It was hard to really know what was happening. I just felt this rage. Their hands were all over my legs and stomach. My body started changing as I fought them off. Feathers growing out of my thighs. And the scratching now became fiercer. My nails tore through their flesh. I heard the ripping and I felt the blood.
Wide, shocked eyes gaped at me in the dark. Their adrenaline was up so they still came at me. But now there were screams of horror. In no time, two of them were dead on the ground. The other two started to run. In my fury, I tore through the back of one’s head and down his back. The other kept running, but I jumped on him and started ripping through his body with my teeth and claws while he was still alive. Like a wild animal, I devoured him as he screamed.
Once I realized fully what I had done, I scurried over to an empty box and curled up inside, shuddering as my body turned back into human form. Oh, God. I must have stayed there in shock for about fifteen minutes before I crawled out. I was breathing heavy. Looking at the dead bodies before me.
At once, I ran out of the alley, across the boardwalk, and the sandy beach. I rushed through the waves and dove into the ocean.
I just kept swimming farther and farther out in the darkness until I felt this pull backwards. It was like I just couldn’t go any farther. I must have been too far away from the other sirens. With all my might, I tried to push past, but my struggles were futile. In despair, I slid deeper into the black water. I simply gave up. I wasn’t going to fight.
As I drifted farther and farther down, I heard a voice. It wasn’t clear at first. But as I surrendered more, I could tell that it was Dylan’s.
I heard a song. It was so alluring. I felt like I was in a dream, but it was real. The melody mesmerized my senses.
Blue dawn/The lights are clear/I see you near/Baby I need you/Oh, I need you/Baby I want you/Oh, I want you/Blue dawn, blue dawn, blue dawn/Oh, I need you/Baby, baby, baby…/I do
I started swimming toward the music. The rhythms pulled me in its direction. The sounds were more splendorous than anything I had ever perceived before. It was Dylan’s song.
Oh, Dylan!
I must have swum through the darkness for ten minutes before I reached him. “Hailey,” he murmured as he pulled me into his arms.
We shot to the surface, our heads breaking through the water at once. Our eyes met. Butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I held tightly to his muscular shoulders afraid he was going to disappear.
He kissed me tenderly. Oh, my. I could feel his warm breath twining with mine. His soft lips. The way his tongue felt in my mouth. I never wanted the kiss to end. This is forever, I hoped. He held my face in his hands.
Without words we swam hand in hand under the water to the shore. I was still dressed in my skirt and halter top, not having bothered to take it off before I dove in. Dylan was also in his shorts, but his shirt was off. I couldn’t keep my eyes off his glorious body, the way the moonlight caressed each contour.
It looked like a grin formed on his face. “Come,” he whispered as he pulled gently at my hand. We jogged over to the craggy rocks at the far edge of the beach. A lamppost from behind on the boardwalk gave a warm glow to the setting. He picked up his t-shirt that he had left there and pulled it on over his perfect chest.
“Your face—it’s bruised,” he said as he gently lifted my hair away from my cheeks. He looked concerned. “I hadn’t noticed before.”
“I’m fine,” I said, embarrassed and then looking down.
His nostrils flared and his eyes pierced into mine. “What happened to you?” He looked at my bruised arms.
I couldn’t tell him. I just couldn’t.
He asked harshly, “Did someone hurt you?” His hands balled into fists.
“No,” I whispered. “I fell down the stairs after I looked for you at the rooftop pool.”
His jaw clenched as he stared at me for a moment. “That sounds so human. I didn’t know a siren could be so clumsy.”
I didn’t think he was buying my explanation. “Some kids ran down the stairs and knocked me over by accident.” Even I knew how pathetic that lie was.
He shook his head as he looked at me suspiciously. “Come here,” he said in his musical voice that made me weak in the knees.
He pulled me to him and held me in his arms. “I shouldn’t have left.” His voice was raspy like he was angry with himself.
