Page 6 of A Song of Death and Desire

The man suddenly jerks up, causing my song to falter and me to shuffle back from him, kicking the sand with my feet in surprise. He coughs, and water pours from his mouth as he empties his lungs. The coughing seems to last forever so I start humming a soothing tune to try and help calm and ease his distress. As his coughs ease, I resume my song at full strength, but I am unable to continue when he turns his wide, blue eyes to me. They flash with so many emotions that are too fast for me to decipher, and I am pulled into their sapphire depths. I look at this man and can’t bring myself to consume his soul. He is no different from the hundreds of humans before him. But something about him calls to me, and it's not the power of his soul.

Before I can question myself anymore, I move slightly so that I’m touching the water as the waves push it up the shoreline. The tingling sensation of the transformation runs through my body and my legs fuse once more into my tail, and I decide to let him live. Despite my hunger and my predatory instincts, I decide to give in to this emotional pull that I don’t understand. His eyes are still on me, but I am hopeful that the trauma from his ordeal will be enough to keep his memories suppressed. I move quickly until my body is fully submerged in the ocean once more. I chance one more look at the man lying on the beach and swim away as fast as possible, trying to rationalize what I have just done.

Chapter 5

Icough and cough as my desperate lungs try to expel the water they've taken in instead of air. My body, soaked to the bone, shakes in the cold as the rain continues to pelt my skin. Thunder claps above me, and the beach is lit up with flashes of lightning, too close for comfort. When I am finally able to take a deep breath again without it leading to more hacking coughs, I take in my surroundings, and the memories return—well, some of them anyway.

I was out fishing with Don and Steve from work and Don’s friend Brenton. I can’t believe I let Kelly talk me into doing this. I had no interest in going fishing with them. The only reason I’m here at all is her constant fixation on me having more friends. I finally listened to her, and this is what I get, coughing up my lungs on a beach in a storm after almost drowning.

Until now, it hadn't been the worst day, but to be honest, they were a bit dull, and it confirmed my thoughts that I would much rather keep them as acquaintances. I generally prefer to go out on my own boat. I like the tranquility of the ocean and the peace I find when fishing alone. There are no expectations to maintain conversations in which I am not really interested. With other people around, peace and quiet is hard to find so I found myself getting frustrated and hoping for the day to end.

The sky darkened as the almost black clouds rolled in, indicating another one of Witches Cove’s storms was upon us. They often come out of nowhere, these storms, with the sun shining one minute and relentless rain and wind surrounding us the next. This was one of those times. There was no evidence that a storm was heading our way. As soon as we noticed, Don turned the boat around to head back to the docks, but the storm hit us quickly and without mercy.

After this memory, though, there is nothing. A blank spot in my memory. Did I lose consciousness? What else would explain the darkness that fills my mind when I try to search for the events that occurred after Don turned the boat around? The next memory I have is finding myself swimming for my life in the deadly ocean, each wave threatening to pull me under. I don't remember how I got there but I surmise that the boat crashed, not strong enough to endure the raging storm.

These thoughts and memories flash through my mind quickly and I am overcome with a mix of emotions. I am relieved that I somehow managed to escape death, but that feeling doesn’t wash away the fear and confusion of how I ended up here in the first place. Where are the others? Are they okay?

Panic threatens to pull me under until a sense of calm and complete peace crashes over me. A haunting melody wraps itself around me like a warm embrace. It's unlike anything I've ever heard.

Ethereal.

Bewitching.

Everything feels perfect as my fear and worries slip away. Despite the circumstances I feel safer than I ever have in my life. I turn my head and suck in a short breath of air when I see a goddess sitting beside me. She must have been sent from the heavens; there is no other explanation. I've never seen someone so exquisite. Her long, auburn hair falls to her waist, the rain plastering it to her naked torso. Her skin, pale as moonlight, unblemished, and so perfect I wish to run my hands over every inch. Although partially covered by her hair, the curve of her breasts are visible, and the dusty rose of her nipples entrance me.

