“Storm! Where is my Storm?”
“Readying himself for the ritual,” he answered, still not quite what to make of this human female.
“Readying himself? We are supposed to be readying ourselves?”
She looked down at her salt-encrusted skin and wrinkled her nose in displeasure.
Then something occurred to her!
Reaching up one hand, she tentatively felt the mass now existing on her head, and bit back a scream!
“My hair,” she managed to gasp out, her dismay lending her strength.
“It is the most amazing thing I have ever seen.”
Sting didn’t actually mean to blurt out that compliment, but he truly had never seen anything like this before!
Her hair was a mass of tiny curls! The shine of the salt water only made it look as if it held diamonds or sparkled with life and vitality from within! It was a rich creamy color, almost the deep brown of some coral he had once seen, or the enchanting scales on a deadly tiger fish. Her skin was just as enchanting and exotic! All in all, he could see the attraction Storm felt for this human! He had honestly never seen a more exotic creature in his life.
“Needs to be washed!” she retorted as she felt the wiry mess her hair had become.
Elanna was not a vain creature by any stretch of the imagination, but with all of the strange mythical creatures surrounding her, she wanted to look her best! Half drowned and gritty was not part of her ideal beauty.
“If you feel you must,” he said, before she was raised gently in his arms, and tossed over his shoulder!
“Eeeeeekkk!” Elanna screamed all the way down as she felt her body hurtle over space to land in a warm pool of water!
“You asshole!” she bellowed as she struggled to the surface of the water. “You idiot! You menace to society!”
“I only fulfilled your wishes as expeditiously as possible,” he calmly said. “Are you not in the washing chamber?”
Then Elanna took a good hard look around her!
She was no longer in the cave where she had had her conversation with Storm. She was in a larger, warmer, fuller cave.
And by fuller, she meant the three women, coloring running from yellow, to red, to lavender, who smiled at her around masses of long straight hair.
“What’s an asshole?” Sting asked as he swam towards her, and she realized that she was in a small pot-shaped crevice floating in a pool of deep-looking water.
“It’s…it’s… Who are those women?”
“Hello!” the trio sang out, making her flinch with the whole cuteness of the gesture.
“Ella, Bella, and Rage.”
“Rage?” she asked, eyebrows raised, even as her feet found footing and discovered that she could stand and still be covered by the warm water. “The redhead?”
“No, me!” said the middle Merwoman, who was some odd shade of lavender.
“Rage?” Elanna asked, her disbelief showing on face and in her tone.
“I know! It’s my parent’s fault! I think they wanted a boy.”
“Named Rage?” Elanna asked as she shuddered in growing pleasure. The warm water was beginning to sink into her pores, soaking away what seemed like years of salt and silt.
What was wrong with these people? Who would name a child Rage?
She looked over at Sting, who was flexing his arm fins, spreading the deadly looking spines that eased out of their delicate looking sheaths.
“Okay, I guess Rage would be a good name for one of you people.”
“Rage is an excellent name, for a man,” Rage continued with a sigh. “But it sure makes mating hard for a woman! Do you know men actually think that I have a temper?” she gritted out, her face taking on what seemed to be a flush of anger, her eyes narrowing in thought even as her tail swished madly through the water.
“I guess it’s not so odd,” Elanna allowed while rolling her eyes at the strange but aptly named woman. She would really hate to get on her bad side.
“But that is another story,” Sting said with a sigh, turning his attention back to the human in the crevasse. “Are you warm? If so, we must proceed with the preparations.”
“Not with you in here,” Elanna said cheerfully, looking away from the three girls to the black-haired man.
“My presence is required,” he replied. “I must attest to your readiness.”
“Readiness to what?” Elanna asked, her voice deepening with her new state of mind, worry mixed with a fair amount of trepidation.
“Readiness to proceed with the ceremony,” Sting said. “These three will act as witnesses and will assist you in cleaning up afterwards.”
“Cleaning up? Afterwards? What are you talking about, Cyclops?”
“Cyclops?” Sting asked, that one black eyebrow rising in confusion.
“Just what do you think you are going to do to me?” she questioned, more plainly this time.
“Why, test your readiness…”
“Details, one-eye!” she bellowed, finally losing her patience and sighed as the trio of back up singers began to giggle.
“Human, you do try my patience!”
“Details!” Elanna finally shrieked, not caring that she appeared undignified! She needed to know what was going on!
“I need to see if you are…receptive,” he stumbled, a blush heating his face as the trio giggled again.
“Say what?”
“Well, Merfolk are quite…long,” he stuttered, for once losing his cool. “We mate from behind and the male has to be long enough to reach…”
“I get the picture!” Elanna struggled to breathe through her suddenly constricted throat.
“Good!” Sting said, cheering up considerably. “Then you won’t mind if I…”
“Hell, no!” she cut him off.
“Pardon me?” he asked trying to gain the understanding of her words.
“No! No, Cyclops. No!”
“But how will I…”
“I am human!” she retorted, a bright blush almost sizzling her face with its heat. “We expand and contour to fit,” she mumbled as she suddenly took great interest in the water that she was boiling in.
