Fishtail (The Complex Book 0) Read online

  Table of Contents

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Twenty-Nine

  Thirty

  The Complex Website

  (http://www.thecomplex.info/)

  Sneak peek from Allie and Galen's story, Halcyon

  You can read the rest ofAllie and Galen's story, Halcyon, HERE

  Author's Note

  FISHTAIL

  DEMELZA CARLTON

  A Book in the Complex series

  A Lone Planet. One Complex.

  Unlimited Chaos.

  http://www.thecomplex.info

  Mermen in space. Murder. And Minali.

  Sven's life is going swimmingly. After landing a job as the leader of the Mer colony in the Complex, life couldn't be more perfect.

  Until a dead body turns up in Sven's fish tank, making him the prime suspect in a murder investigation, and his life fishtails out of control.

  Sven is in over his head this time. Now with Violet the succubus and a Human piranha called Minali on his tail, the other Mer are ready to throw him to the sharks.

  Can he find the real murderer and prove his innocence before it's too late?

  DEDICATION

  This one's for everyone who said they needed to read a book about mermaids in space.

  And then asked me whether there were mermen in space, too.

  My answer is yes. Just ask Sven.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2017 Demelza Carlton

  Lost Plot Press

  All rights reserved.

  CONTENTS

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty-One

  Twenty-Two

  Twenty-Three

  Twenty-Four

  Twenty-Five

  Twenty-Six

  Twenty-Seven

  Twenty-Eight

  Twenty-Nine

  Thirty

  The Complex Website

  (http://www.thecomplex.info/)

  Sneak peek from Allie and Galen's story, Halcyon

  You can read the rest ofAllie and Galen's story, Halcyon, HERE

  Author's Note

  One

  On a planet far from home, a solitary merman carved up corpses to sell to unsuspecting Humans in the morning.

  The entrails were already in the bins out the back, waiting for the waste personnel to dispose of the evidence of tonight's carnage, because Sven was nothing if not efficient. He did like to take his time with the flesh, though, slicing it up to make it as attractive as possible to a potential buyer.

  He shook his head. He didn't understand Humans. Not at all. What could be attractive about a piece of dead flesh, usually hours or even days old, sometimes even frozen for who knew how long, instead of a live body that writhed beneath you in its death throes as you decided it was the one that would have to die for your dinner?

  Gah, it was enough to make him hungry just thinking about it. He should finish up and head home, like the others had. He'd done plenty for today, and he could always do more tomorrow.

  A bang and a splash sounded from the front of the shop.

  "Hello?" Sven called, lifting his knife so that blood ran down the blade onto his fingers, where it blended in with the rest.

  A splash, then the squeak of flesh hitting the side of a glass tank and being scraped along it.

  "Stop fighting." Bloody teenagers. Didn't matter what species, the males always seemed to want to fight. Even his kind, though it'd been centuries since any of them had. Except for Halcyon, of course, but she was special. All kinds of special.

  And the reason he was in the back of the shop, late at night, hacking bits up instead of at home with his own people. He should be there, paying attention to one of the lovely girls who thought the leader of the Mer colony in the Complex was important enough to spend time with. Instead of ignoring him for some Human who could scarcely swim.

  With one savage blow, Sven severed another head and focussed on slicing the finest fillets on Lorn. Perhaps in the whole Seldova system. Humans just didn't deserve them.

  Two

  When Minali returned to the Intra office, she was surprised to hear applause. Had someone broken the doughnut eating record already? There wasn't a doughnut to be seen, but then there wouldn't be, if someone had eaten them all, she reasoned.

  Lieutenant Diamond, her supervisor, appeared in front of her, holding out his hand. "Good going, Detective Burman." He nearly crushed her fingers, he shook her hand so hard. "And Detective Small, too. Biggest drug bust in the history of the Complex!" Diamond beamed. "And we all thought it was drones flying in somehow. Where did you get the idea they were using the prostitutes to bring it in?"

  Phil Burman opened his mouth to reply, by Minali got in first. "It was Phil. He thought of body cavity searches. I didn't think it was a good idea at first." She grimaced as she remembered the terror on the girl's face when Phil had mentioned the search as a joke. What kind of prostitute was terrified of being penetrated? Either she'd made a very poor job choice or she had something to hide. Gambling on the latter, Minali had called Phil's bluff and insisted on the search. And hit paydirt. "But it never hurts to be thorough, so…"

  Laughter echoed around the office. Minali was glad the girls couldn't hear it down in the cells. They'd be up on minor charges with a night or two in the cells and a fine, no more, but their boss would probably be shipped offplanet to face the authorities on Wreston. Wreston had a zero tolerance policy on drug dealers, and a dim view on sex slavery, too. He wouldn't see daylight again for a long, long time.

