by Michele Hauf
Beside him, Sarina touched his arm, warning him not to react, and Nolan didn't. He held his smile, and his stance.
And waited for the half-snake beauty to come aboard so the bargaining could begin.
Melusine slithered forward, her massive tail moving up and down while her human upper body stayed level and still. If Sarina hadn't known the sea hag's secret before and not seen the snake half for herself now, she wouldn't have guessed that the exiled female was anything except human. Of course, sailors said the same of mermaids.
With their tails submerged they looked human. On land, they became human—outward appearance at least, but Melusine wasn't a mermaid. She was a water spirit cursed, doomed to staying as Sarina saw her now until she could find a man who would love her as she was, her ugly inner-self fully visible in her serpent tail.
Melusine circled around Nolan, her gaze moving over him as if she was appraising a catch. "He passed the test." Her tongue flickered out of her mouth when she spoke, a hint that her shift to snake was still progressing.
Sarina felt Nolan stiffen, but he gave no other sign that he'd heard the sea hag's comment.
"He did," Sarina replied. The words felt like dry sand in her mouth. Nolan's indisputable success at living underwater was also his guaranteed doom. There was no way Melusine would let such a prize escape her realm.
"And he's handsome, not...." Melusine slithered a bit to one side and looked past Nolan at Sarina. "...a must, but a definite plus."
Sarina inclined her head. She'd known Nolan's looks would please the spirit. Now she wished he was disfigured and fat, so unappealing even his ability to live under the sea would make him an unwanted catch.
But then Allera, her sister, would be lost.
"Yes, this one, I think, will do nicely." Melusine leaned back to the other side. Her head tilted, and she reached to her throat. It was then Sarina saw it—her sister's soul tucked into a vial just like the one Sarina wore around her own neck.
"She—" Nolan started. His eyes moved from the vial hanging from Melusine's throat to the one hanging from Sarina's.
"Pretty, isn't it?" Melusine swung Allera's soul back and forth, like it was a worthless piece of coral, easily replaced. "You've heard the stories, haven't you? Of the things mermaids will do for a soul?" She slithered closer. Her hand cupped Nolan's face. "Well, my pretty human. They are all true, but how lucky are you..." She tapped on his chest with her finger. "...that this mermaid wanted one soul in particular and had no interest in harvesting one of her own." She inhaled, loudly and her back stiffened. Brows raised, she turned back to Sarina. "Is this a trick? This is no human. This body...." She tapped on Nolan again. "Has no soul."
Fear and elation rose inside Sarina. Elation at Melusine's tone. She had found Nolan wanting. She would reject him, but Sarina feared that too. She would fail her sister, lose her soul, again.
Torn and confused, Sarina wrapped her fingers around her vial and bit down on her lip, as if the pain would bring clarity and focus.
"I'm a vampire." Nolan spoke with power and determination.
"Vampire?" Melusine raised a brow. Then, surprise clear on her face, she turned to Sarina. "You brought me a vampire?"
"She didn't bring me. I came on my own. Sarina is my..." Nolan hesitated. "...guide."
"Your guide?" The water spirit laughed. "Mermaids are better tricksters than I realized if she convinced you of that." Looking back at Sarina, she asked, "Is it true, daughter of Ianthe, did you convince this...male...that he was coming to me of his own free will? That you were serving him?"
The air seemed to chill even further. Sarina couldn't breathe, and she couldn't look at Nolan. She didn't have to, though, to know his reaction. She could feel shock, disbelief, and hurt rolling off of him, like living things reaching out and slapping her.
"We...." Sarina began.
Nolan interrupted. "We had an agreement. I knew Sarina had her own reasons for coming to this place. I didn't ask what they were." His voice was cold.
Behind him, the sun was beginning to rise. A line of pink shone on the horizon. Sarina placed her hands on her upper arms, hugging herself against the shame building inside her.
"So, you had reasons too?" Melusine's attention returned to Nolan. "Tell me, vampire, devourer of your own kind, what reasons might those be?"
The water spirit cocked her hip and twitched her tail. Her face took on a new, provocative expression. Sarina's jaw tightened.
