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Croix sighed as Izumi went off in her Nippon speak. He picked up a few words here and there, but not even an anime veteran like Croix could translate it all. Whatever the case, she hung up the phone and looked at him.

"Kundiman, Zumi. Kundiman. Do you know where she is?" Croix reiterated, not letting his impatience show at all. His smile smoothed over any doubts.

He had to get the sample, and time was running out. If Izumi couldn't give him the information he needed, he'd have to find Kundiman by himself...But, the yacht was decently big, and the copter wasn't going to wait.

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I'm just a guy who's ill at ease and only knows how to write.

Madness - simply no way to live.

" Well, I saw Kundi near... Hmm... Now that you mention it Croix. It was a fairly long time ago... She was near the stairs near the cabins. " she smiled. " Let's go then. "

The maid walked off a bit ahead of Croix. " C'mon! We don't have all day. "

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“Own agendas….yeah.” The Captain’s response to his friend was unusually distant, yet this was to be expected in their relationship- one never being in quite the same world, nor the same echelon of society as the other. Lucien had simply stopped listening after it became apparent that Loren was going to be of little use and had started to idly polish the grip of the Kahr instead, he’d even managed to miss the question and so for some time the pair remained in silence, listening to the sounds around them.

From time to time, the lack of noise was suddenly punctuated by a scream, or the dulled pop of a pistol of some kind from somewhere above them. The Captain, knowing that his intervention would only cause contest with the rest of the group, remained quiet for about half an hour until one noise he couldn’t ignore pierced the stillness of the room. He looked down sharply and swung the side of his shirt to one side, the little screen at his belt that had alerted him earlier was flashing again with a message in bright red:
‘LOCAL ENCRYPTED MESSAGE- NO TRACE.”

No trace… Lucien frowned as he looked back up towards the door and subconsciously slipped the mini-pistol back into a belt-loop. No telecommunication was completely untraceable anymore, but for the rest of his team to not have a more exact trace than ‘local’, which could still mean back on the island, the Captain had very little to work with. “Loren, thanks for…well…whatever help it was you actually gave me. I’ll catch up with you properly sometime.”

That said, Lucien turned on the spot and wandered back through the door in which he had come, back out onto the side of a lower deck and then back towards where the gun crate had originally been stored. From there it took very little searching to find a few familiar faces, the conflicting Agency. As he moved in, Lucien made a point of catching a couple of passing eyes of the other team members. Dressed in black, the officer had little trouble blending with the crowd – a scruffy waiter or an over-dressed guest, perhaps- and was soon leaning casually against an internal wall to watch whatever happened next begin to unfold. Loren had mentioned people having their own agendas, it seemed now that no-one on this yacht had anything else to worry about except themselves. The Captain frowned lightly, but only after nodding politely to some suit whose face he recognised from the fraud squad wall- perhaps he would have to step in at some point.

Seth looked around the boat frantically as he heard a loud splash, as if something had been dropped into the water.
Why the hell did I miss?
'Damnit, where's Ri?' He yelled across the small boat, running to where he heard the splash. As that happened, he saw Ri surface, but the black shadow in the water not far behind. Quickly firing off a few more rounds before the thing got too close to Ri and seeing a sickening red shadow spread across the area, he quickly ran to grab one of the boat's backup Oars for if the engine failed. Holding the end of it, he pushed it out to where RI was swimming.
'Grab onto it, before the damn thing takes a bite out of you!' He yelled, scanning the surface for any more approaching Mermaids and grabbing his cellphone from his pocket, quickly pressing the speed dial number he'd set on earlier just in case - Donna Morgan's phone.
'Hello?'
'Mrs. Morgan?'
'Yes! Are you from the company we hired? If so, I have many complaints about the conduct of you-'
'Shut up. Now, I know what you or certain other people you know have done. Now you're going to listen to me here - You're commiting genocide. Mass murder. Your actions have not only cost the lives of a significant number of sentient creatures, but also the lives of human beings as well. Now, i'm giving you a warning - You either turn around and go back to shore, probably saving the lives of several people on that boat, and hand yourself into the police immediately for the murders of the people that were killed by the Mermaids immediately, or you can deal with me. And trust me, that will not be pleasant.'
'I have no idea what you're talking about and I certainly don't have time for your empty threats. Goodb-'
Seth heard the sound of a door being kicked open, Donna yelling something angrily about her makeup and the line going dead.
'Sounds like someone got there before me. Aww...'

