Deadly Little Mermaids

By J.D. Rogers

Low Campbell, ex-cop, private detective, and mermaid, has been offered a job that she can't turn down. Titus Hawthorn, the city's oldest and most powerful vampire, wants Low to protect him from an even older and more powerful vampire, a man known simply as the Count. The Count gives Low forty-eight hours to find someone that's been around as long as he has, someone that can amuse him, otherwise he will kill Titus and another one of Low's friends, a mermaid named Savanna.
Not only does Low have to contend with the Count, who just happens to be the world's oldest vampire, she has to contend with a fireball throwing elf, cops that keep shooting her in the stomach, her human boyfriend's boss, who thinks that he should dump her, and her arch nemesis, a siren that wants to steal her treasure.

• Language: English
• Publisher: J.D. Rogers
• Release date: May 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370290062

J.D. Rogers

J.D. was born and raised in Montana. He studied history at Montana State University, before attending Hamline University School of Law in St. Paul, Minnesota. He returned to Montana where he set up his own practice. He started writing fiction to improve his writing skills as a lawyer, discovered he enjoyed it, and has never stopped writing. J.D. still makes his home in Montana.

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Deadly Little Mermaids

A Low Campbell Adventure

J. D. Rogers

***

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Text copyright © 2017 by J. D. Rogers

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, except for quotations in printed reviews, without the written permission of the author.

All characters are fictional. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Cover Photos Courtesy of Pixabay.com

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it to your favorite ebook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 1

Being someone's girlfriend isn't easy, especially when you're a mermaid. Mermaids are natural flirts, natural teases. When a guy flirts with us, our first reaction is to flirt back, maybe even tease him a little. It doesn't matter if the guy is handsome or not.

Being someone's girlfriend means you have to suppress those urges. When a guy flirts with you, you're not suppose to flirt back. You're supposed to be polite but aloof. That's why I was ignoring the guy at the next table, the one smiling at me.

I'm thirty years old, which isn't that old for a mermaid. Our average life span is between two to three hundred years. So you shouldn't be surprised when I tell you that I just got my first boyfriend. As such, I'm still learning the rules, still learning what a girlfriend should and shouldn't do. Sometimes I make mistakes, or fall into old habits, but tonight was important to John, so I was doing my best not to screw up.

John had been a friend with benefits, one of many to be perfectly honest, then he got engaged to a siren named Crystal. I would've called her an evil siren, but that seems redundant. As far as I'm concerned, all sirens are evil.

I should probably mention that sirens and mermaids are natural rivals, so I might be a bit biased. Although she did fire John after they broke up, and then give his name to a bogeyman, who kidnapped him and put a gun to his head. That seems pretty evil to me.

It wasn't until I rescued John from the bogeyman that he asked me if I wanted to be his girlfriend. Why did I agree? Like most mermaids, I'm naturally curious. I've always wondered what it would be like to be in love, what it would be like to have someone in love with me.

Most supernaturals aren't capable of loving someone else. We're driven by our baser instincts. Fear. Lust. Hunger. Greed. Compassion, empathy, love, are feelings we don't seem capable of experiencing. So it wasn't like I was going to fall in love with someone. To experience love, romantic love, I needed someone to fall in love with me. That's why I didn't want to screw up my relationship with John, and why I was on my best behavior.

Unfortunately, life, or God, or fate, or whatever you want to call it, likes to screw with me. This time that screwing came in the form of a supernatural I call Elvis vamp.

I was having dinner with John and a couple of his friends, a husband and wife named Mark and Rachel. Maybe friends isn't the right word. Mark was John's new boss. John holds a doctorate in marine biology and Mark was in charge of the marine biology department at one of the local colleges. The one that just hired John.

And no, Elvis Presley isn't a vampire. Elvis vamp is just some vamp that looks like a young Elvis, complete with the thick black hair and the matching sideburns. For all I know, he could've been an Elvis impersonator before he became a vampire, or he could've been turned into a vampire back in the fifties, when Elvis was a rising star.

I don't know what he did when he was human. Now that he's a vampire, he works as a bouncer at a club owned by an older, more powerful vampire named Titus Hawthorn. A club called O Positive.

Titus wants to see you, Elvis vamp said, stopping at our table. He was wearing his work clothes, black slacks and a black tee shirt with O Positive written across the front in red letters that dripped blood.

We were in a restaurant. An expensive restaurant. The kind of place that charges a lot of money and serves tiny portions on expensive plates. The kind of place I usually avoid. I didn't know how Elvis vamp managed to find me, nor did I care.

I'm a little busy, I said. Tell Titus I'll stop by tomorrow night.

I waved Elvis vamp away with my right hand, the hand with the emerald ring that I took from him. Won it in a bet to be precise. He bet me that I couldn't get by him. I bet him that I could. Then I froze the water inside his body, inside the blood coursing through his veins, inside the individual cells that made up his body. Doing that would've killed a human, even most supernaturals, but vamps aren't like most supernaturals.

