Oh, Bite Me (Guardians of the Deep 1)

“Control yourselves,” Thane ordered. “Don’t eat anything that’s still alive. Dead things are fair game.”

It wasn’t the most pleasant thing to say, but they were sharks, and they needed to eat. Allowing them to pick up some of the pieces was the only decent thing to do. In fact, it was the only thing that would keep them from losing it and eating living humans. Once tempted with blood, the hunger would become too strong to stop themselves from eating.

The first thing Thane saw was a leg with a converse tennis shoe attached to it. His stomach growled, and he thought of gulping that leg down, but he needed all his senses, and if the hunger took over, he might make bad decisions.

The head of a girl with a blonde ponytail got in his way so he pushed through it and found more arms, legs, faces, and bloody torsos in the water. Through the murky water, Thane swam upward toward the surface and saw the frantically kicking legs and waving of hands as college kids tried to grab hold of anything they could to stay afloat and get out of the water.

One of Evelyn’s sharks swam right in front of him and ate the foot of one kid and the hand of another. Both screamed and fell into the water. Another of Evelyn’s sharks scooped them up, tearing into the face of one kid and the body of the other. It was a bloodbath.

“Kill all of Evelyn’s sharks,” Thane said to his gang. “Every single one!”

It was the first time he’d ever said such a thing. Killing his own, especially one who used to be his lover, had always seemed wrong, but now…after seeing this…she deserved to die. They all did. From somewhere up above, Thane heard gunshots and he knew Keelan was doing his duty. As much as he hated to admit it, they were on the same team right now.

“Got one,” Kino said, “but he took a fucking bite out of me. A good one. I’m hurt.”

“How bad?” Thane asked.

“I’ll live,” he replied. “But another one like that and I’m in trouble.”

“Do you want to head home?”

“No fucking way,” Kino replied. “I see another one. Going in.”

“Got one,” Faith said.

Faith was the toughest of his sharks. She was fucking ruthless in the water and he’d seen her in a bar fight once in human form. She was nasty then too. She didn’t give a shit about competition. Man, woman, she’d fight anyone disrespectful. She’d been begging Thane for years to let her loose on Evelyn.

“Ohhh doggy!” Rickshaw said. “This is fun!”

“Don’t be a show off, babe,” Paisley told her husband.

“If I find Evelyn, she’s mine,” Faith warned.

“If you find her, take her,” Thane said as he shot at one of Evelyn’s sharks, the one with a missing eye, and tore his teeth into the shark’s dorsal fin, ripping it off before circling around quickly and chomping down on the shark’s snout. This one was out of commission before he knew what hit him.

***

Poet stood next to Penny as they both tried to catch a glimpse of what was going on. The screaming was so loud that even from as far away as they were sitting, she could hear them. She said a silent prayer that Thane would be okay, and that he might find Evelyn quickly. If this ended tonight, she wouldn’t have to get on that plane home.

“Wicked, isn’t it?”

Her voice broke through the air and sounded almost musical in its cheerfulness, as if she were singing them out. Penny whipped her head around to see Evelyn standing on the boat, stark naked, dripping wet. The nude bitch wrapped her wet hair around in one hand and then leaned over and grabbed Poet’s pen out of his hand and shoved it through her hair, creating an on-the-spot bun.

Poet didn’t budge. He was as shocked at her arrival as Penny.

“Penny, go below deck,” Poet told her.

“No, don’t move,” Evelyn said. “Please. We should talk.”

“Talk about?” Penny asked.

“How about the fact that you hit me in the face with a fucking beer bottle the other night,” she said, pointing at a small scar at the top of her forehead. “How about that?”

“Some bitches deserve to get hit,” Penny replied.

“Is that right?” Evenly asked.

“That’s right,” Penny said.