Dark Siren

by Ashley, Eden

  “I don’t remember you. I don’t remember any of this. And I definitely don’t feel four hundred years old.” She started crying. “I remember being a kid. I remember my parents. They died ten years ago.”

  “The ones who created you, me, and others like us, they have taken your memories. They put the essence of your true self into the body of a child. After you reach a certain age, the creature inside of you begins to mature again and the cycle must start over.”

  “Oh.” Kali clamped a hand over her mouth to stop the angry sob. “My mother……” she looked at Rhane through a curtain of tears. “My real mother, she knew…”

  Rhane nodded but said nothing.

  “That’s why they died?”

  “Kalista, I honestly don’t know.”

  She hadn’t missed the slight shift of his right hand on the steering wheel. The left was bandaged, resting in his lap. “Rhane, I know there’s more. Tell me everything.”

  “Take a deep breath. You have to stay calm.”

  “Don’t tell me to calm down.” She was near hysterics. “I need to know what happened. This is my life. Tell me why I was taken.”

  Rhane watched her steadily, but the mask was slipping. Her anguish seemed to cause him physical pain. Open, raw grief flashed across his face. His eyes were deep caverns of guilt.

  “What is it?” Her voice dropped to a whisper. “Tell me.” Kali knew she sounded like a psycho, but she couldn’t help it. Rhane was still hiding something. And that something was huge. But it was a part of her past, and she had every right to know. “I can’t forgive another lie from you.”

  “I’ve never lied to you.”

  The sudden wail of sirens startled them both. Blue lights illuminated the night. She saw Rhane consider. He muttered a curse and slowed, bringing the pickup to a full stop next to the highway. Instructions for the driver to exit emitted from a loud speaker. With another look at Kali, Rhane complied, raising his hands as he did so.

  Greg’s voice called out gruffly, “Kali, honey, get out of the car.”

  She obeyed, puzzled to hear his voice. “What are you doing here?” She rounded the car, raising her hand as a shield from the halogen headlights of the patrol cars. There were three officers. All had weapons trained on Rhane. One was sweaty and seemed a little jumpy. Kali stopped moving forward.

  “I got in at first light this morning. Imagine my surprise at coming home to an empty house.” Greg didn’t sound pleased. “Rosalyn answered only after she got her cover story straight. When I couldn’t reach you, I figured this guy had something to do with it. As soon as his plates hit Aiken County, the police arranged a static tail. Then your sister phoned me and said this lunatic had kidnapped you.”

  “He didn’t kidnap me.” Kali looked at Rhane. He was standing stock-still. “We were just talking.”

  “It doesn’t matter. He’s trouble, and I’ve told him to stay away.” Greg took a step toward her. “Come to me.”

  “Kalista, don’t.” Rhane started to turn. And everything else happened too fast.

  There was a shout. “GUN!” She heard the crack of a single shot and ducked. Successive firing hammered into the air all around, the sound of metal on metal deafening her ears. Something heavy slammed into her, and she was knocked roughly to the ground. Somewhere above the chaos, she heard Greg shouting, “Hold your fire! Hold your damn fire!”

  She opened her eyes. Rhane was kneeling over her, shielding every part of her body. That was him, always keeping her safe. “Don’t go with them.” His words tumbled out urgently. “Those dreams you spoke of. They are memories. You were being hunted because I was sent to kill you. But I killed my own to save you. That is my treason. Taking their lives for yours.”

  “Why? Why were you going to kill me?” Her question was a frightened whisper.

  The officers swarmed overhead. Rhane was lifted off of her. Arms wrenched behind his back, she heard the unmistakable snap of cuffs being secured into place. His eyes never left hers. “They thought you lost control. A lot of my kin died…nearly all of them.”

  One of the officers removed a gun that had been tucked securely in the waistband of Rhane’s jeans, casting a reproving glare at his nervous and sweating partner. Kali was shaking. Heat rose from her toes all the way up to her hands.

  “Kalista, look at me. Stay with me.”

  “What else? But there’s something else.” From somewhere outside her body, she felt Greg taking her hand and pulling her up from the pavement. His voice was asking if she was okay. His hands were checking to see if she were injured. All of it came from a distance. In that moment, she and Rhane were the only two people who mattered in the entire universe.

