By nightfall, Vicky had turned the basement into his personal photo studio. Click after click after click, he must've taken hundreds, no, thousands of pictures, Every angle. Every movement.
And the way he was acting as if Delmar was some zooanimal. His greedy fingers clicking away at his phone made something twist, hard and cold, in my chest.
This wasn't why he came here. If anything he should keep this discovery a secret for the safety of the Delmar and his kind. Dad had hidden the fact that they had captured one of them perhaps because of this. Because he didn't want to expose them to the world, just to a small circle of scientists so they could study them and understand them.
And it scared me how Vicky was acting like he was thinking of making millions of dollars of his discovery, something my father would have never approved of. Not to mention, the man who almost killed Delmar.
"We have to feed him," I muttered when it was my turn to watch him.
Vicky shrugged without even glancing up. "I don't know how to feed him. Besides, he looks fine to me."
"He's breathing. That doesn't mean he's fine," I snapped.
Vicky stretched his arms overhead, yawning like the photo session has exhausted him.
"We'll figure it out tomorrow," he grumbled, already heading toward the stairs. "Wake me if he tries to break out or something."
I waited until Vicky's footsteps disappeared before turning back toward the tank.
Delmar was there, watching me.
"Are you… hungry?" The words felt ridiculous as they left my mouth. He obviously didn't speak our language but I said them anyway.
His body stilled again, eyes narrowing slightly in surprise, like he hadn't expected me to speak.
And then slowly he raised his hand to his lips, brushing his fingertips across them, almost tentatively,like he was trying to feel how mine had just moved.
I leaned in, frowning.
"What are you thinking?" I asked softly, dying to get inside his head, needing to know what went behind those intelligent eyes.
His brow furrowed, fingers lingering on his mouth.
But he didn't answer. Didn't move. Didn't stop.
Just… watched me.
And something in that stillness unnerved me.
I walked to chair and took a seat dragging the bowl of food I'd packed before the shift on my lap. A chicken wrap, an apple, and a crumpled packet of chips.
I wasn't even that hungry, not really. But the silence between us felt like it needed filling.
I stood again, holding the wrap in my hand as I moved closer to the glass. Delmar lifted his head slightly, his green eyes following my every step.
"Want it?" I murmured softly, pressing the wrap against the tank wall.
For a heartbeat, I swore I saw interest flicker in his eyes. But just as quickly, his gaze shifted back to me, ignoring the food entirely.
"No?" I shrugged, knowing full well how ridiculous this whole thing was. I took a big, exaggerated bite of the wrap, letting out a playful moan like I was on a cooking show, just to tease him, just to see if that strange awareness would return to his face.
But nothing could have prepared me for what actually happened.
His lips parted, just slightly, his eyes darkening, fixating on my mouth with a hunger that had nothing to do with food.
And that's when I saw it.
His cock, thick and perfectly sculpted, curved like a hook, long and thick and red, pushing through a seam on the skin along his hips, jutting forward in a slow, almost unnatural reveal.
I almost choked on the mouthful of chicken, swallowing hard as heat flushed across my cheeks.
"Holy shit," I whispered, too stunned to look away.
He didn't even seem to notice.
Or if he did, he didn't care.
He made no move to hide it, no shame in his eyes. Instead, his expression fell, like I'd disappointed him somehow when I took a step back and sank onto the chair again.
"Okay," I cleared my throat, shaking my head. "So… food makes you horny, got it," I half-laughed to myself, running a hand through my hair to hide the way my skin burned.
He stayed there, hovering near the glass, watching me with that strange intensity I still couldn't explain. And the longer he stared, the harder it was to breathe. I was finding it hard to swallow the food with him looking at me like that. But I somehow managed to finish the food so fast it almost chocked me. He swam up to the opening at one point when I punched my chest to dislodge the tortilla from my throat but stopped at the last minute when I started to cough and only observed me.
His eyes didn't leave once during the whole ordeal. Was he hungry? Frustrated? Trying to communicate something I couldn't understand. Or was this something else entirely?
I shook off the spiral before it dragged me under.
I wasn't brave enough to try feeding him on my own. Vicky would call me reckless, and for once, I'd have to agree.
So I leaned back, grabbed the sketchbook from my bag, and started to draw. My only safe distraction.
It felt wrong to put him on paper, , like reducing something so alive to lines and shadows.
But I couldn't stop myself.
His body was like something carved out of myth, too perfect to be real. He looked like he belonged in a gallery, not in a tank.
I kept sketching, letting my mind wander into some impossible fantasy, tracing his form with charcoal strokes as if he were human.
I even drew him in ripped jeans, leaning against a wall like some street model, hair tousled, jaw sharp, eyes carrying the same impossible weight they carried now.
I have drawn men before. In fact, that's how I discovered I might be gay, drawing naked men and progressively getting more explicit in my material.
But I couldn't do that to Delmar. He seemed too innocent, too unaware to be the project of my carnal thoughts.
So I drew him as he was, naked, yet not, because his genitals weren't exposed like a human's.
Vicky came back an hour later and that's when I decided to climb up the ladder attached to the tank to try and feed him.
