by Missy LaRae
My skin sizzled under my sweatshirt, and I started to get warmer. I fell to my knees, my hair hangin’ ‘round my face as the full force of the moon hit me. I’d never felt this way my entire life. It felt like I’d just got hit by a truck. My hands were in front of me and I sucked in a deep breath as moonlight pierced through my soul. I felt the pure intensity of the power thread through me and I swayed. My body was weightless. I raised my hands up, and I reached for the moon. I wanted to curl around the sliver in the sky and hold it against me. I tilted my head back, and with my eyes closed I raised my hands higher, and tried to cry out but nothing came. I was drunk on the power of the moon. My heart ground out a frantic crescendo, and I pushed to my feet. I stood on my toes, and I pointed my fingers towards the sky. The lights around me dimmed, and I felt heat crawl into my fingertips. The heat laced its way through my hands, down my arms, over my shoulders, and into my chest. The immaculate pureness of the moon surrounded me, consumed me, and I spun around out of control. I smiled, thrilled, exhilarated as I flung my sweatshirt over my head. I lifted myself up. I seemed to float in mid air as the fire consumed me. I was changin’. I could feel myself swellin’ up like that balloon Tyler was talkin’ about earlier. I felt bigger. My hair was on fire as I watched it swirl around me. I could feel my face tightenin’ and I smiled. I opened my mouth and inhaled the scent of the night around me. I laughed. I felt my blood singing through my veins. This was why Mama didn’t want me to go outside. The night was full of power; full of magic. I felt different. I felt overwhelmed by the intensity of the feelings inside of me. I could feel my body changin’, and there was nothin’ I could do to stop it. I didn’t want to stop it. I fet more alive in that moment than I ever had in all the years I’d been alive. The lights went out completely, and I shattered. My breath left. I bowed backwards under the assault of the moon, and I finally collapsed back onto the deck. I was filled, whole, renewed, and changed. I felt tears seeping from my eyes, and a happiness flowed into my heart that I’d not experienced a day in my life. I had never felt this whole. I sobbed, no fear, no hurt, no pain, just the overwhelming feeling of finally being completely whole.
My ragged breath brought my
surroundings back into focus, and I heard the sound that had originally woken me from sleep. The sound of water called to me. I could smell the salty stench of the ocean, and realized that there was a fine dew on the boards that I was layin’ on. The slickness of it soaked through my jeans, and I quickly jumped to my feet. I felt heavy. I felt full of somethin’. I didn’t know what it was, but it was wakin’ up inside of me.
I looked around and saw my sweatshirt hangin’ off the top of a potted plant, and I walked over to get it. It wasn’t the best place for me to have tossed it, but in the moment I wouldn’t have cared if it had sailed over the side of the roof. Might a been hard to explain in the mornin’, but the power in me was all consumin’. I staggered some, still feelin’ drunk off the power of the moonlight. I flexed my hands, and it felt like beams of liquid heat stroked through them. I turned toward the water and looked up at the moon. What do you want from me I wondered.
“What are you doing up here, Lily?” I froze. Michael’s voice captured me. I had my back to the door and hadn’t heard him open it and walk out onto the deck. Icy tendrils of danger sprang up inside of me and raced into my heart, yet there was no fear.
“I just wanted to come up and see the moon. The sound of the water woke me up.” Instead of feelin’ fear, like I had at dinner, I felt a peace surround me. It was so unexpected that I trembled slightly. I turned towards him and saw his shadowed form underneath the roof coverin’ the back portion of the deck. His hands were in his pockets, and he was barefoot. He had on pajama pants, and a t-shirt that said I’m a Gamecock. I wondered what a Gamecock was.
“Don’t you think it’s kind of dangerous for you to be out here alone?” He was subtle, but I could hear the disapproval in his voice. He didn’t move, merely leaned up against one of the thick pillars supportin’ the roof. I looked at him, lazily holdin’ up the pillar with his shoulder, and I felt the power in me swell. I couldn’t look directly at him so I turned my face to the side, and looked at the door he’d come out of.
