Crave the Night (18 page)

His heart heavy and his stomach sick, he
looked back at Melusine's. "I thought I would, but I was wrong. If
the soul is important to Sarina, give it to her."

So, his family wouldn't accept him? So, he
would continue as a monster? At least this time the choice was
his.

"Oh." The sea hag's disappointment was
palpable. "No fight? No disagreement?" She looked from Nolan to
Sarina and then back. Finally, she sighed, her human shoulders
rising an exaggerated height.

"Just as well, I suppose, since I had
already decided on the victor." The half-snake, half-human female
spun. The vial she'd held up to the rising sun dangled from her
fingertips. "You did well, mermaid, bringing me this mate. Better
than I ever dreamed." Then, her lips curving into a smile, she
tossed the vial into the sea.

Sarina gasped, and Nolan stiffened. He
stepped forward, ready to dive into the ocean to recover the vial
he sensed the mermaid wanted so desperately, but the sea hag's tail
tightened around his waist and thighs, making it impossible for him
to move.

The mermaid's gaze locked onto him, her eyes
huge and sad. Then she dove into the ocean and disappeared.

Nolan's heart seemed to go with Sarina. He
waited, tense, expecting her to return, expecting...he didn't know
what.

"You didn't expect her to give up her
quest for
you
, did you?
Mermaids are tricksters of the highest form, especially where men
are concerned." The sea hag slithered closer, until her bare
breasts brushed against Nolan's arm. "She did do well, though." Her
tongue flickered out, over his face. She was, he realized, smelling
him. "Of course, you aren't a man, are you. Perhaps you thought you
were immune to her tricks."

"And I'm not looking for a mate." He held
the sea hag's gaze, his own hard. With each additional second that
Sarina was gone, his heart cracked a bit more, but he wouldn't show
his pain.

"Really?" Melusine glanced over her
shoulder, to the place in the ocean that Sarina had disappeared.
"Or does the mermaid's thrall still lay claim to you?"

"I'm under no thrall." Nolan was familiar
with the term and the concept. Vampires used thrall to lure in
their victims. When the human awoke from the hypnotized state, they
were confused and lacking a clear memory of what had happened
before.

Nolan's memory, however, was painfully
clear.

"I don't know what she did for you, or
promised you, but she tricked you—used you." The sea hag ran one
hand over Nolan's arm. Her touch was light and seductive. So much
so that another man might have forgotten her snake-half, but Nolan
wasn't another man. He wasn't a man at all, not any longer, and he
was immune to any touch...except the mermaid's. He swallowed,
fighting again to hide his hurt.

Minutes had passed. Sarina wasn't returning.
Perhaps, the sea hag was right. Perhaps Sarina had tricked him.

"What will she do with the soul?" he asked.
He needed to know. Needed a reason for her desertion.

Melusine curled her fingers into her hand
and pulled her body back. She studied him from under lowered brows.
"I can't lie to you. Did you know that? You have to love me without
tricks, with my tail visible, with all truths laid out." She
muttered to herself, cursing, he guessed.

When she looked back at him, her expression
was as hard and cold as the marble floors in his family home. "So,
when I say the mermaid tricked you, that she brought you here fully
intending to give you to me as she might hand off a shell or other
worthless trinket, you know I speak the truth." Her tongue darted
out again, forked and in strange opposition to her claims that she
had to speak truth.

But, despite that, Nolan believed her. He'd
known all along the mermaid had reasons of her own for agreeing to
be his guide, and he'd known those reasons went beyond the payment
he'd offered her. She had, after all, already been looking for a
male companion, testing them...and now he knew for what.

His stomach clenched, and he had to fight to
keep his gaze on the sea hag. He wanted to look away and hide the
emotions he was afraid she could read on his face.

"Ah, I see you already knew that. Good." She
smiled and swayed back and forth a bit on her tail. Then sucking in
a breath, which caused her breasts to rise and fall, she replied,
"The soul is her sister's. Mermaids and their souls are separated
at birth. Most spend their lives looking for a replacement."

"But Sarina has hers." He knew now why the
vial was so important to the mermaid.