"I'm still telling you, this is a mistake," Vicky commented as I climbed up.
"Just shut up for a second if you can't help!" I yelled. If we were going to keep Delmar encased in a glass tank, we had to feed him something.
I clutched the canned tuna in my hand as I reached the top and sat on the wooden platform, peering down at the water through the rusted metal mesh.
"Hey! Have this," I said nervously. I could see him vaguely, a shadow moving beneath the surface, but he didn't come up.
"Come on up," I called, trying to coax him. "I know you're hungry. You haven't had anything in the last twenty-four hours."
He ignored me again. Not even a ripple.
"Do you want me to…," I muttered, tossing a chunk of tuna into the tank.
"Is he eating it?" I asked Vicky, turning with a flicker of hope.
"No. It's too little, I think. It's not attracting him."
I opened the metal mesh. "Yoohoo," I slapped my hand against the water, splashing lightly to get his attention.
"You crazy guy! Remove your hand if you don't want it to be eaten off," Vicky shouted.
"At least he would eat something."
Finally, after what felt like forever, he surfaced. Just his head, cutting through the water like a shadow breaking into moonlight. His jet-black hair clung to his forehead, dripping. His eyes locked on mine, those eyes. Ocean green, nearly translucent, too clear to be human.
He looked at me like a predator who had just learned I was edible.
I swallowed hard, feeling the nervous knot twist in my chest. He was majestic, yes, terrifyingly beautiful. A miracle of nature that could kill you with a single flick of his fin.
He tilted his head slightly, nose lifting as if smelling the air… or maybe me. And then, just like that, he sank beneath the water again, vanishing like smoke through cracks.
Maybe he didn't like tuna.
I wondered what would happen if I got inside the water. Would he hurt me? I imagined him shaking hands with me, making me his friend. I smiled at the image, a rarity I would say, there wasn't much that made me smile nowadays. To my surprise, he swam up again like he wanted in on the joke. His eyes stuck on my lips as a deep, throaty noise came out of him. My heart stopped for a second before starting a thousand times faster. My smile disappeared, my legs shook. Was he trying to communicate?
"That is fucking stupid," Vicky broke the trance. "Come the fuck down."
"I think he is not hungry," I said before climbing down hastily. What was that? I had no name for what transpired just now.
Somehow, it was always me who ended up guarding Delmar at night. Vicky liked his sleep a little too much. I didn't mind though, I liked spending time with him. I discovered something new about him every hour. On a few instances, he laid sprawled at the bottom of the tank when he got bored. He made a low clicking sound when he wanted my attention. He liked my eyes on him, a little too much. But not more than he liked looking at me. I promised not to look at his male parts, but I couldn't help it. It fascinated me. His unique anatomy perked my curiosity.
I was eating a packet of chips, and the sound of the plastic made him swim up to the glass. He stood unmoving, watching me eat.
Something inside me told me to climb up the tank and offer him the chips... just to see if he would accept. Vicky wasn't here, and it might make him more susceptible. This could go horribly wrong, Vicky wasn't around to save me.
As I removed the metal mesh from the top of the tank, it didn't take any coaxing this time for Delmar to swim to the top. He came up a little too close for my comfort. He eyed the packet of chips in my hand, then me.
"Here," I offered a chip, taking it close to his lips. He opened his mouth, his sharp canines on full display, and took the chip between his teeth without removing his eyes from mine. He winced at the taste but chewed on anyway. His eyes never strayed from my face.
A strange sort of energy hummed through my body at the sight, something I didn't give myself the freedom to feel often. Especially since my mother already thought her son was a failure. My sexuality would only make her more upset, so I had done everything in my power to ignore that part of me.
But with him, right now, I let myself feel it.
As if he could read my mind, he placed his hands on the wooden plank and pulled himself up.
"Wha…"
Before I could finish my sentence, his lips were on me.
There was no tongue, no smacking of lips, our lips just touched. His wet ones and mine dry. Contrary to what I had expected, his lips were warm and soft.
I wanted to touch him. I wanted to see how his skin felt. Was he as strong as he looked?
When I heard a low growl, almost, something primal and soft, I backed away. This wasn't right. He was a different species, for God's sake!
I climbed down hastily, feeling overwhelmed and confused. Delmar looked hurt.
But why?
Did he mistake me for a woman of his species?
What did the women of his species even look like, anyway?
If Vicky's description was correct, they looked like athletic females of our species. I wasn't athletic, and I certainly didn't look like a female.
Keeping Delmar in captivity didn't seem right anymore. What if he had to pee or take a shit? He couldn't do that in the tank. He was probably an intelligent, sentient being. We couldn't treat him like a house pet.
For the rest of my shift, I sat at the far corner, not looking at him. He kept making that ticking sound, trying to get my attention, but I didn't look. My heart raced, still thinking about the kiss. I felt equal parts turned on and disgusted. He was vulnerable. I had to be the sane one and make the right decision.
"We will have to let him go," I said when Vicky came down for his shift.
"What?" Vicky exclaimed, irritated almost immediately.
"It's not human to keep him inside this glass box."