“You what?” Sting asked, suddenly amazed as he gazed at this human.
Well, human reproduction was never covered in school, and if what she said were true, if that got out… Mermen would start actively searching out human cast-off women for themselves!
“Humans come in a variety of sizes, and uh, shapes,” Elanna explained. Was it growing hotter in here or was it her? “We can accommodate a male of almost any size.”
“That’s amazing!” Sting gasped, noticing that the trio behind went silent. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure!” she said, exasperated. “I know my own body, pal!”
“Very good!” he said. “Very, very good! This means as soon as you are cleaned, the ceremony can begin!”
“Ceremony?” she asked again. “But I have no clothes!”
“And hair in strange places,” he returned, making her aware that she was totally naked in the water!
“Where are my clothes, you pervert?” she shrieked. “What did you do to them?”
“They fell apart,” Sting asked, wondering what her problem was now. Humans were strange! They dressed in layers to hide what the Creator had given them! Strange indeed!
“I want clothes!” she bellowed! “I want a covering! I want my Fish Boy! This place is strange! Storm!”
Sting blanched as she began to leak water from her eyes and scream out the name of her future mate. What was wrong with her eyes? She was starting to scare him a bit.
“Storm!” he yelled, echoing her cry.
The trio had remained silent and worried as they watched the human seem to…break. What was wrong with her?
“Storm!” Elanna cried again, a shout that was echoed by Sting’s cry of “Storm!” and the trio screaming, “Storm, Storm, Storm!”
“I want my Fish Boy!” Elanna said, her tenacious hold on
her emotions breaking as she gave in to her rising fears. She wanted her anchor, and all she had was a group of three screaming mimis and a black-hearted, black-haired…Cyclops! “Storm!”
“What?” came the irritated bellow as the water suddenly exploded in front of Elanna’s stone cooking pot.
“Storm!” they all cried out in relief.
Turning in a full circle and observing the situation before him, Storm said the only thing that made sense to him, being more familiar with the human language and all.
“Hell!”
Chapter Thirteen
“Of all the… I have never been… Why is it that…? Ahh!”
Storm threw up his arms in frustration and Rage and her sisters, the fearful Sting who had cowed Amadala, and his future mate, the one who gave him the cute name Fish Boy, Elanna, all stared at him in varying degrees of distress and relief.
“He did it!” Elanna cried at the same time Sting stammered, “She’s faulty!” The trio called out, “Protect us! They are possessed!”
“Quiet!” Storm bellowed, staring at Sting until the shame-faced warrior crossed his arms and glared defiantly at the water surrounding him.
Elanna blinked rapidly, banishing the tears while sighing in relief! Her knight-in- shining-fish-scales had come.
The trio just looked confused, and lavender-haired Rage looked almost angry in her confusion.
“Elanna, what is going on?” he asked, knowing her emotions were still unstable because of the epimorph, but she would give him the most disjointed answer.
“He said he had to test me for readiness! I don’t know what that means! And he threw me into this cooking pot like a plucked chicken!”
“Chicken?” everyone but Storm exclaimed, looking questioningly at Elanna, as if she was seriously demented.
“And my clothes are gone and they saw me naked! Naked, Storm! And he commented on my hair, my personal hair, and they want to clean me! Keep them away from me!”
Storm blinked at this tirade, then turned to Sting.
“And you?” he asked.
“Well, she is leaking from the eyes, Storm! A most amazing thing! I have never seen the like and feared she was ill.”
“I’m dying, you nimrod!” Elanna screamed as she rose to her feet, forgetting for a moment that she was naked. Then with a squeak, she sank back down in the warm water to her chin. She still managed to look frightened, relieved, self-righteous, and angry at the same time.
“Well, more ill. What is this Nimrod?” he asked, turning away from Storm to Elanna, earning a squeak and a splash as she sank in the water up to her nose.
“And you?” he asked, turning to the sisters.
And naturally, Rage spoke for all of them.
“There is something wrong with all of them, Storm! And I want out of here!”
“Okay,” Storm sighed, turning to face Sting first. Not out of respect, but he wanted the Merman out of the way so that he could reason with Elanna. “Humans cry. It’s something I learned in Greece. It is some release of some kind, likened to shedding scales.”
“Oh,” Sting said, catching on to Storm’s meaning. “It is emotional!”
“Yes,” Storm agreed, nodding to Sting. “And now, you may leave.”
“But the ceremony…”
“I’ll handle it,” Storm sighed, motioning the black-haired man from the chamber.
“But the testing…”
“She is human. She will adjust to me,” he said. “You will see.”
“Yeah!” Elanna cried out, justified at last. Then, “What do you mean you’ll see?”
“Rage, you and your sisters have brought the cleaning supplies?”
“Yes, but we aren’t staying! They are all insane, Storm, including Amadala’s mate. I don’t think you’re safe in here!”
“I am fine. You all may leave. I’ll handle everything.”
“But you are a man!” Rage protested, her silent sisters nodding behind her.
“Rage,” Storm said with growing impatience. “I said that I would handle it.”
