Sirens Among Us: Mako Mermaids x Siren Crossover
Summary: Something's happening out at Mako. There's a new predator on the hunt, each Full Moon is bringing a higher danger. And that's without what's happening with Carly.
This was a request from Twilightroxas7
What a life. Ondina thought it every morning. This morning in particular. Standing with Veridia on the north shore of Mako before the sun had even risen looking at a decapitated shark's head.
"This is the third month in a row," Ondina nudged the shark's head with her toe.
"Ondina," Veridia chastised.
"What? It's dead, not like it's gonna bite me." All her life she'd wanted to be a part of the Council, now she finally got her place and this was what she was doing - looking at dead sharks. And dead dolphins. Even a dead whale.
Ondina's phone buzzed in her pocket. She fished it out and answered it without bothering to check who it was.
"Yeah?"
"Is Veridia with you?" Rita asked through the speaker.
"Why? She skip out on you this morning?"
"There's another one," Rita said, completely ignoring what Ondina said. "A dolphin, torn to pieces on the beach. The Marine Park took the body in."
Great. Now land people were involved.
"There's a tiger shark here. Well the head of a Tiger shark. Not sure where the rest of it is." Ondina shifted her phone and covered the microphone. "It's Rita. She said there was a dolphin found on the beach all torn up."
"Like those two from last month," Veridia said.
"Keep an eye out for anymore," Rita said over the speaker.
"I will. There's a tiger shark body to find," Ondina hung up and re-pocketed her phone.
Two Months Ago
"What is up with all these fish?" Ondina looked to Mimmi, checking the other Mermaid was looking at the same scene as she was. Fish parts lay scattered the whole stretch of the coast. Mostly tails, but the occasional head had stared blankly at the pair as they stood upon Mako's north shore.
"I have no idea."
"Come on, we need to see how far up these go," Ondina lead the way along the beach.
As it turned out - they went far.
"Looks like someone was really hungry last night," Ondina remarked as she sidestepped another fish. There were so many. Some were pretty big fish too. She had a big appetite, but even she couldn't eat anywhere close to this amount.
"There's no way one Mermaid could eat so much," Mimmi said, "not even Zac could eat this much and he never stops eating."
"They're not all eaten - look," Ondina pointed to a mostly intact mackerel. The large fish had a single bite torn out of it's stomach and it wasn't the only one in sight. "There's about four more ahead of us the same, then it looks like that's it."
"No Mermaid would leave so much waste lying around," Mimmi said, "stuff like this draws attention."
It was true. Land people noticed dead things. Every whale that washed up on the beach drew crowds of land people desperate to catch a glimpse. Something like this with at least a hundred, easily more, fish lying half eaten - it would draw masses or normal spectators and scientists.
"As long as it's just on Mako we'll be fine," Ondina said.
"You still need to tell the Council."
Ondina groaned, "fine." It wasn't as simple as just telling the council. Unless she managed to catch Veridia directly, she'd have to find Aitne and tell her, who would then gather the lower Council so they could be informed, then Aquata would take it to the Higher Council.
The other shortcut would be to tell Rita and get her to pass it onto Veridia.
"It's not what you thought it would be is it? Being on the Council?" Mimmi asked.
"You can say that again."
Evie pulled out her phone and checked the time - twenty eight minutes past seven. Two minutes until the Ocean Cafe opened for the day. Right now it was empty save for David bustling about getting ready for opening, herself, and Zac who was eating a bowl of prawns under the guise of pretending to help her set up her shop for the day.
There was one very important person missing that no one else had commented on.
"Have you guys seen Carly?" Evie asked. It wasn't like Carly to not be here by now.
"Nope," Zac popped the 'p' and dropped another prawn in his mouth.
"She should be here by now," Evie mused, "she's never late."
Carly was the type who showed up fifteen minutes or more before her shift started, a lesson people like Erik and Ondina could really do with learning, but today with her shift now a minute away from starting - there was no sign of Carly.