“Why would it be dangerous for me to be up here?” My voice felt thick, different. I wanted to know what his answer would be. Did he think I was some country idiot unable to stay away from the edge of a four story roof? I might a gotten out a control spinnin’ around earlier, but I didn’t think he’d seen me doin’ my crazy air ballet. I hadn’t felt in danger. It was infuriating to me that he’d stand there talkin’ to me like I was some type of moron.
“You never know when someone could get too close to the edge and fall.” Now that felt like a warning. His face was still shrouded in darkness, but as I glanced over at him his eyes seemed to glow with an intensity that left me breathless. “Why don’t you come back inside, and you can come back up here tomorrow when it’s light outside. I worry that since you’re unfamiliar with the deck you could step too close to the edge, or lean too far over and fall.”
“I’m not a child,” I whispered. “There’s a rail around the deck. It’s safe enough, but thank you for your concern. I’ll come right in.” That was as much arguin’ as I’d ever done in the last six years right there. I’d actually talked back to an adult, and he wasn’t raisin’ his hand to beat me down for not sayin’ yes sir the moment he’d told me to do somethin’. I walked towards him, and he put his hand out for me to take. I slowed as I passed him by, and even though I didn’t want to touch him somethin’ told me to take his hand. I felt like I needed to. I reached over and grabbed his fingers, and he started back toward the door.
I felt it then. Blackness, pain, smoke, and fire. They consumed me and I coughed. I tore my hand from his and held both of my own up to my mouth and doubled over. I coughed hard. Michael came up to me and patted me on the back. I shrugged his hand off of me. I couldn’t stand it. It felt like the inside a me was rippin’ apart. I wanted to gouge his eyes out right then and there. I could actually feel myself leaning towards him to tear his neck apart when I struggled away from him.
“Please, I’ll be okay.” I rushed past him through the door. I grabbed onto the banister as I flew down the stairs back to the third floor. When I reached the landin’ I ran to Tyler’s room, and flung the door open, closin’ it hard behind me. I turned the lock. Tyler was there in an instant. His face was creased where he’d had it smashed up against the pillow, and his hair stood out in wild clumps of wheat on his head. I tried to walk over to his bed, but stopped short and fell to my knees. I put my hands on the floor, and tried to fight the blackness that overcame me, but I couldn’t. I felt myself falling. It felt like there was a bottomless blackness waiting to wrap its arms around me, and instead of feeling afraid, I embraced it back.
Legions of men stood before me. They were dressed in battle gear like I’d never seen before. Their bodies were fit, tall, and strong. There were too many for me to even count. I stood on the top of a high wall, my hair streamin’ wildly back behind me as I raised my hands to the moon. It was the darkest of night. I looked up and saw dual moons waxin’ through the sky and I let out a piercin’ scream. The soldiers yelled after I did, and raised their shields up. The metallic gleam of their ocean of shields gave me an immense sense of
satisfaction, and I howled again. We were surrounded on all sides by arid desert, and I could feel the powerful heat seepin’ into me, and givin’ me strength. I felt the sweat pourin’ down my back, and absorbed the emotions from the legion of soldiers arrayed in front of me. I could feel their fear, and I could taste their courage. I could feel their heartbeats as though they were a part of me. I could barely contain myself as I howled in the night, my voice not even soundin’ like my own. Who was I? Where was I? I felt a light breeze caressing my face, and I threw my head back and again uttered a battle cry fiercer than anything I’d ever heard in my life.
At once I was back in myself. I
didn’t know where I’d gone, but I’d been somewhere. I’d never seen a place like that before; not in any of the books I’d read in the library.
“Oh my god, Lily! What’s going on?” Tyler’s concerned face floated above mine. I realized that I was flat on my back on the floor. My body was wound as tight as a bow, and I was clawing at the floor with my fingers. My breath hitched, and I struggled to sit up, but it felt like I was bound to the wood of the floor. I couldn’t move.
“God! Lily stop it!” He screamed at me. He picked me up in his arms, and I was weightless. I sagged against him as he pulled me to his chest.
