Siren's Song

by Kaye Draper

  Luca sighed. “But I have changed,” she whispered. “I’m all emotional. And really freaking insecure. And…Grey I’m not a guy. I never was. You already tried hooking up with a woman once, remember?”

  Oh, Grey remembered. And it made her feel an imminent panic attack starting up. Sometimes, Grey was absolutely sure Luca was still Luca and she could get past the whole girl body thing. Then she’d remember how badly that had gone with Joy and how much she just wished Luca was there to hold her and tell her it would be okay—the real Luca. The old Luca. Everything was a fucking mess.

  And she still had to go face George, and Matheus, and Ethan, and the rest of the world. She didn’t have time to sort out everything she was feeling.

  Luca sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t be mad at you. That’s not fair. I should have told you the truth from the start. I should…gods, I should probably just leave you the fuck alone so we can both get our heads on straight.” Her blue eyes met Grey’s as she blinked away the tears there. “I just miss you so much, Grey.”

  Grey didn’t know what to say. She missed Luca too. But the woman sitting next to her felt like a stranger.

  Luca sucked in a long breath and visibly shook herself, giving Grey a forced smile. “And we have a show to get ready for.” She stood and held out a hand to help Grey up, clearly struggling to find that old sense of equilibrium.

  Grey stared at her for a moment before she took Luca's graceful hand. There was still an aching hole in her heart, but it seemed to lessen a little when they touched. She still couldn’t imagine being in a romantic relationship with a woman, but those concerns didn’t seem so pressing just now. If they could just find some sort of common ground...maybe they could be friends again. Grey missed the comfortable companionship she'd had in the old Luca. She had never felt so lonely in her life.

  Chapter 82

  Laura put her hands into the pockets of her Lucifer hoodie and bounced up and down on the balls of her feet. Her friend Allie jumped up and down in excitement beside her as the lights began to dim and the crowd around them started cheering. They were, without a doubt, the luckiest girls in the world. They had won front row tickets on the radio a couple of days before the Second Change and traveled all the way out to the island just to see their favorite band.

  Just the chance to see the hotties of Lucifer in person was enough. But things had changed in the last two weeks. Since the Swap Back, as Laura called it, everyone had gone crazy. While native islanders made bets over whether or not the hot local news anchor would turn out to be female come Monday morning, music fans all over the country had talked about one thing. What would happen to the members of Lucifer? The band had always refused to answer questions about the gender of its members. Obsessed straight female and gay male fans held their breath, terrified that their current favorite among the band members would turn out to be female, while a bunch of others probably prayed for the opposite—that their favorite member had suddenly become a good-looking chick.

  But Lucifer had kept them all waiting. They had stayed away from the media, holed themselves up in preparation for the concert for weeks on end, and refused to comment on the gender changes, or lack thereof, that had occurred in the band. Everyone knew there must be a morph somewhere in the band. Otherwise why would they have disappeared from the public eye like that?

  Laura and Allie held hands as the lights went out. You could almost hear the intake of breath as the audience waited. A haunting chord filled the darkness and Laura sucked in a breath. It was her favorite Lucifer song. The single chord hung in the blackness. A voice joined it, a sigh of sound. The lights came up, just a bit, bathing the stage in a dim glow that illuminated the dark outlines of the band members, but revealed no details, only revealing shadowy forms distorted by the angle of the light. The voice rose, and Allie squeezed her hand until the bones grated together and let out a little eek! Laura pressed her lips together. If there was a girl, let it be the drummer, or the guitarist with his long black hair and graceful moves. But not Grey. Not her Grey.

  His voice, usually a husky sigh, rose higher still, swelling into an angelic soprano descant that shivered in the air. Screaming started. Somewhere nearby a girl started sobbing like someone had died. The lights came up, revealing the members of Lucifer, two men dressed in muted tones of gray and black. And two beautiful women.

  Luca was there, changed but similar in all her tall, lean grace. Grey, however, was absent. Laura was shocked at just how absent. She had heard that morphs rarely resembled themselves pre and post change. But this was ridiculous. Slender, femininely beautiful Grey, with his broad shoulders and chestnut hair was gone. He had been replaced by a woman with a head of wild red curls, and a body that was all voluptuous curves. The last note of her descant hung in the air, fading fast. She spread her booted feet and posed back-to-back with a stunningly feminine version of Luca. Laura took it all in from up close—the men’s pants and masculine shirt and vest combo, meant not to hide their gender, but to accentuate it, to flaunt the fact that there was nothing male about the lead singer or the guitarist.

  The guitar riff started, and the crowd went wild with another surge of ecstatic screams. Grey’s voice floated over the guitars and drums, beautiful, but with a hard edge—and Laura was enraptured. She surprised herself, raising her arms and screaming along with the rest of the crowd.

  Chapter 83

  Arianna rested against the balcony, her golden hair caressing her sun-kissed cheek as she gazed out over the turquoise waters of the Mediterranean ocean.

  Thanks to the willful half-breed, she was free. For the time being. She wasn’t foolish enough to think it would last. But for now, she would enjoy the warmer climes. She felt a pang of something almost like guilt when she thought of the half-breed…her child. Whatever the gods wanted with the gem, having it was going to make Grace’s life difficult. Arianna supposed a real parent would try to do something about that, but she wasn’t human. Simply giving birth didn’t make her responsible for the child. She had raised it enough to fend for itself. It wouldn’t starve.

  Besides, the creature was impressive—strong, determined, and stubborn enough to take care of herself. Arianna felt something almost like pride.

  There was a whisper of movement behind her and Arianna shook herself free of her musings. Her current pet was waking. The sun was setting over the sultry town. She smiled like a contented cat. The dark, swarthy-skinned beauty had proven very distracting. Maybe she would reward him with a night on the town.

  She found herself wondering how the new owner of the gem had handled the inevitable mess once the curse was revoked. Surely her dark-haired lover was long gone by now. A relationship as odd as that one was doomed right from the start.

  But then again, maybe not. The child certainly was full of surprises. Arianna wondered if Grace had discovered the gift her mother had bestowed on her. Her lips curved into a wicked smile. “The rest of our kind will be begging at your feet, my…daughter? Son? Progeny?”

  Her laughter tinkled on the night air like music. Things were about to get interesting, and she had a front row seat for the show.

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  Kaye Draper, Siren's Song