Mermaid

The sailor slipped over the side railing, letting the cool water claim his body again in his nightly ritual. The minute differences in temperature slipped and swirled around him as he moved silently away from the ship. Following the ribbon of moonlight on the water, he let his breathing slow and the rhythm of the sea take him. Soon, he was moving with powerful strokes down that moon's road. And then, from the corner of his eye, he saw her.

She was moving parallel to him, out of the light and barely visible. Still, he caught the flash of her white face peek out about the lapping waves before disappearing swiftly again beneath them. He stilled. Treading water carefully, he looked around and around himself, spotting the ships bulk in the distance, desperately hoping for another glimpse. There she was again. Still off to the side but closer this time. He could just make out a moonlit slick of hair and huge liquid eyes and her pale face before she submerged again. He hardly dared to breathe. Knowing them to be only myths, still his heart had yearned his whole life to see one, to know they had always been real. He turned round in the water, every sense alert. Then he felt, not even a touch, but the barest disturbance in the water surrounding him. Taking a deep breath, he allowed his body to stop completely, slipping beneath the water. Then he opened his eyes.

There she was. Not two feet from him. Barely visible but somehow glowing. Her long hair floated around her like a nimbus, pale like her skin above the waist. He drank in the sight of her. Her perfect breasts, her long arms, her mermaids tail beautiful and glinting, swishing gently to hold her in place. She regarded to him steadily, with frank curiosity. He blinked, belatedly registering the need for oxygen. He pushed up, breaking water. He gulped a few breaths, blinking rapidly and registering the sensations in his body. The racing pulse, the rapid breathing, his skin electrified and tuned to every minute swirl of the water around him. And, almost as an afterthought, his thundering arousal, penis stiff as a ship's mast in front of him. He gulped a few more breaths and then she came into view above the water again.

"Hello." It came out a croak. She tilted her head quizzically. He cleared his throat and tried again. "I never thought I'd see anything like you."

Her red lips parted and she made a strange chirping sound. Then she dipped back below the water again. Frustrated, frightened he'd scared her away, he turned in a complete circle. Then gulped as much air as he could hold and sank below again.

She was right there. In the act of reaching toward him. Up close, he noticed the minute differences. Her skin, almost like it was lit from within. Her eyes, slightly larger than human and some indeterminate color in the murky water. Her teeth, dainty and pointed, showing faintly between her parted lips. And her tail. It was a wonder. From this distance he could make out the individual scales, metallic blue-green and close-set, merging seamlessly with the skin just below her belly button. His gaze traveled up her body, and he felt unwontedly shy staring at her, despite the innumerable breasts he'd seen in so many ports of call.

He almost let his breath all out in a rush as her fingertips brushed his torso. With curious pats and presses, she let her tiny hands migrate across his body. And down. She was as fascinated with his legs as he was with her tail. She darted down to examine his ankles, his knees. Then she touched him there. He jerked his hips back in surprise, bubbles escaping. He kicked his legs sharply and broke the surface again. Drew in oxygen frantically and dove right away once more. Her curiousity unnerved him, but he was determined to satisfy his own this time.

She was still there. And grinning, pointy teeth flashing. She knew then, the sly creature. So he slowly reached out his arm, let his fingers catch in her trailing hair. He grasped her upper arm, pulling his body in close to her, and dropped his other hand to her waist. He wanted to feel that merging of flesh and fish. Brushing his thumb lightly over the top scales, he was surprised to find they were warm. Like glass held in a hand. He scraped his thumbnail over the textured surface, and she flipped away from him quickly, soundlessly swimming around back of him. He smiled under the water, wondering if it had tickled or hurt or...

He turned around to see her just inches away again, smiling at him. Then she darted close, those last few inches, and he felt her body touch against him in a thousand places, none so much as his lips as she kissed him without preface or preamble.

The shock almost undid him but her lips were soft and warm. He could feel the sharp points of her teeth behind them though, and instead of urging him to caution, the tiny pricks goaded him. He reflexively reached for her, wrapping her in his arms and pulling her close. He could feel the soft press of her breasts against his chest, and the hard press of her scales against his erection, but then he was lost in the sensation of the kiss itself, as she slipped her tongue inside his mouth and wrapped her arms around his neck in a lover's embrace. He was dimly aware of the need for breath growing in his lungs, but he put that thought aside. He wasn't about to stop a mermaid from kissing him for such paltry trivialities.

Soon he began to see sparkles at the edges of his vision, and felt like his body was growing heavier in the water. His lungs were about to burst but his whole body was on fire now and he barely noticed. Then she stopped. He caught a glimpse of her wide eyes and flashing smile, and then she was tugging at him, up and out of the water, propelling him further out to sea even as he gulped desperately for air. On and on she towed him, and then he could just make out a shadowy shoreline in the distance, a small outcropping.

Catching her smile as she glanced back at him, he felt the most powerful surge of life and joy he'd ever experienced. Laughing out loud now, he matched her pace as they made for the island. Pulling himself up onto a tiny stretch of sand bounded by dark rocks, he caught her wrist and pulled her close to him once more. He wanted to drink her lips and taste her otherworldly flesh. He gazed at her face, tipped up to his and cupped it in his hands. Then he traced the long line of throat and collarbone down, until his fingertips paused over the tips of her full breasts. One breathless moment he hovered there, until she began to squirm and arched up underneath him, filling his palm with the warm flesh. He groaned and lowered his mouth, devouring her. He felt her body's hunger all the length of his body, out to the tip of him as she pushed her mermaid's scales against him in unconscious desire. He'd wondered idly before, of course, in fantasy, how mermaids made love, and broke off the kiss, his gaze dropping to her lashing tail, to see if he could discern an opening. But then she was kissing him again, the moonlight and darkness cocooning them. He began to hear a thrumming sound and realized it was the mermaid's voice, combining with his short pants as they pressed against each other tightly.

Suddenly she drew away from him. Lying back on the sand, she snaked one arm down her belly, down to the very center of her muscular tail, and there she used two long fingers to gently part the scales, revealing an opening of pearly pink flesh. It looked slick and pulsed faintly in the moon's shine and his eyes shot back up to her face, searching. She reached her other arm up to him, red lips parted in a smile, concealing those sharp little teeth this time. He groaned as he helplessly took himself in his hand and lined up the tip with her opening. Pushing in just slightly, he had to use every ounce of control once he felt the warm wetness of her claim him. Then she arched again, trilling, drawing him deeper into her. He gasped as he felt her body take him inside, and it drew another strange, unearthly call from her lips. He pulled back and thrust in again harder this time, wanting to hear her vocalize her desire again. He gently bent his head and lapped at her breasts, first one and then the other, barely holding his concentration as he slipped in and out of her opening. Then he kissed her once more, deeply, felt the daggers of her teeth behind her lips and then his tongue pushed in and claimed her mouth, devouring her cries and tasting blood. He jerked against her and came in a rush, his rough cry joining her high ululation as he poured himself into her, the sound drifting out across the water into nothingness.