The Darkness 11: Fish Men (Co-Author: Jacquelyn Erler)

In our small town, it started as people were finding manhole covers all over the streets in the mornings. It was soon followed by uprooted gardens, stores raided for herbs, and family pets going missing. The mysterious events caused enough uproar in the community to demand immediate attention by us.

May 20^th: Just after Dusk

 Ray, Ciara, and I entered the sewers through a manhole in a residential area. I chose them to come with me while I had Cee, Audio, and C.D. patrolled the streets above. When we got to the walk way, we all looked at each other. “Whoa, that’s kinda strange.” Ray said. I looked over at him, unsure if he was being sarcastic. “What is it?” Ciara asked. “The water is clean, we are in a sewer and it doesn’t smell like waste.” he asked. Ray was right, it was surprisingly clean. In fact the air was fresh and almost completely clear of any pollutants. “Yeah, I noticed.” I answered “Are sewers normally like this?” Both Ciara and Ray shrugged to my question. “So where do we start?” Ciara asked. I looked around, the sewers looked as complex as I could’ve imagined. “I don’t know.” I answered. “Let’s try to catch a scent and follow it.” Ciara suggested. Me and Ray looked at each other and agreed.  We all took our wolf forms.  I released the feral within. Power rushed over me as my claws, fangs, muzzle, and tail grew. My fur spouted, muscles expanded, knees reversed direction, bones shifted inside and I fell forward onto my hands. I shook from my human and took my wolf form. My senses almost completely overran by the stagnant feel in the air. There were no sounds, no smells, and no feeling. Something definitely wasn’t right.  Without any other choice, we took off running in search of some type of lead.

In the absence of sensual stimulation, my mind drifted to an issue just outside the current one. My pack’s power had greatly diminished with my impulsive choice to turn my girlfriend into a werewolf and make her a part of my pack. She didn’t want to be a werewolf and that put us all at a disadvantage. It was going to be a major issue with Gina’s powers increasing and her becoming a bigger threat.

