Escape to Sirens Gate: Sirens Gate Books 1-3

by M. L. Bullock

  Ramara,

  Remember your oath to the Higher Order and your current Penitent status. You are to immediately terminate your relationship with the siren and cease all Attachments, romantic or otherwise. If you ignore these instructions, we will remove your status without further notice and denounce you at our next meeting. We take these matters very seriously, and we are obligated to make your father aware of this most recent development.

  This is your official notice:

  We refuse your petition to marry Thessalonike of Macedonia.

  We refuse your petition to relinquish your immortality.

  Consider this our final word on the matter.

  The Order

  I reached behind me to steady myself against the sink. I crumpled the paper in my hand and held it to my chest.

  What was he thinking? I walked to my dining room set on wobbly legs and plunked down in a sticky chair. I stared out the screen door at the ocean beyond.

  Ramara loved me? He wanted to marry me? I smiled stupidly at the water for at least five minutes. Seagulls screeched in argument over a meal. Then Lily’s face appeared.

  “Hey, daydreamer. May I come in? I brought you some french fries. I remembered how much you liked them. I’m about to shove off, so I thought I’d—oh my stars!” She pulled the door open and invited herself in. Sitting across from me now, she set her purse and the brown paper bag on the table. “Look at your wounds! I thought you might need some healing, but you look a-okay to me.”

  I glanced down at my arms, surprised to see she was correct. The bites and lacerations were almost completely gone now. I reached up and felt my neck. Those bites were gone too.

  “Holy cow. How did that happen?”

  “Don’t know. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you have a guardian angel. Or something.” She flushed nervously. I wondered what she knew about Ramara’s most recent run-in with the Order. “Well, I guess you kind of do anyway, don’t you?” I could hear the jealousy in her voice, but it wasn’t the evil, I’m going to get even kind. It was just the kind of jealousy sometimes shared between friends. And we were friends, in a siren kind of way.

  “Whoever did it, or however it happened, I am grateful.” I hugged her quickly before the angry feelings surfaced. I didn’t want to hate Lily. I needed as many friends as I could get. “Where are you headed, Lily? Do you know yet?”

  “I’m going to Mon Luis for now, but they are considering me for a future spot on the Council. Maybe I’ll get the next assignment right. They say I’ve done a good job, but you know the Order. They keep their true thoughts to themselves most of the time. I remember when it didn’t matter to me. I couldn’t have cared less what the Order thought. Now I just want to help. There are so few of us.”

  I squeezed her hand. “I hope you get the spot. Really, I do. You were always a good leader. I’d love to see sirens represented in the Higher Order again. It’s been too long. Imagine choosing a rage over you. That’s ridiculous.”

  “I think so too, but it is what it is. I’m not giving up.” Then she noticed the crumpled scroll. “What’s that? Something I can help you with?”

  I didn’t have to tell her, and I wasn’t going to. It wasn’t mine to share. “It’s nothing important. Nothing about you at all.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief. “Sorry about Agrios, Thessalonike. He surprised us all.”

  “It’s Heliope I feel sorry for. He’s cost her so much already, and now he’s truly broken her heart. She’s not left the hillside since he was entombed. She’ll grieve for a while. Pretend to be a homeless lady. When she’s ready, we’ll be here to love her.”

  “Love often disappoints us.”

  Rather fittingly, Love Hurts by Nazareth began playing on the radio. We laughed nervously, and Lily said, “Well, that’s my cue, I think. I’d like to get off this island and head to my new home. See you around, Thessalonike.”

  “Bye, Liliana of Mon Luis.” I smiled at her as she walked to the door, her Prada bag in her hand. “You going to swim with that bag?”

  “Uh, no,” she said with a grin. “I bought a Jeep from a guy. This will be my first time driving for any real distance, so wish me luck.”

  “Good luck,” I said, closing the door behind her. By the sound of it, the Jeep had a standard transmission. Lily scraped the clutch and stalled twice, but she finally got the car on the road. I hid the scroll in my breadbox with the rest of my personal letters and finished tidying up. I had no other guests that evening. After sweeping and mopping the kitchen, I felt exhausted.

