24Zach awoke with a groan; his cheek was pressed against a hard and unforgiving wooden floor. As he sat up an unpleasant burning sensation spiked across his chest and back and he looked to see his skin beaming an angry red.
Most of his extended family got seasick, but not him apparently. No, it seemed he was so comfortable at sea he could literally sleep for hours; which wouldn't have been a problem if he hadn't been sailing alone for starters, but he had also taken the sail boat out entirely without his parent's permission and certainly without any sailing experience.
His stomach clenched as he slowly stood up and saw dark clouds looming above his head.
"Okay, that's not good."
Spinning around in circles, he looked for coastline but was continually met with endless stretches of water. He was lost somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.
A raindrop splashed onto his brow and the severity of the situation really hit him when he noticed the backpack and phone were missing.
"Fuck!"
Once uttered it seemed like the swear word enraged mother nature. Abruptly rain began to pour down and the storm hit all at once. The ocean turned dark and waves grew stronger, crashing against the tiny sailboat and making it lurch. Zach struggled to adjust the sail but paused, not knowing which way was home.
He froze in fear as his mind began to play scenarios where he was thrown into the rough water. He would never admit it out loud, but he was scared when he couldn't see the ocean floor, never knowing what could be underneath him. He made a dash for the hook holding his life jacket only to find it missing.
"Damn it! Really?!"
Zach didn't know if it was his terror, but he swore he could hear a faint eerie singing over the sound of the waves crashing. The sound was eerily beautiful, like nothing he had ever heard before and thought of trying to somehow steer the boat towards it.
"Is..Is someone out there?" he shouted, instantly feeling stupid. Of course no one was out here with him; he was the only moron out sailing in a storm.
Plus, if there was someone out here, they most likely would not be singing.
Another wave rocked the boat and Zach realized with a shock that the stern was being pushed in the direction of the oncoming waves. Frantically thinking back to the bits and pieces of boring sailing lectures he remembered his annoying brother Angus giving him, he swore it was supposed to stay perpendicular. Before he could reset the direction, a huge wave broke over the boat and his feet slipped from under him as he was washed overboard.
Zach gasped as he broke through the shockingly cold water. The current swept him almost 10 feet away from the boat as he struggled to swim back.
"God, if you save me." Splash. A wave rocked crashed over his head and he popped back up a second later. "I swear I will always." Splash. "Wear a life jacket, no matter how orange it is!"
His legs were already beginning to burn as they struggled against the waves and current. His heavy jeans were not helping, and he momentarily tried to remove them but it was impossible.
Suddenly, his pants were gone. It was almost as if someone from below had tugged them off. He could have sworn he felt something firm slide up his calf to his inner thigh.
"That's…ridiculous." He mumbled before another icy wave surged above.
While his legs were now free to move, the frigid cold was taking its toll and his movements began to slow. Another wave crashed into his head, submerging him as he struggled against the sea. He was a strong swimmer but no match for a stormy ocean. The waves battered against him as he gasped for breath, only to take in a gulp of water. He choked as he sunk beneath the surface, his strength waning.
The current was too strong and he was being pulled deeper undersea. His lungs burned as he coughed, trying to expel the water but only succeeding in taking more in. The fight went out of him as everything was turning black and fading away. As Zach's vision began to darken, he felt two strong arms wrapping themselves around his waist before he lost consciousness.
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He swam on his back so he could support the human on his chest to keep the boy's face out of the water. Not an easy thing to pull off during a storm. For once he was grateful for his powerful tail instead of two weak little legs.
Storms are so much fun! He thought as he let out an excited keen. Particularly so because he was finally sporting one of those fancy orange pieces of clothing he had seen the humans wear when they were on their boats. In fact, he had stolen it off this boy's boat earlier to try it out. It was made of materials that seems to fight the water to say afloat which he found hilarious.
He couldn't wait to show his sisters the strange fabric, along with the other human items he had found. One item he knew would be popular was the water encased in a clear substance so it was sealed off from the other water in the sea. His eldest sister Arethusa was famous for her artistic renderings of them. Humans were strange beings but that's why they were so interesting to him.
He wondered what this boy had been thinking anyway; sailing alone in a storm, but humans could be stupid sometimes. He had been bored and followed the boat around; the boy had been the only one sailing today, oblivious to the signs that a storm was going to hit, and then the idiot had fallen asleep.
He pressed through the storm towards a small cave accessible via water and carefully set the human on the flat rock. He pressed his mouth to the boy's plump lips and breathed. A small thrill went through him as the remaining water in the human's lungs spluttered out of his mouth. This one would live.
