Mermaid

 

The party raged on until the wee hours of the morning. They laughed and jeered, told stories of the rubes, voices a rough melody on exhausted air. Just moments before they had begun their nightly frivolity, their home had been invaded by the starving masses who saw them as freaks, creatures to be stared at, fetishized, and when convenient, murdered.

I sat amongst them, sipping the moonshine they handed out. Greasy food had sat on plates for a glimmering few minutes before it disappeared, devoured by the workers of the small carnival. We ate as stories were shared. They spoke of who had been fated that night. The woman who had been unconvinced about the strong man’s ability and how he proved her wrong. The child who saw the lord in the mentalist’s vision. The human who fell in love with the snake dancer. 

Every night was the same. They moved to a new home, set it up, and tore it down once the show was over. It had taken me months to find them, following behind dust trails and broken dreams. Whispers of what was here had run down the road and passed from drunken lips to eager ear, over and over until I sat and heard the story, eyes just a little wide.

My eyes moved over each of the people at the tables. They were many things, but none of them were unnatural. And while I didn’t believe in monsters, they weren’t what the average person would’ve called monstrous. Even all the hate in the world wouldn’t convince a mortal that another human was a creature of darkness. That took glamors or tricks. 

This place was full of both. From the manager to the tear down crew, each human here had enough slight of hands to make my head spin. Every second is an opportunity, a potential deal that could be struck. Even better, an idiot to swindle. 

Laughter spilled through the night as the magician finished her joke. Not a glimmer of magic showed around her, but her ability to draw the eye and move unseen was phenomenal. I waited until heads were down, mouths open in bright laughter before I slipped from where I was sitting to walk the grounds alone.

Muddy pathways ran between the tents, once grassy just a day before. I held the tin cup in my hand, sipping the booze between moments of quiet reflection. Their conversation and laughter still echoed about the closed down fairgrounds. A few workers stirred in tents, getting ready for sleep. 

It was just an hour or two before dawn. The time when people who worked the show would finally fall asleep. Lights were extinguished, just a few illuminated tents remained. I walked until I hit the final tent on the path, the one that the rubes would walk into last, and walk out pale and frightened.

The tent was blue, with white bubbles painted over the canvas. A messy hand painted sign hung above in fabric, the creature from the sea in bright teal letters. I sucked in a breath and then pulled open the tent flap, stepping into the low light of a lantern. 

Blue light bounced around the tent, glittering from where the lantern’s glow hit the great tank. It was large, but not as large as I had thought it would be. Metal, wood, and glass poorly bound together. The sides were greenish, algae coating the inside of the glass. Bits of fish and blood floated on the water. 

I sucked in a breath, grimacing at the smell of rot that floated out of the tank. It was on wheels, with a giant rope lashed to the end. I fingered the thread. There was nothing magical about it. I supposed the strongman carried the tank, used as a beast of burden when it suited the carnival. The cord fell back to the wet ground and I gazed into the murky water. 

Between the debris and the perilously dirty water, it was impossible to see the creature within. I raised a tentative hand before touching the glass. It was cold, sending a chill through my body. I shivered involuntarily, as though the confinement of what was inside was translated through that caress. 

From the swirling turquoise a face appeared, eyes black as a shark’s. We stared at each other through the misty water. Her hand came out of the grime, fingers touching the glass where mine were, scaled and long, with a greenish blue skin that glimmered pearlescent in the low light. Her face was flat, eyes terrifyingly empty, lips teal. 

A smile spread over her face, displaying pointed sharp teeth. My brows rose in surprise. Her fingers slid upward, then crept higher until she was headed towards the top of the tank. I followed her up, then stood back, watching as she broke the surface.

Ebony hair flowed down her back, glimmering like an oil stain. Blue and green streaks caught the light, beautiful and alluring even plastered and wet against her shoulders. Gills graced her neck below the ear, opening and closing as she tried to acclimate to the air. 

“Welcome,” she purred finally, voice wet. “What brings you to me so late?”

I tilted my head. “I’m looking for you.”

Her smile was stunning and terrifying. “Of course you are.”

My eyes glanced at the blood and bits of flesh in the water. Some of it was fish. Some of it wasn’t.

“Come here.” Her long fingers gestured to me, beckoning me forward. 

“How’d you end up here?”

Brows raised and she shrugged, a beautiful movement that made the water ripple around her. I sucked in a breath, feeling the allure of her before I could stop myself. “You’re very curious.”

“It’s been said.”

“I fled the sea for a man I loved.”

“Did he love you back?”

She shrugged again. “Do they ever?”

A pain touched my heart. “I’m sorry.”

The mermaid laughed, twitching in the water so that her tail flicked the surface. It was a momentary view of her magnificence. “Don’t be. You’re not here for a story.”

“I am, though. I’ve seen your kind before. But never like this.”

She smirked. “Why don’t you come closer, hm? Come inside.” Her head nodded, chin nodding towards a step ladder to the right. 

“So you can eat me?”

Her grin made me flush. “I know my way around a woman’s body.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Isn’t it? I’ve seen how you look at me.” 

“You’re very beautiful.” 

“Come see how beautiful I am…”

“Is that what you want?” My tone shifted to serious, the playfulness dropping. I looked at her eyes and took a step forward. 

“So serious. Is that how you are with everyone?” 

“When I’m asking what they want. Yes.”

The smirking lips straightened. “Then yes. That is what I want. And I promise you to only eat you if ask.” Her sharp teeth showed again. 

I shrugged and pulled my dirty dress over my head, letting it puddle on the filthy ground. My boots sat beside it. Mud squished between my toes with every step I took until I climbed the wooden stairs to the top of her tank. Fingers touched the wood and metal, the same beautiful sensation of her powers flooded through me.

