Each Step Like Knives (7 page)

"This is just so crazy," Helena said. "Are you what
you say you are? How can you be?"

He had no answer for her that she could understand.
Silence stretched between them. He wanted to kiss her again, but
refrained. She looked as though she might bolt if he moved to
embrace her.

Instead, he pointed to the table, on which she'd
placed many items he did not know the names of. With infant-hands,
he asked her to tell him what these things were. After a moment,
she did.

She lifted a clear vial. "This is a glass. Um...a
drinking glass. That one is a coffee mug. Here's a plate. Fork.
Spoon. Knife."

He knew the last one, for it was the only tool the
Carrageenai shared with humans. The irony of that fact was not lost
on him when he moved, for every step he took still felt as though
he were being sliced to bits.

"And this?"

"Table. Chair. Dishcloth."

She followed him around the room, which she told him
was called a kitchen, and gave him the names of many strange and
wonderful things.

"That's a microwave," she said when he pointed to a
black rectangle. "Watch what it does."

She took a mug and put some water into it from the
bottle she pulled from a larger box. Then she put the mug inside
the microwave, pressed the front of it with her finger, and closed
the door. In a moment, the box chimed, and she withdrew the
mug.

"Careful," she warned. "It's hot."

It was hot. He put it down carefully. "Amazing."

She laughed, but seemed a bit self-conscious doing
so. "No microwaves under the ocean? What do you eat down there
anyway?"

"Fish. Vegetation. There is not so much wonderful
variety as you have above land."

"You eat fish? But aren't you part fish?"

He curled his lip at the insult, but quickly
realized she hadn't meant it to be such. Humans knew nothing about
the Carrageenai. Helena couldn't know that to call him part fish
was as offensive as if he'd called her a split-tail!

"Carrageenai are mammals. Like you. Like our
closemates, porpoises and whales. We are not fish."

"Not fish. I get it." She paused. "Carry-genie?
That's what you call yourselves?"

"Carrageenai."

Helena crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned
against the counter. "What does that mean?"

"It means...." Jeenai could not explain.

"Never mind." Helena's hands moved and danced,
though she wasn't speaking his language, only betraying her
nervousness. "So... You came up out of the ocean and grew
legs."

"I didn't grow them. The sea hag gave them to
me."

Helena bit at her lip. "Johnny, this is all very
strange."

He looked around the kitchen. "Yes. It is."

He did not want to frighten her, so he led her into
the next room and began to play the "what's this?" game again.
Answering his questions seemed to calm her, put her at ease.
Perhaps it was easier to accept him if she could feel she was
somehow helping him. For whatever reason, it made him happy to
watch her face as she explained her home to him.

"You're not listening to me," she said after a few
minutes. She put her hands on her hips. "Johnny! You haven't heard
a word I've said, have you?"

He had to admit she spoke the truth. He'd been so
lost in contemplating her lithe form, her lush curves, and the way
her mouth shaped the words he could not speak, that he'd completely
been ignoring the words she actually said.

"I'm sorry."

She huffed, but didn't look entirely angry. "You
really are a man."

It pleased him to have her accept him as such. "And
you are my woman."

She let him pull her into his arms with little
protest. "I could swear you just called me your woman."

"I did."

"I'm not anybody's woman." She peered up at him as
he snugged her closer. His hands caressed her plump rear portion.
"Just so you know."

"I thought humans mated one to one?" He had to let
go of her curves to speak, but even that could not distract him
from how luscious she felt against him. "One man to one woman? So
you would be my woman...no?"

Her eyes had gone a little dazed as his hands
caressed her body during his speech. "I have no idea what you're
saying, but damn, it feels good."

That invitation was enough for him. He kissed her,
then lifted her off her feet and carried her to the low bench she'd
told him was called a couch. He settled her there amongst the soft
cushions, parted her thighs, and bent to lick the tender flesh
there.

She gasped, but did not stop him. "Again...oh, my
God...."

Human mals must have very inadequate equipment,
Jeenai thought, if his advances surprised her. During a revel, fems
and mals could mate and climax hundreds of times if they did not
share seed. So far, though he'd not kept careful count, he and
Helena had made love far fewer times than a hundred.

He slipped off the garment she wore around her hips
and held them up.

"They're called panties."

He tossed them aside. "Panties are an unnecessary
garment, Helena."

Hearing him say her name seemed to please her,
because she lifted her hips at the sound. He bent to her fragrant
center and parted her soft folds, then dove to find her already
gleaming pearl. So much like a fem, yet different. So easy to
access, so delightful to kiss her here as well. He licked her and
enjoyed the way she writhed.

Her hand came down to caress his head. He was
pleasing her. That thought made his penis surge to life more than
anything else. He was pleasing his Helena.

He could feel her soft flesh swell with her arousal,
and adjusted his movements to accommodate her needs. In moments,
she was gasping his name. Her pearl vibrated beneath his lips as
her first climax overtook her.

He sat back on his heels to allow her some time to
relax after her orgasm. Helena sat up and looked down at him.
"You're incredible."

"Has no mal ever done such for you before?"

"Not like that."

"You have been with the wrong mals."

"If you're telling me I've met the wrong men, you're
absolutely right." She reached out as though to caress his hair,
but pulled back as though she'd thought better of it. Then she bit
her lip, firmed her expression, and did run her fingers through his
hair.