“Why did you leave?” I looked up at him, trying to push down the lump in my throat.
“I don’t know.” He seemed uncomfortable now.
I was still looking up at his gorgeous face, but he was looking off now in the direction of the ocean. “What happened to that girl that went with you?”
“Brenda?” He asked. A crooked grin formed on his face.
My tone was biting. “Yeah, Brenda.”
He chuckled lightly. “We did it.”
I pushed away from him. “Oh,” was all I could choke out.
“I’m kidding.” His voice was cocky.
“Then why did you say it?” I was hurt.
He shrugged and walked over to the rocks and sat down on one of the boulders. “Why were you staring at that guy in the music store?” He frowned.
So he was jealous. That surprised me, but kind of turned me on knowing that he cared that much. “It’s not easy being a siren with all these yearnings and feelings. You should know.”
He stared at me for a long moment in silence. “I do know, but I only feel them for you.”
My heartbeat sped up at that. It was hard for me to respond—my breath was caught in my throat and I didn’t want him to know how out of control I felt right then.
“I want to take you somewhere,” he said as he walked over to me and took my hand. “It’s a special place.”
I felt dazed. My mind was whirling. What the hell was wrong with me? I used to be so normal before I met him.
While I was trying to regain my equilibrium, he stepped over to the rocks and leaned his hands down against one of them. “We’re going to fly there.” He looked back at me with his hands still on a boulder. “Think about something that makes you very angry. That’s how you can change into a siren.”
I watched a vein in his neck bulge up to the surface of his tan skin. His face reddened. At once, he pulled off his t-shirt and threw it down on the rocks. I wondered what he could be thinking about that would anger him so much.
He was wrong. I didn’t have to get mad. Just watching him caused changes in me. It was instinctual. Primal. The process felt so pleasurable now. The way the wings broke through my back was indescribable. But I was more focused on Dylan than myself. I lost track of what was happening to me as I concentrated on him.
The muscles in his thighs and calves expanded slightly and stone blue feathers sprouted from his legs. Longer plumes of the same color pushed out from the waistband of his shorts. Magnificent stone blue wings expanded from his back. Talons extended from his toes and fingers. And his teeth grew out of his mouth like fangs.
He looked at me. His electric green eyes were lit like the sun. A fiery, rapturous green. He grabbed his shirt and without saying anything, he flew into the air. Instinctually, I followed. It was strange. I felt like I didn’t have a choice. It was like I was a wild bird operating on autopilot, governed by a natural drive burning within.
CHAPTER EIGHT
We are mere notes in a piece of music played by the angel Death—heard and lost. –AUSTIN O'MALLEY, Keystones of Thought
We flew high up into the night sky. What a feeling being up so high, soaring through the clouds above the ocean. Moments like this made being a siren worth it. I felt so free. So alive.
We landed atop a thick branched tree several miles up the coast at the shores of Leo Carrillo Beach. It was a natural secluded place with lots of rocks, coves, and trees. After surveying the landscape, in unison we flew down to a hidden spot behind the tide pools and sheltered by trees.
On our feet now, I followed Dylan deeper into the woody terrain where we appr
oached a cabana. “How did you find this?” I asked. Even with my fangs I could still talk as well.
“While you were shopping with the others today, I toted the sheets and bedding here and built it.” He grinned slyly.
“It’s amazing,” I laughed as he held open the edge of a mauve colored silk sheet that draped over the wood structure. I walked inside. Instinctually, we fluttered up to the wood beam that ran across the room from one side to the other. Our talons closed around it, supporting us as we perched side by side.
We both looked around for several minutes without saying a word. In the silence, I began to hear his thoughts faintly. I had to wonder if I was hallucinating because I got the strong impression that he liked me immensely.
The way I looked in his mind was beautiful and very different than I saw myself. My feathers were something erotic to him. The scent of my hair was like perfume. And my chest. I had to laugh. He liked my breasts. In his thoughts he touched the dimples in my cheeks. He ran his lips down my neck.
