by Michele Hauf
He didn't regret it. In fact, he would have liked nothing more than to repeat it, but after she'd mentioned the blood...he lowered his arm and looked around for a spot to deposit the towel. Seeing a basket, he walked over and dropped the wet object inside.
"It won't be long now," she murmured.
He turned to find that she'd moved. She was only a few feet away from him now. The wind caught her shirt, pushing it tight against her curves. Her breasts were full and her nipples were hard. It was easy to imagine her without the shirt, remember how she'd looked under the ocean, her hair fanning around her face.
His groin hardened. "Until what?" he asked, lost as to what she could mean, lost to everything but the pounding need to touch her that seemed to grow with each passing second.
"Melusine...the sea hag. The dragon was one of her pets. She was...testing."
"And we passed?" It hadn't occurred to him that the sea hag would be aware of their approach.
"Yes." The mermaid didn't look pleased with her answer. Her lips pressed together and her hand rose to hold the vial that hung from her neck.
Remembering how he'd been tempted to toss the piece of jewelry into the ocean's depths, he motioned to it. "Is that important?"
She stilled, and alarm shone in her eyes. She took a step back, causing him to immediately regret his question. He held up a hand to reassure her. "I shouldn't have asked. Obviously, it is important to you or you wouldn't wear it."
She licked her lips and slowly nodded. She didn't, however, relax or loosen her tight grip on the vial. "It is. My mother gave it to me when I was born."
"Really?" He made a point not to look at the vial again. Instead, he focused on the female who wore it.
The decision was a bad one. His heart thumped, and he felt his body take a step toward her. She drew him as surely as fresh blood, but knew, while he had relished the small taste of her blood that he'd had, what drew him was even more elemental than that.
There was something about the mermaid that promised peace and contentment. Something that made him think with her he could relax, go back to being who he'd been before he'd met the vampire, before he'd become a monster.
He moved toward her, pulled by some invisible string. She glanced over her shoulder, toward the sea, and for a moment he thought she would dive in and leave him standing alone on the yacht.
But then she looked back.
She sighed and her shoulders lowered. Her expression changed from alarm to resigned surrender, as if she was as incapable of fighting whatever pulled them together as he was.
Relieved, he closed the space between them, slipped his fingers into her hair and pulled her mouth to his.
She was kissing a human, again.
Sarina closed her eyes, closing out the sight of the ocean and the eyes she imagined staring at her from its depths.
Mermaids used humans. They didn't mate with them, or have feelings for them.
But Sarina could feel that she was on the verge of doing both. She wanted Nolan's touch, wanted to feel his lips on hers, wanted his arms around her.
She wanted him.
His hands moved from her hair, down her body, over her shoulders and arms, to her hips. His thumbs caressed the curve of her waist through her gauzy shirt. The tips of her breasts were hard and sensitive, and as the material grazed them, she wiggled. Desire was building deep inside her.
She knew how humans mated, but had never thought of how it would feel, how she would feel.
Nolan’s hand moved upward, and she found herself arching toward him. Her breasts felt heavy and ached with the need to be touched. His fingers lifted and caressed and a moan fell from her lips.
She stepped closer, until her pelvis pressed against his thigh. His sex was hard and strangely, she found that exciting. She moaned again. A song was building inside her.
She murmured a few words, unable to keep it inside.
His hands moved again, cupping her butt, kneading the flesh there and pulling her even tighter against him.
Unable to resist touching him, she placed her hands on his chest and pulled at his water-soaked clothes. His shirt fell to the ground with a slap and she was free to move her fingers over his skin—still cold and damp from the water. She ran her lips over his skin. He tasted of salt and the ocean. A new thrill ran through her. He smelled of the sea too.
She ran her nose from his neck to his chest, inhaling the scent of sea and man and knowing she would never smell or taste anything more intoxicating.
Giddy with desire and new sensations, she bent and trailed her tongue down his chest to the hard planes of his stomach. His abdomen was flat and muscled, nothing like the sailors she'd seen in the past. They had been wiry, almost emaciated, not muscled and strong. And their smell...of sweat and ale...had soured her stomach, not drawn her like a bee to a flower.
"You're beautiful," Nolan murmured
Others had said the words, but they had always been laced with an unspoken "what can I get from you." Sailors believing the tales of mermaid treasure, or hunting mermaids for fame and the fortune they thought would come in selling the females to circus side-shows.
Those men had all died for their words and intentions.
But Nolan's voice held no hint of ulterior motive. He believed what he said, and simply reveled in her beauty.
Sarina felt a flush of pride flow over her body. She moved her hands again, running them over his chest and back, memorizing each plane and muscular ridge. "You are too," she whispered.
And he was. She would never have thought it possible, but this human, or whatever creature he was, was beautiful...irresistible.
As he leaned down and captured her lips with his, she suspected she knew how those sailors drawn by mermaids' songs felt. Caught as if wrapped in a net, but filled with joy that the net had chosen her to ensnare.
Nolan's heart beat so fast, he could for that moment almost believe he was still alive. Sarina's magic was that real, her touch that intoxicating. Being with her made him forget what he'd become, forget everything but the thrill of being with another being, touched...accepted.
