Chapter Text
The first time you saw him was almost twenty years ago. It was in Dangriga, a town at the mouth of the North Creek river where you spent most of your summers with your grandmother as a child. You were seven years old, a tiny little brown thing with braids and beads that clacked around your head.
Sitting there in front of the waves lapping at the shore, you saw something within them, peeking out just above the crests.
Tanned skin, pointed ears, dark hair and glaring eyes that burned like a flame.
Your younger self didn’t know what to make of it, you had never seen anything like it before. Was it a mermaid? Or just someone playing a trick on you? Whichever it was, you stared right back at those glaring embers, your naivety making you unafraid when in hindsight, you should’ve been terrified.
But that was all it was that first time and you watched the figure disappear from your vision, sinking into the water and out of sight.
You didn’t tell anyone.
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The second time you saw him, you were ten and it was brief.
It was the same as before, you looked up and saw smoldering eyes and dark hair. This time you stood up immediately, your knobby knees crusted with the white sand of the beach. You walked to the edge of the water, not quite going in, and the figure watched you with narrowed eyes.
Again, you should’ve been more afraid but your childish curiosity was much too strong.
The water licked at your toes and your heart began to pound as the figure exposed more of itself to you.
Jade earrings, gold adornments and broad shoulders.
It was a man. A mythologically beautiful one.
Your breath caught in your throat and you felt the urge to walk further into the water but you stopped yourself, instead raising a hand to wave at the man.
He didn’t wave back.
You opened your mouth to speak but your grandmother called for you from the shore. You looked back at the sound of her voice but when your gaze returned to the water; he was gone.
You didn’t tell anyone about that time either.
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The summer of your sixteenth year was the most extensive sighting of him. You were stubborn and unappreciative, as most teenagers are, and had grown bored of summers with your manman. You wanted to be back home in the states with your friends, sneaking out and going to parties but instead you were with your elderly grandmother in that same blue shotgun shack.
You had gone to the beach to escape from the town, frustrated tears pouring down your cheeks because of a missed party and instagram post. You sat on the shore and doom scrolled, jealousy eating you up as your best friend posed with your crush, until the sun began to set over the horizon and the blue water tinted orange.
Thinking of the sight as an opportunity to make your not-friends jealous, you raised your phone to take a picture of the sunset, freezing when you saw something peeking out of the water.
“It’s you.” You breathed, slowly lowering your phone.
The breeze kissed at the tears on your cheeks and you hurriedly wiped them away, scrambling to your feet as he showed himself, this time to the top of his chest. His neck was adorned with jewels and stones and you marveled at the sight of his tanned skin shining under the setting sun.
There was a pull, similar to the one when you were ten, calling you to the water. You swallowed the lump in your throat and walked to the water’s edge before pausing. Biting your lip, you looked around the empty beach.
A word whispered on the breeze brought your attention back to the water, “Come to me.”
Your lashes fluttered and your heart pounded in your ears. You felt the pull towards the water tugging at your body and before you could help it, you were in to your knees. The man raised his hand towards you then, beckoning you to take it.
Your grandmother’s scream knocked you out of your trance.
“Ale lwen li! GET AWAY FROM HER! ” She screamed at the creature before yanking you back by your arm. You flinched in pain, forced to follow her toward the shore. Her grip didn’t loosen up until the both of you were safe in her house.
The rest of the night was spent with your grandmother cursing in creole and burning incense in the house as you hid in your room. It was almost midnight when she finally came in to talk to you with a dire expression.
“Listen to me,” Her voice was hushed as she closed the window in your room and locked it. “Do not go to the water alone, child. Sèpan dlo a, The Water Serpent, will kill you.” She warned, pausing to meet your eyes with her tired ones, “It isn’t safe, once you succumb to him, he will never release you. He will drag you down to the ocean floor until your lungs burn with water and darkness clouds your eyes. Promise me you won’t ever go down there again. Promise me.”
“I promise.” You had whispered, your blood cold and your mind racing, “I promise, manman.”
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Dressed in white, you stood at the very shore she told you to stay away from with her ashes in your hands. Though now you were older, a grieving woman surrounded by people who loved your grandmother.
Your mother was too hurt to come to the service, mourning in her own way in the states, so you were there to carry out her final wish. She wanted her ashes released into the ocean.
As the pastor said kind words and people shared stories of your manman, your eyes were on the waves, watching, waiting, hoping to see someone, anyone.
But no one was there.
“Child,” The pastor called to you, though you were on the other side of your mid twenties, “It is time.”
You nodded silently, your eyes downcast as you wadded into the water, until it licked above your knees.
