This is the final chapter; I hope you liked the story. Also thanks to all of you who took the time to leave reviews, I appreciate each of them.

The Mermaid

Chapter sixteen

As Dean swam with Grady he kept a constant lookout for the mermaid but didn't see any sign of her. Maybe she was already out looking for another victim he thought as he led Grady out of the cave and toward the surface. Or maybe she had killed enough tonight and was holed up somewhere else watching them….he had no way of knowing. He figured he'd get Grady safe in the boat with Sam then go back down and wait in the cave, he hoped that the mermaid would return to her lair sooner or later. He knew Sam would be worried because he had been down longer then expected but now at least he could tell him about the cave and that there was air in it and that he shouldn't worry if he isn't back right away.

"You stay in the boat with my brother; you'll be safe with him he knows what to do if she surfaces." Dean told Grady as he led him toward the boat. But as he neared the boat his heart started pounding in his chest when he noticed Sam was no longer in it.

"Sam! Sammy!" Dean shouted as he spun around in the water trying to find his brother. Had Sam jumped in the water to help him or had the mermaid taken his brother from the boat, Dean had no way of knowing. He pushed Grady up into the boat then began swimming back toward the rocks.

"Where are you going?" Grady asked as he sat nervously in the boat, all he wanted was to be safe back on shore..

"Wait there, I got to find my brother!" Dean shouted back to him.

"You got to be crazy! We got to get out of here now!"

"I'm not leaving here without my brother!" Dean said as he continued toward the rocks.

"If you want to die that's fine with me, but you're not taking me with you!" Grady started the boat then started to head back to the opposite shore.

Dean knew there was no way to stop him and right now he didn't even care, all he cared about was finding Sam.

The Cave

Sam felt like his lungs were about to burst and was about to head for the surface for more air when he saw what looked like it might be an entrance to a cave. He swam toward it then entered the shaft which led to the cave itself. He was just beginning to wonder if he had made a mistake and should have surfaced for more air before entering the shaft when he suddenly popped up inside the cave and gasped in a much needed breath. He immediately started looking around for Dean as he caught his breath.

"Dean! Dean you in here?" He called out praying he'd hear an answer because if his brother wasn't here he had no idea where he was.

Sam looked around the cave and winced when he saw the two bodies of Grady's friends. He had started toward them when he heard the sound of air bubbles rushing to the surface behind him. He spun around and watched as a dark shape began to rise to the surface. He pulled out his knife and was just about to attack it when Dean's head suddenly popped above the water.

"Whoa!" Dean said holding up his hands when he saw Sam standing in front of him with his knife raised and ready to strike.

"Dean!" Sam lowered the knife as he broke into a big relieved smile. "Where the hell were you? You had me scared to death, I thought she had you."

"I found the cave, and I found Grady."

"Was he dead?"

"No…I took him back to the boat….where you should be."

"I thought maybe you needed a little help."

"You should have stayed in the boat Sam, you almost died yesterday. You shouldn't be out here swallowing more water."

"Well I thought you were dying…or dead. I didn't have much of a choice; I had to come and try to save your sorry ass." Sam said as he looked around the cave. "Did you see her?"

"I don't think she's here, I think she might be out looking for dessert."

"So what do we do?"

"We shouldn't be doing anything, I should be doing this…Your ass should be back on that boat, but unfortunately Grady took off with it."

"You're kidding?... After you saved him he still screwed you over?"

"Yep…nothing we can do about it now, he's long gone."

"Oh that's just great." Sam knew it was going to be a long swim back to the car.

"Well that's the least of our problems. We still have a murdering mermaid to take care of."

"You think she'll come back?"

"This is her home Sam….she'll be back."

Three hours later

Sam, still exhausted from his near drowning the day before, had fallen asleep on a rock while Dean sat guard. Dean could feel his eyes grow heavy and fought to stay awake, but soon he too fell into a light sleep. But the sound of splashing woke him up a short time later just in time to see the mermaid, in her true form, reach up and pull Sam into the water. Sam fought back but he was too weak and the mermaid too strong, soon she had her lips over his and began pulling him deep into the water. Dean dove in after them but the mermaid was fast and had already pulled Sam to the center of the cave making it almost impossible to find them. Dean began to panic when he couldn't find his brother but he knew either both of them would be leaving the cave alive or neither of them would.

He surfaced briefly for a quick breath and as he did he noticed air bubbles coming from the middle of the cave. He dove under the water and swam toward the bubbles. He finally found the mermaid who had Sam locked in a death grip. He tried prying his brother from her grasp but it was impossible. He did the only thing he could, he went behind her and plunged the knife deep into her back hoping he'd hit her heart. Her body arched in pain and she angrily pushed Sam away and turned her attention to Dean.

