by Jade Rivers
Tiny digits sprouted from the ends, and she giggled as she wiggled and tested them. Her new fingers were curious and difficult to operate: lumpy and hard, not soft and pliant like her tentacles had been.
She ballooned her mouth to filter nutrients from the briny seawater and choked, when new muscles in the back of her throat constricted and swallowed for the first time.
She delighted in the wondrous, form-sculpting changes wrought by the moon.
Suddenly, silvery hair obscured her vision, and she realized that her eyes moved differently. She had excellent vision, but in this form, the water distorted her perception. Puzzled, she sank to the sandy ocean floor in order to regain her bearings.
She tentatively explored the planes of her face with her fingers, pushing and pinching soft full lips, poking a new finger into her nostrils.
Things felt similar, meaning her nerves understood what she was feeling, but they felt different, because she’d been fully re-formed. She examined her muscular arms and legs in amazement, entranced by the beautiful pattern of veins beneath her milky-white, translucent skin. Her blood glowed beneath her skin, a fiery aquamarine that pulsed like a beacon at her throat. The little dip in her new collarbone was glowing like a radiant opal, full of color and life.
Though Serai felt as if her body had begun preparing to display mating signs, she also worried that these might signal her vulnerability to predators.
Her sisters swarmed around her, weaving sea grass and pearls into a decorative protective cover for her new skin. When her sister’s tentacles brushed across her abdomen, which was curiously flat and free of the usual indentation she had observed in the humans who sometimes swam on the surface, it tickled and fluttered with new sensations. For the first time, Serai felt curious stirrings of lust between her new legs.
Serai reached for her sister, grasping her tentacles in confusion, but her sister gently brushed away her hands and continued working on her new garments. Serai trembled with lust, her new skin fiercely sensitive. Every pinch, every tiny caress of her sisters’ soft tentacles sent daggers of pleasure to her core. She barely controlled the urge to take one of those tentacles between her new legs and thrust it deep within the breeding chamber. She clamped her tingling thighs together in a Herculean effort to restrain herself.
* * * *
By the light of the full moon, Serai emerged head first from the water and waded through the shallow tide onto the beach.
A wrenching pain claimed her chest and she threw herself to the sand, retching seawater. Initially, her tongue tasted bile, and she shuddered at the sour tang. Wiping at the trickle of water that oozed from the corner of her mouth with her hand, she climbed unsteadily to her feet.
Without the support of the water, her limbs felt awkward and ungainly. She could hardly lift them, and fought the temptation to rest awhile in order to gather strength.
Gentle ocean breezes buoyed her spirits and gave her comfort. Foreign smells drifted on the breeze, like nothing she’d experienced before, smoky, but not oily, mixed with the ripe, pungent odors of life and death. Slowly, she rose to her feet and followed the strangely familiar scents, determined to find their source.
Odd buzzing sensations assaulted her head and neck. A raucous shout pounded her tender, virgin eardrums, and she threw her hands up instinctively to cover the openings at the sides of her head. Serai winced as she realized she was sensing sound waves, hearing them without the buffer of water for the first time.
Serai slipped cautiously into the shadows as a group of pale, hairy creatures stumbled by on the path, weaving from side to side in a strangely stilted gait.
She looked up, noticing that the moon was low and large in the sky. She had only until daybreak to find a mate.
If she failed, she would remain trapped in this awkward human form. Sometimes her sisters stayed on the surface, when one didn’t return; the tribe mourned her passing as if it were a death, although a few had undoubtedly chosen to live as humans.
Serai shuddered at the thought. Already, she missed the company of her sisters.
She was thirsty, too. Her thirst was deeper than any human could ever know, and her heart yearned for the still, gentle comforts of the ocean’s depths.
She stepped bravely onto the path and waited, keeping an ear to the wind. Merry voices drifted from a wooden enclosure further down the path, and she discerned this was also the source of the strangely intoxicating aromas.