“Ashes to ashes,” The pastor called as you untwisted the top of the urn, “Dust to dust.”
“Orevwa mon amour.” You whispered, watching the water and the breeze work together to whisk her away.
When the service was over and everyone had gone home, it started to rain. You heard heavy drops hitting the roof of your new home and smelled the moisture in the air.
It almost felt like she was there with you.
You threw a blanket over your shoulders as you looked through photo albums of your grandmother, in awe of how full her life was.
That first night the tears came in with the rain and you fell asleep on the couch, wrapped up in a crocheted throw with wine on your breath.
You woke up to birds chirping the next morning, alerting you a new day as the sun shined through your windows.
You wiped the sleep from your eyes and stood from the couch, stretching your aching body. After you took a much needed bath and changed into a pair of overalls, you decided to go into town to retrieve some paint; manman’s walls had seen better days and you wanted to restore the powder blue of your memories.
You grabbed your bag and opened the front door, pausing when you saw a perfectly placed conch shell right in the middle of your welcome mat.
You furrowed your brows, delicately picking it up and examining it. You wondered if it could be some kind of Belizean funeral thing or if it was something else entirely.
Shrugging your shoulders, you put the shell on the coffee table and left out of the house, locking the door behind you.
As you completed your errands, many of the people in town offered their condolences and prayers. In fact, instead of just getting the paint you wanted, you now had men coming the next day to paint the house for you.
Everyone loved your grandmother so much that they offered to do it. A particular man, Ellis, offered to do it in exchange for a coffee date.
You told him you would see.
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You decided to stay in Dangriga. Days had turned into weeks and weeks into months. The house was fixed up and you found community in your manman’s friends and their families. You felt at home, probably the most you did since you were a child.
And then there was Ellis.
Sweet, kind, fine Ellis.
He made you laugh and spoke to you softly. He fixed things for you and brought you gifts.
You liked Ellis.
Ellis really liked you.
Even now, as you sat on the couch sipping tea, he was boarding up in your windows for you in lieu of a tropical storm warning.
“It’s no problem, cheri.” He had said, when you told him he didn’t have to.
He always said that.
You liked Ellis.
“Okay,” Ellis huffed, his shirt dripping with sweat, “All done, you should be safe now.”
“Thank you.” You smiled brightly, getting up from the couch, “I really appreciate it.”
Ellis nodded, returning your smile as he wiped the sweat from his brow. “I hooked up your generator outback, if the power blows all you have to do is flick it on.”
“You sure you don’t want to stay?” You hinted, biting your lip anxiously, “I mean, for safety reasons.”
Ellis laughed and shook his head, “I already promised mon manman I’d stay with them, but if you get scared I’ll swim over to you, cheri.”
You playfully scoffed and hit his shoulder. “I’m not scared.”
“Uh huh.” He smirked, planting a quick kiss on your lips as the clouds began to move in. “I gotta go do my house, I’ll see you after the storm?”
“Yeah.” You smiled dreamily, leaning up to peck his lips again, “If you happen to float back this way, knock three times.”
Ellis snorted out another laugh as he left your house and you grinned, watching him get on his motorbike and zip down the road.
With a sigh you shut the door and locked it, making sure that everything was secure and the wind wouldn’t knock your screen door off.
“Manman, how’d you deal with all these storms?” You spoke aloud, as you often did to your grandmother.
With all the time you had coped in the house, you decided to braid your hair and binge a show. It only took three episodes and half your head for the rain to start pelting against your roof.
By episode six the wind was howling and your walls were sighing against it.
By eight, your hair was done and sealed and the claps of thunder were so loud it shook the glass of your boarded windows.
You were on a cliffhanger when the lights went out.
“Goddamnit.” You muttered to no one, getting up from your cozy couch and weighing the options of going out the backdoor to turn on your generator. Another clap of thunder made you decide against it.
You flopped back on the couch and cozied up in your grandmother’s throw, the sound of the rain pelting your roof was enough to make your eyes flutter closed and you were asleep before you realized it.
“Come to me.”
“Don’t go in the water alone, child.”
“Come to me.”
“Sèpan dlo a, The Water Serpent.”
“Come to me.”
You awoke with a start, shooting up on the couch like a bullet. Your chest heaved and your eyes were crazed as you looked around your dark living room.
“Hello?” You called, though you knew no one was there.
The storm was still going strong and you got up from the couch to grab the candles Ellis had brought over for you and sat them down on the coffee table, striking a match to light them.
The room was illuminated by the flickering flames and it helped to calm your nerves.
But just for a moment because the next minute heard a rapt against your door. Your back door.
