Selkie

 

Dark eyes watched me from across the wooden table. He smirked, as though I had said something funny when I hadn’t said anything at all. Food sat on the plate before him, which he pulled apart with teeth and fingers, chewing on the fowl before swallowing it down with weak beer. 

In the kitchen, his wife stood, hands working clumsily at preparing a plate. Her hair was a warm brown bound in a sloppy braid. Faint white marks on her skin whispered of her life at sea, and though their cottage rested a few feet from the shore, I wondered that he did not have the same markings. 

“So, where are you from? You look from away.”

“I am,” I replied and sipped the beer. Maybe it was mead. It was certainly foul. 

He smiled at the faint look of displeasure on my face. “Forgive me. I am a farmer, unskilled in brewing. But I am learning.”

I nodded and looked back at him. “Well, thank you for the meal and drink. It’s kind of you.”

The farmer nodded. “We are happy to host you after your help with our neighbors. Poor fools. Glad you killed that monster though.”

I tilted my head, brows furrowed for a moment before saying nothing. Instead, I took another drink of the beer and swallowed it down. 

“What was it, anyway? Ghosts? Demons?”

“Somewhat. Cursed people, long since dead.”

“Must’ve been one hell of a fight.”

I thought of the cephalopod captain’s wiggling face between my thighs and shrugged. “It was certainly memorable. Were they bothered by the pirate ship long?”

“They were a trade port. You gave them hope again. I used to live there until the ship came. Left, started a farm. Married.”

He grinned and pulled his wife to him as she approached and refilled our drinks. His hand caught her wrist, then wrapped around her hip. She made a small noise of irritation but didn’t fight him. 

“Now to have sons.”

I blinked and stared at him, taking another long drink. The cup thudded on the table, empty. 

“I have to get another drink,” she whispered to him and pulled away. 

“Thank you,” I said softly. Her eyes caught mine and she grimaced, nearly dropping the pitcher. I caught it, pressing it back into her hand. 

“Easy,” I murmured. My eyes pulled away from her to her husband, who watched the two of us with a spark of interest in his eyes. 

“You like women, then?”

“I’m not particular,” I replied and shifted to look back at him. “But,” I paused. “I do like to be a little rough.”

His grin spread. “Me too.”

“I bet.”

I stood and took another drink of the beer before pulling a length of rope from my bag. He smirked as I moved around the table, fingers trailing over his shoulder as I moved behind him. “This will be a night you remember forever,” I whispered to his ear as I snaked the length of rope around his neck.

“Will it?” he half purred, rough fingers touching the rope as he tilted his head to look up at me, breath reeking of his shitty alcohol. 

“Oh yes,” I murmured. “You’ll beg me to stop.” 

The rope tightened and I pulled, jerking him to his knees on the wooden floor. A wild expression of lust and a hint of danger sparked in his eyes as I looked down at him. “That’s better.”

In a flash he stood, tall and broad, every bit good farm stock. Hands moved to my hips, lifting me to his body. I wrapped my legs around his hips as his mouth explored my neck, bits of chicken and the wetness of booze in his beard. 

We tumbled onto the bed, his hulking body atop me. He released my hips, grinding against me while trying to unfasten the belt about his waist. I tightened my legs around his thighs and pushed myself up, flipping the two of us so I was above him.

“Well, aren’t you feisty?” His hand paused, moving to slap my backside.

I tilted my head and leaned down, grabbing his hand and looping the rope around his wrist. With a quick tug, it became taught. I looped his other wrist as he chuckled, play fighting against me. Within a few moments, I had secured his upper limbs. A final tug had his hands above his head, tied to the headboard of his roughly made bed.

My eyes found his and I grinned. I looked up at his wife who stood staring, mouth ajar slightly. Her hands still held the pitcher, eyes unblinking. “It’s okay,” I finally said to her. “I need you to grab the rope from my bag. Bring it here.”

Beneath me, he bucked and laughed. “She’s a shy one, won’t get involved.”

I covered his mouth with my hand but didn’t look away from her. “He won’t touch you again. I promise. Bring me a rope.”

The tone of my voice finally hit home and she dropped the pitcher, letting it shatter on the ground. With aaa weird grace she knelt down, finding the rope and bringing it to me. I nodded. “Good. Geet up here. Straddle him while I tie him up.”

She climbed onto the bed, replacing me as I slid off and grabbed his ankle, sliding the rope about it and knotting. He ground beneath her, jeering up at her. “Yeah, you like? Seeing me tied up?”

I nodded at her when she looked at me in panic. Finally, she turned back, looking down at him, feeling his hardness beneath her and she slapped him. I snorted back a laugh as I gathered his other foot and pulled tight.

“Yeah. That’s a good girl,” he laughed. The woman slapped him again, loud and hard. This time he made a sound of discomfort.

My boots touched the ground as I moved to the end of the bed and tied the rope securely. She was atop him, anger and revenge, brown eyes large and filled with rage. Her fingers looped into the sheath in his boot, pulling out a long hunting knife.

I paused, standing slowly as I looked at her. “He’s helpless,” I said softly. “Is this what you want to do?”

“He-” she paused, looking down at him before up at me. “He took-”

“I know,” I said gently. “If you want his life you can have it, but that will stay with you forever. It’s your decision.”