Unable to resist, her feet pulled her toward the ramshackle building perched at the edge of the dunes. As she approached, a small, furry creature slunk into the shadows and whined, the hair around its neck and along its spine raised in fear.
She approached it and reached out her hand, feeling the sensuous velvety skin of its muzzle. The creature sniffed her hand and craned its neck, seeking more attention, but she stepped away, drawn to the contents of a vehicle parked in the shadows.
A hooded jacket lay discarded in the back seat, thick and warm. Even though it scratched and irritated her baby-soft skin, she knew she must cover herself somehow before entering the building. The humans would be frightened by the garments she wore, and even more so by the delicately wrought pattern of veins and vessels beneath her skin, glowing faintly like a turquoise tattoo.
Serai braided her hair and tucked it into the hood, then pulled it up over her head to shade her eyes. Thankfully, the jacket was long, dragging below her knees.
Hopefully no one would notice her bare feet. Just in case, she scuffed dirt over her pearly white toes and shins, so they wouldn’t glow in the shadows.
As she reached the door, a man heaved himself through it, stumbling and lurching into her drunkenly. He barely took notice of the form beneath the coat, muttering a slurred apology beneath his breath before climbing into the back of the car.
She pegged him as the owner of the jacket, and gave a sigh of relief that she wouldn’t have to worry about him causing a stir. Curious, Serai crept to the side of the car and observed his sleeping form.
It would be an easy matter to drag him to the seashore, entice him into the waves, and claim his seed. He was large; his fleshy corpse would easily provide the nourishment she needed to sustain her through gestation. She needn’t spend another hour on the surface.
With a honking cough, he exhaled roughly into her face. Stale odors of rotting cheese, sour mash, and sickness washed over her, making her gasp for fresh air.
Choking and gagging, she deserted the car and fled for the inviting warmth of the building.
Her mother and sisters’ half-human instincts and memories came to her in a flood as she crossed the threshold, taking in the cramped room at a glance. She walked familiarly across the floor to a discreet table in the back and signaled the waitress with raised fingers.
After a moment, a plump woman dropped a tall glass of water on the table and cocked her hip, waiting for an order. Serai placed a medium-sized opal on the table and waited. The woman picked it up and held it to the light.
“This is gorgeous; it must be worth a fortune! Are you trying to barter?”
Serai nodded her head and pointed to the glass, not yet trusting her throat and tongue to form words.
The plump woman laughed heartily. “Well I’ll be! Cat got your tongue? Alright then, I’ll keep it coming, and bring you the catch of the day with a side of slaw and hush puppies.”
She raised the glass to her lips and emptied the contents in one long draught. The cool fluid soothed her dry throat and gave her a feeling of contentment.
Drawing her coat close about her, Serai settled into the shadows to watch for an appropriate mate.
Surfers and fishermen crowded the small dining room from end to end, telling tall tales and singing bawdy limericks over the clatter of plates and glasses. Here and there an isolated soul peppered the festivities, usually what her sisters would have called deep into his cups. The only women she spotted were the waitress and hostess; both too busy keeping the customers happy to take much
notice of the strange newcomer in the corner.
Oddly enough, the men paid her no mind. Careful not to draw attention to herself, Serai sat quietly, raising her glass when the crowd cheered a first-rate singer, her fingers tucked tightly into the folds of her cloak. If she drank more water than the average customer, the waitress seemed to take no notice, distracted as she was by the constant petting and pinching of the rowdy crowd.
Across the room, at a round table surrounded by large, round men, a beautiful young man expertly coaxed tunes from a tin whistle. His companions were a jolly bunch, and generous with their appreciation. At each song’s end, they toasted his health and filled his hat with coins.
She watched him choke on his beer when a rough hand clapped his back in the middle of a swallow, and had to stifle her laughter. She wasn’t sure what sounds would emerge from her new throat, and didn’t want to alert anyone to her presence.
She listened to his music with her heart and sensed an alluring vulnerability. His passion shimmered like fire through the murky mist of simple souls between them. She forgot her thirst and watched him with singular anticipation, impatiently waiting for an opening.