Heat rose within, stoking the flame she had already ignited. The mermaid disappeared beneath the water and then appeared before me, hands reaching out to caress my fingers and slid up to my wrists. Her skin was scaly and rough, yet held a hint of slime from the fetid water clung to her. 

“Are you sure?” I asked one last time, looking from her hair in the water to her eyes.

“Get in the tank if you want to see.” 

I pursed my lips to hide my smile and moved, letting my feet rest within the water. It was as slimy as she was, with bits of floating waste that clung to my skin and toes. A shudder went through me as the water went over my calves and thighs. The tank was deep enough I couldn’t touch the bottom without going under.

We floated, her watching me grapple the disgusting water. 

“Doesn’t this bother you?” I asked, pushing away bits of dead fish, the smell overwhelming.

“The ocean smells bad too, you know. Things die and rot in there all the time. Just like here.”

“I’ve been to the ocean. It doesn’t seem this fresh.”

Her laughter was musical and yet wet. I kept thinking she would begin coughing. 

“It’s not so bad once you’re used to it,” she whispered, slipping closer to me and then behind me. Lips touched my shoulder, teeth grazing the skin as she trailed upward to the back of my ear. 

I touched her hair, leaning back into her body as her tongue flicked over my muscles, sending chills of delight up my spine. My body quivered against hers, the back of my thighs and legs touching a long, strong scaled tail that flicked in the water, sending currents against my skin. 

We floated in the water, turning to meet each other’s lips and swirling in the embrace of one another. Her kiss was cold and wet, that same slime clinging to her. She tasted of seaweed and salt, with something deeper beneath the surface that reminded me of the depths of the ocean where frightening things lurked and hunted. 

Webbed fingers made their way over my skin, touching my arms and sliding to skim over the flesh of my stomach and breasts to rest near my neck, holding me against her. I snaked a hand down between us, pushing between our bodies. My legs opened, rising up to close over her hips, pushing us closer together. 

The mermaid flicked her tail and pulled us beneath the water and into the heart of the tank. Within the dingy fluid, it was easy to see out. I imagine the people who came to stare at her, children tapping the glass, people throwing food inside and garbage, some succumbing to her alluring eyes and wandering just a touch too close…

Her hand touched my cheek, turning my face back to hers. The black eyes stared into mine before she found my mouth again, filling me with life giving air before her teeth bit down on my lip, tasting blood that made her eyes grow wide with hunger and neeck. Small bites went down my neck and to my breasts, clammy hands cupping them to massage and pinch with each tiny nip she gave.

My lips parted, bubbles moving up towards the surface of the tank as a moan escaped me. It echoed through the water, bumping against the sides and then dying around us. Her mouth wandered deeper, making me twist and whimper at each bloody bite she left along my stomach and hips until she wandered over my inner thigh. 

Fingers tangled with her hair, pulling her closer to me, hips moving. I saw her grin, her knowing look as she waited, mouth hovering over me where I wanted her most. 

“Please,” I moaned in the water, releasing more air so that I had little left. Her smirk told me she knew that and she lowered her mouth to my slit. 

It instantly brought a cry from me as her bony and hard mouth explored, teeth teasing and weirdly solid tongue flicking over the sensitive flesh. I wrapped my legs around her shoulders, keeping her pulled against me as she played my body as an instrument, each sound deliberately curated and brought forth with skilled and expert movement. 

My sound moved through her tank, her mouth drawing from me the symphony of pleasure I had not heard in decades. Pressure built within me, rising in waves, mimicking the ocean that lived and breathed within her. As water breaking on the shore, I screamed, twisted and shattering beneath her mouth, pulse racing with the rush of release.

I tasted myself on her lips when she embraced me again, giving me the essence of air as only her people could. My fingers moved over her body, sliding down to the opening tucked within her scales. She nodded, whimpering in the water, a musical sound I barely heard but understood within my soul.

The mermaid began to cry, or perhaps it was singing, beautiful music of tiny whispered moans and great screaming groans of joy and delight as I plunged my fingers into her, thrusting forward to match her bucking hips that pushed her tail wildly against me. I slowed, circling the opening teasingly, smirking as I watched the desperation in her eyes.

My fingers moved in, first two and then three, pushing more and more as she opened me, revealing the pearl within that brought ecstasy with every caress. I didn’t notice the crowd that had gathered around us, or the shadows moving around the tank. She smirked, arching back against me, nails raking over my skin to make deep cuts. Blood slipped from my wounds and into the water, continuing the frenzy she felt. A final melodious scream echoed through the tank and seemed to erupt outward so that those outside could hear her cry of release.

She trembled against me, quivering in my arms as we floated. I kissed her throat, trailing up to her jaw. A hint of movement caught my eyes, drawing me back to the present where the carnival had gathered. My eyes blinked, surprise showing. Gently I released her and kicked up towards the surface of the water.

The manager of the carnival smiled at me. “I knew it.”

I flushed, the mermaid rising beside me. “Can we keep her?” Her chin rested on my shoulder, hands holding my upper arms.

“I… came to free you,” I said, turning my head to look at her.

Her brows furrowed. “I don’t want to be free.”

The manager laughed, lifting my dress from the ground and setting it on the stairs for me. “We can keep her.”

“Wait… I’m not…”

The group laughed. “What do you think that besides a show?”

I blinked at the amusement on his face, at the laughter coming from the mermaid. She kissed my cheek. “I’m so glad you came for me, Guardian. We’re going to have so much fun.”