  I climbed into bed with Springer and allowed myself to forget, for just a little while.

  The Wrath of Minerva

  Sirens Gate Book Three

  By M.L. Bullock

  Text copyright © 2016 Monica L. Bullock

  All Rights Reserved

  Dedication

  This series is dedicated to my brother, Lance Matthew.

  Yes, ’twas Minerva’s self; but ah! how changed,

  Since o’er the Darman field in arms she ranged!

  Not such as erst, by her divine command,

  Her form appeared from Phidias’ plastic hand:

  Gone were the terrors of her awful brow,

  Her idle aegis bore no Gorgon now;

  Her helm was dinted, and the broken lance

  Seem’d weak and shaftless e’en to mortal glance;

  The olive branch, which still she deign’d to clasp,

  Shrunk from her touch, and wither’d in her grasp;

  And, ah! though still the brightest of the sky,

  Celestial tears bedimm’d her large blue eye:

  Round the rent casque her owlet circled slow,

  And mourn’d his mistress with a shriek of woe!

  The Curse of Minerva

  Lord Byron, George Gordon (1811)

  Chapter One—Nik

  Unusual Swim

  I didn’t have a bucket list—I was a siren and nearly immortal. When would I need one? But I returned to Dauphin Island from vacation feeling as if I had experienced something unique, something I always wanted to do. I probably wouldn’t do it again, not for a few hundred years, anyway. But the excursion proved I was free. Free from service as the gate’s guardian and free to do as I wished, to some degree. No, bucket lists were really for humans whose lives were like blips on a radar screen, bright and pulsating one second and completely gone from sight the next. Yet taking a vacation was a luxury I’d been wanting to try.

  I sailed over the bridge in the rental convertible, the wind whipping my long brown hair around me, Springer sitting beside me in his dog seat belt. His pink tongue hung out, and he looked happy to be returning home. No, it was more than a look. Somehow I knew he was happy. I still couldn’t figure out how he was here. I thought perhaps he was a figment of my imagination, but everyone saw him, including Cruise and Ramara.

  Cruise and Ramara. Yeah, I’d have to figure all that out. I crossed the highest point on the bridge and shivered. So many suicides from this spot. And a few murders. We sailed down the smooth road another half mile and rolled on to Cadillac Avenue. “Almost home now,” I said, smiling at Springer as his fuzzy face studied me. Then I caught the blue lights in the rearview mirror.

  “Are you kidding me?” I slid back my oversized sunglasses and pulled over beside the bayside marina. This had better not be Kendra Tragic. I wasn’t in the mood for any bull. To my surprise, Cruise got out of the car. He straightened his hat and walked toward me. I studied his walk; it was more like an awkward shamble now. He still hadn’t completely gotten over his encounter with the vamps a few months ago. Twisted his ankle pretty good. Still, it hadn’t slowed him down much.

  I put the car in park and turned down Def Leppard. It was October and virtually dead on the island, but that was no excuse for pulling me over. I wanted to chew him out but waited to see what he wanted first.

  “Welcome back, Thessalonike.”

  “You’ve always called me Nik. What’s ch
anged?”

  “I like saying it. It’s a pretty name.” He grinned and leaned down to speak to me face to face.

  “Um, thanks. Did you pull me over to tell me I had a pretty name?”

  “No, I just wanted to be the first to welcome you back. I missed you. Did you have fun? Where did you go? New Orleans? Pensacola?”

  I didn’t know how to feel about this conversation, happy that he wanted to see me or ticked off because he pulled me over. A few familiar faces were driving by now. Well, they’d have something to talk about for a while. And what about Kendra Tragic? Didn’t it make sense that a shifter would want to hook up with one of his own kind? I decided to give patience a try.

  “Yes, I had fun. No, I didn’t go to either of those places. May I go home now? Springer needs a bath, and I really want to see what shape my house is in. I left Heliope there alone.”

  He looked hurt but didn’t argue with me. “Sure, but first let me write you this ticket.”

  “Ticket?”