But if Nolan noticed Melusine's interest, he showed no sign. "Vampires don't devour their own kind." His eyes flashed.
"No?" The tip of Melusine's tail flicked up and brushed over Nolan's chest. "Do tell. What do they devour?" She enunciated the word, making it sound sensual and forbidden.
"Blood. We drink blood." Nolan's gaze slid to Sarina. She flushed.
"And is that what you hoped to find here? Blood? Surely, there is blood aplenty in the human realm."
"A soul. I heard you had a soul. I came to bargain for it."
Melusine's eyes widened. She twisted on her tail, seeming to address the herd of kelpies that still surrounded them. "How rich! Did you hear that? He came for a soul." With another laugh, she turned back. "It seems we have two bidders, but only one soul to sell. Tell me, vampire, what do you think to trade me for this soul?" She held Allera's vial out so it glistened in the rising sun.
Nolan blinked, and his eyes began to water. Sarina's palms itched. Allera's soul was so close, but her heart ached too.
"Anything I have to give." Nolan held out both arms, opening himself to the spirit. She drew closer, her tail wrapping around him.
"Anything?" Melusine whispered.
Nolan hesitated, and his gaze moved briefly to Sarina.
Nolan stared at the mermaid, looking for some sign the conclusions he'd drawn from the sea hag's conversation were false, but Sarina didn't look at him. Instead, her fingers wrapped tightly around the vial at her throat, she averted her gaze.
Would he give anything to have a soul again?
No. He wouldn't, but would Sarina? Was the soul so important to her, she would give anything to have it? If so, how could he deny her?
His heart heavy and his stomach sick, he looked back at Melusine's. "I thought I would, but I was wrong. If the soul is important to Sarina, give it to her."
So, his family wouldn't accept him? So, he would continue as a monster? At least this time the choice was his.
"Oh." The sea hag's disappointment was palpable. "No fight? No disagreement?" She looked from Nolan to Sarina and then back. Finally, she sighed, her human shoulders rising an exaggerated height.
"Just as well, I suppose, since I had already decided on the victor." The half-snake, half-human female spun. The vial she'd held up to the rising sun dangled from her fingertips. "You did well, mermaid, bringing me this mate. Better than I ever dreamed." Then, her lips curving into a smile, she tossed the vial into the sea.
Sarina gasped, and Nolan stiffened. He stepped forward, ready to dive into the ocean to recover the vial he sensed the mermaid wanted so desperately, but the sea hag's tail tightened around his waist and thighs, making it impossible for him to move.
The mermaid's gaze locked onto him, her eyes huge and sad. Then she dove into the ocean and disappeared.
Chapter Eight
Nolan's heart seemed to go with Sarina. He waited, tense, expecting her to return, expecting...he didn't know what.
"You didn't expect her to give up her quest for you, did you? Mermaids are tricksters of the highest form, especially where men are concerned." The sea hag slithered closer, until her bare breasts brushed against Nolan's arm. "She did do well, though." Her tongue flickered out, over his face. She was, he realized, smelling him. "Of course, you aren't a man, are you. Perhaps you thought you were immune to her tricks."
"And I'm not looking for a mate." He held the sea hag's gaze, his own hard. With each additional second that Sarina was gone, his heart cracked a bit more, but he wouldn't show his pa
in.
"Really?" Melusine glanced over her shoulder, to the place in the ocean that Sarina had disappeared. "Or does the mermaid's thrall still lay claim to you?"
"I'm under no thrall." Nolan was familiar with the term and the concept. Vampires used thrall to lure in their victims. When the human awoke from the hypnotized state, they were confused and lacking a clear memory of what had happened before.
Nolan's memory, however, was painfully clear.
"I don't know what she did for you, or promised you, but she tricked you—used you." The sea hag ran one hand over Nolan's arm. Her touch was light and seductive. So much so that another man might have forgotten her snake-half, but Nolan wasn't another man. He wasn't a man at all, not any longer, and he was immune to any touch...except the mermaid's. He swallowed, fighting again to hide his hurt.
