Blue Moon (Crimson Romance)

by Anne Bourne

  “Are you hurt?” he asked worriedly.

  Muriel was thin and her usual vibrant color was gone. She was a shadow of what she should have been.

  “I’m sorry, Muriel,” he murmured. She clung to him for a moment with bony hands and then drew back. He couldn’t imagine what she went through.

  “You shouldn’t be seen with me,” she whispered and they sank a bit lower into the shadows.

  “I don’t care. What you did was not a sin as they would have you think, Muriel,” Jake told her firmly.

  “I wanted to love him,” she sobbed, her hair sweeping across her face. “I was a fool.”

  Jake rubbed her hand softly.

  “It was your decision.” He relayed Marcus’ apology and saw Muriel smile sadly. She looked at him with wounded but clear eyes.

  “What are you doing back?” Muriel said and averted her gaze. Jake could tell she was embarrassed.

  “Scyllane’s spell is broken. She warned me it would happen but not this quickly. I fear something’s happened to her. Ephyra should be coming back.”

  “I haven’t heard from Scyllane. All I know is that the arena is being built again,” Muriel said hollowly.

  Jake swung around to her.

  “The arena? Has a champion been declared?”

  “Must have.” Muriel shrugged. “I’ve seen the arena being constructed, big black spires and shaped like a pearl.”

  “Scyllane better be alive to keep Ephyra safe.” Jake started to swim off. Muriel put a hesitant hand on his shoulder.

  “Will you come back?” she asked, not daring to go further toward the realm borders.

  Jake gave her a soft smile.

  “Promise. If you see anything on the outskirts, don’t challenge it,” he said and with a flash of his tail he moved toward his future.

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  “Can we go any faster?” Ephyra panted as more scales appeared on her legs.

  Gabriel had a sudden vision of her as a lizard. He pushed it away with a dry grin — the exhaustion was getting to him.

  “Yea, we just have to get gas first,” Gabriel said as he pulled off on I-65. He’d been driving for more than nineteen hours and his eyes felt like sandpaper. Florida had never seemed so far away.

  As the pump clicked off the fuel pouring into their tank, Gabriel stuck his head in the window and glanced down at her stretched out in the back seat. He visibly controlled his reaction. It was more the shock of seeing her half fused together and scales covering her legs. She grimaced in understanding.

  “I’ve never been repulsed by my own figure.”

  “Don’t be, you’re beautiful. Do you need anything?”

  Gabriel grabbed a soft blanket from the trunk and flung it across her legs. Ephyra thanked him gratefully.

  “I’ll be okay but I know you need sleep.”

  “I need to get you back,” Gabriel answered and went into the store.

  When he came back he saw how red his eyes were in the rear view mirror but determinedly he started the car again and jammed his foot on the accelerator.

  “I’m sorry, Gabriel.”

  He glanced at and wanted to put his arms around her. Her face was pale and her luminous eyes were filled with unshed tears. Gabriel could tell she was in pain but she didn’t complain. His heart swelled with pride at her resilience.

  “There is nothing to be sorry about,” he told her firmly.

  Gabriel smiled and took a huge gulp of coffee. The hot liquid stung his throat but it kept him awake. The highway turned into a blur of lights as they sped through the night. The pavement was like a black serpent tongue and headlights started to look like fairies as Gabriel downed more and more caffeine. He checked on Ephyra often but she finally slept in the back seat.

  He lovingly traced the curve of her jaw with his eyes, the flow of glorious ebony hair that cascaded past her breasts. Gabriel’s mind was filled with thoughts that made his blood heat. There was so much he wanted to show her, teach her, make love to her. Gabriel sighed. He wasn’t sure if he’d survive this champion fight. If she was safe at the end of it, it was enough for him. He understood more of himself through her than he’d ever known. That was a gift not everyone could say they had been given.