  “Yeah, you were doing 50 in a 35. Watch your speed coming off the bridge there, Speedy.” He wrote on his pad while I stared at him incredulously. He ripped off the ticket, folded it in half and handed it to me. “So that’s your first ticket, I would imagine. Don’t worry. I’m sure the court won’t throw the book at you since you’re a new driver. I’d ask to see your driver’s license, but I’m afraid to know the answer to that question.”

  Furiously I dug in my purse and pulled out the photo ID. “For your information, Cruise Castille, I do have a license. I insist you write it down!”

  He took the license, stared at it and jotted the number on the ticket before handing it back to me. “Have a nice day, ma’am.”

  I didn’t say another word and turned out of the gravel driveway, kicking up rocks before taking off down Cadillac. “What a jerk!” I told Springer. “And to think, I was ready to…well, you know…with him.”

  I drove down Chaumont, made the curve and saw my house was still standing. There were no gaping holes where the kitchen used to be. No gypsy caravans on the front lawn, no drunken gods passed out in the garden. I pulled the car into the tiny driveway. Maybe I’d buy this car, or one like it. I had some savings left from Jack. Having a car proved to be pretty handy, quite freeing and not at all hard to learn. But then again, I hadn’t chosen a standard shift like Liliana had.

  “Here we are, boy. Let’s grab our stuff and see what the inside of the house looks like.” I pulled the crumpled ticket out of the console and read it. There was no citation, just a note that read: I love you, Nik. Welcome home. Call me later.

  I crumpled the note again after staring at it for a few more seconds. Springer watched me, and I talked to him as if he knew exactly what I was saying. “You’ll never guess what’s on here. He says he loves me. I can’t believe he’d do that.” I tossed the ticket in my purse and stood in the driveway. Heliope didn’t come running out, and the sound of the ocean commanded my attention. I’d been gone only a week, but that had been such a long time. I wanted to swim. Not think about Cruise’s declaration or Ramara’s lack of communication. As if he read my mind, Springer bounced off the seat and ran to the shore, barking excitedly.

  With a smile, I ran after him and jumped in the ocean completely clothed, minus my glasses and sandals. To my surprise, Springer swam with me, only not as deep or as far from the shore. He splashed along, doing his best to keep up with me. After about fifteen minutes of pure frolicking, I bobbed up next to him. “I’m going to the Down Deep for a few minutes. Don’t worry about me. Stay near the shore, okay?” He whimpered unhappily, and I smooched his wet head. “That’s the way it’s going to be, boy. Wait on the shore for me.” He splashed away from me, paddling to the shore with his little dog legs. He’d just have to understand—I needed this. I needed to sing.

  In recent days I’d been thinking of a new song. Or maybe it was an old song that I was just now recalling. I couldn’t tell anymore. As I swam down, down, down, I hummed the tune. The notes climbed and sank as I lazily pushed myself forward. The water swirled over me, and I reveled in the sensation of being lost in the vastness of it all. A school of blue angelfish zipped past me; their bright yellow and blue colors shone in harmony as they made every move together. It was a beautiful sight. I never grew tired of spotting these gentle fish. Then the peacefulness of the moment passed and my sense of danger awakened. Somewhere just beyond my sight, a predator watched, maybe a shark of some type. Sharks typically ignored me, but this one was curious. Its sonar touched me as it assessed what I was. I wasn’t too concerned at the moment, merely aware.

  I swam as deep as I wanted to go, yet there was much more of the ocean beneath my feet. It was dangerous to go much deeper alone—that seemed especially true today. And I felt the danger more acutely now; it hovered right at the edge of the artificial reef, waiting. Watching me.

  Probably the shark from a moment ago, I reasoned as the water turned icy cold. For humans, it was late in the season for swimming, but my siren blood kept me warm. My special ability was being challenged by an influx of freezing water. I tried to outswim the cold current, paddling faster now, no longer easing through the water. I headed back toward the shore, but whatever followed me seemed fixed on me. Its sonar didn’t disconnect from me. By its behavior, I could tell it had decided I was the appropriate target. The school of angelfish puffed past me, and then I had an idea. I accelerated and swam beside them, using them as a barrier against whatever followed me.

