Siren's Call (Dark Seas)

by Debbie Herbert

  Supper in hand, they returned to his truck. Lily stared back at Sam’s cabin, a new worry wiggling in her brain like a worm. “If Sam’s released in the morning, you’ll need to stay with him while he gets his legs under him.”

  “He’s got a friend that’s going to stay with him.”

  “Do you think they’ll be safe?”

  “I do. The killer only came here to find you. But I’ll warn them to be careful. My grandfather has several shotguns and the two of them are both excellent hunters.”

  “He shouldn’t have to worry. The stress can’t be good for his heart.”

  “I know. I’ve done him more harm than good coming back.”

  She studied his profile, noting the grim set of his jaw. “I don’t believe that. He’s thrilled you’re here. Besides—” she pointed at the warning note he’d carefully removed from the cottage door and placed in the backseat “—that might give Tillman and Landry a clue to the woman’s identity. With any luck, they’ll find her soon.”

  “Doubtful. But we’ll pay them a visit in the morning after I check on my grandfather.”

  His mood stayed somber as they again traversed the muddy potholed road, rushing to catch the last ferry ride of the day. What a nuisance having to depend on a boat when she could easily swim to the island alone. If he only knew... Lily reached out a hand and placed it on his thigh, wondering what he’d think if he saw her shape-shift to mermaid form. When this ordeal was over, and if he decided to stay in Bayou La Siryna, she would have to reveal her secret. He’d been so open with her about his own supernatural abilities—maybe he had it in him to accept hers, as well. Lots of ifs and buts and maybes. No point borrowing more trouble with speculations on the future when the present swirled with danger.

  * * *

  The moon beckoned like the call of a long-lost lover. Lily stole a glance at Nash, sprawled on his back, chest moving rhythmically up and down in deep slumber.

  Their evening had been subdued, each absorbed in their own troubles. Their earlier rift over revealing secrets remained a wedge between them. She’d tried to cajole him out of his gloom, but he stayed reserved and she’d felt so removed from him, at least until they’d made love. Their shared passion remained unmarred from the outside world and all its problems. One pure thing, intimate and open. And she’d come oh-so-close to telling him she loved him. But when she did, Lily wanted the timing to be perfect, unfettered by secrets and danger.

  She stared out the window, the moon tugging at her restless thoughts. How she craved a swim. Night was the best time of all undersea, when silver beams danced on the water’s surface and starlight flickered above with pinpoints of light.

  Dare she chance it?

  It would be a relief to go undersea and erase the memory of today’s harassment and especially the underwater confrontation with Carl. A reclaiming of her territory of sorts.

  Ever so slowly, Lily disentangled her legs from beneath the sheet while keeping an eye on Nash. She eased off the bed and padded across the hardwood floor to the kitchen, then paused at the open doorway.

  He hadn’t moved. She could see him in the darkness, her mermaid nature accustomed to vision in the ocean’s dark depths, the same eyesight that allowed her to see at night while on land. Nash’s eyes remained closed, his breathing regular. Lily silently passed through the kitchen and to the separate bedroom on the other side of the lodge. He’d be less likely to hear any squeak from the other room’s door. Gently, she crept out and waited to hear if she’d disturbed his slumber. If he sought her, she’d tell him she’d stepped out for some fresh air.

  A few minutes of silence passed, and she was confident he hadn’t heard anything. Lily ran sure-footed to the shore, tossing off her silk nightgown in the island breeze. Not even the softest of material felt as freeing or soft as the night wind against bare flesh.

  She ran and ran until shore met sand, then slipped into sea, the transition to siren seamless and instant. Sediment and seaweed swirled, roused from the day’s storm. Tonight the ocean was all astir, tumbling with power. Lily absorbed its energy, became one with its vital force. She drifted with the strong undertow, allowing it to draw her farther, deeper. Not fighting, not thinking, not plotting nor scheming as she had to do on land. Here, she was queen of the sirens, the pride of the merfolk, secure in her power.

