Chapter 7: Mermaid Secrets
The pale hand that Tori had her fingers weaved through was chilled to the bone and its cold clammy sweat reminded Tori of a melting ice cube. Jade's locked fingers twitched nervously against Tori's tan skin, like worms that were about to be baited onto a fishing rod.
Jade's intelligent mind was creating the worst of scenarios in her head as all she heard was Tori's unsettling silence. Tori's cockle shell eyes flicked around the room and finally settled on Jade's swirling blue-green irises. The mermaid's mouth twisted unhappily as those eyes became the darkened blue of the waging seas. Jade's eyes displayed her emotions so well and Tori took advantage of it.
The waves crashed and the rain battered the ship that was Tori's information in Jade's eyes. Beating it into the rocks of her subconscious so that it became so splintered and broken that it was unrecognizable and it became something totally different that what the ship of information actually was.
The raging seas shimmered like a mirage in Jade's eyes, "Tell me, Tori."
"Alright. I'll tell you." Tori's hand, the hand that still smelled distinctly like Jade in everyway imaginable, weaved agitatedly through her tussled brown locks.
"Mermaids… There are two ways a person could be a mermaid. You could be born a mermaid, the product of the rape of a human man and a mermaid. Like me. Or…" Her honey voice trailed off and she bowed her head and watched the muscles under the skin of Jade's hand twitch as the silence became terrifying to the raven-haired girl.
Tori's fingers left her hair. She ran the smooth finger tips of her right hand along the tendons and veins beneath the white hand that crushed her left in its vice-like grip. The squeeze of her appendage relaxed slightly as Tori's fingers continued to trace along the tense body part. She brought the slick, twitching appendage to her mouth, soothing the writhing muscles.
"Or," she whispered quietly against Jade's skin and she was aware of the suffocating silence that flooded into her lungs and took all of the delicious air away from her. She took a deep breath, but she was only rewarded with a dry throat and throbbing tongue.
"Tori. You're scaring me." Jade's voice was edged with her familiar bite, but underneath the steel blade of her tongue her voice wavered and shook.
"Or, you could be like your mother… who was changed into a mermaid."
The words spilled from Tori's mouth like her gag reflex had caused her to say them. The hand in hers slacked and the ice cube skin began to melt into a listless puddle of Jade's hand that didn't return Tori's grip.
And then the puddle of Jade's flesh froze again. Her pale skin was as cool as a glacier, Tori knew exactly how cold that was, and Tori's grip began slipping as the shock of Tori's remark set it.
"Mermaids… we're all women. And women have to stick together, right? We even stick together spanning to separate species." Tori's hand was now squeezing Jade's and Tori gazed up at the Goth's face. She'd fallen back on her deep blue comforter and she stared up at the ceiling, her facial expression a mix of shock and disbelief.
Tori stopped speaking for a moment and she looked longingly at the blue comforter that reminded Tori of her oceans. How she wished she was in the water right now. At least there she could escape the horrible feeling of hurting the fragile creature next to her.
She could leap and frolic in the waves and the warm water would rejuvenate her and she would be able to speak clearly and coherently. And the water would flood into her and she would be able to explain this to Jade without feeling like she was betraying the talented young woman. She would make sense and she wouldn't feel like the villain for keeping this from Jade.
The deep, sea blue comforter wasn't the ocean, though. And Tori was the villain right now, in Jade's stormy eyes.
And Tori hated that.
"We women stick together, right? So when one of my sisters was strolling along East Ocean Boulevard the day that your mother was taken away from the world by that suicidal driver. Before the police could come, we took her body back into the ocean, she was dead, but her beautiful soul had yet to leave her body."
Jade's breath came into her lungs sharply, piercing at the tender tissue of her vital muscle. Her breath became ragged and shallow as she began shaking her head in denial, "No. That didn't happen. No. We buried my mother."
Tori shook her head, squeezing Jade's twitching hand, "Did you ever see the body?"
Jade's mouth became sandpaper and her tongue ground against the abrasive walls of her mouth and it made it impossible for her to speak. No, this couldn't be right. Now that she thought about it, her dad had had a closed casket viewing, but Jade had just assumed that that was because she'd been broken so badly when she was hit by the car.
"So, we changed her. It's a very complicated process and it can only happen when someone has a tragic death. The death is unjust, unexpected, and the woman is pure and good."
Jade's body shook and she felt hot tears carve their way down her cheeks. Like little drops of acid, dragging down her skin taking her beauty with them, crinkling her face and curling her lips from the searing pain of them. The liquid paves its way down her face and drips off her jutting chin and falling off her pale cheeks, her peaceful expression melting away with them.