  What the heck was this? No. Not a shark, but familiar.

  Then I felt the first wave. A wave of hate rolled over me and slowed me down. I barely had time to think about it before another wave crashed over me. This one was stronger than the first and nearly took my breath away. Regaining my senses I began to swim, albeit slower than I normally would. The creature’s hatred weakened me, made me sluggish.

  I can’t stay here. I can’t wait!

  With all my might I kicked my way to the surface, allowing my body to rise like a top. Springer barked wildly on the beach, and I raised my arms to swim to him.

  As I made for the beach, the creature slowed its track and I felt the sonar cease. I dipped back under the surface and looked around me. I had to know what it was that stalked me so boldly. I saw a few fish that, like me, fled from the current of cold water. I turned my attention back to the shore, but not before I saw something out of the corner of my eye.

  A large tail, green and shimmery, flicked once and disappeared into the depths just beyond the drop-off.

  A mermaid’s tail.

  Chapter Two—Heliope

  Love Potion

  I heard the car pull up, but I was glad Thessalonike didn’t come racing in the house. How embarrassing that would have been! Smoke billowed out of the oven, and I’d forgotten all about the rice I’d put in the pot on the stove. This wasn’t how my first attempt at a family dinner was supposed to turn out. I missed the days when you summoned a servant and requested a tray. Maybe we could do that? Find a cook or a housekeeper? No, that would not satisfy my need to create something—this was a new development in existence. Imagine, after all this time, I’d finally become domestic. Or reasonably so.

  The girl had been gone for a week, and during that time I’d fallen in love with the cooking channels. So many exotic dishes to prepare, and the human chefs made it look so easy. If they could do it, why couldn’t a newly widowed goddess? Like a student, I’d taken notes, picked out a few recipes, purchased the ingredients and gone to work. My first attempts were okay, but how hard was it to make a grilled cheese and some spinach dip? I realized now that I might have bitten off more than I could chew with my recipe selection.

  A failure as a wife, and now a failure at this, I thought as the fire alarm screeched. Angry at myself and everyone else, I smacked it with a broom handle until the plastic machine broke and fell on the floor.

  I sniffed at the thought of Agrios, but I was over the foolish old thing. I had to be, didn’t I?
He’d made his bed, now he could lie in it. For all eternity. Even as I thought the words, I knew I didn’t completely feel that way. He’d tried to give me an island, for goodness’ sake. He wanted to make me a queen again, but as usual, he did everything wrong. And by his actions he had proved that all he really cared about was himself. Always a selfish being—we were so much alike. Despite all the evil he’d done, cooperating with those vampires, trying to gift Thessalonike and the eloi to Vega in exchange for Dauphin Island, I loved him. His sins didn’t kill that love, and it didn’t stop me from visiting his resting place every day, but the Order had spoken. My husband would never rise again.

  Oh well. On to other things.

  I frowned at the blackened beef Wellington and the scorched rice. I don’t think even magic could save this. I tossed the burnt pan on the stove and ran to open the kitchen windows. As the smoke cleared, I peered out the window over the sink. I could see the dog, or whatever it was, on the beach barking at the water. No doubt it was an enchanted, albeit benevolent, creature. The girl must have gone for a swim. Who could blame her? She’d been plotted against twice now. She must have felt as if she had a virtual and perpetual bull’s-eye pinned to her back. Well, I’d stick by her no matter what. She was the last of my family, the last connection I had to humanity and who I had been before. I would not let her down. Not this time.

  Except for dinner.

  This dinner wasn’t going to happen. Oh well, I tried. I thumbed through the many restaurant menus that the plastic penguin held in its beak. What a weird ornament for a house. I sometimes wondered about Thessalonike’s taste in decorating. It took a while, but I finally found a place that delivered. Not too many island restaurants open this late in the year. I called Voyager’s and placed an order for two big baskets of french fries. That was her hands-down favorite. I also ordered a half dozen chili dogs, two root beers and two ice cream cones.