Your heart rate spiked and your eyes widened as you looked in the direction of the sound. You slowly stood from the couch, wrapping your body in your throw. You grabbed one of your candles and held it like a Victorian mistress, easing down the hall to the back door.
You were almost shaking, almost. The courage you used to have as a child was long dried up and as you stood in front of the back door, you took a breath before yelling, “Ellis?”
The knocking started again as a clap of thunder shook the house and your nerves.
“Ellis?” You called out again, the flame of your candle flickering. “Can you hear me?” You questioned loudly, trying to overcome the sound of the pelting rain.
When you didn’t get an answer you frowned. Rolling your eyes at yourself, you freed a hand from the throw to unlock the back door, creeping it open to glance outside.
It was dark, too dark to see who was standing outside without your candle. But moving your candle would mean opening the door wider and did you want to take that chance?
But if it was Ellis he was getting soaked, but if it wasn’t…
Gathering what was left of your courage, you opened the door wider, holding out your candle and squinting at the figure in the dark. “Ellis!” You yelled out again, though when a stroke of lightning lit up the sky and everything below, you saw that it was not Ellis who was at your door.
Your terrified scream was blocked out by the boom of thunder and you slammed the door shut, locking it and running to the living room.
“Sèpan dlo a.”
Your manman’s voice echoed in your head. He was outside, he was outside! But how? How was he out of the water?
Had he come to drag you back with him? Finish the job he started when you were younger?
“Oh God.” You sobbed before putting a hand over your mouth. Your chest heaved and terrified tears brimmed your eyes.
Another strike of lightning and clap of thunder made you jump and they were followed by a bang against your front door.
You cried and scrambled to get up from the ground, watching helplessly as a fist punched it’s way through the wood and unlocked the door.
You screamed incoherently, pressing yourself against the wall as the door was slammed open and hit the wall with a loud thud.
It was him.
Lightning illuminated his silhouette and you swallowed a sob, seeing those smoldering eyes for the first time in a decade.
He stepped into your house, his feet silent against the wood, and pushed the door shut behind himself. The lone candle on the coffee danced around its wick, creating an eerie orange glow on the scene, just like the last time you saw him.
You pressed your back tighter against the wall, your lip trembling as he took quiet steps toward you. He was drenched, dripping wet from the rain and his skin shined in the dim light of the candle. He was dressed in green shorts and jewels, nothing on his…winged feet but shin guards made of gold. He had on his jade colored stone earrings and a bar through his nose, while his neck was adorned with those same jewels you had seen before. A cuff around his bicep and bracelets on his wrists. They all jangled against the background of the rain.
You were trembling, hands tight to your sides, body tense as he finally came to a stop in front of you. Your eye line was to his neck and you tried not to look up for fear of meeting his eyes.
Fingers under your chin made your lashes flutter and forced your gaze up.
His smoldering eyes were hard and steady as their heat barred into yours.
You swallowed and tried not to flinch when the fingers on your chin traced up your jawbone before dragging down your cheek, a wet trail in its wake.
In the stillness of the room, he muttered something under his breath in a language foreign to your ears.
A quiet whimper left your lips as his palm softly cupped your cheek and his gaze left yours for only a moment to focus on your mouth.
You swallowed again, taking in the everlasting furrow of his brow and downturn of his lips.
The wind continued to howl outside and you heard your heart beating in your ear drums. Badum, badum, badum, badum. Fast and steady like a song. You wondered if he could hear it too.
“Please,” You finally felt the strength to stammer out, tensing as the hand on your cheek moved to the nape of your neck, “D-don’t…”
“Shh…” He intoned from puckered lips and you hated the way it calmed you. It sounded like the inside of a conch shell, low and melodic. “Calm yourself, little one.”
You whimpered, tears swelling in your eyes. “Please,” You tried again, wincing as his hand moved from your neck to grip the braids at your nape in his fist. “I don’t,” You frowned, bottom lip trembling with your plea, “I don’t want to die.”
He let out a sound then, a low hum as he forced your head back and moved just a little closer to you. “Everyone dies,” He informed you with a tilt of his lips, “Almost everyone.”
A tear left one of your eyes and streaked down your cheek and he clicked his teeth at that, cooing as he wiped it away with his thumb.
“Ma' wook'ol, in preciosa yéetel ki'ichpam ch'úupalo'.” He muttered in his native tongue and your brows furrowed in question. His heavy hands rested on your shoulders and he ducked his head down to your level. “Do not cry.” He repeated, though it seemed as if words were missing.
“I don’t want to die.” You repeated in a whisper and he cupped your cheek in his hands.