She inhaled and then shook her head, dropping the knife. I grabbed it from the bed, tucking it into my boot. He yelled as she clambered off of him, every word for a woman a man should never say. 

“Who are you?” she asked, her musical voice soft and warm.

“A friend?” I asked, leaning down to pull the keys from his loosened belt. I barely noticed the swear words he threw at me. 

At the end of the bed sat an old hope chest, locked by iron. Cold iron. I narrowed my eyes and knelt down before it, sliding the key into the box. With an audible click, it sprung open. The smell of dust and something feral touched the air as I opened the lid.

Within old blankets and prized silver sat. Piles of old journals, one sword, and forgotten seeds from a crop still valued lined the trunk. An aged family book of spirits had tipped over, pages rotting. Yet on the top, folded sloppily, sat the most beautiful sealskin I had ever seen. 

It was soft, strangely silky, as I pulled it from the chest and stood. It reached the length of the floor, brown and dappled. As I turned to look at her, the woman froze, hands mid-air, suddenly unsure what to do. 

“I think this is yours,” I said as I offered it to her. 

The brown eyes searched mine. “You… you’re giving it back?”

“Of course. It’s yours.” 

She took it with hesitancy. I let the lid of the chest close before I nodded. “It’s time to go.” My fingers grabbed my bag from the ground as we walked out of the home, closing the wooden door behind us.

“What… what now?” 

I shrugged. “You should probably put your skin on and head back to the water, don’t you think?”

The selkie looked at me in the moonlight, freckled skin beautiful. Slowly, a hopeful smile broke out over her pink lips and I smiled as I watched her turn, walking to the water’s edge to let the waves gently caress her feet.

I followed, setting my bag on the rocks nearby, before sitting beside it and watching her feel the moon on her skin and the ocean waiting for her. Her smile was bright and broad, the smile of someone returning home. 

After long moments of breathing in her world, she turned, smiling at me. “Come with me. Come into the water.” The woman approached, hands taking mine, her seal skin on the shore. 

A small smile touched my lips. “You don’t need to worry about me. I’m fine. Just go. I’ll deal with him.” I nodded towards the house where the screaming was still coming from.

Her hands touched my face, cool and soothing before her lips brushed mine. “Can I?” she asked, a strange playfulness in her eyes that replaced the frightened clumsy woman I had seen in the house. 

I touched her face. “Are you sure? You’re barely free of him.”

Soft lips touched my own in excitement and eagerness. Her arms wrapped around my shoulders, leaning against me to fill the space between us. I breathed in her scent of wild and the sea as our kiss deepened, pulling me into her with each passing moment. My thumb brushed her cheek before sliding around behind her neck to more fully taste her.

The kiss lingered, turning into soft moans as tongues danced and lips parted to one another. Gone was the shy woman I had seen inside. Instead, she was hungered and vivacious, her lips trailing away from mine to my jaw and neck, faintly sharp teeth biting the flesh and pulling moans from my mouth. I held to her shoulders, letting her explore my ear lobe before coming back to my mouth.

Fingers tugged at my clothes, pulling them softly but insistently. Buttons popped on the shirt as she made quick work, awkwardness returning while dealing with human clothing. I shuddered as my shirt was finally removed, moonlight playing over the exposed flesh. For a moment she paused, taking me in with her eyes before her mouth lowered to my breast.

Pointed teeth teased and bit into the erect nipples, one after the other, as fingers pinched and taunted. Kisses and a lapping tongue played over the delicate skin, awakening my skin with each caress. I shuddered and whimpered beneath her skilled mouth and hands, gasping softly as those cool digits slid lower and pulled off the pants I wore, pausing only to tug my bots off and discard them to the ground.

A hand awaited me, asking for me to join as she grinned, white teeth brilliant in the moon’s glow. I reached for her, taking her hand as she pulled me to the water’s edge, her own clothing falling off as a second skin to reveal the beauty beneath. Our feet touched the water and she kept going, pulling me deeper with her as the water caressed our naked bodies.

Lips found each other once more, water keeping us afloat as she embraced me, pulling me into her mouth until time seemed imperceptible. One hand slid over my hip and then downward, stroking the slit of exposed skin and sending a shudder through me. Fingers slid inside, thumb gently teasing the nub of flesh as she probed and explored.

“It’s been so long,” she whispered before her head disappeared beneath the water and her hand slipped out of me. I turned, treading water and seeing nothing but the moon reflecting off of the cool waves. 

A gasp escaped my lips as something bumped against me, cool and fast. I turned again only to see a shadow on the surface of the sea, great eyes looking at me. They blinked and then her nose raised out of the water showing me her sweet seal face. 

I smiled and moved towards her, only to have her disappear beneath the water’s surface. A rounded face brushed my thigh and then buried its muzzle between my legs. I cried out at the sudden pleasure that moved through me, hands holding to the seal’s slick surface as she pushed me through the water, sharp teeth nipping my inner thigh as her mouth sucked and licked at my opening. 

Moans of pleasure were silenced as she pulled me under, leaving me floating in the darkness before she slid around me, mouth finding my wetness again. I wrapped my arms around her body, holding myself to her as my hand slid to the end of her, finding her own slit and pressing my fingers inside.

