One Soul To Share (6 page)

Those men had all died for their words and
intentions.

But Nolan’s voice held no hint of ulterior
motive. He believed what he said and simply reveled in her
beauty.

A flush of pride flowed over her. She moved
her hands again, running them over his chest and back, memorizing
each plane and muscular ridge. “You are too,” she whispered.

And he was. She would never have thought it
possible, but this human, or whatever creature he was, was
beautiful… irresistible.

As he leaned down and captured her lips with
his, she suspected she knew how those sailors drawn by mermaids’
songs felt. Caught as if wrapped in a net but filled with joy that
the net had chosen her to ensnare.

o0o

Nolan’s heart beat so fast he could for that
moment almost believe he was still alive. Sarina’s magic was that
real, her touch that intoxicating. Being with her made him forget
what he’d become, forget everything but the thrill of being with
another being, touched… accepted.

He ran his hands, the palms flat, down her
shoulders and arms. The gauzy material of her shirt clung to her
skin. He could see through it, see her dark nipples as they rose
and fell with each of her breaths, and see the outline of her waist
giving way to the curve of her hips.

He bit his lip and tasted his own blood,
closed his eyes for a second and listened to the beat of his
heart.

Then he listened to hers. Steady and sure,
alluring.

Sarina’s tongue moved over his lip, licking
up the bit of blood his fang had drawn. He froze, wondering if she
would solve the puzzle—realize what he was, then run, repulsed.

But she only moved closer, her arms winding
around his waist and pulling him so tight against her, he found
himself matching his breaths to hers. She licked his lip again. Her
tongue dragged across his fang. She inhaled sharply, surprised, and
he stiffened, again prepared for rejection, but she only murmured
something under her breath and continued to kiss him.

Her tongue’s contact with his fang had left a
mark though. Blood, hers, sweet and almost… fizzy… flavored her
kiss.

His body tightened; his mind tightened. The
world changed, became sharper and more alive.

“Vampire,” she murmured. “I thought you were
myths.”

“Monsters,” he replied, his world turning
dark. Resolved, he closed his eyes again, this time to shut the
image of her reaction out of his view.

She laughed, a strange sound that made him
open his eyes. Hers, clear and green, stared back at him. “Fangs
don’t make a monster; actions do.” Then she wove her fingers into
his hair and pulled his mouth to hers.

Her kiss was strong and sweet. As if the
knowledge that he was a vampire encouraged and empowered her. Her
hands moved to his pants. She undid the snap and shoved the wet
material aside.

“I’ve never been with a human. Never mated as
one,” she said, her voice soft as if confessing. “Mermaids don’t do
that, not lightly.”

He understood then. She was telling him this…
what they were about to do… was no small act for her.

But it wasn’t for Nolan either.

He stepped out of his pants and pulled her
against his naked form. “What I am doesn’t bother you?” He needed
to hear the words.

She laughed again and tossed her hair away
from her face. “Does what I am bother you?”

It was a ridiculous question, but then so was
their situation—a vampire and a mermaid, two creatures most of the
world didn’t believe existed, making love in the sea hag’s
realm.

“No,” he replied; then he slipped his thigh
between hers and lowered his mouth to her throat.

His fangs pierced her skin, clean and sudden.
Her body jerked, and her fingers dug into his arms. She moaned and
arched her back, pushing her sex more tightly against his
thigh.

Her blood flowed slow and thick, almost as
thick as his own. Sweet and effervescent, like dense, sparkling
wine.

She leaned back against the railing, and he
lifted her up so her buttocks perched on the polished metal. She
opened her thighs, and he stepped between them, his mouth never
leaving her neck.

He moved his hands down and lifted her shirt,
baring her breasts to the night air. They were full and heavy. His
sex hardened, and he knew he couldn’t wait any longer.

He pulled his fangs from her throat, lapping
at the wound to close it before leaning back to catch her gaze with
his. “Are you—”

She leaned forward, shifting her weight from
the railing to his waist. Her arms on his shoulders, she stared
down at him and started to sing.

