Archive of Our Own ^beta

Her prey was human, just as she liked it. It was a male though, not her favorite kind of human, but it seemed that only males frequented these hunting grounds. It was yet another way that human society made little sense. But after how hard she’d had to fight to defend this territory, it wouldn’t do to complain about the type of food found within. She’d killed a sister from a rival family for the surrounding waters. It had been a fair kill, with no political consequences, but it bothered her—for many reasons—to kill her own kind.

The human moaned beneath her, and she held him more firmly with her weight, her tail and fin pinning his lower body to the ground, while her arms held his in place. She had no intention of going quickly; she preferred her meals to last as she savored every last moment, every single sensation.

The best part of this territory is that it replenished its supply of food. Humans kept returning to it, for their own mysterious reasons. She didn’t kill them all, both because she didn’t want to risk scaring them away for good and because the Light took whomever it wanted. Some, too Light-addled and filled with the poisons the humans consumed, were good for nothing. They she let return to wherever they came from. Whatever they spoke to those from there, she assumed filled with madness, only seemed to convince them to send others. So the humans kept following their currents to this lone rock with its human structure and the birds and the Light and her.

Her brothers disapproved of her chosen hunting grounds. The fish and seabirds that called it home were normally fine prey, but they argued that the Light was too unknown, too alien to stay so near and that the humans she fed on were too crazed and sick to be good for her. She ignored their complaints. Secretly, she enjoyed the sour, off taste of the humans lost in their madness. And she liked to think she had an arrangement with the Light, even if it had never been communicated as such between them. They both got to feed, after all. Everyone won.

She’d thought the Light would take this one; he’d seemed so enchanted by it. It had nearly consumed him. But she’d found him crawling naked across the rocks that day, broken and lost, as though he’d been rejected in the end. A gift from the Light, she thought, and not one she would refuse.

The human stilled; its face looked docile, like it knew it couldn’t fight her. Which was true. Humans were notably weak creatures, even if they had their uses. She decided this one was worth feeding on in more than one way.

She reached between them to the human’s genitals. She found its sexual organ and grasped it firmly. It hardened from her touch, into a satisfying length and girth. She smiled, bearing her sharp teeth, at the thought of the dual feeding that would now commence.

She put her hand to her own folds of skin, parting them to reveal her entrance. She slid the human organ into her. It filled her deliciously, with hardness and warmth. Humans and merfolk had much in common; she wasn’t the first to observe and enjoy the compatibility of their sexual organs.

As she rode the human, forcing him in and out of her, she began to prepare for another kind of fulfillment. There was damage already to his left shoulder, and she disliked the leftovers that someone else created, so she turned to his other side instead. She caressed the smooth skin of his upper arm. He was so soft and pretty for a human. There was strong muscle under his skin, however, and that was what she was really after. She nuzzled at his skin at first, licking and tasting his sweat. Humans were remarkable unclean animals, but the dirtiness was part of the appeal.

The smell of the human filled her nostrils, while his organ filled her genitals. As she moved faster and faster, grinding down on him, she felt hot and flushed all over. She could resist no longer; it was time.

She bared her teeth and bit into the human’s flesh, her arms holding his in place as she continued to move her pelvis. Blood shot into her mouth, and the human screamed as it struggled pitifully in her grasp. The blood was so warm and rich, she felt instantly intoxicated. She bit down harder, chewing the flesh now. She tore a chunk of its shoulder free, chewing and then swallowing. Skin was never the most pleasant bit, but now that some of it was torn off, she could see much more tender parts beneath its covering. The human was still screaming, his eyes huge and filled with fear. She covered his mouth with hers, blood sliding between them. She forced herself into his mouth with her tongue, smashing their faces together until she got ahold of his tongue, pulling it into her mouth and then biting down through it. As blood filled his mouth, his screams turned to choking sounds. She chewed and swallowed the tongue. That part was much more enjoyable, something of a delicacy for her.

Some merfolk theorized that they and humans descended from a shared generic ancestor, but that humans had then never fully evolved on land, the way merfolk had in the sea. Most who believed such were ridiculed, however, for spouting heresy. She'd wondered about this theory, though, wherever she fucked or ate one. The copulation part wasn’t really considered abnormal. Merfolk fucked who merfolk wanted. The eating, too, was only frowned upon because humans were dirty, tainted creatures. They were otherwise perfectly acceptable food. But they tasted different from prey in the sea or on land. No one else spoke of this oddity. She had never mentioned it to anyone, even her own family. The unspoken secret was that humans tasted like merfolk, deep down inside.

Once, during a particularly fierce battle against a rival clan, she'd been cornered and forced to fight with every weapon at her disposal, including her perfect pointed teeth. She'd torn into her enemy's throat, crunching through his windpipe that connected both face and gills to lungs. He'd died quickly after that. When her family found her, they'd celebrated her victory as bravely and heroically won. She'd never told them the secret: she'd swallowed the blood and flesh that filled her mouth. It had tasted like a human did. It tasted like food.

She turned back to the human’s shoulder, working her mouth and teeth toward his neck, nibbling as she went. Just little tastes for now, to savor the blood and flesh, the corrupted taste of him. When she reached his neck, though, the teasing nips ended. She lunged in with her mouth, tearing at his flesh and swallowing chunks whole. His blood spurted up toward the sky, covering her in its red warmth. She wanted to bathe in it.

She moved her pelvis even faster, feeling climax approaching. As she came, she shrieked to the sky and rock and sea, with her triumph and pleasure.

The human’s organ went limp inside her, and she pulled free of him was a sigh of disappointment. They never lasted as long as she wanted. In both ways, she thought, as she noticed his breathing slow to a ragged gasp. Living food was always so much better than dead, so she had little time remaining to enjoy herself before this became more about sustenance than pleasure.

She wiggled down his body until she was over his abdomen: other delicacies lurked within. She tore with teeth and fingers to open him up and get to the organs before he was fully spent. She tore a kidney free of its hold and dug into it, consuming it in only a few quick bites. She avoided the liver, assuming it to be too degraded by the human’s previous habits to be worth eating. It was the heart she wanted most anyway. She forced one hand into the abdomen and then punched upwards through digestive organs and diaphragm, until she knew she was touching the heart. It had mere moments left to beat. She wanted just one taste while it still lived and yanked it out of the body, diving into it with her mouth. It was delicious.

With the heart now dead, she frowned in irritation but continued eating. She would let none of him go to waste; she’d come to enjoy the taste of these humans on this rock addicted to the Light and their drink maybe a bit too much. Once she’d fully finished with this one, she knew that all she’d have to do is wait. Until other humans came. And they always came. Then she’d feed again.

Afterwards, she returned to the sea and let its pure waters cleanse the human filth from her skin. She felt satiated for now, but already dreaming of future feasting, with the Light shining evermore behind her.