Sea Spray [Closed]

She actually answered him.

Lochlann was not expecting that.

He found himself frowning, especially because her answer made sense, although he wouldn't suspect her of lying. Lochlann wasn't exactly gullible, but pretty girls were a weakness of his, and he had this mental category that girls who were willing to punch him in the face didn't have to lie to him because they could just punch him again.

"It was just an educated guess you would be here. No more, no less. Is this information sufficient? Will you answer me, now?"

"So does that mean you know-" Lochlann stopped himself short. He was going to say You know what I am? but he didn't think so. If she did, he didn't think she'd be in a shack with him during a rainstorm. As much as he hated that stupid necklace, it did the job of keeping him disguised.

He sighed and rolled slowly onto his side, propping his head up with one hand, making sure his other arm was still in contact with her leg. He drew patterns in the thin layer of dust and sand that coated parts of the floor. He sighed.

"Alright, that's fair enough." He bit the inside of his cheek, scrunching up his face as though he bit something sour, trying to figure out how to condense his past into a few lines that didn't make him sound like a total psycho. "I've gone from school to school, and at my last one, I decided I was going to avoid girls completely and focus completely on my studies. "

He stopped drawing patterns with his fingers and started drumming them against the floor almost nervously. He rushed through the rest, another indication of his discomfort. "It didn't work so well. I tried to avoid this girl, but she kept finding ways to corner me and meet me, and long story short we ended up going out, and then she drowned."

He watched the rain out the window again, this time intentionally avoiding her gaze.

"So why are you collecting data on students? It doesn't sound very fun."

"It's your job to fall in love with a girl then drown her?"

Her voice was sweet, thick and almost tangible against the cold air, and Lochlann wanted to drink it up. He wasn't sure how he'd go about drinking words, but he figured it might start with a kiss. He felt dizzy.
He put his head on the floor, exhaling against the dirty wood.

"Love isn't compatible with my schedule," [/i]she said, and he gave a soft exhale that could have been a snort, a laugh, or even just an indication of all three. He wasn't sure himself.

"I didn't think so." He said, but he made himself sit back up, slowly, and he looked her in the eyes. The cat was out of the bag now. It didn't matter. She'd figured it out.

He finally answered her first question, too drunk off her scent and his head too cloudy to realize the conversational had already progressed.

"Yes. I give them the best night of their lives and they don't wake up from it." There was no indication of bragging in his voice; he said it was bluntly as she had said it was her job. "It's not something I can stop. it's not something I even want to do. It just happens. I'm not like you, I'm not human, it's just the way things are supposed to be for me."

His voice was hollow, like he'd gotten so used to swallowing something bitter that he'd forgotten how bad the taste was. His skin was still burning, but he was pretty sure he was going to have to pull away from her soon. It felt good to be this close to her, but he was starting to ache again, needing more than just the feel of her leg against his own.

She pointed to the shirt. "Why did you give this to me in the first place?"

Lochlann's face faltered.

"I don't..I mean.." He hadn't thought about it. It was just a reaction, something that happened when a person shivered. She was cold, he wasn't, it wasn't something he thought needed explaining. The emptyness dropped from his voice and was instantly replaced by a desperate fumbling for words. It was clear he didn't know, so he said just that.

"You seemed cold. I'm not."

"You're not like me, hmm? Then what would you describe yourself as?"

For one moment, Lochlann saw a tiny sliver of skin as she lifted her arms and slid his shirt over her--and god, who new putting on clothing could have that effect-- sent a whiff of her scent towards him. Oh this was bad, what was he doing? He looked away and snapped his eyes shut.

And then there was a thump and something hit him in the chest and--

No.

But yes.

Lochlann's hand was on her back, at first just to catch her, but his thumb brushed against a sliver of bare skin. She was tangled in her jacket and he realized he could help by lifting his other arm to give her room to maneuver but when he did that, she was just lined up perfectly.

He couldn't help himself.

He kissed her. It just happened, but of course it didn't happen, he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers with a urgency that was both gentle and desperate. It was a kiss that promised more if she wanted it. It was a kiss that horrified Lochlann because it was exactly what he wanted.

He pulled away slowly, his face close to her neck, and managed to whisper "Guin, I'm sorry."

But he couldn't help himself from gently kissing her neck, tasting the light scent of her flesh against her skin. He was shaking with the conscious effort to stop, but his one hand was still resting on her back, his fingers curled.

He had never prayed so strongly for a girl to punch him as he did right now.

The rain pounded against the windows, a mimicry of his racing heartbeat, and he wondered how long this storm would last. It couldn't be forever, but it certainly felt like it. He titlted his head back, but it felt like he was trying to pry a car door out from beneath a semitruck with a pair of tongs, but he managed. He slammed it against the floorboards, but it didn't really matter.

With her ontop of him, he didn't hurt. He felt wonderful, blissful even, and he didn't want it to stop. But he did. But he didn't. He couldn't think.

He managed a strangled word that could have been "Help" or a whimper not to stop. He wasn't sure himself. He was drunk off her. If she kissed him back it would be all over, because there was nothing that would stop him from rolling over, tangling his fingers in her hair, and kissing her again and again like a drowning man gasps for air.

This shouldn't have been so hard, but Lochlann was trying. It felt like hell.

And it was wonderful.

Something happened.

It reminded Loch a lot of the time he got expelled from school. Okay, so one of the times he was expelled from school, but he wasn't sure which one. It was an earlier one, though, because in his memory he was younger.

