Chapter 22
Zoe
I wanted to wrap myself around him with all I had and love all the pain and confusion out of him, but Vodyan was detached, focused inward, so I didn’t push him. I didn’t even feel hurt or that my feelings weren’t reciprocated, because I had a strong suspicion I knew what caused his reaction.
There was that boy once, a thirteen-year-old orc, whose parents neglected and abused him, both finally landing in jail when his scars were discovered. He was withdrawn but combative, and one day, he attacked a few older boys, who in turn beat him up. When the teachers separated them, I knelt by his side and stroked his sweaty hair, telling him he was important and loved.
That boy looked at me with such infinite contempt and asked me in a calm, cool voice why I believed in fairy tales. Love didn’t exist, he said. He’d never seen it.
I was unable to answer. I even apologized for saying something that made him feel worse when I only tried to comfort him. He was taken aback. Maybe he believed being apologized to belonged in the realm of fairy tales, too .
Now, I sat comfortably in Vodyan’s tight embrace, and he held me possessively as we swam through the glowing, vibrant city center to his apartment. When he showed off Yeseera, I got the feeling he loved the city, and no wonder. It was beautiful and felt safe in a way I hadn’t experienced on land.
Because the precious, expensive shanta was right there , ready to be stolen, yet nobody even tried. Then again, if the punishment was mutilation, maybe it was understandable. So it wasn’t all pretty colors and glitter, but the city seemed peaceful in a way that spoke to me deeply.
And the lights! The flowers! Also, humans swimming around, some with plastic masks covering their mouths so they could speak, but no air tanks. It blew my mind.
“Why isn’t it common knowledge?” I asked as we passed between two very wide, jet black towers shimmering with turquoise lights. “That vodniks can help humans survive down here?”
Vodyan laughed bitterly. “Well, for one, no vodnik wants to be kidnapped to have our sperm harvested. With women, it’s more difficult. They actually need to be in the right frame of mind for the cocktail to flow. Men, not so much. Someone could just tie us up and jerk us off. The body does the rest.”
My stomach tightened with horror and unease. “God. I didn’t even… It didn’t cross my mind. That sounds horrible.”
He hummed, his palm squeezing my ass. “Because you’re a good person, Zoe. But people like Carver, for example, would absolutely use that as a resource. We decided to keep you in the lake because humans are at such a huge disadvantage down here. If I cut off their air tanks, they are done. But if they could breathe without them, that would change things.”
“So all those humans here, what, they just fell in the lake? Or how did those couples meet?”
He descended, lower and lower, until we touched the lake bottom in front of a black tower shimmering green. There was a door of matte, black bars and a glowing touch panel by its side .
“Vodniks go out to the surface to hang out with humans if they want to,” he said softly. “But… It’s also a sexual orientation some vodniks have. We differentiate between being attracted to vodniks, to humans, or to both. You were kind of my bi awakening.”
He pressed his entire palm to the touch panel, and it lit up green. The door swung open.
“Wait. You said… The lowest levels are for the rich,” I said, realizing what was happening.
“Yeah. I was kind of leading into this,” he said with a cocky smirk that looked so good on his face. “Guarding shanta shipments pays really well. My apartment has a dry space downstairs. You’ll be comfortable.”
Just as he was about to enter, there was a gasp from above and a childish voice screaming, “Mama! Mama!”
Vodyan stopped, his jaw clenching as the smirk slid off his face. He seemed uncomfortable. I looked up to see a vodnik woman emerge from the apartment above, looking annoyed by the child’s calls.
“What, Kipka?”
“The scary man brought a human! Will he eat them?”
She jolted and looked down, flinching when her eyes met Vodyan’s. Oh. Was she afraid of him?
“Don’t talk nonsense, Kipka,” she said without speaking a word to us.
Vodyan tensed further. I didn’t know what the deal with his neighbor was, and he evidently wasn’t about to say anything, so I laughed as loudly as I could, drawing the vodniks’ attention.
“From one lady to another,” I said, looking at the woman with a conspiratorial grin, “I very much hope your hot neighbor eats me. Good day!”
