Siren Awakened

by C. R. Jane

  I began to rap “Lose Yourself” by Eminem out loud to try and distract myself from the smell and the lack of light. The tunnel wasn’t tall enough for me to stand up, so I had to crawl my way through it. The way that I’d woken up had made it seem as though I’d dropped from the ceiling, but when I tried to feel around, I didn’t find any type of opening. Since I had no clue where I’d come from, I picked the direction that the sludge seemed to be moving and kept going.

  “Knees weak, arms are heavy,” I rapped as something brushed against my leg.

  It’s just a piece of trash, it’s just a piece of trash, I chanted because if I allowed myself to think for one second that there was something alive in this tunnel with me, I would lose my mind for real. My arms slipped, and I barely caught myself before I landed face first in the toxic mess surrounding me. As it was, I splashed some of the sludge on my face and once again found myself retching from the hideous smell. If I ever got out of this tunnel, I might end up dying just because of the toxic fumes this stuff was giving off.

  One inch at a time I went, something continued to brush against my body as I moved forward. I’d just settled into a rhythm and reached the end of the song…when it happened.

  Whatever was in my body chose that moment to make its appearance. Dr. Maynard had said that the ghost made its appearance at night when I was sleeping because that was when my mind was most open for a takeover. But I thought that because I was so tired, so scared, so out of control, my mind became weak enough to let whatever it was in me take control at that moment.

  My arms and legs began to move much faster than I’d been able to move before. I screeched, trying to gain control of my limbs as I flew through the tunnel like some kind of deranged spider monkey. I could barely move my fingers, and I certainly didn’t have enough control to stop myself. It didn’t help that there wasn’t anything that I could have grabbed on to, even if it was possible.

  “Help me!” I began to scream, knowing that no one would help me but needing to try anyway.

  An evil laugh leaped out of my throat just then, and tears came hard and fast. It was confirmed, not that it had really been in dispute prior to this, but whatever was inside of me, it was not something good.

  I scrambled around a corner, and the tears became tears of relief because there was a light literally peeking out from the end of the tunnel. I screamed again, thinking that maybe someone could hear me now.

  As I scrambled closer to the end of the tunnel, my heart threatening to beat out of my chest, the roar of rushing water drowned out my whimpers and heavy breathing.

  The thing inside of me continued to have a stranglehold on my body, and all I could do was let out another scream as it took me right out of the tunnel and down, down, down into what looked like a pond of sewage. I landed in the sludge with a splash, doing everything I could to keep my eyes and mouth closed against the poison that I’d been dunked in.

  I began to struggle even more against what had taken hold of me. I finally briefly took back control, and I used the opportunity to break through to the surface, taking a heaving breath of the foul air above the vat of poison.

  “Help!” I was able to scream once more, when my body was taken back over and I was dunked once again.

  It was trying to drown me, that much was obvious, and the reality sent a shiver racing down my spine.

  I continued to battle as hard as I could, breaking the surface intermittently.

  But I had no energy left. As I began to sink beneath the surface again, I knew it was over.

  Is this when I really died and the spirit got my body?

  I was about to have to breathe in the sewage, when suddenly, a strong pair of arms wrapped themselves around me and I was pulled up to the surface.

  I gasped out a desperate breath and clutched onto the arms as much as I could.

  “Stay with me, pet,” Alaric whispered in my ear, and I let out a whimper of relief. The ghost was completely dormant now that I was in Alaric’s arms, and Alaric was able to swim me over to a ladder. He gently moved me farther up his shoulder and then began to climb up the ladder as I held onto him tightly.

  There was a landing above the ladder, and we both collapsed onto it, inhaling deep breaths of exhaustion. Alaric kept me wrapped in his arms like I could be yanked away at any minute. Which actually wasn’t as far-fetched of a fear as I would have once thought. I was exhausted, but I pulled on his sopping wet shirt, wanting to be as close as possible as well. He was my lifeline. It felt like if he let go of me for even a minute, the ghost would come back and I would be gone this time.

