Jawless

Lurking in the depths of Crescent Lake, Cressie swam calmy after having filled her belly with a school full of fish.

"That should tide me over until the next spawning season. Bass this time, crappies the next. Ugh, if only I was in that lake where it's illegal to catch and release pike. I'd take care of their problem in no time. Oh well."

As she drifted off into thought blissfully, she was taken by surprise by a jabbing sensation. Looking around her, she saw that there weren't fishing hooks nor nets for her to get caught on. Reeling her head, she discovered what was the cause of her distress.

"Who are you?!"

"I'm eating. You're dinner," replied the slimy, slithering parasite that clung to her scale less flesh.

She scoffed, "Look at the difference in size, you're miniscule in comparison to me. Even congers that have mistakenly swam here refuse to act as rude as you. So, tell me, once again, who are you?"

"We're you, but better, more primordial."

"You insolent little-!" Grabbing at its tail by shutting her jaws around it, she wrenched off her pest. Wincing at the pain, she looked at her freshly made wound, and saw that it was circular, as she started to slightly bleed.

Throwing her assailant in front of her, she bellowed, "You speak of being primordial. Who are you? What are you?"

"We were the first. We drove you. We drove many of your kind to develop what you have there. Yes, though we may look similar, we're more different than the fresh is from the brine."

"I came from the brine just like you. What makes you so special?"

"We were the original ones. Everything has changed before us, as if the tides have tried to forget us, yet we remain unchanged, without perversion, unlike you and yours."

"We? There's more of you?"

He chuckled before breathing his last, "We number in the thousands, but you only know of our existence when we bite. Yet, how can something without a jaw even bite let alone eat? Just because you've evolved differently doesn't make you better than us."

Feeling a shift in the current, Cressie gazed down towards the bottom of the lakebed. Appearing as if a swirling tornado of mud had formed, if she could she would've blinked away the sight before her lidless eyes. Seeing a multitude of slithering forms undulating from the murk, they all darted their way towards her.

Even for her size, she never tackled a school of fish who's swarm was larger than her own mouth. Making her way towards the surface, hoping that she could slither out onto the rocks and over into the reservoir. Sadly, such wasn't the case.

Feeling the circular tooth marks and pierced tongues beginning to latch onto her underbelly, their tails began to paddle the water in the opposite direction of hers, slowing her down.

As she continued to struggle, hoping to make her way over towards the rocky shallows where she could roll the parasites off, Cressie's hope dwindled as she began to succumb not only to the weight of her newly unwelcomed travel guests, but also to the overwhelmingly feeling of despair.

"Noooo..." The light began to fade from her eyes as the nutrients were drained from her body. Sinking back towards the murk where the swarm had originated from, the legend was surrounded by the original vampires that have invaded from the salt.

"What's the next location on our list," a hungry underling asked a senior member.

"Let's see here, we already visited Loch Ness, and this is Crescent Lake. Where do you want to head to next, Champlain, Okanagan, or Memphremagog?"

"What ever has the biggest meal. I'm still famished."

"Goodness, we're jawless, not gutless."