Minutes had passed. Sarina wasn't returning. Perhaps, the sea hag was right. Perhaps Sarina had tricked him.
"What will she do with the soul?" he asked. He needed to know. Needed a reason for her desertion.
Melusine curled her fingers into her hand and pulled her body back. She studied him from under lowered brows. "I can't lie to you. Did you know that? You have to love me without tricks, with my tail visible, with all truths laid out." She muttered to herself, cursing, he guessed.
When she looked back at him, her expression was as hard and cold as the marble floors in his family home. "So, when I say the mermaid tricked you, that she brought you here fully intending to give you to me as she might hand off a shell or other worthless trinket, you know I speak the truth." Her tongue darted out again, forked and in strange opposition to her claims that she had to speak truth.
But, despite that, Nolan believed her. He'd known all along the mermaid had reasons of her own for agreeing to be his guide, and he'd known those reasons went beyond the payment he'd offered her. She had, after all, already been looking for a male companion, testing them...and now he knew for what.
His stomach clenched, and he had to fight to keep his gaze on the sea hag. He wanted to look away and hide the emotions he was afraid she could read on his face.
"Ah, I see you already knew that. Good." She smiled and swayed back and forth a bit on her tail. Then sucking in a breath, which caused her breasts to rise and fall, she replied, "The soul is her sister's. Mermaids and their souls are separated at birth. Most spend their lives looking for a replacement."
"But Sarina has hers." He knew now why the vial was so important to the mermaid.
Melusine inclined her head. "Her mother was...unusual. Ianthe had the love of Poseidon. He granted her one wish. She asked that any daughters she bore be able to keep their souls. He agreed. In fact, he threw in a bonus, he gave Ianthe hers too."
"But her sister lost hers?" Nolan asked. The tale sounded impossible, but what about mermaids could sound possible?
"It was taken from her, by pirates, over one hundred years ago. Ianthe fought them, and while she saved her daughters' lives, she lost her own life and Allera's soul."
"And you found it?"
Melusine smiled, a slow, wicked tilt of her lips. "Mermaids attract men, and I needed a man."
"You stole the soul?" Any sympathy Nolan might have felt for the creature before him dissipated.
"I told you, pirates did. I just saw an opportunity and took it." She snapped her tail against the yacht's deck. "You would judge me for that?" Her eyes narrowed. "Mermaids are no better than I am. They're half-fish, yet men flock to them, declare their love, give up their lives—for one kiss." Her tongue appeared again. Nolan ignored it and her tirade. He was watching the kelpies. Water horses.
If he could reach one, could he force it to take him back to shore and hopefully, Sarina? He'd grown up in his family's stables; he’d been riding horses since he was three. He had never met an equine he couldn't handle.
How different could a water horse be?
And what options did he have? Stay here with the sea hag?
It wasn't an option he chose to take. When she turned again, he bolted to the side and leapt, targeting one of the largest kelpies, a silver Percheron-sized animal that nipped when another of its kind got too close.
The creature had spirit. Hopefully, enough to break away from the others and get Nolan back to shore. Once there, he'd...he didn't know what he'd do and he didn't have time to think about it further. As his chest and legs hit the kelpie's back, the creature reared up and screamed. Then it lowered its head and plunged into the sea.
Water rushed past Nolan so quickly he couldn't believe he wasn't washed from the kelpie's back. He clutched at the creature's mane, determined to stay on its back and ride until the animal's energy was spent.
Then he would direct it back to the surface and somehow find land.
The kelpie raced to the sea floor. Once there, its pace slowed to a trot. Confident he could control the creature now, Nolan pulled on its mane and kneed it in the side. The kelpie tossed its head, but ignored his urgings.
It was then he realized the animal was headed somewhere—its home or stable, he guessed. Somewhere the sea hag would be sure to find them.
Nolan kneed the creature again and jerked hard on its mane, but for the second time the kelpie ignored him. It continued its trot in steady even strides.
There was no moving the kelpie off course. Nolan had to choose between continuing on its chosen path or leave the creature behind and risk the open sea on his own.