He ran his hands, the palms flat, down her shoulders and arms. The gauzy material of her shirt clung to her skin. He could see through it, see her dark nipples as they rose and fell with each of her breaths, and see the outline of her waist giving way to the curve of her hips.
He bit his lip and tasted his own blood, closed his eyes for a second and listened to the beat of his heart.
Then he listened to hers. Steady and sure, alluring.
Sarina's tongue moved over his lip, licking up the bit of blood his fang had drawn. He froze, wondering if she would solve the puzzle—realize what he was, then run, repulsed.
But she only moved closer, her arms winding around his waist and pulling him so tight against her, he found himself matching his breaths to hers. She licked his lip again. Her tongue dragged across his fang. She inhaled sharply, surprised, and he stiffened, again prepared for rejection, but she only murmured something under her breath and continued to kiss him.
Her tongue's contact with his fang had left a mark though ...blood, hers, sweet and almost...fizzy...flavored her kiss.
His body tightened; his mind tightened. The world changed, became sharper and more alive.
"Vampire," she murmured. "I thought you were myths."
"Monsters," he replied, his world turning dark. Resolved, he closed his eyes again, this time to shut the image of her reaction out of his view.
She laughed, a strange sound that made him open his eyes. Hers, clear and green, stared back at him. "Fangs don't make a monster; actions do." Then she wove her finger into his hair and pulled his mouth to hers.
Her kiss was strong and sweet. As if the knowledge that he was a vampire encouraged and empowered her. Her hands moved to his pants. She undid the snap and shoved the wet material aside.
"I've never been with a human. Never mated as one," she said, her voice soft as if confessing. "Mermaids don't
do that, not lightly."
He understood then. She was telling him this...what they were about to do...was no small act for her.
But it wasn't for Nolan either.
He stepped out of his pants and pulled her against his naked form. "What I am doesn't bother you?" He needed to hear the words.
She laughed again and tossed her hair away from her face. "Does what I am bother you?"
It was a ridiculous question, but then so was their situation—a vampire and a mermaid, two creatures most of the world didn't believe existed making love in the sea hag's realm.
"No," he replied, then he slipped his thigh between hers and lowered his mouth to her throat.
His fangs pierced her skin, clean and sudden. Her body jerked, and her fingers dug into his arms. She moaned and arched her back, pushing her sex more tightly against his thigh.
Her blood flowed slow and thick, almost as thick as his own. Sweet and effervescent, like dense sparkling wine.
She leaned back against the railing, and he lifted her up, so her buttocks perched on the polished metal. She opened her thighs, and he stepped between them, his mouth never leaving her neck.
He moved his hands down and lifted her shirt, baring her breasts to the night air. Her they were full and heavy. His sex hardened, and he knew he couldn't wait any longer.
He pulled his fangs from her throat, lapping at the wound to close it before leaning back to catch her gaze with his. "Are you—"
She leaned forward, shifting her weight from the railing to his waist. Her arms on his shoulders, she stared down at him and started to sing.
This song was different from the one she'd sung before, sad, but also happy. As if she was mourning something that had gone on before, while rejoicing in the changes that loss had brought.
And suddenly he was happy too. He was a vampire, and he'd lost his family because of it, but he had found Sarina, a creature he would never have believed existed.
Her lips touched his, and he opened his mouth for her. Her breasts slid over his chest and her legs down his back. She was wrapped around him, clinging to him as if she would never let go.
He clung to her too. His hands under her buttocks, he lowered her more, until his erection pressed against her sex and his heart almost leapt from his chest.
Her song slowed and died. There was no sound at all except the beat of their hearts and the water lapping against the hull.
Nolan stepped forward, and Sarina pressed down. They were one, moving together and blocking out everything else around them.
Sarina moved up and down, her legs squeezing Nolan's waist and her hands clutching at his shoulders. Her body tightened and her breasts tingled. She wanted to arch her back and scream, wanted to sing in a voice that would reach the seven seas and more. Knew if she opened her mouth, she would. She couldn't help it, couldn't stop the song that was building, threatening to erupt.
Her body tightened more, and her world began to swirl, as if she were caught in a whirlpool, moving, losing control. She gripped Nolan tighter. Beneath her, he thrust harder and deeper, faster and stronger.
The whirlpool's pace quickened. She spun and spun, until she lost control, until the song flew from her throat and her world whirled around in a flash of lights and smells, and sensations of freedom and warmth made her smile and sing and then sing some more.
Chapter Seven
Sarina's song wrapped around Nolan, lifting him up even as his body collapsed, exhausted, against hers.
His eyes closed, he titled back his head and let the notes fall over him like a warm rain.
He had never felt more content, or more sure of his place and the person he was with. He was, for the first time, whole.
Water lapped against the side of the boat, at first so softly, Nolan barely noticed the sound, but then, as Sarina's song continued, it wasn't just a noise, but a movement too. The yacht was tilting side to side as if swaying in pace with the mermaid's voice.
Nolan opened his eyes and looked out over her shoulder and onto the sea. Except there was no sign of the sea, no sign of the water. The space around the yacht was packed shoulder to shoulder with strange horse-shaped creatures he had never seen before.