  I may have had the suckiest life imaginable up to then, but right now, I felt an extreme urge to live.

  “You saved me,” I whispered as I looked up at him, very aware of how bad we both smelled but not caring in the least bit.

  “This was the reaction I was looking for the last time I saved your life,” Alaric said wryly, but there was no anger in his voice, only relief.

  I tore my gaze away from his to look at our surroundings for the first time. We were in what looked like a giant cave. There was a waterfall across where I’d come out, except instead of beautiful water it was delivering a steady stream of dark brown water. The tunnel I must have fallen out of was situated into the rock wall, at least twenty feet above the pool of muck I’d fallen into.

  I trembled just looking at it all. “How did you find me?” I asked in wonder, turning my attention back to him.

  He took a deep breath and wrinkled his forehead as he answered. “I don’t know,” he said slowly, shaking his head slightly in confusion. “I was sleeping, and I woke up to your scream echoing in my head. It sounded so real, and it kept happening. I knew that it had to be real. I broke out of my cell, and it was like there was a rope connecting me to you, I knew where you were.”

  He shook then, his gaze growing distant as if he was thinking hard about something.

  “I broke through that door and saw you thrashing in the water. And then you disappeared. And I just knew…if I didn’t get to you right then, I’d never see you again.” His body trembled again, and he closed his eyes like he was in pain. His face crumpled up, and he pursed his lips, trying to get control of his emotions.

  His eyes flew open then, and I gasped at the love that I saw in his eyes. There was no sign of the cocky, ego-maniac, sex-god in his gaze. There was only complete devotion.

  He pulled me into his still quivering arms, and we took comfort in each other’s embrace.

  It took a while for us to calm down, but I knew I’d relaxed when our smell began to get to me.

  It was putrid.

  I pulled myself away, missing his embrace the second I did so, and wrinkled up my nose as we looked at each other.

  “We smell,” I said, stating the obvious.

  “Like ass,” Alaric agreed, and I couldn’t help but giggle because he was coated in brown slime…that may or may not be mostly made up of the prisoner’s crap. I was sure I looked exactly the same, if not worse.

  And then we were both laughing, so hard that tears streamed from my eyes.

  It only took a moment for my laughter to turn into sobs. I was so completely done with everything. Alaric’s sexy chuckle faded away, and he quickly stood up, scooping me into his arms.

  I laid my cheek carefully against his chest and just let myself cry as he got us out of the sewage room. I guessed if I had to cry, it might as well have been up against a hot guy’s body. That seemed to be the only upside from my propensity to crying constantly lately.

  I didn’t watch where we were going and was surprised when he opened a door and we stepped into an opulent bathroom, complete with a giant marble shower and a pedestal tub that could comfortably fit at least four people.

  “What is this place?” I gasped, afraid to move as he set me down on the marble floor. Everything was so white and so clean. The last thing I wanted to do was leave poop streaks everywhere by walking to the shower.

  “A trade with t
he warden for procuring a trinket for him,” Alaric commented, walking to the shower and turning it on. “He has a few fancy bathrooms throughout the prison that he loans out to people as little boons.”

  After finding out this bathroom came from the warden, I had no problem sullying it. In fact, it may have been petty, but I tried to splash as much sludge on the floor as I could as I walked to the shower.

  Alaric tried to hold onto a grin, I’m sure knowing exactly what I was doing.

  There were multiple nozzles in the shower…and the water was hot! Not lukewarm, not icy cold…hot!

  I ignored the fact that this shower belonged to the warden and enjoyed the water as it washed away the slime that covered me. The door to the shower opened, and Alaric stepped in.

  My gaze danced across his body briefly, because really…what female could resist, before scooting to the side to give him some room.

  I found that my anger had quelled quite a bit after his latest act of heroism.

  He squirted a big glob of shampoo in his hand that frankly smelled like heaven and then began to massage it into my hair, making me gasp in pleasure.

