One Soul To Share

by Lori Devoti

  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 tilted 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’d 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, regret 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 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 and his gaze on as many of the creatures as he could keep in sight, then 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.

  o0o

  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 before 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.

  o0o

  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.

  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.

  o0o

  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 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.

  o0o

  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. “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 pain.

  “Really?” Melusine glanced over her shoulder to the place in the ocean where 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 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.”