Summary: Dash arrives at the home of the merpeople with Desiree as his guide.
Characters: Dash, Desiree, Vlad, and Skulker
Written: November 2013
Note: Sequel to A Debt Owed and A Life Returned

A Meeting Made

"You can stop laughing," Dash grumbled, shooting a glower at the mermaid swimming ahead of him. He could hear the soft laughter from her as she looped around him a few times before slowing her pace enough to swim at his side. "I know I'm not as great at this as you are, but I've only had this thing for about an hour." Swimming with a tail was much more difficult than he first thought it would be. He was used to having two legs to work with instead a single lower appendage, but he was trying his best to adapt to the change. Desiree laughing at his poor efforts was only igniting his anger.

As amazing as it was to have a tail and breathe underwater, Dash did still have that lingering regret, knowing that he had to give up the life he knew. Without Desiree's magic though, he wouldn't even be alive right now. His body would be floating somewhere out to sea, a lifeless corpse bleeding out and potentially attracting sharks to feast on him. Remembering that, he tried not to feel too badly about his current situation. The alternative didn't sound very pleasant to him, though he would greatly miss his family and friends.

"How much longer until we reach him?" Dash demanded, distracting himself from those depressing thoughts. It felt like they had swam for hundreds of miles already, and while they passed by beautiful coral reefs and plenty of colorful fish, he didn't care much for taking the scenic route.

"It's just up ahead." Desiree swam ahead, hiding behind some of the jaggy rocks lining the floor of the sea.

A frown creased his brow as Dash followed after her, joining her behind the rocks. When he peeked over the top of them, he gasped at the sight that greeted him. Glittering sparkles of light filled what should be a dark bowl set deep into the floor of the sea. Structures reached for the surface of the sea, made of rock, coral, and shell. He thought he even saw some mother of pearl used in the construction of the buildings. Merpeople of all different colors swam around, interacting with one another as they passed.

"How is there light down here?" Dash asked when he got over his awe at seeing the home of the merpeople. "We're hundreds of miles below the surface. Shouldn't it be all dark down here?" He stared at Desiree in wonder.

Smiling somewhat, Desiree lifted a hand, making a circular motion with it between them. A bubble formed during the action and a soft light began to glow from within it. "There are a few things that every merperson is capable of doing," she explained, holding the glowing bubble between her hands. "Creating light is only a temporary magic. I think the longest one only lasted for about three days. Then there's more permanent magic." She turned her red eyes onto him. "Like what I did to you."

Dash nodded, slightly shaken at the idea that passed through his mind about the magic she used on him being not so permanent. He imagined briefly what would happen to him if the spell used to turn him into a merman and keep him alive only lasted for a few days. It would mean a few more days to live, but then he would be as dead as if Desiree never helped him.

"Will I be able to do that?" Dash pointed at the glowing bubble. Most humans didn't have magic of any sort, so it would be interesting to suddenly possess even a little.

Desiree dropped her hands, and the bubble floated upward as the light slowly faded away. "No," she answered, frowning at him. "You were born human. While the spell to save you made you a merman and gave you our extended lifespan, it can't give you the magic naturally inherited by us."

"Oh." Dash sank somewhat as the excitement fizzled out of him. "Well, let's get going then." He pushed away from the rocks, seeing no point to stay hidden out there when the home of the merpeople, specifically Danny, lay right before them. Why were they hiding behind the rocks anyway?

"This," Desiree said as she swam up beside Dash, "is where things might get a little complicated."

"What do you mean?" Dash caught the wince on her expression and didn't find it very reassuring.

"Halt!"

Dash managed to stop swimming before the tip of a trident pierced right into his throat. He gulped as he stared down at the silver trident then followed it up to the wielder, who was a bigger and more muscular merman. The shock of green hair waving in the water matched with his bright green eyes that narrowed at the pair before him. His flesh was pale, and his tail looked silvery, gleaming from the bubbles of light around the merpeople's home.

"You are not welcomed here," the guard said, his glower lingering on Desiree.

Dash eyed the mermaid, frowning in suspicion. "I get the feeling you left out quite a few details."

"I was going to tell you this wasn't the best idea." Desiree looked away, folding her arms, which only drew attention to her generous bosom. "But you were quite insistent on seeing him."

Dash started to understand why Desiree was hiding behind the rocks when they arrived. If she wasn't welcomed here, she wouldn't want them to take notice of her. But why wouldn't she tell him that from the beginning? Was there something she hoped to gain by coming here with him? He felt like he was being used by her, but he couldn't figure out her game.

"I only want to see someone," Dash explained, hoping the guard could be reasoned with. "We don't even have to enter your, uh-" What did merpeople even call their home? Should he call it a town? Somehow, that didn't sound like it really fit.

