Undersea Delights

Beneath the Great Oceans love and adventure await those who dare search out its mysteries. Enjoy these four tales of fin-tastic fun and frolicking, under and above the sea.

 Erotica,  Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Mature Content, Mer-folk

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Excerpts

Ayprial’s Desire,  Violet Heart
Dr. Peter Bastian didn't know what he was in for when he pulled a mermaid from a commercial fishing net.  Neither did she.

Enchanted, Nancy O’Berry
Revenge a deadly sin on land and beneath the waves off coastal Virginia . When two of Neptune ’s daughters fight, there can be only one winner.

The Sea-Dragon’s Wish, Mae Powers
Kaliphia was determined to capture a sea-dragon and use a wish to find her lost love; only meeting Zandel became the wish she never expected to be granted.

Maiden of the Mist, Alexis Ke
Lia refuses to believe merfolk have but one true love. One mate. If that were true then she wouldn't have had a man fall to her from the sky.

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Excerpts

Ayprial’s Desire
By
Violet Heart

Chapter One 

Ayprial’s tail twitched with irritation. Planting a hand on the fin to still it, she asked her mentor, “Why don’t you know? You’re my teacher. If you can’t tell me, how am I supposed to learn?”

Rysha sliced an angry arm through the water. “It doesn’t matter! To survive, we don’t need to know about outside things.” She flipped her long white braid over a shoulder and looked away.

Ayprial crossed her arms, trying not to glare at her stubborn teacher. “Aren’t we past mere survival? I mean, look around.” She swung her arm in a wide arc, taking in the elaborate city with its glowing coral and harvested neon fish casting light everywhere. “Our society is sophisticated. Intelligent. We have a complex communications network with the other cities along the drop-off zone. There’s no reason we should be closed-minded. So why aren’t we making an effort to better understand our world?”

“I don’t have time for this,” said Rysha, packing shells into her sack. Her seafoam gray eyes reflected metallic flecks in the light streaming down from a glow worm lantern.

“Then you won’t mind if I do some exploring on my own.”

Her mentor turned on her, hands fisted on hips where the skin of her torso met her tail. “I most certainly do. It’s not safe outside the city walls. You’ve been sheltered and don’t know what’s out there.”

Frustration made Ayprial’s gills flutter, sending tiny pearlescent bubbles into her hair. She pushed the billowing mass of black tendrils behind her. “It’s not my fault I don’t have a family to lead me into the outlands. I’ve been asking you to show me for years.”

Rysha trembled. At first, Ayprial thought her teacher shook with anger, but a flash of fear transformed the older mermaid’s features a moment before she lowered the veil of indifference back into place. “Of course, it’s not your fault you lost your parents at such a young age. But I’m not the one to take you out of the city.”

“Well, I’m an adult now—”

“And time for you to put aside your childish interest in creatures and plants that will play no part in your life as wife and mother. You should concentrate on finding your lifemate.”

Oh! Ayprial wanted to scream. Her teacher toted the sack and began to swim toward the orphanage, and she followed. “It’s not childish. And it’s not just about creatures and plants. I want to know about currents and tides, why it’s so bright near the surface and what makes the coral glow. Why some days it glows brighter than others— Oof!” Her pet triggerfish, Pentri, rammed her in the stomach, halting her.

Rysha didn’t turn. She merely shook her head and lifted a dismissing hand as she continued on her way.

She doesn’t care, thought Ayprial, stroking Pentri’s snout to calm him. Tomorrow, she would turn twenty-two and reach her majority. The orphanage would no longer offer her a place to stay. And Rysha would say goodbye.

No doubt with great relief.

Ayprial had no intension of sticking around for them to kick her out. She’d go to another city. One where nobody knew her. Where she could begin anew, as a person of worth. She couldn’t be the only merperson who wanted to learn about their world. Perhaps she would meet someone who would teach her. Explore with her. Share her curiosity.

Yes. She had no reason to stay.

“I’m leaving,” she told her pet. “Where should I go? Krypta or Stryka?”

Pentri studied her a moment then turned to face the orphanage.

“No. I don’t care that the day is coming to an end. I’m not staying.” She picked up a shell. “Ridges side—Krypta. Smooth side—Stryka.”

The fish spun around to watch.

Ayprial flipped the shell, which toppled end over end to land silently on the silt of the ocean floor. Smooth side up.

“Stryka it is.” Joyful anticipation mingled with fear of the unknown. Rysha had seemed terrified at the idea of leaving the boundaries of their home city of Entra. Ayprial couldn’t ignore that. But she couldn’t stay, either. To give in to fear meant living the rest of her life with regrets.

She looked one last time toward the orphanage. She had arrived there with nothing; she would leave with nothing. No friends. No possessions. Not even fond memories.

Turning her back on the place, she nodded to Pentri. “I’ll understand if you want to stay.”

Her pet darted, bouncing off her chest then snuggling under her arm.

She chuckled. “Let’s go.”

With her heart sad from a disappointing past, but her eyes on a bright and hopeful future, Ayprial swam for the enormous arching columns that formed the city’s gateway.

