The large man threw her into the captain's quarters with enough force that she fell and banged her knees on the wooden floor causing her to wince in pain.

"Why is she only wearing a shirt?" Fletcher asked when he noticed that the shirt was barely covering her bum.

The crew member shrugged, "It was the only thing we could find."

"Fine; that'll be all," Fletcher said dismissing the crewman.

The burly man left the room and she could hear the door being locked from the outside. The sound echoed in her ears causing her to lose any hope of escape. She pulled herself up to the standing position and winced at the pain in her feet and knees. It felt like sharp daggers were repeatedly stabbing her.

The captain looked at her in disgust as he made a wide circle around her. She felt as if she was being hunted by a shark. Each circle tightened in on her. With each passing turn, the musk of his cologne filled her nose enchanting her. Her heart raced as she felt trapped in a hypnotizing daze as the predator drew near for his kill.

She desperately looked around the room wanting to get away from him and noticed the small porthole windows.

"Don't bother they're all locked," he said.

Her focus turned to the captain sending electric chills down his spine. He found her completely entrancing. How could such a vile creature be so beautiful, he thought to himself.

"Do you know what I am?" The captain asked.

"Pirate," she whispered her throat still sore from the ropes that were wrapped around her neck when she tried to get free. Her own voice seemed foreign to her. It wasn't usually so raspy.

"I'm afraid you're not that lucky," he gestured for her to take a seat, but she didn't move.

He shrugged and continued talking, "We are mermaid hunters. We make a living killing you." He looked at her to see if any shred of fear would cross her face. He noticed her blue eyes remained glued on him as he paced around her. Her eyes seemed to swirl almost like ocean waves. They were hypnotic, making his desire to come closer overpowering is reason and logic, but he knew it was just part of her predatory nature.

"You're not afraid?" He asked.

The mermaid stood there in silent and strong. The mermaid wasn't afraid of what he could do to her. She was more afraid of living than she was of dying.

"What's your name?" The captain asked.

The mermaid didn't want to be compliant with him. At least not until she knew what he wanted from her. If he and his crew really were hunters then she knew that she should have died as soon as her tail hit the deck of the ship.

"What is your name, Captain?" She mocked. Her voice was almost like music everything about her seemed to pull him in wanting more, but that was the point wasn't it, to draw sailors in right before the kill.

The captain chuckled as he slid into a chair, "Wouldn't you like to know. What were you doing this far out of your territory?"

She started walking around the room picking up books or trinkets on shelves and putting them back. "I was just out for a swim."

"That's a very long swim, even for a mermaid."

She reached up and pulled an old dusty book off the shelf. As she did the neck of the shirt she was wearing slipped off her shoulder. Fletcher's eyes drifted to it. He noticed her skin had a slight shimmer to it as if it was sprinkled with pearl dust.

"Perhaps mermaids drift out further than you realize." She returned the book to its place and her fingers danced across the other tiny treasures on the shelf.

Fletcher knew that wasn't true there had never been a mermaid sighting this far out, "Don't be coy with me, mermaid. I know your kind better than you think."

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She sighed and placed a beautiful teacup, back on its shelf. It would have been something she would have taken home to admire. The tiny pink flowers were hand-painted with such care and detail. The rim of the cup looked like it was dipped in gold. If the captain wouldn't have been watching her she would have tried to take it to admire later.

"Why haven't you killed me yet?" She finally asked as she walked over and sat down in the chair across from the captain. He stared at her long milky white legs resisting the urge to reach out and touch them. When she noticed she gave him a cold look, "Oh, I see. You're hoping for a special pet."

He looked up at her disgust filled his eye. "You are a vile creature."

Her eyes turned gray and stormy, "Then why am I here!" She shouted. The power of the mermaid's voice was undeniable. Everything in him shook and it was all he could do not to bend to her will. Usually, a mermaid outside of the salty waters didn't have any control but this one seemed to pull him no matter how much he resisted.

"I want to take you home," He smugly told her. "Being so far from your family, they must miss you."