“You will not die today.”
“What?” You breathed the question, confusion written in your expression. “My manman, my grandmother, said you were a killer, that once you set your sights on someone-!”
“She was correct.”
“Then why should I believe you?” You uttered, shrinking as he removed his hands from your face.
“You would have been dead already.” The entity smiled, tightly and without teeth as he stepped away from you, allowing you the room to breathe as if to prove his point.
“You tried!” You accused against the wind, a clap of thunder jolting the walls. “You almost got me to take your hand but she saved me.”
White teeth flashed at you in amusement, “You thought I was going to drown you?”
“Yes!” You insisted, your fear now tinged with irritability, “My manman said that you drag people down to the bottom of the sea for fun. That you watch the light leave their eyes and the water fill their lungs-!”
“I do.” He nodded with another flash of teeth. “Sometimes, ten, twenty a day.” You were afraid again as he began to inspect your home, “Surface dwellers can be so disrespectful of my home, so I teach them a lesson. Pluck a few bad apples, as you all say. I do it in many places, many villages on the water just like this one and I have many names. What do they call me here again? Sèpan dlo a? ” He chuckled darkly, picking up a picture frame of you that first summer. “Your manman was a smart woman, respectful. My condolences for her passing but it was a blessing,” He paused for a moment and put the frame down before looking back at you, “For it brought you back to me, in preciosa.”
Your blood ran cold and your breath hitched as the wings on his ankles began to flutter and he flew over to you like an angel, landing a little too close.
“You have beautiful eyes.” He murmured, raising your chin again and inspecting your face. “Even as a child, and beautiful skin,” His thumb brush against your bottom lip and heat warmed your face, “Soft lips and you’ve developed the body of a woman, one that would do well to carry my children-!”
“What?” You interjected, just knowing you misheard him.
He flashed his teeth at you again, muttering something under his breath as he began to duck down to your level.
“Wait!” You hissed, your palms shoot to his broad chest to stop him. “What the hell are you doing?”
He raised a dark brow with a mocking smirk, “Is it not obvious?”
“Yes it is obvious but I don’t even know your name!”
“My people call me K'ul'ku'kan,” He rasped, his hands gripping your wrists as he stood over you, “My enemies call me Namor,” His tongue rolled and you were ashamed how it made your stomach flip, “But you don’t want to be my enemy, do you?”
There it was again, that feeling you felt a decade ago calling you to the sea, though this time it was urging you to press your skin against his.
“Nah,” You hiccuped, your fingers twitching against his pectorals, “Namor, I have… I’m with Ellis-!”
“In preciosa, mention him to me again, ” He cooed, pressing your back completely against the wall, he pressed his wet lips against your forehead, his facial hair scratching against your skin, “And I’ll kill him.” Your heart dropped in your stomach as he pulled back to glare at you, “Understand me?”
“Yes.” You whispered with wide eyes.
“Say, yes máako’.”
“Yes,” You whimpered before echoing him, “Máako.”
Namor hummed, kissing your forehead once again, “It means ‘sir’.” He informed you lowly, nuzzling his nose against yours, “Béet means ‘please’. Say it.”
“Béet.” You repeated lowly.
“Again.” He commanded.
“Béet.” You whispered.
“Again.”
“Bé-!” Before you could finish his lips were hot against yours. You felt yourself melt into the kiss and the pull towards him intensified as you parted your lips for his tongue.
You were on fire and you felt like you couldn’t get close enough to him. You quickly slid your arms around his neck, tugging him against your body as his tongue cajoled yours into intertwining with it. His hands felt as if they were everywhere on your body, squeezing your hips, stroking your waist, groping your ass; it was all encompassing.
“What,” You managed to huff out as he left your lips to leave wet bruises on your neck, “What are you doing to me?”
“Making love.” His wet lips brushed against your skin with every word. “Or fucking as you surface dwellers like to call it.”
Your breath hitched as he ripped your sleep shirt apart, the fabric falling to the ground in tatters. He bent at his waist and took one of your nipples in his mouth, roughly groping the other one in his hand.
“Jach jats'uts yéetel O'olkij.” He rasped against the fat of your tit, nipping at your skin sharply and making you gasp.
You were panting, rough breaths leaving your parted lips as you tried to anchor yourself against the wall. “God,” You cried out, burying a hand in his damp hair as he assaulted your sensitive nipples until you were twitching.
Namor looked up at you from your chest, his smile wicked. “I can smell you.” He nearly mewled, lowering himself to his knees, “Filthy girl.”