This song was different from the one she’d
sung before, sad but also happy. As if she mourned something that
had gone on before while rejoicing in the changes that loss had
brought.

And suddenly, he was happy too. He was a
vampire, and he’d lost his family because of it, but he had found
Sarina, a creature he would never have believed existed.

Her lips touched his, and he opened his mouth
for her. Her breasts slid over his chest and her legs down his
back. She wrapped around him, clinging to him as if she would never
let go.

He clung to her too. His hands under her
buttocks, he lowered her more, until his erection pressed against
her sex, and his heart almost leapt from his chest.

Her song slowed and died. There was no sound
at all except the beat of their hearts and the water lapping
against the hull.

Nolan stepped forward, and Sarina pressed
down. They were one, moving together and blocking out everything
else around them.

o0o

Sarina moved up and down, her legs squeezing
Nolan’s waist and her hands clutching at his shoulders. Her body
tightened, and her breasts tingled. She wanted to arch her back and
scream, wanted to sing in a voice that would reach the seven seas
and more. Knew if she opened her mouth, she would. She couldn’t
help it, couldn’t stop the song that was building, threatening to
erupt.

Her body tightened more, and her world began
to swirl, as if she were caught in a whirlpool, moving, losing
control. She gripped Nolan tighter. Beneath her, he thrust harder
and deeper, faster and stronger.

The whirlpool’s pace quickened. She spun and
spun, until she lost control, until the song flew from her throat,
and her world whirled around in a flash of lights and smells, and
sensations of freedom and warmth made her smile and sing and then
sing some more.

Sarina’s song wrapped around Nolan, lifting
him up even as his body collapsed, exhausted, against hers.

His eyes closed, he titled back his head and
let the notes fall over him like a warm rain.

He had never felt more content, or more sure
of his place and the person he was with. He was, for the first
time, whole.

Water lapped against the side of the boat, at
first so softly Nolan barely noticed the sound, but then, as
Sarina’s song continued, it wasn’t just a noise but a movement too.
The yacht tilted side to side as if swaying in pace with the
mermaid’s voice.

Nolan opened his eyes and looked out over her
shoulder and onto the sea. Except there was no sign of the sea, no
sign of the water. The space around the yacht was packed shoulder
to shoulder with strange, horse-shaped creatures he’d never seen
before.

“Sarina…” he murmured, afraid to speak louder
for fear of startling the beasts and starting a stampede or other
mass movement that might end in the boat and its occupants being
tossed about or crushed.

Slowly, Sarina’s song died, and with an
expression of complete peace on her face, she shifted her gaze from
the sky to Nolan. Then she looked behind him and froze.

“Kelpies,” she muttered. All color drained
from her face until her lips looked aqua against her skin. “The sea
hag, it seems, has sent us an escort.”

She looked back at Nolan. Her hand moved to
his chest, regret clear in her eyes.

For their lost moment of privacy? Nolan
regretted that too, but the kelpies arrival, if they were, as
Sarina guessed, sent by the sea hag, had to be good news.

The creatures, all horse-shaped, showed no
sign of aggression. They varied in size from that of a miniature
horse, no bigger than a good-sized dog, to a massive Percheron.
Their color varied widely too, from black to pale green and even a
few that seemed translucent.

As Nolan stared at them, they sank into the
ocean like alligators, with just their ears, eyes, and nostrils
above water.

Somehow, this made them seem even more
intimidating. The kelpies surrounded them from all sides. He placed
an arm in front of Sarina to push her behind him, before realizing
the worthlessness of such a move. As a fellow creature of the sea,
chances were good the mermaid would be far more equipped to deal
with the animals than a once-human vampire.

Still, he placed a hand on her waist and his
gaze on as many of the creatures as he could keep in sight, then
asked, “Are they a threat?”

Sarina hesitated. “They can be, but I don’t
think they are. At least not yet.”

As she finished the sentence, the boat began
to shift in short, jerky movements.

The water horses, it seemed, were now
directing their travel. The kelpies rose and sank in the water as
they swam. A few closest to the yacht blew air from their noses in
loud, watery snorts.