There were a few holes in the top of the rock that would allow sunlight to come through and it wasn't so deep that the boy couldn't wade through the water to land when he woke up.
He knew he should have let this human die back there. It was official rule for his kind and their interactions with humans. Or non-interactions he mused. But it seemed so harsh, especially for a human as beautiful as this one.
He ran his hands through the boy's thick black hair and he brought his thumb down to smooth over an equally dark eyebrow. No one from his home had such dark hair or tan skin. This human was exotic and beautiful. It would have been a shame if he had died.
He leapt away as the boy stirred, humans were notoriously dangerous in their everyday actions. He didn't want to be here when the boy awoke disoriented; who knows what disaster that would be, he should leave. The boy wouldn't even remember him, and shouldn't remember him, yet he couldn't bring himself to leave.
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"Ugh.."
Coughing, Zach slowly rolled onto his side. The whole depravation of oxygen thing had left him feeling weak and groggy.
But wait, oxygen? He was alive? How the hell did he end up back on land? There was no way he had been nicely washed up here by the waves. If so he was a lucky one-in-a-million son of a gun.
He did have a memory of someone holding him before he passed out but he basically assumed it was his mind coping with the trauma of almost drowning and living instead. What else could it be, he thought with a snort, a beautiful mermaid rescuing you? Please. He stopped believing in Santa when he was six and he definitely didn't believe in some crazy sailors' tale of mermaids swimming around.
He looked over to a small pool in the rock where small waves were starting to slosh together.
"That's interesting."
Suddenly a boy popped out of the water.
Zach screamed and rolled away, trying to get as far away from the water as he could in his frenzied state. "What the hell!?"
"Hello" He paused at the strange accent and pronunciation.
Zach looked over his shoulder and studied the boy before him. He had skin whiter than any person he'd ever seen before and long platinum blond hair. He would have assumed the boy was an albino except for his eyes. A chill ran through Zach as those eyes locked with his own, the boy's black iris' covered most of his eye.
"Umm…Hi…" Zach said from the ball he had curled himself into with no sense of shame.
The… thing seemed to notice his minute action and heaved himself out of his hole, plopping down on the stone closer to Zach.
That was when Zach noticed his tail and shrieked again.
Right under the pale, taught skin of his stomach were scales. Light blue shimmery scales that became a darker indigo and grey as they formed two fins at the bottoms where the boy's feet should have been.
The boy mimicked Zach's shriek although he had a small grin on his eerie little face.
"Oh my... Oh my God. Holy shit. Take that thing off right now. What the fuck? Are you some kind of freak?"
"Take what off?" the boy frowned looking at his chest. "You mean this?" He frowned, fingering a bit of shredded orange fabric that had been wrapped around his bicep.
"No, your tail!" he shouted before he focused on that distinct neon orange. "Wait, is that part of my life vest?"
"Your life what? This colour is exquisite and I was overcome with an intense emotion upon my first sighting. I simply couldn't resist having it." He smirked and slowly ran his hand down his bicep making Zach blush. "And my tail…It's a part of my body." The boy spoke slowly and calmly. "Do you want to touch it?" he whispered as if they were sharing a secret.
"What!? No! I don't even know your name!"
"I am called Keeley." He smiled and held out his hand.
Zach simply stared, mouth agape. The boy's teeth were sharp points. Sharp little daggers that could easily pierce through his human flesh.
Keeley continued unaware, "What? Do humans not shake hands anymore? I could have sworn I've seen them do so recently." Keeley held his hand steady, but his eyes darted all over Zach's horrified face. "Have I prompted a mating ritual?" He sounded almost hopeful.
Zach mentally shook himself. Best to comply with this sea monster in case he angered him. He would try to make a break for it as soon as he could.
"I'm…Zach." He quickly took the boys hand, surprised to find the smaller boy had a surprisingly firm grip.
"Well do you want to?" Keeley was looking at him expectantly and noticeably not letting go of his hand.
Zach attempted to tug his hand away. "Want to what?" he asked nervously.
"Do you want to touch my tail?" The merman slapped his tail against the water as he intensely stared into Zach's face. He seemed disappointed when Zach quickly shook his head.
"Well can I touch your legs?" Keeley asked. He didn't wait for an answer. His hands instantly began to rotate Zach's ankles before moving to bend his knees up and down. The merman spent a considerate amount of time studying each toe on each foot, laughing as he got to the pinky toe.