"Maybe she's just running late?" Zac spoke through a full mouth of prawn meat.
"Carly doesn't do late," David backed up Evie's thinking. "Have you messaged her?"
"Doing it now," Evie opened her text messages and typed out a message to Carly before pressing send. No sooner had she pressed send, her phone buzzed to life in her hand. Evie swiped up the answer without stopping to check who it was. Her automatic assumption was that it was Carly, calling to explain that she'd slept in or that she got stalked by a pelican or something.
"Hey!"
"Hi Evie." That was not Carly's voice.
"Mrs Morgan, hi."
Both Zac and David's heads snapped in Evie's direction when they heard who she was talking to.
"I'm sorry for bothering you so early but is Carly there with you? She never came home last night and I know she's supposed to be working this morning. I've called Cam as well but he hasn't seen her."
Evie's stomach sank. This was now three times in the last three months she'd had Carly's mum phoning asking where Carly is.
"She's not arrived yet," Evie answered truthfully.
"If she does will you get her to phone me?" Mrs Morgan asked. "If she's not here soon we'll have to contact the police."
"Of course Mrs Morgan."
"Thank you Evie."
Carly's mum ended the call and Evie slowly set her phone down on her counter.
"I heard the word police, what's going on?" Zac asked.
"Carly's mum said she never came home last night. Again."
"She left here after closing," David said, "haven't heard from her since."
"Do you think something happened?" Zac asked. "I mean, I don't know if you've noticed but it's always after the Full Moon this happens."
"I don't want to think about that," Evie said. Full Moons were unpredictable, even for land people. Wasn't it an old wives tale that Full Moons made people go crazy. "It's not like Carly not to go home but this is the third time this has happened."
"And after a Full Moon," Zac reiterated.
"Have you asked Cam?" David asked, weaving between tables over to Evie's counter.
"Her mum phoned him too. He said she wasn't with him."
"What about the Mermaids? Have they seen her?"
The Mermaids always seemed to know something. Especially the little ones - too many of them hung out too close to land, seeing everything. She blamed Ondina. The little ones were all behaving, staying close to Mako and then Ondina covered Rita's classes for a week and all of a sudden Evie was seeing little fins everywhere.
"Haven't seen them this morning," Evie said. "It's too early for them to be up."
"Mimmi said last night she had to check the coast for any remains again," Zac shoved his now empty bowl away from him.
"Remains?" David asked, eyebrows furrowed.
"The last two Full Moons, the morning after, there's been all these sea creatures found all ripped up, mostly around Mako but there's a couple further up the coast," Zac explained.
It was all the Mermaids were talking about, and all Ondina complained about - being roped into searching for dead animals when she could be sleeping.
"So what's doing it?" David asked. "A shark?"
"I said that," Evie answered. It had been her first suggestion that first morning. "But Ondina said if it was a shark there would be less parts found. A hungry shark would eat more of the animal than whatever's attacked these creatures."
"Maybe it's sick?" Zac suggested with a slight shrug. "Like in Hemlock Grove - how the werewolf wasn't eating what it killed cause it was sick."
"Unlikely Zac," Evie said. She highly doubted a Pod of over a hundred Mermaids would be able to miss an ill shark going around attacking things. And as Zac kept saying - it was always after a Full Moon. Sharks don't only hunt on Full Moons.
"Maybe it's a werewolf and it's attacking along the coast, getting whatever comes close?" David suggested. Evie almost rolled her eyes. "What type of things are being attacked?"
"Mostly fish but there's been a couple dolphins too," Zac answered then turned his attention to David. "Wouldn't a werewolf eat as much as it could though?"
"Not if it's a vargulf," David pointed out.
Evie sighed. Those two were too much into the horror side of things. And that was without Cam adding to the mix. Sure she enjoyed the odd episode of the Vampire Diaries, but she only watched it for Carly's sake. Carly who was still not here.