  "It feels so good to wrap this case up, I’m going for a beer. Who's with me?" Phil shouted. "To the Uni Moon and Sixpence!"

  A chorus of shouts told him half the office was up for a drink, it being a Friday night and all.

  "You coming, babe?" Phil asked Minali.

  She shook her head. "That report won't write itself."

  Phil laughed. "After a couple of beers, you bet it will! Come with us."

  "No."

  His smile faltered for a moment, before he hitched it back up. "All right then, I'll have one for you. You better be home before I am, though, 'cause that bed's sure cold without you."

  If anyone in the office hadn't known he was her partner in more than the professional sense, they did now. Whoops and catcalls followed his words as the mass exodus began, leaving only Minali behind.

  She slumped down at her desk, wishing she could one day meet a ma
n, any man, whose life didn't involve drinking copious amounts of alcohol at the local pub. From her drunkard father to her equally inebriated ex-husband, her experience with alcohol only led to violence, anger and pain. Hers, more often than not, and she bore the scars to prove it. Back before her dad had drunk himself to death and she'd showed up in hospital with a broken bottle embedded in her shoulder, courtesy of her loving ex-husband, she might have considered going for a drink. One drink couldn't hurt, right?

  But her shoulder ached, reminding her that it could.

  Sighing, she got to work. She'd rather write up the report, anyway, closing this week with the successful end to a difficult case so she'd have a fresh assignment in the morning. She'd take anything that didn't involve body cavity searches of Metas. She shuddered. Some of those creatures had fur or scales or more orifices than any being should have. Give her Humans any day. At least they made sense, biologically.

  Three

  The Uni Moon and Sixpence thrummed with energy tonight, and it coursed through Bolina as readily as it did all the other bar patrons. Ever the red-haired cook seemed to be affected by it, as she peeped hungrily through the serving window as if searching for someone.

  Bolina smiled, not needing to search. She had eyes for only one man, and he didn't know she existed. Maybe she'd work up the courage to change that tonight.

  She glided between patrons, wanting to be near him, even if he didn't look at her. She dodged around an Intra officer who had a woman on each arm while he piggybacked a third, and almost bumped into him. She laid a hand on his arm to steady herself before she'd realised what she was doing. The contact was electric, holding her in place so she couldn't let go.

  An incubus on the other side of the bar, high on the energy in the room, did something to intensify it. A casual spark blazed into a raging bushfire of lust.

  His eyes turned on her, taking in her fingers on his arm before settling on her face. Impossibly, recognition flared in his eyes.

  "You!" he cried, loud enough to be heard over the music. "The girl of my dreams. Come here!"

  As if in a dream, Bolina felt his arms wrap around her, reeling her in closer so that her body pressed against his. She melted in his embrace, barely believing such a thing was possible.

  Then he pressed his lips against hers as he kissed her.

  Bolina reeled, lost in the sensation as he set her lips, her tongue and then her whole body afire. How could one body – no, two, because they were so intertwined right now that he undoubtedly shared what she was feeling – contain so much emotion and energy without bursting?

  She couldn't – she was certain she couldn't. Breathless, panting, she pulled away from him. These feelings, these sensations, were too heady for her. Too much for one night.

  Bolina stumbled through the crowd, intent on reaching the door and the cool night air outside. Her knees had gone strangely weak, so it felt like wading through neck-deep water as well as people. Yet she made it, nearly falling out the open door into the street.

  Bolina sucked in a deep breath, wondering if it was the first since he'd kissed her. Between her whirling head and her racing heartbeat, she could happily have slid to the ground and stared up at the dome above, just reliving that incredible kiss.

  "Wait!"

  She heard the shout from behind her, and knew she couldn't stay here.

  Bolina bolted, not caring where her feet took her, as long as it was away.

  The patter of running feet behind her spurred her into going faster still. She couldn't seem to catch her breath, yet still she ran. Most of the shops here were shut, dark windows yawning like black holes on either side of her. She'd have dived into a black hole right now, if it offered her an escape, but the shops were all dark and silent.

  All but one. The front of this shop was dark, true, but a light burned out the back, in the office or the preparation area, while someone worked late. She glimpsed glass tanks with something swimming inside.

  Bolina shoved at the door, which didn't budge. Growling, she reached up to wave at the motion sensor, and the door hissed open. She staggered inside, knowing that the blackness edging her vision had little to do with the darkness of simulated night. No, this was her body failing to retain consciousness after being pushed to the point of exhaustion.

  A familiar voice called out a greeting, and Bolina nearly cried. Serendipity had led her to the one place she would be safe.

  The door hissed closed behind her, but Bolina didn't notice. She grabbed for the nearest thing to help keep her upright – a waist-high fish tank with scuttling creatures on the bottom. Too late she realised that the top of the tank was open, and her arms splashed into the water.

  A shadow loomed behind her. Bolina was too tired to even turn her head to see.