  Gabriel set the cruise control at ninety-five, hoping any police were asleep in their cars. He checked the weather on his phone and saw the mass of red and yellow radar blotches were growing over Florida. They were closer by the hour despite gas and bathroom breaks.

  “Gabriel?” Ephyra’s voice broke through his reverie.

  “Hey, hun, you okay?” He saw sweat beading on her forehead.

  Ephyra smiled weakly.

  “I think it’s getting worse,” she said and tossed the blanket off. She frowned at her bottom half. Her legs were now indistinguishable from each other and fins were splitting at what were her feet.

  Gabriel slowed the car to pull over on the side of the road. He raced around and opened the door to lean in over her.

  “What can I do?” he asked worriedly. For a moment, he was awed by her tail’s color and silkiness. The transition was complete and it was no longer a shock — it was amazing. Gabriel didn’t touch it but found he wanted to.

  “I have a case of water, would that help?” he offered, motioning to a patch of flaking scale.

  Ephyra smiled weakly.

  “You always think of everything,” she responded.

  Gabriel gave her a small smile and opened the trunk to get the case of water. He opened a few bottles and poured them over the spot. Ephyra sighed at the wetness. It wasn’t salty like the sea but it was cool and wet.

  “Maybe I could soak the blanket,” he suggested, not caring that his upholstery was getting wet.

  He poured water all over the blanket and gently laid it over her tail. Gabriel felt his hand accidently brush her fins and drew his hand back as if it were hot.

  “I don’t want you to think I’m repulsive. You can touch me if you want,” Ephyra said quickly and reached out for his hand.

  Gabriel let her take it and guide back to her tail. He gulped when he felt its smoothness, the muscle beneath the intricately patterned scales. The color was radiantly green with swirls of red and gold, ending in almost translucent fins that felt harder than they looked.

  “I’m not repulsed. I didn’t want to hurt you,” he said softly in wonder.

  Ephyra sighed and laid back.

  “You aren’t, you couldn’t ever do that,” she said and closed her eyes. Gabriel wrapped her fins, shut the door, and slid into the driver’s seat. The car rolled forward and they were again speeding south. Gabriel decided to head for Pensacola instead of driving all the way through the state. They needed to get to the ocean. He knew bottled water was not the same as the salt of the sea.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  “Just a few more hours,” Gabriel said and drained his cup. Oddly, he wasn’t feeling tired anymore, just worried. Ephyra had been asleep for most of the ride so far, not even waking now when he stopped for gas.

  It had seemed like years since they’d started the trip and Gabriel didn’t know how he was functioning on no sleep. Instead, it was like his senses were heightened and his mind wouldn’t stop buzzing. The rune on his hand may have contributed because he felt it warm and pulsing in his palm.

  Ephyra’s face popped up in the rear view mirror an hour later, her eyes bright and almost feverish.

  “Hey, do you need me to soak the blanket again?” Gabriel asked but she shook her head.

  “I can feel we’re close.” She leaned back.

  They crossed the state line without incident and Gabriel sped up as if Erebos himself were behind them.

  “Beach should be coming up soon. I hope no one’s on it,” Gabriel muttered.

&n
bsp; Within the hour, the stretch of white sand appeared and they passed hundreds of cars in outbound traffic trying to get out of the state. Police were lined up, cars flashing red and blue on the hot pavement. Gabriel tuned in the radio and heard that south Florida including the Keys was in evacuation, due to hurricane conditions. He sighed. The storm was swirling in the distance but at the moment the sun was out and the heat radiated through the windows.

  “Hang on, Ephyra,” he said and turned the wheel.

  He drove as far as he could to a small crescent beach in the city’s outskirts and pulled into the parking lot. It would have to do even though there were a few people dotting the shoreline. Gabriel shoved the keys in his pocket and raced to the side door.

  “We’re almost there. I’m going to carry you.” He gently gathered Ephyra into his arms.

  She nodded and clung to him with shaky arms. They both smelled the briny air and the roar of the waves assaulted their ears.