"True," Zac pointed his index finger.
"It's not a werewolf," Evie finalised the discussion, they had more pressing matters than Werewolves of Vargulfs. "Werewolves don't exist."
Then she had a thought, "Do they?"
"You know, the Mermaids have said," Zac said, "we'll ask later."
"We need to ask them about Carly first," David said.
"I'll phone Ondina now," Evie picked her phone back up and found Ondina's contact. The lack of a new message from Carly was really getting to her.
Carly woke in a state of pure confusion.
The rock bit into her arm and the sand beneath her skin scratched and tore at her like millions of tiny needles. She couldn't feel to move. She couldn't think to move. Her legs were stiff and heavy, attached to her body like a deadweight and her arms were no better. She could feel warm blood dripping from where the rock was pressing into her arm. She needed to move her arm. Why couldn't she move her arm?
The drumming of the waves echoed around her skull, pounding and thudding with every movement she managed to make. She pulled her arm carefully away from the rock, hissing as a spurt of blood accompanied the action. She dropped her arm on to the sand with a soft thud. Red spots dripped onto yellow.
She had to get up and start to put together how the hell she ended up on an unfamiliar beach, cold, wet, and missing her clothes. Sure she liked a swim but even she knew better than to go out skinny dipping alone at night. Then she had to figure out how to get home, preferably without getting arrested for public indecency.
Carly couldn't recognise the low cliff face off to the left or the sprawling beach to the right. She didn't know if this was a public beach that people used or one far from anything. From where she was, lying amongst the rocks, someone could be only a few steps away from her and she'd never know until it was too late and they'd seen her.
Sighing heavily Carly struggled to her feet. She was so stiff.
What the hell happened last night?
"Anything yet?" David paused at Evie's shop on his way back to the kitchen, his tray laden with glasses. Three hours into the shift and still no Carly. Evie had phoned Ondina with no response, same as Mimmi. The only Mermaid who actually answered was Rita who hadn't seen Carly or any of the other Mermaids, but had spoken to Ondina.
Evie shook her head, "no texts, no calls. Her mum phoned again - they've filed a missing persons report."
"Someone has to have seen her," David said, "people don't just disappear."
"They do around here."
He didn't want to admit it but Evie was right. People went missing all the time. Not all of them were found.
Taking one last glance over the typed report that had been shoved into his hands Doctor Mitchell Ross, or 'Mitch' to most people save his mother, turned it away and opened the door to the lab where the torn up dolphin lay.
His report was a mess. It made no sense. Whatever attacked that poor creature was not something he could say. In all his years he'd never seen anything quite like this. Picking the paper up again he looked over the typed garble before tossing it onto the work table.
Doctor Ross turned his attention back to the dolphin on the metal table. A woman with dark red hair braided back stood at the table, looking over the creature. He'd called her after he'd finished his initial examination of the dolphin - who better to help than a Mermaid?
"Did anyone see you come in?" He asked. If anyone had seen her it would be his position on the line, very few employees were even allowed done here, let alone someone with no professional affiliation to the marine park or marine biology. To be completely fair she probably knew more than the vast majority of his employees. Not that his superiors would see it that way.
"No, no one saw me," Rita replied, not taking her eyes off the dolphin in front of her. If he didn't know her, it would be easy enough to mistake her attitude as dismissive, but there was worry there.
"Good," Dr Ross nodded.
"What do you think?" Rita asked, turning to face him.
"There is a substantial amount of damage," he replied. "Whatever attacked it tore right through to the bone. I found teeth marks on some bones from some kind of sharp toothed animal."
"What would you say attacked it?" Rita asked.
His immediate thought had been shark or maybe orca but it didn't feel right.
"That's where I was hoping you would help. The bite pattern looks like it could be a match that of some kind of shark or Orca even but … "
"The bite radius is too small" Rita finished his sentence.