The seal made a whining sound and shuddered against me, matching my own high-pitched cries as I moved from three fingers to sliding my hand in, and then a fish. My arm worked furiously, bubbles escaping my mouth as I cried out with the feel of her tongue sliding deep into me. 

Our bodies writhed in the water, undulating together with each passing moment. My lungs burned but were barely noticeable beyond the mounting pressure that built inside of me, stealing my breath and senses as we floated eternally together.

My body shuddered, pausing for but a moment as the pressure became too much. I cried out, bubbles floating from my mouth as I released, trembling against her while she joined my cries, body trembling and shaking as my hand worked her, diving deeper and harder until she quaked.

We drifted but for a moment, both of us lost in the senses we had given the other. Finally, I kicked to the surface, gasping for air as I broke from the blue depths. My hands moved through the water, feeling her brush against me now and then before she surfaced, her head bobbing beside me.

Soft groaning noises escaped her as I stroked her head, petting the beautiful creature. “You’re free.”

Behind us, the sound of the door slamming open echoed over the water. I nodded at her, a simple gesture. She paused, torn between staying and fleeing before she disappeared beneath the surface. 

I turned, silently moving my way towards the shore to right a wrong too long ignored.

Color out of Space

 

The sun loomed on the horizon, painting the sky with crimson strokes as it set. All around an eerie silence waited, profound for its lack of natural sound. No crickets chirped, nor owls hoot, nor frogs croak in the threatening arrival of nightfall. Darkness spilled out of the woods, lingering in long elegant strokes across the grey grass and fields.

No color lived here. The Blasted Heath sat, a silent witness to times that come and gone. Still, none wandered here, no one visited now that the memories of what it was were long since decayed. Yet despite the lack of humanity, the wilderness did not spring up to reclaim the wooden house and its stone well.

Overhead birds soared, then cut a sudden path South, away from the barren land. I stood on the edge of its reach, nearly half a mile away from the home itself. Nearby the trees on its perimeter had grown grey and brittle, leaves dried and fallen to the ash-colored grown. Strange enigmatic colors shifted in the branches, glimmering now and then as I watched them. 

Winding up the trees and marbling their fruit were bands of a color I could not describe. It pulled on my mind, sucking me into them, a crescendo off music without sound that pushed upon the senses and whispered of hunger. The impulse to reach up and touch the fruit, caress its estranged flesh and suck the strange juice from its pierced flesh pulsed inside me.

I shuddered and looked away. So it was in the Blasted Heath, as it had been in the strange days long forgotten. My eyes wandered the home, over the decrepit barn, and finally to the well that stood in the middle of it all. Trepeddation sunk into my stomach as I dared to take one step forward.

The grass crumbled beneath my feet, turning to the same strange dust that everything seemed composed of. I look at the well, caught by a hint of something on the wind I couldn’t place. Its bricks were scattered about, loose and forgotten. A pail sat decaying on the rough ground, discarded from its home within.

Stars flickered to life above, seemingly blazing compared to the hollow eeriness of where I stood. The crimson streaks of light began to fade to twilight blue and vanish as the sun dipped below the horizon.

Time had moved imperceptibly and as I turned to look at where the sun had been. I pulled in a breath realizing an hour had passed as I had stared at the well and now night had arrived, sparkling to life in the sky but leaving me alone in the dark. 

My eyes glanced towards the house, then back to the well, finally seeing the strange amorphous glow that hovered above its opening. All around me the grass withered further, yet shimmered with the unearthly colors I had only heard described. Even the dying trees with their overladen fruit emitted the eerie shimmer.

I took another step forward as early night faded to deep, all hints of sunlight vanishing to only leave behind the peculiar light and the darkness of the world. The house remained untouched by the glow and so I approached it first, seeing its shape by the glow of the well upon its other side.

The door creaked under hand and I froze, as though the glow itself could hear and feel the same way I would. When it did not change, I breathed, and stepped inside, glancing behind me as I moved. The grass and trees swayed, as though there was a wind, and yet nothing moved or stirred in the clearing.

Brows knit, I closed the door behind me and looked about the decrepit space. An old couch, mouse eaten and destroyed, sat in the room. On the ground rested a pile of dark matter I could not identity, the remnants of a tablecloth cast over the top of it. Yet somehow I knew, even in that darkness, that what lay there had once been human.

The wooden floors creaked as I stepped around the remains, keeping my eyes from the shattered and collapsed, caving in on itself in estranged ways I had never seen. There was no featured face to call a human, but its angular arms and legs, the way it promised suffering, I knew.

At the table, nothing remained. The chairs were scattered and forgotten. Someone had run away, or several had. Even as I glanced around to notice the path of fleeing, I saw the wooden railing, coated in the strange dust, and grimaced. Something in me stopped, a memory of elsewhere flickering in my mind, the quiet determination of rural hands.

As I climbed the stairs, the wood around me began to glow as eerily as it had outside. Shadows flickered but nothing moved. I found myself staring out the window of the attack, fingers playing with keys as I watched the well. My body trembled, the familiar haunting of having lost time shook me to the core. 

“You want me to watch you,” I said softly, touching the window pane with shaken hands. I could my body ache, like I had been standing for hours. My breath felt shallow and slow, my mind scattered. I blinked, turning away from the window, and stepped towards the door. 

