Solbearers: Part 2-The First Kills

-*()* Indicates the dialogue between the parentheses is spoken in greek-

*(Cassandra slowly walked towards the edge of the dock while trying to look dazed.

She could hear it in her head soothingly saying "come for a swim girl the water is so refreshing".

She could hear it but was not compelled by it. "Is this what lured people to their deaths? Why would they listen?" She thought.

Slowly and feining a trance like state Cassandra approached the dock's edge. She stopped and stared out at the moon.

"Into the water girl" the creature insisted but Cassandra just stood staring across the sea.

The creature sprung from the water but before it could latch it's bizarre circular mouth onto Cassandra her silver blade was in its heart. It's somewhat human eyes filled with fear. Cassandra grabbed the creature's throat with her free hand and split the beast as she carved the knife down its body towards its tail. Stunned by the horrid smell Cassandra did not fight hard enough to keep holding the creature. It fell back into the sea but as Cassandra sat and caught her breath she was shocked. A tail just like the creature's peeked out of the water, then another, and then two webbed feet. They were all moving away from where Cassandra's first kill dropped.

"It's not just one, there's more" Cassandra thought.

The next day Cassandra sat across from lieutenant Aetos. "C'mon Alex, how long have we known each other? I know we haven't always seen eye to eye but please trust me on this. I know it sounds crazy but looking into this will save lives" Cassandra pleaded.

"Cass I'm sorry, I know you care about the missing people too but I can't divert resources based on something you think you saw" the Lieutenant replied.

"Something I think I saw!" Cassandra exclaimed "I killed one! I just lost my grip of it, it's back in the sea now" she continued more calmly. "But there are more of them" she exclaimed.

"Cass my hands are tied, especially given your history. No one will be up for it even if I did give the go ahead. It sounds like you are having your nightmares again. What I can do is stay over at your place until this passes like it ussually does" Alexander spoke nervously.

"That's not what this is and that's not going to happen!" Cassandra yelled as she slammed the office door behind her.

That night Cassandra waited by the docks but nothing called to her. She sat by the edge of one dock swinging her feet above the water. She tightrope walked on the side edge of another. She then lied down near the edge of a dock looking at the stars. Losing patience she shimied closer to the edge until her head was hanging over the edge. She let her neck go limp, her hair nearly touching the water as she looked upsidedown out at the sea. After a short time she accepted she would need a new plan.

For all her life folks thought Cassandra had squandered her swimming ability. They thought she could have been an Olympian if she tried and they were right. However, Cassandra thought goals and medals and times would take the joy out of swimming. Diving for the sake of diving was always enough for Cassandra until now. Now she finally had a reason for it. Diving was now necessary to hunt the monsters attacking her town. Over the months she refined her hunting technique. First she dove with just her knife and a waterproof flashlight to cut through the sea's darkness. This worked well for a time as the creature's at first underestimated her abilities in the water and tried to rush her. Cassandra had killed a few of the monsters and her silver blade was holding up. Soon word had spread among Cassandra's prey that the "dark haired girl" was to be feared. The days where Cassandra could silently swim up behind a beast and end it were over so she pawned some of her belongings for a spear gun. The ammo fired from the gun barely harmed the creature's but often enough Cassandra could maim them, pin them to something or reel them in with a rope attached to the spear well enough to kill them with her silver knife.)*

Early on Cassandra's biggest problems were when her targets travelled in groups. Cassandra had yet to be bitten but had her fair share of scars and scratches from taking on schools of them. At times it was a blessing that each time she killed one the others around her panicked and fled. Yet other times she would lament that for every beast she killed there were many who escaped. Cassandra thought that even animals so strange must need some sort of shelter and if she could dive deeper or longer she could find theirs and ambush them.

Cassandra's nightly hunts were relatively uneventful for the following weeks. She occasionally made a kill but it seemed evident that her enemies were now cautious of nearing the surface. Her daytime training on the other hand was far more exciting. Each day Cassandra would alternate pushing herself harder to improve. The first day in her cycle focused on exerting herself under the water diving and retrieving progressively larger stones from a natural shelf in the seabed. Day two focused on the depths of her dive to accommodate her body to the extreme cold and pressure as she dived deeper and deeper. The third day she stayed shallow but tested her lungs to the limit only emerging when she could not take it any longer. On each third day she'd do one last dive after inhaling pure oxygen. The first time the head-rush nearly made her give up on diving that day and she knew the risks of long term use but she was determined to improve until she knew she was ready. Those things down there needed to die and she was determined to be the one to do it.