Peering over the side, I again looked down at the bottom of the pool. I didn’t think that would be such a challenge after all. Purifying the water sounded like it might be similar to some of the things Schwint and I had been practicing. I nearly told him as much but realized it might be smarter to play my cards a little closer to the vest—both in terms of buying me more time and in the likely event that I wasn’t able to do it as easily as I thought. We’d been practicing with cups of water, not pools of it. Still, it didn’t look that deep. Without moving, I sent my awareness away from me, focusing my intent on the water. Nearly as quickly as I had changed the material of Gwala’s clothing, the presence of life forms crashed into me. They were in such great quantity that I couldn’t number them. Possibly hundreds. I could sense them stretching out for miles beneath us.
Even as the realization hit of how much more water I’d have to effect with my power, I realized another issue. Salt water. Mers wouldn’t live in fresh water. That could cause an issue as well. We hadn’t practiced with salt water.
Keeping the pool filled wouldn’t be too hard. All the molecules and elements were already there, and I simply needed to multiply them. Keeping the water pure might be just as simple, but there were too many variables. For one, I had no idea what other conditions the water might need. Dad had tried his luck at a marine aquarium when I’d been young. He’d killed several rounds of fish before giving up. Probably not a good sign. With my luck, I might accidently change the entire enclosure to fresh water or get a wrong pH level and kill them all.
Despite my questions about my capabilities, this task was one I wouldn’t feel guilty about completing. I wouldn’t be doing them any harm. If anything, the mers were depending on me to keep them alive.
“May I take some of the water to my room? To practice.”
“I would expect nothing less. You and the fairy need to have this figured out in the next few days. There are others besides just the mers depending on your success.” Either Gwala was losing his subtlety or he simply didn’t care to pretend that I was anything other than a slave he was keeping by threatening my family.
“And what other things must I do for the mers?”
“You must help them mate. Specifically, you must help this one mate.” He ran his hand down the merman’s hair once more.
Certain I’d misheard or not understood something, I looked at the merman’s face. He didn’t meet my eyes, instead gazing down into the pool. From his expression, he’d retreated somewhere far away from here.
“I’m sorry. I don’t think I understand what you mean.” I knew exactly what he meant, but I couldn’t keep the question from escaping my lips. The reality seemed too horrible to be possible.
“Mate. I mean mate. Surely, you’ve heard of fucking. You are to help this merman mate with every female who is not already impregnated.”
Despite myself, I looked toward the merman’s lap, inspecting for a penis of some sort. I saw only flat, disc-shaped scales. I’d never before thought about how mermaids might have sex.
The merman’s eyes flickered to me, catching me inspecting him. I felt my cheeks flush, and I looked away in shame. “Why would he need me to help him mate?”
Gwala raked his nails over the merman’s shoulder as he spoke, and I instantly regretted bringing the attention back to him.
“He does not need it. However, my prize bull refuses to copulate with the females of his species of his own volition. Perhaps he is of your persuasion.” At the thought, Gwala trained his gaze on me, his face growing even sterner. “His sperm is for the females. Not for you. It is not to be wasted.”
I felt my jaw fall open and screamed inside my head for it to close. It just hung there. I had no idea how to respond to such an edict. I was revolted at the thought of using the captive in such a way.
Nonplussed, Gwala continued, removing his claws from the merman’s skin and gesturing to where a human male’s penis would be. “The consequences will be swift and sudden if you use him for any sexual gratification. He is only to be mated with females who are ovulating. Another task you will learn. You will need to be aware of the mermaids’ cycles and when they are the most fertile. Besides keeping the mers alive, this is your main responsibility within the Vampire Cathedral. It did not take Omar long to accomplish these tasks, and from what I’ve been led to believe, you will be much greater in power than he. Perhaps you can even decrease the gestation time. Granted, Omar did not have to learn on a male as stubborn as this one. If he wasn’t producing such quality offspring, I would end his life myself.” He stroked the male’s cheek. “Unfortunately, he is worth the trouble.”
“Why is it you need the mers to mate? Why him?”
At my words, the merman broke out of his reverie and looked up at me, eyes wide.
Gwala glowered at me.
I unconsciously took a step backward.
“I am inclined to tell you that it is none of your business. However, I did tell you to ask any questions you have, and the more understanding you acquire, the greater and sooner your power will come into effect.”
This time, it was Gwala who seemed to get lost to something beneath the surface of the pool—focusing on some event in the past. “The first mers did well for many, many centuries. Though I will admit they soon needed the services only a witch could provide, as most of them refused to mate as well. It seemed I’d found a system that would last for all eternity. However, over time, due to inbreeding, the offspring began to lose their potency. I admit, I should have seen such an issue arising, but it never even entered my mind. I assumed the mers were above such imperfections.” He looked up at me, as if just remembering I was with him in the room. “They didn’t have two heads or malformed tails, nothing as revolting as that. And while they were still good for gratification and continued to taste of nothing else under the sun, they’d gradually lost their potency.”
My voice came out as if from someone other than me. I was horrified at his tale but completely captivated. “Their potency?”
The smile that broke across Gwala’s face was genuine and full of pride. “Yes, potency. That is the crux of it all. The secret to all power and fortune. The power of life, you see.” He motioned toward the ceiling, as if a hole existed that led to somewhere other than this dungeon cavern. “The mers’ blood gives us the ability to walk in the sun, warlock.”
He knelt down until his face was even with the merman’s. Gwala reached out and clasped the merman’s chin in his fingers, forcing him to look in his eyes. “Isn’t that right? The blood of mer slaves is the secret ingredient to truly living a full life. I ask you, what point is immortality if it is spent in the darkness?”
The memory of the redheaded vampire strangling my young nephew in his arms flashed through my mind. I saw him, out in the shadows, at the dusk of the day, when my family should have been safe. I could still see the blood running down Peter’s neck, as the vampire bartered Brett’s life for my nephew’s.
And this was it. The thing that had started it all. Brett’s blood giving that random vampire a taste of the sun, and he’d wanted more.
I almost laughed out loud. We’d searched so hard to discover why the monster had been obsessed with Brett. And here it was, now that I wasn’t looking, now that it didn’t matter. Here it was, chained up. Captive. The reason my family was torn apart.
Gwala yanked on the merman’s hair, twisting his head back, revealing the thick muscles of his throat. He bit down slowly, almost lovingly.
