As I walked into the door with Elliot on my shoulder, I could already hear excited voices coming from the kitchen. Rolling my eyes upon recognition, I walked casually into the spacious room and saw Henry and Noah leaning onto the counter, waving their hands around as they talked about all the wonderful things they were going to do together now that they were roommates.
“Having fun?” I muttered, interrupting them. I snapped my fingers at Henry whose elbows on the counter were giving me visions of undead bacteria. Yeah, I know that sounds weird.
“We already scouted out the place,” Noah replied, giving me one of his seducing smiles. Strangely, it was as if a wall had been put between us. It had no effect whatsoever. But I guess having your stuff stolen and extorted into giving your thief a home in exchange might do that.
“You have six bedrooms,” Henry said, nearly putting his elbows back onto the counter. Thankfully, Elliot had reached over and placed two coasters under them respectively. “What do you need all those rooms for?”
“Apparently the house was designed for cases like this. A home for the wayward youth and the recently deceased.”
“Speaking of which, we have something major to discuss with you.”
“You’re not painting the rooms,” I said, taking Elliot out of the backpack harness and placing him onto a chair. “Oh, and I want rent money from all of you. It will help pay for food and stuff.”
“We want to discuss roommates.”
“Who else are you trying to bum up in here?” I shrieked. Elliot almost teetered out of his seat from the vibrations echoing throughout the room.
“No one,” Henry winced. “We just want to talk about who your next victim should be.”
“Obviously,” Noah interjected. “You’re going to strike again. How long do you have left before you have to feed again?”
“How long do you?” I snapped, feeling like I needed to bury my head into a pillow. Things were better when I didn’t have to face my victims, let alone live with them. Now we were all sitting around like it was on big intervention, discussing the fact that I was going to get weak and strike again. Being that they were all affected by my condition, they probably figured it was only proper they get a say in how it all goes from here on out.
“I want someone who could be more like a servant,” Henry said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Maybe a social outcast. Someone so used to being trampled on that it won’t be such a change when he comes here.”
“Or who says it has to be a he?” Elliot spoke up. “A little more decoration could go a long way here. A little eye candy, if you will. A female, if you catch my drift, gentlemen.”
“You too?” I scoffed. He shrugged his shoulders the best he could as I turned to the other two. “You don’t get a say in who I…feed on next.”
“Why not?” Henry whined. “I mean, you’re not really going to just transform someone and force them to live on the streets, are you? You know it’s not going to stay that way, especially once he or she finds out where the rest of us are.”
“I’m with Elliot,” Noah nodded. “We should have more females up in here.”
“I’m not enough for all of you?”
“No offense, Alexandra,” Elliot said, choosing his words carefully. “But if you believe that any of us are going to fall in love with you, you’re delusional. While this…enchanting spell may be in effect, and you are far more appealing to behold than any of us would be willing to admit, the fact remains that each of our relationships with you has changed drastically. Noah, please tell me this is true.”
I turned to Noah, eager to hear his answer. He had been so convincing last night in the basement. Though Elliot said Noah was all about his own personal gain, and this theory became true when he stole my music, there was still a small part of me that still believed he was interested in me - that he didn’t think I was just some blood-sucking succubus that took the souls of others. That despite what I had done to him, he still saw me as before. The same Alexandra. The girl that I played every day and I wished so desperately to become every night.
But his eyes said it all, even before his lips began to part.
“I’m sorry, Alexandra,” he whispered gently. I felt my jaw clench, not out of anger, but disappointment. Disappointment in the fact that I still wasn’t accepted by anyone. To those I met I was either a walking lie, or their soon-to-be murderer.
“It’s okay,” my voice cracked a little. “At least we’re all being honest.”
“Did you think there could be a relationship between us?” he asked, but I had no real answer for him. I had felt airy last night, but I couldn’t be sure if it was him or his hypnotism. Perhaps that’s how they all felt about me. It was hard to tell what reality was from time to time.