He made the mistake of actually changing in the boy's locker room. This was before the amulet, so he skipped the showers completely, and he was grabbing his saddlebag from the locker when someone slapped him on the back. Hard. Rat-tailed him with a towel.

He froze.

There was a voice: "Isn't that the freak who took your girlfriend?"

And a fight broke out. Loch was outnumbered, but he was scrappy, and he managed to get the upper hand.

But that was the first time he'd been kicked between the legs.

Ever.

Horses just didn't do that.

He'd never forgotten the humiliation, but now it was back, and with it was that terrifying pain. He'd wanted her to hurt him, but he didn't want this. He mouthed "oh god" and tried to convince himself it was for the best, but he'd rolled onto his side, tucked his legs in and went fetal, not even sure how Guin took her exit off of him, but he didn't even notice the most vital part.

Somehow, in the mess, the chain from his necklace had gotten tangled in Guin's jacket and snapped off.

Loch was completely and utterly vulnerable, but he didn't realize it until the white spots of pain started to fade from his vision and he realized....he didn't hurt all over.

Sure, he still ached with the need that every addict felt, and there was that knowledge that nothing was going to be better until he got his fix, but now, without the amulet, he realized he could still get what he wanted, what he needed.

Shit.

Loch looked up at her, his pupils so far dilated as to render his eyes completely black. He was still doubled over, shirtless and sweaty, but now an aura of danger would be radiating loosely from him. There was something about his posture, though still crumpled, that was more reminiscent of a mustang.

He went to get up onto his feet but--

Oh
Oh
Oh
Holy crap
Oh No

Loch's leg crumpled and the words that left his mouth were ridiculous in the shock that escaped them: "That fucking HURTS."

It mostly wiped the cocky smirk off his face, because his eyes were scrunched shut as he rode off another wave of pain that was indescribable in intensity, but it didn't stop the ill-fated words from escaping from his lips. "Totally worth it."

With the pain came a rippling, though. It was like the air around him had started to flicker, but he didn't noticed, to wrapped up in the pain. Loch really needed that necklace, or Guin was going to find out exactly what he was.

"You're repulsive, she said it with such finality that it'd probably hurt Loch if he hadn't heard it before. Instead, it drug another memory forward from the back of his mind.

Her voice. You're repulsive....it's no wonder no one loves you.

And that had been the best night of his life. And the worst.

He looked at Guin curiously, wondering if she was lying and she could read his mind. The entire time his cocky smile stayed on his lips, but it faltered for a moment.

"I could love you," he said. His accent slipped through before he could catch it.

The pain in his head was gone and he would probably be feeling great if it wasn't for the crippling blow between his legs. His head was a little foggy, but that's okay, these things happened with the amulet. The rain must be lightening up is all.

Lochlann went to twist his fingers around the chain out of habit, but touched his bare skin instead. Rain hammered against the window in another burst, shortly the worst before it got better, and Lochlann felt the color drain from his skin. His eyes gleamed from beneath his bangs and his teeth were too sharp.

"Guin," he breathed, "I need that necklace."

"You are very, very wrong about that." Guinevere gave a sigh..

Lochlann shook his head. "I'm never wrong."

The words were out and gone, replaced by the sense of panic realizing he was completely and utterly exposed. He'd rather be stark naked in the middle of a public food court than without the necklace.

He wasn't in the kind of pain he was in before, but he was concentrating on breathing like he was when she first found him. In. Pause. Out. Human. Stay. Human. Don't. Show. Her.

He made the mistake at looking at her face again and felt a brief flicker of interest before another roll of pain jabbed its way through his crotch. Poseidon's fat sea tits, that hurt! But maybe it was a good thing. Maybe he wouldn't be able to hurt her if he was like this.

He could still taste her on his lips and he didn't want to admit that he wanted more.

"Why? What will happen if I don't give you this?"

"It will get very small in here very quickly." He didn't elaborate. He was too busy trying to concentrate, now too aware of how thick the air was around him, how hot he was. The ocean was outside. It was very cool. It would feel good to run with the sand under his hooves.

He gave a slow groan and there was something inhuman about the sound. He grabbed onto the wall and hoisted himself up slowly, clutching desperately onto the wall for support.

"Please."

Loch felt like he was trying to catch his balance. He felt like he was falling backwards, and something small, something minute would decide if he stayed standing or fell flat on his ass. It took every ounce of his concentration to stay as he was--plastered against the wall and, more importantly, human.

"Tell me what is going to happen," she said reasonably. "Then and only then will I decide whether I will return the necklace to you."

He looked at her and then he kept looking at her for a long time. He tried to memorize the details of her face, the way her hair fell, and tried to ignore that he liked seeing her in his shirt. It was a stupid thing, a small thing, but it made something uncoil and stretch inside him like it was just waking up from a long hibernation. He wasn't sure what it was, but it didn't like the idea of eating her. She was probably manipulating him, he realized way too late, but...he kind of liked it.

No girl had spoken to him the way she was now. He'd been flirted with before, but this wasn't flirting. He was the one unsettled now, and Loch looked at this girl with an entirely new pair of eyes.

"Who are you really, Guin?"

He wasn't sure if he asked it or thought it. He couldn't concentrate. He had to concentrate.

Loch was an addict and Guin was a fix waiting to happen.

In the end, it didn't matter what he wanted.

Lightning struck outside the shack, sending a blast of sand and debris against the wall and filled the air with the reek of ozone. The cracked window finally shattered with the roll of thunder that followed, drenching Loch with a burst of rain and broken glass.

He took one last look at Guin.

Then he opened the door and ran.

He was halfway down the beach when his foot prints became hoof prints. He dived into the surf without looking back.