  Arms caught her around the middle, tipping her headfirst into the tank.

  Bolina panicked, trying to brace her arms against the glass walls, reaching desperately for the top to haul herself out, but all she did was slide down the slippery glass, unable to find any purchase.

  "Stop fighting," that familiar voice said, sounding far away.

  Too exhausted to argue, Bolina complied, letting her body sink into the water. As her vision darkened, she thought she glimpsed a flash of fire before everything faded to black.

  Four

  Though her eyelids were so heavy they felt like they had lead weights attached to them, Minali worked doggedly at her report until it was complete. When she was certain she hadn't missed a single important detail, she saved it, sent it, and leaned back in her chair to rub her eyes. Phil swore he always needed a nightcap to help him sleep, but she could have slept upright in her chair.

  Better to sleep in a bed, if she could make it. She climbed wearily onto the flyer her rank as a detective entitled her to, blessing whichever Complex designer had decided to make the vehicles self-driving, and programmed a course for Phil's apartment.

  She woke to the quiet chime of the flyer arriving at its destination, surprised that she'd dozed for the entire ride. She needed a day off. Several, probably, and she'd more than earned it, what with all the overtime she'd pulled on this case. She'd check her calendar in the morning and see how much time she could take off before her next case.

  The corridor was empty as she palmed open the door to Phil's place, hoping he was back from the pub and still conscious. He might want to celebrate the end of a case with a drink, but she preferred a more intimate celebration, in the privacy of the bedroom.

  The door hissed open and Minali's mouth dropped open, too. Phil was home, but he wasn't alone. She counted no less than four women in the room with him, and none of them wore a scrap of clothing. Phil had one hand between one girl's legs while his other hand smacked another girl's bare butt. Every time he spanked her, the girl squealed out a number, like she was counting the blows. A third girl knelt in front of him, sucking on him like his nether regions were a lollipop and the fourth girl had her head buried between the thighs of the third. The longer she looked, the more she saw. There was something otherworldly about each of the girls, whether it was the strange shimmer about them, the slightly off shade of their skin or the unusual flexibility that made Minali wonder if they were all some sort of shapeshifter. Metas and not Human, she decided, feeling bile rise up in her throat. How could Phil cheat on her with four aliens, no less, on a night she'd counted on having him all to herself, without a case to distract them?

  "So you started celebrating without me," Minali said coldly.

  Phil finally noticed her. "Hey, baby, I got lonely waiting for you." He extracted his hand from the first girl and wrapped his fingers around the third girl's ponytail, dragging her head away from him until his dick emerged from her mouth, moist and dripping from the girl's saliva. "Come give me some head. You suck better than this bitch." When the insulted girl tried to bite him with teeth turned suddenly to fangs, Phil slapped her face instead.

  Any desire Minali had felt drained away, to be replaced with cold
fury. Not only had Phil cheated on her, but he was an abusive piece of trash like every other man she'd ever dated.

  "No, Philibert, you suck," Minali said. "I hope your new friends drain you dry. And if you ever try to touch me again, I'll shoot you." She turned on her heel and walked out of his apartment and his life.

  If there was a man in the universe who didn't drink and would never hit a woman, Minali might date again. But who was she kidding? A man like that didn't exist.

  All men were arseholes. She'd be better off alone, and good riddance to Phil and every other man like him. Who needed men, anyway?

  Five

  "They won’t stop screwing around all night, and they make so much noise I can't sleep!" one mermaid shouted.

  "She isn't taking care of her child properly. The baby cries all night, keeping us awake. If we can't sleep, what else are we supposed to do but have sex?" the second girl fired back.

  Sven took a deep breath. It was barely daylight in the Complex, but a leader's job hardly obeyed normal working hours. Besides, if he didn't deal with the girls' feud, no one would get any sleep.

  "Melpomene, Melusine, I'll see what I can do about finding better accommodation for both of you. Perhaps if I moved Melusine to one of the apartments closer to the surface, little Thera wouldn't bother anyone so much when she cries. Once she starts sleeping through the night, you can always move back. Melpomene, Melusine isn't the only one who's commented on the noise. Perhaps if you and Theron could move to the pools, away from the sleeping cubicles, when you wish to be together, then you can make as much noise as you like without disturbing anyone's sleep."

  "You're just jealous he likes me better than you!" Melpomene hissed.

  "You can have him, along with his limp dick and empty promises. Theron promised me he'd take care of Thera from the moment she was born, but instead of doing that, he's off screwing you!" Melusine shot back.

  Sven knew he needed to have a word with Theron, too. The two mermaids had been closer than sisters before he'd come between them. So close that everyone had thought the two were about to announce they'd make their partnership official, and yet, they hadn't. Theron's messing with both of these friends' affections was disrupting their peaceful community more than he liked. "Where's Theron?"