Rusalka Girlfriend: Tihana (special preview)

You go to move again and you heel slips on the end of the dock. You fall backwards into the water with a loud crack. You struggle, trying to grab hold of anything, but you sink like a stone. Panic takes hold of you and you do things you were taught not to as a child. You thrash and scream, fighting to find anything to grab hold of. Soon your lungs grow heavy, painful. The light comes through the water filtered and opaque, you can barely seen anything at all around you.

Two hands come from the shadows, grabbing you up. The inky black cloud that grows before you comes closer and closer until all that you can see is blackness. A pair of lips brush against yours, opening your mouth and breathing into you.

You’re brought back to the surface, coughing up water as you claw your way through the mud. You vomit up more water, heaving shuddering breaths as you try to calm yourself down. Your savior stays at the edge of the water, kneeling in the shallow as you collect yourself.

The inky black hair parts, showing the yellow eyes again. They have their hands clasped together almost as if they’re praying. 

You shiver in the cold, glancing their way again. You notice, tangled in their hair, is a tattered flower crown made from calendula blossoms and baby’s breath, just like the one you had watched sink earlier that day.

You try to stand up but you stumble, falling forward into the mud again. The creature rushes forward, making that clicking, guttural sound with their throat. They pull you into their lap so that your cheek lays against their cool, slick thigh. You feel scales against your cheek as you close your eyes. 

You wake to the sound of water lapping at the shore, while your breathing echoes off of stone walls. You moan as your eyes open, gazing towards the moss covered stone above you. Looking around you see you’re in a cave, where there is a hole above you that smoke rises through. The small fire near you keeps you warm and you see a fish roasting on a stick. The water comes right up to the mouth where there is a beach of red clay.

You then see a figure watching you from the water. The top of head peers out over the surface, their hair flowing out about them. You’re not sure what to do or say, you simply watch them watching you for the longest time.

“Heh-hello?” You start. Your throat feels sore from choking and vomiting water earlier. “Where am I?”

They plop under the water, disappearing.

“Oh,” you whisper to yourself. You pull your knees up to your chest then turn your attention back onto the fire.

A second later, they splash out of the water again and crawl up the red clay to your feet. They spit out another fish from their mouth, looking up at you with a massive grin. Their mouth is full of jagged, sharp teeth, and their black lips pull back as if their mouth has been slit.

You stare down at the bloody fish before you then at the one roasting in the fire. The creature kneels in the red clay and brings their hands to their mouth. They mimic eating, bringing one hand up and taking a bite in the air, then turning to their other hand to do the same motion. They then look at you, grinning while nodding.

“To eat?” You ask cautiously. “Oh,” you’re still uncertain how to respond. “Thank you.”

The creature taps their hand to their chest then reaches out, holding their palm flat to you. You see the shimmering jade like pads on their fingers and palm, the texture rougher than the rest of their skin. The sheer webbing between their fingers isn’t just black like you thought, but a sort of glimmering dark rainbow. 

You hold out your hand, pressing your palm against theirs. There is a pulse that travels through your arm, like a small shock. You then glance to the creature who inches in even closer to you. A calendula blossom is still tangled in their dark hair, the few pink petals clinging on for dear life. 

“You saved me,” you murmur. “You didn’t mean to scare me.”

They wiggle in place as they keep their hand pressed to yours. You notice the shape of their body more, their small, soft breasts with puffy, dark nipples. Their frame is slender and willowy with limbs that are abnormally long.