The key slid inside with a strange ease and I felt like I had done this before. Yet as the key turned and the door unlatched, I felt a chill go through me. Within something starred at me, body molded and broken, its indents the shape of the wooden railing below. It cried out, screeching at me in an estranged vocal range I had never heard.

My body shuddered and I fell backward as it neared, darkness and shadows unable to contain the eerie and frightful glow that came from within it. I screamed with it, feeling my mind wrap around it only to fall apart again as it dared to comprehend what I saw. 

Outside, the glow from the well intensified. I stood at the window in the attic, staring out at it, fingers playing with the keys. I blinked, turning to look behind me, staring at the door that was locked. Long moments passed as the door and I watched each other, my mind turning over the feel of the key in the lock and yet rejecting the idea. 

I didn’t even know where the keys had come from. 

An angry force inside me threw the keys against the door, leaving them in a puddle at the bottom. I remembered briefly finding them there, sliding one into the door. A sickness rose in my gut as I turned and stumbled down the stairs, pausing at the landing to see the beams and rafters glow deeply, emanating the color from within the well all around me.

Whatever lived in the well had infested this place, pulling life from it in every way it could. I reached out, touching the beam, only to feel it crumble and sink beneath my caress. Grey ash fell onto my hands before I steppe beneath and into the kitchen once more. 

Rather than stop and hesitate, I moved forward and opened the front door. The light shimmered from within the well, dancing with tiny particles, as though a million stars had descended to form in its unearthly color. 

My feet stopped moving as I stood there, wide eyed. The earth vibrated as it shimmered and moved in the air, becoming wider and larger with each passing moment. I could feel the frenzied panic of things that had once lived here, of things whose bodies had decayed yet lived. 

I stood suddenly at the edge of the well, looking upward. My body pulled in deep breaths as I prepared for bravery I wasn’t sure I had. I questioned my own mind, asking myself what we were doing, what was happening. A shivering fear was my only response as my hands touched the bricks that made up the well. 

Above me, the entity twinkled, lingering in the sky as it expanded. Tears slid down my cheeks as I stared up at it, knowing I had not truly seen what it was that lingered in this blasted land. My fingers tightened and I sucked in one last breath before I closed my eyes and then turned my head to peer into the well.

I paused and then peened my eyes to the well below. Brilliance and eternity waited, gleaming outside and within me. My feet lifted as I fell into the blinding darkness, surrounded by colors I could never have imagined. 

There was no water, nor pain, as I felt and yet never found a bottom. The color held me, pulsing against my skin and encompassing me in its being. I felt my body ache and decay, graying out as the grass and fruit had, the essence of the being eroding my skin with each moment that passed.

A cry escaped my lips as it pushed inside of me, entering without an opening, and slid into my being. Pressure and ecstasy pulsed throughout me, filling my mind with the knowledge of thousands of worlds, a million lives, all culminating in a moment of joyous creation. The entity spoke in words that had no meaning, dancing in colors that were not real, as my mind absorbed it all and fell apart.

I was drowning without there being water. It ripped apart every thought and identity I had ever had, passing a thousand years through my body in the blink of an eye. I was destroyed, unbecoming, dust in the wind before I was rebuilt and remembered, body trembling and fresh and new.

My new fingers wiggled, touching nothing and everything at once. I felt light pulse within me, casting the strange earth in shades of its unnatural color as my feet touched the land once more. Life hummed in my body, a new understanding of living born in my mouth as I spoke words I knew nad yet never would speak again, so unknowable they were.

Collapsing, I fell to the ground, back on its moist grass, now green and verdant as I peered upward at the sky. There was nothing but stars and darkness, all the strange and queer entity was held within me. And yet I was too small, too tiny to encompass its being. It pushed at every space I occupied, willing it to go beyond.

The skin did not bend and a burning pain shot through my body that pulled a moan of rapture from my lips. I quaked, shuddering and rocking against the exquisite light that began to pour from my pores, shifting out of my and erupting into the sky far above.

All around me color and life returned, my body a vessel for what had been taken, slowly leaking out that life into the world where I no longer needed it. The entity hovered above me, its profound mind releasing my own, leaving behind just a hint of a star that twinkled in my eyes.

As dawn threatened the horizon, the color from space shifted and blinked, disappearing into the sky far above and fading from this world. I lay on the ground, gasping for air, body unreal and yet too real, a humanoid prison I was suddenly acutely aware of.

I stood, looking around me at the renewed land, eyes shimmering with a new color that never had belonged to this place.

Ghost Ship

 

Cold water sent shock waves through me as the rain pelted down, the storm rocking the great ship from side to side. The moon hid behind the thundering clouds, casting us in total darkness save the flash of lightning hitting the ocean’s surface. People scurried about the deck, yelling as they worked to right the ship that leaned dangerously close to the water.

I pulled on rope, securing myself as we lurched. The captain stood at the helm, the wheel turned and creaking beneath her hand. I watched the light catch in her ebony hair as she frowned, squinting in the dark to the North. Shouts went out, hands raised to point as the storm suddenly stilled and left behind a ship in its wake.

The ship sat, silent as a shadow, barely illuminated in the night. Its black flag whipped in the wind. We stood, transfixed, as the moon slid from behind a cloud long enough to show us the empty vessel that simply loomed. The captain’s voice rang out, calling everyone to battle, yet her siren’s song was barely heard above the thunder of cannons.

