Series Title: Siren's Song
Chapter Title: Siren's Song
Author: Night Lotus Blossom
Rating: NC-17 for swearing and graphic images
Summary: Ellie sings to him.
Disclaimer: I don't own Chuck or any of the characters therein, but I do like to play in the sandbox.
They ride at night,
on the lonely sea dunes.
The sea nymphs on their sleek,
white sea horses, obedient to only the moon.
They take to the sea in a scurry of flight,
To meet their secret lovers, deep in the night.
Sea Lover
By Lani Kaub
Casey was thrashing, his legs entangled in the sheets as sweat drenched his forehead and ran down his chest in rivulets, cascading over his abs, which were clenched as tight as a drum. Behind closed eyes, images of blood, body parts and fallen comrades mingled with tortured screams and the gritty taste of hot desert sand, which scoured the inside of his mouth.
He sat up suddenly, a roared "No!!!" tearing itself from his throat. His eyes came open, rapidly scanning the darkness, his body tensed to fight an unseen enemy, while his breath came in a series of short, harsh pants, and his hands curled into claws, which scrabbled for purchase on the mattress.
Slowly, the dream crept away and reality seeped in, bringing with it the realization that he was not in the middle of some godforsaken sandpit half a world away. Instead, he was in an apartment in Burbank, assigned to protect a bumbling, albeit sweet kid whose brain housed a truckload of espionage secrets that made him a walking murder death kill target.
As he always did after being awakened this way, he showered to wash away the sweat and rebury the memories that still threatened to invade his consciousness. Tonight was worse than usual and what felt like an entire battalion of emotions were warring away in his gut, although, at the moment, guilt and anguish were winning.
He concluded his shower, stepping out of the still steaming enclosure, and secured a towel around his hips. As far as the routine went, after the shower, he usually opted for donning his robe and spending some quality time with the scotch bottle, but not tonight. No, tonight he needed to seek his cure elsewhere. He quickly dressed, packed some obligatory heat and left the oppressive confines of his apartment, heading out into the night.
Always aware of his surroundings, Casey vigilantly looked and listened as he strode toward the back of the complex. It was well after midnight and peacefully quite as his neighbors slumbered away innocently, snug in their beds. Wind softly rustled the fronds of the palm trees lining the walkway and the sound of water gently lapping the sides of the swimming pool could be heard. He felt himself being drawn toward the pool.
Dimmed spotlights softly illuminated the trunks and canopies of the majestic fan palms growing around the perimeter of the pool. It was a cool night by southern California standards and wisps of steam rose from the spa, their ghostly fingers tickling the darkened sky. The heated water from the spa cascaded like a waterfall over a roughened rock slab and into the shallow end of the pool. An autumn moon hung low and ripe in the sky, drizzling liquid gold over the dark-haired goddess swimming there. She gracefully glided under the water, the underground pool lights and overhead moon shooting sparks off of her metallic silver swimsuit.
Casey stood, drinking all of this in, framed in the stuccoed archway leading to pool. As he watched Ellie gracefully glide through the water, he was reminded of the tales his mother told him as a child when she tucked him into bed, stories of wayward sailors lured to their doom by the achingly sweet sirens' songs.
Ellie was definitely a siren, and she sang to him, stirring his soul. Her beauty was his balm and her kindness soothed his scarred and battered psyche. Entranced, he walked to the edge of the pool, shucked his clothes and shoes, hid his gun at the base of a palm, and dove right in.
