phantom's teeth were razor sharp, sharper than any shark in the ocean, making it easy for him to tear off the chunk of meat from the human's body. Blood flowed into Phantom's mouth like melted dark chocolate, and it tasted more delicious then anyone he's ever consumed.

He could tell the human was scared terrified, and in a great amount of shock. Most of them were when phantom took his first bite, he liked doing it when they least expected it, loveing the emotion that poured into their flavor.

Phantom looked down at the bite mark he left, it was small and clean as always. He was never messy because it was always easier to clean off the bones when he wasn't a feral beast about eating. He was sure that even if he stopped eating the human with just this one bite, the raven-haired kid would live.

But, Phantom wasn't even close to being done.

Danny screamed like a lamb being eaten alive by a sadistic lion, feeling every one of Phantom's teeth as he took bite after drawn-out bite of his flesh. The pain was excruciating, and Danny started to wish that the merman would just get it over with instead of drawing out his suffering. The merman was savoring every ounce he took from Danny, not caring that the human was living through the extremely acute pain. He tried to push the merman away with his hands, but he must have been made of bricks because he didn't budge even a centimeter.

Did his father have to go through this? Was he already dead? Eaten alive like this by mermaids? What if they were all going at him all at once? What kind of agony would his father go through if he wasn't saved in time?

Phantom stopped eating and looked at Danny, the boy was doing everything he could to avoid eye contact, but Phantom forced it on him by grabbing his face again.

"He's alive for now." Danny heard the voice in his head, and the flicker of hope showed in his eyes as he stared at Phantom's glowing red ones.

The merman didn't know why he felt like obliging to Danny's whimpering thoughts of his father, perhaps he had a bit of a soft spot for the dying human. He was so delicious and his reaction to things was more than amusing. It didn't matter, the human would die soon anyway, let this be Phantom's last thank you for setting him free.

Danny wanted the merman to save his father, and Phantom knew it just by listening to his thoughts. The begging he heard from the human was not for his own life, but for the fat meal above the surface.

"No," he made sure his answer was clear in Danny's mind. He would not sacrifice a meal for the rest of the mermaids just for this human. The boy would be dead soon, and his father would be eaten, and neither of their lives would ever matter.

Every nerve, every muscle, every thought in the human's mind was screaming for his father's life, even as Phantom went back to slowly feeding, careful to avoid any of the major arteries. He didn't want him dying too quickly, he liked drawing his prey's death out as long as physically possible; the meat was always more tender when they were alive.

He smirked when the human pathetically attempted to shove him away again. That was okay; he liked it when they squirmed and fought. It made his meal a little more interesting.

That is until the human went for his eye.

Phantom hissed and swam back, grabbing at his slightly gouged eye socket. It healed back in seconds, and Phantom looked at Danny with burning red eyes, loving how the glare chilled the human right to the bone. The small victory that the human felt was quickly squashed down at the sight of the merman's angry eyes.

Never had he ever been given a reason to tie a humans hands back before, most of them didn't have the strength or brains to actually do anything other than try to shove him back.

Yet another reason for this one particular boy to be the most thrilling meal he'd ever consumed. If the human kept acting like this, he would almost be tempted to keep him alive so he could feast on him whenever he pleased.

Phantom licked his lips, knowing that the boy would run out of oxygen soon. This feeding had gone on a little longer then he thought it would, but he couldn't say he didn't enjoy it.

Cupping the humans protesting face again with both hands, and being a little less gentle than the first time he did this, Phantom kissed him deeply on the lips. He had to do this or the kid wouldn't be able to breathe underwater for much longer.

At first, he didn't think the human would struggle, but he realized too late what the human was planning to do.

Phantom leaned back and looked at the human with green, amused eyes. He licked at his bloody bottom lip and smiled as it healed almost instantly, wiping away the excess blood with a webbed finger.

"Too precious." Danny wished that the merman would stop invading his mind that way.

Phantom seemed to be finished for the time being, because after taunting him with a wave of goodbye, the merman left. Swimming up to some small hole at the top of the cave and leaving Danny there in the dark, hands tied and leg trapped, all alone.