One Soul To Share (10 page)

Only Nolan, knowing the real Sarina, could
see the cold death behind her eyes and the robotic lack of caring
in her movements.

Still, his pulse jumped, and it took all his
self-control to keep from jumping overboard into the mass of
undulating mermaid forms.

His eyes never leaving Sarina’s, he pulled
the chain that held her soul from the box and dangled the precious
piece over his head. “Sarina!” he called. “Come for me.”

And she did. She pushed the mermaids closest
to her out of her path, then sliced through the water with her
arms. At the boat, she looked up at him. Water slicked back her
hair and glistened on her breasts.

“Human,” she whispered.

“Nolan,” he replied. “Say my name,
Sarina.”

Her hand reached up to take his, but he
stepped back. “My name.”

Her brows lowered, and confusion flitted
across her face, but her eyes were dead. “You called me.”

“My name. Say it.” He didn’t know why he
needed her to say his name. Perhaps it was to prove that even minus
her soul, she could remember him, love him as deeply as he loved
her.

To prove that neither of them—soul or no
soul—was a monster.

“Nolan,” she whispered, then, placing her
hands onto the boat’s edge, she lifted her body. As she rose, her
face changed; her mouth opened, and her teeth sharpened. Not just
fangs, teeth… like a piranha’s.

He didn’t pull back. He didn’t feel any
horror. She was still his, still everything he loved. “Sarina. Say
it again,” he ordered, stepping back again and hiding the soul
behind his back.

She shook her head as if trying to dislodge
some thought or nightmare. “Nolan… Nolan,” she muttered again.
Confusion clouded her eyes.

Better than the deadness he’d seen there
before.

“Nolan… the vampire. The man I…”

Her eyes cleared, and horror dashed across
her face.

Her arms, holding her up, began to shake
until she fell forward, limp, into the boat. She curled into a
ball, still shaking.

A trick. It was what the bartender would have
claimed, but Nolan knew better.
Sarina remembers me.

He rushed forward and pulled her close. Her
face was hers again; the monster was gone. Her fingers tightened on
his arm, but her eyes remained closed, screwed tight as if she was
afraid to open them.

Carefully, he slipped the necklace over her
neck and let her soul fall down against her heart. Then he tipped
her face up to his and stared into her now open, beautiful,
sea-green eyes.

“I don’t need to be what I was. I don’t need
a soul,” he murmured. “Not if you can love me as I am.”

“But…” Her fingers went to the vial. “I would
have killed you, dragged you to the bottom of the sea, and torn out
your heart. I… wanted to.”

“But you didn’t.”

“But—”

“You didn’t.” It was enough. He didn’t expect
perfection, didn’t expect the impossible. Her loving him at all,
accepting him, was miracle enough.

“The sea hag has more souls,” he told her.
“Enough for all the mermaids here.”

“You would go back? Risk being captured
again?”

“I would.” For Sarina, he would risk
anything… everything.

“I love you,” she whispered. “I shouldn’t,
but I do.”

“And I love you.”

Then he pulled her close, and he kissed
her.

One soul, one life, one love—nothing could be
better than what they had, together.

-o0o-

Thanks for reading
One Soul to
Share
. If you would like to see more stories in this series or
any of my series or if you just have a question to ask or thought
to share, I’d love to hear from you. Drop me an email at
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Thanks so much for reading my stories.

Lori Devoti

Lori Devoti is the author of urban fantasy,
contemporary and paranormal romance. To learn more about her
fiction,
visit her web site
,
http://www.loridevoti.com, or her
fan page
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,
http://www.facebook.com/LoriDevotiAuthor.

Or email her at
[email protected]

-o0o-

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