The Bad Boy And The Mermaid
Chapter 41

Blue The car crashed into a tree. I could feel my blood rushing to my head and a painful pounding was growing there. I pressed my hand on my head and looked around. A car balloon had deflated the one that was called an air-bag. Hunter had told me that it deflated during an accident and prevented a severe injury.

The side of my face that had a gash was filing in, I was healing and it was painful. When the healing was for a deeper wound, it usually hurt a lot and it didn't help that my head was spinning. I could only guess what Hunter was going through. I bit my lip from screaming from the pain.

I turned in my seat to face the passenger side to see how Hunter was doing. "Hunter, are you alright?"

There was no response, and he was looking the other way.

"Hunter..." I touched his cheek and turned his head to face me.

What I saw there might have driven my heart out of my chest. His silver eyes had lost the beautiful spark in them as they stared at me lifelessly.

"Say something..." I mumbled.

I didn't even want to think about what had happened because thinking about it made it seem like it actually happened. Maybe this was a dream, I was going to wake up soon.

I pushed the damaged metal door out of the way and climbed out before walking to the other side. The passenger side door had been dented even worse. Still, I managed to pull it open.

"Hunter...look at me. I'm going to call an ambulance."

He just stared at me and I let out loud scream. "You can't...no you can't be...dead. Look at me, Hunter....I'm right here..."

I punched in a number and called 911 and told them it was an emergency.

Maybe Hunter was just paused like in a game, maybe humans did that when they were in shock. I put my arm around him and started dragging him out of the car. He was very heavy but I didn't have a choice. I panted and pulled him with every ounce of my strength. I lay him down on the ground and sprinkled water on his face. "Wake up...wake up, please."

When everything was vain, I buried my face on his chest and a loud sob tore through my body. Even if the ambulance arrived here in ten minutes like they said they would, I knew in my heart that he wouldn't just wake up.

It was impossible.

I couldn't feel him. I couldn't feel his soul inside him.

"It's my entire fault." I cried. "I'm so sorry."

My life was over. With Hunter gone, I didn't think I could even live anymore. Not as a mermaid and certainly not as a human.

I brought my face close to him and tried to give him CPR when I knew it wasn't going to work.

I touched his stomach and saw the dark spot of blood there. A metal had struck one of his arteries and he'd bleed to death while I was still unconscious. I cried harder.

If there was a way that I could heal him back to normal, but healing only worked if the person was alive.

Hunter was already dead.

And a part of me may have died with him.

I couldn't lose him. There was no way that I was going to sit back and let this happen.

I joined my hands and prayed, I was sending signals to my brother and to Adrian. The ambulance wouldn't be here until a while and there was a chance that Apollo and Adrian could do something for him collectively.

It was probably a few minutes later that through my hazy vision, I saw two figures walking towards me from a distance and I knew instantly that it was my brother and Adrian.

I ran into Apollo's arms and sobbed. "Hunter...Hunter is..."

He disentangled himself from my embrace and went to check him. The way Apollo's head hung in pain, I knew that the worst had happened. He placed his hands on his eyes and closed them. "He is dead, sister."

I covered my face with my hands and cried. "I love him, I don't think I can live without him."

This is exactly what Adrian and Apollo had warned me before I married him. Human lives were fragile and if I'd chosen a human as my soulmate, and if by any unfortunate circumstances like these that a human partner died, the mermaid suffered an eternity of misery. It wasn't the misery I was concerned about, but more about losing my husband, my lover, my life.

Adrian placed his hand on my arm. "Other than for you to wait for him to have rebirth there's nothing you can do. He's your soulmate, he will come back to you."

I glared at Adrian, I knew he meant well but to suggest that I had to wait. "What if it takes him a thousand years to come back, Ade? What am I supposed to do until then? Rebirth is like a gamble. Some human souls don't even have a rebirth, what if Hunter is the one who doesn't?!" I reasoned.