Jade was an ugly crier.
"You're mother survived the change and when she became a mermaid all she wanted to do was come back here and make sure you were okay. We've watched you and you don't even know it. We were doing her a favor because she was such a kind person and she didn't deserve what happened to her."
Tori raised herself up from the blue comforter and she felt better as the words spilled from her lips and into the tense air between the two females. She leaned over Jade, her breasts pressing into Jade's shoulder as she pattered her mouth over Jade's face kissing away the streams of acid with her healing tongue.
"You know," the tip of the mermaid's magical tongue dabbed up a trail of a tear and she smiled a little, it was such a soft, warm smile against Jade's skin, "You're mother sort of assigned me to you. As a guardian mermaid, to watch you and make sure you wouldn't do something stupid like what you did in Washington."
"I've watched you since you were eight years old, Jade. And I've fallen in love with your strength. I've fallen in love with the way that you keep fighting against all odds even though it's hard. I've fallen in love with you."
"She's made me watch you. Make sure you're happy and safe. We wanted you to live your life and become a successful artist like we knew you would. Your mother couldn't bear it when she heard how you had become so… dark and hurt because of her passing."
"I was never supposed to interact with you. Only watch from afar and report back anything significant. That day in Washington… I couldn't just wade in the surf and watch you bleed out into the ocean without saving you."
"I was in so much trouble when I went back home. But, my superiors told me that if I could save your life after this week I would be forgiven for breaking the law."
"What law?" Jade's confusion was evident in her eyes.
"Mermaids aren't allowed to come in contact with relatives of another changed mermaid. It's dangerous for us. You could force me into changing you. Or you could become so overwhelmed with grief that you hurt yourself."
"Your mother was so grateful that I saved you. She wanted me to tell you about her. So here we are."
Jade stared at Tori her face becoming slack and her chest pooling with a fluttering warmth that caused her heart to beat irregularly. This mermaid had done so much for her and she didn't even know it. Always watching. Always waiting to make sure she was ok.
One week wasn't enough of Tori. One year wouldn't be enough. One lifetime wouldn't be enough. She needed Tori. It wasn't until today she realized just how much. Jade cupped the brunette's cheek, marveling at the velvety softness of her tanned skin.
Tori sucked in a breath as she stared at Jade's stormy eyes. The sea of blue calms slowly and it amazed Tori as the sea became a pool of calm water with lily-pads littering about its surface. Blue with vibrant strips of green score across Tori's face and Tori smiles feeling a desperate need in her.
Tori's lips push against Jade's gently. It's barely a touch, so light and warm it feels like the sun's golden glow on Jade's mouth. Jade moaned lightly at the taste of salt of the mermaid's lips and felt her insecurities about what Tori said melt away.
Jade pushed lightly at Tori's shoulders and the mermaid pulled back, "Tori, you fell in love with me when I was eight. That makes you a pedophile."
Tori rolled her eyes at Jade's familiar smirk, "I'm a four hundred and ninety-seven year old mermaid. I think all of those ridiculous human laws go out the window."
She bent her body towards Jade again, her lips searing for the taste of coffee that seemed permanently etched into Jade's lips like a tattoo. Jade's cold hand stopped her with light resistance, Tori looked up in confusion.
"I have a couple of questions."
Tori cocked her head to the side, her brow furrowed, "Ask anything."
"Will I ever get to see my mother again, if what you say is true? If she is still alive after all these years."
Tori frowned, "No… I'm sorry. You won't be able to see her again."
Jade's chest tightened, but she coughed lightly trying to keep the hot lump in the back of her throat from dissolving into tears, "I… figured. Could, you know, could I become a mermaid?"
Tori bit her bottom lip and looked away, "No. Not unless you died unfairly."
Her musical voice quivered and it scared Jade. She didn't want Tori to leave.
"Stay with me."
It wasn't a question.
"You know I want to Jade. It tears at my heart every time you ask me to. I want to stay so bad. I can't. If I'm away from the ocean for more than a week at a time it'll kill me, literally."
They stayed together the rest of the day. Never not touching as they went about the streets of L.A.. The day went by too fast. Bleeding into the lonely, darkness of the night.
Wednesday blurs to Thursday as Jade sleeps with the warm mermaid curled at her back. Soft sobs escape Tori's lips as she cried gently against Jade's skin; the mermaid missed already.
Eh. This could've been better. No mermaid sex. Sorry.
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Madzilla