One by one, the men fell away from the table, some falling into a companionable, drunken slumber in the darkened corners of the tavern. The laughter died down and drunken melancholy overtook the remaining patrons. The young man packed his coins and whistle into his pocket, and exited into the pitch-black night.
Serai dropped another, smaller opal on the table and stood up to follow him at a discreet distance.
He followed the path toward the beach for a short distance then took another branch that ran parallel to the shore. After a few hundred yards, her legs began to ache, and she hastened to put an improvised plan into action.
Running silently alongside the path, she quickly overtook him. Casting aside the coat, she threw herself prostrate in the path, and affected an air of feeble vulnerability.
As he approached, she tested her new vocal cords and moaned softly.
He rushed to her side and knelt to examine her. At the sight of her skin, the icy blue sheen of blood pulsing through her veins, he gasped and tried to withdraw. Her hand clamped around his wrist in a viselike grip, while her eyes pleaded for merciful assistance.
She panted. “Pleassse…” The word crept from her throat like a dying bird, almost lost in the wind.
As he gazed into her eyes, a spark of desire flamed to life, and his chivalrous nature took over. Wrapping her arm around his neck, he gathered her in his arms and cradled her to his chest.
“Where should I take you, sea nymph? What manner of creature are you? I can almost feel your heart’s longing in my own. I will not have you die here, on the path. It isn’t far to the shore.”
Serai smiled and caressed his jaw with her fingers. “Yessss. Sssea. Yesss.”
He held her close and climbed over the dunes with surprising strength, hardly breaking a sweat before his boots hit damp sand on the seashore. With exaggerated care, he lowered her to her feet, a hand clamped on either side of her waist to keep her from falling.
Serai pretended to lose her balance, stumbling into his arms. She breathed her gratitude in a sigh, the words caressing his ear like silken fingers. “My sssavior.”
His chest swelled with pride. Trembling with desire, he gathered her up again and waded into the warm water, the coral reflection of the harvest moon floating on its surface.
Serai gasped at the welcome embrace of the sea, wriggling away from him to fully submerge. The top of her head slowly emerged from the water, her hypnotic blue eyes gazing at him, just above the surface. With an elegant finger, she beckoned him deeper.
Shedding his sweatshirt and throwing it to the sand, he followed her, reaching for her with lust beyond his wildest imagination. Struggling in the churning surf, he almost came to his senses. He briefly fought the urge, panic blooming in his chest, and scrabbled to find purchase in the shifting sand below.
She called on the primordial power of her sisters and softly intoned the ancient song of seduction. Her soft crooning rippled through the water and fueled his lust into frenzy, urging him to surrender to the sea’s embrace.
With a moan, he acknowledged defeat and swam to her, kicking off his waterlogged boots in his haste to reach her.
Serai enfolded him in her arms and kissed him deeply, tasting the salty human secretions of his skin. She lapped and sucked at the soft skin of his neck, biting gently at the muscle beneath. Groaning with pleasure, she tore at his remaining clothing with her fingers, wanting to feel the soft curves, hard ridges, and flat planes of his body. She delighted in the firm feel of his chest and erect nipples. With unerring instinct, she pinched and twisted them lightly, calling them to life under her nimble fingertips.
Gently, Serai lured him past the waves, until they hovered like spirits above her aquatic domicile. She sensed the silent approval of her sisters as her body responded to the human’s touch. Almost imperceptibly, her pulse quickened and the skin of her abdomen softened as she felt the entrance to her breeding chamber contract and expand in preparation for conception.
Seawater churned and flowed around them, binding their intertwined bodies tightly. He hungered for her in a way that wasn’t human, but almost superhuman.
Like so many rags, his clothes fell to the ocean floor, as she swirled and stroked her fingers over his flesh. His eyes widened as he reached for her breasts, tracing the patterns of her veins with his fingers.
