Under the vomit-green glow of public restroom lighting amidst a raging headache at her idiot soon-to-be-ex-husband, Jade grimaced at the leftovers of childbearing and an adult lifetime spent between an ergonomic office chair and a comfortable recliner. At home, in the soft, golden lighting of her forgiving vanity mirror, she had thought her middle-aged body with the rotund middle was feminine and sexy wrapped in a warm, merino wool sweater. The softness at her sides puffed over the top of her jeans, and Jade poked it in hopes of deflating it like a balloon before the restroom door whipped open and whacked the wall behind it with a bang.
The woman who entered was young and tightly squeezed into a dress resembling a fuchsia sausage casing. Somehow, the big-haired brunette with the perky breasts made it work. She grinned toothily at Jade and drunkenly hobbled to a stall before promptly banging closed the door. There was a rustle, a sigh, and the sudden, splattering rush of urine into a bowl of toilet water. Jade glanced back at herself in the mirror but turned away before she further stoked her rage.
The night was pre-destined to be a bad one, given that Jade was in a strip club to watch her husband's new bedroom partner dance. She scowled, her eyebrows bunched and shoulders curled forward, too tired for a maudlin display, especially in such a cruel setting full of voluptuous women who obviously had not spent the last fifteen years working a crap job for not enough money while cooking and caring for three rambunctious kids.
Jade whipped open the door to the bathroom and stomped toward her table with a heavy heart, a sour stomach, and a terrible attitude. Percy was draped in his seat, clutching a glass of something brown. Jade plucked a shot glass full of neon-green liquor from a passing tray and gulped it down without tasting it before she slid into her seat and sulked.
Percy made no indication he knew Jade was there, even though he'd asked—begged, even—her to attend the show. His jaw hung slack, his usually perfect hair was slightly mussed, his cheeks were pink, and his eyes were dark and sparkling. Jade stared at the side of Percy's face. Her eyes bore into his skin, but he didn't glance her way. He was transfixed by Big Tits in Blue dancing away. At the sight of Percy's gaping maw and moon-pie eyes, Jade put away her rage and sadness as bona fide disgust overcame her.
Jade watched the dancer on stage for a few minutes, her rippling, glistening skin and slicked-back hair. The swath of electric blue was an illusion of clothing. The dancer sang a haunted, slow melody like waves crashing on an empty beach, a siren song. Her fingers and nose were pointed, her cheeks chiseled, her eyes closed, her mouth open. The dancer swayed back and forth, slid her limbs along the pole, caressed the stage, pulsed to the house rhythm, and wound a sultry melody through the sweet and salty air.
Jade looked at Percy again. His hand clutched the untouched glass, and a bit of drool started to pool at the corner of his mouth. Jade gritted her teeth and kicked him under the table, but Percy didn't flinch.
"Percy," she hissed at him across the table. "Close your mouth." When he failed to respond or even acknowledge her request, she kicked him again, hard. "Percy!" Her sister had been right about the man all along. He was nothing but a weak, sniveling, slavering meat suit.
A seethe bubbled in Jade's throat. Her diaphragm opened at the same time as her lips in anticipation of a coming shout for the worst evening she had had in a long time just as Percy jerked and turned.
"Help me," Percy whispered.
Jade's mouth snapped closed as she fumed and spat, "You don't get to ask for my help now."
Percy's eyes drooped like butter in the sun. "Please, Jade." He whispered once more before his neck snapped back to the dancer onstage, and Jade's disgust returned. He was a weak man.
Percy would not have landed in his current predicament had he not stepped into the club. Jade had specifically asked him not to visit that particular social gathering space when it opened a few nights before. For a good reason.
Jade nodded to the familiar blue-clad dancer onstage who smirked back with flashing eyes: her sister. Zule was the only person who could press all of Jade's buttons at once, and tonight she had spectacularly ticked her off.
Zule's song had worked quickly, much more rapidly than Jade had thought possible. Zule sauntered down the stage steps and to the floor while the room held its collective breath. Every attendant in the club was frozen, stuck in their seat, unable to talk or move.
"Why did you come here, Zule?" Jade asked. "There is no ocean here."
"Don't be daft. You know the river and a bit of wind are enough to invoke the song." Zule rolled her eyes at her sister and continued. "I came because it was time." Zule watched Jade carefully pull the merino wool sweater over her head in earnestness. " Mother wants to meet your girls."
Jade muttered an expletive under her breath as she dropped her sweater onto the parquet floor. She had not told her daughters of their heritage and hoped they'd lead themselves and each other to an acceptable conclusion as to the origins of their affinities to music and water. Regardless, the girls would have to wait. The hunger stirred within Jade. Twenty years was a long time to go without a proper feast.
"But why my town? Why my husband?" Jade spat as Zule waggled her breasts under the flimsy blue fabric.
"Because," Zule started slowly, "Humans are gullible, predictable, adorable, and stupid. They are fodder. I never considered you'd be stupid enough to entertain a romantic relationship with your food. Did you learn nothing from Mother?" Zule flicked her tongue across her bottom lip and dropped the swath of blue next to Jade's sweater on the floor, baring her nudity to the tense, silent room while she stood pompously before her catch.
Jade smacked her lips as she considered devouring every ounce Percy had to give. Twenty years had been too long since she'd tasted the sweet meat of a captive man. Cleaning up the aftermath was easier without restrictive clothing susceptible to staining. Jade joined her sister in nudity before stepping behind her pathetic husband for a much-needed snack to sate her hunger.
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