I stumbled as the ship quaked, wood spraying from holes in her hull. The sailors fell, grabbing onto the railing and rope where they could. Darkness returned, leaving us moored without bearing. People began to move in an instant, shouting directions as they prepared their canons. Yet the lightning flashed and the ship was nowhere to be seen.

“Steady!” The captain’s voice met the thunder and managed not to be dominated. Flames hovered in the night, prepared to ignite cannons and wake them to life. Time slowed. I stood, stepping back away from the mast to stand beside the helm, glancing at her.

“What is it?” I finally dared to ask.

Her eyes narrowed. “Death.”

Rope wrapped around her waist from the darkness. Our eyes made contact long enough for me to see the fear in her eyes before the rope went taught and she disappeared soundlessly into the night. 

The crew turned, looking up in unison as the ship suddenly came into view on the starboard side, opposite where it had been a moment ago. Cries escaped them as the cannons fired again, shattering the ship’s hull. We lurched again, the boat beginning to fall into the sea.

Shadows on ropes slid through the dark, landing on the deck with heavy thuds. The moon hid herself, casting the sailors into pitch, save their torches. I grabbed the wheel, holding it steady as I watched the torches blink out one by one as the clash of steel hit the air. 

Mist sprayed my face, waves pulling at the boat. I muttered under my breath what little I knew of ships, the wood creaking from the pressure beneath my hands. Below, one by one, the shouts became silent and the lights were swallowed by the night, until the ship rocked soundlessly forward, rain beginning to fall from the sky again.

My heart pounded as I stared at the darkness below, lightning blinking in the sky to reveal strewn bodies and nothing else. Beside the ship was the assailant, silent and deadly, gliding perfectly unmanned in the water. Her black flag haunted my mind as I heard heavy footfalls on the wooden deck near me. 

“Captain.” 

The voice rolled out of the darkness, slithering with a wet sound that brought goosebumps to my flesh. I sucked in a breath, staring into the dark where the voice had come from.

“The sea welcomes you to her depths and claims The Night’s Sun as her own.” His footfalls stopped a few feet away from me. My eyes saw nothing save inky blackness, hidden by the clouded sky. 

I swallow. “I’m not the captain. She…” I trailed off, looking into the darkness where she had vanished, the first taken. 

“Of course. But as the only remaining crew…” his wet voice trailed off. I heard something slimy and slippery move before more footsteps grew new. My head turned when something brushed my shoulder, its flesh cold and wet. 

“Not crew, either. Just… paying for passage,” I murmured. 

“Where to then?”

Something lifted my hair, smelling it, as I felt the sudden closeness of the dark. The ship lurched on a great wave and I stumbled, knocking into great wet bodies that smell of the sea. Something rubbery caressed my shoulder as I pulled away, grabbing the railing instead. 

“To here,” I replied, slowly standing. There would never be a world in which I had sea legs, no matter how long-lived I was.

“How so?” he asked. 

Hands caressed arms, touching the vest I wore over the dress that hung on my body. I turned my head and saw nothing. A thick, wet substance dripped onto my shoulder and slid down my chest. 

“I’ve heard of your curse. I’ve come to break it.”

A spill of laughter came from around me, husky voices mingling with wet sounds. I looked into the dark, expecting to see anything but still, the moon hid her pirates.

“And how do you plan to do that?”

The wheel steered itself as the heavy boots echoed on the wood. I followed the sound, knowing he was walking around me. As he neared, thee touching stopped. 

“To show you love. To not flinch. To look upon you with desire.”

People shifted around me, some chuckling, some tensed, whispering hope. The captain paused in his walking. Thick powerful fingers touched my cheek. “No such person exists. We are cursed to be forever alone, and thus, forever haunting.”

I turned my head towards his hand, leaning into the touch. “And yet, here I am. No one deserves to live as you do.”

He took another step closer as the moon breached the clouds, cascading over the deck. They were everywhere, monstrous creatures of the sea, all tentacles and barnacles and fish featured. The sea had claimed them. 

Their captain was but a few inches from me, tentacled face grim and handsome. His hand was against my face, fingers wrapping around my jaw to hold me there, make me see him. Along hiss flesh salt stains and clams rested, opening and closing in the air, somehow not dying. Coral sprouted from a shoulder, coming through the ancient leather of his coat. His skin crawled with sea life, worms, and slender eels that slid in and out of the coral.

He waited, once grey eyes watching my face, waiting for me to gasp. I stood still, watching him watching me. Beside me, two sea folk stood, bodies as transformed as their captain’s. Their hands touched my low back and shoulders, the threat of holding me there present. 

The moonlight played over the pirates, all of them staring up at me from the deck. I inhaled a breath full of sea air and took a step forward, closing the distance between the captain and me. My hand went up, caressing his cheek where tentacles sprouted. One wrapped around my wrist, suckers pulling at the skin. 

“Still don’t believe me?” I leaned forward, inches from his face. “Kiss me?”

He hesitated, the bravery and hints of courage gone from his eyes. I raised a brow and tilted my head. With a look of curiosity, the captain bent his head to meet my lips, tentacles wrapping around my throat and head to bring our flesh together.