  Gabriel felt the mark on his hand start to burn hotter the closer they got to the water’s edge. It seemed to be pumping adrenalin into him and he found he was running effortlessly. Plunging into the cool of the ocean, he softly laid Ephyra in the waves, the blanket left behind on the sand.

  Gabriel couldn’t help but smile at her exuberance as the water refreshed her. Ephyra flipped her tail and the water splashed his face. She turned to him, holding herself on the bottom with her arms.

  “Thank you.” She smiled and he knelt in the waves in front of her.

  “I wish you didn’t have to come,” she said sadly and handed him the necklace. The blue stone shone in the sunlight like a beacon. Gabriel felt compelled to take it.

  “Why?” he asked and slipped the necklace on.

  “Because as my champion … ” Ephyra stopped, tears gathering in her eyes. Gabriel reached out to touched her face, the spray plunging around them.

  “I told you, whatever I have to do.” Her eyes tracked his with an intensity that Gabriel felt he could lose himself in.

  “And for that there will never be another for my heart,” she told him. “I have much to tell you now.”

  Gabriel didn’t have much time to think about her cryptic meaning because the change happened in minutes. He gasped in surprise and felt his legs turning to jelly; he flopped over into the water and tried not to look as his legs fused together. There wasn’t any pain but a tingling that was like when his foot fell asleep.

  Suddenly, he had no feet and he saw two split fins sparkling in the sun. A third caudal fin waved behind him. The water washed over them and he saw his tail was a deep jade with the mark of the champion woven into the scales in gold. Scarlet sigils wound around the scales as well, giving it the appearance of deliberate scarring. His arms were covered in retractable spines, dark green with red tips. Retract, Gabriel thought, and to his delight, they did. The spines seamlessly shot back into tiny holes in his arm.

  He felt the back of his head, underneath his hair, to find two sets of gills just as Jake had told him. Gabriel felt their feather softness covered by a hard shell. It was like touching a scab on the back of his head and he grimaced.

  “Whoa,” he said through a mouthful of water. He spat it out but noticed the saltiness was no longer offensive.

  Gabriel glanced around to make sure no one was watching them. He smiled and flopped his tail experimentally, his hands still digging into the sand for balance. The powerful muscle splashed Ephyra in the face as she giggled and moved closer.

  “You have a special gift,” she said in admiration of the spines on his forearms.

  “These?” He grinned and flexed them. “Just something I found lying around.”

  She giggled.

  “I wasn’t sure if the stone would differentiate species. It has given you the best of all the merfolk.” Gabriel saw her watching him closely with a happy expression. He tried to push himself further into deeper water. The waves kept propelling him back to shore but his tail was heavy enough to keep him from beaching.

  “Just concentrate on where you want to go,” she told him with a grin.

  Gabriel laughed as he flipped his tail hard and shot out to sea. Water closed over his head and he opened his eyes to see sand stirred in tornadoes and the waves crashing overhead. Ephyra guided him through the water. He peered into the cerulean blue water and saw sand swept around in rivulets, sea shells tossed in the current and schools of fish scattering.

  “Can I talk to you under the water?” he asked and when he opened his mouth, he was surprised that he could. He realized that humans, no matter what their technology provided, could never live under the water.

  “You’re doing well,” Ephyra answered and laughed. She lashed her tail and sped off at top speed. Gabriel almost lost track of where she went before she catapulted back to him.

  “I need to learn how to do that.”

  He didn’t wait for instruction but instead gave his tail a powerful thrust to see what would happen. Gabriel felt his body slim down, his fins tucked in at his side and he rocketed forward. He stopped just short of slamming into a coral bank. He pushed his hands out but his tail stopped him on a dime. Gabriel laughed as three yellow-tailed fish scattered.

