Beach Combing
Ketti: Hey, guys, I have a very serious question for you; would you rather wait for my lazy arse to finish the stories before I post them, or would you rather read whatever my muse lets me write, and wait (forever) for updates on the stories I didn't finish yet?
Your vote would be greatly appreciated in reviews! Also, SurferCard is a(n abomination) thing that Jubalii and I made up, and is very fun to write. Don't take anything you read in this story seriously. XD
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"Police Babe, stop dawdling." The masculine voice cut through the flimsy tent material that served as a beachside dressing room, and the blonde squeaked in denial. "No!"
There was a pause, the silence filled by the soothing whisper of the waves crashing against the shore, and then the flap was thrown open to reveal a six foot something behemoth of a man with corpse pale skin, tangled, wind blown hair down to his elbows, wearing crimson swimming trunks with pale red flowers printed up the sides. He topped his head down, peering over the rims of his orange sunglasses at her, and whistled lowly. "Po-lice Babe."
Her cheeks flushed in mortification as she grabbed the fluffy oversized towel and wrapped it around herself, "I'm not wearing this… thing!"
He chuckled lowly and stepped into the tent, filling the small room entirely with himself, so much so that she had to fight the urge to fling her arms out in an attempt to give herself some space. He reached out and crooked a finger into the edge of her towel and she squeaked, slapping at his hand as he peered under the light blue cloth. "You look totally righteous in that, Police Babe." His words oozed like honey into her ears and she slapped her hands to her face to hide her blush, realizing her mistake too late as he yanked the towel free to reveal her blood red skimpy bikini.
"It's as thin as dental floss!" She moaned, "A strong breeze and it'll just disintegrate!"
He leered at her suggestively, as if to say that's the point and she slapped his arm, scowling. "I'm not wearing it!"
"Would you prefer to go naked, Police Babe? I could dig it."
The petite blonde – with the rather generous chest – actually looked terrified for a moment. "You wouldn't…"
He cocked his head to the side, sizing her up, one brow arching up into his hairline. Clicking his tongue at her, he grinned wolfishly, arms spreading wide to touch either side of the striped cloth surrounding them. His stance said it all; are you sure about that?
She bared her sharp teeth in a snarl and snatched the terrycloth from his hand as she ducked under his arm and stormed her way out onto the cool beach sand. Moonlight bathed her in a silver glow as she stormed angrily down the empty beach to the edge of the wet sand. Eyeing the waves, she backtracked about five feet and threw her towel down onto the soft dry sand before returning to the edge and crouching down to inspect the shell fragments she saw buried in the mud.
A chill worked its way down her spine and her skin crawled as she felt eyes leering at her, red eyes she was sure. Resisting the urge to start digging a hole to bury herself in, the fledgling continued her shell hunt until she had a palmful of pretty shards, though they were gritty with sand. She stood and walked into the waves up to her ankles, lowering her catch into the water to wash the grains away so that she could admire her collection properly. She nearly shrieked and dropped them in surprise when she saw crimson eyes reflected in the shining surface of the largest shard. Whirling on her heel in a spray of water, she came nose to chest with the elder vampire. He loomed over her and grinned, sunglasses perched atop his head and pushing the hair back from his face. "Police Babe," he purred, eyes gleaming, "you remind me of a mermaid I met once. She was totally radical, knew the most mondo waves to catch. She liked shells too." His grin became a leer, and Seras took a step back, feeling uncomfortable in such close proximity to the board head. "Really Ma-" "Card," he interrupted, sounding almost disgruntled, "I told you to call me Card. The most radical surfer on the beach, brah."
Seras grimaced, "I told you, my name is Seras! Not brah or Police Babe. Ser-as." She stamped her foot, and a spray of water shot up, water droplets sticking to his bare stomach.
"And I told you," he purred, leaning in, practically caging her with his body, "You're a smoking hot Police Babe. Police Babe will do."
She scowled and jumped back, nearly falling as a wave pushed her towards Card, and glared at the male, blue eyes narrowed to slits. "And that mermaid you met, was she 'smoking hot' too?"
"Jealous, Police Babe?" He smirked at her and turned back to the beach where his large black and red surfboard stood upright in the sand.