  “There was a child,” Rhane said in a ragged whisper. “Our child…Rhaven……he died because I fought.”

  Kali doubled over. She would have fallen to her knees if not for Greg’s arms about her waist. The world was going dark. “I don’t believe you,” she wheezed out. The officers started to pull Rhane away. Someone dragged her in the opposite direction. Her father. The man who had raised her after her fake parents hadn’t wanted her anymore.

  “Don’t do this. She’s in danger,” Rhane shouted at Greg’s back. “The man who brought you this child, do you still see him?” Greg stopped. “He told you to keep her safe, to give her a normal childhood. But he also told you that one day someone would come for her. Didn’t he?” Greg turned around. “He told you this would happen. Let me protect her.”

  Kali looked from Rhane to her dad. No one was moving, mostly because Rhane wasn’t giving up another inch. His eyes had darkened dangerously. She understood that they wouldn’t be able to take him unless he allowed it. “Rhane,” she said shakily. “Don’t do this. I’m not ready.”

  “Kalista. Kali, please. I need you to come with me. We’ll figure out the rest later.”

  “I can’t. I’m not ready,” she repeated. “I’m sorry.”

  Chapter 61

  Rhane sat in the back of the police car with his arms positioned awkwardly behind him. He stared ahead through the cage separating him from the officers upfront. There was a flicker of pain in his side from where a ricocheted bullet had hit him. The situation was not good. Gabriel was coming. He could feel it. The cuffs weren’t a problem. Breaking out of their humanly pathetic idea of secure custody wouldn’t be difficult. The trouble was Kalista. She had lost confidence in him. Just as he’d thought, the knowledge of who they were and what they’d lost had been too much.

  “You’re in a lot of trouble, dirt bag.” Officer Levens jerked his chin toward the unmarked sedan that drove up ahead. “That feller there is the D.A. And you’ve managed to piss him off. I guarantee that he’s going to find meanest, crabbiest judge to throw the book at your pretty skull.”

  The officer’s comments were but a dull drone in Rhane’s ears, dismissed for irrelevance. A feeling of urgency squeezed his chest, increasing with every mile they covered. Rhane watched the forest, the road, and the trees.

  And saw the huge figure come crashing through them.

  Everything in his world stopped as the first car, the one with her in it, slammed into the monstrosity.

  #

  Impact from the sudden stop exploded through the sedan, jerking Kali’s neck painfully forward and back. Airbags billowed out in slow motion, unfolding as white clouds in a halo of dust. The seatbelt constricted, crushing the air from her lungs. Through vision blurred by tears, she saw two sinister red orbs shining in the night. Then the squad car was being lifted up, higher and higher. In the next instant, they were flying. The car hung in midair for several seconds before crashing to the earth again. The force sent the vehicle into a deadly roll. Frantic screams punctuated the undertones of crunching metal and shattering glass. After a final roll, the squad car settled into a broken heap.

  No one was moving. Her father and the policeman were unconscious. Their fingers limply grazed the ceiling that was now the floor in Kali’s inverted world. Blood was everywhere. S
he felt a scream rise in her throat but fought against it. Her hands trembled as she blindly reached for her seatbelt. Releasing the buckle left her at gravity’s mercy, and she fell, landing with a crunch atop a carpet of broken class. A deep roar bellowed in the darkness. Kali shivered. More gunfire. Men yelling. Glass breaking. She had to get out.

  The windows were shattered. The frames had collapsed and buckled around them, but no opening was large enough for her to escape. The door was stuck fast. Kali was trapped. She heard someone screaming…didn’t know how much time had passed before she figured out the screams were hers.

  Then warm hands touched her face and shoulders. A strong voice soothed her in a terse whisper. The familiarity of it broke through the madness. She nearly collapsed in relief. “I’m getting you out. It’s okay, Kalista. It’s okay.” She focused on Rhane’s words and let them calm her. His hands worked deftly, ripping and tearing at the twisted metal. He kept talking to her, softly urging her to stay calm.

  The ground shuddered. And the atmosphere morphed into something darker. A strong odor stung her nostrils. Gabriel. The monster was coming for her.

