Of Tales and Sorrow: The Curse by DarkandLovely
Summary:

All he had to do was keep the agreement. Enduring life without her was hell enough but one more lifetime and she'd finally be his for good. 

 

 

 


Categories: Original Fiction Characters: None
Classification: General
Genre: Drama, Erotica, Fantasy, Friendship, Historical, Mystery, Romance
Story Status: Active
Pairings: None
Warnings: Adult Situations, Character Death, Dark Fic, Extreme Language, Graphic Violence, Original Characters, Racism, Rape, Sexual Content , Strong Sexual Content , Un-betaed , Work in Progress
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 15 Completed: Yes Word count: 31744 Read: 18856 Published: July 16 2020 Updated: August 07 2021
foreward by DarkandLovely
Author's Notes:

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MY BRAIN IS WRACKED WITH ALL OF THESE IDEAS... MORE THAN HALF OF THEM GOING IN MY ANTHOLOGY. I had the desire to write a story revolving around a mermaid/merman?? Don't ask me why lol. I'm on a roll baby and I'm looking forward to sinking my teeth into some of these ideas! Once school starts, I hope I'm gonna have time to write! (cause ya know it's a stress reliever and alla dat haha) Okay PLOT TIME! 

 

 

 

This will be short two part tale. Split up between two time periods. It answers the question: How far is one willing to go for love, freedom and safety? It involves a Chinese merman and an enslaved woman of African descent. First tale is named The Curse. it’s setting is in San Fransisco. The year is 1853. 

 

 

 

It is very obvious to Li Jie that when he comes to the New World, things aren’t as they were promised. Having left his life and his adopted family behind in Beijing, he sets out to make a better life for himself in the ‘Land of Gold’ as it’s known back home. He was promised gold. Land. A wife. To which none were given. Instead, he finds himself brutally discriminated against, struggling to keep his head above water on land. Thankful for the other few but growing number of Chinese that flock to the small city of Encinitas, he finds refuge within the depths of the sea nearby. Having been turned into a creature of the sea long ago, he has time and time again been slave to her depths. Only a few share his secret and it is one he is content with it until he sees a woman wandering the beach one evening. She throws herself into the sea, anguish and pain meeting the deep blue. A part of him wants no part of it. But another part of him decides to save her. That night begins everything. 

 

小冷…子 as Li Jie (22)**

 

 

Eminta (Ah-min-tah) is a woman seeking freedom. She escaped from her plantation in Mississippi and by the grace of God finally made it into California with the hopes of earning enough to buy her own freedom. Having seen the worst of a human being, she tries to create a sense of her own humanity, finding work as a domestic and companion. Grateful for the tight knit community that takes her in she finally feels like she can breathe. But the feeling does not last long as slave catchers catch her scent and her only saving grace is a proprietor of an inn, Mr. Kelly Grace. Grace recognizes her from the posters. He catches the thick deep Southern twang in her voice. He knows. And yet.. he offers her a way out. For a price.

Either she serve as his night companion and domestic by day or he turn her in to the slave catchers. Her days of joy quickly turn into days and nights of hell and she wonders if coming to California was a mistake. Perhaps it would have been better if she’d ended it all back in Mississippi. Perhaps it would be better to just let the waves of the beckoning sea quiet her into sleep. 

 

**(19)

 

 

** I have NO idea what these two individual's names are. Trust me, I tried to find them. I literally (not exaggerating) spent all day and part of the night last night trying to find the male protagonist's name and what I got were the characters! I don't know what it translates to in English but I think it's his name! For the sistah, it was all to no avail. *long sigh* 

 

 

 

 

 

 

TEASER ONE: 

 

 

    At first he thought he had imagined it. The sound of weeping. Surely he must have. But as he surfaced again, he heard it once more and it sent a stabbing pain right to his heart. To whom did the somber sound of suffering and anguish belong to? Sinking below the surface, he gave his fins a firm beat and soon he inched closer to shore. There stood a woman, dark in color, cheeks shiny with tears. He was far enough away that he couldn’t quite make out all of her features yet. The woman sobbed as she lifted small dark hands to her hair. Taking it loose, she sniffed as she continued to stare out at the waves rolling in. His breath caught in his throat as she slowly began to undress, peeling her garments away from her with ease… with care. 

