Chapter 2 – The Hunter
1360 Words
Dante
Three months.
Three months of searching. Three months of bribing fishermen, hacking satellite feeds, and interrogating every smuggler on the coast. Three months of hearing whispers about something in the deep — a creature of legend, a ghost story that fishermen told to frighten children.
But I knew better.
I'd seen it with my own eyes. Five years ago, on a bloody night I'd never forget.
---
Flashback — Five Years Ago
I was twenty-six. Newly crowned Don of the Rosso Family. My predecessor — the man who raised me — lay dead at my feet, his blood soaking into the wooden deck of his yacht. I'd killed him myself. Not for power. For revenge.
He'd murdered my mother when I was seven. Made me watch.
That night, after I'd pulled the trigger, I stood on the edge of the yacht, staring into the black water. My hands were shaking. My chest felt hollow.
And then I saw her.
A woman — no, not a woman. Something else. Silver hair floating like silk on the surface. Eyes the color of stormy jade. She rose from the water like a goddess, her skin glowing faintly in the moonlight.
She looked at me.
Not with fear. Not with curiosity.
With recognition.
Like she'd been waiting for me.
"You carry death," she said. Her voice was music — haunting, ethereal. "But also grief. Your mother's blood cries out for justice."
I couldn't speak. Couldn't move.
"The sea remembers," she continued. "And the sea rewards those who avenge the innocent."
She reached out — her fingers brushed my cheek. Her touch was cold, but it burned.
"One day," she whispered, "you will need me again. And when you do — call my name."
She vanished beneath the water.
I never learned her name. I never saw her again.
But I never forgot her.
---
Present Day
I leaned back in my leather chair, staring at the photograph on my desk.
Her face.
The same silver hair. The same jade eyes. The same impossible beauty.
My men had found her — not by searching, but by accident. Their sonar had detected something massive beneath their dredging ship. When they lowered cameras, they saw a city. A kingdom beneath the waves.
And then they saw her.
She was leading a group of warriors, her scales gleaming like armor, her tail cutting through the water with deadly grace.
She was magnificent.
She was also the key to everything.
---
Why I Hunted Her
Most people think I'm just a criminal. A gangster. A killer in a suit.
They're wrong.
I'm a builder. An empire-builder. And empires require resources.
My dredging ships had been harvesting minerals from the ocean floor for years — rare metals, precious stones, oil. It made me rich. Made me powerful.
But the sea was fighting back.
Storms destroyed my ships. Equipment malfunctioned. Men went mad — hearing whispers in the waves, claiming they saw faces in the water.
I knew what it was.
Her people.
They were protecting their home. And they were winning.
I tried everything. Bribes. Threats. Military-grade equipment. Nothing worked. The ocean was their domain, and I was an intruder.
But if I could capture her — their leader, their princess, their most precious treasure — I could negotiate. I could force them to the table. I could make them serve me.
Or I could destroy them entirely.
I hadn't decided yet.
---
The Night of the Capture
I watched the live feed from the submarine.
Dark water. Faint bioluminescence. And there — swimming with her warriors — was her.
My heart should have stayed cold. I was a monster. A killer. I'd buried more men than I could count.
But when I saw her face again, something stirred.
Recognition.
The same feeling I'd had five years ago. Like she was meant to be mine.
"Fire the nets," I ordered.
My men hesitated. "Boss, the iron will hurt her —"
"Do it."
The nets launched. I watched her turn — those jade eyes widening in shock — before the iron tangled around her beautiful tail. Her screams echoed through the speakers.
I felt nothing.
Liar.
I felt everything.
---
The Penthouse
I stood outside her glass cage, watching her float in the saltwater.
She was even more breathtaking up close. Her hair flowed like liquid silver. Her scales shimmered with every movement. And her eyes — God, those eyes — they burned with rage.
She pressed her palm to the glass.
"Let me out," she whispered. Her voice was softer than I remembered, but the fire was still there.
I stepped closer.
"Beautiful," I murmured.
She flinched. "I'm not a beast."
"No," I agreed. "You're something far more interesting."
I studied her chains — iron, wrapped tight around her tail. Her scales were dull where the metal touched, but she was still magnificent. Still defiant.
"You speak," I said.
"Of course I speak. I'm not a beast."
Defiant. Good. I liked them with spirit.
"You are," I said slowly, "the most dangerous thing that's ever walked — or swam — into my life."
She met my gaze without flinching. "You don't know anything about me."
I smiled — cold, sharp, dangerous.
"Then tell me, princess. Tell me why a creature like you came to the surface. Why you let yourself be captured."
Her eyes flickered. Just for a moment.
Gotcha.
"I didn't let anything," she said flatly. "Your men attacked me."
"Attacked you," I repeated. "Or found you exactly where you wanted to be found?"
She said nothing.
I circled her tank, trailing my fingers along the glass. She followed me with her eyes, tracking every movement.
"Here's what I believe," I continued. "You're not a victim. You're a warrior. You were leading those warriors in the water. Protecting something. Or someone."
Her jaw tightened.
I stopped walking. Pressed my face to the glass, close enough that if it weren't there, our noses would touch.
"And I think," I murmured, "you came to kill me."
For a split second — just a flash — I saw it.
Fear.
She was afraid.
Good.
"Don't worry," I said softly. "I'm not going to kill you. That would be a waste."
I stepped back and gestured to the tank around her.
"This is your new home. Saltwater. Warmth. Everything you need to survive. But those chains stay on until you prove you're worth my trust."
She bared her teeth. "I'll never trust you."
"Then we're even." I smiled — cold and thin. "Because I don't trust you either."
I turned to leave.
"Wait."
Her voice stopped me.
I glanced back.
She pressed her face to the glass again, her scales flaring with emotion.
"What do you want from me?" she whispered.
I walked back to her. Met her gaze through the glass.
"Everything," I said.
---
Dante's True Purpose
Most people think I'm just a criminal.
But I'm something else entirely.
My mother was dying. Terminal cancer. The doctors had given her six months.
I'd searched everywhere for a cure. Every country, every hospital, every experimental trial. Nothing worked.
But then — five years ago — that woman in the water had touched me. And something changed. I felt my wounds heal. My scars fade. She'd given me something, and I didn't even understand what it was until later.
Her touch had power.
Maybe she was the cure.
Maybe her people — her blood — could save my mother.
I didn't know.
But I was going to find out.
Even if I had to tear her kingdom apart piece by piece to do it.
---
Lira
He was gone.
I floated in my tank, my tail aching from the iron chains, my heart pounding.
He knew.
Dante Rosso knew I was here to kill him. And he didn't care.
He was arrogant. Obsessed. Dangerous.
But I saw something in his eyes — a flicker of pain. Of desperation.
What are you hiding, monster?
I pressed my forehead to the glass and closed my eyes.
Mother, give me strength. I won't fail. I can't fail.
Not when so much depends on it.
- Writer
