Demigods (6 page)

For a short while, they sat there in silence. She seemed as though her thoughts were far from here, and he was content with simply admiring her until she returned, which proved to be soon enough.

Leaning forward with her arms resting on her thighs, she turned to him with a smile.

"I hope that you don't mind if I make myself comfortable," she said before standing to her feet, and walking over to the sparkling stone tub. Upon reaching it, Playful jumped from her shoulder, and found a relaxing spot on the large cushion.

"It's your place," he told her. "Just act like I'm not even here."

He did not expect her to take him so literally, and it surprised him as she reached behind her, and untied the fur strap that was wrapped around her chest. Still he stared as it fell to the floor, revealing her sexy, bare back, but as she reached for her skirt, he found himself a bit uncomfortable.

Quickly he turned away, slightly blushed by the situation. As he did, he swore he could hear her chuckle, as if she could sense his embarrassment, and found it amusing.

"So what do you do for entertainment?" he asked in an attempt to regain his composure.

"If you need entertainment," she answered, "then you are failing to see the true beauty of life itself."

No, he was not, he thought to himself as she passed gracefully through his mind, and then a thought occurred to him. Whoever he was before he arrived here, must have done many noble deeds to have karma drop such a fate in his lap.

Feeling a bit more sure of himself, he turned, and found her leaning back with her eyes closed, and her hair draped over the edge. Only the tops of her breasts were visible, which made him feel comfortable enough to admire her, and that was something that seemed to come quite naturally.

Suddenly her eyes opened, and caught him staring at her. It was too late to turn away, and her smile froze him where he sat.

"Can you truly be real?" he asked as if he must be dreaming. Certainly, it was all too vivid to be a dream, and he did not even think his mind could have come up with such a perfect one, though it all seemed too good to be true

"I am as real as you are," she replied, as her smile grew even larger. "Why would I not be?"

Without warning, she stood like a naiad rising from her fountain, and he found himself unable to turn away. Her body was every bit as enchanting as her eyes and smile, and he struggled to fight back his instinctive urges.

Gracefully she stepped from the tub as though her actions were perfectly normal, and finally he found the strength to look away. He wondered why he would even do so, since she seemed to have no problem with him watching her, yet he still felt it necessary.

"We need to be going," she told him, and as he turned to acknowledge her, he found her wearing her furs once more. "Sunset is coming soon, and there is no better time to go netting."

"Netting?" he inquired as she stepped through the rear opening, but he would have to wait for her return to get his answer.

A short moment later, she walked back into the room carrying a net, and a green, woven basket, with a green, woven lid on it.

"Yes, netting," she finally replied. "What better way is there to catch a fish?"

He stood as she passed, and began to follow her out of the sanctuary. Surely, he could never get tired of walking behind her, though her direction brought forth another question.

"We're not going to the river?"

"What we will be catching," she briefly explained, "cannot be found in the river."

This answer suited him just fine as he simply figured that they were heading for the beach.

Stepping closer to her, he reached out, and placed his hand on the net.

"Please allow me to carry these," he said politely, and the smile she gave him was reward enough, as she handed him the items, and continued down the narrow path through the jungle.

"You are so kind," she told him without turning, and for a while, they walked in silence through the lively jungle.

Gradually, questions began to invade his mind once more. Finding himself in this situation was mysterious enough by itself, but not knowing who he even was, at the same time, left him quite confused.

Desperately he tried to remember anything about himself. He tried to concentrate on any possible skills that might seem familiar, hoping he might be able to figure out what his occupation had been. Nothing was quickly forthcoming.

Perhaps he was married, or had a girlfriend. As he tried to remember any such face, all he could imagine was the beautiful Asian woman that now walked before him, and for a moment, she distracted his line of thinking.

Shaking off her hypnotic effect, he tried to envision places or things that might seem familiar, and finally something popped into his head. It was a 2009 customized, silver Corvette Zr1 convertible, and the thought was a rather pleasant one. He was not sure if it was simply the car of his dreams, or if that was actually what he drove, but the thought pleased him nonetheless.

For a moment, he imagined driving along the coastline, as her hair blew in the wind on a warm summer’s day. Her outfit seemed to fit well in such a scenario as he admired it, what little there was.

Finally, they reached the opening, and as she stepped out onto the sand, with nothing but the ocean in front of her, he was taken aback. She was truly a sight to see, but he figured that she would make any environment seem to be a bit dreamy.

As if to play on his weaknesses she turned, and bounced with excitement.

"There is going to be a full moon tonight," she said with an innocent, yet playful nature, before turning to head back toward the water.

Reaching it, she stepped in, and turned to her left.

"It's only a short way from here," she told him as she began to gently splash her way up the coast, and he decided to follow in her footsteps. His feet were becoming a bit tender from going without shoes for so long, and the water was a welcomed relief.

Peacefully, the ocean breeze consumed him, and the sound of the waves beating upon the shore seemed to match the rhythm of the woman's stride. With every step, she seemed to push herself deeper inside of his heart, and it both frightened, and delighted him. How, he wondered, could someone have such an effect on him, having known her less than a full day?

"We are here," she said without turning as they approached a bay that was almost too small to even call a bay. "They like this place the best."

