The water was so cold it stung her as she knifed down into the freezing depths, her mind immediately going to the thought of sharks and she twisted, searching the water, but there was nothing.
Looking up, she swam upwards enough so that she could see everything that was around her with enough time to react, but was deep enough to make it difficult for them to get to her. Relaxing slowly, she allowed herself to hang still in the water, watching her hair and dress moving in the waves.
She couldn't help but smile as she imagined the rage and fury from above her, knowing she would be impossible to find in the water. They had lost her as the plan had called for, and she was safe, at least for a few more months.
Surely, they would leave her alone for that long?
She hoped so.
Waving her hands in the water, she watched silently while her fingers began to wrinkle and glancing up, gauging the movements of the sun.
Deciding it had been long enough, she started for the surface and looked up for the plateau. There was no one up there that she could see, and she swam for the beach, delighting in their success.
Dragging herself up onto the sand, she flopped onto her back and looked up at the sky, laughing gently to herself and then shrieked when a big wet tongue lapped her foot.
Kicking out at him, thinking for one blinding instant that it was a shark, she found the laughing dog face of Hunter.
He grinned at her and then flopped down on top of her, crushing her under his weight.
"They should have used you to hold me down…" she wheezed.
He huffed, wriggling around until he was on his back, his long paws in the air.
He stayed there until Vincent came to rescue her several hours later.
"That was close…" Vincent said as he stood over them, his brow lifted as he looked down at the two of them.
"Get him off me, he stinks like wet dog," she complained, but Vincent only grinned and sat down at her side, grabbing a strand of her hair and using it to tickle her nose until she swore at him at top volume. The two men laughed for a good ten minutes before Hunter finally rolled off her and she was able to sit up.
"What was said?" she demanded, but Vincent was studying the area. Reaching out, he took her hand and Hunter by the scruff of the neck. The world fading around them and they were back in the cave.
Malik tackled her, and she yelped, wrapping her arms around him tightly and squeezing him for a moment before she turned on Vincent.
"What happened?" she demanded.
"I felt like something was nearby. Better we get away while we could," he explained.
Nodding, she nuzzled her face into Malik's jaw and bit him playfully to make him growl.
"How did it go?" the vampire demanded, but she only murmured softly, lifting her hand to her nose and sniffing.
Making a face, she pointed at Vincent and then at the opening to the door before she stripped out of her dress and it slapped into Hunter's face mere seconds after he had changed back to human.
Ignoring the appreciative whistle of the grinning masked man, she stalked from the room with Malik and Vincent following after her, the other two following a moment later.
"She was almost caught twice," Vincent said as he followed along behind her, picking up her underwear and brassiere as they hit the ground.
"Get out," she said to the man who was already in there. He jerked back so fast he slipped in the water and fell, staring up at her and her murderous glare. She needed to bathe, and he was in between her and the water. His eyes were huge as he stared up at her naked form looming over him, his crimson eyes dragging down her body before he scrambled out of the way.
Crouching down, she fished the soap out of the water and stood, ignoring the men behind her while she thoroughly scrubbed the dried salt and sand from her body.
"Is this what women in the outside world look like?" one of the Hunters whispered and there was a low grunt.
"No, that's a Goddess of beauty," Vincent muttered. "And death," he added at the low growl of excitement.
"Stop staring at me," she said, her back to them all. "Tell me what happened when you went back to Ayathian."
Glancing back at them over her shoulder, she unwound the coil of her hair, and they all looked away from her in a bad pretence of never looking at her.
"Daemon threw a fit and things got broken. Kai was yelled at, Letari was yelled at, Kai yelled at Letari, Letari yelled at everyone. Uzo refused to speak to anyone and walked out, but I heard more things being broken."
"Letari's the twin," Hunter supplied for the two who didn't know about her sister.
"They said they would come up with a better plan next time and that I was to find you, fast, or I would be neutered."
Nodding slowly, she fluffed out her stiff hair and waited for the rapid drips of water to wash it all down before she scrubbed the salt and sand out of it and then applied oil twice.
"How did you almost get caught?" Malik demanded.
"Kai," she said simply, still feeling his dark glare on her as she struggled for freedom.