  Could she really give all this up? Did she want to?

  Niggling doubts crept in, disrupting her mindless swim. The easiest path would be to leave the bayou with its endless problems and dangers. Her mother would be delighted and her own kind would welcome her return. With them, there would be no secrets or need for subterfuge. She could mate freely and do her duty in helping repopulate their dwindling species. Why resist her natural siren’s call?

  Lily propelled upward, fishtail beating back and forth, arms lifted, parting a path through the Gulf current until she was within a foot of the water’s surface. She floated on her back and sought sight of the moon.

  There. It shone a pale green, full and ripe in a pregnant beauty. Dark clouds drifted over its face, giving an illusion that it winked at her, sharing a secret, acknowledging its very own child of the waters.

  The same ink-black clouds hid the stars, blanketing their beauty. Even so, Lily felt their burning presence, which refused to be muted by mere puffs of drifting nebula.

  This must be how Nash experiences Earth. The very soil sings to him, and all land’s creatures recognize he is one with them, a fellow brethren of land. He has more power than he knows, if he would but accept his gifts.

  Nash’s face flashed in her mind’s eye, obscuring the moon. It was strong—harsh, even—sporting high cheekbones, an aquiline nose and a squared plane along his jawline.

  I love him.

  Totally, completely, unequivocal as any law of nature. Every cell in her body craved his touch, whether on land or at sea, as human or as mermaid. Nash was anchor and home in the world.

  Could he learn to love her, as well? Or would he leave one day soon and return to his travels? Much as she loved him, she couldn’t follow him down that road, even if he asked. To leave Bayou La Siryna and her portal was unthinkable. The bayou straddled land and sea, allowing the freedom to shape-shift between two worlds. She was a mermaid and needed the sea, even if it was restricted to this slice of the Gulf of Mexico.

  Fight for him, Jet had advised.

  And so she would. But only if he loved her, too, and could be satisfied keeping Bayou La Siryna as a home base. Nash was worth every danger. Always and forever.

  Peace came with resolution and Lily swam for shore, longing to return to his bed, to feel his body pressed against her own. At the shallow sand bed that marked the meeting of ocean and earth, she glided in, tail fin dissolving as her body rolled onto shore. She arose, human legs wobbly at first until the adjustment to solid footing on ground, the earth steady and sure beneath the flesh of her soles.

  The white of her nightgown whipped in the breeze at eye level, and a ghost cloud descended from the heavens. Lily narrowed her eyes and saw that the gown was attached to a human arm. Her gaze traveled the length of the arm to the man standing less than six feet in front of her—solid and strong as an oak tree.

  Nash.

  Oh, shit. Not now, not like this.

  * * *

  “Enjoy your swim?”

  Angry disbelief surged through Nash and he marveled that he could even speak. What the hell? Was this a mirage or some kind of magical illusion? His world shook as if an earthquake rumbled beneath, tectonic plates shifting the natural order of the universe. He inhaled deeply, grounding himself against the maelstrom of this revelation.

  No, it was real. He’d seen what he’d seen.

  “You’re a—” He sputtered and halted. Lily was— He couldn’t bring himself to say the M word, much less think it.

&n
bsp; She stood before him, eyes wide, wet and sleek as a dolphin, bits of seaweed clinging to her golden hair and pale skin. Pale as trout. His grandfather’s tale of the Okwa Nahollo rang in his head, leaving him dizzy and disoriented. Maybe you’ve even seen one and not known, he’d said.

  Lily took a tentative step forward, hand outstretched, pleading. “Oh, Nash. I didn’t mean for you to find out so soon. And not like this.”

  He steeled himself against the anguish in her voice and eyes and stepped backward. Her hand fell to her side.

  “I don’t believe you were ever going to tell me,” he ground out harshly. “You’ve lied to me from the beginning.” Even as a child, she’d lied. He saw that now.

