"Liri!" Jonas crawled over and knelt next to her on the ground. "It's ok, I'm ok."
"What's happening to me?"
"It was Moonlight. I don't know how she did it, but she changed you into a vampire."
"A vampire?"
"Yeah, sorry. It totally sucks."
"Sucks?"
"What? Yeah, oh man. What are we going to do?"
Jonas sat next to Liriope and tried to think of the most logical thing to do. Call his parents, was all he could come up with. So that was his plan.
"Mistress!" Liriope squealed, got up and ran to the Wren. She tried to rouse Aoide who had been left ashore. With her amulet broken, she lay lifeless, her tail dried out from the sun. "Help me, Jonas, she's dying!"
Jonas ran over and helped Liri grab hold of Aoide and drag her towards the ocean. They smashed up against the small waves and the white of the sea enveloped the Wren's hair and tail. They lay her down gently by the shore and let the small waves break over her. The swash ran over her face and head, and her gills sucked frantically for oxygen. She finally stirred, regaining consciousness.
"Mistress!" Liriope was hunched over her, holding her head in her hands. When Aoide came to, she hissed at the sight of Liri, red-eyed and bloody, and instantly used her voice again to lull them both to her will. It worked on Jonas, but not on Liriope. It must have been her new vampiric powers, but she was able to resist the compulsion.
"Mistress, please let him go. It was the witch who took my magic and made me into this creature. Jonas tried to help, but she fled to the sea and did not resurface. I think she may be going to our home to kill the king."
"Liriope?" Aoide seemed to still be coming to her senses. "What have they done to you?"
"It was the witch, Mistress, she stole my magic and turned me into a vamper."
"Vampire." Jonas corrected which earned him a hiss from the Wren. He snapped his mouth closed and sealed it with his fingers. He was not totally immobilized, though he had tried to move away and found he couldn't.
"A vampire, that's right. I bit Jonas on the neck and sucked out his blood. It was awful! But, I am really trying not to think about it, because when I do, it makes me want to do it again." Liri wailed and moved away from Jonas and to the other side of Aoide.
Having enough oxygen in her system, Aoide was able to sit up in the water. "Vampires. Yes, I've heard of them. Abominations who live off blood and fear sunlight."
"Sunlight?" Liri was confused. "Why would I fear sunlight?"
"I don't think you're a regular vampire, I think Moonlight made you into something different," Jonas said. "You've been in the sun this whole time and have not burnt to a crisp. That's got to be a good sign."
"Don't talk to me, Jonas. I can't even look at you without wanting to bite you."
"No!" Aoide commanded. "You will not succumb to such sorcery. You are a Wren, Liriope, I will make sure you are returned to your former self."
"But the King," Liri said. "The King and his Queen are a lie, aren't they mistress? I mean, Jonas wouldn't really survive the trip to our home, would he? All those hosts you've brought the Queen for transmutation, they were already dead, weren't they?"
"Liriope, you have to understand it was for our survival. It was the only way the Nereids were to survive. We need humans in order to live."
Liriope began to cry. She knew she didn't want to hurt Jonas, and she was struggling now to keep from sucking his blood. She didn't want to be a vampire, but she didn't want to go back to being a Wren. "There has to be a way."
"There is no other way. Scylla creates us from a symbiosis with a human host. Without hosts, and without her, we die out. Without the King, we all die. He, above all, must be protected."
"But the witch! She dove under the water and never resurfaced. I think she went to kill the King."
"How would she even know about the King, or where we reside?"
"Mistress, she is powerful. She did something to me before changing me. She looked inside me. She saw my memories. She was mad about Jonas. She helped him when we were here to kill him."
"Oh, man." Jonas finally piped up. "You think she turned herself into a mermaid and is off to start a fight with a King?" Jonas shook his head but smiled. "I can totally see her doing that. She is definitely crazy."
"She is brave," Aoide said, nodding. "But I am braver."
"No, Mistress!"
"I must. Who will save us, you and this human? I don't even feel the curse on him any longer. Scylla may not even be able to use him now." She looked Jonas up and down and nodded again. "You must watch her until I return. Look after her. Feed her."
"Ok sure, I was going to..." Jonas tried to explain that he had every intention of making sure Liri was taken care of.
"No, Mistress, I can't. Don't leave me alone with him, I'm afraid of what I might do."
"Here." Aoide held up her arm to Liriope's face. "Feed from me. Our blood is special, you'll only need a little. Other vampires of old often tried to capture those of our kind. Our blood is linked to the Gods, it will fuel you for some time. Long enough for the both of you to figure out where your next meal will come from." Liriope looked like she may throw up when Aoide offered her arm again. "Drink, you hideous child."
Liriope frowned and whipped away her tears. She grabbed hold of her Mistress and sunk her new fangs into her forearm. She sucked instinctively and drank several large gulps of mermaid blood. It tasted like nothing she ever experienced. It was sweet like oysters or dolphinfish and it quenched a thirst inside Liriope while igniting her senses and vampiric powers to the max. She pulled away breathlessly, like she had just run a marathon.
"That should do it," Aoide concluded. "Now take her someplace safe. Stay hidden."
"No problem," Jonas said. "I can take her home."
"Home?"
"My home. San Francisco. Is that ok? The ocean is right there."
"That will suffice. Go now. I must get to the King before the witch finds him."
Liriope was still trying to control all the new urges she felt inside herself. She no longer wanted to eat Jonas, but her heart was racing and she felt like she could hear people talking in the distance.
"Liriope, take heed. Be safe. I will return for you."
"Yes, Mistress."
Aoide pulled herself deeper into the ocean until she was fully submerged. Then she dove once more out and back into the water and was gone.