Vodyan made a soft, surprised noise, and the woman’s eyes widened before her lips stretched in a reluctant smile.
“Mama! Why isn’t she scared?” Kipka asked, her voice hushed but still loud enough to hear .
“Because he’s a very kind, amazing man!” I shouted while Vodyan pulled me into the apartment.
The door closed behind us, and he tugged me in deeper, passing through a doorway covered with a curtain of something that looked like bluish fronds.
“Hope she has fun avoiding the kid’s questions about what I meant,” I said with an evil grin.
Green and soft golden lights lit up as soon as we entered, revealing a space filled with plants. All of them swayed as we swam in, woken by the current. It looked like a jungle in here, except the plants were mostly blue, red, pink, white, and purple.
“Wow,” I breathed, looking around as more details stood out to me.
A huge, jet black screen was embedded in a wall. Thin, intricate ornaments hung from the ceiling, turning gently and reflecting the lights. And deeper in the room, another doorway with a curtain of bioluminescent blue plants led into another room.
“Thank you, Zoe,” Vodyan said.
When I looked at him, I realized he must have stared at me the whole time I was taking in his apartment. His eyes were intense, face serious.
“For what? What did I do?”
He snorted softly and stroked the back of my head. “When I told you I don’t have friends, it was true. Even my neighbors are afraid of me. I can’t… I don’t smile at people. I rarely speak to strangers. And you… You just shine. I appreciate what you did.”
My heart wrenched with pain at his admission, but I didn’t let it show. Instead, I smiled, throwing my arms around his neck.
“I only told them the truth. You’re a kind, amazing man, and you’re very, very hot.”
“Yeah?” he asked, that cocky smirk back on his face.
I longed to kiss it, so I took off my lower mask and pulled him closer. He caught me deftly until I straddled him, our lips meeting in a messy kiss, cool water sliding between us. Vodyan kneaded my ass, a deep groan coming from his voice sack. I squirmed against him, shamelessly seeking friction, until he pulled away.
“We can fuck downstairs.”
I barely nodded while he already moved through the house, fast and eager. In the next room, there was a trap door that opened after he pushed a button. We fell into a cylindrical lock, much like the one in the safehouse, except this one was jet black and dotted with pretty green lights.
The water pumped out fast, and Vodyan kissed me through it. As soon as the water level dropped enough for my suit to stop operating, I realized he was hot around me, his tentacles and arms already there to shield me from the cold.
“You’re so good,” I choked out when he kissed my cheeks and jaw, the tips of his sharp teeth gently scraping my skin. “And so hot. So strong. And you make me laugh. And I just love…” I broke off, realizing what I almost said and terrified of spoiling the mood for him. “I just love the way you fuck me. You’re so perfect.”
His lips curved in a smile against my jaw.
“Told you it would come to you.”
I didn’t have a chance to ask what he meant, because the water was gone, and the door to the dry floor opened, the space beyond flooded with soft, golden lights. Vodyan stopped kissing me and smiled.
“Hope you like it.”
It was a huge, open space, with a door on the far side. Most of the floor was taken up by a deep pool, its tiles arranged into a light and dark green mosaic. A huge flat TV screen took up almost an entire wall. In another part of the room, I saw a pull-up bar and a big rack with neatly arranged dumbbells and kettlebells.
“It’s awesome,” I said honestly. “And I’ll like it even better when I see you work out, because that’s a level of hot my life didn’t prepare me for. ”
He grinned, leaning in to give me a soft kiss. “If you need some time to yourself, I think I can handle it for a bit. I’ll also order something to eat. I think we’re both fed up with canned food.”
The bathroom was gorgeous, dark green and light gray, with a huge sunken bath and a squat toilet. I took my time rinsing off the long hours of traveling in the suit, washing my hair and body with dark green, creamy cosmetics that smelled pleasantly organic. I toweled myself off with a towel Vodyan gave me, and it wasn’t made of cotton, but of a fabric that brought to mind compressed plants and was surprisingly absorptive.
I came out of the bathroom naked, wearing just a smile. When Vodyan saw me, his face instantly sharpened. He was in the pool, two plates and two bottles of beer set aside on the edge.