  “I had to. Please try to understand. It’s not just my secret. It’s one I share with all my kind. Exposure to humans can mean our death.”

  “So you were toying with me all this time. Playing with me, treating me like a dumb animal you could pet and then abandon.” He remembered all the local men and their crude remarks about the easy Lily Bosarge. “I’m the latest in your long string of conquests.”

  Her face grew even paler, white as the fabric of the nightgown he held in his hands. Nash bunched the silky folds in his fist and raised it toward her in accusation. “I woke up and when I couldn’t find you in the lodge I went searching. Do you have any idea how scared I was? I was afraid the killer had found you.”

  “I—I’m so sorry. I didn’t think you would—”

  “You’re damn right, you didn’t think. And when I found this—” he shook the gown like it was some vile thing “—I thought maybe there’d been an accident. That you had drowned.”

  “I get it. You’re angry I slipped away.” She grew more composed, face smoothing into its usual calm. “You have every right.”

  “Damn straight.”

  “Now can we discuss the real issue?”

  Her voice was sensible and matter-of-fact, as if she were dealing with an unreasonable child. Anger washed over him anew. “Fine. Let’s talk about the fact you’re a liar, a sneak.”

  “That’s not what I meant and you know it.” Gone was the sorrow and regret in her eyes. They glittered now with defiance as she lifted her chin. “You witnessed the change.”

  His mind balked at the image of Lily washing up on the beach. At first, he’d been terrified, certain she had drowned. And then a large mass behind her had shimmered, reflecting a rainbow of colors in the moon’s light. Enough light to see that the object was a fishtail that began at the curve of her hips and narrowed down to a split fin. The colors he’d seen were pixilated scales where legs should have been. Seconds later, the shimmering mass had dimmed and become two columns of pure white. Lily had arisen on the sand like a ghost in the night.

  He’d been rooted. Torn between relief she was alive and dismay at her dual nature and utterly, utterly astonished. Was this what the crow and seagull had been trying to tell him? Two spirits. Which was the real Lily? A creature of the sea, or the warm-blooded woman who was his lover?

  His mind grappled with the warring emotions and he chose anger. Familiar, safe, old-fashioned anger that masked vulnerability and powerlessness.

  “I don’t want to talk about your—change,” he spat out, mocking her euphemism. “Maybe the real issue here is trust and your lack of it. I opened up to you—told you things I’ve never shared with anyone. And there you sat with your big secret, never saying a word.”

  The confident defiance slipped and her chin quivered. “I was going to tell you.”

  “When?”

  “Later. After the killer was caught and everything returned to normal.”

  “Normal?” He laughed bitterly. “Nothing about my life is normal. You were the one good thing I had going for me.”

  Tears streamed down her face, almost undoing him.

  “I’m still me,” she said, placing a hand over her heart. “Lily.”

  The anger melted, replaced with an unbearable sorrow. “It feels like I don’t even know you anymore,” he said softly. “What other secrets do you hide?”

  “Just one.”

  His heart took a nosedive off a cliff and he averted his face from hers, seeking balance.

  She moved close and touched his arm. “Nash, look at me.”

  He gazed at her. Even now, wet and covered with bits of seaweed, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever met.

  “I love you.”

  The truth was there in her eyes. “Don’t,” he said, broken. “I’m a man who’s brought you nothing but trouble.”

  “That’s not true. You’ve taught me what it truly means to love another. I didn’t know before if that was possible for me.” She placed both her hands in his. “I don’t expect you to tell me you love me, too. You’ve had a shock tonight. But answer me this—does my mermaid nature repulse you? Do we still have a chance?”

  Nash drew in a deep breath. Repulsed? No. There had been beauty and magic in her mermaid body. No matter what form she took, Lily was lovely. Even now, the close proximity of her body made his blood pound with desire.

  “You could never be anything but beautiful in my eyes,” he admitted.

  She dropped her head against his chest and he wrapped his arms around her slender waist.

  “That’s all I need to hear for now,” she whispered.