He caught her hand and held it against his cheek.
They sat that way for a few moments. He could see she was
struggling with something and reminded himself she had not known
him as long as he'd known her. She had not loved him for as long.
If he had to be patient with her, he would, so long as it meant she
would love him in the end.

All at once a look of determination crossed her
features. "Sit up here."

"On the bench? The couch?"

"Up here on the couch." She tugged his hand until he
obeyed. She turned and knelt between his legs, a look of mischief
on her face. "Turn about's fair play, Johnny."

She gripped the sides of his garment and tugged them
down over his hips. His erection, which had been resting
half-turgid the entire time, now sprang to full life. She grasped
it gently, then stroked it.

His breath hissed from his lips. When she bent her
head and took him into her mouth, he groaned. Pleasure overtook him
as her lips slid along his penis and paid special attention to the
round head. She sucked him harder and took him deep into her
throat.

"You are accomplished in the fuck."

She glanced up at his waving hands and laughed. The
vibration sent a thrill of pleasure coursing through him. She slid
from his cock to reply. "No talking. Just sit back and enjoy
this."

He used his hands to caress her hair instead. The
silky lengths entwined around his fingers as she moved her head up
and down on his shaft. His first orgasm beckoned and his buttocks
tensed. She put her hands beneath them to pull him deeper into her,
and Jeenai gave himself up to her with another groan.

His body shook, then calmed. "Helena."

She gently took herself away from his cock and moved
up his body to find his mouth. "I just can't get over how you can
come without...coming."

She didn't seem to expect a reply, so Jeenai just
allowed himself to enjoy the way her mouth traveled all over his
face before making its way back to his lips. Helena sat on his lap
and took his face between her hands. She held him still while she
stared into his eyes.

"You're still ready to go, aren't you?"

He nodded.

She shifted against his erection. "Amazing."

He cupped her buttocks and nestled her closer to
him. She rested her head on his shoulder, her mouth next to his
ear. Her whisper tickled.

"Would you mind if we took a break? I have to
confess, I'm exhausted. I didn't sleep well last night, and
honestly, I'm not used to so much activity."

She did not want to continue the fuck? She was sated
after only one climax? Jeenai knew many fems who would bite a mal
who left them without providing further stimulus. Still, if that
was what Helena wanted, that was what he'd give her.

He nodded. She snuggled closer to him, opened her
mouth wide and took in a deep, long breath. "I could really just go
to sleep right now."

In his realm, the passing of time was measured by
the tide, the current, the hungers of the body. He rested when he
was tired and woke when he no longer needed rest. "If you need to
rest, then you must do such."

She nodded, but made no move to rise. Jeenai scooped
her into his arms and stood, knees stiff to combat the pain slicing
through his feet. Helena clung to him for a moment and made a noise
of surprise, then relaxed. Jeenai took her to the place she
rested... The bedroom, he reminded himself. He laid her down on the
bed and pulled the covers around her. Then he kissed her on the
forehead.

She gazed up at him. "You're unreal."

"I'm real, Helena."

She wiggled against her pillow, her eyes already
closing. "Too perfect," she mumbled. In the next moment, she
slept.

Jeenai watched her for a while, soothed by the
steady rhythm of her breathing. It reminded him of the constant
noise of the ocean. He bent to kiss her forehead again, then left
her to her rest.

His body hungered for sustenance, and he pulled a
loaf of bread from a drawer, some cheese from the... What was it
again? The fridge. He made what Helena had called a sandwich, and
consumed it heartily. Remembering how she had placed the soiled
plate in the washer of dishes machine, he did, then wiped down the
table with a damp cloth.

Jeenai looked around, satisfied he had left the
kitchen the way he'd found it. Living above was more work than in
his realm, where the sea took care of messes such as those.

Stomach full, he wandered out to the deck that
surrounded the house. Night had fallen at last, and the dark sky
sparkled with the stars he'd so often admired. He lifted his nose
to the air and took in a breath of salt-scented air. Beyond the
sand, the water glistened and beckoned in the moonlight.

The low roar of the waves called to him, but Jeenai
knew better than to try and walk along the sand. Every step would
be torment, and he couldn't risk getting close to the water.
Something splashed close to shore and caught his attention. He
looked more closely.

It could have been a pod of his closemates.
Porpoises often liked to leap and play so close to the beach. He
looked again, and recognized the figures in the water.

Krall. Persis. Gile. Moral. Tyde. Offren. All his
brothers...come to visit him? They jumped from the water with
powerful sprays, their bodies twisting in the air before they
reentered the ocean. Did they know he was standing there?

Just beyond Helena's house, a battered wooden dock
stretched part way out over the water. Tucked into a small cove
made by the island's ragged edge, the dock had been built over
calmer water, but it was still the ocean. One drop of salt water
would turn him back into what he had been when he visited the sea
hag.

The sudden, irrational longing to see his brothers
made Jeenai jump from the deck onto the sandy gravel and head for
the dock. He leaped from the sand onto the splintered boards and
kept to the center of the dock. The water was calm now, without any
high waves to splash him, but he knew all too well what a fickle
mistress the sea could be.

He reached the end of the dock and found his
brothers, the six of them, bobbing in the water with identical
grins on their faces.

"Greetings, oh, my brothers," Jeenai said.

"Look at the split-tail with our brother's eyes!"
said Persis, his oldest brother.

He splashed and Jeenai jumped away. "Stop that!"

"Is he afraid of the water now, poor, little
split-tail?" This came from Offren, his cruelest brother.