A proud Rosetta stood in front of the large tank, where the older mermaid watched them. She turned to her aunt, who stood next to her and said, "What do you think, Aunt Camille? Isn't it great that I finally found you a mermaid."
Rosetta had brought her aunt to the assigned place where the two merchants held the two mermaids. Both younger and the older mermaids were kept in the same room for the customers' differed taste.
Lady Camille stepped in front of the tank, taking a closer look at the mermaid. She hummed in a half-hearted approval and said, "An average mermaid, Rosetta. Not a quality one. If the mermaid was high quality, the mermaid would already be in one of the wealthy families or long dead."
Rosetta slightly frowned and questioned, "But she's still a mermaid and her blood must taste better than the human's, isn't it?" She noticed how the mermaid stared at her. Her red eyes shifted to the other tank, which was kept a few metres apart.
"Talking about humans, did you bite into that human's neck?" Lady Camille questioned her niece while she continued to observe the mermaid to see if the fish was worth buying, as money wasn't an issue for her. It had been long since she had been able to take a sip or more from a water creature, and remembering how it tasted made her mouth water.
Rosetta laughed, "We didn't spend much time together, Auntie. Not to mention it has been a while since we last met."
Lady Camille turned to look at her naive niece. She said, "It is good to hear that you are finally listening to my advice, Rosetta. A company like that is not fit for you and you will only be chasing the remaining friendship that you have here away from you. After all, we aren't humans who belong to the lower-class, but high-class vampires."
Rosetta nodded without replying to her aunt's words. Because the last thing she needed was for her aunt to send her back to her parents. At least in Skellington, she had a little freedom, thought the young vampiress.
One of the merchants approached them and asked the older vampiress, "Would you like to sample the blood? I have already drawn out some so that it can save time."
Lady Camille raised her hand, stopping the merchant from speaking more and said, "Do you think we are lowly vampires to drink blood in such fashion? We would like to taste directly from the source. Take this," she threw him a pouch which contained money in it.
At the mention and sight of money, the merchant complied with the vampiress's request. Soon the older mermaid's hand was stretched out, and Lady Camille took a bite from the mermaid's hand, sipping the blood. She licked her bloody lips and after a thought, said,
"We will take her."
"Milady--"
"Another bag full of coins will be handed when the mermaid comes under my complete possession," Lady Camille interrupted him. In a week, her brother would be visiting Skellington, and she wanted to serve him something good. Though the mermaid in front of her wasn't one of quality, she was still a mermaid, better than human blood.
Rosetta was too eager and took a bite from the mermaid's hand.
And while all this took place, outside the building and in front of a broken window Eve stood in front of it. She and Vincent had made their way back to check the boy's words, and it seemed like there was more than one mermaid. Right now, she witnessed Rosetta enjoy the mermaid's blood she drank with closed eyes.
"Looks like the mermaid won't be entering the circus fair as she has somewhere else to be," remarked Vincent, who stood next to her.
Eve turned to Vincent and asked, "Do you think the mermaid we met must have spoken to her already about me?"
"I am not sure, I wasn't with them," Vincent offered her a bright smile before the smile disappeared. He said, "But my guess is it would be better to remove the root than let something grow so big that it becomes hard to manage. The last time we did it according to you, and this time we will do things how I want."
Before coming here, Vincent had made her promise that she would listen to him and not do anything. She asked him, "What do you plan to do?"
"You will see."
Back inside the building, Rosetta wiped her lips and nodded, "It tastes wonderful."
Lady Camille said, "Bring the mermaid to Skellington. Here is the address," she handed the merchant a little piece of parchment.
"Milady, we'll be able to bring her tomorrow morning. We will need to make arrangements to shift her without any damage," the merchant bowed his head.
"You better not run away, unless you don't want your head on your shoulders," threatened Lady Camille.
"I will be there first thing in the morning! Please be assured that this mermaid will be delivered in a great condition and is yours," the merchant offered the politest and most charming smile on his face that only looked suspicious.
