Chapter XXI: A Cup of Gold

Her heart felt like stone in her stomach; his body plunged into the water with a ripple that swept over her head like a storm. She refused to stay under, fought her way to the surface with claws and temper and forced her way over to the shaking water where he'd dove in. Everything was deadly quiet. So silent and white and cold—she shivered. Desperate, she went head over heels into the sea, eyes open wide in the burning salt to find him. But it was murky and dark; she couldn't have found Murdoc unless he was right in front of her. Her breath escaped in a stream of bubbles, and she let her body go limp—was she too—?

She shrieked, muted in the water, trying frantically to kick the grasp on her ankle loose. She flopped around like a suffocating fish as the creature wound it slimy way around her torso, its legs locked tight around her waist and climbing further, further up her body. Water poured in through her nose as she trashed, body taught and panicked. But a familiar hand that reached out to snatch her shoulder turned panic to placidity, a claw that stroked her cheeks and pressed their sharp edges against her neck, crawling into a vice grip. Angel let the man latch onto her back like a crab, letting realization wash over her. They floated in the darkness momentarily, silent and cold, and for a moment, Angel wondered if they had hit the rocks, if they were dead together in this dark heaven. Only the current moved them, together, as if they were one creature. Angel let her mind wander back to something she'd read once—a philosopher long time dead and gone that she couldn't remember the name of—that humans, before they are born, have four arms, four legs, two hearts, and one mind, separated at birth into two humans. He said that you spend a lifetime driven by a pull to re-fuse oneself with their other half, to be whole again. She wondered, here in this womb, if they were one, combined back together in death.

But he jostled her suddenly, drawing her out of her trance, broke the bond that she's been mesmerized by. Agitated that his surprise was ruined, Murdoc kicked and brought them both to the surface, spitting out mouthful of salt water. He turned to spit out a smart remark, but she thrust him back under the water with a burning anger, remembering her worry and terror before he'd put her under his gentle spell, letting the pain of anticipating flood back into her body.

"Don't you do that! Don't ever do that to me again!" she shrieked, him only hearing every other word, but he got the gist of it. He struggled to break free of her tirade, but what was he do? His hands slipped off every time he tried to gain a grip on her hands, and with no ground below him, he couldn't fight back. The power of his body was stunted with the equality of water. He swore with every breath he managed to gobble up before being plunged back under, screaming and carrying on as she punished him, a tear bubbling up and drying up at the corner of her eye.

"F-fine! Leggo a' me!" he spat, lips drawn back over his razor teeth like a dog in a sneer that burned Angel when she managed to let him go. Her feace was beet red with anger, eyes narrowed, but somehow, they were still soft and pleading. He felt along his sore neck, as if he expected it to be bleeding. "What's wrong wit' ya? Ya coulda killed me!"

He lost the rest of his sentence in a cold embrace like a fish, Angel's hair rubbing against his rough cheek, her wet face buried between his jaw and shoulder. Stunned, he floated aimlessly in the rhythm of the waves, unable to move out of her grasp.

"Luv," he squeaked, eyes opening and closing in strain, "Nice ta see ya shown' more emotion than a rock, but yer—yer gonna crush meh…!"

She shied away, swimming back, feeling her anger slip away gradually letting go of her worry. He was alive, solid and breathing in front of her, but before she could apologize for the outburst, realization hit her like a train—she was done for, that had been the last shred of hope she'd been hanging onto, and now it was too late. Now it was obvious. He would be a fool not to know now, and he wasn't. But instead of gloating and taking advantage of her vulnerability, he turned heel over head into the surf, disappearing in the murky water. She stared after him, feeling her body turn tense, but she had to let go, she had to relax and play like nothing had happen, or she didn't know what he would do. He bobbed back up to the surface, looking confused.

"What, yer gonna waste all yer time 'ere floatin' around? If this is how yer gonna be, I'll never bring ya back 'ere again." She looked hurt, but at least it snapped her out of her trace. "Now, if ya's like t ago back on land and try again—"

But before he could finish his bargain, she flipped over backwards head-long into the ocean. Murdoc sneered, quiet, his eyes drawn hard into a narrow glare—keeping her attention was like trying to grab hold wet soap, and it vexed him in the worst way. Everyone hung on the words that came out of his star-studded mouth, and she…she could care less sometimes what he had to say, only listening when she felt so inclined. It pissed him off. Who did she think she was?

He snatched her when she popped back up, startling her, and pulled her close, whispering low.

"Hey, I wasn't finished yet, brat."

Angel's body went rigid. His words stung, but they didn't hurt her as much as they should have. His arms moved up and locked around her neck.

"I was about to offer you a great proposition, but since yer so brash, yer just gonna get a demand." He leaned in further, his slimy tongue brushing against her ear lobe as he spoke, turning her to an oozing mess in his grip. She screamed inside for him to do it again, waiting eagerly for his next words. "…The taxes are waitin' for ya on the kitchen table when we get back. And my laundry's been piling up. Hope ya have fun now, while you've still got time left."

Her body went slack. He…he was the devil in human form.