"And he suddenly has morals," Vicky threw his hands in the air in exaggeration.
"I'm going to let him go, whether you agree or not."
I saw his expression change, friendly to vicious in a flash, but he hid it just as quickly as it came.
"Let's go upstairs and talk patiently."
I nodded and followed him, but a loud sound stopped us in our tracks. Delmar slammed his hands hard on the glass wall. He seemed agitated.
"What is wrong with him?" Vicky huffed.
I wanted to go and see what was wrong, but Vicky called me up from the basement.
"You want to discuss it or not?" he asked, irritated.
We came to the living room, but I could still hear the loud thuds and the metal rattle of the tank in the basement. He must have been pushing against the metal mesh. I frowned, not understanding why he was doing that all of a sudden.
Today of all days he was trying to get free. Maybe I was wrong to think he was intelligent, a sane being wouldn't hurt itself to get free.
"We can't let him go. This is the biggest and the most important discovery of the century, Kashton. Don't ruin this with your stupid emotions."
"Don't be greedy. We have all the evidence. The pictures and Dad's journal."
The noises from the basement grew louder, as if he was going crazy. Delmar's desperation was making me anxious as well. I couldn't concentrate on the conversation at hand.
"Those pictures could easily be faked. And your dad's journal doesn't mean anything. You know what the world thought of him."
"It's your job to make them believe," I yelled. I thought he respected my dad. The noise from the basement was getting more insistent.
"You stupid man," Vicky shook his head, disappointed. His hands went to his waist, and he took out the gun that I hadn't noticed before and pointed it at me.
Everything went silent. Even the basement noise was gone. I held my breath, staring at the gun in shock.
"Vicky, this is completely unnecessary," I stammered, my legs shaking underneath me. You don't know what fear is until a gun is pointed at you. At that moment, I realised how little I knew about Vicky. He could have lied about everything, for all I knew.
"You are a crazy son of a bitch, just like your father," he laughed bitterly, his finger on the trigger.
I closed my eyes, expecting to be hit by the force of the bullet at any second, when I heard Vicky's loud cry.
I opened my eyes to find Delmar sitting on Vicky's chest. The rifle had been thrown across the room.
Vicky gawked at him, scared to death, his eyes bulging out of their sockets.
Delmar had his teeth out, snarling like a wild animal.
What I saw next made me scream in shock.
Two tentacles came out from the back of Delmar's shoulders, the ends laced with pointy bone, almost like a spearhead, swaying in the air, taunting Vicky.
"Noooo," Vicky cried out, screaming for his life. The tentacle moved near Vicky's eyes, suddenly going stiff, and with lightning speed, it made its way through Vicky's skull.
I looked away, running towards the exit. I ran and ran and ran, wherever my legs took me, as far from the dangerous creature as I could.
God, what had I gotten myself into?
I stayed hidden behind a rock, deep in vegetation.
Delmar had just killed a full-grown man. Who knew if he was coming for me too?
I remained there for the whole day.
I decided to come out eventually. I couldn't keep hiding here forever.
I tentatively opened the door of the house and peeked in. The living room was empty. Even Vicky's body was missing.
The floor didn't have blood.
Delmar wasn't just strong but intelligent. What threw me off was why he chose to stay in the tank even when he could get out.
I secured all the doors and windows. I took out Vicky's things, including his phone, which was password locked.
I took out my own phone and charged it with Vicky's power bank. I wasn't sure if I should call the police first or the guy who dropped me at this island.
Even if I called the police, what would I tell them? That a mer-creature killed Vicky? They would probably arrest me for the murder.
The phone signal wasn't consistent, so I decided to text the guy instead.
I tried to look around for Vicky's body, hoping at the same time that I didn't find it.
My eyes fell on the wide-open basement door. I stood frozen, contemplating if I should go down and take a look.
Against my better judgement, I walked down the stairs hesitantly. The lights were off. I tried to rationalise it, thinking I must have left them on, when I heard a splatter.
My heart jumped to my throat. I couldn't move a muscle. A low, vibrating sound jolted me mid-step.
I descended one step down, glanced at the tank, only to be shell-shocked.
Delmar was back in the tank like he had never left. His legs again turned to fins.
Delmar swam to the glass wall when he saw me, looking worried. He made a low sound in his throat, his palm pressed to his chest. It almost looked like he was saying sorry.
My mind screamed for me to take off, but my legs had other plans.
Taking a deep breath, I walked towards him.
"You... you killed him," I stated the obvious.
He made the sound again, almost like a purr, but not quite.
"What if his family members start looking for him?"
He tilted his head to the side, looking at me confused.
"I'm screwed. They're going to blame me," I said, panic rising in my voice.
He swam away from me, agitated as well.
"Where did you hide his body?" I asked, freaking the fuck out as the realisation dawned on me that I was well and truly fucked. "Tell me, you freak!" I screamed, banging the glass wall.
He cowered away, almost hurt.
"What am I supposed to do now? I haven't even started my master's programme yet. This was all a mistake. A big mistake."
I sat in front of the tank, clutching my hair in my fists.