"Adrian is right. He's your soulmate, he'll replace a way to come back and when he does he will remember you. It's just the wait. You can come back to Atlantis and stay with us until then."

"Do you know what you're saying, Polo? It's like confining me to an eternity of waiting! He could probably be reborn, grow up and fall in love with someone else before I even get to know him. He could be born into another country entirely, with a different personality. He could be born and raised as a criminal. He could be one of those men who did bad things. There's no guarantee the reborn version of him would be my Hunter. Besides, I can't live without him that long, I can't live each day knowing he's not here..."

"How did this even happen? What did you do?" Apollo asked me, his eyes searching mine, his expressions turned slack as he made the connection. "Oh god, you did not...? You didn't let him..."

"He's my husband, he wanted to know what it was like to make love to a—"

"You let him commit a grave sin!" Apollo ground out saying it as if he couldn't think of anything more disgusting, what seemed so disgusting to them, was love to me. I'd submitted to Hunter in my mermaid form, to my husband, I still did not see what was so wrong in it. He went on, "You're a sacred being...having intimate relations with a human while you're in human form is still acceptable by a few accounts, but god forbid, you let him..."

He let the words hang, too disturbed by the thought of saying it out loud. Adrian's face was as white as a sheet, and he collapsed onto the sidewalk.

Apollo blew out a breath. "You don't have any other choice now. You wait until he's reborn into a new host, a new body."

I looked straight at my brother. "There is another way."

As soon as I said that, Apollo shook his head. "I won't allow you to do that Blue."

I sniffed and begged, "Please...Please Pollo, let's revive him. It's possible if we do it together."

He placed both his hands on my shoulders, "do you know what you're asking? If we revive him, you lose your immortality. You may never be able to use magic."

"I don't care."

"If we manage to revive Hunter, you wipe off his memory, along with everyone else you've associated with."

I gave him a nod. "I would do anything to see him alive. Anything."

"You will destroy everything just for a selfish desire." Apollo told me, "By bringing Hunter back to life, you will condone him to an empty life, he could replace another woman, marry her, have kids with her but never be happy because he would be connected to you."

I was breathing hard, and it hurt me to say this. It was like twisting a knife in my stomach. "I want him to live, I don't care what happens to me. I swear to you, if Hunter lives, I will go to Atlantis with you."

Apollo swore in Greek and then said in a stern voice, "And commit another sin? You've already broken so many rules. You want to commit another sin by staying away from your husband?"

In an adamant voice I said, "As I said, I would do anything to see him alive even if it means..." I sobbed, "even if it means staying away from him."

Adrian didn't seem like he was even in this world as he stared into space. Apollo shook his head and said, "You've made up your mind, I see. I have never stopped you from doing what you wanted, Blue. I always wanted to support your decisions. If you think this man, your husband is worth giving your immortality over then we help you."

I caught both his hands on mine, "oh, thank you, Apollo. If Hunter lives, I promise I will do anything you ask of me."

"Are you sure about your decision, Blue? Once the ritual is complete and the spells are done, we can't undo it."

"I haven't been so sure in my life. I want to do this." I said adamantly.

Adrian looked like he'd been punched. "Think about it, Blue. There's no need for you to sacrifice your immortality. He will be reborn."

"If you won't help me, I'll replace another way to bring him back to life."

Apollo looked resigned. "We need to collect some things from the forest for the ritual."

"We need to do this fast before the ambulance is here. If they know that he is dead, it would be difficult to explain how he came back to life." I explained.

Apollo nodded and the two picked up my husband's body and took him inside the forest. When his body was lowered to the ground, I kneeled down and brought his head in my lap. Silently, I wept, wiping the bloodstains from his forehead.

This happened because of me. If I had been paying attention to what he was telling me, this wouldn't have happened. If Adrian and Apollo couldn't revive him, I couldn't forgive myself. It would kill Hannah if she knew.

I was playing with nature again. I murmured a silent apology. I was too selfish to let this happen. I loved him more than I even loved myself and if bringing him back to life meant making sacrifices, I would do it.