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Van Hellsing Detective Agency - Hiring again!

Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here.
If You Have Already Abandoned Hope, Please Disregard This Signature.

Marvin felt the first kick of the Makeba into his shoulder. It was an uncommonly comforting feeling, though he wasn’t sure seeing the flinch in the mermaid body was. The three shots rang out and he quickly shoved his autorevolver back into his pants so that he might watch for another one.

Nothing. Sara kept the boat moving while Ri was suddenly busy with her computer. Seth, for his part seemed just as wary for his gun remained out and the other man’s eyes were intent upon the waves.

Marv rubbed his temples as he settled back into one of the cushioned seats, watching the water, but feeling rather certain that they’d winged the beast and it wouldn’t be back for more. Or at least, he hoped they’d not killed it. He couldn’t get the image of that slightly flirtatious smile with its shark like teeth and inhuman eyes. There was something comforting about friendly overtures from something that wasn’t like what he saw in the mirror every day.

Took him back to when things were a bit more complicated and a lot more innocent.

He’d just settled on the fact that they weren’t going to find mermaids now when a shout of alarm came from the fore of the boat. He twisted in time to see a flash of color and the splash of something large bodied entering the water, the trail of droplets still falling into their eyes from where the creature had apparently all but danced in front of the bow of the speedily moving ship.

The first hit wasn’t so much a surprise as it was an inevitability. He had already tensed and he reached quickly for a rail with one hand, out to steady Noelle with the other and to help her find something to hold onto. Sara, bumped from the driver’s seat swore and struggled back to the wheel, but the damage had been done and the boat was already settling into the water, ploughing the waves rather than skimming over.

They had managed a hit like that while the boat was moving, it couldn’t have been more than a glancing blow, but it was enough.

The next hit was far less glancing and quite direct. Marv was shouting at the medical officers to get down and grab the edges of the seats to keep themselves away from the edges, away from the water. He turned as he heard a shout from Sara, at least no one was panicking. But maybe they should have. A flash of scale and a splash and Marv had a clear picture of something which was neither flirtatious nor beautiful any longer. Those shark’s teeth were fully bared, eyes down to luminous slits, pupils widened like a prom queen on acid. Elongated fingers reached out. Marv hadn’t a chance to do more than take a breath and Ri was gone.

"She’s over!" he shouted. "Turn around!" and lunged to the other side of the boat, pulling his gun. Beside him, Seth was looking for more of them.

"Dammit, where’s Ri?" Seth snarled and Marv pointed the direction where she was, then saw her surface. The boat came back around as Marv and Alicia reached for the hard swimming Ri while Seth fired off shots before he shoved out an oar toward Ri.

"Just fire! Dammit!" Ri shouted an order and Seth let go the oar and stepped back.

Marv, unsure of what anyone else was doing, but for one of the girls grabbing hold of the oar, switched gears from reaching to kneeling on the back of the boat and firing a clip into the water. Sounds like a half drenched scream, warbled out and broke off. Something like blood filled the water and Marv twitched at the sight.

It was a damned secretarial position, not a butcher’s place. Still, seeing Ri’s expression, Marv threw cushions off of the back seat and withdrew the swim ladder, reaching over as beside him, the girls kept an eye on where the various ripples appeared on the water surface. The ladder slipped into place easily and Marv squeezed off another shot as Ri went under for a moment. He must have hit.. the mermaid because Ri’s face looked more enraged than hurt.

Still, as Ri reached for the ladder and Alicia reached to help the woman up, a high pitched humming began, bi-tonal and impossible to tell what direction it originated, all Marv could think as he kept the piece centered on the blood filled water around Ri's emerging form was that it couldn't be a good sound.

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‘What will my death be like?’ he thought- and knew at once
with abrupt certainty, that it would be just like his life:
... the same balance of bearables.
~Amis

Kundiman frowned at the still blank screen of the computer. She frowned a little more at the fact that the screen seemed a little lopsided now... actually, it looked as if she was looking at a wall from under a table, upsice down. What on Earth was going on? It looked like a simulation of... roll around the cabin or something.