    Leaning her head back, she looked up into the sky but for a moment. He dashed underwater and hid behind a cluster of small rocks, closer to where she was. She began to walk towards the quiet lulling waves, eyes now filled with a sad resignation. He curiously watched as the water began to rise from her ankles to her knees. Dark eyes roamed the naked flesh of the woman also…curiously. It resembled a black pearl; smooth, silky and intoxicating. She possessed a small heart shaped face, high but round cheeks and a pair of delicate lips, full and inviting. Pert conical breasts, dark nipples and a small waist. Small endearing pudge of a stomach and thick thighs.  

     She was beautiful… in a way he’d never before seen. What disturbed him was how there seemed to be deep lashes marring the otherwise satiny flesh. They littered across her thighs in mismatched lengths and depth, deep black from scarring. Eyes lifted to her face now as the water drew up around her waist. So, she was to end her life on this night. The hell she called a human life had been too much for her to bear. Lifting fingers out to grasp onto the warm slippery rocks, he watched as she took a breath and slowly allowed the sea to claim her. Her thick coily hair was the last to disappear and for a moment he watched air bubbles rise to the top. 

    Gripping the rocks, he turned and prepared to swim off when he was stopped by that deep sharp pain. Clutching his chest, he tightened his jaw and eyed the spot where she’d went down. He didn’t understand why he felt the need to save her but damn it all his fins started to beat and he sunk below the surface, swimming towards her rapidly drowning body. 

 

 

 

 

TEASER TWO: 

 

 

    “May I help you?” Lifting eyes from the beautiful trinkets on the display table, she felt her heart start to pound. There stood in front of her a Chinaman with beauty unlike anything she’d ever reckoned seeing. He had an otherworldly countenance about him, aided by features one would say were quite feminine. Thick shapely eyebrows, hooded chestnut eyes, encased in a tantalizing almond shell, handsome broad nose and pouty pink lips. It was a wonder he hadn’t been mistaken for a woman. 

    “Miss?” His deep accented voice was pleasant to the ear and it sent a shiver down her spine. Swallowing, she forced her eyes away from him back onto the table, desperate to bring anything else into sight but him. 

    “What’d I tell you about running off huh?” Feeling her body grow stiff, she turned to look at Grace who was approaching looking none too pleased. 

    “I’m sorry Grace… I…I just had to look at these items here.” A firm hand struck her and she felt the skin of her lip tear, blood starting to dribble down her chin. 

    “I don’t like you disobeying me Aurora. Seems you don got too gotdamn comfortable huh girl?” Scoffing, the man reached into his pocket and threw a handkerchief at her. 

    “Fix yourself up and let’s go.” 

    “Yes Grace.” She said softly, glancing up at his retreating form. Embarrassment covered her hot and heavy and for the first time, she noticed he wasn’t looking at her. The curious yet friendly look of before was gone. Now, he looked out right pissed as he stared at the back of Grace’s head. Those darkening eyes of his drifted back to her and another chill fell down her spine. 

    “Aurora!”

    “C-Coming Grace!” Drawing herself away from him, she swallowed up the humiliation, tears and anger she felt and forced it down to the ground. That man… he’d most definitely been the one to save her. But Grace was so far as she knew the only one keeping her alive. She’d endure this for as long as she could… just enough to buy her freedom. 

 

 

 

TEASER THREE: 

 

 

    “Why you always out here?” Lips smiled and eyes teased her as they took her in their sight. 

    “Why?”

    “Yeah.”

    “I guess you can say…I’m drawn to the waves.” He answered, lips forming a small smirk. 

    “That right?”

    “Mmhm.”

    “I see.” She’d lifted her dress and let the cold water lap at her hot toes, soon wiggling them around in the wet sand. 

    “How is one ‘drawn’ to the waves Jie?” At that, he laughed softly and the sound of it warmed her belly. 

    “I’m afraid if I tell you that…” Coming behind her, he lifted his hands to cover her eyes. 

    “I’d have to kill you.” He whispered into her ear, smiling against it at her inhale of breath. 

    “I’m as good as dead anyways so it don’t make much a difference.” She said softly, lifting those small fingers to wrap around his wrists. 

    “So, you wish for death again.” It wasn’t a question. An observation. A fact. Perhaps. 

    “I wish for my freedom. But if death is all that’s gonna give it to me then…I have no choice.” He pulled his hands away from the woman and slowly walked around to face her. 

    “You’re a morbid one aren’t you?” 

    “Yeah and you ain’t? I seen the way they strung up that Chinaman friend of yours the other day. Hung him just like a nigger they did. What’d he do?” At that, his gaze dropped and for a long while he stared out at the gentle waves, the whole of the sea blue-green. Endless. 

    “Perhaps I don’t wish for death Bòhé. Perhaps I wish for freedom too.” 

