Suddenly, the boss let go of her chin and grabbed her shoulders tossing her around and across the deck towards the tank. Angie was too surprised to react, and she stumbled over her own feet. Still, she knew it wasn’t her clumsiness that made her face collide with the glass of the tank. All she could see was water, but not him. But she could hear the water inside sloshing again.
“Why didn’t you kill her?” The boss clearly wasn’t addressing Angie anymore, and he paused, as if he was expecting an answer from the captured sea creature.
Angeline tried to find something in the ocean water in front of her, but her position made it close to impossible. But there was something at the bottom of the tank. Something angular.
“You grabbed her just like the others, pulled her under, but you didn’t drown her,” the boss continued, and Angie remembered how she lost consciousness, and how it felt as water started to fill her lungs. “You let go of her. Why?”
“Maybe it realized she’s not one of us,” someone suggested, and Angie couldn’t distinguish the voice.
The pressure on her face was too hard. She would have a bruise if that man didn’t decide to crush her cheekbone.
“No,” the boss was adamant in his disaccord.
Suddenly, Angie was pulled back again in a way that made her feel like a ragdoll again. Before she knew what was happening, Roger’s t-shirt was pulled over her head leaving her in her bikini again. And, although this was something she could wear easily at the beach, Angie now felt as if she was standing there in nothing but her underwear. Angeline could feel the burning gazes on her skin again, eager to penetrate her, to violate her. She was at this man’s mercy.
“He could have eaten her instead, but he didn’t,” the boss stated, not sounding as if he was being gracious to explain rather than analyzing the male siren’s action.
It was Angie’s sheer instinct making her try to cover herself up, the same moment the fabric of her bikini was torn off her body. The same instinct made her lift her arms when she was thrust towards the tank again.
“Or is it that you like her?” The boss inquired, angrily.
Angie’s face was set alight with shame. Everyone could see her. Every man on deck, and the one inside the tank. They could see she not only shaved her armpits but also her privates. Her mind was flooded with filthy thoughts that these men must be thinking right now. She almost believed she could see in her mind what these men were imagining doing to her.
The boss just pressed her against the tank again, not caring about her face, or the fact that her thighs were grazing against the wood holding the tank. Angie could feel his hand between her shoulder blades holding her in this uncomfortable position that made her halt every time her nipples touched the cold glass of the tank.
“You can have her if you want,” Angie heard the boss say. “Just tell me, and you can have her.
Angeline couldn’t understand why this man was so adamant that the merman would answer him. Her eyes were still glued to the angular form she saw at the bottom of the tank. It was as if her mind was trying to protect her from the horror of this situation by focusing on something simple. Finding out what was there in that tank with the sea creature was easier than trying to cope with the fact that she could be raped at any second.
“I know you are hungry,” Angie heard the boss continue to talk.
Angeline was just grateful to not be at the center of attention for the man in charge right now. Although it was a cold comfort to her. Angeline preferred to try and find out which color this form had. No matter how much she squinted, the color stayed the same: grey.
It was a large cube of sorts.
“We haven’t fed you for two days,” Angie listened to the boss’ words at the outer limit of her mind. “And I know you do eat human flesh.” The man continued. “After all, you partly ate two of my men.”
That last sentence pulled Angeline right back to the surface of reality. She couldn’t imagine what fate was worse: being raped by several men or being eaten alive by some sea creature.
Scratch that. Angie knew very well what she would prefer. Still, imagining this beautiful creature would feed on humans was chilling.
Again, her mind did its best to shelter her from the dire reality Angeline had maneuvered herself into by making her recall anything that was close to what she just had learned. Sirens fed on human flesh. Those mythological creatures whose voices were so beautiful that no man could resist them. They lured entire ships to their doom, making their crew steer towards their island’s shores just to break them to smithereens. But this creature was male, maybe that was why these men were still alive and not jumping into the tank eager to get smothered and drowned by him?
“All you need to do is to talk to me,” the boss almost sounded as if he was begging now. “And I will give you whatever you want,” he promised and hesitated for the blink of an eye. “Except your freedom, of course. But everything else.”
The pressure on Angie’s back lessened, and both of her captor’s hands grabbed her shoulders, as he pulled her back just two steps. Her eyes were still resting on the cube inside the tank, and it was her gaining distance that made her realize it was a weight, keeping the mermen inside the tank because there was a heavy chain attached to it. Now, at the position she was in Angeline could see that the merman had been right next to her all the time, just out of her sight, as she had been too close to the tank with her face.
Seeing his face again, her heart did a painful jump. He was so unbelievably beautiful and perfect as if he had been carved out of stone by a god of art. And, he was still silently staring at the boss with nothing but pure hatred glowing in his black eyes.
“I have asked politely,” the boss explained, icily. “You can’t blame me for hard measures now.”
Sudden, gruesome pain rushed through Angeline’s body, as her head was pulled back by the boss’s hand when his fingers dug deep into her hair.
“Maybe I should let my men have their way with her, while you watch,” the man addressed him but spoke right into Angie’s left ear, making her shudder with horror. “Maybe I should slit her throat right in front of you. Or maybe I should rape her with my knife.”