"Exactly. The bites are almost … the only thing coming to mind is a seal, but the teeth are wrong for a seal and honestly it's too big."
It was starting to annoy him what it could be. Everything small enough had the wrong teeth. The teeth that matched, had a bite radius that was too large.
"Are there any clear bites?"
"A few," Dr Ross moved round to the other side of the dolphin, "the clearest is right here." He lifted the flipper, hanging on by a string. A chunk of flesh was torn away from the side in a neat crescent moon of peirce marks.
"What would you say caused this?" Dr Ross asked. Rita was a Mermaid after all, surely she'd have more of an idea than him.
"Honestly, I'd say a Mermaid did this. The bite mark is too human to be anything else."
That was the last thing anyone needed, a Mermaid going around attacking animals. How long before they turned on a human.
"I didn't think Mermaids had sharp teeth," he said. You learn something new everyday.
"We don't normally, but there are … individuals."
"I'm not sure I like the sound of that…"
"I don't either," Rita said. "There's someone I need to talk to but thank you for your help. I'll keep you updated if I hear anything."
"I'll let you know if anything develops at this side."
"Thanks."
"What are you going to put in your report?"
"The one I've already done lists the species as unknown."
"Say it was a shark, a juvenile shark. It should cover it."
"Thank you."
"Do you really think a Mermaid attacked it?" Dr Ross asked.
"I'm not sure."
The walk along the beach was long. Long, tiresome and so, so long. Carly lost track of how far she'd gone, but the cliffs she'd first seen when she woke up were nothing but specks in the distance.
She'd grabbed a towel that she'd found folded neatly on some rocks. It seemed clean enough, apart from the sand but in her state any cover would have been gratefully received. Actual clothes would have been nicer but she wasn't going to complain.
She would complain about the long walk along the shore. The slow progress as her feet sunk deep into the soft sand and hindered her progress. She didn't even know if she was going to right way, she only started off this way because the cliffs cut off the curve of the coast the other way.
The first thing that hit Mimmi when she surfaced in the shallows was the ringing. Something was making an awful ringing nose. A quick scan around revealed no obvious source. Mimmi ducked under the water and swam the two lengths to shore and dragging herself up the wet sand.
The ringing was louder now.
Mimmi dried herself off and focused her eyes on the sand. Things don't ring for no reason.
With each step she walked closer to the Ocean Cafe dock, the louder it got.
Then she saw it. A pair of dark blue shorts, a ringing phone in the pocket, the screen lit up through the fabric. A red shirt was thrown beside it and a single white trainer upside down on top of the shirt.
Mimmi slipped the phone from the pocket and the ringing stopped. 15 Missed Calls from Mum. 13 Missed Calls from Evie.
Evie?
Mimmi gripped the phone tighter and jogged along the sand until she could climb up onto the dock. Mimmi clambered up onto a rock and pulled herself up onto the wooden dock behind the cafe, she slipped around the front, no one noticing her appearance and hurriedly crossed the dock into the cafe.
She saw Evie straight away, anxiously looking at her phone. Mimmi shot over to her.
"Mimmi! I was trying to reach you earlier but … where did you get that?" Evie trailed off and her eyes caught what Mimmi held in her hand. Mimmi held the phone out.
"I found it under the dock with a pile of clothes."
"It's Carly's." Evie said, turning the phone on and looking it over. "No one's seen her since last night. Was there anything else?"
"Clothes and shoes. That's it." Carly was missing again. No wonder Evie was so worried.
"What about footprints?"
The sand had been clear of anything like that. The tide would have gotten to anything that was there
"Didn't see any but this had to have been left after high tide or the Sea would have taken it. The tide's coming back in now so anything else will have been washed away."
"Show me."
Hope you all enjoyed!
This is going to be a multiple parter, minimum of two parts, and part two is not far behind.
Also I'm only just watching Siren S3 now so no spoilers.
Until next time.