Sharkbait Down Under Ch. 61-70

I watched in horror as the vampire swung the baby carrier around before launching it out into the water. "GO NOW," I sent to Nicholas as Traci screamed and ran down the hill. "SAVE THAT BABY IN THE WATER!"

Caroline looked around in confusion as mermaids appeared out of the water on three sides, tridents in hand. Four of them converged on the vampire by the shore, their long weapons spearing him before they lifted him off the ground. His body struggled against them, but not for long. A wolf appeared from the water, his black fur matted, and he launched himself at the vampire's neck. There was a short struggle before the vampire's head dropped to the ground. The mermaids let the body drop to the ground as the wolf howled in triumph.

Nicholas shifted back as the group walked up to take their places on the perimeter. Caroline looked at him, noting the slashes on his side given to him by her Coven member before he died. "I'll enjoy watching you die slowly and painfully, Alpha. As for your fishy friends, they should leave before they find out what happens when you mess with a Master Vampire."

I watched as the gashes on my mate's side closed up, healing in seconds. "That's not going to happen, Caroline. I'm immune to your venom now, and I've gained your healing power."

She turned in horror towards Alessandro. "WHAT DID YOU DO? YOU FOOL!"

"I helped a friend," he said.

She looked towards the entrance to the park. "Talia! Andrew! Matthias!"

There was no answer, not until three objects landed with liquid splats on the parking lot pavement. "They lost their heads," Rick said. Rick, Frank, and Oksana were nude, their bodies still dripping from the water and the blood. The three vampires took their places in the circle surrounding the Master Vampire of Los Angeles, who was now alone and outnumbered.

She looked around at the three species surrounding you. "I challenge you, Alessandro Molari, for the position of Master Vampire of Australia."

"I don't think so," he said. "You didn't have the guts to face me in fair battle, and I have no problem with your execution for coming here and hurting my friends."

Caroline looked for an opening, but there was none. The long Tridents negated any advantage her talons gave her, and three vampires blocked her way out. I watched as Nicholas shifted back into his wolf, growling as he paced the edge of the circle.

Nicholas handed off the key, and Maribel ran out onto the dock to set me free. "You should be there for this," she told me.

I gathered the little energy I had and shifted into my grey-over-white wolf. Trotting up the hill, I moved past the mermaids and sat next to Alessandro. He scratched my ear as we waited.

Caroline decided to make a break for it, picking Oksana as the weakest vampire in her way.

It didn't work.

Mermaids are strong and have freakishly-fast reflexes, so even her vampire speed wasn't enough to escape the Tridents. One penetrated her chest on the left side, while the other pierced through her right thigh. Oksana flashed forward and used her talons to slice Caroline's right forearm to the bone. The damage done, the mermaids shoved forward with their tridents, pushing her back into the circle before ripping the barbed hooks out.

Caroline screamed in agony as her flesh ripped from the barbs, then stayed on her knees while the wounds healed. She tried again at Frank with the same results, and then back with Oksana. The mermaids kept her from escaping the circle, and the vampires sliced her open before pushing her back. Each time, I knew she was using up the reserves of energy she'd gained from my blood. I could tell by how long it took the wounds to heal again.

She was going to die, and she knew it, so she went for Alessandro. He was just as old as she was, but he was faster. They clashed, their talons scraping before Alessandro's hand spiked through her armpit and ripped her right arm clean off.

Nicholas picked that time to charge, leaping for her left arm and biting down hard. Caroline screamed as she tried to get it free, but Nicholas was dragging her back to the center of the circle.

"Finish her," Nicholas said to me. "You deserve the kill."

He was right. I leaped onto Caroline's back, my jaws finding purchase on the sides of her neck. She tried to roll me off, but Nicholas kept pulling at her arm, and I didn't let go of my bite. I dug my paws into the asphalt and shook my head as I squeezed my jaws closed. My mate and I turned her into a wishbone, pulling the ends against each other. With a loud snap, her neck broke just before I pulled it clean of her body.

Nicholas got the big piece, so I guess he gets his wish.

I collapsed on the ground, panting. Nicholas came over to me, licking the blood from my face. "It's over," he told me.

"The baby?"

"He's scared but fine," Nicholas said. He shifted back, thanking the Mermaids for their help. "We need to clear out of here," he said.

"Just a minute," Alessandro said. He took the backpack, going back to the car and filling it with most of the money he'd dumped out. Alessandro held it out for the mermaids gathered around him. "You did well tonight, and you earned this," he told them.

The men and women talked among themselves, then refused. "We do not fight for money; we fought because our friends were in danger. Save it for the baby," Maribel said. The mermaids walked down the trail to the beach, slipping into the water. They'd swim out to the fishing boat that belonged to a local family and make their way back to their Bondi Beach hotels.

Nicholas picked me up as I was too weak to shift again. Alessandro scratched my ears as he ordered his Coven to stage the scene. "Traci's dead; she didn't make it to the water. We'll plant some drug residue and leave her bag a couple hundred thousand in it to make this look like a drug deal gone bad. Becky's on her way in now, and we'll leave the bodies of the policemen and Timothy here with the others."

"Are the cops going to buy it?"

"Becky's already changed the title of the Range Rover over to one of the Federal Police and backdated it a week. They might find your DNA, but we can explain that away as they transported you here yesterday. Becky will then go to work planting enough evidence to link the dead cops to drugs, and the rest looks like a Cartel hit. We'll stack the bodies and heads for them and let the humans find them in the morning."

Becky drove in, and they got to work. I could hear thunder approaching; this was good, as the storms would further confuse the crime scene for the police.

Nicholas set me in the back seat where our travel bags waited for us. He helped me get dressed while the vampires worked. They made a pile of dead bodies inside one of the abandoned gun turrets, leaving the heads on top like cannonballs. Traci's body was left where it lay, a bag of money by her as if she'd managed to get away before succumbing to her injuries. Frank used blood to paint the Range Rover's windshield with a Cartel symbol, and Alessandro decided it was enough.

"Becky will drive you back to the casino. We'll take my boat." Becky got in and started it up.

"Thank you for everything, Alessandro." Once more, I'd placed trust in him, and he'd come through.

"You're welcome, Vicki. Tonight was a perfect example of how our Council can work together." Alessandro closed the door, and we were off.

I was asleep in Nicholas' arms as the storm blew in.