We ran for at least 30 minutes in complete silence with no progress. I was almost ready to give up and return to the surface when we heard the sounds of water splashing. Instincts sent us running as fast as we could toward the sound.  We got to the area and there was nothing. Surveying the area gave us no clue as to what caused the sound only that it may have come from the manhole above our heads. It was just crystal clear ambiance. My frustration set in from the absence of any evidence and I became angry. There was nothing. Not even a small scent to track. I walked to the edge of the blue water and stared inside; there was my answer.  The water was clean, it was a sewer and for whatever reason, the water was clean. I raised my back leg and peed in the water. I turned and made Ray do the same. I kept my eyes on the water and watched the flow carefully. Just as he raised his leg, there was a splash and something erupted at us from the water. We scrambled in different directions as they hit the wall then rose up to square off with us. They were 3 humanoid fish monsters. They had wintergreen skin, webbed claws, yellow webbed spines, red shark like eyes, long finned tails and angler fish like head and teeth and sttood on hide legs like men. I snarled and caught their attention. I shifted to my werewolf form and roared at them. The biggest fish man turned toward me and hissed while the other two faced Ray and Ciara. They were only slightly bigger than an average human but they gave off an aura stranger than anything I had felt before. They stunk of fish and herbs and looked outright evil but also seemed to be suffering.  The biggest one rushed at me. I readied myself to attack but instead it slid into the water. The other two lashed out at Ray and Ciara. I dashed in to attack the other two from behind but pain shot up my spine as the bigger one attacked me from behind by biting down on my tail and trying to drag me into the water. The pain was unbearable, I had only two choices, hold one and keep from being pulled in or turn over to fight back and get pulled in. My claws were buried in the cement and the creature yanked at my tail; I couldn’t hold it in and let out a pain filled snarl. Everything that happened next was in slow motion. Ray and Ciara were distracted in the middle of their scuffle with the monsters. Ciara winced and turned to look at me. The creature she was fighting grabbed her by head and forced her to the ground.  She let out a whine of pain as a fourth and fifth monster lunged from the water and took hold of her. Ray exploded into his werewolf form and turned around to try and save her but it was too late, they had dragged her in. Both fear and rage took over me as I watched the monstrous creatures take my friend into their possession. I doubled over to free myself but the creature let go and slithered back into the water with the other four. I shifted to my wolf form and took off after Ciara. Following the sounds of Ciara struggling under the water, I ran as fast I could with Ray right behind me. The desperate howling of Ray for our pack behind me was drowned out by my panic. Panic and fear over came all emotions; my senses were immune to everything but the sound of the water. Everything the fishmen did was coordinated; they planned on dragging one of us under. There was no telling how many more there were lurking underneath the water. None of that mattered though. I was driven by the same drive that led me to fight off a whole pack of chupacabras by myself; it took over every inch of my body and soul. Nothing was going to stop me until I caught up. As we ran, Ray continued to howl for our pack to join us. Suddenly, the sound of Ciara struggling was drowned out by the sound of water falling. We turned a few corners and hit an open pipe that lead to the flowing water to fall at least 4 stories down into a pool that then exited into another canal. Without hesitation we both took werewolf form and leaped. We landed on the pavement and froze. Half way through the fall I felt some of my power slightly fade. Me and Ray looked at each other with despair. My heart was racing, my claws and legs were shaking. My emotional displacement was frozen in my body by the scent of blood. We both slowly turn to the source of the smell. In the pool where the water was falling, a crimson ribbon of blood flowed from a girl’s lifeless body. All strength left my body and I reverted to my human form. “Ray…” I said shaken. My hands were still trembling from the pain in my chest. “That’s Ciara.” I told him. I walked towards the water and 10 gleaming red eyes opened and leered at me from just under the surface of the pool.  The creatures had set a trap for us to try and get Ciara’s body out the water.  Still something wasn’t right, there were more of them than us, they could’ve easily over powered us in the water filled sewer.  We were at a disadvantage; they didn’t need to try to trap and ambush us. In the distance there was a howl; in the pipe above the water fall were Audio, Cee, and C.D. staring down at us. Our pack heard Ray’s cries for help. “They killed Ciara.” I said. All the wolves turned their heads and looked at the lifeless body in the water. They all jumped down and stood by me and Ray.  Cee and Audio turned back into humans. “What the hell happened?!” Cee asked. “They ambushed us and dragged Ciara into the water. We tried to save her but we weren’t fast enough.” I answered solemly. That’s why we had felt a fade in power; we had lost one of our pack. Our friend was killed by one of the monsters and there was nothing I could do about. “What do we do?” Audio asked sadly. The ambient air was now stained with the smell of my friend’s lifeless blood and it almost made it hard to think. My eyes never left Ciara’s body floating face down in the water and the ruby like eyes that surrounded it.  “I don’t know but I’m going to get her body.” I said coldly. I exploded into my werewolf form and roared at my enemies. The air was still serene and stagnant, it was surreal. The pain in my chest expanded throughout my whole body. The feral power that fueled me was savage and felt as if though it was going to overrun my whole body and tear through my chest. Something deep inside my soul was taking control of me. Just when it felt like it was going to take control a familiar rage filled roar shook my soul from behind.  The roar sent a shockwave of raw power through my being. My pack and I turned to see Big Foot running towards us. The huge ape’s roar settled the power struggle in my body. He now stood with my pack and I, his piercing yellow eyes never left the falling water. He did something I never thought would happen, he took a deep and growled one word “Demon!” His huge hand pointed at the waterfall.  All the fish men stood up and let out agitated hisses. He walked to the edge of the pool, slammed his giant fists in the water, and roared “DEMON!” His pure savage rage and power made me wince. The fish men sank half way into the water and stayed there; they were scared. Big Foot gave off an aura of pure natural power that dwarfed all of us. Suddenly the odor of fish, herbs, and death filled the air. Suddenly two 20 foot spider leg like appendages shot out from behind the waterfall and anchored their selves in the pool. They twitched and pulled the squid like body they were attached to out from the water fall and was followed by two more appendages. It had a octopus-like head whose face was mass of feelers and a scaly rubbery looking body. What ever the demon was, it was neither natural nor supernatural but an unearthly evil. The squid body began gyrating and convulsing, dropping an aromatic fluid in the water, and screeching. The fluid spread throughout the water and threw the fish men into a rage. They began rising out of the water and swimming towards us. I crouched and readied to fight. Big Foot took a step into the pool and roared again. This time there was so much ferocity behind it that the water shook and I struggled to stay in werewolf form. Unable to handle the power from the roar, the fish men disappeared beneath the water. The giant aquatic demon screeched with anger and charged at us. Before I could decide what to do, Big Foot went berserk and raged at the oncoming threat. While Boot Foot single handed took on the monstrosity, my pack and I went for our fallen friend’s body and noticed 5 other bodies floating in the water as well.

Big Foot killed the demon by himself. He was a true force of nature; an earthquake meeting a hurricane. It made me realized that the night I had fought him, if he wanted to, he could’ve killed me without hassle. We still wondered what brought him from the woods to the sewers. Regardless, he killed the demon and dragged it’s body with him through the sewer back to wherever he came from. The 5 other bodies belonged to 5 young people like us, they too were shifters. The fish men were actually mermen who were mutated, transformed, and manipulated by the demon to do it’s biding. Their true Merman shift had two forms. One was humanoid, body heavily covered in thick blue scales, webbed claws, deep blue aquatic eyes, sharp teeth, and gills. The second was more animalistic, the scales reached up to the neck, a long mermaid like tail, webbed dorsal and arm fins, webbed claws, shark like teeth, and aquatic eyes. They had lived alongside both vampires and werewolves for just as long as we existed but remained discreet from both and confined their business to the waters they protected. We questioned them as to how a demon came to our world and what it was trying to do with the herbs they were gathering. It was useless, they had no memory of what happened while they were under the demon’s control. They didn’t even remember killing our friend Ciara. That same night took her body an isolated spot where the beach met the woods, and buried her under the moon. We howled to the moon in sadness for our friend and family member we had lost.