Well I'm back from vacation and back to work. YUCK! ….Anyway…thanks for the reviews, hope you like the rest of the story. I just noticed that the site is acting up again so I'm not sure if this will even post or if alerts will go out but I'll try posting anyway and see what happens.

The Mermaid

Chapter eight

Just as Grady and his friends moved in a flashing red light interrupted the fight. The knives were quickly put away as a police car pulled into the clearing and an officer got out and walked toward the group.

"What's going on here?" He asked as he shined his light into their faces.

"Nothing officer." Dean said.

"Just having a friendly discussion is all." Sam quickly added.

"Is that true Grady?"

Sam glanced at Dean, the officer obviously knew Grady.

"Yeah Rick, just a friendly discussion."

The officer then shined the light at Dean and Sam moving it up and down their bodies.

"You boys been swimming in the pond?" He asked when he saw their wet clothing. "Didn't you see the sign?" He pointed to a post with a sign pointing out restrictions in the park, including swimming after dark.

"My brother tripped and fell in…" Dean said trying to explain. "He can't swim and I had to jump in after him. … These gentlemen happened to be driving by and stopped to see if they could help."

The officer didn't know whether to believe him or not but since he didn't have any proof he was lying he decided to send them on their way.

"Well let's break it up and head on home, it's late and this park can be dangerous after dark…. There are a lot of places people unfamiliar with the park could get hurt."

"Yes officer." Dean said as he tapped Sam on the arm and handed him his crutches then headed toward the car.

"Hold on a second." The officer shined the light at Sam and saw his bleeding ankle. "What happened?"

"Oh it's nothing…I tripped over my crutches and cut my leg on a rock when I fell in the water."

"Looks like you're bleeding pretty bad, maybe I should run you into the hospital and have it looked at."

"It'll be okay, it's not that bad. I'll clean it up when I get back to the motel."

"Well see that you take care of it before it gets infected."

"I will officer, thanks."

Dean turned around to wait for his brother.

"He'll be fine officer; I'll take care of him."

Grady looked over at the brothers.

"You boys better listen to the officer. Like he said the park is dangerous at night, there are a lot of cliffs and sudden drops offs….A person could get themselves seriously hurt or even killed if they're not careful."

"Thanks, we will." Dean gave Grady a fake smile; he was obviously warning the brothers to stay away. He then nodded to Sam and they got in the care and drove away.

Motel

"That was close." Dean said as he helped Sam over to the bed.

"Shouldn't we have told him about the man?"

"There was nothing he could have done Sam, the man's gone." When Sam didn't seem convinced he added. "If we would have said something all it would have done would be to get us involved in an investigation which is something we don't need. … Don't worry…the body will wash up in a few days." Dean said as he cleaned the blood off of Sam's ankle then took a needle and thread out of the first aide kit and began to stitch up the wound. He then put fresh antibiotic ointment on it and rewrapped it. "Try to stay off of it for the rest of the night."

"Thanks." Sam said as he pulled his leg up onto the bed. "Grady's really determined to keep us away from her."

"Yeah, I noticed." Dean gave his brother a little smile. "The man's an idiot Sam."

"Yeah I know, but he's going to get himself or one of his friends killed if he keeps hunting her."

"More then likely." Dean said as he winced then pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You okay?"

"Yeah…you know I could actually feel her sucking my life out of my body. If you hadn't gotten me to the surface…"

"I did save your life didn't I?" Sam said smiling as he made a check mark in the air. "Now let's see …that's the third time I've saved you in less then four months."

"Maybe…but don't forget all the times I've saved your scrawny ass…too numerous to remember."

Sam suddenly turned serious.

"You know Dean one of these days one of us is going to be too late to help the other. One of these days one of us isn't going to make it back from a hunt."

"Well let's hope that day is a long ways off." Dean knew Sam was right, one day their luck would run out. He just hoped it wasn't any day soon.

TBC