#kelpie x reader

Kelpie x Reader

WC: 1k+

Summary: when you were a child, a kelpie warned you to stay away from the reeds. Now visiting the lake again as an adult, you hear a voice calling for help, and end up trapped as a kelpie’s mate.

Beneath The Still Waters ch. 1

Kelpie! Ezra x reader

A/N: super self indulgent, but this is a repost from my last account. I'm hoping this actually gets seen unlike the last one though- fingers crossed!!

Warnings: angst, death mentions, minor character death, Ezra gets his own warning

The people in your family never tended to have long lives. This was just something you knew to be the case.

Your father's side seemed to be particularly unlucky.

Your great-grandfather made it to 37.

Your grandfather lasted until 42.

Your uncle had only been 16.

Your father? He disappeared a week ago, and your mother had finally gone down to the local police station to file the missing persons report.

He was the oldest of the men in his family. He'd gotten all the way to 52. You weren't sure why he'd lasted so much longer than all his other family members. Truly you tried not to dwell on it too long.

If you had, maybe you would have realized that every disappearance happened near a particularly large, mostly still, body of water. Your grandfathers had enjoyed fishing, and your uncle, according to your father, had been fond of a particular swimming hole. Your father though, hadn't ever held a particular fondness for water.

When he'd left that final night, he'd told you, and your mother, that he needed to pay back an old friend. You weren't quite sure what he meant, but you trusted him to explain further when he returned home.

He never made it home.

You couldn't really tell how you were feeling. Your mother wasnt there, you had no siblings to speak of, it seemed your father had barely enough time for you, and your mother had never pressed for a larger family. You'd never cared about that until now. The house was far too quiet.

If your grandfather had lived long enough for you to meet him, you'd have known the stories of his childhood. Stories of the fae, and the monsters that lived amongst men. Monsters that could easily lure the strongest man into their grasp. If you'd gotten to meet him, he'd have told you about the grave mistake his own father had made, in trying to tame one such monster.

Your great-grandfather had bridled a kelpie. No one's quite sure how he'd done it, but somehow he had without being drowned first. Not only did he capture this kelpie, he'd ridden it. Challenged the other men in the village to “horse” races, and had forced the great creature to work on his family's farm. When he'd had a child of his own, a son, he'd decided to free the kelpie. He didn't trust it around the child, so he removed the bridle, and told the monster it was free to go.

This was his first mistake. A bridled kelpie is controlled, and mostly docile. If you free the kelpie you bridled, depending on your treatment of it, it will demand equal retribution, or it will take its leave back to the water. He had treated the kelpie like nothing more than a tool to work his land, and for that the kelpie took retribution. The monster killed your grandfather, and vowed to end each generation after, until none remained.

The only remaining descendant in your father's line was you. Not that you knew you were in any danger of course, it was beautifully ridiculous that your father hadn't told you what was coming, thinking that his stupidly noble sacrifice would be enough to satiate the monster.

It wasn't.

The kelpie, Ezra, as he preferred, was a proud creature. His pride had been deeply wounded by your great-grandfather's slight against him, so much so that he couldn't let it go, despite your father giving himself away.

Ezra knew exactly where you were, but he couldn't just kill you in your own home. That wasn't the purpose of the hunt.

You had to come to him.

How would he ever convince you to do that?

He would just have to insert himself into your life, he decided. Make it so you truly needed his presence, and then he'd do it. He'd take his final piece of revenge against your family.

This was actually harder than Ezra expected it to be. The kelpie had thought that there would be something about you that would keep the fire of his indignation burning. There wasn't.

You were kind.

He'd watched you stop on the street to pet a passerbys dog, and seen you talk to the birds singing on your walks to and from your various errands.

How could one human be so truly gentle? Sure he'd seen you get frustrated, and even angry, but that didn't change the baseline of your demeanor.

During your first meeting, he'd bumped into you, on purpose, to create a reason for the pair of you to start talking. He'd spilled your coffee, that you'd just paid for. You hadn't even raised your voice, “are you alright?” Were the first words out of your mouth.

