Nixxia wasn't weak as a Mermen, but as a human, she'd discovered that she was not only weak but also dumb.
It irritated her.
Why couldn't the perks of turning human include acquiring all their skills and knowledge?
Tears dropped down from her eyes as she crawled on the hot floor. She was scalding; she'd never been subjected to such intense heat all her life, but the moment she stepped foot into the human world, she'd been witnessing different levels of hotness.
She crawled up the stairs and toward the door where she'd seen Vernon and Dane walkthrough.
She paused in front of the door and caught her breath, thinking of how she was going to open the door.
Suddenly, the door in front of her opened, and she looked up to find Dane staring down at her.
"Thank you," Nixxia said and muttered her remaining strength to crawl into the house.
She sighed loudly in relief as she felt the cool, smooth, black, shiny tiles on her hands and knees; she looked around the gray living room in search of where the cool air was coming from but couldn't find it; all she could see were giant objects and black sofas.
"Oh my! Who's this thing?" A female voice asked scornfully from a distance.
Nixxia looked to her left side and found a lady who could almost pass as Valtira's twin, except that this one had legs and no fins; maybe she felt that way because their characters matched.
"Ms. Linda," Dane bowed his head in greeting.
Linda ignored Dane's acknowledgment and kept walking toward Nixxia, who was sitting behind a stylish black sofa.
"Who are you, a new dog?" Linda asked, her face scrunching up in disgust. She saw hints of dirt all over Nixxia's exposed arm, neck, face, and especially legs.
She wondered where Vernon had found this kind of person.
"Dog?" She asked her, panting.
Linda scowled, "Are you playing dumb with me? Who are you? And how did you convince Vernon to bring you to our home?" She glared at her.
"Calm down, Linda. She's just a captive; she'll be gone once the boss is done dealing with her." Dane stepped forward and explained.
Nixxia could see the hatred in Linda's eyes; she started questioning if this was how every human was. Were Dane and Dr. Zee the only good ones? If so, there was really no difference between her kind and the humans.
"A captive? Then take her where captives are kept." She pointed toward the door.
"Dane?" Vernon's dark voice called, causing everyone in the living room to see him walking out of the underground stairs.
The living room was large; one end had stairs that led down, while the other stairs led upstairs.
Nixxia felt a cold chill down his spine, a feeling she was familiar with: fear. A feeling that made her want to crawl and hide away from Vernon, just as she always hid from her Father.
"Oh, Vernon, I was just about to come to find you. I found someone in our house and asked Dane to send him away, but he refused." Linda ran and met Vernon halfway in the living room.
Nixxiap watched with curiosity as the female threw herself into Vernon's arms and kissed him.
'Mates,' Nixxia thought.
No wonder she had such authority as she spoke; she was the queen of his home.
Vernon gently wrapped a hand around Linda's waist and led her to Nixxia.
Nixxia suddenly started coughing; her throat felt like it was burning; her eyes immediately flew to Vernon's hand that held the cigarette to his mouth, watching the cherry bottom flame up as he puffed the smoke out.
She didn't like it; she knew his lung irritation was coming from that thing in Vernon's mouth; she kept coughing and coughing as the smoke kept wafting into her nostrils.
"You don't have to worry about her; her days are numbered," He said, his tone distasteful.
He ignored Nixxia's coughing fit and kept smoking, he wasn't going to bother about some maniac who was seeking attention.
"Now, Dane, take her to the cells." Linda smiled triumphantly.
"Take her to her room," Vernon ordered and stepped away from Linda.
"Yes, boss," Dane bowed and went to help Nixxia up.
"Vernon, what are you doing? You want to let her stay in-"
"She's an enemy, Linda; we have to keep her close," Vernon replied, lightening another cigarette.
"Well, she's close enough in the cells, in the other part of the compound, please; I don't like her; what if she sneaks up and kills you at night?" She questioned, horrified.
"Enough, Linda. Take her away, Dane; I need to check if she's still having her amnesia." He chuckled darkly.
"Amnesia? What's going on here? No, no, wait, why are you helping her up? Can't she walk?" She drew Dane away from Nixxia, causing her to fall heavily on the floor.
