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I looked down and noticed that I wasn't wearing underwear.
And that there was a lot of white stuff dried on my inner thighs and pubic hair.
And were those really, really small eggs?
"What the fuck did I do last night?"
Understandably, the sight of all that sobered me up a bit and I heaved myself up against the sink.
"Oh, Christ on a cracker," I winced as I looked at myself in the mirror.
My graying dark brown hair was a wild nest on top of my head, my lips were a little swollen, the bags under my eyes could hold a year's worth of groceries, and was that a hicky on my neck?
"Or three? Seriously, what the fuck, or rather who the fuck did I do last night?"
I splashed some cold water on my face and took a washcloth to my nethers before gingerly walking out into the bedroom. I winced at the still too bright light and made my way over to my suitcase, because I still hadn't unpacked. I was on bereavement leave from the Secret Archive, a cross between the CIA and your grandmother's attic when it came to collecting supernatural artifacts and storing them away. I worked in the Library, which might sound boring, but it was spelled to be damn near infinite and housed every mystical text known to this world. In other words, a Witch's wet dream of knowledge.
I loved it there, but in the last year it had gotten boring and I felt my soul itching for something else. But what? I wasn't exactly qualified to do a whole lot of anything except serve the mystical community, and even that was lackluster at best. I was terrible at casting battle spells, and I was okay at medical enchantments but not good enough to be a doctor. I could whip up a batch of pretty good spelled chocolate chip cookies but nothing fancy and no one wanted to see me scrye, that was just embarrassing for everyone involved.
My small life was no longer comfortable; it was starting to constrict and I was going to use this leave from the Archive to figure out what my next move might be. But I didn't count on the grief hitting me so hard. I couldn't think past the loneliness; someone essential was missing from my life now and she'd left an aching hole in my heart.
I stopped at the dresser and picked up one of my aunt's sea shells. She loved them for no other reason than they were just pretty. Tears clouded my vision as I rubbed the small shell between my fingers, rough on one side, smooth on the other. A memory from last night surfaced as I did.
A blinding light...the smell of brine and...
I dropped the shell and gasped.
"Oh shit!"
I pulled on the first pair of clean undies I could find, which just happened to be the lower part of a one-piece swim suit and didn't bother to pull up the top part since I was still wearing a merlot stained t-shirt from last night. I bolted out of the room and down the stairs. My head was protesting, my stomach roiled but I had bigger to fish to fry than a hangover.
Quite. Fucking. Literally.
"Where are you?!" I yelled as I hit the bottom of the stairs.
The lower floor of the cottage was an open concept with the living area bleeding into the kitchen where every single cupboard was opened, containers of food sat half open on the counters. The fridge door was open, a carton of milk was tipped over in the sink and two eggs were shattered on the floor.
"What the...? Hey!" I yelled. "Hello?! Where are you?"
I winced and grabbed my head. I should be sitting with my head in a toilet and nursing a pot of coffee but instead, I was trying to find the damn Fish Man I'd accidentally summoned last night.
My frantic search in the house produced nothing until I happened to look out the windows and onto the beach that butted up against my aunt's property.
The golden sands were deserted at this time of year, not quite the warm weather that brought the tourists, but also not really winter anymore either. There were a few retired couples that lived along this stretch, but they weren't out at the moment. Or at least I hoped they weren't, because I'd finally found the Fish Man and dear goddess almighty, was he built.
I ran out onto the deck and watched, mouth gaping and heart pounding, as he ascended from the waves like James fucking Bond in Casino Royale; all of his ripped, corded muscles dripping with water, a steely gaze from the golden eyes in his lizard like face. He had a crest at the top of his head, with three sharp points that looked tinged with gold at the tips, which faded to green and then to a dark blue where it met his head, which was glistening in the morning sunlight like a jewel plucked from an underwater cave.
His body was wide with muscle, his skin, or scales, fading from the blue on his shoulders to green at his pecs until that same gold color from his crest hugged the center of his torso. His legs were thick and I didn't see anything between them except a small slit where a cock should be. His feet and hands were webbed and sunlight shone off obsidian claws.
I was frozen solid by the sheer power and otherworldly sensuality of him. The way he moved through the waves, as if they were his to command, a swagger in his step that was unimpeded by the drag of the tides. I should've been running to him, hiding this being from the general population who didn't know that monsters really did exist. The only reason I wasn't falling down in a fit was because I'd known that supernatural beings shared our world for some time now. It was impossible to work at the Archive and not run into at least a dozen on a daily basis. Our current Arch Librarian was a Gryphon, for crying out loud.
But out in the world, among Mundanes, supernatural beings wore glamours that hid their true appearance. This Fish Man had no such disguise and it was only a matter of minutes before someone saw him and started up the rumor mill. And in this small seaside town, it would become a twelve foot tall Godzilla-like creature by lunch time.
I jumped off the deck and my entire body screamed in protest as I tried to run over the cool sand toward him.
As I got closer, I saw that yes, he was covered in iridescent scales, but his face was less lizard like and more humanoid, with small pronounced lips that peeled back into a wide grin, showing off sharp teeth.
"My love, you are awake," his voice rumbled like thunder.