    “Hm. From what? You ever been in chains Jie?” His gaze had grown dark almost black with intensity, the shiny inky depths chilling her. 

    “Indeed. They suffocate me more and more each day.” At that, she hummed, coming to wrap her arms around herself. 

    “Bòhé.”

    “What?”    

    “Tonight, I will show you what I mean.” She stood quiet as he began to undress, feeling her cheeks grow warm at the sight of his firm pectorals, biceps, and abdomen all covered in that creamy alabaster skin. She’d never seen him without clothing…and as he bared his broad muscular back, long legs and the round toned cheeks of his buttocks she could honestly admit that she was taken aback. He reached up and untied his topknot, allowing the thick dark strands to tumble down his back. Without another word he entered the water and soon dove beneath its depths. She held her breath, clutching her dress nervously when she didn’t see him surface. A dark head popped up and eyes now focused on her. 

    “Come.” He beckoned, outstretching his hand towards her. She didn’t move, apprehension making her stomach tight. 

    “Jie…I…I don’t know what you’re tryna do but-”

    “I told you I would show you. Let me.” Biting her lips near to shreds, she slowly came toward the outstretched hand. 

    “Do I gotta strip down too?” At that, he laughed. 

    “Not if you don’t wish to.”

    “Hm.” 

    “Come.” The water felt good on her ankles and she took a deep breath before walking further in. Taking his hand, she gripped tight as he pulled her closer. 

    “Good. Closer.” 

    “J-Jie…”

    “You are safe bòhé.” She couldn’t explain how it seemed they were drifting further and further away from shore and so quickly but at the moment, she was trying not to touch him anywhere that would be deemed inappropriate. 

    “Closer bòhé. Come closer.”

    “I am closer.”

    “No.” He lifted an arm and wrapped it around her waist, pulling her flush against him. She gasped, gripping him at the shoulders. 

    “It’s imperative that you stay close bòhé.”

    “W-Why?”

    “Can you feel anything beneath your feet?” He asked, soon lifting his other arm to encircle it around her waist. 

    “N-No…”

    “That’s why.” She let out a small whimper and pressed her face against his neck. 

    “Why we so far out? What’s this gonna prove? This makes no sense.” 

    “It will xiǎo jiāhuo.” Lifting a hand, he pressed it against her pinned braids, gently massaging her scalp with the pads of his fingers. 

    “You are safe with me. It’s all right. There’s no need to fear.” He reassured with a soft gentle voice, smiling as her arms slid around his neck. His fingers left her hair and breezed across the back of her neck, securing a gentle grip. At that, she lifted her head. 

    “Jie…” 

    “Here we both can have what we most desire.” She couldn’t reply because he’d taken the pad of his thumb and breezed it across her bottom lip. 

    “You can have freedom and I, having bondage that appears free, can have my chains removed.” 

    “H-how do you propose we obtain it?” Those enchanting black depths drifted upwards from her lips to her eyes and they had an unexplainable hold on her. Caressing her cheek, he drew nearer, carefully, lips seeking hers. When they met, she felt an explosion travel through her, setting her aflame from the roots of her hair follicle to the soles of her feet. It wasn’t but a simple kiss but it left her insatiable, hungry for another. And another he granted her, another and another until her very skin seemed to melt from her bones and her mouth opened, panting for breath, welcoming his warm slick tongue afterward. 

    “Take a deep breath and hold tight to me w’ de ài.” Letting air fill her lungs, the water covered them as he pulled her down deeper into the depths.

 

End Notes:

A/N:Yeahhhh I'm liking this one~ lol. What y'all think? Ion know what's with this mythical theme I'm on right now but I'm just gon ride the wave lol. I've got translations down below. As it needs to be said, I am NOT FLUENT in Chinese (any of the variations, dialects) so there's that! But I am down to be repectfully taught and corrected should anything be wrong. I'm gettin the translations from translation sites. LOL. It's all a sistah got. lol. Okay going back ghost. See y'all soon! 

 

P.S- THANK Y'ALL FOR ALL Y'ALL SUPPORT. I know I been posting a LOT of story ideas lately and I want to assure you that favs like Yeonwang WILL be completed! And newbies like Delphine will be started. There's a method to the madness lol. Okay DL OUT!

~DarkandLovely 

 

bòhé- Mint. 

xiǎo jiāhuo- Little one 

w’ de ài- My love 

 

And more pictures of this gorgeous man okay because literally when I saw him, my breath caught in my throat. 

 

This story archived at http://https://www.valentchamber.com/viewstory.php?sid=3891