  “You going to tell me how you found yourself in the prison’s sewage station, pet?” he murmured as his caresses began to spread from my hair to my shoulders.

  I was silent for a moment, wondering if I should tell him. “Something came back with me when I died,” I told him quietly.

  He froze, his hands gripping me forcefully with a shudder before quietly letting go. “What did you just say?” he growled in a deadly, furious voice.

  I shivered, strangely turned on by the anger in his voice.

  “And when did you first realize this?”

  “Almost from the moment I came back,” I whispered reluctantly. “The spirit has been taking over my body when I sleep. I’ve started waking up in a strange place in the prison every day, with no idea how I got there.” I curled my arms around my chest tightly, feeling vulnerable all of a sudden.

  “And you didn’t feel like you could trust me,” he stated, his head dropping as disappointment knifed through his words. He picked his head up and stared at me. “Did you tell the others?” he asked, the word “others” said with thick distaste.

  I shook my head. “I told the psychiatrist,” I said with a shrug, trying to inject some levity into the situation. “That obviously didn’t do much, since I woke up in a tunnel of sewage.”

  Alaric looked like he was going to kill somebody…possibly Dr. Maynard.

  I washed out the shampoo from my hair, since it seemed like he’d forgotten what he’d been doing. His earlier comment about procuring a trinket for the warden hit me in the head like a sledgehammer.

  “She said that the warden probably has something that could get the spirit out,” I blurted out as I watched his face closely.

  “That would make sense,” he said, washing his chest off, deep in thought. My gaze drifted across his perfect abs, suddenly thirsting to be able to touch them with my own hands.

  The fact that his body could distract me from ghost possession was really saying something.

  He took a predatory step towards me suddenly, and I found myself against the shower wall. “You’re not going to hide anything from me again,” he ordered with a growl.

  I could feel him hard against me. Evidently, he wasn’t as distracted as I’d thought.

  “This is how it’s going to work from now on.” He suddenly hoisted me up against the wall. My legs wrapped around him as he positioned me. An involuntary moan escaped my lips as he pressed his length against my clit.

  “What’s going to work?” I gasped out as he started to thrust against me slowly, the soap and water making it an easy, smooth glide.

  “You’re going to tell me everything. And then I’m going to fix fucking everything,” he ordered as his thrusts picked up speed. “I’ll get whatever fucking thing we need from that asshole. I’ll always take care of you.”

  His lips were on me then. His mouth claimed mine in a hungry kiss, licking deep into my mouth eagerly and aggressively. He pulled my hips closer to him, bringing me against his hard length. The friction was delicious. Deep, languid, rolling thrusts pushed me closer to the edge I was desperate to fall off of.

  Small whimpers spilled from my throat. I needed him. I was desperate for him to drive into me, spreading me open, giving me everything.

  My body clenched and throbbed wildly when I finally fell. I buried my face against his neck as I rode it out. Taking a deep breath and wanting more, I pulled my face away and admired what was before me.

  He got the message, because he grinned, laying a soft kiss on my lips. Our gazes locked as he pushed in slowly, carefully, like I was the most precious thing to him, gently stretching me. He had an awestruck look, as if this was our first time. Holding still, letting me adjust to his size, his mouth descended on mine, his demanding tongue plunging in. A submissive type of neediness consumed me as I sucked his tongue greedily, whimpering. Long moments later, my hips tilted, my body asking him to move. He drew back, watching my face as he pulled out slowly.

  “Missed this so fucking much,” he groaned. Then he slammed into me hard, sinking all the way in once again.

  The sensation of him stretching me open, completely filling me, was overwhelming. He ground into me hard, trying to get deeper. I felt something bubbling inside me, warming me, consuming me. It was emotional. Intense. I felt possessed. By him. But it felt…right.

