Paul's POV

I tried not to be too happy about the fact she's holding my hand. But it's so small in comparison. Her skin is so soft. I couldn't get over it.

I tried to still be upset; I thought I was hallucinating til she pushed me off of her. There are some questions out there that need answering.

I was sorting out where to start from like:

-How the hell are you alive?

-What really happened last night?

-How come you changed her clothes?

-Why are you so strong?

-How come you are so beautiful?

And the most important…

-Why don't you love me?

We made it to her house; my eyes darted to her bedroom window. It was still broken, so that means I wasn't dreaming last night.

I realised I probably should be freaking out; I mean she was possessed last night by something… unnatural. But I couldn't find it in me to really care. I love her for everything.

With all this going through my head I hadn't realised we had reached her bedroom. She let go of my hand and started searching for something.

"Well baby, when you said 'let's get you cleaned up' I didn't know this was the 'cleaning up' you wanted to do," I added a wink at the end. In response, she flipped me off.

A girl after my heart.

"Ok, I don't know why your shirt is in here, but take it. I don't want you to get cold or anything," she said nonchalantly.

I looked down at the shirt I was wearing last night- oh yeah. I forgot about that.

"Thank you." I said softly in my most sincere voice.

She looked up at me stunned.

"What?"

"You said thank-you," she said in a fake shocked voice… maybe it wasn't fake.

"You know I'm not a bad guy," I sat on her bed and patted the spot next to me. She looked at the spot then at me.

"I'll stand thanks," I sighed deeply and nodded my head, what did I expect.

"You should give me a chance. Just once. I swear you won't regret it." I tried not to beg… but I failed majorly.

"Get down on your knees while you're at," she joked, a coy smile playing at her lips. I smiled at her in response.

"Why was your shirt here anyways?" Change of topic much.

"Wait… you don't remember?" It was only last night, I can still remember the day that I saw Nicky.

"What about you tell me what happened." she said after a moment of thought.

"Err… well; I came over here to check on you, since you ditched school and everything. And then I found you asleep on the couch… and I um, you ah. You put your arms around me…" damn it, I keep stuttering and talking like a nervous wreck, she just stood there listening, with an anxious look on her face.

"Then I didn't want you to get a sore neck so I moved you to your bed… and yeah." I'm so lame.

"What happened after that?" she asked coming forward. I moved over on the bed so she could sit but she didn't acknowledge it and kept standing.

"You went… skits." That probably isn't the right word to use.

"… I went skits?" she asked in a trance.

"Well, I don't know how to put it. You were fast asleep then you suddenly snapped awake and jumped out the window. I tried to stop you but you were so feisty and your eyes…" I was using lots of hand gestures.

"You're eyes, they went… abnormal. It looked gorgeous on you but it was really freaky. And you kept running and you wouldn't stop. I couldn't find you anywhere." I looked back up at her once I was finished. She was nodding to herself.

"Did anyone else see me… like that?" I could only shake my head. "No."

"What happened?" I asked gently.

She shook her head and turned away from me, looking at some photos on the wall. "I was drunk," she said lightly.

"Baby, that was not drunk." I said standing behind her.

"Did you just call me baby?" off topic once again.

"Erm… no?" I said with a slight smile. She looked back at me and smiled softly.

"I found this, by the way." I said searching my pockets. I think I put it in my shorts.

I found it and lifted it out and watch her face lit up.

"You found it!" she said over-joyed.

"Yeah, I found it in the forest." I shrugged, but inside I was happy dancing. She is over joyed! Hell yeah! I'm getting somewhere.

"Here," I turned her around while she lifted up her hair. I clipped the necklace together and watched her finger it.

"Thank you," she mumbled pulling me in for a hug. I didn't hesitate to wrap my arms around her.

"You don't understand how much this means to me, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!" she squeezed me tighter and I ever so subtly sniffed her hair, just like the ocean. Which reminded me.

"Why did you jump off the cliff?" I said with a little bit too much anger. I held her tightly, not wanting to let go but the fact that she wants to kill herself was outraging.

"What?" She lifted her head up to look at my face.

"Is life really that bad that you thought you had to end it? And how did you get out, who saved you?" so many questions were rushing through my mind.

"WHAT? I didn't try to kill myself… I just wanted to have a swim." she said honestly. I searched her eyes and could only see the truth.

"A swim? You jumped off a 5 story high cliff because you wanted to swim… during the middle of school? Because you wanted to swim?" I tried to get the information through my head.

"Yes, it helps me cool off. Especially when I get angry." she said letting go of me, she must be remembering out little… discussion at lunch.

"I'm sorry about that," I said sinking back onto the bed.

"It's ok, I don't understand why you think I have to love you but I forgive you, it's no big deal," she said lightly.

"God, you're amazing," I mumbled. She laughed lightly and sat down next to me with her hand on her recently found necklace.

"So what's the story?" I said nodding my head to the necklace.

"Oh, this. Well my aunty helped me make it. It's actually a very long story. It's not very interesting." she said too fast. I put my hand on her thigh soothing and waited for her to slap it off. When she didn't I took that as a sing of reassurance.