Keeley paused when he found a tattoo on the back of Zach's calf. "I've seen this before."
That peaked his interest, "Really? That makes sense I guess, it's a costal wood fern so you've probably seen them around here all the way down to warmer places like California."
Keeley nodded before he gave the tattoo a little lick. Zach was frozen in fear and shock and didn't know if he had the guts to kick this thing in the face and run away.
"Why do you have something so common marked on your body?" Keeley frowned.
"Hey! Ferns are common but they are strong and resilient! They have been around long before humans existed, and even a hundred thousand years before the first dinosaurs, surviving completely unchanged." He waggled his finger at the amused blond before continuing. "In fact, they even tricked scientists for centuries, no one could figure out how they multiply because they produce no flowers and hence no seeds…people used to think they were magical." He trailed off. His eyes locked onto the other boy's serious dark ones and found himself unable to look away.
"My apologies human. So, you like plants then?"
Zach blushed. "Like would be an understatement, but yeah." He grinned sheepishly.
Keeley smiled back at him as his hands slowly kneaded the thick muscle in his thighs and it felt really, really good. Some of his nervousness began to subsist and he felt himself begin to relax at the sensation and the other boy alternated between lightly running his nails down his skin and massaging his thigh. His eyes fluttered at Keeley's movements, and he felt the fingers slowly reaching up and up. A warm sensation began to pool into his lower abdomen as he felt the beginnings of arousal as the hands reached in inner thigh.
"Oooh!" Zach yelled as he slammed his thighs together.
Keeley's thick blond brows gave him a perpetually serious look that was betrayed by his playful tone. "Have I done something wrong? "
He smirked at Zach before it faded into something more pensive. "I've never talked to a human before. Actually, I think I'm the first one of the kind in thousands of years to do so. Are you all so wimpy?"
The last part embarrassed Zach. In the few minutes they had known each other all he had done was shout. He had to make an impression for entire mankind, he couldn't make his race look like a bunch of scared, confused buffoons, even if this definition applied to a lot of them.
"Um no, but humans don't usually touch people they don't really know." He explained matter of fact. "So, are you really like, a mermaid?"
That seemed to offend the blond. "That's the name you." His mouth twisted as if in distaste. "humans have given us recently. But we are Naiads. The humans of the past used to worship us for our abilities, you know."
"And what ability would that be? Stealing our fabric?" Zach rolled his eyes.
In a flash, he was slammed down into the ground. Keeley's forearms rested on either side of his head as he looked down at the human. "I rescued you from that storm human."
Zach squeaked. "Yes, yes you did. Thank you. I am so, so grateful." That seemed to appease the blond so he changed the subject. "Do you uh, know where we are?" He paused as Keeley ran a finger down his chest. "And would you be able to bring me home?"
He was exhausted and hungry and he just wanted to go home in his soft bed and sleep. He should be dead not sitting inside of a cave talking to a human-fish who had probably stolen his jeans.
Keeley grinned at him as his hands found Zach's feet again and began to play with his toes. That was when Zach noticed how long the other boy's fingernails were. Long and sharp like claws, and they were black, reminding him just how other Keeley was no matter how human he seemed at times.
"I'll take you home but you must promise me one thing," the merman said, abruptly serious. "Promise me we will meet up again. I want to know more about humans." Zack might have been imagining it, but he thought he felt the grip on his feet tighten. "And in return I shall bring you plants your kind have never seen before."
"Oh really? Yeah that sounds great!" For all he knew he could be hallucinating. Everything would go back to normal once he was back home; he just needed to get there. Plus, Keeley didn't have to twist his arm with the promise of undiscovered plant specimens waiting to be names and studied.
Zach reached over to shake hands with Keeley. As soon as they made contact the blond reached out and snatched his other hand so their arms were crossed and muttered something under his breath. A blue light appeared, wrapping around their arms, binding them together. A piercing and burning sensation ran through Zach's flesh and he cried out.
It was over almost as soon as it began and Zach looked down amazed that there were no marks left behind on his arms.
"Sorry about that." Keeley grinned looking like a devil with his sharp teeth. "And sorry for this."
"Whaa-"
Before Zach had time to react, or could even think, Keeley pounced on him, pinning him down with his full weight which was a lot heavier than he looked, and sunk his fangs into the crook of his neck.
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AN: I'm doing a rewrite of this! So sorry but this time around it will be much better If anyone is still around reading from the beginning bless you! Hope you all enjoy :)