“So, our journey is almost over.” Nolan
glanced at the mermaid.

She pulled her shirt closed over her breasts
and stepped to the side, toward the yacht’s railing and away from
Nolan’s touch.

His hand fell back to his side, and his
spirits dropped along with it.

A night breeze blew over him, reminding him
he was naked… and cold. He’d been cold since his turn. He’d
forgotten what it was like to be warm until he’d tasted Sarina’s
blood and held her in his arms.

He didn’t move to follow her and didn’t call
out for her to come back to him. He just stood watching as she
clasped the vial in her hand and stared out over the ever-shifting
bodies of the kelpies.

He was cold, and this time, he feared it was
for good.

o0o

The kelpies’ arrival had brought Sarina back
to reality—shattered the dream she’d allowed to form around her
like delicate glass.

Melusine had accepted her offer. The kelpies’
calm escort assured Sarina of that. If the sea hag had rejected
Nolan or, worse, been angered by him, the kelpies would have
attacked, climbed onto the deck of the boat like fleas scrambling
onto a leaf until they sank the yacht and took Nolan and Sarina
with it.

And sank they would have. Sarina could hold
her own with one kelpie, maybe two, but thousands? No single
creature aside from Melusine herself would stand a chance against
that.

The boat moved side to side now, the rhythm
peaceful and lulling, but Sarina was anything but relaxed. With
each sway, she knew they moved closer to Melusine and the
conclusion of her deal.

She should be happy. Soon she would have what
she’d been searching and fighting for, for over one hundred
years.

Her fingers wrapped around her vial, she
closed her eyes and tried to focus on why she was here, tried to
picture her sister’s face, calm and sweet, intelligent and
knowing—just as it had been before the pirates ripped her soul from
around her neck.

“Sarina?”

She opened her eyes to find Nolan standing a
few feet away, dressed now and with a look of such complete care
and concern on his face she wanted to throw herself over the side
of the yacht and hide at the bottom of the sea.

But it was too late for that.

He held up one hand.

Moving toward them, carried on the backs of
two of the most massive kelpies Sarina had ever encountered, was a
giant shell. Seated inside was Melusine.

o0o

The woman lounging in what appeared to be a
giant oyster shell was exotic and beautiful. Perhaps, aside from
Sarina, the most beautiful woman Nolan had ever seen. Moss-green
hair flowed down her back and over her body, covering all but her
bare arms. On her wrists, fingers, and around her neck were loops
of pearls, and a crown of coral perched on her head.

She waved delicate fingers at the kelpies,
directing them closer to the yacht, but her focus was on Nolan. He
could feel her attention like twin beams of light burning into
him.

He stood straight, meeting her gaze and
resisting the urge to reach for Sarina’s hand, to assure the
mermaid and himself that what had passed between them before the
kelpies’ arrival was real. Their duty to each other was about to
end, but their future had, he hoped, just begun.

As Melusine drew closer, her attention became
almost unbearable. Nolan wanted to turn from her, grab Sarina, and
leave, but he couldn’t.

The sea hag had a soul, a soul Nolan needed
to be human again, and the vampire had planned to get it, anyway he
could.

But that was before he’d met Sarina. With her
acceptance, his family’s didn’t seem as important.

Still, though, he’d come too far, risked too
much to leave as he’d come. His gaze locked on the sea hag’s, he
stood straight and confident.

Melusine smiled, and a predatory, possessive
glint appeared in her eyes. She stood, or prepared to, using her
arms to help her rise, as if her legs were incapable of holding her
weight. Her hair fell back, and her lower body, that of a snake,
was revealed.

Beside him, Sarina touched his arm, warning
him not to react, and Nolan didn’t. He held his smile and his
stance.

And waited for the half-snake beauty to come
aboard so the bargaining could begin.

o0o

Melusine slithered forward, her massive tail
moving up and down while her human upper body stayed level and
still. If Sarina hadn’t known the sea hag’s secret before and not
seen the snake half for herself now, she wouldn’t have guessed that
the exiled female was anything except human. Of course, sailors
said the same of mermaids.