Only You
I rushed to the bathroom, throwing the door open. Laurent was sitting by the edge of the Jacuzzi tub. “Don’t come any closer,” he warned.
I stood in the doorway. “It’s okay,” I whispered. My heart was racing. My body felt enlivened. It took everything within me not to run over to him and take him into my arms.
“You were sad,” he whispered now. His electric blue eyes were bloodshot. “What made you cry?”
I held to the moldings on the doorway. “I’m upset that my parents don’t know where I am. They must be worrying out of their minds. We had a fight this morning and they probably think I ran away.”
He sighed. “I have brought horror to you and your family. It kills me to let you suffer as you are. I told you to stay away from me.” His voice turned angry.
“There’s no choice, Laurent. I can’t stay away from you and it is not your fault. This is just our fate, our destiny and we have no real control.”
He walked toward me and took my hand in his. His body heat warmed my senses. Tingling sensations ran up and down my body. He placed my hand against his chest. I looked up at his beautiful blue eyes as I felt his heartbeat racing once again. “I don’t have a choice, Grace. You are right. I will do everything I can to keep you alive. That is all that matters.”
I felt lost in his words, in the song of his heart.
He looked at me carefully causing me to wonder if he was going to kiss me. I yearned to feel his soft lips against mine. Even though I had never kissed a boy in my life, I wasn’t embarrassed to kiss Laurent. My desire felt so real and true. But he didn’t kiss me. He brushed his finger down my cheek.
As I felt the warm sensation from his touch, I was startled out of the moment. I looked over at the bathtub and noticed something swimming in it. “What the hell is that?” I shrieked suddenly.
Laurent laughed. “Breakfast,” he said matter of fact. “It’s a sea snake.”
It was about seven feet long with black and white stripes. “Oh, my!” I gasped as I looked at it from across the bathroom. I noticed a huge bag of salt by the tub. He must carry bags of that stuff in the trunk of his car.
“It’s poisonous.” His lips lifted into a crooked smile. “So don’t climb in.”
“I won’t.” I frowned. “How can you eat that? Won’t it kill you?”
“The poison is the best part.” He squeezed my hand as he answered in his musical voice, “That’s how I can touch you without devouring your essence entirely.”
“Poison gives you self-control?” My tone was inquisitive.
“It satisfies mostly. The urges are more manageable. Though I can lose it at anytime.”
I tried to seem unafraid, though my adrenaline was rushing.
“Like the teardrop. I had to have that.” He looked at me carefully. “Your salty fluids overwhelm me.” His ocean eyes sparkled with concern for me. Then the way he looked down, I sensed he was brooding.
“Come,” I said softly. “Let’s lay in the bed and talk.”
He looked up at me. “Just a minute. I’ll meet you there.”
I wasn’t sure what he planned to do in the bathroom. Maybe eat the snake or add more salt to the water? I climbed up on the bed and waited.
After a moment, Laurent came into the room carrying a water pitcher and the bathroom sponge. He set the stuff on the nightstand beside the bed and returned to his spot on the other side of me. “Please forgive my immodesty,” he explained as he pulled his t-shirt and pants off.
My eyes widened. He was only wearing swim shorts. I guess he must wear those instead of underwear because of his frequent ocean visits. By now I knew he wasn’t taking off his clothes to show off or to insinuate that I should take mine off too. But I couldn’t help but wonder why he was exposing his jaw dropping body when he must have known what a temptation he was posing for me.
He dipped the sponge in the water pitcher and started wiping down his body as if it was the most normal thing in the world.
“Are you hot?” I asked, trying as hard as I could not to laugh.
He looked at me as he ran the sponge over his well defined arms. “Just dried out. Usually I’m in my aquarium by now.”
I burst out laughing. I just couldn’t help it. His confession was too unexpected. “What do you mean?” I was blinking my eyes trying not to let any tears come to them from the sheer humor of it. It didn’t seem appropriate to tempt him with my teardrops again.
“We each have our own giant aquarium at the chateau,” he explained with a smile dancing on his lips. “It’s not any stranger than humans sleeping in beds.”
He must have known how absurd his comment came across to me. “Do you sleep in the aquarium?”
He swayed his head side to side. “Sort of. We kind of rest. Certain parts of our bodies sleep while the others remain awake. They take turns.”
That fascinated me. “Do you have gills?” I rolled over on my side to face him with my hand supporting my head on my pillow.
“Actually I do,” he murmured with a wry smile. His rhythmic voice was teasing.
I waited for him to continue, but he simply ran the sponge over his neck as he stared off.
Now my curiosity was itching. “Can I see them?”
He looked at me and raised a dark eyebrow. “My pleasure.” He set the sponge down and ran his fingers over the sides of his ribcage revealing the overlapping layers of skin. “The skin lifts here much like the flap that conceals the suctions on my lower stomach.”
“Amazing,” I responded exuberantly. There were three gills on each side of his body. “Do you have lungs for breathing on land?”
“Yes, exactly—mers have both lungs and gills and can use either depending on the circumstances. We are also cold blooded creatures taking on the temperatures of our surroundings. We are cold when our environment is cold and hot when our environment is hot.”
