Solbearers: Part 3-Leviathan

Cassandra's training had been paying off. Deeper dives led to more frequent kills and sometimes multiple kills in one dive. She didn't normally hunt in the daytime but she had hoped catch a lair of her nocturnal prey off guard. She inhaled from a canister of pure oxygen intent on exploring an underwater cave she saw the mouth of two nights before. As she dived deeper and deeper the daylight was filtered out and her flashlight became neccesarry. Struggling to recall the exact way to the cave she eventually reached it. She dimmed her flashlight as she entered. Even with the minimal light she could see manmade artifacts inside the cave. A boat anchor, a large chain and scrap metal were among the things that likely could not have been carried there by nature. Cassandra was confident this was some sort of nest for the creatures. Then fear gripped her as she saw one of the creatures asleep and much larger than any she had seen before. She did not know if her knife would be enough for this one. Before she could formulate a plan she felt she was being watched. In an instant of pure instinct she did a 180 degree turn and put the full strength beam of her flashlight in a mid sized two legged creatures' face. Shielding its eyes it froze in place. Eyes closed it then barrelled into Cassandra and they both collided with the oversized monster. Emitting a growl that sounded strange and muffled by the water the giant awoke. The creature that looked daunting to kill when asleep now looked like an impossible target. Worse still two more monsters were near to the large one. Trying to suppress her panic she thought of how consistently she had seen the creatures scatter when she had killed one of there kind. She though if she could kill the one who had blindly crashed into her the rest would flee. She pinned its leg with her speargun and as it looked down to get unstuck Cassandra rammed her knife through the back of it's skull far enough that the knife's tip poked out of the creature's mouth. Two of the creatures hurried deeper into the cave as Cassandra hoped but the large one made the same horrible noise and charged at her. Cassandra shot a spear shallowly in the beast's chest and swam towards the cave's mouth. At first she thought she was faster than it, but it was soon gaining on her when it let go of the anchor Cassandra had seen on the cave floor earlier. She felt it grip her leg and slam her into the cave's wall. Her desire to scream intensified but she knew she had to hold what air she could. It was no use it was catching up. She turned to stand and fight with the silver knife in her right hand. It grew closer with its mouth open. In an instant Cassandra saw the chain she spotted earlier was actually attached to the beast and as it snagged tight it changed the monster's trajectory. In a horrifying split second the thing's cavernous mouth found Cassandra's left hand and devoured it. Cassandra's vision went blurry and searing pain set in. With the chain keeping the beast in place she was no longer racing against it. Instead she raced death. Could she swim fast enough to not bleed out or drown? To this day Cassandra can only recall bits and pieces of what came next. Racing to the surface with her wounded arm tucked tightly between her other arm and midsection. Washing up on shore. The hospital. Cussing out Alex. Arriving home.

Months had passed since her encounter with the "Leviathan" who took Cassandra's hand. In some sort of stalemate Cassandra had not been hunting but the attacks had ceased. But she knew they were still out there and it haunted her. The standard prosthetics were not sufficient for her craftsmanship so she now sported a robotic hand of her own making on her left hand. But a new hand is not all she built. Each night she'd stare at the improved spear gun she created. It was equipped to shoot custom silver bolts the creatures were weak to. It had a built in high powered flashlight. It had a digital display to detect the creatures. But that still wasn't enough to make her dive again. She finished another bottle of whine and fell asleep.

-^()^ Indicates the dialogue between the parentheses is happening telepathically in the characters first languages-

^(Cassandra woke suddenly pushing a creature away from her.

"Don't be afraid" it urged silently but in her head. It sounded similar to her prey but different enough to lower her guard. She looked upon a hulking spider like creature with red eyes and mandibles.

"I'm like the creatures you hunt but not as sinister" it insisted in her mind.

"I need your help" it continued.

"Then speak" Cassandra thought and was in awe as the creature heard her.

"The creatures you hunt are what you would call vampires and so am I" the creatures telepathic speech began again.

"You can call me Buibui, and like you I hunt creatures. I hunt my cousins all over Africa to keep humans safe" Buibui paused and even with his bizarre features Cassandra could see his worry on his face.

Buibui inhaled and continued "But now something else is hunting them, capturing them and taking them away. They were white men so I assumed that meant Europe or America and Europe is closer. Not to make light of what you've gone through but Greece is one of the safest places in Europe when it comes to vampires, I landed here read some minds and it led me to you. Your the most established hunter of lamprey vampires but I need you to take a break from that to save even more lives. I want you with me when I investigate America"

"My last hunt I almost died" Cassandra interjected.

"I know" Buibui thought gently placing his clawed hand on her shoulder "but now that I've been in your thoughts and know about your prophetic dreams I want your help" he finished.

"If we do this you have to trust me" Cassandra thought "we need to go to Japan first" she continued as she pointed to a magazine on her desk whose cover featured a handsome man with a charming smirk.

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

*(The next day Lieutenant Aetos was surprised to find his office door open and a mysterious box was on his desk. "Watch the beaches while I'm gone" was written across the top of the box. When he looked inside he saw the severed head of a lamprey vampire.)*