Melusine inclined her head. "Her mother
was...unusual. Ianthe had the love of Poseidon. He granted her one
wish. She asked that any daughters she bore be able to keep their
souls. He agreed. In fact, he threw in a bonus, he gave Ianthe hers
too."

"But her sister lost hers?" Nolan asked. The
tale sounded impossible, but what about mermaids could sound
possible?

"It was taken from her, by pirates, over one
hundred years ago. Ianthe fought them, and while she saved her
daughters' lives, she lost her own life and Allera's soul."

"And you found it?"

Melusine smiled, a slow, wicked tilt of her
lips. "Mermaids attract men, and I needed a man."

"You stole the soul?" Any sympathy Nolan
might have felt for the creature before him dissipated.

"I told you, pirates did. I just saw
an opportunity and took it." She snapped her tail against the
yacht's deck. "You would judge me for that?" Her eyes narrowed.
"Mermaids are no better than I am. They're half-fish, yet men flock
to them, declare their love, give up their lives—for one kiss." Her
tongue appeared again. Nolan ignored it and her tirade. He was
watching the kelpies.
Water
horses
.

If he could reach one, could he force it to
take him back to shore and hopefully, Sarina? He'd grown up in his
family's stables; he’d been riding horses since he was three. He
had never met an equine he couldn't handle.

How different could a water horse be?

And what options did he have? Stay here with
the sea hag?

It wasn't an option he chose to take. When
she turned again, he bolted to the side and leapt, targeting one of
the largest kelpies, a silver Percheron-sized animal that nipped
when another of its kind got too close.

The creature had spirit. Hopefully, enough
to break away from the others and get Nolan back to shore. Once
there, he'd...he didn't know what he'd do and he didn't have time
to think about it further. As his chest and legs hit the kelpie's
back, the creature reared up and screamed. Then it lowered its head
and plunged into the sea.

Water rushed past Nolan so quickly he
couldn't believe he wasn't washed from the kelpie's back. He
clutched at the creature's mane, determined to stay on its back and
ride until the animal's energy was spent.

Then he would direct it back to the surface
and somehow find land.

The kelpie raced to the sea floor. Once
there, its pace slowed to a trot. Confident he could control the
creature now, Nolan pulled on its mane and kneed it in the side.
The kelpie tossed its head, but ignored his urgings.

It was then he realized the animal was
headed somewhere—its home or stable, he guessed. Somewhere the sea
hag would be sure to find them.

Nolan kneed the creature again and jerked
hard on its mane, but for the second time the kelpie ignored him.
It continued its trot in steady even strides.

There was no moving the kelpie off course.
Nolan had to choose between continuing on its chosen path or leave
the creature behind and risk the open sea on his own.

Confident the kelpie's choice would insure
the sea hag's discovery, Nolan loosened his hold on the animal's
mane and tried to push himself off of its back.

His legs clung to the creature as if glued,
and not just Nolan's pants, which he would willingly have shredded
to secure his freedom. The muscles of Nolan's legs clung to the
animal. Rock hard and unyielding.

He had lost control of his own body, and
despite all efforts—striking his thighs, attempting to pry his
hands under his legs—he couldn't gain that control back.

He was, it seemed, stuck.

The kelpie, still trotting, lifted its head
and neighed...laughed.

Her sister's soul in her fist, Sarina swam
in circles.

She had seen Nolan's face when she
jumped.

He knew she had used him. Knew she had
brought him here with every intention of leaving him behind.

Guilt lanced through her. More than
guilt—pain.

She needed Nolan...loved him.

Admitting that truth hurt almost as much as
seeing the disbelief on his face when she jumped.

But her choices weren't good. If she tried
to save him now, it would be Sarina against an army of kelpies,
water dragons and any number of other creatures the sea hag might
have enlisted to serve her.

One mermaid stood no chance against such an
army, but still, Sarina couldn't force herself to swim away.
Couldn't force herself to look at Nolan as she knew she should—an
expendable human who had served his purpose in her quest to
retrieve her sister's soul.

