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She didn’t want him bringing up her hopes and taking her to look at the small ones contained in the bowls.

“I don’t mind if you want to buy a small fish. It will save money,” came Vincent’s vague answer.

Where they stood now, people walked up and down the path. Some gave looks at Eve, while some stared at the vampire with a head full of silver hair that resembled the lonely moon in a starless sky.

Eve hoped he was talking about the captured mermaid, and if he was, she wondered what had changed his mind in the last two hours. His earlier words had been harsh and straight, but here they were. On time, the tower bell next to them started to ring, loud and clear across the town of Hollow Valley. Vincent said,

“Let us go buy her before someone else does, shall we?”

Eve quickly followed Vincent’s footsteps, keeping up with his long legs as they walked away from the crowded part of the Hollow Valley. When the presence of the people turned scarce near them, she asked him,

“Do you know where the mermaid is being held?”

“Mhm,” Vincent hummed an answer and Eve’s mood brightened like a child. “Stay behind me and don’t talk or react if something happens. It would be hard to buy you back if you get caught. Okay?”

She nodded. This was the first time she would be meeting her kind and talking, knowing the person was a mermaid. Helping the mermaid back to where she belonged felt like the right thing to do. They walked through the expensive parts of the town before coming to narrow dark alleys.

Eve said, “I never knew this town had alleys like these.” It was because the place looked shady, as if bad things took place here.

“Every rich place has a spot like this. Just like every wealthy family or person holds a dark secret,” Vincent gave her a look when their eyes met before he looked ahead.

“Are you telling you or your family have a dark secret too? Like how you killed the governess?”

A slow smile spread on Vincent’s lips. He said,

“I guess you could say that,” there was humour in his eyes, which wasn’t one with goodness. As they continued walking, he said, “You could tell that these are the places the merchants mostly use, or where you would like to buy special or rare things from. It holds high end goods that are hidden from plain eyesight and can only be heard from word of mouth. Like bidding on an item, which in the open wouldn’t look pretty.”

“It’s good to know that people have a bit of conscience,” Eve murmured and Vincent smiled while he ran his tongue over one of his fangs.

They continued to walk through the narrow alleys and reached the place where they couldn’t hear any more chatter of people coming from the town’s centre. With a night that had fallen upon the lands, one could hear crickets chirping and frogs croaking.

Vincent stopped in front of a building. On noticing a lock on the door, Eve said,

“It is locked. The merchant isn’t here yet.”

“I can see that,” said Vincent, looking left and right with no one. He raised his foot and kicked open the door, for the door to bang open and hit the wall. “Now it’s open,” he offered her a bright smile.

Eve warily looked around before following him inside the building. She asked in worry, “Master Vincent, I don’t think eighty gold coins will be enough to buy a mermaid.”

“Is that so?” Vincent continued to walk inside the building.

Eve pursed her lips and continued walking behind him without question. She wondered where the mermaid was held. When Vincent went up the dark stairs to take a look, she looked through the ground floor of the building.

“Eve,” Vincent called her while climbing down the stairs.

“Did you find the mermaid?” Asked Eve.

“She’s not here. I didn’t want you getting lost and had to check you were still here,” a grin cracked on Vincent’s lips and he said, “The address was this place. Hm.”

Vincent’s eyes fell on a closed cupboard, and he opened it, noticing it was a passage to the next building. They bent their upper body, walking through the dusty passage before stepping into the other building. And there was the mermaid.

“We found her!” whispered Eve, noticing the mermaid was young. She was probably in her early teenage years and confined in a small glass tank.

When Eve ran toward the mermaid, the girl looked at her and the vampire in a fearful look. The young mermaid’s had green scales and a translucent green tail. The water in the tank was unclean, mixed with dirt and a hint of pink.

“Who are you…?” The young mermaid looked scared.

“We are here to help you,” Eve’s words were gentle, and the young mermaid’s eyes widened.

“You understand me,” the mermaid was in shock and for a moment, Eve was lost before it dawned on her. She turned to Vincent and asked,

“Did I–”

“Speak in mermaid language?” Asked Vincent and he gave her a nod. “It’s why I told you earlier to not speak. You will only bring in more attention to yourself. Considering how you are a mermaid, it is obvious that understanding the language runs in your blood which you aren’t aware of and probably have no control when it slips out.”

This was brand new information to Eve, and she decided to venture into it later once they helped this mermaid. She said,

“My name is Genevieve. You can call me Eve.”

The young mermaid’s eyes shifted from Eve to Vincent before looking back at Eve. She replied, “Isla.”

Eve asked Isla, “How did you come here? Do you know where you come from?”

Isla gave a confused look and said, “From the tank. How do you have legs?”

“I… Every mermaid can have legs if they use certain salts,” replied Eve. She turned to Vincent, who was staring at the two women. She said to him, “She must have been caught when she was very young and she has been living in the tank since then.”

“Not every mermaid can adapt like you. She probably had limited exposure which is why she doesn’t understand the human language,” stated Vincent and he said, “I think luck isn’t with you today, Eve.”

“What do you mean?” Eve asked him.

Suddenly the door to the building they were standing in opened, and in came the merchant whom Eve had seen and heard speak about possessing a mermaid when she was with Rosetta. He looked upset and angrily demanded,

“How did you two come here?! The door was locked,” the merchant quickly came to stand next to the tank inside where the young mermaid was.

“The door was broken,” said Vincent, confusing the merchant. “We are here to buy the mermaid.”

“She is not for sale!” Replied the merchant. Eve noticed the young mermaid move and catch hold of the merchant’s hand as if trying to seek comfort. The mermaid, Isla, looked scared of her and Vincent, not the merchant. “She goes nowhere. I am the one who raised her and she’s my property. Go find another mermaid.”

During that time, Isla turned to the merchant and said, “Do you know she’s a mermaid too and she has legs like you.”

For a moment, Eve turned worried before realising the merchant didn’t understand a word the young mermaid said to him. This was what Vincent meant. To the mermaid, this merchant was whom she depended on and was her caretaker. And that was despite the evident trace of scars and wounds inflicted on her body, which was why the tank had a tinge of pink in it.

“She is my mermaid, and I am not letting anyone take her away from me! Don’t you see that you are scaring her,” the merchant pointed, and the mermaid held on to the merchant’s hand, not wanting to part with the man.

This was the last thing that had occurred in Eve’s mind when she decided to save this mermaid.