“Well, at least we can all be friends,” I said, kind of by-passing his question. “At least I hope we can.”
“There’s no doubt about that,” Elliot said with confidence. “Regardless of the past, you can be assured that I will always be your companion.”
“And I your enforcer,” Noah winked. “I’ll make short work of anyone that tries to harm a single hair on your head.”
“And I protect my investments,” Henry said with a cold glare in his eyes. “Yeah, I like you, but before all of this, it was more than that. I can’t say we’re going to be besties now. I’m not saying that we’ll even be talking with one another once I’m back to normal. But get me there, and we’ll see.”
“I understand, Henry,” I said as Elliot slammed a fist on the table next to him. I could hear his bones aching from where I stood.
“Henry, you are by far the most selfish human being I have ever met! It’s obvious that Alexandra is attempting to atone for her sins. The least you can do is not be a child!”
“Whatever. I said my peace," he muttered. “And for the record, I also vote for more females.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” I said. “My body usually chooses my victim for me.”
“That sounds awkward,” Henry groaned.
“No, continue,” Elliot said. “Perhaps there’s a solution within the process itself.”
“Well, it’s all about survival, I think…well, it’s like a person being really picky with what they eat, but then they’re in a situation in which they’ve been starving for days. At that point, it doesn’t matter what their dietary needs were or what they preferred. They’re going to eat the first thing they can get their hands on. My body does the same. I might be able to choose my victim if it’s not too far from my deadline, but as it gets closer, I become less human and more siren.”
“Explain further.”
“Um…well, usually it’s not so bad when I’m in a relationship of some sort, like with all of you. It naturally gets to a point in which the song is sung and you’re all transformed, but if I don’t have a victim picked out, my body will starting transforming, changing my speech, my physical appearance…anything to attract a male victim.”
“So you are a succubus,” Henry muttered. Noah punched him in the arm lightly.
“So with less than two weeks out, how have you been feeling? Furthermore, is this the longest you’ve gone without a feeding?”
“It is the longest,” I admitted. “But I don’t feel any different.”
“Would you consider riding these two weeks out and going cold turkey? See if this feeding actually is a survival mechanism or not?”
“The problem with that,” Henry interjected, “is that if it is, and we wait it out, she dies. No more Alexandra. No more house. No more cure.”
“Well, the cure is in her blood,” Noah said, with a hand to his chin. “If she died, theoretically we could try to-“
“- Get out my house. NOW!” I screamed abruptly, pointing towards the door. “You come back when you come with a plan that doesn’t involve drinking my blood!”
“Geez,” he muttered, walking out the kitchen. “Double standard much.”
“Back to the matter at hand,” Ellio
t replied. “If we decided to ride it out to the end, it would certainly be up to you, Alexandra. I don’t want to put you in danger. One option could be that we procure a victim, tied up and ready to go on the last day available. In the mean time we would be able to study your body’s reactions, and you would still have someone to feed on if things look bad.”
“Okay,” I sighed. “But what do we do with the stranger if I don’t need him? It’s not like we can let him go. He’ll have the police swarming this place.”
“Well,” Henry said, tapping a finger on the counter. “Your roommates all have needs too. He won’t go to waste.”
“Gross,” I said. “But it could work I guess. You and Elliot take care of that end. But please make sure it’s someone who’s evil or something.”
“We’ll start making a list tonight,” Elliot said, giving a smile with missing teeth.
“Regardless though,” I said. “I’m a goner in less than two years. No matter what I have to make a decision and sing a permanent song by then, or die.”
“We’ll figure out a plan before then,” Elliot assured me.
I didn’t feel reassured one bit.
TRACK 6 – I Got This (Seriously)
“I know you can hear me,” Lucas shouted. I tried to pretend I didn’t hear him, pushing myself further into the crowd as I transitioned between classes. I heard him give out a couple expletives as the students around him refused to give up their imaginary place in the mob, and I couldn’t help but smile a little. What I didn’t know was what I was going to do once we were inside. He could easily walk over to my lunch table and introduce himself. Margaret was already sure to be on my case for all the meetings I’ve missed so I didn’t want to ditch them, but…I couldn’t have Lucas following me either.