  “Look at me. Keep looking at me.” Rhane’s eyes had changed. No longer human, and they were pitch black.

  He succeeded in freeing her from the crumpled prison, pulled her out and placed her on the ground beside him. He looked away. She followed his gaze with a frightened stare. Two pillars of leathery skin covered by only patches of black fur were moving toward. Masses of rippling muscle ended in feet with scythe-like claws. Gabriel. Every step he took scarred the earth.

  Rhane’s mouth pulled back into a vicious snarl showing two rows of sharp and elongated teeth. He launched himself away from the truck, right into the monster’s path. The two collided. Furious growls of eardrum splitting caliber ripped apart the air. Kali’s heart stopped when an agonized shout echoed into the night. A moment later, Rhane’s body smashed into the side of the squad car, moving it back an entire foot. His t-shirt was pitifully torn. A bright red stain of blood smeared the door when he moved. His hand flashed up, holding the gun confiscated earlier. He pulled the trigger. Gabriel roared. Kali pressed her hands against her ears to block the terrible sound. After the sixth shot, Gabriel fell silent.

  Not wasting a second, Rhane scrambled over to her. Several huge gashes mangled his left arm. She reached out for him, held on desperately. “My dad, we have to get my daddy.”

  “Kalista, we have to go. Gabriel’s not down for long.”

  “No. He’s still alive.” She wasn’t ashamed to beg for Greg’s life. He was her father. She really understood that now. “Please help him.”

  “I can’t let Gabriel hurt you.”

  “Don’t you see?” She sobbed. “Losing Greg will hurt me.”

  Rhane brushed a finger against her cheek and slipped from her arms. Wrenching the front passenger door from the hinges, he reached in and checked for pulses on both men. The officer groaned. Greg was silent.

  Rhane called to her softly, “Kali, I need you.” She hurried next to him. “Release his belt when I tell you to.”

  Kali did as she was asked and soon her dad was lying safely on the ground, his head in her lap. Rhane had rounded to the other side of the car, and was busy freeing the policeman. Greg’s pulse seemed extremely faint. The slight rise and fall of his chest was barely a comfort. He was in trouble. A deep wound in his upper thigh steadily oozed blood. If the bleeding didn’t stop, he would die.

  As she fumbled to remove the belt at his waist, Greg’s eyes fluttered open. “Kali… sweetheart, I’m so sorry.”

  “Don’t talk.”

  “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you…” He grimaced when she tightened the tourniquet. “You have to go with Rhane.” The whites of his eyes appeared as the pupils rolled back. His entire body began shaking.

  “Rhane!” Kali screamed. He appeared instantaneously. “His leg is hurt. He’s lost so much blood.” She tried to calm her breathing, but the breaths just came shallower and faster. “I think he’s dying.”

  Rhane knelt, placing his non-bandaged hand on Greg’s injury. Kali struggled to hear him as he spoke. “He’s fine. There’s no pain. He’s fine.”

  “What?” She looked again. Rhane was right. Greg’s bleeding had stopped. In fact, the cut itself was gone. Kali put her hand where the fatal wound had been only seconds before. “I—I don’t understand.”

  “It’s time for you to go now.” Rhane threw back his head and trilled a whistle that rang deep into the woods. The sound still resonated as he took her face, cradling it wetly in his hands. His expression was heavy with sadness. Kali figured it out. She had missed her chance. Rhane was saying goodbye.

  Fresh tears started. They mixed with his blood, pouring out like an endless rain. “Please…” Kali didn’t know what to ask. Rhane had saved her, protected her, and guarded her physically and emotionally for every step of the road that had led them to this point. He had done everything anyone could have asked of him and had only wanted her trust in return. He had given her back her family. And now he was sacrificing his life to keep her and her father safe. “Rhane, I…” A huge knot closed her throat.

  He smiled gently. “I know.”

  Behind him, a dark figure rose from the earth, unfolding until he stood at least nine feet tall. A frightening mix of human and beast, black hair ran down the middle of Gabriel’s spine like an unkempt mane. Mottled skin stretched over broad and hunched shoulders. His neck was as thick as a tree trunk. Fixing the glow of his crimson eyes on them, he charged faster than she had ever seen anything move. Rhane distanced himself and the fury of Gabriel’s attack away from Kali. The grayish blur corrected its course, slamming into Rhane with bone breaking force. Repeated screams tore from her throat as the monster impaled him with its claws, lifting his body high overhead. Gabriel bayed and hurled Rhane toward an outcropping of rocks. He landed with a sickening thud, shuddered, and did not move again.

