Blessings And Curses

Chapter 3

It's a mercifully short walk between the cottage and the beach. My sublet sits meters from my grans cottage. More than enough privacy for a socially misplaced teenager and her best friend the mer.

The beach is by no means exotic, but the warm sand, chalky rocks, gentle breeze and bobbing waves help it get the job done just the same.

We reach the shoreline, and Cora sighs. She strips her shirt quickly, Leaving only her swim suite. Her hands finger the bikini bottom, and I habitually look away. A faint scuffle of rocks is the only thing that gives away the her graceful dive into the ocean.

At least I assume it's graceful, I've always felt too embarrassed about her nudity to watch her dive. When I look again, Cora is nowhere in sight. My chest twitches and causing my hands to clamp into fierce fists. An intense ache fills my body, like a raw gushing wound, it suddenness making me lightheaded. A guttural groan escapes my lips, and I begin desperately scrambling towards the water.

The second my feet touch the water, I begin to change. My knees collapse, and suddenly Coras there, holding my trembling shoulders, and burying her face reassuringly into my neck.

We sit on the rocks, the shallow waves passively swaying our entwined bodies

"Oh my God's," Coras huffed, her voice thin. " I knew you would feel a pull, but it's not supposed to be so strong. I don't understand."

"Maybe it's not unusually strong. I've just never felt anything like it before. It was too much for me." I suggest, my voice still sounding ragged and breathless.

"Yeah, I guess that could make sense." She sighs, and gently pulls away from my embrace, "Come on, let's to back to the shore. I've had enough adventure for one day, and I'm not even the hero of the storey. Just the lousy sidekick with stupid, selfish ideas."

Something about the way she said it makes my heart twitch in empathy. I pout in attempt to lighten the mood. "I'm no hero, child. I'm a villain, completely evil, right to the core."

"Sure you are, princess." She smirks. "Now follow my lead and I'll show you how it's done."

I've seen Cora leave the water a thousand times, even drawn the way she manoeuvres her tail, and claws at rocks to drag her forward. It's much harder to execute than one would think. My tail scrapes roughly against the ground, and my hands struggle to find purchase. The whole process of dragging my uselessly squirming tail behind me feels weirdly humiliating.

Eventually we reach the smooth sand, and I allow my arms to collapse in exhaustion. The bottom half of my tail still splashes in the water, and I take a moment to admire it.

It's longer than my legs, and a million times more flexible. With a single thought, powerful muscle can send it twisting in any direction. Unlike Coras earthly green tail, mine shimmers an ethereal silver.

"Not bad for a beginner," Cora quips, drawing my eyes away from myself. The sight of her stretched across the Golden sand makes my stomach twist.

She's so beautiful, with her turquoise tail, amber hair and innocent blue eyes. Her skin is paler than the sand, but somehow seems to dull all the colours around her. She's the most vibrant thing for miles, and the attraction I felt for her before my transformation has nothing on the supernova of heated lust in my heart, threatening to explode and burn me to ashes. I reach toward her, grazing my hand along the side of her face. If I had toes they would be curling at the rush of pleasure attained from such a simple act.

"Georgia," she groans softly. The sound jolts me out of the daze. I realize my canines had extended, and flushed. Anyone who knew anything about mer could tell you there are only two reasons a mers teeth would lengthen: when they feel threatened, or want to form a mer bond. Since we've already podbonded, the type of connection I was pining after must have been pretty obvious. I blush even harder, lowering my head.

In a second, Coras leaps on top of me, and presses her lips heavily against mine. I find I can't resist my urges any longer. I grip her firmly on the hips and flip her over, pressing my whole body down on her. My lips recapture hers, my heart thumping elatedly in my chest.

A sudden noise to my left has my head snapping up, hands braced protectively on either side of her, my teeth bared in a vicious snarl. A boy of about sixteen stands barefoot on the sand, his mouth opened in shock.

It's alarmingly hard to snatch the mental reins back from my new merish instincts. Cora giggles, but something keeps me from looking down. I realize I don't want to take my eyes off the threat.

"You should leave," I snarl at him. My short hair hangs in strangled rivets down my back, and I hope it does nothing to lesson my intimidation.

The boy still hasn't moved, but looks scared enough that I can resist the urge to growl again. "I'm not kidding," I snap, "Fuck off before my legs grow back so I can walk over there and rip your head off... with my teeth."

This seems to do the trick. The boy spins round, stumbles, regains his balance, then takes off at full speed.
I return my attention to Cora. A demanding primal instinct guides my body, and I lower my head to suck possessively on the side of her neck. My actions catch up with me, and I jerk back, once again mortified at my behaviour.

Cora has a strange expression on her face. I'm terrified I've finally crossed a line. I start to wiggle off her, but Coras tail tightness around mine. I realize they had wound together at some point. The feeling of hers rubbing against mine was nearly enough to send me over the edge again.
"Georgia... you're an alpha," she whispers in awe.
"No I'm not." Comes the automatic reply "Alphas went extinct years ago."
Cora attempts a nonchalant shrug, but her body is still tense with shock. "At least alphas have been heard of before. Humans becoming mermaids is completely new."

"Ever the optimist," I snark.
She smiles for a second. "It was so weird. One minute we were... well, you know... and the next you've grown the longest, sharpest fangs I've ever seen, and your eyes have gone turned this ethereal silver colour"

I open my mouth to respond when I feel a slight tremor in my tail. I realize the tide has receded far enough for our tails to completely dry. In a second I roll off her and make a spastic grab at our towels. I drape it over me just as the feeling of being tailed completely vanishes.

"That was close," I huff, "I nearly transformed back stark nake-" My eyes find Cora, and my brain shuts down. She stands up, brazenly uncaring about her own partial nudity and smirks at my expression.

"What? You're a mer now. Being naked doesn't mean much. Constantly shifting makes it a lot harder to hang onto clothes."

"If anybody ever sees you naked without your explicit permission I'll rip they eyes out and show them up their-" I halt half way through my threat. My fangs were out again, and my claws scrape scars into the rocks.

"I think I may have a jealousy problem." I squeak.

"No shit," Cora agrees, but I can see the fondness in her eyes. "It's not surprising, really. Alphas were notoriously possessive."

I tighten the towel around me self consciously. "You don't mind?"
Cora walks over and picks up her bikini. She regards them thoughtfully for a moment, before pulling them on. The combination of disappointment and relief I feel is hardly surprising at this point.

"You know me, Georgia. Any moment not being fussed over is a moment wasted," she jokes. I laugh in relief.

Cora just smiles, her eyes softer and warmer than I've ever seen them. "Come on, it's been a long day my friend and podmate. Let's go home."

"Can I put on my pants first?" I smirk teasingly. Cora swats at my arm. "You're a real asshat, some times, you know that?" she says, but her smile is impossibly wide.