You want to kill a vamp you got to boil the water inside their body. Of course, if I had killed Elvis vamp, I wouldn't be able to tease him by waving his ring under his nose. And truth be told, there are few things I enjoy more than teasing vampires.

Titus said that this is important.

That would explain the twelve text messages he sent me today.

Rachel leaned toward Mark, her eyes locked on Elvis vamp. I've never seen a man that pale.

He's a vampire, I said. She had been whispering, but like most supernaturals, I have very good hearing. Probably hasn't fed in awhile.

I prefer my blood fresh, not to mention body temperature, Elvis vamp said. Nothing worse than having to drink cold blood from a plastic bag.

Yeah, life is tough. I waved Elvis vamp away with the hand containing his ring. Tell Titus that I'll see him tomorrow.

I can't, Elvis vamp said. Titus told me not to return unless you were with me.

You know what this is about? Rachel asked John. She was still whispering, but I could still hear her, as could Elvis vamp.

Low is a private detective, John said. Humans and supernaturals hire her for all kinds of things.

Does Titus want to hire me? I asked Elvis vamp. Or does he think I owe him a favor?

He says you owe him a lot of favors.

I owed him one favor, and I paid him back. I gave him a wisp. The wisp was actually a professional assassin that had been hired to kill me. She was tall and thin, and looked like a model. She even sounded like a model, speaking in French.

He let the wisp go. Said she was too annoying.

I don't care what he did with her. I gave. He accepted. That means we're even.

Tell him that. All I know is I'm not suppose to return without you.

I decided to freeze Elvis vamp from the inside out. It would turn him into a statue for a good hour, which would give me time to finish my dinner. I nixed that idea when I looked at John and he shook his head, like he knew what I was thinking. Apparently, freezing the water inside a vampire's body was something a normal girlfriend didn't do. At least not when she was dining out with her boyfriend and his boss.

Looks like I'm going to have to take this meeting, I said, smiling at Mark and Rachel.

One of the disadvantages of being a private detective, John added. You never know when someone is going to need you.

Do you want us to wait for you? Mark asked, when I pushed my chair back and stood up.

I looked at Elvis vamp, to see what this was about.

Elvis vamp shrugged his shoulders. Don't look at me. I'm just the errand boy.

Better not, I said. These things can take awhile.

John stood, wrapped an arm around my waist, and kissed me. It was a long passionate kiss that involved tongue. Maybe too passionate for a public place, but then that was John, when he fell for a girl, he fell hard. That was one of the reasons I agreed to become his girlfriend. He didn't just fall hard, he tended to fall for the wrong girls. Like Crystal. The evil siren.

I probably wasn't the right girl either, but at least I was up front about it. I warned him when he got engaged to Crystal that supernaturals aren't capable of falling in love. And if one tells you that she loves you, she's lying. Myself included.

You two are such a cute couple, a grinning Rachel said.

We are, aren't we, I said, flashing a grin of my own. Was that something a girlfriend would say? It sounded like something a girlfriend would say. Never having been someone's girlfriend, I wasn't sure. I was playing it by ear.

Call me, John said, as he sat back down.

I nodded and turned my attention to Elvis vamp. Lead the way, King.

Elvis vamp wrinkled his brow, probably trying to figure out why I called him, King. He gave up and headed toward the exit. I fell in behind him.

***

O Positive occupied the top two floors of a steel and glass tower. Not only did Titus Hawthorn own the club. He owned the entire building. A glass elevator located on the outside of the tower led directly to the club.

A big human wearing the same outfit Elvis vamp wore guarded the elevator. He was the one that decided who got to go up and who didn't. He had a line of about two dozen people standing there, waiting, hoping to get into the club. We bypassed the line, pausing just long enough for him to call the elevator.

The club occupied two floors, three if you counted the mezzanine where Titus Hawthorn held court. The first floor contained a chrome dance floor. Red, blue, and green lights hanging overhead changed color at regular intervals.

The second floor was a balcony that circled the first floor. A chrome and smoked glass bar covered three of the four exterior walls. The fourth wall contained a chrome staircase leading to the first floor as well as Titus's little balcony. The interior of the second floor contained a chrome and smoked glass rail. Chrome and smoked glass tables rested against the rail, allowing customers to look down on the dance floor. Music with a driving beat pounded out of speakers hidden throughout the club.

We headed up to the mezzanine, where we found Titus. He was in his usual spot, sitting at a chrome and glass table, looking down upon his domain.

He looked just like you'd expect a guy named Titus Hawthorn to look, tall with broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and blond hair that just covered his ears. He appeared to be in his late twenties and wore a dark gray suit made out of a material that shined. His shirt was light gray and made out of silk. The top two buttons were open. He wore no tie.

The look was just that, a carefully cultivated look. Titus Hawthorn had been around a long time, hundreds of years, maybe thousands. In truth, I had no idea how old he was. Nor did I know where he came from, let alone what name his parents gave him when he was born. I was pretty sure that it wasn't Titus Hawthorn.