"Sarina..." he murmured, afraid to speak louder for fear of startling the beasts and starting a stampede, or other mass movement that might end in the boat and its occupants being tossed about or crushed.
Slowly, Sarina's song died and with an expression of complete peace on her face, she shifted her gaze from the sky to Nolan. Then she looked behind him and froze.
"Kelpies," she muttered. All color drained from her face until her lips looked aqua against her skin. "The sea hag it seems has sent us an escort."
She looked back at Nolan. Her hand moved to his chest and regret was clear in her eyes.
For their lost moment of privacy? Nolan regretted that too, but the kelpies arrival, if they were, as Sarina guessed, sent by the sea hag, had to be good news.
The creatures, all horse-shaped, showed no sign of aggression. They varied in size from that of a miniature horse, no bigger than a good-sized dog, to a massive Percheron. Their color varied widely too, from black to pale green and even a few that seemed translucent.
As Nolan stared at them, they sank into the ocean, like alligators with just their ears, eyes and nostrils above water.
Somehow this made them seem even more intimidating. The kelpies surrounded them from all sides. He placed an arm in front of Sarina, to push her behind him, before realizing the worthlessness of such a move. As a fellow creature of the sea, chances were good that the mermaid would be far more equipped to deal with the animals than a once-human vampire.
Still, he placed a hand on her waist. His gaze on as many of the creatures as he could keep in sight, asked, "Are they a threat?"
Sarina hesitated. "They can be, but I don't think they are. At least not yet."
As she finished the sentence, the boat began to shift, in short jerky movements.
The water horses it seemed were now directing their travel. The kelpies rose and sank in the water as they swam. A few closest to the yacht blew air from their noses in loud watery snorts.
"So, our journey is almost over." Nolan glanced at the mermaid.
She pulled her shirt closed over her breasts and stepped to the side, toward the yacht's railing and away from Nolan's touch.
His hand fell back to his side, and his spirits dropped along with it.
A night breeze blew over him, reminding him he was naked...and cold. He'd been cold since his turn. He’d forgotten what it was like to be warm until he'd tasted Sarina's blood and held her in his arms.
He didn't move to follow her and didn't call out for her to come back to him. He just stood watching as she clasped the vial in her hand and stared out over the ever-shifting bodies of the kelpies.
He was cold, and this time, he feared it was for good.
The kelpies' arrival had brought Sarina back to reality—shattered the dream she'd allowed to form around her like delicate glass.
Melusine had accepted her offer. The kelpies' calm escort assured Sarina of that. If the sea hag had rejected Nolan or, worse, been angered by him, the kelpies would have attacked, climbed onto the deck of the boat like fleas scrambling onto a leaf until they sank the yacht and took Nolan and Sarina with it.
And sank they would have. Sarina could hold her own with one kelpie, maybe two, but thousands? No single creature aside from Melusine herself would stand a chance against that.
The boat moved side to side now, the rhythm peaceful and lulling, but Sarina was anything but relaxed. With each sway she knew they moved closer to Melusine and the conclusion of her deal.
She should be happy. Soon she would have what she'd been searching and fighting for for over one hundred years.
Her fingers wrapped around her vial, she closed her eyes and tried to focus on why she was here, tried to picture her sister's face, calm and sweet, intelligent and knowing—just as it had been b
efore the pirates ripped her soul from around her neck.
"Sarina?"
She opened her eyes to find Nolan standing a few feet away, dressed now and with a look of such complete care and concern on his face she wanted to throw herself over the side of the yacht and hide at the bottom of the sea.
But it was too late for that.
He held up one hand.
Moving toward them, carried on the backs of two of the most massive kelpies Sarina had ever encountered, was a giant shell. Seated inside was Melusine.
The woman lounging in what appeared to be a giant oyster shell was exotic and beautiful. Perhaps, aside from Sarina, the most beautiful woman Nolan had ever seen. Moss green hair flowed down her back and over her body, covering all but her bare arms. On her wrists, fingers, and around her neck were loops of pearls, and a crown of coral perched on her head.
She waved delicate fingers at the kelpies, directing them closer to the yacht, but her focus was on Nolan. He could feel her attention like twin beams of light, burning into him.
He stood straight, meeting her gaze and resisting the urge to reach for Sarina's hand, to assure the mermaid and himself that what had passed between them before the kelpies' arrival was real. Their duty to each other was about to end, but their future had, he hoped, just begun.
As Melusine drew closer, her attention became almost unbearable. Nolan wanted to turn from her, grab Sarina and leave, but he couldn't.
The sea hag had a soul, a soul Nolan needed to be human again, and the vampire had planned to get it, anyway he could.
But that was before he'd met Sarina. With her acceptance, his family's didn't seem as important.
Still, though, he'd come too far, risked too much to leave as he'd come. His gaze locked on the sea hag's, he stood straight and confident.
Melusine smiled and a predatory, possessive glint appeared in her eyes. She stood, or prepared to, using her arms to help her rise as if her legs were incapable of holding her weight. Her hair fell back and her lower body, that of a snake, was revealed.