by Michelle Fox
***
Murdock peered at me, the dark orbs in his head flat pools without reflection. The only other place I’d seen such darkness, was the wild deep where only sea monsters lived. “Well, what do we have here? I thought I heard something going around and making my stomach hurt.”
Still shaken from the fist to my head, I blinked at him, trying to bring him into focus.
He chuckled, his belly shaking. “This has to be the first time a mermaid has thrown herself into my nets. We usually have to hunt you bitches down and run you into a corner. But, I,” he tapped his ear, "heard your song, quiet as it was."
I opened my mouth to sing, to let him really hear my voice as I forced the blood from his heart and out through his eyes. I'd been rehearsing the song in my head, and the notes were ready to soar from my tongue. Before I could sing, though, he opened a small door in the cage, one just big enough to fit his hand, and shoved a big round thing into my mouth.
I thrashed, fighting him, but he grabbed my jaw and smashed the other side of my head against the cage, stunning me into stillness. He fastened something around my head so that it would hold the ball in place.
“Normally, we cut out your tongues, but I’ve had a special request to keep my next catch intact.” He gave a leering smile. “I hadn’t planned to hunt your kind for a few weeks. Good thing I had the ball gag on hand, eh? Luck favors the prepared.”
He walked off then, leaving me to stew in my hatred. My fingers clenched the net until the fibers broke my skin. I would cut out his tongue and let him watch while I fed it to the little minnows who would pick it apart tiny bite by tiny bite. The appendage between his legs would meet the same fate, and by then, there would be enough blood in the water to bring a frenzy of sharks.
***
The boat sailed for many days and the increasing coolness of the air told me we were moving farther north. No food was provided and my skin began to flake from the lack of moisture. The first night, I drooled around the gag, but by the second, my mouth was so dry, the corners had cracked. I fought the net and lost; the more I struggled, the tighter it bound me.
The crew stayed far away from me and I didn’t see their leader again—not until we docked with a rough bump just before dawn. I had fallen asleep, finally yielding to the exhaustion of my predicament. The thud of the vessel hitting the dock threw me against the side of my cage and shook me awake.
Men ran back and forth on the deck, casting ropes, monitoring anchors. Lights went on up in the room where the captain always stood, spinning the wheel that steered the boat. My captor joined the captain in the cabin where they had an animated conversation I could see, but not hear.
Heavy footsteps pounded close to my cage. I looked to see who it was and was met with a wall of seawater. Sputtering, I blinked water out of my eyes, and as my vision cleared, I saw a tall man with short, dark hair and empty eyes standing in front of my cage. He held an empty bucket in one hand, the source of the seawater now dripping down my face. Another man joined him, this one shorter with massive shoulders and also carrying a bucket. He sloshed more water through the cage, dousing my tail.
“They dry out so damn fast,” said the tall one.
“Hey, Ned, can you imagine what sex must be like?” snorted the shorter one.
“Probably feels like fucking sandpaper,” Ned said.
“I’d like to try it,” said the short one with a speculative glance my way. “I heard it can be good. You just need to add a lot of water.”
“You’ll rub your pecker off, Oscar,” scoffed Ned. He shook his head. “This isn’t the fish taco for me. I prefer those pixie girls. Tiny and so tight they scream like you’re ripping ‘em in two.”
“You fucked a pixie?” Oscar gaped at his compatriot. “I thought they were off limits.”
“The captain owed me big after that last run. I took a bullet saving his life, least he could do was let me fuck whatever I wanted to.” Ned smirked. “I keep thinking I might take some time off and see if I can catch me a pixie for my own private use.”
“Hey,” shouted a new voice. Another crew member joined Ned and Oscar, his features swarthy against his olive cast skin. His coloring reminded me of rotting kelp. “Your names came up for shore leave. Go now, or you’ll forfeit your spots.”
Ned and Oscar high-fived.
“About damn time. I haven’t been on shore for the last three ports of call,” Oscar grumbled as the two men dropped their buckets in front of my cage and walked off. The swarthy newcomer followed them.