“Hey,” Lucas said, somehow cutting the distance between us and grabbing my forearm. He spun me around to face him. “I just wanted to talk to you.”
“The feeling’s not mutual,” I snapped at him, yanking my arm out of his grip.
“No girl’s ever talked like that to me before,” he said, trailing behind me like he was toilet paper on my shoe.
“I’m not just a girl, I’m a lady,” I said, putting my nose up in the air and keeping my focus to the forefront. He snickered and glanced around him as I heard a number of whispers sound off from my right side. It was the lunch line, but the students weren’t focused so much on what concoction the cafeteria workers had cooked up rather than the spectacle before their eyes in the hall. It wasn’t every day you saw the founder of a notorious gang doing the chasing when it came to girls.
“Please leave me alone,” I sighed as I reached the second door into the cafeteria. The one that would lead directly to where my friends awaited. “Can you do me that favor?”
“Well, favors don’t come cheap,” he said, crossing his ripped arms again. Okay, he was doing it on purpose at this point.
“I don’t understand why you’re bothering me. I didn’t do anything.”
“I want to talk about Henry.”
“Yeah. Sure you do.”
“How about you meet me somewhere? Tonight. We could have dinner.”
“Is that what you gang members do? Take a girl to dinner? I thought it was all about the Pringles.”
“The Pringles?”
“You know, the fun don’t – whatever, if you promise to leave me alone, I can meet you somewhere I guess. I’m not trying to get stabbed though.”
“I find it funny that you know who I am all of a sudden,” he said with a smirk. “Did some digging on me?”
“I like to know what kind of animal is getting into my garbage at night.”
“So you date bad boys often?”
“Don’t be cute,” I said, with a sigh. “You’re not that bad…and are we going to dinner or not?”
“Oh yeah we are,” he chuckled, then paused to think for a moment. “How about Angelo’s?”
“Ah yes. The cheapest, dirtiest place possible. Perfect.”
“Not fancy enough?”
“Fine. Angelo’s,” I groaned, hearing someone calling my name from inside the cafeteria. “Now can you please go back to your West Side Story rehearsal?”
“Why? You like that movie?”
“Not particularly.”
“Because you know it was based off my life story.”
“That doesn’t –“I laughed, cutting myself off. “West Side Story is like three times your age.”
“I mean, they even stole my theme song against my will. When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way, from your –“
“- please stop,” I laughed from within, closing my eyes and folding my lips into my mouth. He was doing this ON PURPOSE. Trying to win me over with his charm and looks and bad boy vibes. It wasn’t going to work. Not now. Not ever.
“Okay, you said dinner, not lunch, so I’ll see you tonight,” I said, pushing past him into the cafeteria.
“Meet me there at 7 o’clock!” he yelled at my back. “I know we didn’t agree on a time, and you’re not getting out of this one!”
I rolled my eyes and kept moving. Margaret, Crystal, Theresa and Justin were all glaring at me with eyes so wide it was like I had just spit in their food.
“What?” I said, sitting down in my designated spot. Crystal was holding the binder to her chest so tight that I thought she was going to have to demote her bra to a lower size by the end of the day. Theresa was playing with her hair and staring at me in contemplation. Margaret kept her jaw dropped and Justin began playing with his taco boat. You know, taco boat? A square corn tortilla with processed meat, cheese, lettuce and…okay, whatever. Just trust me. They exist.
“Have you lost your mind?” Margaret finally asked in a whisper, leaning in so close that I could see a pimple beyond her concealer. “I have put up with your scandalous lifestyle to this point, but Alexandra, now I have to draw the line. You cannot, under any circumstances get involved with that boy.”