Before we came out of the closet, so to speak, it was standard practice for supernaturals to change their identity and move around, less people realize that they didn't age like normal humans.

I see you found her, Titus said, when Elvis vamp and I stepped onto mezzanine. Nice job.

What's up? I said.

Titus waved the fingers of his right hand in a brushing style. Elvis vamp bowed his head and headed down the stairs, leaving Titus and I alone, which in itself was unusual. Every other time I was there, Titus was feeding off the thigh of a leggy blond. Like Elvis vamp, he detested drinking cold blood out of a plastic bag. Unlike Elvis vamp, he had lots of money, which meant he didn't have to drink cold blood out of a plastic bag.

I moved to the seat across from Titus and sat, crossing my right leg over my left. I was wearing a conservative suit, black knee length skirt, white silk blouse, black suit jacket, black two inch heels. It was the first time I met John's new boss so I opted for a professional appearance. My hair was short and red, not human red, mermaid red. Human hair that's red is either brown-red or orange-red. Mermaid hair that's red is cherry red. I used to wear it long, but I cut it awhile back, when I was working on another case and needed to change my appearance.

I want to hire you, Titus said.

I'm not swimming topless in that mermaid tank at your strip club. Not that I had a problem with going topless. Like most mermaids, I'm not what you would call shy. A lot of supernaturals prefer to keep a low profile, but mermaids aren't among them. I had a problem with swimming around in a tank in mermaid form so people could gawk at me. It was kind of like being a freak in a sideshow, or an animal in a zoo. And I can't work as an exotic dancer. I have a boyfriend now. I don't think he'd approve of my doing that kind of stuff.

A boyfriend, Titus said in a mocking tone. Pretty soon people will start confusing you for a real girl.

What do you want?

I want to hire you. As a bodyguard.

You've already got plenty of muscle working at this place. Both human and supernatural.

I don't want to hire you to work at my club. I want to hire you as my personal bodyguard.

Why do you need me?

Titus was the oldest, most powerful vampire in the city, not to mention the richest. I couldn't imagine who he feared so much that he felt he needed me to protect him. Then there was the fact that protecting Titus kind of went against everything I believed.

My mother, the mermaid, taught me how to be a mermaid. My father, who is human, and an ex-cop, taught me to protect the little guy, protect those who couldn’t or wouldn’t protect themselves, protect those who had no one else to help them. Titus was as far from the little guy as you could get.

The Count is coming to town, Titus said.

He spoke like I should know who the Count was. Maybe in vampire circles the Count was famous, but I wasn't a vampire, so the name meant nothing to me. And you fear this count because?

Not this count, the Count. It's his name. Or at least the only name he's known by.

And you fear him because?

Because he's the oldest vampire in world. And in vampire circles the older you are the more powerful you are.

What do you think he might do to you?

He likes to push people around, take things from them, torture them, kill them.

By people, you mean vamps.

Titus nodded. I mean vampires.

How does he do all of that?

He compels vampires that are younger than him to give things to him, or to walk out into the bright sunshine and stay there until they burn up.

And you don't like being pushed around.

It’s been awhile since I've met a vampire that's older than me, that had the power to take my empire from me, let alone kill me.

I take it you and the Count run in different circles.

He lives in Europe, has never paid much attention to the new world. Until now.

The fact that Titus referred to this as the new world, gave me a clue as to just how old he was. Usually he avoided terminology that gave away his age. The fact that he was using it now, told me just how scared he was.

So you want me to stop the Count from bullying you, forcing you to turn over your empire to him.

Because he's older than me, he can compel me. You on the other hand are a mermaid.

And like most mermaids, I'm not very good at taking orders. That was how I became a private detective. I had been a cop, like my father, but I had trouble following orders. I received a lot of commendations for saving lives, and a lot of reprimands for not doing what I was told. Eventually, I decided I was better off on my own.

Titus reached underneath his chair and set a wooden box on the table. The box was made from polished maple. The hinged lid contained pieces of ivory inlaid in the shape of a star. The box was one foot long, one foot wide, and one foot high. It reminded me of a jewelry box. A very large, very old, extremely well made jewelry box. The fact that it looked like a jewelry box made my mouth water.

There are a few things you should know about mermaids. We don't live in coral castles at the bottom of the sea. That's a myth. You may not be aware of this, but it's cold and dark at the bottom of the ocean. Plus there are some really weird looking fish down there. And just for the record, none of them sing and dance.

If you throw water on our legs, they won't turn into a tail. That's another myth. We can change form at will, like most shape shifters. Nor do we have gills, we're not fish, we're mammals, like whales and dolphins.

We do love shiny things. That's not a myth. Mermaids are obsessed with collecting shiny things. I converted the extra bedroom in my condo into a walk-in vault. That's where I keep my shiny things. My gold, silver, diamonds, emeralds, rubies, and pearls. My treasure.

Drugs and alcohol don't affect me the way they affect humans, probably because of