The seawater had eased the dryness of my skin and scales, but the men’s words made me uneasy. I’d always known slavers were a bad lot, but I’d never experienced it. Tangled up in the net, my voice blocked by the gag, I was helpless as an octopus without any arms. I wasn’t going to save my sister, I was going to follow in her footsteps.
Despondent, I laid back on the floor of the cage and waited for the rest of my fate to find me. A loud shout startled me, though, and I sat up, wondering what was happening. A predawn gray filled the sky and the water around the boat had gone still.
Another shout tore through the air and a group of men spilled onto the deck, locked in combat. I blinked and tried to make sense of the fight.
The crew I recognized from their shabby uniforms of shorts and tattered t-shirts, but there were others now, too. Tall men wearing black skirts and leather jackets emblazoned with dragons. They took on the crew, methodically winnowing them down with calculated punches until just one remained standing. That last man went slack when one of the skirted men slammed an uppercut into his jaw. He crashed to the deck with a groan and silence replaced the sounds of fighting.
All four of the remaining men turned to look at me in unison, their black skirts swishing around their knees. Their gazes settled on me like a dark weight, expecting something I couldn't fathom.
Chapter Four
I shrank back in my cage, making myself as small as I could. One of the men strode toward me and squatted down to meet my eyes. His hair was bright and shocking as orange coral. He regarded me, his pale blue eyes so calm, I found them soothing.
The rest of the men joined him. The one with dark hair poked at the padlock that secured my prison. Another, his hair glinting copper in the early morning light, tugged at the bars, testing their strength. The third, a blond, smirked and crossed his arms, watching the others.
“Och lass. You’re in a right fine mess here. We’ll have you out of here in a minute,” said the man with the blue eyes and sunset orange hair.
“Fecking slavers,” muttered a man with copper-tinged hair.
“Yeah, well, they won’t be back after today.” The dark-haired man, his eyes blue as the sky, flexed his fingers and muttered under his breath. Power surged in the air and settled over the boat, a thick blanket of magic. "That'll keep them from catching anything ever again."
“I don’t know why we’re letting them go,” grumbled the man with shoulder length blond hair. The green color of his eyes reminded me of young kelp. "Maybe the next one they bring will be mine." The look he gave me was full of longing.
“Shush, Gavin. We’ve already discussed this.” This came from a man with coppery hair and hazel eyes. "The magic does as it does."
“Don’t shush me, Alec,” growled Gavin. He tossed his head, flipping his blond hair away from his face and glared at Alec. “They’re slavers. If you insist on rendering them useless to us, stupid as that is, I say give ‘em a taste of their own medicine. It’s been a while since any crossed over, but humans are always popular in Fairy.”
“Give them to the lady? Are you mad?” Alec looked at the blond with wide eyes. “The last thing we want is for her to notice us, let alone remember us. Or do you enjoy your curse?”
“We don’t have time for bickering. Come on, let’s get her out of here.” The man with orange hair, stood and contemplated the lock which had yet to yield to their efforts to open it. “Bloody hell, why are we wasting time on this? Malcolm,”
he beckoned for the tall, dark one. “Just blast it with one of your spells, brother.”
Malcolm shook his head. “The spells I have are too big, Niall. I’ll kill her.”
Niall. The name rolled in my mind. It sounded like a mer name to my ear.
Niall sighed. “All right. Let’s try this then.” He laced his fingers through the top of the cage and pulled. The metal shifted and gave a shriek of protest, but otherwise, nothing happened. “Come on, brothers. Give me a hand here.”
The men gathered and the cage rocked as they attacked it.
“Harder,” yelled Niall. “It’s starting to give.” Just as he said that, one corner popped free with a bone-jarring screech. They redoubled their efforts and another side broke open. After that, they peeled the metal back, giving me my first open view of the sky in days.