“Trust me, I wasn’t trying.”
“It’s her magic,” Theresa replied, applying her lip gloss. She opened up her wallet sized purse and half-threw it inside. “The boys can’t help themselves around her.”
“I didn’t ask for this curse,” I winked at her, and she snickered.
“You could be killed,” Crystal replied, allowing the binder to breathe. “Do you know who Lucas is? Do you realize what kind of lifestyle you could be getting yourself into? Whether you like it or not? If he’s taken an interest in you, he’s not going to let go. He’s going to reel you in and you’re going to get gutted.”
“Okay, first of all, I’m not a fish. Second, I can handle myself. I’ve been through a number of relationships already and I’m telling you, guys are all the same. Doesn’t matter how macho Lucas thinks he is, he’s just as indecisive and lackadaisical as the rest of them. No offense, Justin.”
“What?” he asked, turning to me and blinking at me rapidly.
“Go back to sleep,” I said, and he obeyed, nearly slamming his forehead on the table.
“This is different,” Crystal said adamantly, shaking her head. “This is different.”
“He probably didn’t even mean to start a gang,” I said, my voice beginning to rise. “He was probably part of a chess club that got mad at the jocks for getting all the attention and so they did a few petty crimes to get girls and they gained a reputation because of it. You know how rumors spread.”
“Some rumors are true,” Margaret said, giving me a wary eye. “I didn’t want to believe that my friend was a Loose Lucy, but apparently I was wrong.”
“She’s not loose,” Theresa replied, leaning in. “It’s not like she’s doing anything with them. Matter of fact, it’s the opposite. How else do you explain the guys going to her house one night and then wanting nothing to do with her the next day?”
“Sounds to me like they got exactly what they wanted,” Margaret huffed.
“Are you all done?” I scoffed. “As much as I appreciate this
mini-intervention, I’m fine. Trust me. This Lucas – I’m going to dinner with him tonight to get him out of my life for good. I wanted to tell him off earlier but I’m not trying to cause a spectacle in the middle of school. That’s the kind of thing people like him thrive on.”
“I thought he was just a chess club player,” Theresa chuckled softly.
“I don’t care what he is. I don’t want anything to do with him.”
“Chess players can be sexy.”
“Okay,” I said with a grimace. “Whatever.”
“If they can master such a complex game, then surely they’re good at mastering other complex things.”
“Theresa, if that’s true, then why do you only go out with the football players?”
She shrugged her shoulders and began digging through her purse as I rolled my eyes. I stared at them all, one at a time, taking in the worried looks on their faces. I shook my head.
“I’m fine. Really.”
Of course, no one believed me.
Not even me.
* * *
“You are not going to be okay,” Elliot said with all the certainty in the world. I took a deep breath, looked deep into the mirror and ran my fingers through my coarse blonde hair. The hair spray was holding up nicely, and I needed it nice and tight. I had never gotten into a scuffle with any of the boys I had had interactions with, but then again, they had always been on my turf, and under my conditions and spells. This was different. I was walking into an unknown situation. I knew nothing about Lucas, and it kind of scared me a little.
“Can you please take those medieval contraptions out your ears?” Elliot pleaded as I tapped the gauges in my earlobes.
“No,” I smiled at him slyly.
“Why do you wear those anyways? You look like you lost a bet, or a dare, or some combination of the two.”
“They’re both cool and intimidating.”
“How so?”
“It shows that I can deal with more pain than the average person, and more importantly, I could care less what the world thinks of me.”
“Two notions that are completely false,” Elliot replied, readjusting his position in the bathtub. There was a meager amount of warm water, about an inch in height beneath him. His arms were draped over the side and he was critiquing every little thing I was doing. You didn’t see me telling him that soaking his fragile body in water was bad for his decomposition. I left him alone because I knew he enjoyed the experience of “taking a bath.” I just wished he did the same for me.
My Immortal Playlist (The Siren Collection #1) Page 7