THE WAY KEEPER

CHAPTER ONE I arrived at my destination, as always never paying attention to the journey and only looked forward to finding her. She looked so beautiful beneath the stars swaying to the songs of the night sky as she waved to the heavens with both grace and power .I stood mesmerized, watching her dance to the rhythm of the wind. No matter how many times I see her; she always looks beautiful to me. I hear her calling me, inviting me into her loving embrace with her song. She knows I have arrived and raises herself in magnificence preparing for me. I always love coming to her, love being engulfed by her. Within her confines I know I am loved and protected and when I am with her, inside her; I feel alive, more alive than anywhere else. ‘I have missed you so much’ I whisper as I slowly undress myself until I stand totally nude before her. The night stars shine down upon her, illuminating her beauty in the darkness. I slowly walk towards her, the desire to run to her, plunge into her in one fast swift motion almost driving me to madness as she softly caresses my skin in anticipation for my entry. As I feel her begin to surround me the deeper I go, I smile and slowly tilt my head back with my eyes closed in satisfaction; allowing all of my senses to fully enjoy the bliss of her embrace as I sink to the bottom of her abyss. Her waters begin to fill up my lungs, feeding me with renewed energy as my human shell slowly dissipates; my true being comes to the fore. I believe it was her way of ensuring that only those who are blessed with her gifts can have free passage and discover her deepest secrets. I open my eyes and see the moonlight has created a shimmering illumination, displaying the beautiful life harboring within her. I never tire of watching them live their lives, wishing mine could be just as simple. I swam towards the deep reefs slowly savoring the feel of the water on my skin. It feels like tiny kisses peppering simultaneously all over. Like a thousand lovers showering me with love at the same time. I feel multiple movements around me but ignore them, feeling confident in the form I have chosen to swim, feeling powerful within the confines of the realm that is my home. I feel a tap on my shoulder but look to find no one. I move forward and feel the tap again, I smile knowing the culprit, It is a game she has played with me since I was a child and even now when I have grown she still continues to play. I don’t know if it’s her way of telling me I will always be her child or her way of showing she is forever young. I dart quickly trying to find her, looking around me mischievously for any trace of her. I see bubbles behind a large rock and know it is her trying to take form. As I slowly swim towards her, I feel two hands slowly grab my waist. I turn around laughing thinking it is her but found him to my disappointment smiling at me. I looked at him frightened as I tried to wriggle out of his embrace. I saw her taking a feminine form with her waters behind him looking at us before nodding and dissipating into nothing. I closed my eyes trying to contain my anger, using my hands to try and push him, but he only holds me closer moving one hand to caress my back and the other still held on tightly to my waist. ‘I have missed you so my love, I have been lost without you’ he said to me before he kissed me roughly, pouring all of his emotions into the kiss, making me feel every emotion that was bottled up within him. Love, lust, pain and dominance all poured from him within his kiss demanding that I respond to him, that I acknowledge him as mine. I become rigid towards him and he stops cupping my face but I only turn it to the side refusing to look at him. ‘Umrao don’t…’ he said ‘Don’t touch me! You lost the right to touch me a long time ago, I hate you!’ I said trying to remove myself from his grasp. ‘We both know that’s not true my love, please my pearl listen to me?’ he asked tilting my face to look at him. ‘Why should I listen you? Did you listen when I begged you too’ I asked with sadness laced in my voice. ‘I listened to you when you told me you loved me, when told me you would never leave my side, when you vowed to me in front of the entire kingdom that you would live to make me happy. I listened to you and I believed you.’ My voice filled with anger and sadness ‘And what was my reward for listening? I was accused of poisoning his majesty, a man I loved like my own father. And you my own husband, you believed their words over mine and banished me. You chose your beloved kingdom over me and when I found love again you killed him.’ ‘The only one who believed me, the only one who helped me and cared for me, you ordered his death!’ again I pushed ‘You don’t understand’ he responded. ‘No I understand perfectly’ I screamed back, ‘ but know this you may be the lord of the ocean but you lost all ties with me the day you abandoned me.’ ‘Enough Umroa!’ ‘And you have no right stop me from moving on with my life without you!’ ‘I SAID ENOUGH.’ He said, his eyes changing from their loving glance to a hard cold stare boring into me. His evident anger causing the surrounding waters to pulse with tension, many fishes around us to scurrying quickly to cower and hide. ‘YES, I DID WRONG YOU UMRAO BUT NOT IN THE WAY YOU THINK I DID. I DIDN’T SEND MY MEN TO KILL ALAISTAIR; NO I KILLED HIM MYSELF,I KILLED HIM FOR DARING TO DESIRE WHAT IS MINE AND I WILL KILL MANY MORE BEFORE MY TIME ENDS.’ He bellowed as he grabbed me roughly by my hands and plunged us both deeper into the ocean. We landed on a soft bed and I though I didn’t know what he’s intentions were, I didn’t want to stay ; not after all the pain he caused me. ‘Let me go!’ I screamed as I struggled beneath him. He held up both my hands with one hand as straddled me using his weight to his advantage. He slowly stroked between the valley of my breasts with the other hand moving lower to my core. ‘Hush my love, we don’t have much time left, the sun will soon begin to rise.’ ‘STOP TOUCHING ME!’ I screamed using my sonar voice to throw him off me. I tried swimming away, but as I turned I felt the sting of an attack on my face and fell to the sandy floor. I screamed as he plunged roughly into me, hissing into my ear. ‘I AM YOUR MATE!’ THRUST ‘YOU ARE MINE’ THRUST ‘AND ONLY MINE’ THRUST’ ‘I WILL NOT SHARE YOU’ THRUST, THRUST ‘ANYONE!’ THRUST, THRUST, THRUST ‘THAT EVEN’ THRUST ‘ATTEMPTS’THRUST ‘TO LOOK AT YOU!’ THRUST TRUST ‘WITH THE INTENTION OF CLAIMING YOU’ THRUST, THRUST ‘WILL’ THRUST ‘PAY’ THRUST ‘WITH’ THRUST ‘THEIR’THRUST ‘LIVES’ THRUST He ravaged into me mercilessly, taking me over and over again with his full power unleashed, just like our first night together only this time he was rough and deaf to my cries. He dipped his head into my hair inhaling deeply as he thrust harder and faster, biting his mark on my neck every time he reached crescendo; and when he was finally done, he fell with his full weight on top of me breathing heavily into my hair as we both tried to catch our breaths. The tears fell relentlessly from my face through it all, as the pains of past and present merge in my mind. Our scales scratched off both our skins by the brutal force of him upon me stained the floor and glittered against light. I stared at his silver scales, scattered all over us some piercing into my skin leaving bruises, I focused on them refusing to look at his face. I wept as his fingers moved up to caress my face, cleaning my tears. ‘Shhhh’ he whispered as he pulled me close to himself, being too tired to fight back I let him; resting his chin on my head. ‘This wasn’t how I planned our night to be my love, there is so much I want to tell you and one day I will tell you everything ’ he said stroking my hair. He kissed me fully on the lips and held my forehead to his as he breathed deeply closing his eyes. ‘It is dawn’ he said sighing and opening his eyes to look at me. ’My heart, please stay with me’ was the last thing I heard him say before it all went dark and I felt myself tunneling through the darkness gasping for breath as I tumbled. I screamed as I felt like I was been forced through a very tiny opening. There was a loud explosion and I landed with a thud surrounded by darkness and a suffocating heat I started thrashing around trying to find air and screamed but my voice seem muffled until I final found an escape from beneath my sheets and blankets. I gasped for air as I threw away the blankets, sweating profusely with my body aching all over. My daughter came into the room switching on the light, fear clearly written on her face. ‘Mum, are you ok?’ she asked. ‘Yes my love, I am, did I wake you?’ ‘I heard you crying and …’ ‘It’s ok honey; it was just a bad dream. I am awake now.’ ‘Do you need me to stay with you?’ ‘No baby, go back to bed.’ ‘Ok mum, good night’ ‘Good night honey. Thanks’ I waited for a few minutes refusing to cry as tears threatened to spill. After composing myself I stretched my hands to get off my bed but noticed silver scales all over them. I shot up to run to the bathroom but my core throbbed painfully as fluids dripped down my thighs and I was forced to fall back. I had to crawl, using the walls and door post as support before putting on the neon lamp and undressing slowly before the bathroom mirror despite the pain. When I took off my robe I saw bite marks on my shoulders, fluids dripping down my legs and silver scales all over me.