“Just out of curiosity,” Mac lied, “how far away was that nest of what-ever those nasty things were that you found?”

  “’Found’ is such a strong term,” Tiera Sardonyx deflected the question from where she treaded water with most of the others. “Amethyst, do you mind keeping an eye on Ed for us while we’re in the water? He’s still a bit… pale.”

  “Aye, Shock Leader. Blood loss can do that.”

  “Thank you. Mac, stop dawdling and get in the water with the others,” Tiera insisted.

  Sure, get in the water she says, Mac peered from the shore into the dark water. The cave lights reflected off the surface hiding anything beneath. At least it didn’t smell bad. Of course, the scent of imminent death just might be camouflaged by the tangy scent of Safety Ed’s blood congealing next to him.

  Mac slipped his foot into the dark water and slowly lowered it, searching futilely for the bottom, which was starting to remind him of a certain chasm he would rather forget. He would have kept up the gentle descent, but Natalia pushed him into the water from behind with a business-like shove.

  When Mac resurfaced Haley was sitting on her legs atop the water’s surface leaning slightly over him.

  “What are you…” Mac began loudly then lowered himself to a whisper, “What are you doing here?”

  “You entered deep water with an element of surprise,” Haley explained herself. “That qualifies as an emergency. Do you like the color of this dress? I thought I’d try yellow this time.”

  “This time?”

  “Well, do you?”

  “Mac?” Natalia swam up beside him and brushed his side with a finger as she treaded water. She must have entered the underground lake while he had been distracted by the pressing need to obtain oxygen. Her dark hair was still dry, though. “Who are you talking to?”

  “No one,” Mac replied defensively to the vampire who raised her flawlessly trimmed eyebrows above those beautiful brown eyes doubtfully.

  “Hey!” Haley complained.

  “No one important,” Mac clarified, causing Haley to huff and roll her eyes at him.

  Natalia laid a finger on his shoulder as she moved uncomfortably between Haley and himself, “You alright?”

  “Just a bit annoyed,” Mac replied as he tried to create a little distance.

  “I won’t push you in next time,” Natalia promised as a playful smile creased the vampire’s lips.

  A second later both her hands were shoving him under the still waters of the oxygen deprived lake.

  Fine, if that’s how she wants it, Mac emotionally reasoned before grabbing the vampire’s leg and pulling her under the surface. It wasn’t like she had much to keep her buoyant. Let’s see her perfect hair survive that.

  The hands suddenly left his shoulders and Mac felt the push of water rushing by as Natalia tried to swim back to the surface. He simply held tight to her leg and let her struggle. A quick glance to his side allowed him to pick out Haley assisting his grip with a twisted grin on her face amid her free-flowing hair.

  As he hurtled blindly towards the edge of “too late”, the rational side of his brain finally broke through and warned him just who he was nearly drowning. He had a choice to make, and he needed to make it quickly. Either let her go instantly, or see this through to the end and end up performing CPR on the beautiful vampire… possibly even clicking tooth against fang, which could also be accurately described as flirting with death.

  Mac let go to Haley’s obvious displeasure. She’d catch the reasoning momentarily and thank him later. Meh… who was he kidding?

  When Mac returned to the surface, Natalia had half her body out of the water draped across the shore as she sputtered for breath.

  “Too soon,” Grist commented softly beside him. “Drown first, then kiss back to life.”

  “Not you too!? She’s our friend.”

  “Grist joke, but now girl mad.”

  The look Natalia shot Mac as she finally regained her breath made that seem an understatement.

  “I’m dead,” Mac told himself. His will was on file with Miss Hafliff, wasn’t it?

  “Are you two done flirting?” Tiera asked point blank, although her annoyed eyes were on Grist.

  “I was not…” Mac spluttered.

  “You were flirting with the Dark Lady,” Mary-Shelly countered levelly as Silky nodded affirmatively beside her in the water.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “She tried to kill me.” Mac argued fruitlessly.

  “That’s just what vampires do,” Mary-Shelly replied matter-of-factly. “You should be grateful for her attention.”

  “Save your banter for later,” Tiera finally intervened with an annoyed scowl on her face. “You’re just jealous Breathless Two.” That drew a wide-mouthed comment that never quite escaped as Mary-Shelly’s heart reached up and throttled her mouth before she could say something she regretted. “We’re wasting time up here. Grab your regulators and buddy up. One last thing. As long as we stay in a group, they’ll be too afraid to mess with us. Now, grab a spear.”

  “They?” Mac voiced the others’ question.

  XXXXX

  “As long as we stay as a group, they’ll be too afraid to mess with us,” Mac sarcastically repeated Tiera’s words from just a few hours ago as he and Natalia tossed Scruffy out of the water and onto the sand of the fake beach. A quick check of his number two’s wrist showed the elf was running low on nanites… again.

  “You just had to save Seven, didn’chya,” Natalia admonished the elf.

  “I admit that exploding oxygen tank did have a certain charm,” Mac added.

  “Grist crush three,” the Troll added as he pulled himself onto the beach. Mac could tell by the way the troll’s suit seemed to crawl across exposed skin in a few places that nanites were still working frantically.

  Amethyst stared back at them as she stood up from her seat beside the sleeping safety instructor. “Circles, what did you do to Scruffy?”

