I take it from the can, wrap it in a towel and put it into the small trash bag and leave it by the door in the kitchen for me to get rid of tomorrow.
“Is the hot tub ready?” I ask when I come back to the room.
“I think so,” he says. “We can’t fill it too much, since you take up a lot of space.” He winks.
I chuckle as I make my way over to the hot tub. We get in, hissing at the temperature of the water. Hot but welcome.
Leif sits opposite me, but I reach across with all of my limbs and tug him toward me. He laughs as water sloshes over the sides.
“I like the way you feel against me,” I say against his ear.
A little too much, I think.
“Me too,” he whispers.
The water is hot, the jets firm against my body. I’m shielding Leif from them, but he doesn’t seem to mind. My muscles ache from all the use—not just the sex but playing music also. It takes a lot out of me because I’m using these muscles more often now that we’re playing so many shows.
Leif shifts his head, hitting my necklace and flinching away.
“Sorry,” I say, moving the amulet to the side. He turns his head to look up at me.
“You never take that off,” he says.
“I do, but only when I’m human.”
“Is that what stops you from being human?”
I give a small nod, and he smiles in return, but turns to face away from me. I wrap my arms around him a little tighter.
“The ring keeps me human. The amulet in this form.”
“Why do you need something to keep you in this form? Isn’t this what you are?”
I wish it were so easy.
“Not quite,” I say softly.
I’d mentioned my true form before, but I’m assuming he didn’t quite catch that. Why would he? He doesn’t know anything about my kind. I could tell him this is my true self and he’d believe me—it’s what I wanted the world to believe.
“How does it work?”
“Magic. Very expensive magic. The ring works all the time, but the amulet… it needs to be re-filled every two weeks or so. The witch nearly doubled the price this last time I saw her.”
“Then why do it?”
“My true form is…” I sigh, not sure of the words I want to use to explain. “I’m sure you’ve heard the stories.”
“Of monsters in the ocean so big they take down whole ships?” He huffs a laugh. “Yeah, I’ve heard them. But that doesn’t seem like something you’d do.”
“It’s not, but there have been some kraken over the years who went on rampages for one reason or another.”
“But they must have been much bigger…”
“Yes. Much bigger.”
“So, the amulet keeps you in this form so you’re… acceptable here?” he asks carefully.
“Yes.”