He was now losing himself in his imagination while Angie held on to her sanity. “I have never done that before.” His voice was trailing off now.
Angeline could barely see what the boss did from the corners of her eyes. Maybe, he was shaking his head, or he was gesturing towards his men. All she could hear was her own panicked heartbeat as her heart was trying to escape this situation. She couldn’t keep herself from looking at the creature in front of her, whose left hand was pressed against the glass separating him from her. It almost seemed as if he wished he could reach out to her and rip her from the man’s grasp.
Angeline only realized that her hands were trying to loosen the boss’s fingers from her hair because she failed to bring them down to keep her balance.
She suddenly fell backward. Surprise electrified her body. The back of her head collided with the floor, making her dizzy. Angeline hadn’t heard what the boss had ordered his men to do, but she didn’t need to. Her hands were forced above her head while her lower legs were held down. At least they weren’t spread open, she thought, but when she watched two men wrapping a huge chain around her ankles, she wasn’t sure if she should have prayed to be raped right now. Something hard and scratchy was wrapped around her wrists. It was a rope.
“Please don’t,” Angeline suddenly found her voice again. “Please don’t drown me.”
Everyone ignored her. Instead, she was lifted at her shoulders and feet and carried around the tank to where a steel ladder was placed against it.
“Please, I don’t want to die,” Angie burst out and tears started to flood from her eyes as not even her mind could help her escape from the truth. Still, no one reacted to her.
“My parents have money,” Angie pleaded. “Loads of money. They will pay you everything!” She listened to her own words an
d she loathed herself.
Angie knew her words were true. She also knew once her parents paid for her life and she was turned over to them that she would never be truly free again. Angie wouldn’t escape her parent’s master plan for a second time. Maybe, so a little voice inside her head suggested, it was better to drown and vanish forever, maybe to be eaten by a male siren, than to be a slave to her parent’s will forever.
How dark, was her final clear thought.
The splashing sound of something heavy being tossed into the water was followed by a pull on her legs. Sucking air into her lungs was nothing more than a reflex when Angeline realized she was being submerged and drowned for the second time: cold sea water was welcoming her into its icy embrace.
The rope around her wrists was instantly soaked with water, tightening painfully. Angie knew she wouldn’t be able to free herself, not even with her teeth. And if she was able to loosen the knot binding her wrists, there was still the chain. Precious seconds were wasted by her panic.
Angie had trained for this with Ace and the others who were now dead. She had learned how to calm herself down under water while being bound, but she had never expected to end up in a situation where her life was at stake. Angeline knew she would drown, while she tried to reach the surface, so she could breathe. There was no way to free herself from the rope and chain. Especially since the latter was exactly long enough to keep her from the lifesaving air.
Angeline stopped trying to reach the surface the second she realized she hadn’t the strength to fight against the weight that was attached to the chain. She was imprisoned in this tank just like the human looking sea creature.
She would drown.
There would come this moment when her instinct to inhale would be stronger than the instinct to hold her breath. Angie had experienced this just the day before. She knew how it would feel.
Only this time, the surprise wouldn’t quicken her death. This time it would come to her, slowly.
Unless she could suck the air into her lungs by herself. She wouldn’t have to wait until one instinct overpowered the other.
She could make it happen faster.
Angeline gathered all her willpower while fighting against the fear of dying. You will breathe in water, she told herself, and you will choke on water. It’ll happen faster like this. And then it will be over.
Angie could feel how the oxygen in her lungs and body was lessening. She could hold her breath underwater for quite some time, longer than others, but that only meant delaying the inevitable.
What she didn’t expect was two hands suddenly framing her face, pulling her mouth onto soft lips.
It did take her mind a few seconds to process the fact that air was being pushed into her lungs. Air tasting like the ocean yet seemingly sweet.
Angeline opened her eyes wider in surprise, just to see the merman right in front of her. And even closer. He pressed his mouth against hers, breathing out precious oxygen in a way so Angie could breathe. Her heart beat faster not because of her knowing death was reaching out for her but because of this. In a way, he was kissing her.
Angie closed her eyes scolding herself. He wasn’t kissing her. He was saving her life.
But still, she felt a strange rush overtake her body. Angeline couldn’t stop herself from moving closer to him, and leaning into his touch, from pushing out her tongue to taste his lips.
When he realized what she was doing, he appeared surprised, if not shocked, but he didn’t pull away but pulled her body against his. Angeline’s body seemed to have a will of its own as her hands first were placed on his cheeks before they wrapped around his head and shoulders.
Her body felt like fireworks were shooting off inside her but only softer. His lips tasted like the sea, but sweeter. Her skin was sparkling. This kiss was intoxicating and toxic. Angeline felt vibrant, powerful and alluring. Her body was buzzing with ecstasy.
Now, she wanted all these filthy goons to stare at her and yearn for her body. She wanted them to rub themselves off while looking at her. No, not only look at her but watch her wrap her legs around the one kissing her; to live and fuck him. That was what she wanted. Angie wanted to be his and no one else’s. She needed him to continue kissing her. She craved for the taste of his lips, yearned for his arms wrapping around her and pulling her close.
