Hey everyone. This is my first real story and I'd really appreciate constructive criticism.
Thanks again :)
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Captain Finn gripped the thick silver chains of the medallion in his hands. His sunburned eyes gazed into the horizon, it was beautiful but monotonous.
Blue oceans as far as the eye can see, but he was close. He knew it in the growing trepidation he felt, the wave of uneasiness that accompanied a siren's presence. But he was prepared this time. "Boys!" He boomed, turning to his crewmates. "Be prepared, I can feel Aysu, she is coming!" The crewmates nodded in understanding, all solemnly taking out cotton to stuff their ears.
Finn was young to be a captain, he did not grow a beard, just a shadow. His eyes matched the seas, and his hair matched the sands. But he was a natural, and his ship had a comradery that all the other pirates would whisper about in envy.
Which is why they had hunted the medallion for a year, and why they were now searching for a very certain siren. A year before his second in command, Terran had fallen victim to Aysu. What followed was an unhealthy obsession to find her.
Siren traps were laid out around the edges of the ship, and Finn vehemently searched the waters as he lowered himself into a rowboat. This was a deed he would carry out himself. The medallion pardoned him from the siren's song, but his crewmates were still susceptible.
"Aysu..." he whistled under his breath, circling the traps. Suddenly, one began to thrash, Finn smiled, rowing over.
He pulled up, grunting with effort, but he could sense how frantic she was. She was swimming away in a frantic spurt, but Finn was stronger and her stamina would decrease quickly. Even now, the jerks were getting less sporadic, and Finn was bringing more of the chain into the boat. Soon he saw her through the water. When they made eye contact her ethereal eyes widened.
Sirens were known for their impeccable memories, no doubt Aysu remembered killing his crewmate, and his vow of revenge. With one final thrust, he pulled Aysu upward.
The iron chain had circled her waist, trapping her.
Finn smiled as he gazed at his catch. Just as beautiful and deadly as he'd remembered. Sirens did not look like human women, but that only aided in their special beauty. She was beautiful as ice. Her skin and hair were snowy. Her eyes pupil-less, but a chilling blue.
Her features were delicate and feminine.
"Captain Finn," she hissed, but despite her anger, her voice sounded like a song. "Let me free, I order."
Finn laughed, jerking her forward. "You are in no position to be making such requests, my lovely. This is a consequence of what you have done." He began to take off the silver medallion around his neck. Her eyes followed his hands and she widened.
"No!" She began her struggles once again. "No! Please! I'm sorry!" Her eyes watered with freshwater tears. But Finn just smiled.
"You deserve this for what you've done to Terran. He was a friend, a brother. You wench, you took him from me. " His voice was hoarse with pain. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her close. "You deserve this." He whispered again, as he placed the medallion around her neck. k.
Aysu cried out in pain, she gripped upon the sailboat for a safety. "Please!" She cried again, begging for mercy. Her words soon turned incoherent as she began to change. Finn watched slowly from the rowboat as Aysu's fins split apart, blue blood flowing from the wound. The medallion also changed, it became less of a weight and more of a lock, a small stripe of silver collaring her delicate neck. He watched as her fins turned into long, slender legs. All her fins disappeared, and as she bobbed up from the water she gasped for air. Aysu was breathing.
She stopped struggling, floating unconsciously in the salty ocean.
Finn laughed in disbelief, his shoulders suddenly lifted of the burden of his partner's death. He had done it! He lifted Aysu from her ocean, focusing for a moment on her beautiful body before going back towards the ship.
When he finished his ascent he held the naked body over his head in victory, his crewmates cheered in excitement. He lay her down on the deck so everyone could see her. They crowded around, taking the cotton stubs from their ears.
"Wow," One breathed. Nate, the youngest in the crew. "She doesn't look so menacing now."
It was true, of course. While her legs were long her tail had been at least twice as long, and much thicker. She'd curled into herself in her sleep. She lay shivering on the deck, small and frail.
"Ya," Another, Little Johnny agreed in his booming voice. Patting Nate on the shoulder with a big, beefy hand. Nate tried not to wince in pain.
Finn's second-in-command turned to him, "So what now Captain?" Will said. This paused Finn's exuberance. He looked down at the shivering woman, once a powerful siren, now nothing more than a small girl.
"You know, I didn't actually think about that." He admitted, he turned to the gathered crew. "Any ideas fellows?"
"Sell her to a whorehouse," their navigator, Will, said shrugging. "She's no good for us anyway."