Enchanted
By
Nancy O’Berry

Chapter One

Serena swished her flukes, ignoring the situation evolving in her father’s room as her sister cried out her rage. She kept her hands busy by braiding and unbraiding her long flaxen hair while paying no heed to the cries of her younger sibling.

“How could you not have known he belonged to your sister?” her father’s voice roared over the rising lament at his feet.

She shrugged her shoulders and looked in another direction. She needed to show penance then her father’s anger would cease to exist. It always did. Besides, her sister was young. She could practice on another mortal. His voice rose again catching her attention.

“This behavior will not be tolerated.” He turned toward the child at his fins. “Nadine, we shall find you another one. One who won’t so easily be seduced.” He scowled at his other daughter across the room.

She lowered her head so her father wouldn’t see the blatant roll of her eyes.

“They are all alike, those mortals,” she spoke up in her own defense.

Her comment only inflamed her sister’s angst, making her cry harder.

“He was mine, Father. I was going to seduce him, my first. She butted in just like she always does,” Nadine lamented. “She sang for him, Father, after she told me you wanted me. She sent me away on a fool’s errand and took my cull!”

Serena could not help it, a chuckle slipped out. “Fool’s errand did you call it, dear sister,” her red lips lifted in a sneer. “He was no match for you. Your voice has not yet developed its tone. He would have floundered and died a horrible death, realizing you were not strong enough to pull him in for coupling.”

Her tone, derogatory, making her younger sister howl in agony.

“Enough!” King Neptune bellowed. His deep voice shook the very stool she sat upon.

Serena looked skyward through the crystal dome to see the sky grow dark and the sea churn into a tempest at her father’s will. Drawing her eyes back to the throne, she could see the anger in the dark purple of his eyes.

“It’s bad enough a mermaid steals another’s cull, but to do it to your own sister, Serena,” he said and shook his head. “Somehow I thought better of you.”

“You will punish her, Father, please, for me,” Nadine begged. Her earnest tears cascaded down her cheeks to pool at her father’s fins, turning to tiny pearls.

Serena took a deep breath and thought of how to calm the stormy waters. “Father, I did nothing more than sun myself on a rock.”

“Did you smile at him, daughter?” The King leveled his angry glare at her.

“I…I suppose I did,” she began fluttering her eyes, hoping to appear demure. “It’s a natural habit,” she opened her mouth to defend herself further when he roared.

“Silence, speak no more to me about this, child,” his voice edged with fury. “You are no more a daughter of mine. Your actions shame our family and our people.  You have brought disgrace upon our name.” His fist beat against the sky as his resentment swirled. Lightning flashed above him rattling the chamber causing the other royals to shrink against the stones.

“Father,” Serena rose to her fins, for she had never seen such anger in his face before.

His raised hand stopped her. “I have allowed you to do as you please all these years, but no more. You have taken advantage of my good nature, and now you must pay the consequences.”

Stunned she floated down to the chair.

“Do you know what the penalty is for embezzling a mortal?”

She nodded, a knot formed near her heart, causing it to forget a beat.

“My daughter, it is death,” Neptune rose, pacing in front of his throne. His head moved slowly to and fro as if he were having trouble coming to deal with this disaster.

Death! No, he could not sentence his own daughter to death she thought to herself. Banishment. Yes, banishment would be the likely course of action. She could live with banishment

“Guards,” he called out and suddenly two larger mermen appeared from the shadows.

“Father,” she whispered in a shaky voice. “Father, you don’t mean this.”

Neptune held out his hand and turned away from his beloved child. “My daughter has broken the law.  We are not above the edicts of the sea.” He struggled with the next words that issued from his mouth. His voice shook as he spoke, “Take her to the chamber below while I debate her fate.”

The Sea-Dragon’s Wish
By
Mae Powers

 Chapter One

 Kaliphia inhaled the sweet waters of the Western Sea as she held the chains tightly. Stormy sweetness, that’s what it felt like in these strange parts. But it had all been worth it, the long quest she’d undertaken to find her true heart’s desire. And here and now, with the huge sea dragon as her captive, she’d finally gotten her wish; what she’d been sent for all along.

Hadn’t the old sea hag Valprah told her that when she searched the ends of the Great Oceans and found the last Sea Dragon then she’d get her heart’s wish and find her destiny? Well, she held him now, in her magical chains. He would not be released until he granted her wish.

She studied the sleeping, floating sea-dragon, entangled in her mer-chains.

His body was half male-human, a bit of real dragon and still as beautiful as a merman’s or a merloid’s, she thought. His stretched limbs ended with feet, slightly webbed and yet with toes, like a humanoid or a merloid like herself, would have. From its shoulders down its naked back a wide-set of frilly wings graced him, giving him an unearthly, ethereal appeal to a person viewing him for the first time. He had a long, elegant body with semi-thick scales of yellow and deep blue-green. Threaded through the pliant, but hard surface of them, his scales were inlaid with shimmering bronze. His ears were neither tiny or overly large, but elegant with lacy-like frills on the edges of his ears, which swayed in the water like his drowsy body.