She finally gave up waiting for them and instead moved towards the bathroom and started the shower. She needed to look good for the night, there were a lot of potential clients in the boat and there was nothing she wanted more than making more money... well there is spending that money on shoes but never mind.

She picked up her duffel bag and put it on top of the counter. She fished out creams and lotions and lined them all up in the counter according to their order of use. She also reached in and pulled out an evening gown fresh from the dry cleaning. She loved the gown. It clung to all the right places, its material giving the ilussion that cloth was skin... or in this case, scale. It was blue green and sparkly. It made her look like a mermaid. She put her strappy, silver stilhetto shoes beside it. She reached in for the set of jewelry that went with the ensemble and frowned when she found it open. She opened the box and saw one missing earring. She dug into the bag for the missing one. She frowned when she found another thing instead of the earring. She read the letter and shrugged then began digging through until she found the earring.

She peeled off her swim suit and stood under the shower for a while without moving, enjoying the hard and biting spray of the water on her face.

***
She stepped out of the bathroom completely made up. The dress clung as she knew it would. It haltered around her neck. Earrings sparkled. Her hair was lose behind her, arranged artistically to frame her face. She was breathtaking. She would have enjoyed looking at herself more in the mirror if it weren't for the fact that a body, a chunky, Donna Morgan's body lay facing her from the floor beside the bed. She was gagged, tied up and obviously furious about it.

"I don't remember ordering people to beat up." she said. Kundiman stared at the struggling woman. She also noticed the already darkening left temple. "I guess Nicky decided to give you a hickey." she reached for the top drawer just above the woman's head. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna get mad, that man and I are not together anymore, that was just a ploy to get you guys to... well, I don't really know, because it started with me wanting to find out more about our married gay secretary. Next thing I know Nick was strolling in in those swimming trunks..." Kundiman applied lip shimmer and popped her lips in the mirror. "Well, I guess you're not interested, you're married. Your husband seems a lot interested though." She straightened and twirled in front of the mirror one more time. "In me and Izumi, not Nick, just so you know. Anyway, I might borrow one of your life rafts so I could visit my friends on the other boat. See you later." she waved and smiled at the woman who was struggling more and more.

The door to her room opened before she could reach it. She had her hand on her small gun before the door had completely slid open. She didn't know if he was speechless because she was so beautiful or because she had a gun pointed at his face. Again.

Kundiman smiled at the situation. Of course he was speechless because she was beautiful. The man always had guns pointed at his face. He was probably so used to it by now. "Well now honey, that's the second time you've surprised me enough to point a gun at your face." she said as she lowered her gun. "You're exactly on time, I was gonna go look for you. We need to get the others and check out what's rocking the boat, literally on the other boat." She approached Croix but stopped when he didn't move away from the door.

"Is there something wrong? Did you see Izumi? Nick? We need to move, fast, the Vatican boys had taken off and we need to plan everything without them in the equation. Not that, of course, we had a plan but-" Kundiman's brows furrowed when Croix seemed to be looking at everything at the room then at her. "Is there something wrong?" she asked.

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...some people are only alive because it is illegal to kill them...

The hell? Ri was glaring daggers at their new secretary. The man had nearly shot her. Didn't he know how to aim? Having a personal gun obviously meant he did, right? Or maybe she was just over reacting, the fact that she'd been caught so easily was so humiliating and very irksome.

"Anger Transference." Words from her memory floated into her mind.

Ri felt even more annoyed. Damnable mermaid! Making me remember things. Friggin' Ariel! Aren't you suppose to be happy to interact with humans? Ri boarded the boat and glared into the blood stained water. "How dare you try to bite me back!" As if it wasn't disgusting enough to bite you. Yuck.

The sudden abnormal keening that was coming from the bloody water made her pause --made them all pause. "What the hell is that?" Everyone looked to each other and then back to the water. "Eau! The water!" Everyone could see but she just had to say it.

Through the water and bloos, they could see the traces of blood entering what could pass for nasal passages in the mermaids. And what happened after was like a scene straight from a happy fantasy film gone wrong. What was already an unearthly beauty was turning into unearthly ugliness. Teeth were getting sharper (like they weren't sharp enough?), the eyes were getting wider, the look in them crazier.