Goose bumps lifted on my arms as my talons tightened around the perch. The feathers on my legs lifted, standing on end. I tried to distract myself.
I looked at the ground covered in soft feathers. He hopped down. For a moment I watched him. But in no time I followed, hopping down beside him.
He touched the tan skin on my arm, running his hand down it. To him, my skin was soft. He smiled at the goose bumps.
I ran the tip of my finger across his lips and down the sharp blades of his teeth. His breath became louder for a moment. I leaned in closer to him to breathe in his delicious essence. He smelled like the wind in the trees.
We were so close, face to face. I blinked, completely dazed.
He ran his hand down my feathery legs and pulled me even closer to him. We were chest to chest now. I could feel his heart beating against mine. I reached for his shoulder, trying to steady myself. My mind was whirling—I didn’t want to fall over.
He laid me down upon the feathers beside him. His sad eyes bored into me. We lay like that for a long while just looking at each other.
His thoughts became more rhythmic. The words were indecipherable, poetic in sound. I was his dream. I was that girl. You are a fantasy to me, my imagination on fire, the balsam of the river. Burning tears fall from the sky.
His lips touched my collarbone. It was like tiny pecks on my soft skin, his teeth pricking me lightly. His mind confused me.
Our bodies shifted back. Our backs arched and we rolled over to face each other as humans. “Wow,” I whispered under my breath.
His expression was unreadable, but his eyes bored into me. We kissed long and sensually. Wrapped in each other’s arms, we fell asleep.
An hour or so later, when the moon was fully overhead shining through the trees and through the silk of the cabana, I awoke suddenly in the bed of feathers. My dreams had been turbulent.
I looked around. Dylan was gone. I didn’t know where he was. I started to get nervous. For a minute, I just listened intently trying to hear if he was outside. But I didn’t detect anything but crickets chirping and the sounds of the waves rolling on the shore.
My head ached. I was feeling the pains from the fight in the alley just hours ago. When I touched my cheek, it was so tender that the pressure of my fingers caused me to flinch. And now Dylan had vanished. Why would he leave me like this?
There must be some explanation, I reasoned. But then, I remembered how he had rushed out of the hotel suite earlier with that pixie haired girl. Maybe he had gone back to her. With everything that had happened, I had neglected to ask him about her. Where was she?
And where was he?
I got to my feet and readjusted my skirt and halter top. Now that I was a siren, the soles of my feet had grown thicker, so it didn’t bother me that I was barefoot. I stepped out of the tent and walked through the woody area out to the coves.
Nobody was around. In the far distance, I saw the lights of a ship, but that was all. I heard a sudden splash in the water, but when I turned to look, there was nothing. And then I heard it again. There was a chuckle.
I looked over across a stretch of sandy beach and saw Dylan sitting atop a big boulder that extended into the water. He was throwing stones into the ocean to catch my attention.
“Hi,” he called out looking at me with a wry grin on his sexy face.
“Hi,” I responded not feeling the good cheer he was experiencing, but relieved that he hadn’t disappeared off somewhere with the pixie girl.
“Come over,” he yelled out.
I put my hands on my hips. “No,” I said sternly.
He laughed. “You’re missing out.”
“On what?” I yelled. “Throwing rocks?”
His expression looked amused. “I have a gift for you.”
Something about the way he said that reminded me of my father. My heart tightened. Usually I wasn’t one to give into my curiosity so easily, but he got me at that. Mom and Dad. Their anniversary. A love that lasts forever.
I walked across the sand and stepped over the black rocks clustered tightly together upon the shore, making my way over to him. With that breathtaking crooked smile on his face, he held his hand down and helped me up onto his boulder.
I scooted right up next to him and then frowned a little too dramatically.
He chuckled again. “Do you really think you hold more affection for me than I do for you?” he breathed, leaning closer to my body as he murmured in my ear.