The rubbery mouth met mine, long tongue sliding into my mouth with sudden eagerness as I moaned. Arms pulled me close, pressing me against his body as the kiss evolved. Tentacles engulfed my face and slid down, entwining in my hair. I barely heard the shouts of surprise and delight around us as he moaned against me, my hands sliding over his chest. 

He pulled back, releasing me before turning and pressing me against the railing. With an audible thud, he fell to his knees, hands moving up my legs to raise my dress to my hips. I leaned back on the rail as his tentacles slid up my thigh, leaving wet trails as they went. My moan cut the sound of rain and waves as he reached my core, slippery appendages sliding over my sensitive skin before plunging within me.

Around us, his sailors watched, transfixed as my nails dug into the wood and cries of pleasure left my lips. My hips bucked against their captain’s face as he filled me, exploring every crevice I had and still managing to plunge deeper. I shuddered, clinging to the railing as though I would plunge into the sea below. 

A sailor approached their eyes the color of the ocean, with flecks of red and gold within. Their body was stripped as a lionfish, long trails of fins following behind them. Their eyes looked to my face to the strings of my dress, longing in their gaze. 

I nodded and leaned towards them, finding their lips with mine. Our kiss was wild and tinged with the venom of their species. I moaned into their mouth, whimpering as tentacles coiled inside me, pressing against a spot of divine pleasure. Their hands touched my face and throat, trailing down to the fabric below.

With agonizing and teasing slowness they pulled on the string, letting the top of the dress fall open and expose my breasts to the midnight moon. Stinging hands grabbed, pinching and groping with sudden need and excitement. I whimpered, shuddering against them as pressure built within me, swallowing me in its enormity. 

The captain shifted, holding my hips up with his powerful hands as I bucked, crying wildly into the mouth of the lionfish pirate. Another pair of hands slid up my stomach, gently taking my hand to their thighs. My fingers slid against them and up inside, feeling their slick wetness as I pushed deeper.

My body quaked and my captain pulled back, tentacles wiggling as a knowing grin touched his features. I slid to my knees before him, wind catching my hair. My fingers worked at his old trousers, pulling them open to reveal his engorged length, covered in little suckers as his own tentacles. 

Without hesitating I swallowed him, plunging his length to the back of my throat and deeper. He groaned, fingers finding my hair as he began to pump into my wanton mouth. Behind me, one of his sailors kneeled, pushing on my back to place me on all fours. Nails bit into my back and shoulder as they grabbed onto me and thrust forward, filling me with strange filaments that moved together as one, their delicate tips brushing my insides. 

Inside my mouth and throat, the captain wiggled, exploring while pumping forward. A groaning shudder escaped his lips as his thrusts sped up. Slime and saliva dripped down my chin to hit the ground below, pooling on the deck. His eyes watched me, fingers holding my face in place to match his hungry pumping. I moaned on his length, whimpering as he pushed ever deeper, my body pulsing with the invading appendages.

The captain pressed faster and harder, losing himself in his strokes with each passing moment. Behind me, the sailor began to match their captain’s speed, beautiful breasts swaying in the moonlight as they moved within me. We moved as the rocking waves, crying and moaning as I was filled completely. 

A howling cry left the captain’s lips and an inky release shot within my mouth and spilled out, coating my chin and chest as it dripped off. He staggered back, leaning on the wheel, and smiled at me. With a simple gesture, he commanded his sailors. 

I watched as they approached, bodies just as hungry. New lips kissed mine, a rubbery strange body sliding beneath me as a hard length pushed inside. Another moved behind me, pressing into my second entrance and driving in. I cried out as pain and pleasure mixed, stretching each of my openings to meet their needs.

My body felt bruised as I hungered for more, tasting lips and lengths and wet openings as they came for me. Various releases slid and dripped out of me, covering my body in their viscous fluids. Every muscle in my body ached as the last sailor cried in ecstasy, filling my mouth with a stinging fluid from her grinding thighs. Her mouth found mine, kissing her juices from me tenderly before she pulled herself from the mess and stepped away.

I laid on the deck, panting, in a mess of release. My eyes opened, looking to the captain who stood over me. His eyes had never left mine, watching with each lingering moment as I took another and another of his crew, as moans ripped out of me and they gave themselves over to longing. 

He gazed down at me before kneeling down and pulling me to his chest. Tentacles gently caressed my face, tasting his crewmates as he did so. “You are a wonder,” he said softly, gathering me in his arms as he moved us to the haunted ship he called home. 

The moon shuddered behind a cloud and for the first time in ages, he didn’t disappear. He brought me to the helm of his ship, and sat on the wooden deck, back against the railing, my body upon his. We watched the moon set in silence, listening to the lapping of waves against the hull. 

“Are you afraid?” I asked as sunlight threatened to crest the horizon. 

“Relieved,” he replied. “I never need to take another life. We are free.”

I found his hand and held it, the fingers chitinous as a crab claw. “I’m glad.”

“Will you stay?”

I nodded against him. He shifted, taking the talisman of his curse and pulling it, the chain snapping. Without grace, he dropped it into my lap. “The ship is yours now.”

“I don’t need one, let alone two ships.”

He smiled, soft and content. “Trust her. She’ll see you through.”

My thumb played over the octopus symbol of the ancient curse. “Thank you. For this night.”