She spun in another circle, swimming away
and then swimming back twenty times before reality truly sank
in.

What was done, was done. Now that Melusine
had met Nolan, she wouldn't give him up—not willingly.

And Sarina had made a promise, to herself,
her sister and her dying mother.

Allera's soul gripped tight in her hand and
her heart dying, she swam away.

Outside a large metal cage the kelpie
stopped, falling forward onto its knees as it did. Nolan flew over
the creature's head and landed inside the cage with a thud.

He leapt to his feet, but it was too late.
The door had already slammed shut.

His hands wrapped around the cold bars, he
hissed, or tried to. Air gurgled from his lips.

A few yards away, the sea hag appeared on a
kelpie of her own. Her snake-tail draped like pearl strands over
the creature's sides, and her fingers wove into its mane. With a
shake of her head, she guided the kelpie closer.

"Fighting will do you no good. Why not
accept your fate and give love a chance?" She tossed her hair over
one shoulder, revealing one perfectly formed breast. "I assure you,
I have every charm the mermaid offered." Looking like some twisted
version of Lady Godiva, she leaned forward. "Love me and I will set
you free."

A globe appeared in her hand. She tossed it
toward his cage. He tried to move, but the bubble burst, coating
him in some invisible liquid.

“
Speak now,” she ordered,
impatient.

Realizing her voice sounded clearer now, he
did. Water didn’t rush into his mouth and his words came out with
ease. "You can't order love delivered like milk to your door."
Disgust and disbelief warred for control of Nolan's emotions.

Her eyes narrowed. "Perhaps not, but I can
and did order a man, and I can order more. Would you like to see
your predecessors?" She waved her hand and the water around Nolan
lightened, as if illuminated from below. Twenty cages were anchored
to the sea floor.

"They're empty," he replied,
unimpressed.

Melusine smiled. "Look again." She motioned
to two kelpies. The creatures walked toward him, pulling one of the
cages with them.

Bones littered the bottom of the cage—human
bones.

Nolan's stomach clenched, but he held his
gaze steady. "That won't happen to me. I'm a vampire."

Again, Melusine smiled. "All the better. You
have eternity to realize our love. In the meanwhile, I have more
suitors to gather." She flicked her tail against the kelpie's side,
but then, as the creature started to move, pulled back on its mane.
"If you have a breakthrough, simply tell your guard. He will be
happy to find me so you can declare your love."

The dragon swam toward them, knocking
against the empty cages and jostling the bones inside. The kelpies
parted and pulled back; then after a signal from the sea hag,
bolted as one upward and out of sight.

The dragon curled around Nolan's cage. Its
head propped onto its body, it watched him with one slitted green
eye open.

Finding the dragon's regard unnerving, Nolan
closed his eyes and allowed his body to drift upward to the top of
the cage. Once there he floated, feigning sleep and wishing for the
millionth time he wasn't a vampire. Wishing he could die.

Nolan floated at the top of the cage like a
dead fish for days. The sea hag returned regularly to tempt him
with promises of sex, riches and everything her twisted mind could
imagine that a human turned vampire might desire.

The first day into what Nolan calculated was
his second week trapped underwater, she arrived on the back of a
kelpie, a dagger in her hand.

"What about blood, vampire? Would you love
me for blood?" She held out one smooth green-tinged arm.

The need for blood had been growing in Nolan
for days. He closed his eyes, but could feel his body shake.

"Ah...you do need blood...." The sea hag
reined her kelpie closer. She hovered above his cage, looking down
at him.

"What kind of blood do you crave, vampire?
Mermaid? Kelpie? Dragon? Tell me you love me and it will be
yours."

The herd of kelpies that always accompanied
Melusine on her visits blew air softly out of their noses, and the
dragon stirred.

Eyes still closed, Nolan replied. "Will a
lie break your curse, hag?"

Melusine slapped her tail against her
kelpie's side, causing the animal to shriek. "Don't call me
that."

"What?" Nolan opened one eye. Melusine had
never shown emotion before. "Hag? The world calls you hag. Didn't
you know that?"