  He kissed me softly. Tenderly. His lips slowly dragging over mine. “Fuck, you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he whispered, fingertips trailing along my jaw. His gaze met mine again as he started moving, angling his hips, hitting that perfect place inside of me. My head pushed against the shower wall as pleasure raced through every vein in my body.

  His hips continued to move, his groans and my screams filling the room. He didn’t slow his brutal pace, and he buried his head in the crook of my neck, sucking on the sensitive skin there.

  I was overloaded with sensation, and he wasn’t finished yet.

  He didn’t finish for a long, long time.

  And the water stayed hot the entire time.

  Chapter 11

  Selena

  There was something to be said about how much my social life had boomed since arriving in Nightmare Penitentiary, and how sad my life had been beforehand.

  I walked away from the mess hall from my morning shift, the whole time thinking about how close I’d come to dying again. How lucky I had been that Alaric found and saved me. My mind filled with images of us in the show room, and a tingle raced down my spine. But there was no time to become complacent when I had a ghost trying to kill me.

  I had every intention of spying on the guys and uncovering their secrets, except with everything of late, I no longer wanted to be alone. Tensing, I kept walking, figuring I’d have to track down Alaric and see if he’s had any luck in tracking down the trinket to eliminate the ghost.

  The main hallway was a wide space, and yet there were people everywhere, chatting and pushing past, meaning I wove around them. Even the great centaur made himself comfortable, sitting down with others in the area, blocking a huge section of the hallway. I noted everyone gave him a wide berth, and I did the same.

  I took the steps up to the next floor when I spotted Keon standing with his back to me, leaning a bent arm against the metal railing. His dark guard’s uniform fit his strong physique perfectly, following the muscles in his back, the firmness of his ass, the hardness of his thighs. Keon was talking to my little friend, the brown mouse. I couldn’t hear the words, but his mouth moved and the critter looked up at him as if understanding.

  How strange. Curiosity pushed me forward, and I approached them. Keon placed the mouse on the floor, and the little thing scrambled away.

  He straightened, glancing over and meeting my gaze. The corners of his mouth curled upward, his spectacular green eyes glinting at seeing me. What I found strange was he didn’t hav
e a hint of a bruise or cut on his face, and I’d just seen him the day before in a brutal fight.

  “How are you?” he asked, his voice confident and his posture just as broad and powerful. Yellow light filtering in from fluorescent lights stole the shadows from across his face. Something about his clean face with a whisper of growth across his jawline reminded me of the first time I picked him up at the bar. I’d fallen for his charm from the beginning, and the allure between us only strengthened, despite everything we’d been through.

  “Been better,” I admitted, then changed the topic, not ready to talk about me. “Is the mouse your pet? He visits me often.”

  “He’s a funny little thing, and you know, he does the rounds, visiting as many of the prisoners as he can. If you ask him for something, sometimes he understands and will bring it to you.”

  “Really?” Thoughts speared through my mind of all the items he’d brought me, and I wasn’t sure if they were in response to what he might have heard me say or just gifts. “How do you know it’s not just coincidence?”

  “My parents gifted him to me to try and calm my dark urges as a pet or something. I laughed so hard that they thought a mouse could tame me. But turned out he was no ordinary critter. He apparently has some magic in his heritage. He understands so much more than people realize.”

  “Wow. And you brought him to a prison?”

  “Felt sorry for the guy at home alone, restless, running through the whole house without something to do. Here, he has the run of the place. Plus, everyone knows not to hurt him or I’ll rip out their throats. It’s a fair arrangement.”

  And he wasn’t even kidding on that part.

  “Do your parents know about…about the thing inside you?” I whispered, feeling unsure what to call it.

  “He’s part of my soul, maybe my familiar,” he answered. “My father was a human, and my mother a demon, so I guess I’m the result of such a match.”

  He ran a hand through his dark hair, though the longer strands just swept back over his brow from his movement. Everything about him hypnotized me, which was so unfair, considering everything he was capable of, yet my body betrayed me over and over when it came to Keon.