Things were not looking good. Just then, the mermaids suddenly swam around and underneath the boat. The dead one was sinking further into the deep. "I guess...shooting wasn't a good idea?" The blood had obviously made things worse. Everyone grew on alert and stood in a circle, their backs facing each other, and with their eyes on the water. "Seth or Marv, someone, contact Kundiman. They have to know." Damn. As if flesh eating Ariel wasn't bad enough. Cursed their stupid blood!

With a sudden screech, one of the mermaids decided to do a Free Willy and jumped over the boat, webbed claws at a ready. Avoiding the attack, everyone jumped out of its way. Water followed and hit them in the face.

"That...was one heck of jump."

Taking one more step back, Ri spat out the water and wiped her ace with a hand. She backed up again, and this time felt something familiar beneath her feet. Staring down, her eyes grew wide and her jaw dropped in surprise. My....My....lap....My laptop. Beneath her feet lay her notebook, fizzing with water. The earlier splash had clearly damaged her most precious possession --never mind that she always had a backup of everything in it. Her eye beginning to twitch, she slowly looked about the boat. The ammuntion was somewhere on deck.

That mermaid's gonna pay.

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Noelle jumped at Seth's gunshot before turning to Ri. "Oh my God! Are you alright?" she asked quickly while giving her a glance over and making sure that she was alright. "Damn, sorry about the laptop, you can always borrow mine if you want," she suggested as she quickly stuffed the painkillers she had found in the first aid kit into her mouth.

She glanced around frantically, "please tell me that those b******* are going for now," her tone was scared, "because I really don't like the feeling I'm getting from this at all."

She looked at Seth, her expression of fear written clearly on her face, she really didn't like what was going on whatsoever, then again, she hadn't liked anything much since the manangal incident anyway. She sighed and walked over to Seth, "maybe we should head for safety, before we lose any limbs this time," she said with a nervous laugh.

((Sorry for the delay, had family issues and such to deal with, and Kilana was busy with her internet being down))

Damn that Croix! Nicky was busy dragging the unsconscious form of Donna from the Morgan's cabin when he heard footsteps and voices coming from the opposite passageway. Some people just happen to have excellent timing.

Nicky dragged Donna to the side of the yacht overlooking the sea and propped up her figure and made it lean against him. It wasn't that easy considering the weight of the woman but he managed to make them seem like a couple dancing uncaring of the outside world.

Eventually, he was able to distinguish the voice of Richard and Izumi. Apparently Richard was helping Izumi out for something. Nicky cocked his head sideways when the couple entered the cabin and let out a chuckle. Richard had gotten too much to handle this night.

Nicky resumed dragging the woman to more secure territory after a few seconds. Fortunately they were near his cabin when the woman started giving signs of consciousness.

"Richard?" she said weakly.

"Shh, plumpkin..." Nicky finally got her inside the room.

"What happened? Where am I?" She asked. Too bad she couldn't be like this most of the time - Dumb ... and innocent.

Nicky didn't say anything but quickly bound her arms together. Using pillow casing wasn't as effective as handcuffs but there were no other alternatives. He tried double loops and made sure it was as tight as hell. She'd survive it of course but the pain...

She was obviously jolted wide awake when she screamed in response to what he did. She tried to struggle and free her hands but was way past that part.

"You @#)(*&% asshole. I'm gonna sue for this. I swear I will." She screamed at him.

Nicky merely looked at her curiously before lifting the gun from his jacket and pointing it at her. "I'm afraid that you've forgotten who has the gun Mrs. Morgan." That shut her up.

"Now before we come to an amicable agreement, you have to know that my first condition is that you and your husband must stop this business of yours hunting mermaids. "

She spat on him but missed. Nicky sidestepped the goo and hit her softly.

"That's not nice Mrs. Morgan. I see that you have to have more restraints, just in case."

Nicky set aside his gun and grabbed another piece of cloth. He bent down and bound her legs but it wasn't enough to stop her from spitting at him again. Nicky stood up and sifted through his luggage to grab a small hunting knife he brought for the trip.