"I've never seen that boy angry before, but he was," Vincent said. "What happened right before you ran?"
"He kissed me. Jaia saw," she said softly, watching them out of the corner of her eye.
Vincent and Hunter exchanging a look while the other two only looked confused.
"Jaia…" Vincent broke off, struggling for words.
"Jaia and I were very nearly together a year ago, before I died," she said in a matter-of-fact voice, refusing to let it bother her. "I was dead for almost three and a half years but didn't know there was a passage of time. Before I died, he told me he loved me and would never love another. I get back to life and he's married."
Someone hissed angrily as she applied the oil a third time, just to be sure.
"We were angry at each other and I felt betrayed, so I told him to get himself a prostitute next time and as revenge, he was having sex with his wife when Kai and I came up from seeing Hunter. I went to Faerie and had my memories of him removed."
Hunter was staring hard at her, fury blazing in him.
"Jaia forced me to remember again, and then he raped me."
There was absolute silence as the men took it in. Hunter was shaking with the anger that radiating out of him and she glanced at him, turning and kicking water at him to calm him down that made him jerk back violently.
"We couldn't tell anyone. Dirdos figured it out, but no one else did until it came out and Daemon tried to kill Jaia."
"But you saved him," Vincent growled.
"I can't let Kai suffer," she said simply, turning away from them. "So, Jaia… he still wants me, and I don't know what level of self-control he has. But when Sobek bound me, the pull broke, and he was afraid of me, they all were. Then along comes Sebastian." His name came out in a breathy sigh and she closed her eyes, her lips pulling up into a smile at the memory of his lips on hers.
"Siren, lust demon hybrid," Hunter supplied for the crowd.
"I lost control and things got bad, and then everyone…" Her eyes opened, and she looked at the wall, her voice a soft broken sound. "Everyone hates me, they're afraid of me and they think I'm easy. Just a toy for men to pass around because of what the Gods did. I went to find Kai to apologise, and he said he wanted to try something. He kissed me and I liked it, it felt good. Kai's the only one who isn't chasing me. I sometimes think he's the only one that actually loves me and isn't just addicted. And Jaia walked in on it. Dirdos dragged him out."
Swallowing hard, she stood with her back to them, hating the tears that swelled in her eyes.
"He was so angry at me and I told him I had used Kai so they wouldn't be angry at each other. I told him I had manipulated Kai because no one else was interesting enough. He called me a whore and then I ran."
There was silence and she dropped the soap into the alcove, knowing the two Hunters wouldn't know the end of the story or why she had run.
"I ran away because I'm a coward and a whore," she said, crouching down and hugging her knees to her chest as she picked up the little hard rock and dipped it into the water around her feet, watching it swell. "And now I'm here, abusing them all so I can be free. Because I care about them when I shouldn't. Because they made me love them when I had never loved anyone who wasn't my blood before," she breathed, squeezing the liquid out of the sponge. "And now I'm the plaything of the Gods, to be used and discarded for what my body can do, and I can't even defend myself."
Standing once more, she tossed the sponge into the alcove and stepped out of the water, picking up the square of fabric and drying herself. Ignoring their horrified stares on her, she pulled the robes on and lifted the hood to cover her hair and smile at them all faintly.
"Buzzkill, huh?" she asked, scratching at her jaw. "Anyone else feel like a nap?"
Evidently, they did as she had only barely managed to flop down onto the bed before someone else had jumped on top of her and flattened her, their cheek resting between her shoulder blades. She was fairly sure it was Vincent, but then she saw him glaring indignantly at the one on top of her.
Lifting a brow, she felt the rubbing of a mask against her back and shook her head, grabbing Vincent and dragging him down so she could use his forearm as her pillow. Evidently, it was the grinning masked man on top of her.
"What's your name, weirdo?" she asked him.
He grunted, nuzzling her back, "Dainin," he said simply.
Nodding, she smiled as she heard a loud growl from the doorway and they looked up to see Hunter glaring at them all in nothing but pants, even while Malik dropped down at her side, leaving only one spot left.
"You take too long, you miss out," Dainin said.
Hunter stalked over, intentionally kneeing him in the gut while crawling over them to get to the last remaining spot and they fell asleep, content and warm with her being the frozen heart at the centre.