He was tempted to ask what "they" were, but figured he would be finding out soon enough. He was learning that questioning her usually left him empty handed, or more confused than he was before. More, it seemed, could be learned by simply observing, and he certainly had no trouble with that.

"You do the netting," she told him as she turned to reveal her captivating eyes, "and I will set up camp."

Reaching forth, she took the green basket from him, and saw that he was struggling to find the right words.

"You don't know how to net, do you?" she asked with an enticing smile that left him simply shaking his head.

"Ok," she continued as she set the basket down on the white sand, "I will show you."

Eagerly he handed her the net, and followed her as she turned, and went into the water a little deeper. Without breaking stride, she found the weighted ends, and cast one of them to the other side of the small bay.

"After you do that," she explained over her shoulder before continuing to move, "you walk around the edge of the water.”

When she had gotten to the other side, she pulled in the net with nothing in it, and said, "There, that is how you do it."

"I think I can handle that," he replied as he began to walk across the small bay, only to find out that it was a bit deeper than he had first thought. Still, he acted as though he had not made such a blunder, and turned to walk along the shoreline.

"I am sure that you can," she stated as she met him half way, and tossed him the net. "Can you keep up with me though?"

What kind of question was this, he wondered, as she walked past him as though she had just buried him in the sand? He turned her way, but she did not offer any more.

"Ok," he thought aloud as he turned back to the water, "I think I can do this."

First, he tried throwing one weighted end with his right hand, as he held onto the other end with his left. It made it about two thirds of the way across, but as he followed the edge of the shore, he found that the net followed him, and he could not get to the other weight.

Not discouraged, he pulled it in, and tried again in the other direction, though found the same result.

"You are not going to do this to me," he spoke down to the net in his hands, before finding the stone weight, and drawing back on it to make about a three-foot distance between it and his hand.

Carefully he rocked it back and forth, until he felt that he had built up enough momentum. Then he began to twirl it, allowing for some slack when the momentum made it possible.

He let out a loud grunt at the same time that he released it, and was quite delighted that it had made it all the way across this time. Running to the other side, he pulling it in with nothing but a few seaweeds in it, but was not discouraged at all. He was just glad that he had finally been able to do it, so he cleaned it out, and quickly wound up for another toss.

"Very good," she complimented as she brought a bundle of wood from the jungle, and dropped it in the sand before walking over to him with a long stick, and the basket.

"The stick is for the fish," she told him as she stuck it in the ground, just outside of the water's edge. "Just thread them through the gills."

Then she set the basket down next to the stick.

"This is for everything else," she said before turning back to what she had been doing, "including the seaweeds."

He figured this meant that she had seen him toss aside the first set of seaweeds, so he decided to grab them up when he returned there.

For what must have been forty-five minutes, he repeated the process repeatedly, until he was satisfied. Three good-sized fish, two huge crabs, and a handful of seaweed should help him earn his keep.

"You did well," she said with a smile as she pulled the basket up under her arm, and began to walk back through the sand.

Pulling up the stick with the fish, he began to follow her to the jungle's edge, and saw that she had built a small fire. She certainly seemed quite adapted to this environment, which only increased his attraction to her.

Setting the basket back in the sand, she took the fish from him, and motioned for him to have a seat next to the fire.

"You worked very hard," she told him with an expression of gratitude. "Relax while I clean the fish."

Once again, she mesmerized him, as she began to walk back to the water. When she reached it, and leaned forward to clean them, she did nothing to break the spell that she had on him. The sun that was beginning to set in front of her, only further fueled the flames.

Soon she turned, and began to head back with the cleaned fish in one hand, and a crude looking knife in the other. How, he wondered, could any other woman possibly compete with that?

Reaching the small pile of branches that lay off to the side, she grabbed three of them, and skewered the fish. Only moments later, she shoved them into the sand, and began to slowly roast them over the fire.

"You are one talented lady," he told her with his most charming smile, and for a second he thought he caught her blushing, though she quickly turned, and stepped to the edge of the jungle.

"We all have talents," she explained as she lifted something from behind a large palm tree. "No one talent is more important than the others."

"Talents are like the plants, and animals," she continued as she sat next to him, and offered a coconut that had the top cut off. "If all of one kind were to vanish, the rest would be inadvertently affected."

"This might be true," he replied as he looked down at the milk within the coconut, before locking his eyes with hers, "but some seem to perform their talents with much more grace."

This time he was certain that she was blushing, as she dropped her gaze to the sand, and smiled ever so modestly. It delighted him to see that he had some effect on her, considering the effect that she had on him, and he now found himself a bit more comfortable, and confident.

Sipping from his drink, he found her surprising him once more, as it was clearly the taste of fine rum on his tongue, and it went quite well with the coconut milk.

"Ok," he finally broke down to say, "where do you get rum from?"

Looking up at him with that ever-present smile, she replied.

"You would be amazed at what you can find on this island."

Yeah, he should have left well enough alone. It was likely among the remnants of pirates from long ago, he thought, or at least that was the best explanation he could come up with. Nonetheless, it really completed the scene, as they sat there and watched the sun set beyond the vast, blue ocean.

Once night had arrived, and the tide had receded, she stood to her feet, and offered him a hand.