Niall reached down and undid the gag. “We’ll have you on your way home soon.” He gave me a kind smile, one I tried to return, but my jaw wouldn’t move. The effects of the gag would take a while to wear off. Once I could talk, I would thank them all properly. I’d come close to the point of no return in the slave world. They hadn’t just saved me, but given my sister a chance, too.
Casting the gag aside, he hoisted me up and out of the cage, his strength impressive. Mermaids are big compared to the two legs and our tails make us bottom heavy, but Niall didn’t seem to notice.
What did capture his attention, though, as well as mine, were the bullets suddenly whistling through the air. Startled, we all looked in unison to where they came from and my heart sank as I saw the captain, a mass of crew at his back, all armed and looking very dangerous. My rescuers and I were outnumbered.
I worked my mouth up and down, trying to get my jaw moving again so I could sing, but there wasn’t enough time. The bullets came faster than I could recover and the people launching them at us were soulless, heartless bastards who liked to hurt things.
The men scattered, their black skirts flowing around their legs as they moved. Malcolm muttered under his breath again while Gavin and Alec pulled weapons of their own. Soon the bullets went both ways. Everyone dove for cover. Niall, his eyes wide, cast about for a place where we could hide, but didn’t find anything.
“Jump,” I told him, my voice sea gull rough. I nodded to the boat's rail.
He peered over the edge, hesitating. Then a bullet splintered the floor next to his feet and made the decision for him. He threw me overboard and then jumped. We hit the water seconds apart. Even though the impact stung, the water itself brought sweet relief, caressing my dry skin, filling my mouth and wetting my throat. The gills at my neck began to flutter, and I sank to the bottom, limp with relief.
Of course, the net still bound me, but for the moment, I was better off than I had been. It helped, too, that the sun was strong enough to illuminate the world underwater and the water itself was clear. Blinking, I searched the water for Niall, wanting his help with the net. He was swimming for the surface, already quite a distance from me. Bullets plunged into the water, and one of them hit Niall on the shoulder, pushing him back down.
Blood clouded the water, pouring freely from Niall’s shoulder, but he didn’t stop swimming. I gargled some water and then tried to push out a note, a simple sound, more so he would hear me as opposed to a true song cast. The bell-like note traveled through the sea, catching his ears. He looked down, searching for the source and caught sight of me.
Niall turned back toward the surface and then glanced back at me, torn. He needed to breathe, but I needed him to stay under. I cast a quick song, a lure that forced him to me. As he came closer, unable to resist my call, I saw the panic in his eyes.
I kept singing, not nearly as heartless as he might have imagined me to be. Together, we would survive this. He just had to do what I asked. I lured him down to the bottom. Then, before he could think twice and make an escape, I leaned forward, capturing his lips with mine.
He was hot enough to make me gasp. A fire ran through his flesh, warming mine. I drank it in, relishing the added heat in these cold northern waters. He tasted good, too. Like salt mixed with something sweet. I couldn’t quite place where the sweetness came from, but I liked it so much, I kept darting my tongue into his mouth for more, even though that was not required for the magic I sought to cast.
Niall fought me at first, not much, but enough that I could tell he didn’t understand what I was doing. Which was mostly saving his life and mine. The fact I liked kissing him so much was immaterial. I hummed a soothing tune to relax him and deepened our kiss. Once I was satisfied the magic had taken, I sealed my lips around his and blew as much air as I could into his mouth. He gulped it in, his eyes widening as the life-giving air hit his system.
I smiled and pointed to the net with my chin. “Can you help me with this, please?” The English burbled in the water, distorted but still understandable, to my ears anyway. I was used to hearing through water, but Niall wasn’t, and he seemed confused, until the obvious struck him.
His hands pulled at the net, unrolling and untangling me. I winced as the rope scraped over the sensitive scales in my tail. They’d dried out so much, most of them were ready to fall off. I tried not to focus on the discomfort, which became easier once my hands were free. I stretched, easing the tension from being held in one position for so long. Then I locked my arms around Niall’s neck and shared more air with him.