Your knees nearly buckled as he buried his head into the wet seat of your panties, marking himself with your scent like an animal. Your face flushed in embarrassment and you tried to close your legs, only for him to glare up at you.
“Ch'úupalo' k'aas.” He darkly muttered, tugging on the fabric of your panties so tightly that they dug into your skin before tearing apart, “ Bad girl.”
Your breath hitched as he ran a thick finger through your slit, collecting some of your slick as he glowered up at you.
“Béet.” He reminded you raspily, pressing his lips against your inner thigh. “Say it again, in preciosa.”
“Béet.” You echoed obediently, gasping as his index finger found your clit. “Béet.” You repeated under your breath, your lashes fluttering.
“If you insist.” He grinned, dark and sadistic, before putting his mouth on you. Just with his finger, he licked your slit up from your opening to your clit, before lapping up your arousal with a satisfied groan.
“Béet.” You murmured with a sigh as he lifted your legs on his sun kissed shoulders. One of his hand floated up your back and tugged at the ends of your braids, the sting in your scalp adding to the pleasure.
You could hear and feel him groaning against you, muttering phrases incoherent to your ears. He elongated his tongue inside you and your walls ached, squeezing around nothing.
You didn’t even realize the two of you were floating until your head hit the ceiling. You tensed up immediately and Namor clicked his tongue at you.
“Relax, little one.” He cooed, flicking his tongue against your clit to calm you, “I’ve got you.”
You let out a whine as he slid two fingers inside of you, sucking on your clit as you squeezed his digits.
Namor looped his other arm around your waist and rose from your cunt, his lips wet with you. His fingers worked you slowly, almost agonizingly so but when he started making circles on your clit, you forgave him for the pace.
“In preciosa yakunaj,” He rasped melodically, pecking your lips before pressing his forehead to yours, “Your arousal is so beautiful to me.”
Your lashes fluttered at his pretty words, your face warming, “T-thank you.” You whispered and he quirked up his fingers in response.
“What will you look like on my cock, I wonder.” He continued vulgarly, “Covering my length in your sweet cream, trembling as you do now…”
“Namor,” You breathed, your nails digging into his shoulders as he smirked at you.
“You like how I talk to you, in preciosa?”
You nodded desperately and let out a gasp as he quickly leaned back to spit on your cunt. As he did it you caught sight of the thick erection straining against his shorts.
“Should I let you finish on my fingers?” He questioned, his tongue licking at your parted lips after, “Or on my cock?”
“Béet,” You cried pathetically, your abdomen tensing as your pants got quicker and the circles around your clit got smaller. “Béet, béet, béet!”
“Please what?” He cruelly mocked, taking in every detail of your face.
“God,” You choked out, your breath getting away from you, “Fuck, both!”
“My fingers and my cock?” He clicked his tongue before chuckling condescendingly, “Codicioso. Greedy girl.”
“Uh huh, uh, huh, uh huh.” You rambled, your eyes rolling back as your hips began to buck against his hand. You cried out in the living room, your screams mixing in with the sounds of heavy rain and wind.
You gushed down his arm and your legs, wetting the wooden floor below you as you came. You scratched at his broad shoulders and called out for God, him or otherwise; any of them would do.
Your body was still buzzing when he removed his fingers from your sensitive walls and pushed them between your lips, leaning up to lick at them as he slowly pulled them out, making you taste every drop of yourself.
It made you shiver.
He lowered you both to the ground, though your knees were weak when you got there. You grasped on to him and he pressed his erection against your belly, ducking his head down to kiss you again.
You ran your hands over his golden belt, trying to tug at it but he stopped you. You looked up at him curiously.
“In yakunaj,” He rasped, brushing his thumb over your lips, “I need water.”
Your brow furrowed, “You’re thirsty?”
Namor chuckled and shook his head, he trailed his fingers down your arm before intertwining them with yours and leading you towards the front. “I need water on my skin.” He explained lowly, opening up the door he had broken and letting go of your hand. “Stay here.” He commanded as the wings on his ankles began to flutter.
You watched in amazement as he flew into the clouds, disappearing from your sight. As if a switch flicked off, you seemed to realize what you had done.
Scrambling in your house you slammed the door shut, locking it and nearly running to your bedroom.
You wrapped a robe around your naked body and sat on your bed in silence, your mind racing.
What had you done?
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Translations:
“Ma' wook'ol, in preciosa yéetel ki'ichpam ch'úupalo'.”
Do not cry, my precious, beautiful girl.
“In preciosa,”
My precious
“Jach jats'uts yéetel O'olkij.”
They’re so nice and soft.
“In yakunaj,”
My love