  “Rhane!” she screamed. “Rhane!”

  Grief overcame her. Possessing her body from the inside out, it threatened to tear away her soul and leave her hollow. The rocks were painted with blood. Rhane’s blood. He raised his head. Weak but furious, his eyes met Gabriel’s in defiant challenge. That monster was going to kill him. And she was helpless to stop it. Kali dug her nails into the cold earth and watched Gabriel close in on her guardian, her family…her heart.

  Heat welled inside of her. It took over, pouring into her body in a thick wave of anger and possession. White-hot rage changed her into someone stronger, something better. Kali gave in to the pain, the hunger, and the urge to destroy. She became the siren.

  Chapter 62

  Pain was everywhere, excruciating unbelievable pain. It was pure agony to open his eyes against it, but Rhane did, meeting Gabriel’s bloodthirsty glare with hatred. Saliva poured excitedly from the creature’s snout, dripping down its fangs. Gabriel’s eyes were victorious. He was about to kill the one thing standing between him and his prize.

  Rhane looked at Kalista, lovely in all the chaos even as she cried and screamed like a madwoman. Again, he had failed. What would become of her now? Builders would move her to another child. She would remain their captive. Or…she would become Gabriel’s. Rhane hated to think of it. Gabriel would turn Kalista into a monster. And his friends…they were probably going to die.

  Another wave of nauseating pain tore through Rhane’s body. He set his teeth against it and willed himself not to cry out. Then it was gone. At first, Rhane thought Gabriel had simply killed him. But the fallen Prime was frozen in place.

  Rhane focused his waning sight on Kalista. Her raven hair flowed like silk in the wind, radiant by moonlight. A gray haze had surrounded her form, rapidly expanding into an all-consuming fire. Tendrils snaked out to levitate her body into the air. Her face distorted beautifully, displaying anger and concentration as she held Gabriel by the sheer force of her will. The fire surrounding her grew bigger, increasing until it filled the clearing with
its incandescence.

  The ground rocked. Small tremors intensified until the earth shook with enough force to blur Rhane’s fading vision. Tiny freezing droplets of rain started to fall. Driven by a fierce wind, they stung his cheeks. It was a firm reminder that he was still alive.

  He looked at Gabriel. The beast hadn’t moved. But the light from Kalista vanished.

  And suddenly, the flames were reborn!

  They erupted into a grey and black fireball with Kalista at the heart of the shadows. The flurry took on a new shape. Dark light funneled toward the heavens and then sank back to the earth, returning to the mistress who summoned it. A pair of wings formed a silhouette of black fire. The wings lengthened fully, and then folded protectively around Kalista.

  Everything went soundless as the light exploded into a blinding wave of heat and power. Gabriel went hurtling into the trees. He sailed helplessly through the air, pulverizing several lesser trees until a collision with a large pine stopped his trajectory. He landed and was stunned. Digging claws into the earth, Gabriel rolled to all fours. Red eyes glowering, he leveled a hungry gaze on Kalista.

  Rhane felt the change. His temperature spiked until it felt as if his very blood was boiling. Three bands of light blazed into his skin, encircling his wrist. The same bright light glowed in the palm of his right hand. The branding…it was the mark of Banewolf.

  Rhane threw back his head and let out a triumphant howl as his weaker form melted away, drawn inside the protection of a nearly indestructible war skin. He was on all fours when he climbed down from the rocks. A handsome blanket of milk white fur covered the colossal wolf hide. Banewolf had awakened. Rhane was whole again. He was immortal.

  The scent of Gabriel’s fear was delicious in his highly attuned nose. The wolf’s muscles bunched into a reserve of power, uncoiling in a fraction of a second to launch him from the rocks. In three bounds, Banewolf landed in front of Gabriel’s crouching form. With a raging snarl, he attacked. Teeth and claws shredded Gabriel’s hide. The wolf and the monster rolled, each one ripping and tearing at his enemy.