As before, there was something special about our kiss. An indefinable extra that I found pleasant. I hadn’t kissed much before. A little peck here and there, but nothing as satisfying and full as what passed between the orange-haired Scotsman and me. Our tongues twined around each other, and I wound my fingers into his hair as we started to float to the surface. The bullets had stopped zinging into the water, and I’d recovered enough that I would be able to manage any remaining slavers with song.
For his part, Niall wrapped his brawny arms around me, holding me close. His tongue warred with mine and eventually took over. I groaned as he nibbled my bottom lip, biting the flesh there. The bite sent an electric tingle down my spine. I’d lost control of the kiss. It became a wild thing with dark edges.
We surfaced a moment later, and I pushed away from Niall, blinking at the brightness of the morning sun. There were shouts from the boat, loud and concerned. We both turned and found the three men Niall had called brothers peering down at us.
Niall lifted his hand in a wave. “A little help here, mates?”
They threw down life preservers, which I didn’t need, but I made sure Niall had one. The bullet had grazed his arm deep enough to impair swimming. Blood welled up, dripping back into the water.
As they started to pull Niall out of the water and up to the boat, he looked at me, his brow furrowed, “You’re not coming, lass?”
I shook my head. “I belong here.” And I still had my sister to find. My plan now was to wait until things settled down and lure one of the slavers into the water where I could tease out the secret of my sister’s location. No way would I venture into human terrain again.
His eyes clouded. “But our kiss—”
“I was saving our lives. That’s all.” I carefully schooled my face to hide my emotions. “You’ve never heard of the kiss of the sea?”
“Aye. I have, but it was more than that. You know it, and I know it.” His hands reached for me and caught me under the shoulders. Now we were both being pulled up to the boat.
I struggled and then went still as he hissed in pain. His shoulder. “Let me go,” I said. “I don’t want to hurt you.” I opened my mouth to sing, but the song died in my throat at what happened next.
“I canna, lass. You donna understand. You’re mine.” In an impressive feat of strength, he lifted and turned me until we faced each other. His lips claimed mine, ferocious and full of heat.
Underwater, I could dismiss anything I’d felt earlier as some sort of magical overflow. I’d been scared and failed to properly control the magic, but this kiss was all Niall and the
same dark passion as before swirled in me, setting my tail fins aflutter.
If it wasn’t me, then it must be him. He was doing this, but why I didn’t know. Had I traded one slave owner for another? That made me panic and I fought Niall in earnest, not caring about his shoulder anymore. I had to break free of these two legs, couldn’t risk being taken again, but it was too late. His grip just tightened on me and the deck already loomed under us. I’d lost my sense of time during that last kiss, and we’d traveled all the way up to the boat. I’d failed to escape.
We touched down on the deck, where Niall with his human legs and feet remained standing. I had no choice but to fall. He tried to catch me, to support me, but I didn’t want his touch. I sucked in a deep breath and prepared to sing, but Niall lurched forward, a panicked expression on his face as if he knew of my plan to rip out their hearts and make their brains burst, and put a heavy hand over my mouth. We fell together, hitting the deck hard, but Niall’s hand didn’t miss. When we’d finished our fall and rolled to a stop, he said, “Lass, will you please let me talk to you and explain things?”
Malcolm came forward and pulled Niall off me. “What is it, brother?”
Niall looked at Malcolm, his eyes wide. “Your magic runs true. She’s my maiden.”
All the men went still. I attempted to take advantage of the lull and wriggle free, but Niall startled at the movement. He lifted me up again, cradling me against his chest and causing fresh rivulets of blood to wash from his wound.
I pressed my hand against the bloody flesh, anxious for it to heal. Open wounds were not safe. They brought sharks. “Your arm.”
Even holding me, he had the strength to shrug. “'Tis only a scratch. Donna fash yourself about me, lass. It will heal on its own.”
“What about me?” I asked, annoyed.
He paused and looked at me, his grip slackening. “Are you hurt?”