“That’s right—fish, reptiles, and other water creatures are often cold blooded. It never occurred to me that you might be that too.” I considered the idea for a minute. “Why was your skin warm when I touched it? I would have thought it would be cold.”
He grinned. “The times that I touched you it must have been warm out. My body was the temperature of the room or wherever we were.”
“What do you do when it gets cold in the winter?”
“We have all sorts of creative ways of dealing with the cold. In our chateau, we lounge on electrically heated rocks to warm ourselves. Modern technology offers many heat sources. We use heating pads and other battery heated gadgets to keep warm. But when in natural environments, like lizards, we lounge in the sun and then hide in the shade or if we’re desperate, we lay in mud to cool ourselves.”
I laughed at the thought of the vain, beautiful Marine and Brigitte cooling off in mud puddles.
“What’s so funny?”
“I’m just picturing Marine and Brigitte covered in mud!”
He snickered at that. “You’re right. They will avoid that predicament at all costs.”
“It must be a hassle trying to regulate your body temperature on land.”
His head tilted to the side. “That’s why we live in California. The winters are mild and it’s easier to regulate in the heat. But we are lucky because we have a certain protein in our blood that works like anti-freeze that allows us to survive in very cold environments. Not all fish have that.”
“How do mers procreate?” I asked somewhat hesitantly.
His lips lifted into a crooked grin. “Why don’t I teach you?” he joked with a devilish glint in his eyes.
I blushed, laughing at myself. “You know what I mean—do they lay eggs like fish? How were you conceived?” Now my cheeks turned even redder.
“That is actually a good question. I was conceived the same way you were. I was born in France in the 1700s to human parents.”
My chin jutted back. “How can a mer be conceived by human beings?”
He seemed amused with my q
uestion. “I was born human.”
My eyes widened as goose bumps rose on my arms. “How?”
“I’m a convert.”
“What?” I almost shouted out my surprise. I just assumed he was born a merman and that he had always been this way.
Apparently he was enjoying my shock because he just watched me joyfully for way too long before answering. Finally, he proceeded to tell me his story. “I’m from Paris. When I was seventeen, I took a trip on a schooner to French Indo-China where I visited my uncle who had a large rubber plantation. From there I traveled to the Philippines and continued on to San Francisco. After, when we were in route to Panama, we heard the most beautiful singing. We were entirely entranced. The captain lost control of the wheel and in turn crashed into a reef. The ship sank like a stone.”
I was shocked by what I was hearing. It made me think of my father’s shipwreck. “How tragic. That must have been terrifying.”
“It was horrendous. That is why I don’t want to do the same to others even though it is in my nature.” He looked at me for a long minute, but I could tell he wasn’t really seeing me—his mind was on his tragedy. “The mers caused the shipwreck with their sonar manipulations and songs. They ate most of the passengers, but six of us survived.”
“How?”
“The mers said they spared our lives because they considered us to be good looking.” He chuckled at that. “As I’ve explained before, mers are very into beauty. They will often spare the lives of attractive people and turn them into their own kind.”
“How do they convert human beings into mers?”
He looked at me softly for a moment. “With a kiss.”
I gulped and then my heart sank. So much for ever kissing Laurent unless I wanted to become like him. A terrible ache ran through my body.
I think he saw the despair in my expression. “A mer can kiss a human without converting the person, but if the kiss lasts too long, the excruciatingly painful process takes place.”
A touch of horror burned in my eyes. “Why is the conversion painful?”
“The body changes rapidly. Gills and suctions form. The skin grows thicker. Muscles develop and strengthen. The hair grows. Physical features enhance, characteristic of the mer’s extreme beauty…”
I couldn’t help but interrupt, “Why do converts become more attractive during the process?”
“The purpose is to look appealing to humans so that they can lure them away and eat their flesh as vital sustenance.”
“Oh.” I nodded, brushing a fallen strand of my hair out of my face with my fingers. “What else changes in the convert during the process?”
“Their brains grow and develop, increasing intelligence and higher intelligences that give mers powers over humans and environment.”
“What kinds of powers do mers have?” My curiosity was intense.
“Omni-linguism, mind control, sound manipulation, plant manipulation, teleportation, increased speed in water, super strength after eating humans, and levitation are some powers that come to mind.” He smiled mischievously.
“Incredible.” I threw myself onto my back and pondered. “What is omni-linguism?”
“Mers have the ability to understand any form of language. We are natural polyglots.”
“Wow! So amazing!” I looked at Laurent with excitement in my eyes. “I want to be a mer!”
He shook his head. “No you don’t—believe me. Imagine craving human flesh. It’s a horrible life to want to eat what you once were.”
“But you don’t have to eat humans,” I insisted. “You get along fine eating sea creatures. I heard snakes taste like chicken.”
He burst out laughing, which surprised me. “If you say so.” His eyes narrowed which gave me the feeling he was having predatory thoughts, maybe imagining overtaking venomous sea creatures.
“You said mers can swim at super speeds.”
He nodded.
“So, I was right that you saved me when I was being pulled out to see. Right?” I knew it was him; I just wanted him to admit it.