“Come here,” he rasped, stretching his tentacles until he took up the entire area of the pool. “It’s warm.”
“I love it when you manspread like this,” I said, walking over.
“Manspread?” He looked confused, but before I could explain, he grinned.
His tentacles shot out and wrapped around me, pulling me in the pool. I shrieked and laughed, clutching him to find my balance. Vodyan settled me on top, and as I straddled him, his cock slid out, nestling against my clit and belly.
It flexed, gently rubbing my skin, but seemed mostly content just curling against me for now.
“Hello there,” I said, running my finger along the slick length. “You seem happy to see me.”
Vodyan snorted out a laugh. “Definitely. You must be hungry, though. Let’s eat. I got you today’s human special. I hope it’s all right.”
It was more than all right. Rice, fish, and some type of green vegetable that was deliciously crispy was blended into a well-seasoned dish. We ate like that, with me pressed up against his cock that I stole glances at, while Vodyan definitely had his fill looking at my tits .
“I could get used to this,” I groaned with satisfaction, taking a long pull of my beer.
“You’d better,” he said, taking the bottle out of my hand. “And to that effect, I’ll feed you some more, sweet thing. So next time, you can go out without your tank.”
I pressed into his hard cock until he released a sharp breath. “And we’d be like one of those couples,” I murmured. “Yeah. Let’s do it. Feed me.”
His eyes brightened with heat, and he kissed me hard, wrapping his tentacles around my thighs until he spread me wide open. I felt the stretch and welcomed it, opening as wide as he commanded.
“And then,” he said, kissing a path up my cheek, “you’ll have to take me whole.”
He whispered hotly, licking the shell of my ear and then my throat, his teeth scraping my skin. I squirmed against him, horny, and yet…
“But… But look at you.” I pointed at his cock that was easily twice the size and girth of a human one. “I can’t take…”
“You can,” he interrupted, silencing me with a kiss. “You have to. I need to be home, Zoe. I need to be inside you.”
Fuck. How could I say no? But before I had time to speak, he continued, his voice dropping low as his cock pulsed between my thighs, a tentacle wrapping around my chest until both my nipples were encased in eager, hungry suckers.
“We’ll do it slowly the first time, and I promise you, it will feel so good,” he said, tilting my head to have better access to my neck, where he licked over my pulse point. “It will work, sweetheart. I’ll stretch you out first and get you ready. Do you want two tentacles in your pretty pussy? I can make two fit in there. You’d look so good, stuffed full of me. Fuck, I need to be inside you.”
I breathed too fast, getting dizzy, and my pussy clenched so hard, it felt like an orgasm was building already. It was insane, and when a tentacle dove inside his slit, nudging his cock aside, I groaned at the same moment he did .
His eyes focused on me, and he grabbed my hand, wrapping it over his tentacle.
“Do you like it? Fuck me with it. Do anything you want.”
“I feel like I’m gonna have a stroke,” I confessed, my voice so hoarse, it scratched my throat. “This is so fucking hot.”
I gripped his muscular limb obediently and moved it slowly, watching with parted lips as it sank deep inside him and pulled out, glistening with slick lubrication.
He grunted with every careful thrust, and when I wrapped my other palm around his cock, it throbbed in my hand like a heart. He moaned deeply, shuddering all over.
“Fuck! You’ll make me come,” he bit out, water churning as his limbs spasmed with pleasure. “You have to…”
But he didn’t need to spell it out. I leaned over and closed my lips around the hard, salty tip, sucking gently as both my hands worked him into a frenzy. Tentacles slid over me, caressing and urging, and with every pulse of his suckers, a beat of lust ran from my nipples straight to my clit, building me up.
Vodyan tensed with a harsh groan, and salty cum flooded my mouth as he shivered, his own tentacle buried deep inside him, his cock jerking violently in my hand. I swallowed it all and gave him a few more pumps, milking every last drop out of him.
When I sucked off his cock, he grabbed my nape in a possessive hold and bared his teeth in a feral smile.
“You fucked me with it, and now I’ll use it to fuck you, too.”