"I have time." she looked at me intently, studying me. She started nodding to herself.

"That picture over there. The one with the crazy scientist in it. That's my dad." she said proudly.

"He was so committed to his work, but on the sidelines he was the best father anyone could have, in my eyes anyways. But, he ah… he died. A couple years ago." She said sadly.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"No, no it's ok. You didn't know." she said putting on a fake smile.

"But yeah, it was made in a dedication to him… kind of." Her eyes glazed over as if she was lost in thought.

"Actually, you probably shouldn't know this story. It will make you think of me differently," she said in a rush standing up.

I stood up straight away, "what?"

"I'm not a very good person… actually I'm not even close to a good person. You should probably go, you shouldn't be around Me." she said gesturing to the door.

I stood in front of her and put my hands on her shoulders, "Nothing you can say will make me think any less of you. Nicky, nothing you do or say will make me think differently." I said firmly hoping to get my point across.

She shrugged and looked to the ground. I lifted her chin up with my index finger, "I promise," I said looking into her eyes.

It was a few moments til she nodded and sat down, patting the bed beside her. I quickly obliged.

"Back when me dad was alive, I was very close to my aunt. Really close. Her name is Molly; she's my mum's older sister. Anyways, my dad got so obsessed with his work that he started experimenting on people with… certain qualities. Like my aunt and myself, and others. I should probably save that story for another day," she said quickly when she noticed my shaking hands. I was furious! How dare her own father do science experiments on her? He deserved to die in my eyes. Nicky is not a toy!

"And well… one night he didn't come home from the lab at all. We all thought he would come back the next morning but he didn't. He was just gone. I went to the lab with my aunty to suss it out, we had a feeling that he could be cheating with mum, but we didn't tell mum that." She smiled to herself in memory. Then her face became dark in an instant.

"We found him in the lab… with another person. But they were both… different. His name was Mark, well I knew him as mark. But he had this dangerous vibe to him, so did my father." Her eyes started to water so I whipped away her tears with my thumbs.

"He tried to… attack us. He just wasn't himself. I hid behind Molly scared. I was only fourteen at the time. She somehow protected me and fought them off at the same time… I remember looking up and dad was on the ground, groaning in pain and Mark well. I didn't know where Mark was… and then… then Molly went to go ch-check on Mark and ended up leaving me there," she was in tears now, I so desperately wanted to comfort her but I knew she would push me away.

What the hell, I've done enough damage. I scooted closer to her and wrapped her up in my arms. I tucked her head in the crook of my neck possessively.

She cuddled closer to me.

"It's ok, it's ok." I said rubbing her back soothingly. I could kind of guess where this story ends, her father died in the hands on her aunt.

"I'm good, I'm good. I remember making my way over to my dad. And he… he jumped up and I copied what Molly did with Mark…"

I didn't understand what she meant so I lifted her face to mine curiously.

"I killed my father…" she mumbled. Ok, this was defiantly not how I thought the story would end. I looked up at her shocked.

"You… you what?" I asked. Didn't she just say she loves this man? Didn't she just say he was a great father… and she goes and kills him?

"You heard me…" she said standing up. She walked over to the window, her back facing me.

Nicky's POV

I walked to the window so I couldn't see his reaction. I was hoping he would tell me that it was ok, but not everyone understands. I don't know why I hoped he would.

I told him most of it… I excluded the fact my dad was turned by a vampire, Mark who was a crazy newborn. But I told him what has been eating my soul up… I still killed my own father. Molly, my aunt who is also a mermaid said it was my job. I'm meant to…

But could you imagine what would happen if I told Paul that vampires exist and me; being a mermaid, have to kill them all… even if they are my own blood.

I remember that day way too clearly. More tears swelled up in my eyes just remembering. Molly was so proud of me; my dad was the first vampire I have ever killed. She told me that her necklace with a vampire tooth was from her first vampire kill too, so she tied it around her neck proudly.

I can't forget the way my father's face, red eyes, pale skin, looked when he was headless. I tore him to pieces in tears. I had to crouch down near his bodiless head and pull out a tooth.

These memories eat me away every night.

And then when Carly made that comment to a few school friends I had to get away, away from all of it. Our old house, the students, the teachers. I never saw my aunt Molly again. I only hope that she's safe.

For some reason I trust Paul, like he wouldn't blame me for it. I couldn't tell him everything though; I'd be used as an experiment like my dad did. He used to take samples of my blood when I was a human and when I was a mermaid, the same with Molly. He was obsessed with vampire blood and venom as well, so it's not surprising that he was bitten by an experiment gone wrong. He used to ask Molly to capture stray vampires and tie them up so dad could use them as cruel lab-rats. It was horrible.

"Tell me right now that you aren't disgusted with me." I said firmly, still looking out the window.

He said nothing. "Tell me right now that you still think of me the way you did before. Tell me right now that I am not a sick person." I turned around to face him…

He wasn't there anymore, he left.

"That's what I thought," I whispered to myself, only to cry my eyes out harder.

I really thought he would understand…