  Another cloud passed over the moon, pitching the world in black shadows. Still, he didn’t let go of Lily.

  Was this love?

  His mind was confused, torn, uncertain of everything he once held as fact. There would be no answer to this question tonight. For tonight, he would keep her close, filled with wonder and an aching need to discover the real Lily.

  Chapter 16

  Lily tossed aside the sketchpad. She couldn’t focus on anything except Nash. Besides, what was the point? Her best paintings had been ruined and her dreams of artistic recognition had been ripped apart as surely as the shredded canvases. It’d been a foolish ambition anyway.

  “Problems?” Shelly asked in wry amusement. Her cousin didn’t bother opening her eyes as she rocked on the front porch, the wooden floorboard creaking at a lazy pace. “Relax,” she advised. “Sit a spell with me and enjoy the breeze. I love this island. It’s so peaceful.”

  “So remote,” Lily grumbled.

  Shelly cocked open one eye. “Getting a little stir-crazy, are we?”

  “You try sitting around here all the time.” Lily stood and sighed heavily. “I’ll go bring us more iced tea. You want anything to eat? We’ve got leftover fish stew and corn bread.”

  “Nah, I’m meeting Tillman for lunch in a bit.”

  Lily pushed open the screen door and entered the tiny kitchen. The lodge seemed deserted without Nash. Don’t get used to him hanging around forever, her heart whispered in warning. She opened the fridge, removed the pitcher of tea and returned to the porch.

  Shelly held out her glass and Lily poured more tea in it before refreshing her own glass. She sat in the rocker next to Shelly and tried to relax. Images from last night rattled around her brain in photographic clarity: Nash’s grim face as he held her nightgown on the beach, their bodies intertwined in the moonlight later that night and the mysterious flicker in his eyes as he’d left on the morning ferry.

  Where did they go from here?

  She and Shelly fell into a syncopated rocking pattern that soothed her agitation.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Shelly’s voice broke the companionable reverie.

  Lily stared at her cousin, who was physically almost her mirror image. “Talk about what?” she hedged.

  “Nash, of course. And how you’ve fallen completely in love with him.”

  “Jet must have told you.” There weren’t many secrets between the three of them.

  “Nope. Figured it o
ut all on my own.”

  “I’m that obvious, huh?”

  “Only because I know you so well.” Shelly took a long swallow of iced tea. “The feeling’s mutual, right? I’ve seen the way he looks at you.”

  “He hasn’t said so, but I’m hopeful.”

  “A man couldn’t help but fall for you with that siren’s voice.”

  “It’s more than that,” Lily said sharply. “He knows me—knows everything.”

  Shelly’s eyes widened. “You mean—”

  “He caught me swimming last night.”

  “Why did you take such a risk?” Shelly stopped rocking and her fingers tightened around her glass. “You must have wanted him to find out.”

  Lily opened her mouth to deny it, then clamped it shut. Maybe she subconsciously had wanted to force the issue.

  Shelly bit her lip. “Hope he doesn’t tell anybody.”

  “He won’t,” Lily said, bristling. “Nash wouldn’t do that to me. To us.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  Lily frowned at her cousin’s skepticism. “It’s not like you didn’t spill the beans with Tillman. And Jet did the same thing with Landry. Why shouldn’t I be allowed to do the same?”

  “But Nash is only here to do a photo assignment and visit his grandfather. It’s not like he’s staying.”

  The reminder was like a slap and something in her face must have communicated the hurt. Shelly got out of the chair and gave her a quick hug.

  “Forget what I said. I just don’t want you to get hurt, Lily.”

  “Too late.” She attempted a wobbly smile.

  Shelly ran a hand through Lily’s hair. “Whatever the difficulty, the two of you can work it out. You deserve love as much as the rest of us. Don’t give up on it.”

  “Jet said much the same.” Lily got out of the rocker, restless. “Isn’t it almost time for the noon ferry? I’ll walk with you to the landing.”