He stretched his arms up toward the ceiling with a facetious look in his eyes and placed his hands behind his head where he leaned back confidently. “I’m not saying.”
“Ah, come on.” I picked up a pillow and tossed it at him.
“Nope,” he said stubbornly.
“You’re going to tell me.” I swatted him with the pillow.
“Stop,” he laughed, trying to block me as my blows increased. He grabbed the pillow from my hands.
“Not until you admit it.” Playfully, I threw my body on him now. My insides tingled with desire.
His nostrils flared. “All right, all right.” He moved off the bed to a standing position. His jaw was clenched. “It was me.”
“Thank you very much,” I said sarcastically, trying to hide my overwhelming desire to touch my lips to his, as I pulled the pillow out of his arms and tossed it to my side of the bed. I so wanted him to kiss me just long enough before turning me. If it was quick, there would be no danger. When my body was on top of his for that brief moment, it was heavenly. It was all I wanted—to be with him, connected.
I scooted back to my side of the bed and he sat back down in his spot. We didn’t talk for awhile, but just sat there like that. The French windows creaked in the wind and a nice sea breeze was blowing in.
As we sat there in silence I began thinking back to our school trip to Catalina Island. I remembered reading about the mers there and how accurately the museum depictions described them in comparison to Laurent’s descriptions. “At the museum on Catalina Island, I saw a picture from the 1700s of a young woman and man that reminded me of Marine and Pascal…”
Before I could finish, Laurent interrupted excitedly, “You noticed that?” His eyes gleamed in the bedroom light. “They looked different than they do now—didn’t they?”
My eyes widened. “It was them?”
“Yes.” He smiled wryly. “Our ship wrecked near Catalina Island and the museum kept record of it. Most people think mers are simply legend, but they hold actual artifacts from the tragedy.”
I was amazed. “Then, were the other exchange students on the same ship as you?”
He nodded. “Yes, they were.” His eyes glazed over like he was thinking back in time. “Marine and Pascal were just married and were traveling for their honeymoon, but Brigitte, Marcel, Josette, Sabine and I didn’t know each other at the time of the wreck.”
“Sabine was on the ship too?”
“Yes.” He paused for a moment. “After the conversions, our attackers grouped us together as a school and paired all of us up with each other, assigning mates.”
“You mean like arranged marriages?” I asked, my voice lifting in surprise.
“Something like that. There was a courtship period that was designed to lead to marriage. Brigitte bonded with Marcel during the process and soon thereafter they married. Marine and Pascal were already mates from before the conversion, so they underwent the mer ceremony immediately. And I was matched with Sabine.”
“Did you not like her?”
“I don’t think I could have liked anyone at that time. I was wildly bitter at my fate. In my rage, I became consumed with violence. My appetite was ravenous. Sabine was frustrated with my lack of interest in her and in turn became obsessed.
“As my killing sprees waned, my school began meeting secretively. We decided to distance ourselves from the ancient mers. We became land dwellers who refused to eat human flesh. Sabine grew more and more angry that I kept putting off marriage. In turn, she aligned with another school of converts from another shipwreck, but she vowed to kill any female who took a romantic interest in me for all eternity.”
“If she can’t have you, then neither can anyone else.”
He nodded. “I would have married her; I was just apathetic about it. I told her my lack of feelings weren’t personal to her, but a result of my repulsion for mers as a species. It didn’t matter that she
was beautiful. She was a monster and so was I. Ideologically, we were everything that I despised. I couldn’t love her when I couldn’t love myself.”
“But she didn’t get it.”
He shook his head. “No. Now that she was a mer, her vanity was too strong. Any sort of romantic rejection was intolerable.”
“What about Ms. Josette Bellerose?” I asked.
“She was paired with a mer from another school, but when we became vegetarians, so to speak, he refused to come to our side. I think Josette is still in love with him. But she disagrees. Only maybe twenty years ago or so, she married a human man.”
My eyes widened. “Do they have children?”
“They have a daughter about your age. She takes turns living with her human family in Laguna Beach and with us posing as our chaperone.”
“How long have you been land dwellers?”
“Since the 1730s. We only lived with the ancients for about two years before migrating to land. Because we are immortals and never age beyond the age of our conversions, we can only live in a community for so long. Eventually, people start to wonder why we never grow older. When that happens, we have to leave.”
“Why did you come to Santa Monica High as exchange students? Isn’t the point to stay in one place for as long as you can?”
“You’re right. Exchange students usually visit a school for one year. Our plan was to come as exchange students and then apply for residency. We have no intension of going back to France.”
I smiled at that. He got off the bed and walked over to the windows.
“I want to take you for a night swim,” he whispered. His eyes looked sad and mysterious.
But before I had a chance to respond, he swept me up into his arms and carried me to the big French windows. My eyes were wide with fear, but I thrilled at his touch.
Beautiful
Laurent opened the windows with me in his arms. “Here, thread your legs under my arms on either side as we make our way down.
My adrenaline was rushing as he easily turned my body around and held me up. I put my legs under his arms and folded them around his back. It was more than exciting being that close to him and feeling light as air in his strong grasp.
Bluehour (A Watermagic Novel) Page 16