"What is all this commotion?" asked another merman as he swam over to them. His skin was a strange blue, and his tail, though black, seemed to have hint of blue when the light hit it just right. A crown rested atop his raven hair that had an odd lighter stripe down the center. His red eyes surveyed the pair being held off by his guard, and his mouth pressed thin with an unpleasant wrinkling of his nose. He waved a hand, and the guard backed away from them, leaving the crowned merman to deal with them.

"I wouldn't call it a commotion," Dash muttered then shrank back when the crowned merman glared down at him.

"What possessed you to do something so foolish?" he demanded, snapping his red eyes filled with fury onto Desiree. "Turning a human and bringing him here? You are far madder than I thought."

Desire swam up to him, drawing herself even with him, and she showed no sign of being cowed by his heated glare. The guard tensed, but apparently without an order or a real threat to the blue skinned merman, he wasn't allowed to interfere. Desiree hissed, "He saved one of us, Vlad."

So that was his name. Vlad glanced past her, and his gaze lingered on Dash as if sizing him up. "That hardly makes him trustworthy. He is likely to be as greedy and cruel as any other human. We don't want him or you here." When Vlad turned to leave, Desiree swam in front of him, placing a hand to his chest to stop him.

"I find it hard to believe that you haven't noticed a certain someone's power growing." Desiree narrowed her eyes as she leaned in closer to him. "And we both know that he's going to need someone to teach him before that power gets out of control."

"He has a teacher," Vlad stated through clenched teeth.

Desiree blinked then laughed. "You? Ha!" She laughed again. "You know I'll be a far better teacher than you."

"He needs to learn proper magic. Not your devil's magic." Vlad snagged hold of Desiree's wrist and yanked her closer to him. "I will not have you corrupt him and suffer banishment with you."

"Oh, we're back on that again, are we?" Desiree yanked her hand free of his hold but didn't pull back. The pair were practically butting heads as they glared at each other. "Maybe if your son had been able to keep his hands to himself, I wouldn't have had to use my magic on him."

"You could have used any number of other spells to punish him. You knew that spell was irreversible and that he wouldn't be allowed to stay here afterward."

"I merely cast the most appropriate spell on him. You could have changed your stupid laws."

"Um," Dash said, trying to cut into the conversation that he could hardly follow. He almost shrank again when both of them glared at him. "Look. I don't want to cause any sort of trouble here. I just wanted to make sure Danny-"

"You know Daniel?" Surprise flashed on Vlad's face, chasing away the anger.

"Who do you think rescued him?" Desiree rolled her eyes as she placed her hands on her hips, just above where her tail began. "Really, Vlad, sometimes you can be so dense." She smirked when he glowered at her again.

"And you allowed him to trick you into making him one of us?" Vlad seethed, looking like he was ready to slap Desiree for being so gullible. "He saw Daniel and became entranced like all humans when they see us."

"I won't lie," Dash said, and he found it annoying how they kept talking about him but not necessarily to him. "When I first saw him, I was entranced by him. He is beautiful. But when I saw those other men touching him and treating him like some object without feeling, I was disgusted by their actions. I wanted to free Danny from living imprisoned like that. I didn't ask Desiree to change me into this because of some perverse attraction to Danny. I didn't ask for any of this at all. I only came to see Danny to make sure he made it home safely."

"He speaks the truth there," Desiree said, giving Dash a once over before directing her attention back onto Vlad. "He risked his life to save Danny. The other humans shot him after he freed Danny. He'd be dead right now if I didn't work my magic on him."

"Is that supposed to convince me that you've turned over a new leaf?" Vlad's expression soured as he stared at Desiree. "This is all just part of your plan to manipulate your way back into our kingdom. You've always been a cunning witch."

"No more cunning than you, my King." Desiree smirked, and Dash wondered if she had some dirt on him. Scratch that. She definitely had some dirt on him, if that withering glare from Vlad said anything, which it did. It spoke volumes. What was the connection between them anyway? "Would it really be so bad to let him see that Danny made it here unharmed?"

"Fine," Vlad growled, clearly not happy with this turn of events. "But you," he glared as he pointed at Desiree, "will have nothing to do with teaching Daniel anything about magic." He turned and started swimming toward the tallest building within the merpeople's home, which Dash guessed to be the castle.

When he felt a shove from behind, Dash glanced briefly at the green haired merman before following after Desiree and Vlad. As they grew closer, he started to feel nervous about seeing Danny again. It felt like that night happened years ago, or maybe that it was just some fantasy produced in his dreams. Except he was there swimming through the water with his own tail and breathing with his own gills. Soon, he would get to see that Danny was alive and well, and that thought brought relief to him.


midnight: Yay! I'm glad you're enjoying the Captain Vlad series! XD Well, that last chapter was the third one for Captain Vlad. It's been pretty fun writing those. =)