Confident the kelpie's choice would insure the sea hag's discovery, Nolan loosened his hold on the animal's mane and tried to push himself off of its back.
His legs clung to the creature as if glued, and not just Nolan's pants, which he would willingly have shredded to secure his freedom. The muscles of Nolan's legs clung to the animal. Rock hard and unyielding.
He had lost control of his own body, and despite all efforts—striking his thighs, attempting to pry his hands under his legs—he couldn't gain that control back.
He was, it seemed, stuck.
The kelpie, still trotting, lifted its head and neighed...laughed.
Her sister's soul in her fist, Sarina swam in circles.
She had seen Nolan's face when she jumped.
He knew she had used him. Knew she had brought him here with every intention of leaving him behind.
Guilt lanced through her. More than guilt—pain.
She needed Nolan...loved him.
Admitting that truth hurt almost as much as seeing the disbelief on his face when she jumped.
But her choices weren't good. If she tried to save him now, it would be Sarina against an army of kelpies, water dragons and any number of other creatures the sea hag might have enlisted to serve her.
One mermaid stood no chance against such an army, but still, Sarina couldn't force herself to swim away. Couldn't force herself to look at Nolan as she knew she should—an expendable human who had served his purpose in her quest to retrieve her sister's soul.
She spun in another circle, swimming away and then swimming back twenty times before reality truly sank in.
What was done, was done. Now that Melusine had met Nolan, she wouldn't give him up—not willingly.
And Sarina had made a promise, to herself, her sister and her dying mother.
Allera's soul gripped tight in her hand and her heart dying, she swam away.
Outside a large metal cage the kelpie stopped, falling forward onto its knees as it did. Nolan flew over the creature's head and landed inside the cage with a thud.
He leapt to his feet, but it was too late. The door had already slammed shut.
His hands wrapped around the cold bars, he hissed, or tried to. Air gurgled from his lips.
A few yards away, the sea hag appeared on a kelpie of her own. Her snake-tail draped like pearl strands over the creature's sides, and her fingers wove into its mane. With a shake of her head, she guided the kelpie closer.
"Fighting will do you no good. Why not accept your fate and give love a chance?" She t
ossed her hair over one shoulder, revealing one perfectly formed breast. "I assure you, I have every charm the mermaid offered." Looking like some twisted version of Lady Godiva, she leaned forward. "Love me and I will set you free."
A globe appeared in her hand. She tossed it toward his cage. He tried to move, but the bubble burst, coating him in some invisible liquid.
“Speak now,” she ordered, impatient.
Realizing her voice sounded clearer now, he did. Water didn’t rush into his mouth and his words came out with ease. "You can't order love delivered like milk to your door." Disgust and disbelief warred for control of Nolan's emotions.
Her eyes narrowed. "Perhaps not, but I can and did order a man, and I can order more. Would you like to see your predecessors?" She waved her hand and the water around Nolan lightened, as if illuminated from below. Twenty cages were anchored to the sea floor.
"They're empty," he replied, unimpressed.
Melusine smiled. "Look again." She motioned to two kelpies. The creatures walked toward him, pulling one of the cages with them.
Bones littered the bottom of the cage—human bones.
Nolan's stomach clenched, but he held his gaze steady. "That won't happen to me. I'm a vampire."
Again, Melusine smiled. "All the better. You have eternity to realize our love. In the meanwhile, I have more suitors to gather." She flicked her tail against the kelpie's side, but then, as the creature started to move, pulled back on its mane. "If you have a breakthrough, simply tell your guard. He will be happy to find me so you can declare your love."
The dragon swam toward them, knocking against the empty cages and jostling the bones inside. The kelpies parted and pulled back; then after a signal from the sea hag, bolted as one upward and out of sight.
The dragon curled around Nolan's cage. Its head propped onto its body, it watched him with one slitted green eye open.
Finding the dragon's regard unnerving, Nolan closed his eyes and allowed his body to drift upward to the top of the cage. Once there he floated, feigning sleep and wishing for the millionth time he wasn't a vampire. Wishing he could die.