Like delicately wrought silver, her veins glowed with an even, soft light. She gasped as his mouth closed over her aureole, his tongue whirling madly about the sensitive bud. Arching her back, she pushed her breast further into his hungry lips, blindly feeding both of their passions. She felt his fingers slide between her thighs, and shouted with unrestrained pleasure.
At her shout, his fingers unfurled and plunged deftly into her core. He marveled that the silken wetness of her womb was molten heat, while the rest of her body was chilled fruit and cream. The heat of her desire spurned him on, engorging his helplessly aroused member even further. His penis felt like the floodgates, holding back a surging tide of seed.
She spread her legs and clamped them around his back, grinding herself against his smooth shaft, rubbing it exquisitely against her mound. With a mangled growl of impatience, she impaled herself on him, pushing herself down until her chamber encompassed the entire, glorious length of him.
When her neck arched toward the moon he devoured it, sucking and biting the exposed flesh. Tiny luminescent pools of blood formed under his tongue, just beneath her skin. His eyes glazed over with pride, and he bent to pull the same pattern from her breast.
She chuckled at his lust and rocked her hips in an ancient rhythm, caressing his shaft with the muscles of her breeding chamber. She rotated her hips, urging the human to plunge deeper, faster, and harder. She felt his moan of pleasure vibrate her breast and responded to it, murmuring hypnotic tones of seduction to quicken his desire. Groaning softly, she felt the warm rush of fluid between her legs that signaled the end of their copulation.
Grinning madly, he hummed a cheerful tune and abandoned himself to the rhythm of their joining, twirling with her in a watery waltz.
Startled at this human display of sentiment, she fought the urge to claim his seed and pushed herself up and off of him. He should have been entranced, yet he seemed merely enchanted. Wide eyed with wonder, she traced his lips with her fingers.
He returned her stare.
She choked hoarsely on her question, “Why do you sing?”
He smiled and kissed her tenderly. “Love. My first and only Love, my shimmering blue lady of the sea. You sang to my soul, you raised my spirit to the moon. You kindled my love.”
A pearly tear traced its way down Serai’s cheek. “But - I mussst…”
He laughed. Gently, he positioned her above his organ and lowered her body back down, “Yes, you most certainly must.”
She shook her
head, fighting the crippling wave of desire that threatened to send her over the edge, back to the primal necessity that was her legacy. If they created a child, he was lost. Love was lost. She would revert back to her marine form and consume him. His life energy was implicitly necessary for the conception process, and his body would provide sustenance for the fetus during gestation.
She shoved at his arms, but desire sapped her strength, and she could do nothing but cling to him weakly, her arms about his neck. “Please, you mussst… We mussst wait for the sssun.”
He gently treaded water and pressed his forehead to hers in aggravation. “But the sun is only moments away. Look how low the moon is in the sky. See its blushing, coral hue? It will be dawn in a matter of moments.”
She gasped as a sudden wave of pain tore through her abdomen. Wrenching inexorably from his grasp, she quickly sank below the surface, unable to swim through the excruciating cramps blossoming in her breeding chamber.
With a shout, he dove, tangling his fingers in her hair just before she sank into the murky black depths. He struggled to haul her to the surface, but her body was caught in a riptide, and he felt the silky strands slipping through his fingers yet again.
She choked on a mouthful of seawater, and surrendered herself to death. She knew she would drown like this, in human form. Her marine form was forever lost to her without the mating ritual. With sad acceptance, she drifted toward the ocean floor.
Warm bodies surrounded and embraced her. Miserable, they wept over her still form, combing the silvery hair back from her still-human face. They accepted her choice, even as they mourned her passage. Together, her sisters gently lifted her, carrying her to the surface, where they placed her in the arms of her grieving lover.
Wading to shore with Serai in his arms, the young musician wailed his tortured lament to the rising sun. He ached to join her in death, making his torn heart whole again. Swearing he would breathe his last this autumn morn, he bent to kiss her pale, cold lips.