Finn didn't much like that idea, it didn't seem a fitting punishment to simply sell Aysu to a whorehouse after all they'd done to get her. But it seemed all the men seemed to agree with that conclusion.
"You all really just want to get rid of her?" Finn said rather shocked, everyone just nodded. "After all the work we've put into this?"
"Listen, Captain," Will reasoned, "We know that she's got that collar on, but she killed Terran. She may look gentle, but I wouldn't go near her with a ten-foot pole." The crew nodded in agreement. "You have ultimate power over her because you placed the collar. So..." Will sighed," I suppose if you wanted to keep her for yourself I wouldn't object."
Finn was a bit shocked. Sure, his crew weren't rapists. But he'd assumed that they'd want to torture Aysu more for what she'd done. "Alright... I'll bring her to my quarters. Feel free to come to me if you change your mind." With that Finn picked her up, during their exchange she'd become a bit more human. Her hair was still white, but her skin had gained a bit of blush. "Can someone bring me shackled from the torture rooms." He called as he entered the lower decks. Behind him, he could hear his crew rushing to fulfill his orders.
Finn entered his quarters, walking across the red Persian carpets and let her down on his king-sized better. It was built into the wall, with thick red curtains that he could pull to close it off from the rest of the room. But for now, he left them tied to their places. He sat down at his desk, which was placed in the middle of the room, and poured himself a glass of wine from his crystal glass. Finn turned to the
giant windows, they were slanted slightly outward and could also be covered with thick velvet curtains. He sipped as he gazed at the beautiful Caribbean sea. With Terran's killer laying trapped in his clutches after half a year of work Finn felt a great stress had been lifted from his shoulders. There was a knock at the door.
"Enter," Finn called, turning to look at the double doors.
Little Johnny lumbered in. The ground almost shook as the hairy pirate advanced towards Finn. Finn stood up to great the man, who outgrew him by several inches and outweighed him by several hundred.
"I brought you some shackles," Little Johnny started in his thick Cockney accent, placing two sets of shackles down on the table," A gag and a blindfold," he produced the two items from his pocket. "And a whip." Johnny finished, placing a whip on the table.
Finn eyed the goods, particularly the blindfold and the gag. He hadn't thought of those. He passed the whip dismissively, he didn't want to use it but he knew he'd probably have to. Didn't want to scar her white skin. "Thank you, Little Johnny, you may leave." Little Johnny beamed and waddled outward, closing the double doors behind him.
Finn grabbed the shackles, the gag, and the blindfold and went to his bed. He attached one shackle to the curtain hook, and another to her wrist. He repeated the process on her ankle. Finn took his time turning her over, running his calloused fingers through her silky hair, through the valley of her milky breasts. Her bottom devoid of pubic hair. He stopped to admire her face, her eyes were closed but her pink rosebud lips were slightly parted. She breathed lightly in and out. She didn't look like a killer at the moment, didn't look menacing at all actually. He couldn't imagine this was the terrifying siren he prayed to beat just a few hours earlier. As he ran a finger across her lips her breath hitched. Finn jumped and hastily brought the blindfold to her eyes and the gag to her lips.
--
Aysu couldn't place the odd feeling she felt when she awoke. Everything felt wrong. The water around her felt different. What she was laying on did not feel like sand, seaweed, or limestone. She began to move but found her arm bound. As sleep lifted from her eyes she found she couldn't see... or sing. There was something in her mouth. Aysu began to thrash in a panic trying to move her tail in one swift movement. But her tail wasn't there, instead she felt something else entirely... were those legs? What had happened. In her mounting panic, she thrashed more wildly, but she couldn't get rid of her bindings. She seemed to go at it for a good ten minutes but nothing happened. Aysu quickly tired of panting, and lay on the soft material, panting heavily. Panting... breathing? Since when did she breathe? Aysu heard movement from a bit further away.
She had been asleep for a good hour. Finn had been doing some paperwork when he heard her begin to store. He could almost feel her panic and waited patiently as she got all her fight out. It did make the job easier. Finally, when she lay panting and tired, did he rise to take the blindfold off.
Suddenly, light flooded her vision. She cringed, it was all too much to take in. But as her eyes got used to it she saw a man standing over her, grinning. Finn.
At that moment it all came back to her. She felt her heart sink. She remembered everything, luring Terran, laughing at Finn's petty vow for revenge. She'd heard that same vow a thousand times over in all hundreds of years of living, who could have known that Finn would be the one. Because here she was, a human, Meripaulak wrapped unassumingly around her neck. She began to thrash again, tried to scream, tried to sing, but she couldn't.