Never in her life, Angeline had wanted anything as much as she wanted the heart-wrenchingly handsome man she was kissing. She didn’t care if he fit perfectly into the myths she had read.
She eagerly ignored the fact that he would be the end of her because that was what sirens did: kill the ones they seduced. If this were what death looked like, hell she would love to die a billion times.
Bliss, adoration, and love were what she felt. Right then and there, Angeline knew she had never loved anyone or anything until him. She would do whatever he wanted from her, anything, anytime. The longer she tasted his lips, the stronger these feelings became, and the more desperately Angeline wanted to feel him inside her.
Suddenly, he pulled away. Angeline felt as if her heart would shatter. Instantly, she reached out for him, desperate to feel his kiss once more. Her blood was on fire, and the fire was because of him. She felt as if she had been on the verge of an orgasm and now, she was being refused.
Estranged, Angie watched the male siren, how he pulled on the rope wrapped tightly around her wrists, appearing to be frustrated. A part of her wanted him to stop trying to free her and kiss her again, feeling a thirst she had never felt before. But the other part of her understood that he was trying to save her.
Shock froze her body as he suddenly was flashing his teeth and with a jolt, his human looking ones were overlaid with another set of pointed teeth reminding her of sharks.
His appearance was to lure in humans. Angeline recalled. And since he was male, his prey definitely were women. This set of sharp teeth easily cut through the rope, freeing her wrists. But it didn’t change the fact that the chain holding her down prevented Angeline from reaching the surface.
Although Angie knew how dangerous he could be, from what the boss had said and from this set of sharp teeth and obviously sharp claws that had pierced her yesterday, she couldn’t help but marvel at him.
Maybe what she felt right now was because he was a siren. Maybe it was because his kiss was meant to intoxicate her and cause her to succumb to him. Angie didn’t care. He was trying to save her. And she would do anything to save him. How she wished she could ask him for his name. How she wished she could tell him that she didn’t care if what she felt was because if his abilities. Angeline reached out for him, while he marveled back at her for whatever reasons. She never touched him. Suddenly lightning seemed to strike her body, making it tremble, dance and jolt in the water. She caught a glimpse that the same was happening to him, the one who saved her. An electric shock into the tank was the last thing Angeline thought before she lost consciousness.
4 - Aftershock
Angeline sat up straight from where she had been laying and instantly felt dizzy and worn. A headache was announcing itself as she reached out to steady herself.
Angie was back in the boss’ cabin. And she was still naked, only being covered by the enormous blanket pooling around her. Quickly she grabbed the scratchy fabric and placed it around her shoulders.
She wanted to get up on her feet and back to him. Her wrists and ankles were still sore, but at least she wasn’t freezing. Yet, Angie would switch from this comfort and freeze to her death if it meant being back in his arms again, tasting his lips again.
Angeline took some effort to stand as she realized she was shaking; so seriously she had to drop back onto her buttocks. Keeping the blanket tight around her body with one hand, Angie held out the other to look at it. It was trembling violently as if she still was freezing. Yet, she felt perfectly warm, and content, but somehow not.
A strange restlessness and nervousness were taking over her body. Even though she knew she had slept, Angeline felt as if
she had been awake for three days. Cold sweat was clinging to her skin, and a bad taste lingered on her tongue. Everything seemed off, foul and wrong. Angeline needed to get back to him, but her body wouldn’t work. It was so heavy and as if the yacht itself was clinging to her.
Was this how it felt to have a hangover or to mellow down from a trip? Angie never had a thing or understood the appeal of drugs, but now she did. This mesmerizing kiss. His hands on her skin, her breasts against his chest.
“Oh God,” Angeline breathed out.
The sheer thought of him made her crave sex with that male siren. It was beyond inconceivable. Because that one time with her ex, the first and last time Angie had sex hadn’t made her want to relive that experience any time soon.
Was this just the effect of the merman’s saliva or was this more?
Were they meant to be together?
Had fate brought them together for a reason?
All Angeline knew was that she needed him like she had never needed anything in her life. She would trade everything for him: her brother, her parents, her parent’s wealth, her friends, her goals, even her life.
“Oh God,” Angeline repeated, remembering the taste of his lips on hers.
Admittedly, she had felt an undeniable attraction to this creature when she first saw him. Angie had brushed it off as fascination. Who wouldn’t be utterly awestruck seeing a mythical creature in the flesh?
Now, she couldn’t deny it anymore. But, still, she wasn’t sure if what she had felt had been real. Or if he even did kiss her and had not simply saved her life by giving her mouth-to-mouth. And – again – as a male siren she was his preferred prey. Of course, she would be irresistible to him in every way; her looks, taste, and so much more. It was mimicry, or rather: he was a male Venus-flytrap for human women.
Angie tried to find a rational explanation for all of this. It was her way to calm her mind when she felt like she was in a crazy situation. And this was far more than that. But no matter where she directed her mind to, it kept returning to the moment before she had felt that jolt coursing through her body. That jolt leading to her losing consciousness.
Ocean's Captive Page 3