From the sea

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Bennie scrunched her face up and whirled, trying to catch one of the creatures that was worrying her flanks, her dark eyes smoldering as she saw just how much of her blood was staining the chilly waters around them.

One of the mermaids got too close and suddenly sailed away, neck broken and limp. The others renewed their attack furiously, high voices vibrating through the liquid atmosphere, and she winced with pain, her own voice booming out and driving them back again enough to let her turn and swim desperately for the shore. Beaching herself was risky, but the growing darkness in her mind and lassitude of her muscles told her she was reaching the end of her road anyway. Better it be on the land that had birthed her than where these carrion harpies could tear at her.

The peaceful waves of the Cabot Strait suddenly errupted in a geyser of water as she hurtled forth, her powerful leap carrying her six foot inland. She hit with a crushing thud and pushed herself up weakly to turn and watch her attackers stick their hideous heads from the water and scream at her shrilly.

She smirked at them, then looked down at the wounds that marred her sleek brown fur and grimaced dizzily.

The last thing she remembered was a crack as she fainted and her head hit a rock.

Comments

[teh-rest.livejournal.com]

Billy Peddle didn't normally find himself exploring the craggy beaches south of Port Aux Basques. Usually the terrain was too tough for your everyday casual walk and the sea was too rough to make walking on the narrow strip of sand even a possibility.

But ocassionally Billy would risk life and limb if only to get away from the Phoenix Bluff for a few hours. Nobody would follow him this way, and the sighs and roars of the ocean were a very soothing kind of sound.

So he went, picking his way along the outcroppings of rock and dodging tidepools and geysers of sea-spray, when he saw something very interesting about five hundred metres ahead.

A dark shape vaulted out of the sea and landed on the beach, appearing to look toward the ocean before falling over and being very still.

Billy ran to it. At most, it would be a whale he'd have to just leave there or a seal he might be able to get away with hauling home and cutting up for meat.

But when he got there he didn't see a whale, or a seal.

He saw a woman.

"Oh, @*#%."

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The mermaids were still screaming, but they dove when they saw the man. Bennie lay still, a thick flow of red coming from her temple.

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He had to look again; she wasn't entirely a woman. She had... fur... and a tail? She looked like an otter-fish-person hybrid.

She also looked very injured.

Billy knelt down, noticing the blood. He unwound his sweater from around his waist and used that as a makeshift bandage before moving to the woman's head. Holding it steady, he leaned over her and said loudly, "Are you okay?"

Because he had no idea what the hell else he was supposed to do.

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A voice penetrated the darkness and pain in her mind. A human voice.

Her forehead furrowed and her eyes moved, then opened slightly. "Uhh?"

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She was waking up; Billy actually grinned a little.

Sure, he would have been willing to carve her up were she a seal, but now that he knew she was a human being, he didn't feel like just leaving her to die.

"You understand what I'm sayin'?" he asked.

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She winced in pain as her breathing hitched, wondering vaguely what he was saying. "Ayúdeme."

Her voice was a whisper.

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"Oh boy." Billy shook his head, unable to comprehend the woman's speech.

His eyes traveled to the woman's tail and everything clicked. The strange language. The jumping-out-of-the-sea.

A mermaid.

He jumped.

"What the @*#$% is this?!"

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"Ayúdeme," she whispered again, then groaned with pain.

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"I don't understand," Billy said, frowning.

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-She wants you,- came Jeimu's insistent mind-voice, -to help her.-

"Yeah, but, she needs water. Doesn't she?"

-No. Bring her home.-

A shimmery circle of light appeared near them. Billy sighed and hefted the mermaid into his arms, being mindful of her head, before stepping through.

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Bennie felt herself lifted, then heard something come into being. It prickled her fur and made her unconciously dig her claws into the arm of the man who was carrying her, even though she was nearly too weak to breath.

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"Glad you could come," Jeimu said bitterly to Billy. "Sit her here, and I'll take care of her."

"Yes, b'y, whate'er." Billy scowled and set the woman on the kitchen table, watching Jeimu go to work to heal the woman's physical injuries.

It always unnerved him to see it.

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It was cold... so cold. Why wasn't her fur blocking it? Her teeth chattered as her body nearly went into spasms of shivering.

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"There we go." Jeimu's teeth were chattering and her fingers were starting to frost over, but she did the work necessary to heal the woman's injuries. "Her name is Bennie," she said suddenly. "She speaks... Spanish."

"Oh great." Billy rolled his eyes.

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Bennie's eyes opened and stared upward. "(What?)"

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Jeimu's eyes went oddly blank. "(Relax. You're on the Island of Newfoundland. My name is Jeimu, and this is Billy.)"