"Ahh... I'm afraid you have to be better than that." Nicky smiled and slashed her on the cheek. She screamed. She let out a stream of curses. Nicky gagged her.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A few minutes later, Nicky came out of the room carrying yet again an unconscious Mrs. Morgan. He needed Kundiman to deal with her for further negotiations. Basically, he was amazed at how effective the regenerative properties of mermaid ingestion was. A few slashes here and there and flesh started mending itself.

It wasn't long before Nicky decided to ask about their supplies of "meat" and the like. A few well placed cuts were enough to make Donna reveal some basic information, like where the Morgans' storage room was.

He carried the woman to Kundiman's cabin. It was actually an easier task since the guests were mingling at the party. Nicky found the room empty save the sounds from the shower. He lay Donna on the bed for Kundi to find. He had to check out a lead in the storage room.

Izumi led Croix to Kundiman's cabin. Since the woman(Kundi), wasn't near the stairs, she thought that her boss would be in her room getting ready for the party. The maid turned around to Croix. " She's probably in here. You guys go on ahead. I need to get some fresh air after all this commotion. I'll also look out for the Agency's boat while I'm at it. "

She left Croix behind at the door and proceeded to head to the deck. The sea breeze, combined with the dazzling moonlight above and the shimmering effect it had on the water brought a strange calm to Izumi's senses. She crossed her arms and looked at the dark blue sky above her. Her relaxation was cut short when she heard scraping on the floor behind her. What made matters worse was the sound of water dripping and an odd salty-oceanic smell.

Turning back, Izumi was met with a tail fin to the face. The woman was flung a few feet away from where she was standing. In front of her was a creature that was no longer considered a mermaid. It's jaws were almost similar to that of an angler fish, complete with rows of needle like teeth. The larger eyes, there were at least two extra small ones and a large extra on the right, though they looked milky-white naturally was giving off an odd red glow. The creature's left arm had grown a fin-like blade that curved up to it's shoulder. On it's hunched up back was a rather large dorsal fin that reached to the end of it's now more serpentine tail.

Izumi stood up and wiped the blood off her mouth. She stared at the creature silently and paused for a moment. Silence filled their area of battle except for the creatures breathing. The deck had become their arena and the sky filled stars and the moon their audience. The woman breathed in and took a step forward.

The beast charged.

The clashing of blades made a strange orchestrated music in the silence of the deck. Looking at the battle would make you think that these two creatures were dancing in the moonlight. Each of their movements precise. If anyone of them would commit a single error means the end of their life. Izumi made a run for the wall and the creature took after her. Timing her movements, the woman threw her daggers at the wall in front of her. Using her weapons as leverage, she leaped into the air and somersaulted back to the creature, four daggers on each hand. She threw them at the creature: Two were deflected by the beast, three struck it's body, and two landed behind it. The creature looked up to see Izumi, the moon glowing brightly behind her as she held the last dagger. Time seemed to slowdown as the woman landed behind the creature. A split millisecond later, blood spurted out of the creature's throat. The beast, taking it's last gulp of air, fell down on the flood with a thud.

Izumi closed her eyes at a moment of repose for her opponent. " Such innocent creatures corrupted by the greed of man. May you take you have your peace. " She turned around to see the fallen mermaid. What greeted her was a fin blade. She swerved to the right but it was too late. The creature had slashed Izumi's left arm. The maid reached for one of the knives that she had thrown earlier before rolling to the side to get the last one. The beast still moved even as a knife had pierced it's throat, it weakly lumbered towards Izumi. The woman stepped back and threw her last knives at the mermaid. The fallen siren leaped in response to the attack and headed blade first to Izumi. Izumi closed her eyes, thinking it was her final moments. She fell to the floor, the creature on top of her.

Drip drip drip

Izumi opened one eye to see that the last two knives had hit the target's throat. Blood slowly dripped from the creatures mouth and into Izumi's forehead. She stared at the creatures eyes and sworn that it was crying. The maid crawled out from under the beast. She took out a large knife and knelt down near the creature's left arm. " I'm sorry but I think you won't be needing this anymore. " She cut the fin-blade off the mermaid, put it aside, and took out several small vials. The maid knelt down and collected the tears from the creature before limping back to her boss.

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