Unexpectedly the mermaid's eyes turned a deep dark blue and terror filled her face. Fletcher wondered if she figured out his plans but it didn't seem so this fear seemed more like self-preservation.

"You don't want to go home?" He asked.

She composed herself but eyes still remained the same color, "Whatever your plans are, I won't help you so you might as well kill me or let me go."

"No, I don't think so. You can still be of use to me." The captain got up and crossed the room he knocked on the door. "Take her away." He ordered through the door. The burly man from before opened the door carrying her shackles. He snapped them tightly around her wrist. Then he grabbed the chains and violently pulling her from the chair, causing the bands around her wrist to cut into her.

Her cell was cold and uncomfortable. She wasn't even provided a bed. She sat in the corner all night with her shirt pulled over her legs and feet, trying to stay warm. Rats would run in and out of her cell looking for any scraps of food they could.

Unfortunately for her and the rats, there was nothing. Mermaids have a high metabolism and have to eat often. That's why a ship full of humans are such a treat, they really fill the belly. Mermaids can survive an entire lifetime without their favorite meal but it was like trying to resist a piece of cake that so happens to float by.

She, however, found humans distasteful. She would rather study them than eat them. For her, every meal mattered. Humans were fattening and full of nutrition that mermaids needed. She had to work extra hard for every meal to make up for not indulging in human flesh.

The two fish that she caught and ate before she got caught in the hunter's nets wasn't enough to comfortably satisfy her through the night. Her stomach rumbled and churned begging to be filled.

The burly man sat at the end of the stairs that lead to her freedom.

"Sir," she said, but the sailor didn't respond he didn't even move.

"Sir, please may I have some fish or seaweed?" Still nothing, Tallulah got up and walked to the corner that was the closest to the man. "Sir, please I am very hungry and thirsty."

The mermaid wasn't used to being this dried out. But he still didn't respond, she sighed and walked back to her corner and laid down pulling her shirt over as much of her body as she could for warmth.

She laid there all night drifting in and out of sleep listening to the waves sing to her through the thick haul. Her freedom only inches away from her.

In the morning the door to the stairs opened as a young man, that looked to be about eighteen came in to relieve the older guard from his duty.

After the older man left the mermaid got up and walked back over to the other corner. "Hello." She sweetly said.

The young man quickly looked at her then looked away again. She smiled knowing that she might be able to influence this one.

"What is your name?" She asked.

"I'm not supposed to tell you, miss." The young guard said shyly.

"That's too bad, I would have loved to hear it. It must be a handsome name to fit such a handsome young man."

The young lad blushed.

"You wouldn't happen to have any food on you? I am very hungry." She asked.

"I'm sorry, but orders are no food for you."

"That seems awfully cruel. Why torture me with such a slow death."

"I'm sorry, miss, I wish I could help you," his words seemed sincere.

She leaned closer to the bars and gave him a sweet smile, "You're the nicest human I've ever met."

She shifted and exposed more of her leg, the young man turned red and looked up at the ceiling.

She smiled, "Does my figure make you uncomfortable?"

"No ma'am, I mean yes ma'am. I'm not used to seeing this much of a woman, especially such a... beautiful one."

This was her chance. If she could get him close enough she could attack him and run for freedom.

She pointed to a blanket in the far corner of the room. "I am so ashamed. I was only given this oversized rag to cover myself with. Can you please bring me that blanket over there so that I can cover up?"

He nodded and walked over to pick up the blanket. The rough wool scratched at the palm of the young man's hand, making him feel sorry for the mermaid, that he couldn't provide her with a nicer covering.

His eyes shifting back to the unnatural beauty before him, the man moved across the haul, in a trance, holding the blanket out to her. Her slender arm reached between the bars, more focused on the man's wrist than the offering her had planned on bringing to her.

Mid-step, the sound of creaking wood, got both mermaid and man, to turn their attention to the stairs. At the top of the stairs, the captain scowled down, taking in the situation. He looked from the young crewman to the mermaid, as the air around him grew cold, hate-filled, and dark.