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.