She was waiting for him at the water's edge, half submerged, her smile winsome, eyelids lowered. Follow My Song had caught him watching her from a distance and so she sung to him, softly lilting, beckoning. He would come along, sooner or later. None could resist.
He was quite the prize, a dark buck wearing rainbow colours around his head. He was a fitting gift to the water, where he would sink and sleep forever.
Ever so slowly he approached, his eyes glowing with every colour, his expression one of curious pleasure. He was a Kiokote, older but still with a strong body, muscles that would flex and tremble as he drowned.
He was waiting, just out of reach, ears perked forward, listening.
Her song came to an end. Now she would invite him to join her. For who could resist one such as her? Her tail swished through the water, creating a ripple on the surface, inviting.
“Good morning,” he said. “That was a lovely song.”
She laughed softly at his praise.
“Why thank you,” she cooed. “It was all for you.” Her tail swished again. “Would you care to join me?” The offer wasn’t subtle at all. Her soft voice oozed suggestion. She tilted her head to show off the line of her neck,
His brows raised almost comically high then settled down again as he shook his head. “Ah, my apologies. I’m not - you’re perfectly lovely, I’m sure.” Her eyes narrowed slightly at that last part. “But I, uh, I’m called for, quite happily.”
It wouldn’t be her first conquest over a buck who had supposedly settled down. It didn’t put her off in the slightest.
“Are you sure?” She laughed sweetly. “Nobody else has to know.”
“I am very sure,” he said swiftly and with deep inflection. “Besides, you’ve already, uh, entertained someone recently.”
She went very still.
How did he know?
And to what extent?
There was another pool, another body.
Like a snake coiled to strike, she was still and watchful, looking for the trap, the angle. What would he ask for his silence if not her body? Why was he here?
Then he was speaking again, very gently saying, “you are with foal” as if not to frighten her with the news.
Ah.
She relaxed slightly; allowed herself to breathe.
The other buck. The one she had entertained and let go. He had been as much of the water as she, flowing, powerful. He’d pleased her enough that she had looked the other way as he had left and instead she had found another to take his place.
“How do you know?” She asked flatly, all her charm gone. She no longer wanted this one.
“I am a chosen of the Swamp, I am here to bless you and your children.” He seemed proud.
“And if I don’t wish to be blessed?”
That flummoxed him for a moment.
How irritating. She had never been unlucky enough to fall pregnant before and now some unpleasant so-and-so who didn’t have the decency to be charmed and drown was the one to tell her about it.
“Well,” she said finally, “get on with it then.”
He visibly brightened. What a simpleton.
“Of course! Do you have any wishes for them?”
“That they perish in their sacs before they breathe their first breath,” she hissed.
His rainbow eyes widened in shock.
Follow My Song was already sinking back in the water, all pretense gone, just a vicious creature who had been denied their prey. She had not the teeth and claws, only seduction. As she turned to swim away, to find a different hunting ground, his voice followed her.
“May they live long and happy lives, a song in their heart and joy in their smiles.”
And she hated him like she had never hated anyone before.