Billy stared. Every day Jeimu got weirder and weirder. Now she was speaking Spanish.

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"(Where I wanted to be.)" She closed her eyes again and shivered, teeth chattering.

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"(And why is that?)"

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"(Mutants are welcome here.)" A grimace. "(I'm so cold.)"

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"(That will go away,)" Jeimu said, "(once I'm done healing your wounds.)"

"Alright," Billy said, aggravated. "What's goin' on?!"

"She's come here because mutants are welcome here."

"Oh, that's @#^@%ing great. More mutants."

"Hey, just because you're not one doesn't mean you've gotta take it out on the rest of us..."

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Bennie turned her head to look at the man, not liking his tone of voice. Her dark eyes narrowed and she bared her teeth, clawed hands flexing. "(Donkey.)"

Yeah, not something good to be called in Spanish.

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Billy frowned. "What'd I do?"

"What do you think? Now, are you gonna take care of her or not?"

"I can't speak - "

Jeimu finished her work on Bennie and walked over to Billy and put her hand on his head, concentrating. "There. Now you can."

"What the @#$%'d you just do?"

"I eliminated the language barrier between you and her."

"Why?"

Jeimu just sighed and walked back to Bennie. "(Now that this is all done, what can I do to make you comfortable?)"

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She blinked from giving Billy a death glare, then glanced down at herself. "(I guess I should wear more than my fur when I'm not in the water.)"

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"(Fair enough,)" Billy heard himself say. "(What'd you want me to get ye?)"

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Bennie shrugged and yawned hugely, showing fangs that were beautiful in their unconscious threat. "(Something that doesn't rub my fur wrong.)"

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He disappeared upstairs and came back with an oversized t-shirt. "(Will this do for now?)"

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She nodded and sat up carefully, studying him as she put out a hand to take it. Something was telling her that he wasn't quite the jerk he came across as. "Gracias."

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"(You're... you're welcome.)" He looked her in the eyes. "(So is everyone coming to Newfoundland or what?)"

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"(I don't know.)" She awkwardly pulled the shirt on backward. "(I overheard two speaking at the wharf and decided to come.)"

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"(Here, let me...)" Billy reached out and helped put the shirt on the right way. "(I never caught your name. I'm Billy Peddle.)"

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"Benita Espenoza." She frowned at him, then checked the neckline of the shirt.

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"(It's good to meet you,)" he said, feeling a little awkward. Then he noticed Bennie's frown and frowned himself. "(What's the matter?)"

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"(Tired.)" She rubbed her arms wearily.

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Billy frowned. "(We have beds. You can rest.)"

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"(I need to go kill some fin freaks first.)" Her dark eyes showed a dangerous light as she once more showed those fangs.

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"(And get yourself hurt again?)" His frown grew deeper.

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"(No. I'll be ready for them this time.)"

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"(Something tells me that that wouldn't be a good idea.)" He walked over to the kitchen sink to help himself to a glass of water. Now that Bennie was okay and he was in the throes of an adrenaline crash, he felt very dehydrated. "(They're not your everyday ... whatever they were.)"

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Wicked claws suddenly gleamed darkly in the light. "(Neither am I.)"

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He gulped audibly. "(Fine, go and do what you need to, then...)"

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She looked toward the windows, her eyes narrowed. "(Where is the ocean?)"

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Billy looked immensely frightened. He simply pointed toward the front door. "(That way.)"

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She lowered herself from the table and went to the door, moving something like a seal only just a little more graceful, her progress made easy by the strength of her arms and body. Opening it, she looked through and frowned, reluctantly admitting that she'd probably be too tired to do what she wanted by the time she'd reached the water.

A scowl darkened her face as she closed the door and turned away. "(Is there a place I can sleep?)"

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"(We've got rooms.)" Billy turned to Jeimu. "What's open?"

Jeimu gave Billy a look. "All the upstairs ones are free."

"(You've got a choice then,)" Billy said, "(of all the rooms upstairs. Is that going to be... a problem?)"

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"No," she said calmly, heading toward the stairs.

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"(Okay...)"

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She pulled herself up them and looked around, then crawled through the first open door and made it onto the bed. Draped across it, she put her head down and passed out.

And poor Billy had no idea just how much of this beautiful and terrible woman he'd be seeing in the days to come.

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He just watched her go.

"Did what I just thought happen... just happen?" Jeimu said after a moment, her voice filling the silence. "Did you just bring some sort of aquatic woman into the house?"

Billy frowned. "Yes?"

"Between that, the vampire, the winged woman, and the other, angrier Kurt, we're going to have quite the time this year, aren't we?"

"Yer tellin' me."