A Mermaid's Cry

Chapter 38-Morning Wants

Something startled me awake, something that felt cold, wrong, and painful. Heavy breaths rush through my chest as I sit up and untangle my legs from under Adila's. Sweat beads down my back and brow, the salty drops finding their way between my shoulder blades and onto my clothes.

I glance out the window, and find that only faint bands of morning light pierce through the gray gloom. Knowing full well I will not be going back to sleep anytime soon, I silently get off the couch and make my way towards the front door. The sound of Octavia and Adila's snores, heightens my apprehension as I maneuver around Arcus, Zola, and Ares sprawled on the plank wood floor. Especially Ares's hands, keeping my ankles well enough away. Allowing me to step outside with only a small creak of protest from the door.

My feet greet the soft moist dirt, a few gulls cried as the waves crashed against the shore. Peering out into the gloom, I see the schooner bopping in water as the wind blows against the tightly bound sails. The surrounding trees and underbrush, sway with the gentle breeze edged with the tang of salt and sea. With no one the wiser, and no possibility of any trespassing humans, I silently make my way towards the dock.

The dirt gives way to grainy sand, the specks sticking to my skin and covering the bottoms of my pants in a layer of speckled grains. Stepping up onto the rough boards, I feel a certain peace take over. I walk along the dock, watching the fish dart amongst the bed of rocks, algae, and barnacles nestled on the sea bottom.

The wind blows against my face, fluttering my hair aside as I turn my head towards the slowly rising sun. Just a small sliver of golden light, appearing on the gray-blue horizon. While dolphins play amongst the waves, jumping and diving back into the sea. Such small sights that bring a certain peace to my mind. A certain peace that almost makes me forget the past five days of grief, loss, and worry.

Though he is a Mer almost grown, Lucas is still untried in the ways of humans. He may have faced feral animals, and went through countless hours of training by our father. But unlike me, he does not know the full workings of human minds. How they can be kind, but deceiving with their false smiles and empty promises. Father made sure we both knew it, even when mother told him not to. Lest he frighten us so much that we wouldn't go to sleep.

I guess now I know the reason he frightened us so. Not to be cruel, but to teach us so that we would not meet the same fate as he once did. What I would give to see him again, to hear his gravely voice and be held in his all encompassing arms. To feel safe, whole, and at least free from Grandmother's grip on my family's lives.

The thought has me clutching my arms around myself, and ducking my head against my shoulder. My scarred shoulder of scales in the shape of eel bites. I never did learn why Nox pushed me into the pit, but I have long mulled over the jealousy that shown in his eyes when he saw me or Lucas. Our fathers had both been great warriors, but where mine was kind his was brutish and cruel. It was no surprise that Nox's father ended up under the tusks of a feral boar. But it did not happen fast enough for his son to be saved from the same festering rage lying inside his heart.

In another time I wouldn't have hated him, but now it seems my actions have sealed that door closed. I may be far away from Isla de las Madres, but only until Lucas is found. Then I will have to face my grandmother, and him as well. Such a harsh ordeal is life, with endless battles to be won and endless problems to be thrown in my path. It almost makes me wish that I could leave, finally leave after all these years of thinking and planning.

However, there is something keeping me here, someone for that matter. It is a mystery to me how the workings of the body and mind can be so different. One overpowering the other in an endless feud over duty and desire. One that feels tangible and solid, while the other is vaporous heat and wanting fire. A fire that burns as nearly an ember now, but one I feel ignite when the boards behind me groan as his familiar scent invades my nose.

"Going somewhere?" Ares questions, forcing my head up towards his piercing stare as he stalks over to me with a predatory gait.

"Where is there to go, when I'm needed here?" I question back, turning my head towards the rising sun. "Besides, what else is out there for me anyway?"

"Me," Ares whispers, closing the distance between us and wrapping his arms around my waist.

In silent shock, I feel him pin my back against his chest. His hot flesh touching mine in a way that makes me shiver in quiet pleasure. My thoughts leave me, blowing away in the wind as he presses his lips to my scars. I bite back a moan as he begins tracing the tip of his tongue, along the sensitive scales. I arch my neck, pressing my body closer to his and earning a low growl of pleasure from deep within his throat.

"Careful Corintha," he whispers, sliding both hands down to the bones of my hips. "Remember your cousin is not too far away. It would not be pleasant if he found us in an even more, compromising position."

To prove his point, he jerks my lower half flush against his. I widen my eyes when I feel him, hard and wanting through the thin layers of our clothes. It makes my legs weak, and my heart begin to beat faster and faster as he kisses the bite mark on my neck. I growl low and deep, need, irritation, and anger at him once again ordering me around. The emotions bubbling in my stomach and screaming to be let out. A fire once lit, that cannot be put out. Not now nor ever again.

"You do know I don't take orders from you very well," I purr, twisting my body ever so slowly till our chests are flush against one another. "Besides, what Arcus doesn't know won't hurt him, much."

Fisting my hands in his hair, I pull Ares's lips towards mine. Sealing my soul behind a door of need and desire, surrendering to the turmoil of wanting flames that threaten to burn me from within. All pretenses are gone, and as we fight for breath and control of our heated mouths, Ares picks me up and wraps my legs around his waist.

I let long buried instincts take over, my mind fogging in pleasure as he kisses my lips, cheeks, neck, and the hollow of my throat down to the tops of my breasts. In ecstasy, I sniff the scent of his skin and hair. Reveling in the salt of the ocean, the burn of the sun, and his musky smell that seeps down into the pores of my skin.

But, as I breathe in more, I catch the scent of putrid fear. Salty sweat mixed with dirt, manure, and long dead leather. Swiftly, I place my fingers against Ares's mouth and turn my gaze towards the sound of vegetation being trampled under foot. As if reading my mind, Ares settles me onto the ground and steadies my shaking legs. Even though I'm already moving by the time my feet touch the dock.

My teeth sharpen, my nails lengthening to dagger like points. I stalk forward, Ares right behind me as we step off the dock just as a human male breaks through the underbrush. At the sight of us he stops, and backs away only to trip on the patched jacket encasing his broad shoulders.

"Who are you?" I hiss, drawing closer to the human with a cloud of utter shock glazing over his eyes.

I watch this human, with a ragged beard and long brown hair take me in. His hooked nose twitching as he gasps for air, sweat mixing with the dirt on his face. Peering down, I see the glimmer of silver rings on his meaty fingers. The metal faded and slightly rusted, but set with jewels that still sparkle under the early morning sun.

"Costa sent me a message last night," he begins, slowly turning pale as Ares comes up beside me. "Told me to find that rat bastard Drake, and the Mer lad. I did what she said, found the Nightmare and found a good porthole to see his quarters. Only to see him knock out a scrawny lad with hair, just like yours."

The marks of fear vanish from the human's face, leaving the haze of fascinated shock in his eyes. It unsettles me, as if hundreds of spiders were crawling across my skin. I shiver, as my claws and teeth change back into unthreatening bands of nails and human teeth.

"The tales of old cannot compare to what my old eyes are seeing now," he says, as his eyes fasten on my hair. "Or the beauty that is a female Mer. More precious than the rarest jewel, and far deadlier than the most vicious shark. Including you, whose viens run with the very blood of the Red Menace himself."

"But that still begs the question," Ares cuts in, grabbing hold of the male's shirt collar. "Who are you?"