Nixxia moaned, her eyes immediately sought Vernon's in a silent plea, "Please? Help?" She whispered.
Vernon raised a brow at her; it was the first time the culprit was speaking directly to him. Her voice was cracked as if she'd cried; it annoyed him.
Was she so eager in trying to prove that she was an innocent criminal that she had to cry? She was weak, and Vernon hated weakness.
"Let her crawl up the stairs, Dane," He said and went to sit on the sofa to entertain himself with the crawling human.
"Follow me, Nixxia," Dane said and started walking toward the stairs across the large living room.
Nixxia's tears fell again; she hated it; she was so weak as a human. She didn't seem to have control of her emotions; she felt hurt, betrayed, and misunderstood.
Her limbs were officially overused; for someone who had just gotten her new limbs for just a week, she sure was overusing them, and wrongly, too.
Every raise of her hand and knee was torturous; the pain seemed to be going straight to her abdomen. It was healing but slowly opening it back up, she felt hot water-like liquid start to prickle out of her skin. She reached the center of the living room, paused, looked at Vernon, and pleaded again, "Please, help?"
Vernon scoffed, puffing his smoke and crossing his legs over. "Pathetic." He frowned and kept watching.
Nixxia sniffed and resumed her torturous journey.
"Vernon, please, tell me this is a joke. Is this some kind of human experiment or something? She can't walk, can't form proper sentences, acts dumb and naive, what else, she's a virgin?" Linda was frustrated.
"I'm as curious as you, Linda; we'll have to wait and find out. I found her in my..." He paused, remembering that even Linda didn't know about his private property.
"Where, Vernon?" Linda asked curiously.
"I found her where she wasn't supposed to be; she pretended to be wounded, so I took her to Zee to make sure she stayed alive so I could question her, but it turns out... she had amnesia from her accident." He smiled crookedly.
Linda chuckled, "Unbelievably, this girl is a genius; I believe the Raja family must have sent a dumb one this time." Her shoulders shook as she chuckled, staring at Nixxia, who hadn't made it very far up the stairs.
Vernon didn't seem to share in her amusement; his face had hardened the moment Linda mentioned the Raja family. "And they would pay dearly for it." his voice was very low and guttural; anger was evident on his face.
He stood from the sofa, towering over Linda, "Babe, where are you going? Do you want to go and teach traitor a lesson?" She smiled sweetly at him, raising her hand to touch his cheek.
"Step aside, Linda, I need to work," He said, his eyes narrowed at how Nixxia's limbs shook from crawling up the stairs.
He turned away, ignoring her. He had just taken a step when he heard a loud thud.
Everyone turned toward the stairs and found Nixxia passed out at the foot of the stairs. She had fallen.
Dane immediately rushed down the stairs and lowered himself beside Nixxia. "Boss, I think her head is bleeding," he reported.
Vernon was pissed, his chest rose and fell in anger. He immediately lit another cigarette, a hard frown marking his cold, handsome face.
He couldn't understand what was happening, the young woman he had captured was perfect at playing weak and clueless, this was a tactic he'd never seen before, Nixxia was really good at what she was doing, but he was about to show her that he's been in the game longer, he wasn't one to be fooled.
His jaws clenched before he blew out his smoke. "Take her away," He ordered.
"Yes, Boss," Dane bowed and lifted Nixxia off the floor.
"Dane," Vernon called as Dane carried Nixxia up the stairs.
"Boss?" Dane paused, Nixxia's arms falling freely beside him.
"Gather every Intel on Raja, I need every little update, especially their latest mission about me," He ordered.
"Yes, Boss," Dane replied and carried Zeno upstairs.
Vernon walked out of the house, he needed to make a call away from Linda.
Nixxia was too suspicious; safe to say, she was the most suspicious human Vernon had ever seen.
He knew the Raja family was wealthy and influential; they must have sought the best spy to send to him, someone who would act clueless yet send them every little detail she heard and saw.
He'd given Nixxia a week, but now he's taking it back, he was dealing with her the moment she opened her damned eyes.