  The sun still shone here and its rays slanted into the water to illuminate the reef as if he were on hallowed ground. Gabriel marveled at how much more vibrant the colors were without goggles, no matter how clear. The fish weren’t scared of him but nibbled at his chest and ears. Eels peeked out of their shelters to stare at him and a few stingrays passed by with waves of their fins.

  “You look very natural,” Ephyra’s voice came up next to him.

  He turned to her with a wide smile and noticed how even more beautiful she was in her true form. Blue-black hair clouded around her face, scales half covered her breasts and her tail was a gorgeous mix of blue, gold, and green.

  “This is amazing.” He swished his tail again. Ephyra followed and trailed her hand over his abdomen. Gabriel felt a tightening in his chest and pulled her closer. Ephyra laughed and they floated in each other’s arms. She showed him the way back to her realm.

  “Can we speak to them?” Gabriel spotted a blue whale. The gigantic mammal was peacefully heading in their direction.

  “Not in this language but they understand in here,” Ephyra said and pointed to her head.

  Gabriel pushed forward and slid up to the side of the whale, its tiny black eye staring at him. He tried to think hard thoughts at the whale and the whale let out a low whistle. Gabriel smiled.

  “She said okay!” Gabriel called to Ephyra and motioned her over.

  “What did you ask?” She gazed at him curiously.

  “We’re getting a ride,” Gabriel laughed and lay back on the whale’s back. Ephyra followed, unable to deny his enthusiasm.

  “We don’t usually ask them to do this.”

  “I know, she said as much but I asked nicely,” he responded and wedged himself in a bump on the whale’s back. The whale turned around and started heading south.

  “You just like to flirt with females no matter the species.”

  He laughed. “Is it working?”

  Ephyra gave him a sideways glance. “I have an idea. I’ll be right back,” she said and dove off the whale.

  Gabriel watched her disappear but stayed where he was, enjoying the ride. He watched the coral fade into deep rock beds and those plunge into dark abysses that he would have loved to explore without scuba gear. All different species of fish large and small passed by, on their way to eat, mate or both. He smiled when he saw a sail fin fish. That had been his father’s favorite. I only go as far as the next reef, the whale’s thoughts came into Gabriel’s head. He nearly jumped in surprise.

  Thank you, he responded. The whale bobbed her head slowly.

  There is danger ahead. Be sure you have f
riends in that area, she said fretfully.

  Well, that’s what I’m looking for, Gabriel answered ruefully. It wasn’t far from the truth. He had not forgotten that at the end of this journey a dark warlord waited for him.

  You are different, merman.

  I’ve never spoken to a whale, Gabriel thought back. Do you have a name before we part?

  What is a name?

  Oh, I see. Like clicks right? Gabriel thought about the sounds he’d heard of whales under water.

  I do not know what a click is but if it is your name, it is a good one, the whale responded.

  No, Click should be your name. Would you mind if I called you that?

  I would not mind. Farewell, merman. Protect your companion, she is in danger, too.

  To my last breath. Gabriel floated off the whale’s back. She waved a flipper at him and then with a whoosh of her tail she went to surface for air.

  Gabriel liked watching her large form from below, how it blocked the light like an ascending Greek god. He glanced down to see if Ephyra was back and saw her coming up to him. She held a leathery band of some sort.

  “I named the whale Click,” he said teasingly.

  Ephyra raised an eyebrow.

  “You named a whale?” she asked incredulously. “They don’t have names, she told you that right?”

  “I know, but she made an exception for me.” Gabriel gave her an impish grin.

  Ephyra rolled her eyes good naturedly.

  “I made this to protect your forearms and also hold the stone so it doesn’t slip off around your neck,” she said and held out the bracer.

  Gabriel’s eyes lit up and he watched her fasten it on. There were holes for the spines to shoot through, and it was hard on the outside but flexible. She lifted his arm to his neck and placed the stone in the inside of the bracer where it stuck securely. She snapped the chain and let it fall away.

  “There. Better?”