Although he had long claws and sharp teeth like a land or sea dragon, he wasn’t knobby all over like some of those creatures were. Dragons, she had learned, were wise creatures, and she didn’t doubt that the outer-water ones were as well. But Sea Dragons were the oldest and wisest of all dragon-kind. That’s why the sea hag had sent her to find this dragon or one of his kind. She’d heard rumors that few of them were left, perhaps only one. Their numbers had dwindled, and no one knew quite why that was. Surely something could be done for them.

This mysterious creature before her, slumbering beneath the dark and brewing seas, was magnificent to behold. She’d searched long and hard for him, to seek the answer to her own heart’s quest, her destiny. And her search had ended here, in the dark waters of the Western Sea. He’d been dozing when she came across him.

A magical creature in some mystical sea-arts herself, she took the magical lasso her father had left her and captured the dragon with it. None could gainsay her anything with it and a siren’s song. Half mermaid, part witch and part human, she had a variety of powers, but none were very strong. None as ancient as this sea-dragon’s were, which was why she needed him to help her.

The hag said the only way to get a sea-dragon to give someone what he or she wanted was by taking him prisoner, and then he’d exchange a wish for his freedom. Sea-dragons hated to be confined and unable to roam the seas. Her father, a human male witch and a fisherman by trade, showed her how to lasso with the magical net and ropes he’d left her. Using them was how he’d caught her mother. In their romantic tale though, he’d let her go. But she came back, and the two fell in love and lived as happily ever after as they could.

The Maiden of the Mist
By
Alexis Ke  

Chapter One

 Paul strolled along the sidewalk adjacent the waterfall. He used to come out here when he needed, wanted some time alone. It had been a long time since he’d visited this spot. The mist from the fog coated his face and clothing, sending a cool shiver across his body. He should have worn a jacket, but his mind was preoccupied. He hadn’t been able to keep anything on track for the last few months.

It was bad enough to come home one night to find his girl friend had left him. Okay, things happened. But why did she have to run off with his business partner? And why, he glanced up at the sky as if asking the heavens, did they have to run off with money? He’d worked hard the past ten years saving and providing. He guessed he provided too much. As each day went by, he realized how vivid the signs had been, and he’d missed them all. The late night trips to the market. The over-zealousness of his partner to drive her home when they were working late or he had to go out of town. “Don’t worry, man. I’ll watch over her and make sure she’s safe.” Yeah, sure, right. Apparently his partner, that son of a bitch, had been doing more than keeping her safe.

Paul shook his head in disgust. How could he have been so blind? Everywhere he went he felt people were laughing at him behind his back.

“Look at the poor schmoo.”

“Look at the man who couldn’t keep a woman or business partner.”

“Look at the man who didn’t see the fire until all of his skin was burned off.”

Paul swallowed hard in an attempt to push the bile that suddenly rose to the back of his throat, back to his gut. Stopping along the railing, he stared down into the raging, swirling water below. Thoughts of ending it all skidded across his mind. What did he have to live for anyway? Everything he loved, or thought he loved, was gone. After all, who would miss him? He had no family to speak of. The few friends left would just think he’d moved away or gone into hiding. Before they figured it out, it would be too late. He closed his eyes and sucked in a breath, held it for a long moment and let it out in one quick rush. He sucked in another.

A soft whimper fractured the quietness circling his head. Paul opened his eyes and looked from side to side. Nothing.

“I must be hearing things.”

He glanced down into the water and let the mystical hypnotic affect grab hold of him. Again came the same crying sound, except this time it was louder, clearer.

“Why, oh mighty one. Why am I so alone?”

First he thought it was a child, but the more he listened, the more distinct the voice became. It was a woman’s voice. A young woman to be exact. Paul glanced around again, up and down the sidewalk and over the railing. He chuckled at that. What would someone be doing in the water? In the rapid current of the waterfall? But the sounds were coming from below him. He leaned over the railing and craned his neck to see. There it was again.

“I’m so alone. I don’t want to do this anymore.” The voice wrapped around him and squeezed his heart. It was soft, delicate and tortured. He knew what tortured was. He’d been that way for months.

Maybe it was one of those shows, a reality show to make you act a fool on television only to find out later it was a punked-up scenario.

The whimper grew louder, cutting through the sounds of the waterfall.

Was that a person? He looked harder, squinting to make out what was down there. Almost one hundred yards away under the cascading water of the falls sat a woman. Her body was draped across the large rock formation as if she was searching for something under the water. Absolutely beautiful. Her hair, long flowing down past her hip, blanketed her body like a shawl. Her skin glowed in colors of blue and green and turquoise, most likely from the lights reflecting off of the water.

Paul sucked in a breath when his gaze traveled the length of her body and stopped at her legs and feet. There was something roping her feet together.

“Don’t move!” Paul yelled in hopes she would hear him. He took off in a dead run up the walk to get closer to where she was.

His breath rushed in and out of his chest. His muscles spasmed in time to the hard pump of his legs as he stormed the pavement. He slid to a halt just above her. Again he screamed down to her.

“Whatever you do, don’t move!” He rummaged through his pocket and pulled out his cell phone. “I’m calling for help.”

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