From the Depths

Rendrick eyed Henry with distaste. “What are you doing here?” He asked.

Kirea was late as it was, and now Henry shows up in her place, why? He didn’t like this. Something was wrong. The way that Henry avoided eye contact at that moment only confirmed something was amiss.

He fought back the urge to growl, his jaw clenching as the animalistic urge surfaced. This was the man that had hurt Kirea once before, what if he had done something to her?

So quickly his thoughts turned dark. How easy it would be to simply reach up and grab the man who wasn’t even looking at him. Taking him deep down under the dark water-

“Kirea can’t come tonight, she sent me instead. She didn’t want to break her promise.” Henry called from the ledge.

His voice snapped Ren out of his thoughts, probably a good thing. Killing the man would make her upset and he didn’t want to make her sad.

“Why?” He asked. “She made it a point to not tell you about our meetings.” Ren moved closer. If Kirea had sent him in her stead it had to be important. Or maybe she didn’t like being unable to keep her word.

“We... We found something out today, about what the King wants to do with you.” The man explained hesitantly.

“Oh?” Ren raised a brow. He kicked his tail beneath him, moving forward to the swallows. So he had been right, it was important, but why couldn’t Kirea tell him?

“It’s not good news, she took it pretty badly.” The human added truthfully.

“Humans normally do not have good plans when it comes to our kind. We are taught exactly that as young sirens and told not to come in contact, it is no surprise to me.” Ren hoisted himself up to sit on the ledge of the swallows, his lower half still submerged in water as he twisted his body to look at the Knight as he continued to speak.

“He plans to use you for a ritual under the blood moon, we need to get you out... Somehow.” Henry muttered the last word.

Ren shook his head, this human didn’t understand. He didn’t want freedom, he was content, it was far safer here within these walls. And here he could spend what time he had left with her. “That does not concern me, I will not leave.”

“Gods you’re as stubborn as she is!” He let out a frustrated sigh. “Ren, he’s going to eat your bloody heart to gain immortality. You will die!”

“So be it.” Ren didn’t care, he should have died the day he was brought to the surface. And he would die the moment he went back to the sea, he knew it. He had no life outside of this cave, and he had simply accepted that.

“You don’t get it, once the King is done with you he’ll likely kill anyone that knew of your existence. That means when you die so does Kirea!” He had to put it bluntly for the Siren to understand.

Ren’s head snapped around to glare at the Knight. “Death is only a new beginning.” He muttered. Though for some reason the thought of her death irritated him, his brows creased as his mouth edged into a snarl.

“You can’t be serious! He had her believing that by marrying me she’ll be safe. But in truth-”

Ren growled, the rumbling sound filling the cavern and causing Henry to jerk backward.

“You two are not mates!” Ren spat in disgust.

“Well aware, thank you. We are not compatible in the slightest. Besides, she has eyes for someone else.” Henry rolled his eyes at the jealous outburst.

“Who?” Ren demanded as he leaned forward. She had a love interest? His eyes narrowed, he didn’t like that either.

“Does that matter right now? What matters is keeping her alive. Please work with me here, we need to get you away from the King and somewhere safe.”

“I cannot return to the sea,” Ren stated.

“You don’t need to, stay with us, we just need to come up with a better plan. One where all three of us end up with our lives intact and out of this Kingdom away from the King and those he controls.” Henry was pleading with him to understand.

Ren sighed. “Henry, you do not understand my position. I understand your frustration, I do.” He paused looking at the human with sad eyes. “I will be hunted and killed the moment my scent goes out to sea, it doesn’t matter where. I would only be putting you two in danger, I do not want that. The females of my kind do not take kindly to those that escape their fate.”

Henry was protesting. “We can protect you!”

Ren shook his head, the knight just didn’t seem to understand the danger. This cavern was locked away from the outside world, the females couldn’t get in. It was a safe haven if his time was limited, so be it, at least he wasn’t in pain or constantly looking over his shoulder. Anything was better than being torn apart by your own kind. But the knight had never shown an interest in him before now, only ever being met with hostility from this human... So why?

“You’ve changed.” Ren tilted his head toward the Knight. “Why so persistent? You seemed the type to look after only yourself.”

Henry laughed bitterly. “You’re not wrong, I am. But Kirea has been the only person to truly accept me for being... me, not even my family did that.” He stood and stretched. “You really won’t run from your fate here?”

“I’m dead either way, I simply wish to enjoy my time left with Kirea,” Ren stated truthfully.

“That’s probably not going to be likely either.” Henry shook his head looking rather sad. “I better get going and check on her.”