Sam was barely conscious but he managed to swim to the surface for a breath of air then quickly dove back under. He could see his brother struggling with the mermaid as he tried to keep his face away from her deadly lips. But Sam could tell Dean was growing weaker as his lungs ran out of air. With a burst of speed he didn't even think he had left in him Sam was on them in seconds. He began stabbing at the mermaid and finally managed to pull Dean away from her then got between them giving Dean time to surface for air.

Dean made it to the surface and gasped in much needed air. He knew if he had been down there a few seconds longer he would have drowned. He reached for his knife then swore when he realized it was still embedded in the mermaid's back and that he no longer had a weapon. But his attention was soon turned toward the surface of the water as he saw it begin to turn a bright crimson red.

"Sam!" Dean cried out as he dove under the water. He finally found Sam trying to make it to the surface, a bloody cut across his chest turning the water around him red. Dean swam to him and pulled him to the surface then over to a rock where he helped him out of the water. Sam sat on the rock trying to catch his breath while Dean examined his wound.

"I'm okay…it's not that bad." Sam said as he looked over Dean's shoulder towards the water. "I got her Dean…I got her in her heart."

Dean looked back at the bloody water.

"So some of that blood is hers?"

"Yeah." Sam gave a little embarrassed smile. "She hit me with her tail and I cut myself with my own knife, but when she moved in for the kill…I stabbed her."

"She's dead?"

"I don't know….I think so. I pushed the knife all the way in; she couldn't live through that…no one could."

"I better check." Dean said as he stood up. "You wait here." He added when he saw Sam stand up.

"Dean…."Sam began to protest.

"Wait here Sam, I'll be right back." Dean turned and dove into the water.

Sam waited anxiously on the rock, if Dean didn't surface in a minute or two he'd go in after him. But a little while later Dean surfaced and Sam breathed a sigh of relief then reached down and offered him his hand. Dean grabbed his brother's hand and pulled himself up onto the rock.

"I couldn't find her."

"Dean I shoved the knife all the way into her heart, there's no way she could still be alive."

"Well maybe she swam off to die somewhere else because she's not down there."

"Let's hope so." Sam looked over at the two bodies of Grady's friends. "What are we going to do about them?"

"We'll take them out and leave them on the shoreline, and then we'll make an anonymous call to the cops once we're out of town."

"If only Grady would have listened to us…his friends would still be alive."

"Grady doesn't give a rat's ass about his friends; he was only out for the money."

"Well hopefully he learned a lesson."

"And what's that?"

"Not to mess with things you don't understand."

"I doubt it. Grady's a jerk and jerks never learn." Dean once more checked Sam's wound and determined that even though it was bloody it was just a superficial cut and he could take care of it later. "Let's get out of here."

They each grabbed one of the bodies and pulled it into the water with them then dove under and swam out of the cave.

Later

They left the bodies on the shoreline then stood at the edge of the pond and looked out over the water. There was no disturbance in the water which they hoped was a good sign. Hopefully it meant the mermaid was dead, but they knew it could also mean that she was alive and back on shore looking for another victim. Sam had been positive he had stabbed her in her heart and Dean knew the salt on the knife should dissolve her heart and kill her, but he also knew you couldn't prove anything without a body. They had spotted their boat on the shoreline and figured that Grady had made it to shore and had probably already gone into town to tell his story. It would be only a matter of minutes before the cops and the curious came out to investigate and they didn't want to be anywhere near an investigation.

As they walked to their car Sam smiled over at Dean.

"You know they're going to think Grady is insane."

Dean gave a little laugh.

"I hope so."

Grady had almost killed his brother and it gave him pleasure knowing Grady would now be considered a fool in his own town. Instead of being the tough guy he thought he was people would now laugh at him when he told them his story of a murdering mermaid. He'd probably be laughed right out of town.

The brothers climbed in the car and pulled out onto the road.

"Where are we going?" Sam asked.

"First we got to get out of the county and get cleaned up." Dean looked over at Sam and smiled. "Then we need to get something to eat, I'm starving."

"You're always hungry." Sam gave a little smile as he shook his head, he couldn't believe after all they had just been through Dean was already thinking about food.

"But this time I'm hungry for a fish sandwich."

"Fish? You hate fish."

"Yeah I know…weird huh?" Dean grinned back at his brother.

Sam smiled as he closed his eyes and settled in for a long drive.

The End