She growled under her breath and kicked water at him as she turned and continued to examine the shoreline for more shells. The only warning she had was the hiss as the board slid through the water, and she jumped back, only to yelp in surprise as strong arms caught her around the waist and turned her to face the waves, flailing feet held iin mid air. He chuckled breathily in her ear and she shivered, fingers clenching into fists and threatening to powderise her small collection. "Police Babe," he purred, "want to ride tandem with me? A tuitally bodacious babe like yourself can't help but draw the most tubular waves, brah."
Seras felt ridiculous, dangling in mid air like that, and she wiggled her toes, "Put me down?" She meant it as an order, but it came out more like a question, and she cheeks flushed with embarrassment. Her toes touched the slick surface of the surfboard, but his hands stayed firmly clamped around her waist, and she squirmed. How were they still moving forward?
His words floated to the front of her mind; The moon controls the waves, and I control the moon, Police Babe. This I am the most powerful surfer on the beach. No one can measure to this ultimate awesomeness.
She remembered him thumping his bare chest, and she felt the heat in her cheeks intensify. Looking down at her feet, she admired the red and black board, the pattern was somehow beautiful and vicious all at the same time, the red lines traced the shape of a snarling jackal's head, and she knew from previous experience with it that the lines behind Card's feet resembled blood spatters. The Jackal, he was still practicing with the larger board to get as good with it as he was with the Cassul – a silver and black board, with the sentciled shape of some bird of prey she thought might be an eagle.
There was a moment of silence, for which Seras was grateful, and she scooted forward cautiously until her toes curled around the front curve of the board, Card's warm palms pressed against her sides. The water was so clear! She admired the dark shapes flitting around beneath their feet, only to jump in surprise as one shape shot straight towards them, getting bigger and bigger, a dorsal fin breaking the water.
Was that a… Shark! She squealed and scrambled backwards, clambering up his back and locking her legs around his waist, "SHARKSHARKSHARKTHERESASHARKOGOD"
The fin began to circle them and she whimpered, burying her face in the crook of Card's neck. Hr just laughed, "Naw, brah, that ain't no shark. It's a dolphin."
"A d-dolphin?" Seras muttered, peeking her head up to observe the intimidating shadow in the water. Just then a wave surged under their feet and drew them backwards towards the shore, and Seras watched, amazed as a silver-blonde dolphin leaped out of the water to click at them threateningly, tiny sharp teeth gleaming in the moonlight.
"It's chasing us," Seras observed.
"She," Card corrected mildly, sounding amused, "she's always trying to chill my groove, Police Babe. A total bummer."
Seras realized she was still attached to his back like a monkey and flushed, shifting her weight to get down only to feel his hands scoop her thighs back up as the board rocked beneath them on the lip of the wave. "M-…Card," Seras mumbled into his shoulder, embarrassed, "I can stand."
The wave died down beneath them and the ocean turned calm as glass, the dolphin poked her head out of the water less than a foot away from them and opened her mouth. "Get that poor young woman off your back! I don't need another accident to occur! Don't forget last time!"
Seras stared, gape mouthed, "Did that dolphin just spe-… last time?!" She squirmed, trying to get free, and he grunted, setting her down, "Chill, brah, chill. Don't rock the boat."
She glared at him, then stared at the talking dolphin, some part of her mind screaming that it sounded suspiciously like Sir Integra.
"Don't mind her, Police Babe, she's just being catty." He chuckled, "Get it? It's funny. Because I'm calling her a catfish." Seras stared at him blankly while the Teggie dolphin slapped the water with her tail, "I'm not a fish!"
"it could be worse, brah, I could have called you a bitch."
The dolphin ducked into the water and Seras blinked, only to shriek as she felt hands on her back, pushing her down so hard she nearly cracked her chin on the board. Just as she was about to yell at him, she saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye, and she felt water splash her. Card laughed, "Missed me, missed me, now you got to kiss me." He smacked his bum at the water, which Seras saw as she peered over her shoulder, and she felt her mouth drop open at his gall. Really? Really?
Her nose itched, and she sneezed, shaking her head violently afterwards before growling and pushing at her damp locks in frustration, "Great, now my hair's wet," she grumbled, tucking the longer strands behind her ears, only to have them flop back in her face and tickle her nose.
