Page 2 of Magic Potions and the Merman's Lure

There are several fae species out there that are panty-melting hot and that have an instant effect on the female libido. I have seen a seventy-year-old grandmother get worked up over a merman before. They’re sizzling hot and know how to work it. However, with merfolk you must be extra careful because you never know how much of your attraction is you and how much is from their glamour and siren’s song. Sirens are a different beast, but they share that devastating ability to influence with their voice. Merfolk and sirens also both have the disturbing tendency of choosing to eat people they don’t like.

Yeah, not my idea of an ideal bedmate.

Still, imagining the girls’ reaction brings a smile to my face. “I’m sure that gave them something to talk about all the way home.”

Adiele bursts out laughing. “Are you kidding? They were still in my shop when they started talking. And within earshot of the merman. I swear he was practically preening as the girls giggled over him. I finally had to shoo them out just so I could get him taken care of before closing time.”

“I bet you did,” I grin wickedly.

Adiele chokes on her coffee and glares at me. “Not that way, you weirdo.”

I chuckle unrepentantly and take another long sip, hiding my intrigue behind the rim of my mug. I’m almost envious of my friend with the way she so easily meets the most interesting beings, while I’m practically hidden and locked away from the world much of the day unless someone has a problem or needs to locate a piece of information.

A librarian is not the object of anyone’s lusts, it seems, despite the old stereotype. I love my job, but I can’t help but wish for a little something more.

Chapter 2

Keri

Something moves through the water, slicing through it with an elegance that stuns me. But I’m more stunned by the beauty of the creature moving toward me. I don’t know how I got into the water. I only know that something within me calls out for the male gliding through the water. He reaches for me, his fingers spreading to reveal the delicate webbing between them before they slide over my cheek and skim further back to cup my head, holding me in place as his lips cover mine. I expect him to be cold and clammy, but he burns with a heat that flushes through me and makes me want to sink into him and escape the chill of the water. His hands skim over me, and he draws me up over his tail, holding me in place as he continues to pet me. I am delirious with pleasure, which only escalates as he rocks up into me, shattering me with desire.

I jerk upright with a gasp, my skin slicked with sweat and my pajamas sticking uncomfortably to my skin. I clutch a hand over my racing heart, my head spinning as my whole body throbs with unfulfilled need. Oh, gods! What was that?

I laugh weakly at myself. Of course. I know exactly what it is. It’s pretty obvious that my current dry spell is messing with my head if just the casual mention of a merman brings that on. Enough so that I’m still thinking about it while I go through my morning routine to get ready for work, an unanticipated needy tingle rushing beneath my skin. I scrub my face with one hand in frustration as I head out.

How ridiculous to still be all worked up over a silly dream. Clearly, I desperately need to get laid. That is the most logical conclusion. That doesn’t stop me from mulling it over, however, as I key myself into the library. It is strange that I can’t even say what the source of my sudden fascination is. Other than Adiele’s brief mention of the merman she met, I don’t really know much about merfolk or have that much interest in them. What I know about them certainly doesn’t warrant dreaming about them—unless it’s a nightmare. They aren’t ideal lovers, after all. Although they are said to be legendary seducers, I’ve read enough to know that mating for them is often a brutal affair, and that’s if their sole intent is not to simply eat you—which is really a toss of the coin from my understanding. A merman is the furthest thing from anything I would fantasize about. It therefore follows that the best way to deal with my current lingering arousal is to dive into research.

Facts—which are usually far less pleasant than the fantasy surrounding a species—should effectively cool my desire. It usually does the job whenever I’ve been tempted to experiment. Still, I can’t seem to control the reflexive little shiver that runs through me as I hang up my things in the staff room and head into the main building. It takes me little time to light the windowless building before I can set about reshelving the carts of returns that are waiting for me. As expected, there are quite a few and it takes me a couple of hours of patient sorting and shelving before I have the time to enter the restricted aquatic species section. While there is as little there as I recalled, I’m surprised to find a narrow volume that I have never seen before. A new acquisition perhaps?

I pull it from the shelf and run my fingers along the old binding. Wherever it’s from, it’s well made. The brown cover doesn’t have a title, just a simple gold mermaid pressed into it, but the craftsmanship speaks for itself. Tucking my prize against my chest, I return to the front of the library and unlock the entrance door to officially open for the day. I smile and greet an elderly male that promptly enters as I set the book on my desk. It feels almost forbidden to have it there, out of the restricted section, even though I know I’m allowed so long as I lock up any books or scrolls in the small safe built behind the desk whenever I step away.

Settling in my chair, I don’t immediately open the book but tap a finger on its cover as I look expectantly toward the door just in case someone plans to come barreling through the moment I’ve sat down. When no one does, I finally open it and begin to read.

It opens with a lot of information I already know regarding the “song” of merfolk and how it’s used to captivate and lure in humans. No mystery there. They’ve been pointed to as the cause of shipwrecks and human deaths at sea just as often as miraculous rescues. I am surprised, however, to learn that we are one of the few species compatible with merfolk to mate and breed with. This, of course, explains why we are so particularly susceptible to their charms. Not very awesome for humans, I note, considering that they are also predators who historically don’t have a problem with eating us. I suppose that makes us their natural targets in more than one way.

The fact that a merman has been wandering around town is a tiny bit disconcerting. Not because I’m afraid of people being eaten—that seems like a little too much effort when there’s plenty of food available right there in the sea—but if they are coming on land looking to breed there’s reason to be wary. More specifically, the danger of males looking for easier breeding partners among females on land. According to this book, though mermen are susceptible to the song of the females of their species, mermaids are immune to the song of the males. Not very fair, but I guess that means no mermaid risks being assaulted by a male of her own species. That, of course, makes humans and other species easier targets than mermaids for mermen. Is there a male out there right now mate-hunting? If so, that could potentially be concerning for our little town.

---