We leaned against the rails, watching as the sun hit the sky, cascading golds and crimson through the waves and clouds. The dawn was glorious and slow, bringing with it the promise of rough waters. 

The weight beneath me sighed, breathing a final breath, and then filtered into the brilliant light. My body leaned against the rails, suddenly the only soul aboard a ghost ship, long since known to mean death.

Cerberus

 

The river waited, making soft noises against the rocks. A little boat waited, bobbing gently in its black stream. There was no smell of water or rock or even moist air. The stillness was profound and unease settled into my stomach as I approached, squinting in the darkness to the hulking figure staining by the boat. 

He sat, blank eyes watching the water with a look of estranged calmness. I had expected him to be haggard, exhausted, or skeletal. Instead, he was much flesh as I was, even handsome in the low light of his hanging lantern. An eerie blue-green glow emanated from the lantern, flickering over the water and bouncing around the cave walls.

As I approached, he turned his head and then sighed. With what seemed like strained effort, he stood, pulling his hat back on his head. A long oar rested in his hand, knocked into a wooden resting place on the boat. The ferryman moved his hand out in quiet expectation. 

I tilted my head and raised a brow. “How much for your services?”

He smiled, long grey beard glinting in the low light. “You’re alive.”

“Sometimes,” I shrugged. My fingers pulled two coins from my bag and place them in his rough palm.

Calloused fingers closed around the coins and rolled them, feeling what they were made of. “Are you from the South?”

“I’m not from anywhere,” I finally replied after pausing to look at the way he touched the coins. He saw with his fingers as much as, if not more, than his eyes.

“Convenient. Me either.” A knowing grin touched his lips. Hee turned, moving gracefully into the small boat before gesturing for me to follow.

“That’s it?” I asked, climbing in behind him and sitting on the boat. It was rough wood beneath me, aged and somehow timeless. There was nothing for comfort or pleasantness. 

The spartan boat rocked as he pushed off and began to slowly paddle our way down the narrow underground river. I peered into its depths yet only saw the puddling darkness of infinity. It seemed almost to stare back, unabashed. I bit my bottom lip in thought and looked back at the ferryman.

“She sees you,” he replied steadily. 

I raised a brow. “Seems strange to cross a living river to go where we’re headed.”

“Pah. She is where oaths are sworn, an infinite witness to life and death. New beginnings and necessary endings.” He waved a dismissive hand. “But you are not dead. So where am I taking you? To see his majesty, king of all this grandness?”

The ferryman gestured around the cave. In the distance screams echoed, finally breaking the silence. Low grumbles rumbled around the cave, followed by shouts of agony and remorse. Moaning sadness came from the darkness before us, promising a world of suffering that lingered ahead.

“No,” I said softly, ignoring the feeling of unnerved panic creeping into my gut. “His pet.”

Charon raised his brow and chuckled. “A living woman walks into Hades and wants to see his dog? With money from another time?”

“Is there a question in there, Ferryman?” I smirked. 

The growling grew louder, thundering in the rocks. 

“One would wonder if you’re looking to stay. He’s a beast, the one you seek. Terrifying. Son of monsters.”

I shook my head. “Aren’t we all.”

“Sure, girl. But most of us do not need to be beaten by a demigod and bound in chains. Just to be subdued.”

“I wouldn’t complain if that needed to be done to me.”

The man scoffed, laughed, and then smirked. 

“But,” I said before he could speak, “I don’t think the dog needs that either.”

“Ah, maybe at one point the sweet queen could temper him, but not any longer. He’s wild now. Feral. Too many teeth.”

I sighed. “That’s what happens when you beat someone. They need sharp teeth to protect themselves.”

“He had the teeth before.” The boat pulled up to a small dock. 

I climbed out. “It was pain that taught him how to use them.”

Charon looked at me and sucked in a breath. “The beast stays in chains.” Then he pushed off and left me standing there, the sound of snarls coming from further in the giant cave.

I walked, listening to the rumbling growing closer as the darkness swallowed me. Nothing could be seen, but I kept moving forward, hearing the sound of tormented souls. Chains rattled, along with the sound of large snapping teeth as I rounded a corner where another set of lanterns waited outside a great door.

Standing before the door was a great, black canine. Three heads sprouted from the body, with a long snake tail flailing behind it, fangs bared. Three collars wrapped around his necks, attached to great chains that were too big for a mortal to move. Yet the dog moved it with ease as he lunged, teeth snapping shut, as he tried to bite at the shadows.

A grimace touched my lips as I approached, walking slowly, hands out but not raised. As soon as I was within scent distance, the heads turned, looking at me. Ears flattened and teeth barred as I took a step.

“It’s okay,” I replied softly, taking another step forward. “No one’s going to hurt you.”

I glanced at the chain, seeing where it was locked to secure him. The dog growled, stepping forward to intimidate me. 

“You’re alright,” I murmured, watching his face. The heads lowered and his body tensed with every movement I made. As I took another step forward, his back arched, claws scraping against the stone, necks straining against the chain.

I sat just out of his reach and rested my palms on my knees. My lips parted to pull in a few deep breaths, calming the sense of fear that sat within me as the dog snarled just a foot away. I closed my eyes, tuning out the sound of his anger, and took one more breath.