“Where ever we shall run, where ever we shall go, in our heart we will always trust, that two is greater than one can be, in each other we shall believe,” Tyler repeated our prayer again, and again. I welcomed the words, and mumbled them from lips that felt bruised and stretched.
“You’ve gotta see this. Come on, you gotta stand up!” He helped me into the
bathroom, and I rested my forearms on the sink, and hung my head. I felt like I’d had the skin peeled back from my bones. I felt raw and exposed.
“Look in the mirror,” Tyler’s voice was commanding, brutal in its tone.
I looked up, and my mouth opened in horror. My skin was pale as cold glistenin’ milk. The scar my mother had given me when I was seven had vanished, and in its place was smooth perfect skin. My hair flowed away from my head in perfect waves; silky, blonde and silver, all the way to my waist. It sparkled as I stared at it. It looked as though thousands of tiny stars had landed in my hair and attached like diamonds. The strands moved on their own; as if they were alive. The eyes that stared back at me weren’t my own either. They were black as night, fillin’ my whole eye. As I watched in horror the black slowly faded, and my pale blue eyes were starin’ at me once again. My jaw hurt. I opened my mouth and saw twin incisors slowly pullin’ back into my gums. Fangs. Like a vampire. I looked at Tyler in the mirror, and I smiled. I didn’t want to eat my brother so I couldn’t be a vampire. I didn’t think that’s what I was. I thirsted, but it was for vengeance; not for blood.
I wondered why Michael hadn’t said anything.
“S he’s changed,” Evelyne whispered.
She looked over at Michael, and saw his nod. She shivered in fear, and knew at long last they would finally be able to fulfill their duties to the Sa’Chaelle. She was eager to leave this cold world and be home among the stars again.
“Yes, she washed herself in the light of the moon for the first time,” Michael confirmed. He sat in a plush wing-back chair positioned by the verandah doors to take in as much of the moonlight as possible. “We’ve only to wait for Tyler to change to be able to begin the
ceremony.” Michael leaned his head back against the smooth chintz and sighed. It had been a tense moment for him on the sun deck. Watching Lily transform before his eyes had been shattering. He’d never seen a Syren transform before. It left him shaking. He was thankful that she didn’t know the extent of her power, or she would have surely ended his life when she’d touched him. He did not know the full extent of her power, but based on the Law of the Order knew that she and her twin, above all other Syren, needed to be ended. Their power needed to be absorbed before they reached full maturity or mated.
If they ever found their Heart and mated with another Syren, their powers would intensify to an extent that the Sa’Chaelle would never be able to harness them. Their power would be too great. Of any Syren ever delivered into the stars Lily and Tyler possessed power that was greater than any of their species that Michael had ever witnessed. No, the twins needed to be exterminated as did every other member of their cursed species.
Michael did not enjoy his duties, but he knew his place in The Order of Sa’Chaelle. His species ruled the stars with an iron fist, and crushed any who opposed their law. The human world meant nothing to them. Humans had no special powers. They were too concerned with fighting amongst each other to be of any value to the Sa’Chaelle. They were useful as slaves when the Sa’Chaelle needed more, but that was it. The only species that stood a chance of defeating them was the Syren. Amatia Prime, the home world of the Syren, was the primary target of the Sa’Chaelle. They didn’t want to destroy the entire world; they wanted to enslave them. The power the Syren possessed would make the Sa’Chaelle unmatched by any other species in the entire Star System.
Michael stood and bared his chest. The tattoos that covered his chest like armor glowed. He fell to his knees and put his hands together as if in prayer. His tattoos flowed over him, twisting, and moving. They were a living part of his body. They circled his chest, flowed over his abdomen and shoulders, and trailed down past the top of his pants to wind their way around his legs. They were tattoos written on his skin by the blood of the Syren he’d killed. It was his only defense against the Syren. He was a General in the Order of Sa’Chaelle, and knew that it was only his ability to keep his thoughts in stern order that saved him from death at the hands of Lily and Tyler. He had taken Syren life many times in many different places. Every life he took he absorbed their power through his skin, etching the memory of his victim’s loss on his flesh. He was not the one elected to perform the binding ceremony on Lily and Tyler, but he knew the process well. He had been bound to the powers of other Syren during the cycle of his life, and that power flowed in him like a savage river. Fire leapt through his skin and manifested before his eyes. He put his hands together as if in prayer, and pushed the fire back into his skin.