"Come, Rosetta. We are leaving," said Lady Camille, and the young vampiress followed her aunt out of the building. Lady Camille's carriage had been pulled and parked three alleys away from the building.
Eve and Vincent stood in a place where the two vampiresses didn't notice them. Vincent said,
"Stay here."
"Can I come?" Asked Eve. Vincent finished the cigar he had been smoking, dropping it on the ground before trampling it.
"You are safe with me, but do you want to come?" Vincent questioned her, and Eve wondered if it was a trick question for her. "I will be back soon. Don't go wandering around."
Eve watched Vincent leave her side and step into the building, and the earlier merchant they had spoken to appeared at the front. The merchant demanded, "Didn't I tell you that my mermaid isn't for sale?"
"I didn't know you were selling another mermaid," Vincent walked past the merchant and came to look at the older mermaid that looked back at him in curiosity.
"She belongs to Buck, not me. She just got sold," said the merchant.
At that time, the younger mermaid, who caught sight of the silver-haired vampire called the other mermaid and said,
"He is the one who came earlier, threatening to take me from here. He's the one with the mermaid."
The younger mermaid's sounds didn't go unnoticed by Vincent. The older mermaid came near Vincent and placed her hand on the glass. The older mermaid's eyes brightened.
"What's going on?" Questioned the merchant named Buck, who had left the place for a brief moment to keep the money he had received from the vampiress. He noticed the vampire in expensive clothes. It seemed like he was feeling lucky to be getting wealthy customers.
The younger mermaid continued to talk to the older mermaid, which started to annoy the merchants with her squeaky voice.
"Shut up!" Isla's merchant shouted at her because he couldn't take the sounds. "You need to leave," said the first merchant, placing his hand on Vincent's shoulder.
The older mermaid came out of the water and said to Vincent, "I hear that you want to free us. You will need to kill the merchants because I have already been paid for," she smiled at him.
The older mermaid's merchant glared at her and then glared at Vincent. He said, "The mermaid has been sol--" he gasped on seeing the other merchant's heart been pulled out and thrown on the ground. "N-no, no, you can take them both. Just have to pay two hundred coins--Forget it, take the mermaid for free!" Stuttered the man while walking backwards.
"How does it feel to be scared, Bucky?" The older mermaid laughed. "I will be free and go back to the sea."
"I didn't do anything! P-please don't hurt me! I won't sell them again!"
Vincent clicked his tongue, "I like to clean than leave bread crumbs. Bad day for work."
Eve watched through the broken window, where Vincent pulled out the second merchant's heart, leaving the man's chest bleeding like the other person on the ground.
Isla was shocked, "What did you tell the vampire! You killed them both!"
"Close your mouth. You can continue living in that tank, but I am leaving," replied the older mermaid. She placed her arms to rest on the tank's edge and spoke sweetly to Vincent, "I am in need of salts to be able to walk..." her voice trailed when she noticed something off with this vampire.
Vincent ran his hand across the mermaid's cheek lovingly and said, "That won't be needed, darling."
The older mermaid's smile slipped when Vincent's hand moved to the back of her head and gripped her hair tightly to stop her from moving. He said, "I am here to stop you from talking for good."
Hearing Vincent's words, Eve's eyes widened, and she left the window's side and ran to where he and the other two mermaids were. By the time she reached, she saw Vincent sink his teeth into the older mermaid's neck and rip the flesh from the neck before tearing off the neck from the mermaid's body. The water in tank turned red from the blood, and Vincent remarked,
"I must say vampires lack taste these days."
Seeing Vincent not bat an eyelash when it came to killing people was something Eve wasn't used to, and it turned her dizzy. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth and down his neck.
Eve's legs shook at seeing the mermaid's dead body in the tank. She walked towards the tank, noticing the mermaid's body change, and so did her face, turning paler and less attractive. Soon jagged teeth appeared in the severed head's mouth that floated on the water's surface. It was a siren.