When my eyes opened, teeth were snapping in my face from three large heads. His six eyes were wild and angry, a frightening fury brewing within them. I shifted, taking another long breath in. My sleeve was tugged own over my arm as I looked at his eyes.

“I’m not going to hurt you. You are not a beast. I’m sorry for what they did to you,” I said softly and scooted myself just slightly closer. “I know you’re scared.”

“I see you,” I finally whispered and moved just a touch closer, just beyond his reach. He moved back, teeth showing and lips curled. “You’re okay.” I shifted closer, sideways so my arm was close enough he could smell me.

A gasp escaped my lips as teeth dug into my arm, grabbing onto the limb and holding. I groaned and held still, turning my head to look at the guardian. Our eyes met. He stared at me, watching my face as I sat, not fighting back against his bite.

Blood stained the shirt as we waited for the other to move, staring at one another. I finally glanced down, looking at his massive paws. My breathing slowed, calming myself. His nose flared, pulling in my scent as his mouth held steady, keeping my arm in an iron grip.

Another long moment passed. I glanced up and shifted, moving just a touch closer. “You okay,” I whispered again. “See? I’m not going to hurt you.”

The massive dog paused. One of his heads sniffed me then licked my hand. Slowly the middle head released my arm. The three giant heads rested beside me, hovering over me as I shifted closer again. A soft growl emanated from the beast, causing me to stop. I raised my head just enough to look at him.

A great wet tongue touched my arm, lapping at the wound he had just given me. Ears drooped and the eyes held a touch of sadness. I gave a hint of a smile and moved my hand to pet him, moving slow and steady.

He growled seeing the hand, third head sniffing thee palm. When I didn’t move, he licked my hand and I finally brought it to his skin, touching the smooth hair on his broad middle head. “There you go,” I murmured to him, and began to gently stroke. 

The dog leaned into my hand, making a groaning noise, as though he hadn’t been touched in a long time. I shifted, moving to my knees to face him, reaching my other hand to the collar on his neck. 

“Are you done with this? Hm?” 

There was a keen intelligence in his eyes as he looked at me. I scooted closer, under his massive head before unfastening the collars and letting them drop. Heavy chains fell away. Cerberus ran, bolting away from me to lope around the open cave. He moved with the speed of a hunter, dangerous and agile, each movement causing the ground to quake beneath his form.

He thundered towards me, snake tail flicking behind him. I stood, hands out. “Easy…”

The beast slammed into me, knocking me to the ground. Teeth nipped my neck, playful and painful at one time. I moaned, hands moving up his legs and shoulders. Another pet of teeth pulled at my shirt, tearing the fabric with terrifying ease. One heavy tongue lapped at my face, smearing saliva all over my neck.

I opened my mouth, moaning as the canine tore my clothes asunder. Fabric shredded in his teeth, leaving me exposed beneath him. My nails dug into his skin, pulling his head against me. Teeth bit my skin and my shoulder, holding me down. A great wet tongue slid up my neck, another licked my breast, his heads beginning to go lower.

“Good boy,” I whimpered as his tongue lapped at my skin, exploring my inner thighs with sudden hunger. My back arched, pushing my center up to meet one of his heads. His thick tongue pushed inside, tasting my wetness and mixing his drool in. 

Fingers tugged on his heads, pulling them against my skin. Moans slipped out of my mouth, echoing around the cave. Heat spread through me with each wet kiss from his maw. I rolled over and rose onto all fours, rising beneath him. 

Three tongues played at my openings, covering me in pools of saliva that dripped off of me and onto the cave floor below. I trembled, whimpering beneath the dog as each tongue slid inside or over top, sending thrills through my core.

My hips rocked, rising to meet each tongue that explored my depths. His heavy panting wetting my skin as we moved together. I cried out, pleasure rising within me with each lick, driving me into a frenzy. I shuddered, gasping, as the pressure boiled over, making me writhe as I exploded, nails scraping on the rock below us.

Trembling, I sagged, hips still raised but head resting on the rock. Cerberus growled, low and dangerous, from all three heads. I nodded but said nothing, the tongues still driving me wild. The heads moved away, cold hai rushing over my exposed and wet body. 

With a snort, the dog rose, forelegs wrapping about my hips. I whimpered, feeling a thick ropey length push against my soaking entrance. With a jerk, the dog thrust inward, sliding his length into my waiting opening. 

A shudder of ecstasy moved through me as he thrust home, hips rocking rapidly to slide in and out. Teeth bit into my shoulders, holding me pinned beneath him as he worked my body. Snarls and growls filled my ears as he filled my body, engorged length plowing into me in rapid succession, sending jolts of pleasure into me.

Within me, he shuddered, suddenly becoming thicker. Teeth bit harder, breaking my skin. I whimpered and then cried out as the beast stilled, length twitching inside as release flooded my opening and began to drip out, mixing with his puddle of saliva. 

Panting mouths released my skin, tongues lapping where blood had been. I moaned and smiled as he clambered off of me, moving to lay down beside my fluid covered body. I shifted, curling up against his side as he nuzzled me, three heads resting against my thigh. My hand pet his right head, scritching the perky ears.

“I’ll never let them chain you again,” I murmured softly. The snake tail thudded against the cave floor before he licked my thigh in wordless affection.