Page 13 of She Who Was Once the Sea

"What are you drinking?" I asked again, louder this time, pressing my face close to his.

He raised an eyebrow at me when I pulled away, then looked me up and down before answering. "Sex on the Beach." His voice was clearer than I imagined it would be, given the smell of alcohol emanating from his pores. It took every ounce of my willpower not to cringe from the obvious come-on.

I turned towards the bartender, who had clearly overheard our conversation. "Make it a double," I said with a grin. He rolled his eyes as he turned away to make the drink.

"Impressive." The man leaned forward to speak into my ear, unnecessary given that I already knew how loud he was capable of being. "Do you know him or something?"

I shrugged, taking a slow sip of my wine. "I know everyone."

"I like a girl with connections." He nodded his approval as the bartender returned with the sickly looking drink. "What’s your name?"

"Marella," I said honestly, knowing that he wouldn’t be alive long enough to tell anyone anyway. "And you?"

"Brian."

I smirked. Of course his name was Brian.

"Anything for you?" The bartender raised an eyebrow at me.

"Another red wine," I answered, not taking my eyes off my new companion as he took a long, slow sip from his embarrassing cocktail. "The most expensive you have."

Brian laughed and shook his head, but still pulled his wallet from the pocket of his pants, and as the bartender once more turned to pour the drink, I took the opportunity to lean forward and whisper into his ear. "Don’t worry. I promise I’m worth it."

It made me feel almost invincibly powerful to watch Brian visibly balk at my brazenness. To know that I was able to elicit such an obvious response from a man as arrogant as him was always a boon to my confidence.

I smiled wickedly as the bartender handed me my glass and Brian handed him the credit card. Without another word, I turned on my heel and started walking towards the back of the club, hands grasping both glasses. When I was a few paces away, I turned my head back towards Brian and saw him frantically trying to catch up. When he finally did, he threw an arm around my shoulders possessively, bathing me in the smell of sweat from his underarms.

My nostrils flared.

"Trying to run away?" he said, once more leaning into my ear.

"Just trying to find somewhere quieter." I took a sip of the new wine. It was truly exquisite. Wine, thankfully, was one of the few pleasures the witch’s curse hadn’t completely destroyed. We could still taste and enjoy it, unlike water, which would eventually kill us in large enough quantities.

Even in the dark, I could see Brian’s erection growing hard behind his shorts. Human men were so easily manipulated.

By that point, we’d reached the back of the crowd. A black, dusty curtain lined the wall, slightly muffling the sound around us. When we reached it, I whipped around to face Brian, letting my back press into the musty velvet. The drink in his hand was already half-empty.

Good.

I took another sip of one of my drinks and did my best to look up at him through my eyelashes, despite the fact that we stood eye-to-eye.

"So," he said, stepping closer to me until I was fully flush against the wall. "Are you from here?"

"Oh yes," I whispered so that he’d have to move even closer. "My family has lived here forever."

"You don’t sound Italian." His free hand began stroking the exposed skin of my arm. "You speak English almost perfectly."

I smiled, because it was true. Centuries spent encased in stone, watching and listening to tourists surrounding me at all times, had enabled me to pick up all the most common human languages. English was the easiest because its speakers tended to be the loudest.

"I studied in America," I lied. "Harvard."

I’d picked a random university that I’d heard Americans mention in previous encounters. I wasn’t expecting his excited response. "No way," he exclaimed too enthusiastically. "I just graduated from Harvard."

I swallowed hard. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah, me and my buddies." He gestured around vaguely, as if I’d be able to ascertain which of the crowd belonged to that group. "We’re on a post-graduate trip around Italy before we start jobs."

"How exciting for you," I took another sip, and he eyed me curiously.