“Is she okay?” Ren asked with a frown. “Why is she not able to come?”

Henry stiffened, he appeared to be thinking for a moment before he answered. “No. No Ren, she’s not okay. The King isn’t the only thing we need to worry about. She’s sick, really sick.”

Rendrick felt pain fill his chest cavity as his heart rate increased. “A human illness?”

“Yes, one that can’t be cured. I don’t know how long she has, but it’s getting worse.” Henry folded his arms across his chest as he watched the siren. “There’s only so much I can do for her and she’s bedridden right now.”

Ren’s eyes bulged. No, this he couldn’t accept. What happened to other people’s lives after he was gone didn’t concern him. But something about Kirea was twisting his resolve making him want to get involved in matters he really shouldn’t. If she was sick and there was something he could do about it, he would at least try. “I-I can help, though not without risk.”

Henry huffed rolling his eyes. “Sure you can-” He stopped talking as Ren approached the edge of the pool not too far from where he was standing. "I'll just carry you up the cliff side shall I?"

Ren heaved himself up out of the water, and with great effort, he heaved his tail out of the water and up onto the rocky ledge.

“What are you doing? You can’t come with m-” Henry cut himself off as his eyes widened in horror.

Ren raised a claw-like hand, looked at it for a moment while flexing his fingers then proceeded to stab the razer-like talons into his tail. What followed was the sounds of ripping flesh and an anguished grunt of pain as he relentlessly tore at his tail.

“REN! STOP!” Henry ran for him, skidded to his knees and grabbed hold of his claws. Henry’s mouth fell open as he watched what was happening below the siren’s waistline. Peeking through the torn flesh was soft pinkish skin.

Ren let out an anguished cry as he forced a knee to burst through his tail. He knew he had legs like the humans from what had happened to him when he had been assaulted. Though the females simply shed their tails making it look easy, he didn’t actually know how else to get his legs out.

The pain was blinding, but as Henry’s grip loosened allowing him to retrieve his hands, he continued to shred the scaly form from his legs. He tossed the fleshy pieces into the water, on impact meaty pieces of his tail sizzled and seemed to dissolve as though the water were made of acid, leaving nothing but a light foam behind.

“I-I can help,” Ren repeated breathing breathing heavily as he rolled over slightly to peel himself out of the rest of his tail. "You said you can protect me, prove it."

Henry, having seen him struggle, came to his aid, which surprised him. He clung to the human as he grunted as the back side of his tail separated from the fresh skin of his newly acquired limbs. The human helped him stand, he’d never actually used the legs before, this was a new and shaky experience.

Each movement made more scales fall from his body. Ren’s shaky hands reached for his ears next, and he saw Henry cringe as the tearing sounds continued. By the time they had taken a few steps together, Ren looked completely human, as though he had shed an outer layer.

“Ren, you okay? That-that looked painful.” Henry looked generally concerned for him.

He smiled with a half laugh. “Most males don’t survive mating for that very reason.” He added. “Come, you must take me to her.”

“I can’t.” Henry’s eyes drifted down to his hips, resting on his lower half. “Not like that.”

He glanced down at himself with a frown, oh right, he sighed. “Yes, I learned that humans do not like to be, what was the word... naked?”

Henry raised a brow, his eyes still lingering on a certain part of his body that was now clearly visible and wasn’t there before. “For now I can give you my shirt.” Helping Ren lean against the entrance he pulled the fabric over his head and handed it over.

Taking the material he looked at it oddly. It had holes, but which hole was meant for which limb? He proceeded to thread his arm through the neck opening with a confused expression.

Henry let out a disgruntled sigh and snatched it back. “Here...”

The human proceeded to dress him, the shirt was at least long enough to cover most of the exposed skin, reaching down to his upper thighs. Ren was a smaller man compared to Henry. But with Henry now shirtless it was easy to tell that the Knight had a finely sculpted body that was built for battle, Ren was a little envious, though he wasn’t without muscle he did feel a little dwarfed beside this man.

“But now your top half is naked like my bottom half?” Ren tilted his head pointing out the obvious as his eyes lingered on the man’s peeks.

The human groaned. “I’ll get more clothes for us when we reach the castle.”

Ren tugged on the bottom of the shirt with a nod. However, he couldn’t shake the feeling that leaving the cave was a bad idea. It didn’t matter, his concern mixed with the excitement of being able to see Kirea soon.

He wouldn’t be gone long and nothing bad could happen in that time right...

And plus he was wearing the human's shirt. He sniffed it. The human's scent was helping to mask his own, but for how long?