  “He decided to be the hero after Seven went exploring ‘for loot’,” Mac answered.

  “He couldn’t stop himself,” Scruffy defended his underling between pained breaths. “Tight underwater cavern like that just screams cursed legendary weapon. Only he forgot about the scaled mini-bosses guarding it.”

  Seven crawled up and out from the de-oxygenated depths as Scruffy finished his comment and collapsed into blissful unconsciousness a moment later. “I… I could have taken them if he hadn’t interfered,” Seven protested weakly as he was rolled over. His grey suit was still in one piece if by “one piece” you meant everything was still at least partially connected by a few heroic strands that didn’t understand the better part of valor.

  Amethyst gave Seven only a cursory glance before clicking the nanite canister into Scruffy’s hip socket. A guilty look crossed her face as she asked, “Is everyone else alright?”

  “No permanent casualties,” Tiera answered from deeper out in the dark water. “That’s assuming Scruffy lives. He’s a quick-thinking drifter. His body should figure out how to survive given enough time. Besides, I’ve seen worse.”

  “Did they live?” Natalia asked.

  “Define, ‘lived’.”

  Joe emerged from the water before Natalia could reply with John and Freja each dangling at the end of one powerful arm. They both hung limply unconscious. “Hey, Champ, help me fetch these two out of the drink.”

  “Sure,” Mac reached out and helped ease the two bodies out of the water and onto the shore, too focused on what he was doing to see the look of absolute terror in Amethyst’s eyes.

  “Relax,” Joe strongly suggested before shaking the water off himself working from his head down to his muscular legs. “I think they’re still breathing. Tiera, fetch me those ones floating beneath you.”

  “I know what to do,” Tiera snapped back at the muscular man before dipping back under the water to pull up a few others.

  “Actually, she’s not breathing,” Natalia commented from beside the blonde Freyja.

  “Okay, I got her,” Mac replied as an icy calm settled over him. “Amethyst!”

  “Amethyst!” he tried again.

  Hey!” Mac shouted a third time.

  She finally looked back at him with shock evident in her eyes.

  “Get some help for these people. Go!”

  The Mechanic snapped out of her daze and bolted away towards the buildings.

  “Time to use that fabled strength of yours, Natalia. Help Joe get everyone out of the water,” Mac ordered calmly. “Who knows if more of those things will show up.” There was certainly enough blood floating about to attract them.

  “About that,” Natalia started to protest, but Mac just shot her a look and she reconsidered whatever excuse she was about to make.

  Natalia could handle the smell of fresh blood. She’d already proved that. Now, it was time to bring Freya back to the land of the living.

  There weren’t any of those training masks they had used, so after he slipped the tank off her back, Mac pinched the blonde beauty queen’s nose, tilted back her head and covered her mouth with his own. One large breath followed another. Nothing moved, so he followed his training and broke her solar plexus with the third of his next twenty compressions.

  He put his ear above her chest to check for pulse or breath. Nothing but the sounds of the others exiting the water.

  Two more breaths.

  Back to the compressions. “Come… back… Freyja. I wouldn’t… want you… to miss… all… the fun,” he urged the woman with each compression. If she knew how much she was going to hurt tomorrow, she probably would do the smart thing and move along to the afterlife. Then again…

  Mac covered her mouth once more and forced his own air into her lungs with as much strength as he could muster. At least, they didn’t sound flooded. He broke the seal to take in another breath then once again covered her mouth. Before he could finish the exchange, he felt a light tap on his leg. The unexpected touch made him sit up and look around.

  “I’m here,” Freyja announced weakly in her Nynorsk accent. One eye barely open met his own above a faint smile, “Mr. Prince, as helpful as your air has been, I’m now more concerned about my blood,” her eye focused on something behind Mac’s shoulder.

  “Your blood? I don’t…” Mac absently patted his belt for something that could replace blood as his eyes scanned her skin tight suit for tears. He didn’t see any obvious rips still left in her suit. The nanites had done their work.

  “Mr. Prince? Are you okay, Freja?” Natalia addressed her underling with something of a mix between real concern and suspicion. Of what, Mac had no idea.

  The thin blonde woman nodded weakly and sounded almost apologetic when she replied, “I’ll live.”

  “Over here, Mac,” Natalia grabbed his hand and pulled him away from the revived beauty queen and over to where Tiera was helping the last of them out of the water. Mac couldn’t see her blushing as he was dragged behind her.

  “Eighty-eight,” Mac recognized his subordinate and Seven’s underwater buddy. “What happened?” Mac retrieved his hand from the vampire’s grasp and squatted down.

  “I’m sorry, sir,” the man removed his tank and flopped over on his back. He didn’t appear to be bleeding, which was usually a good sign. “He got a bit away from me, there.”

  “Let me re-phase,” Mac tried again. “How are you not dead?”

  “Oh, that small bother. It would take more than that do me in, Sir. I had it under control the whole time.”

  “I want a can of anti-parasite Nanites, now!” Tiera demanded as she checked Eighty-eight’s med tracker on his wrist. “Do you remember where in the shack they were? Mac?”

  “I remember.”

  “Actually, I think I’m feeling better.” Eighty-eight started to sit up.

  Tiera pushed him down with a heel to chest. “Mac,”

  “Yep?”

  “Better make it two.”