Venice Faerie, Part 2

I dashed out of the gondola. "No, wait!" the boy begged, grabbing my wrist. Damn. I knew I shouldn't have kissed him. But there was no time to waste. He was instructing the person driving to pull over to the canal. I tugged, but the boy didn't loosen his hold. Luckily for me, there wasn't a spot to pull over except back the way we'd come. "You have to let me go." I instructed the boy. "No, please!" he pleaded, pulling me back into the gondola. I looked over my shoulder. I didn't have time for this. I leaned forward and kissed the boy again. He had stopped in mid-sentence, surprised. With his shock, his hand loosened from my wrist, and I dashed away. The boy's cry of surprise and disappointment startled some tourists, but that was just what I needed to get them to move out of my way. I heard footsteps behind me. I looked behind me. There he was, maneuvering through the crowd as quickly as he could. I looked back in front of me---and skidded to a halt. I'd ran into a cul-de-sac, with a small dock for a boat, and almost ran right into the water. I stared at the water, and then looked up. He was coming for me. The water was exactly what I needed, but only if it was absolutely necessary. I slipped out of my pants and shirt, securing them in my water faerie backpack. I stood there in my tube top and my bikini bottoms, which had a skirt with the left side slit all the way to the top. The cold didn't bother me, so that wouldn't be a problem if I had to be in the water. I grabbed my  water faerie sweater to cover up my wings. There weren't many people around, so that wasn't much of a problem for me. He came to a halt several yards away. "You stay away from me, Jack." I snarled. He narrowed his eyes at me. "Why? So you won't have the urge to kiss me like you did with that stupid boat boy?" he taunted, but there was fury behind those words. "Oh, you would just enjoy that, now wouldn't you?" I snarled. He narrowed his eyes. "Why did you abandon me, Rainy, in London?" He demanded, and I saw all that hurt in his eyes that I knew I would. I looked away, my eyes hardening. "It was for our own good, Jack." I snapped. "How so?" he snapped back. "Listen to me, Jack..." I started, but he just held out a hand. I pursed my lips. Then I spoke again, ignoring his glare. "Jack... it wasn't what I wanted. I didn't want to leave you. But you and me both know that someday, the Hunters were going to recruit you back. And you would have had to kill me. And all my kind. Vampires. Werewolves. Fey. All of them." His face fell in a look of torment. "Rainy, they wouldn't have taken me back. After failing them so hard? No." he shook his head. I narrowed my eyes. "Jack, your father is the Head Hunter. He wouldn't leave you behind. And you know it." He hung his head. "But that doesn't mean you have to leave me. We could have figured something out..." I shook my head. "No, Jack. Until this war is over---" He stared up at me, sadness written all over his face. He pulled out the velvet purse. He tossed it to me. I opened it and drew something out delicately. It was an aquamarine, in the shape of a long staff crystal. It was naturally grown that way; it was a water faerie-grown. I looked up at him in surprise and a sudden sense of sadness. I put it around my neck. I pursed my lips as I stared at it. I looked up to see Jack staring at me adoringly. I felt a pang of sadness again. "Thank you, Jack." I whispered. "So will you come with me?" he asked, almost begging. I stared at the crystal, and then at him. "I... I'm sorry, Jack." I whispered, my eyes tearing up. And then I dove into the water. My wings opened up, allowing me to use them as fins. Webbing grew in between my fingers, and my legs stuck together to make a glorious turquoise fin that drifted into black. The fin was shredded and torn at the ends, or so it looked. I swam to the surface, and stared at the broken face of Jack. A tear rolled down my eye as I waved goodbye. Jack raised a hand in farewell, his face one of a broken heart. "I love you, Rainy! And I always will!" he yelled after me as I disappeared beneath the surface, returning to where I belonged----the water.