Under the water, Eve caught sight of the colourful fishes that swam below and next to her, a smile spread on her lips as she continued to swim.
Wondering what Vincent was up to, she surfaced above the water and swam towards the river bank. She placed her forearms on the river bank and looked for him.
Vincent had removed his thick black coat and had rolled up his sleeves until his elbow. Eve saw him raise the axe and chop the wood into two halves. He must be cutting them for fire, Eve thought in her mind.
Even though Vincent did something that a lower-class man would be doing, the pureblooded vampire didn't look poor because of his appearance and those red eyes. He chopped the woods with ease, and she admired him from a distance. A soft sigh escaped from her lips. He was too handsome that, at times, she found it unbelievable that a person like him existed. But then, to balance it came his craziness, she thought, and a small smile appeared on her lips.
As if sensing her gaze, Vincent turned and looked at her. He asked her, "Is the water not up to your liking?"
Eve shook her head, "It is good."
Vincent collected the logs of wood that he had cut in his arms, carrying it to the cave. After a minute, he stepped out of the cave and went to where she was with towels in his hand. The water covered Eve up until her chest, and her dampened hair spread over her shoulders, letting him see her delicate shoulders.
"You should enjoy it before the snow starts to fall again. Within a few days the weather is going to turn harsh and soon most of the water bodies around us," Vincent advised her, and he watched Eve's fluke waver under the water. He knelt with one of his knees touching the ground, leaned forward and pressed his lips on her wet forehead. "I will watch you."
Eve felt warm at Vincent's gestures and thoughts, which made her smile, and she moved her hands away from the ground and immersed herself below the water's surface.
Just as he promised, Vincent watched her from where he sat. He didn't want the shadow of darkness to cloud her heart and instigate it to switch to a siren. Though he had sworn to protect and love her however she was, precautions didn't hurt. With the Hookes who planned to have a soiree to announce the wedding, he didn't want to cause a ripple in the calm water.
He watched his beautiful mermaid dive in and out of the water as if playing with the other fishes. He murmured, "What do you think you are doing..."
It had been a long time since Eve had let go of the fear of having to watch her back. Now that Vincent was here, she could let go of the worry. When she surfaced back and turned to look at him, she noticed him not there anymore. A slight frown appeared on her forehead, and her blue eyes turned worried as she reached for him.
But Eve didn't find Vincent to be anywhere.
Suddenly something sharp touched her bare back and she gasped. She heard Vincent's voice behind her, "What if someone kidnapped me, you would be in trouble." She turned and noticed him raise a stick in his hand.
"Anyone who wants to kidnap you has a death wish," Eve muttered. She caught sight of his bare chest and strong shoulders, realising that she had failed to notice the pile of his clothes that he had left on the ground next to hers.
Vincent and Eve stared at each other in each other's eyes in silence. As it wasn't their first time being naked in the water, the mermaid didn't seem as embarrassed as she was in the past.
"You didn't tell me what you wanted for your wedding. How you want it," Vincent remarked, and Eve shook her head.
"Just a simple one do. For a person like me, who thought I would always watch others marry, while I stand at the back, I don't want much. Just you will do," Eve answered, feeling Vincent's steady gaze where he failed to blink like before. "How do you want it?" She asked him.
"I never dreamt about my wedding, my Eve. Not until you were able to manage to sneak into my heart. I am thinking of something big, for the whole world to know that you are now mine. It will also avoid having to kill people who would thoughtlessly try to harm you," Vincent's eyes slightly turned darker, and he moved closer to Eve as they kept themselves afloat above the water's surface. "Will that be okay with you?"
Eve breathed out the fog, feeling under his spell. She responded, "The killing or the wedding?"
A crooked smile appeared on his lips, his fangs in sight and the corners of his eyes crinkled, "Both. You know, I am fairly a sane person, but people often have a knack to step on my nerves."
"You don't tell, Mr. Moriarty," Eve answered, narrowing her eyes a little. After a few seconds, she asked him, "Everything will go well, won't it?"
"More than well. Forgive me for the discomfort in between. Bear with it a little," Vincent assured her, and she nodded.
He had taken the blame for Lady Camille's murder away from her and on himself; it was the least she could do. How many women or men were willing to sacrifice themselves for their partners? She couldn't forget the day when the siren had been captured by the guards of Meadow and the siren's human husband had abandoned her. Life wasn't easy for outcasts.
'And then in the sea of people, I found you', Eve murmured in her mind, while looking at Vincent, 'Shining like a bright pearl, and all I could see was you, and no one else'.
Vincent asked her, "Did you try turning yourself to a siren?"
Eve shook her head, "I don't think it is possible to switch between mermaid and siren."
"I would agree but your gold eyes say otherwise," Vincent stated, and Eve looked down at the reflection of her eyes in the water. As the water wavered, she couldn't take a good look at it and only saw golden specks waver. "There have been a few cases where mermaids turned into sirens, similar to how vampires or werewolves turn into rogues. But you being a special case as your mother gave her siren blood to you, it might be different for you."
Eve looked beneath the water at her mermaid body. She was unprepared to see her siren side.
"You will know your siren side is taking over when your gold eyes turn into snake-like slits," Vincent informed her, and said, "If you can control both the sides, who knows, you might be able to fuse things you need and turn into another being of the sea."
After a few seconds, Eve asked him, "Once the Hooke thing settles down, do you think we can take a trip to the sea?"
"Anything you want."