The dolphin poked her head up right next to Seras, and she stared into that blue eye with a bit of awe, "Would you like the rest of you wet?" Teggie asked, dolphin grin mischievous, and Seras squeaked as she backed up, "No! No thank you!"
"Suit yourself," Teggie clicked, bobbing her head and lightly splashing her flipper at Seras teasingly, getting the blonde's arms wet.
She felt a bare foot nudge her spine, and stiffened in outrage, "Police Babe," he purred, "as much as I dig the sight of you splayed out on my board like this, you're really bumming my balance. Get your bodacious bod up and hang ten with me." He said it so casually, but it thrummed in her bones like an order. She grunted, smacking his foot off her back as she got to her knees before carefully standing.
As if getting to her feet were some kind of signal, the water surged around them and the board turned itself, pointing them towards shore. A roaring built in Seras' ears and she squeaked as warm hands grasped her shoulders, pushing her forward until she straddled the edge of the board, toes curling to keep her balance as the Jackal rose in the air for what felt like forever. She looked down to see white froth and she realized that they were riding a monstrous wave. Card leaned in to whisper in her ear, and she shivered, "Just like you, Police Babe, the ocean has luscious curves. We've caught one, and I'm not letting her go til we get to shore." The wind picked up and threatened to push her off balance, but she laughed and spread her arms, enjoying the moment.
There was a shift in the water around them, and Seras felt the board shiver slightly at the disturbance, and she braced herself for a crash landing as a familiar voice called out across the water. "Did you really think you could escape our conversation so easily?"
Everything seemed to happen at once, then, as Card's hands left her shoulders and she fell backwards and the angry dolphin leaped out of the wave, barreling right into the pale man and plunging them both into the water. Seras shrieked as the wave crashed downwards and she scrabbled for a hold on the board as she plunged towards the roiling ocean felt cold as ice as she sunk like a stone, the Jackal shooting out of her grasp and popping out onto the surface, and she screamed in a hail of bubbles as she thrashed. Her limbs felt heavy and useless and she couldn't tread water properly the way she was taught as a child. She watched with growing despair as the shining surface grew further and further away.
Oh god, I'm going to drown. I'm goingt o drown and sink to the bottom of the ocean!
Just as she was about to give up hope, a shadow flashed in front of her eyes and she flinched, only to jerk back in surprise as she felt something cool and hard under her, lifting her upwards. Squinting through the stinging salt in her eyes, she realized in some shock that she was riding the back of a giant turtle. And it was rescuing her! Smiling, she patted the shell encouragingly, and when they broke the surface, she gasped and coughed up the water in her lungs.
"Miss Victoria, are you quite alright?" The turtle turned it's head to peer at her with kind violet eyes and she stared blankly for a moment. It sounded like Walter. Walturtle clucked his tongue, muttering something about shock as he swam towards the abandoned board, being careful to keep the half drowned blonde's head above water. It was only when she clambered from the broad shell-back to the Jackal's slick surface that she realized she was being terribly rude and she crouched on the board to stare at the enormous sea turtle. "Thank you," she murmured, blue eyes shining with gratitude. He smiled – she assumed – and tipped his head, a white ring around his eye reminding her of the monocle the butler wore. "It's quite alright, Miss Victoria. But you must wake up."
"Wake up..?" Seras looked around her, bewildered. "But, aren't I awake already?"
Walturtle gave her a knowing look, as Card, riding the back of a thrashing blonde dolphin, leaped from the waves and whooped before vanishing. Seras laughed nervously, and nodded. "I suppose you're right. But how do I wake up?"
The kindly turtle smiled at her and she heard a roaring in her ears as a killer wave grew from the once calm ocean. "Why, ride the wave to shore, of course, Miss Vicotira."
"Of course…" Seras gulped, staring up at the monster barreling down on her. There was no way she could stay on the board! Walturtle reached a flipper out and patted the back of her hand kindly before vanishing and she whimpered as she braced herself on the board, fingers clenched around the sides as she rose, higher and higher in the water. She was amazed that the white cap didn't crash down her and drag her back to the depths, but the Jackal refused to dip, and she carefully turned so that she was facing the shore, perched on her knees with the wind in her hair.
"Cowabunga, dude."
The wave crashed to the shore, and she woke with a startled shriek, half expecting to taste sand in her mouth.
"That's the last time I try Master's wine before bed."