“As you wish,” Rage said, suddenly very meek, bowing before her head and those of her sisters’ disappeared down into the water. Without a splash, all three women were gone.
“Good-bye, Sting,” Storm said, as he arched one eyebrow in his direction.
“I guess, because she is human, but you had better mate her, Storm. I want Amadala to be baited and mated by tomorrow.”
“Understood,” Storm laughed and Sting let a rare smile crack his stern visage.
“Lady, it’s been…something.”
Without a sound, he too disappeared and finally Elanna was left alone with Storm.
“Are you ready?” he asked as he lovingly stroked the water and flowed it in her direction.
“What did you learn in Greece?” she asked. “And why were you there?”
Anything to postpone having a cleansing…whatever that was.
“The council thought it was important for me to know the ways of humans,” he said with a sneer.
Yes, they wanted the king to be well-versed in the ways of man, since man was increasingly invading their waters. So he had met with a few devout people, knowledgeable in the old ways, and had learned to perfect his human speak. Not to mention a crash course in humanity. Although he thought a lot of what they did was barbaric, he could appreciate the gentler traits of the species.
“You don’t like the council much, do you?” she asked, picking up on his dissatisfaction with the whole institution.
“No. They think that they know everything, when in fact, they know nothing but what’s before their very own noses.”
“Okay,” she said, her mood swinging to something more like interest.
Suddenly, she was hanging on the edge of her bath, eyes greedily devouring Storm’s well-muscled upper body, and wondering about Sting’s statements.
The words, “from behind,” and all of those hints about size, suddenly flooded her brain.
What was that bulge that she had felt before and how did it work?
All scientific, she assured herself, while the other half of her brain called her a liar.
She tilted her head to the side as she took in his exposed form. He was worth a second glance! Despite the neon hair, the vampire eyes, and the shark-man teeth.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he asked as he moved closer to her.
“No reason,” she replied, her voice husky with growing interest.
“Well, you look funny,” he said as he turned, and with a flip of his tail fin, propelled himself across the chamber to where the trio had stood.
Once there, he retrieved the pouch they had left floating on the surface and quickly returned to Elanna.
“What’s that?” she asked, wondering if this cleansing involved a sponge bath.
“Things that no lady would be mated without.”
“Clothes?” she asked again, suddenly not worried about her nudity. Storm could look all he wanted. Her body began to vibrate with need.
“Cleansing sands,” he replied, reaching and pulling out a handful of glittery dust.
Automatically, she recoiled. She suddenly had developed a distrust of Merfolk powders. No. Wonder why? she thought as she snorted.
“It is safe,” he assured her, as he slowly approached. “It is just for washing.”
He reached down into her tub and collected a handful of water. This he added to the powder and it immediately exploded into foam.
“You have soap?” she asked in wonder. “But you are in the water all of the time!”
But then she recalled what fish smelled like when not cooled and out of the water for a few days and had to agree with the discovery.
“We have soap, Elanna. We also find a use for combs and teeth cleaners.”
Fish breath, she supposed, but the comb jab hurt.
Her hair was still a tangled mess.
“Give me the soap,” she sighed, hoping that it would at least get th
e salt out of her hair. Her stylist would be livid if he ever saw the mess on her head!
He gave her the pouch and watched as she made a mass of foam, following his motions, then slapped the stuff into her hair.
“Why did you do that?” he asked, suddenly distressed.
He moved closer to the crevasse and hefted his body to sit on the side.
“Your hair is perfect!”
“It’s a mess!” she said as she began to work the lather into her tightly curled hair.
“But you will destroy the texture!”
He eyed her head in dismay as the pretty salt crystals that had decorated her hair, melted into nothing, her curls falling down around her shoulders in a straight mass.
“It will pouf back up!” Elanna sighed and wished for a blow drier. Not that she was distressed about her hair in its natural state, but she was used to having it pulled back into a bun. Her new Afro needed some getting used to.
“I don’t believe you!” Storm cried as he reached out to touch her sudsy hair.
Of all the things about Elanna that had appealed to him, her hair was the first! It was so different than anything he had ever seen—so filled with life, so thick and vibrant.
He looked at his own straight locks and sighed. Some people never appreciated their good fortune.
“It will curl like wool in a moment, Storm. Stop worrying.” Elanna didn’t understand it, but if he thought nappy-tangled hair was beautiful, who was she to argue? “Feel.”
She moved closer to him, still keeping her upper body below water, and let him explore.
“Mmm,” Storm purred as he ran his fingers through her hair.
It sensuously wrapped around his fingers, surrounding him with her life force, caressing him as he caressed her locks. He could die rather happily playing in her hair.
Elanna closed her eyes and sighed in pleasure as Storm’s strong fingers massaged her scalp and tugged gently at her hair.
She had never realized how hair and scalp could be erogenous zones, but her body understood.
Her nipples stiffened in the hot water and her skin tingled with shocking impulses. Her mind drifted and a low moan rolled out of her throat. This was pure bliss!
She moaned as his hands continued their massage, slipping down to her neck, then onward towards her shoulders.
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