I tried to keep my mind from spinning all over again. “I just want the gift.”
He scoffed and raised an eyebrow. “Sassy one.”
“What?” I was flabbergasted. “Did you read the same courtship manual as my dad or something?” So much about Dylan reminded me of my father’s and mother’s interactions.
“Yes,” he said solemnly. “I’ve been spying on your parents for years.” His voice was teasing, but I almost wondered if he had.
“Here,” he muttered as he placed a little silver box on my thigh.
I gazed at it suspiciously before picking it up.
“Go on, open it.”
I lifted the top and pulled out a diamond bracelet just like the one my father had given to my mother the last time that I saw them. I remembered how just after he gave it to her they got in the car at the campsite. I would never forget how Mom stared at me from through the window and held her hand up against the glass as they drove away. My last memory of her.
“Thank you,” I whispered. “It means more to me than you can imagine.” I held it against my heart.
“What’s wrong?” he asked softly. His expression conveyed surprise.
I pressed one of my temples on the side of my head. “I killed four men in the alley who attacked me,” I mumbled the words. “What’s left of their bodies is still there.”
“What?” He took my hand. “Is that how you got the bruises?” I was sure he was startled by my admittance.
I nodded feeling ashamed.
“I’m glad they’re dead.” His voice was adamant.
My eyes drifted out to the ocean. If I had just been a normal girl and four men attacked me like that, I would likely be dead now. Technically, killing them was legal. It was self-defense. Maybe they did deserve it.
But I ate one of them. Oh, how gruesome that sounds. I’m sure that was against the law. I had never killed anyone before and it sickened me to think that these men would cease to exist in this world because of me.
“I’m not happy that I killed them.” I looked at him more intensely, my breath still uneven. I ran my fingers along the diamonds on the bracelet.
He shrugged. “They would have murdered you and likely done worse to you first. Freaks like that deserve what they get.” His eyes locked with mine. I got the feeling he was studying me.
“What?” I asked, trying to get a handle on my mixed emotions. I was still upset that he left the suite with that chick and even more than that I loathed myself for what I had become. But if someone
was trying to figure someone out, it should be me figuring him out, not the other way around. “Where’s that girl you left with?” I scowled.
His chin lowered at that and he looked at me with devilish eyes. “Jealous are you?” His voice was facetious.
He was making me so mad. “No! Maybe.” I felt my cheeks redden.
“I didn’t want the girl dead, so I told her to go home.”
“Did you kiss her?”
His voice lifted. “No!”
I exhaled, listening to the waves splash against the rocks. “Why did you bring her to the hotel suite in the first place if you weren’t interested in her?” I finally asked, probing his eyes for an answer.
He evaded the question, only shrugging and then looking away. When he turned back to me, he just explained why he sent her home. “The sirens can’t kill Brenda’s friends now because she would tell the cops who they were last seen with.”
I nodded. He saved all of them, I realized. Even though I was frustrated, he made a valid point. “Right. She could lead the police right to us.” As unsatisfied as I was, I felt relieved that the kids playing spin the bottle wouldn’t be murdered tonight.”
“Wren must be pissed that I left with the girl.” His eyes widened briefly.
I shook my head. “She didn’t let on that she was.”
He looked up at the sky. “She didn’t have the plastic laid out anyway. Maybe she wasn’t hungry. We did eat a lot last night. Or maybe she’s going to punish me.” His mind seemed to drift off.
“What do you mean?” I asked, my body tightening.
He didn’t respond.
I saw that I was getting nowhere, so I tried another question. “How often do sirens have to feed?” I asked, draping my hair over my shoulders and down my chest to warm myself.
Dylan watched me. “We can go for weeks without any flesh, but usually we eat more often. The more we feed, the better we feel and the stronger we become.” He squeezed my hand. “Come on. I want to take you out.
I don’t know why, but I blushed at that. “You mean a date?”
“Yeah, that’s what I mean.” He raised an eyebrow.
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