Without warning, the hypnotizing music ceases. A whine tears itself from my throat as I mourn the loss. The image of the beautiful woman begins to flicker. Her porcelain skin turns mottled and gray. Her plump, soft lips open to reveal rows of razor-sharp teeth. Her eyes, bright, forest green, become eerily inhuman when the round, midnight pupils turn to slits. They seem to stare into my very soul.

The moment the song stops, all my emotions crash over me once more, but the most pervasive is the sheer terror I feel as I face the monster that sits before me. Before I am able to release the scream building in my chest, she moves at a speed impossible for a human, into the ocean. Where there should be legs is now a tail. A long, silver, scaled tail. Small spikes protrude from her neck and down her spine. Then she disappears. I don’t understand the weight in my stomach that reminds me of grief as I watch the woman vanish beneath the waves. It’s like I have lost something or someone important and I don’t know if it will ever return to me.

I stare into the endless expanse of ocean for a few moments longer until, overcome by fear and exhaustion, I pass out.

I hide behind a rock, peeking from around the side. I couldn't bring myself to leave without waiting to see what happens to this man. He lays unconscious on the beach, and I can’t see any hint of movement. He was breathing when I left him, is he still? Or did the salt water of the ocean fill his lungs? Did the cold chill his body temperature past the point of no return?

I picture his ice blue eyes, the stubble on his chin that I would love to feel scratching against my skin. I worry about the well-being of this man that I've never met. An unnatural sense of longing stirs within me. But not the longing I associate with the need for a soul or hunger for food. A different, unfamiliar kind that drives me to want to make sure he is alive and safe.

What is wrong with me? I have never felt anything but mild sympathy for the humans we hunt, never felt any strong desire to let them live. What makes this man different? Why can’t I swim away, leaving all thoughts of him behind?

I watch for minutes, my anxiety for his safety continuing to build. I also can’t fight the guilt that bubbles away within me. I have put my family at risk. I am supposed to be responsible for them and now I’ve broken our most important rule. And I have no idea what this is going to mean for us, what he might do.

Another man walks onto the beach, and I let out a sigh of relief when his dog bounds up to the unconscious man. The other man starts when he realizes what his dog is sniffing, running up, andchecking his breathing. The man with the dog makes a phone call and it doesn’t take long before other humans surround my man. He begins to cough again as he is wrapped in blankets. He is carried on a stretcher to a van and driven away. I am reassured that he is being cared for, but I can’t push away the dread and confusion about what is going to happen next. I also miss him, but how can you miss something you don’t and have never had?

Chapter 6

Iopen my eyes to blindingly bright lights, causing me to wince at the assault, and quickly close them again.

“Eagan? Eagan baby. You're awake. I was so worried.” I grunt in pain as a weight lands on my chest.

“What happened?” I rasp, my throat hoarse. My eyes open again, and after taking a moment to adjust to the light, I see Kelly sprawled atop me, her mane of brown curls in my face. The sterile environment surrounding me clues me into the fact that I am in a hospital, and I am struck with a sudden sense of fear. I lower my face to Kelly's hair, breathing in her familiar jasmine scent as it wraps around me and immediately has a calming effect.

“You're in the hospital. A man walking his dog found you unconscious on the beach. What do you remember, baby?” She asks, concern evident in her eyes.

I close mine and try to remember how I ended up here. I was out with Don on his boat. We fished for a while. I felt the warm sun on my face, the smell of the ocean, and the cool breeze that lessened the bite of the sun. It was a quiet day; we didn’t catch many fish, but I had managed to reel in a couple of decent-sized ones. Mostly, I sat and listened to the banter of the others while trying not to be pulled into the conversations and instead enjoying a couple of beers.

I tense as my thoughts turn to how the sky abruptly turned dark, the wind building up in intensity. We could tell a nasty storm was on its way, and we didn’t want to get caught in it. Don decided to turn back and head to the docks to try and make it there before we were hit with the ferocity of the oncoming storm.

“There was a storm…” I start. Kelly nods.

“It was a really bad storm, Eagan. They found Don's boat,” she hesitates, “It was destroyed. It looked like the storm and rocks had torn it apart.”

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