He was shocked to say the least, but tried not to let it show in his expression, “I'm so sorry, songbird- my head was swimming in the clouds when I should have been keepin’ a lookout on my surroundings,” he had a truly apologetic look on his face, “I insist that you allow me to replace the beverage I have caused to go to waste-”

You blinked at him for a moment, you clearly weren't used to the way he spoke, and even less used to the random act of kindness he was offering, “no- no it's alright. I can get another one another time.. I'm running late for work.” You were already about five minutes late, give or take, and you couldn't hang around any longer.

He nodded, seeming almost disappointed that you had to go, “next time then-” he offered.

You nodded, not thinking anything of it, and out the door you went.

The next time you went into the coffee shop he was there, and he'd already paid for your coffee. You were again running late, so you didn't give it as much thought as you probably could have. You simply thanked him, took your drink, and went on your way as quickly as possible.

Ezra was absolutely intrigued. Intrigued and he'd barely spoken to you yet. He'd get there, he told himself, he was just playing the long game.

He just needed to keep sight of what was important. You were the final loose end he needed to tie up.

(Brief timeskip to several days later)

You had taken the day off, you weren’t feeling well, and needed the extra sleep, so it was much later than normal when you wandered into the coffee shop closest to your apartment. You didn't really think anything of it. You didn't have many friends in the area, and your coworkers knew you had stayed home, so there were no texts about where you were. You didn't think anyone was particularly worried about you.

You were very wrong.

Ezra was worried. Hell, worried was an understatement. Ezra was nearly frantic. You hadn't come into the coffee shop this morning, he knew he hadn't missed you. He'd been in the shop since they opened.

Just as he was getting ready to leave, to find you, to find a large body of water to cool off in, he wasn't sure yet- you walked in. You looked sleep rumpled, and had dark circles under your eyes. He was gripped with an almost bone deep concern, that he had to almost physically shake off.

He stood, getting in line behind you, “well hello again, starshine,” he greeted softly.

You turned around, seeming pleased to see him, and he wasn't sure why that elated him so, “I seem to have misplaced my manners in forgetting to introduce myself during our last meeting, I beg your sincerest pardon for that.”

You smiled softly when you were right. You'd know that drawl, and flowery anywhere, despite only hearing it a few times before. All the same you gave him your name.

The grin that spread across his features was nearly blinding, like you'd offered him the sun instead of your name, he repeated it back to you, enjoying the way it felt slipping through his lips, “a pleasure to officially make your acquaintance, I am Ezra- at your service,” he inclined his head deeply in your direction.

“Ezra.. it's a nice name,” you murmured, nearly forgetting why exactly you'd come to the coffee shop in the first place. He was distracting, in the best ways.

He thanked you for the compliment, and immediately followed it with, “I hope you won't take this as my being too forward, Starshine, but I was hoping you might allow me to take you on a date. I would be truly honored to have the opportunity to spend an evening with you outside of this establishment-”

To say you were surprised was an understatement, but before you could answer him, you had to order your drink. Which you did quickly, a London fog, hot, with two extra pumps of vanilla, and you quickly paid for Ezra's drink as well. Despite his protests he ordered, and stepped aside with you to wait, “well songbird? Would you grace me with your presence for an evening?”

You nodded, and once again that smile, that seemed to light up his eyes, filled his features.

“You have no idea how happy that makes this old fool, sweetness,” he really meant it true, even though he knew he shouldn't.

The pair of you were called for your drinks, and you gave Ezra your number, promising to send him the details of your schedule. This was supposed to make it easier for him to continue his hunt, and yet.. he couldn't help but be excited to spend extra time with you.

“Keep it together,” he muttered to himself, as he watched you walk away. As soon as he couldn't see you anymore, he turned and walked the opposite way. He had a date to plan after all.

Oh my gosh I’m so touched that you read a (7000 word) story about something that scares you, and you still liked it!! I’m happy I changed your mind a bit with Aonar. He’s a shy sweetie really. But yes, kelpies as they are in folklore are fucking scary and kinda gross… Not Aonar though. Soggy horse boy got manners… :P