The Evolution System of the Drowned

Chapter 5: Predator’s Mercy

The ballroom was a tomb of silence, broken only by the rhythmic drip of saltwater from my shredded suit. Cuthbert's face was a map of raw, ugly panic. He scrambled backward on the marble floor, his polished shoes squeaking like a trapped rat.

"What are you waiting for?" Cuthbert shrieked, his voice cracking as he looked toward the perimeter of the room. "Kill him! He's an intruder! Marcus! Styles! Dispose of him now!"

The house guards, men I had trained and paid for years, hesitated for a heartbeat. But Cuthbert was the one signing the checks now. Four of them stepped forward, their hands flying to their holsters.

"Osric, please! Don't make them do this!" Elowen cried out, though she stayed safely behind the heavy oak podium.

"You really want to play this game, Cuthbert?" I asked. My voice sounded like grinding stones.

[COMBAT MODE ENGAGED. PREDICTIVE PATHING ACTIVE.]

The world slowed. In my silver-tinted vision, the guards' movements became sluggish, like they were submerged in thick syrup. Marcus drew his 9mm. I could see the tension in his trigger finger before he even pulled it.

Bang!

The muzzle flash was a bright burst of orange. I didn't even think. I just moved. My body felt like liquid, shifting an inch to the left. The bullet hissed past my ear, shattering a vase behind me.

"He's too fast!" Styles yelled, his own gun clearing leather. "Open fire!"

A hail of lead filled the air. To the guests, I must have been a blur. To me, the bullets were lazy insects. I wove through the fire with a grace that wasn't human. I was at Marcus's side before his second shell hit the floor.

"Marcus," I whispered. "Wrong choice."

I grabbed his forearm. [HYDRAULIC GRIP ACTIVATED.]

Snap.

The sound of his radius and ulna turning to powder echoed through the hall. He screamed, dropping the gun. I didn't stop. I spun, my heel catching Styles in the chest, sending him flying thirty feet into a display of champagne towers. Glass and gold-label liquid exploded everywhere.

"Is this the best you've got, Cuthbert?" I shouted over the chaos. "I've fought sharks hungrier than these dogs!"

The remaining two guards tried to tackle me. I grabbed them both by their tactical vests and slammed their heads together. The thud was sickening. They slumped to the floor, unconscious before they hit the velvet.

"My turn," I said, turning my gaze toward the stage.

Cuthbert was shaking so hard he could barely stand. He reached for a heavy decorative statuette on the table, trying to use it as a club. "Stay back! I'm warning you! I have connections! You're a dead man, Thorne!"

"You already said that," I replied. I was across the room in a single leap.

I grabbed Cuthbert by the throat and slammed him against the mahogany wall. The wood groaned. Elowen let out a sharp gasp, backing into the shadows.

"Look at me, Cuthbert," I commanded. I brought my hand up, right in front of his bulging eyes.

I let the system flex. My fingernails began to grow, sharpening into jagged, serrated edges of obsidian-like bone. They glinted under the chandeliers, dark and hungry. I traced the tip of one nail down his cheek, barely drawing a line of blood.

"You like these?" I asked. "They're for tearing flesh. Real easy. Like paper."

"Please," he whimpered, a dark stain spreading on his expensive trousers. "I'll give it all back. The money, the ships, the estate. Just don't kill me. Osric, we were friends!"

"Friends don't anchor friends to the seabed," I spat. "Friends don't sleep with a man's wife while his lungs are filling with salt."

"It was her idea!" Cuthbert blurted out, pointing a shaking finger at Elowen. "She said you were holding us back! She said we could be gods with your father's secrets!"

Elowen's face twisted in horror. "You lying snake! Osric, don't listen to him!"

I looked at them both and felt nothing but a cold, deep-sea disgust. I retracted the claws, but kept my grip tight on his throat. I could feel his pulse fluttering like a dying bird.

"Kill you?" I laughed, the sound vibrating through his chest. "No. That's too easy. If I kill you now, the pain ends. And I want you to feel every second of what's coming."

I shoved him away. He collapsed into a heap of wet silk and bruised ego. I turned to Elowen, who was trembling, her hands over her mouth.

"The Thorne Estate is mine," I said, my voice carrying to every corner of the room. "The company is mine. The very air you breathe in this house is mine."

I walked toward the shattered doors, the storm outside sensing my mood and howling louder. I paused at the threshold and looked back over my shoulder. My eyes flared with a blinding silver light.

"Enjoy your champagne while you can," I said. "But remember this promise. From this moment on, every drop of water you touch—whether it's the rain on your face, the water in your glass, or the bath you take to wash away your sins—it all belongs to me."

"What does that mean?" Elowen cried out, her voice filled with a new kind of terror.

"It means I'm the one who decides if you breathe or drown," I replied. "I am the ocean now. And the ocean is done being silent."

I stepped out into the gale, the rain hitting my skin like a homecoming. I didn't look back as I leaped from the balcony, disappearing into the black surf below the cliffs.

[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: TERRITORY MARKED. FEAR RADIUS: 100%.]

But as I hit the water, the system didn't give me a moment of peace. The red strobe returned, more violent than before.

[WARNING! WARNING! DETECTED HIGH-LEVEL BIO-SIGNATURE WITHIN THE ESTATE PERIMETER.]

[TARGET IS NOT HUMAN. TARGET IS NOT LEVIATHAN.]

I paused in the surf, looking back up at the glowing windows of the mansion. A massive, pale shadow was sliding across the glass of the second floor—something with too many joints and a head shaped like a cracked bell.

"Cuthbert, you idiot," I whispered. "What did you let into this house?"

A blood-curdling scream erupted from inside the ballroom—not Elowen's, and not Cuthbert's. It was the sound of something being torn apart.

[NEW MISSION: THE UNINVITED GUEST. SURVIVE THE FIRST HARVEST.]

I turned back toward my home, my claws sliding out instinctively. The revenge would have to wait. The abyss had followed me home, and it was hungry.