The Prophet had transformed, and he needed to be ready to destroy her.
Chapter 5
Tyler watched his sister sleep, and
knew that nothing would be the same again. He’d been terrified when she tore into his room hours before, and shocked when he’d seen her body twisting on the floor like she was in pain. He knew, deep down, that they were different; inhuman. He was scared. He’d known
somethin’ was different about them for a long time, but hadn’t wanted to talk to Lily about it. He’d grown more sure with every day that they were being drawn to somethin’, but he just didn’t know what. He’d always looked out for Lily, but the truth was that she was stronger than he was, especially in spirit. He may have taken more of the physical abuse from their mother than she had, but she was the one that Mama had broken down day after day with her cruel words. He didn’t know how Lily still stood, breathing and whole, after some of the things their mother said to her.
He watched Lily’s chest rise and fall with each breath that she took, and examined her new form. She looked taller, more
developed, and less like a child than she had the night before. He’d wondered if she was ever gonna change and look more like a girl her age, or if she was gonna look like a little kid her whole life. Most girls at fifteen looked a lot older than she did. Her new hair fanned out around her, and sparkled. He thought that he saw it moving in the morning light and glanced away. He wasn’t ready to face that kind of weirdness. He didn’t know what happened upstairs, but he was going to find out as soon as Lily woke up.
His body ached, and he knew that he should get out of the chair and wake his sister up. She wouldn’t like him sitting there watching her while she slept. She was already self conscious enough about herself without him adding to it. He just couldn’t wake her up yet. After she’d looked at him in the mirror and smiled she’d fallen back into his arms in a dead faint. He’d pulled her to the bed, and laid her on it and tucked her in. Soon her breathing evened out and he could tell she was deep asleep. She fidgeted, and mumbled a little while she slept, but for the most part rested peacefully. He’d dozed off a little bit in the chair set off in the corner of the room, but his mind was racing too much for him to fully relax into sleep.
He stood up and walked into the bathroom, and resting his hands on the sink, and looked at himself in the mirror. He opened his mouth, tilted his head back, and stared at his teeth. They didn’t seem to be growing. He didn’t think that Lily’d been infected with an
ything, but he couldn’t be sure. All he knew about fangs was that legend said vampires had them. He knew his sister wasn’t a vampire, but he was scared to find out exactly what they were. He turned the water on, and got his hands wet and brought water up to his hair, and ran his hands through the unruly tufts that seemed to have a life of their own. He thought about the way his sister’s hair had been moving on the bed, and he shivered. It gave him the creeps, but he loved his sister more than anything in the world, and wasn’t gonna tell her that he thought her hair was weird.
He’d known that something was happening to Lily because he’d felt it laying in bed. He’d woken up feeling like his heart was about to jump out of his chest. He’d been dreaming about someone, something, but he just didn’t know what. His arms had felt bigger, stronger, and thicker. He’d always been strong, but now he felt like he could break anything that he wanted. He just knew that if he squeezed hard enough he’d break the porcelain sink he was hanging onto. He took his hands away and sighed. They needed to figure out what was going on, but right then Tyler didn’t think he had the energy for it.
He walked out of the bathroom and glanced at Lily sleeping peacefully on the bed. He really didn’t want to wake her. He hesitated at the door, but needed to get out of the room for a little while. He felt like he was suffocating just thinking about what was going on with her.
Tyler opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the hallway. The yellow of the morning light illuminated the hall and the walls. He closed the door behind him as soft as he could, and turned towards the staircase. He wanted to go down and see about getting some breakfast, but felt sort of disloyal to Lily for not waking her up to go with him. His stomach answered for him and nixed his idea of waking Lily up, and he started off towards the stairs. As quietly as he could he inched his way down them. As he neared the second floor landing he heard Evelyne and Michael talking in low tones in their bedroom.