The Siren's Eyes (The Siren Legacy Book 2)

by Helen Scott

  “Okay, go and sit down and try not to draw attention to yourself or Aster.”

  “You’re here for her?” The woman’s delicate brows pinched together. Unshed tears glittered in her eyes.

  “Yeah, you can try and talk to her, if you want. I don’t know when she’ll wake up.”

  He heard a grunt and turned to make sure his brother was handling everything, only to find out he was wrong. Somehow this suit had gotten the jump on his brother.

  The guy was talking to himself. Thad could hear snatches of it, and he sounded completely off his rocker. Hal was back up, but his lip was bleeding. The guy didn’t stand a chance against the two of them but was evidently going to give it his all as he pulled off his jacket and tie.

  “Order of Talos, grant me your strength. Order of Talos, grant me your speed. Order of Talos, grant me my power!” The suit pulled up his sleeves and pressed his arms together. The tattoos on his outer arms formed the symbol of Taurus, the bull, but slightly altered. They were ringed with what looked like runes and alchemical symbols. It was hard to tell from this distance. As the suit pressed his arms together, Thad could swear he saw the symbols connect, as though the guy’s arms weren’t two separate things. It flashed briefly, and then the guy took a deep breath.

  “You picked the wrong man to steal from.” His voice sounded like many voices speaking all at once.

  Thad wasn’t sure what to make of it. Hell, he wasn’t even sure what happened. He and Hal glanced at each other. He shrugged. This was new for them, which was something they couldn’t say very often. They did love a challenge.

  Cin led Dem around to the dryad’s room. The cream-and-wood hallways all looked identical, but she was sure she was on the right track. She felt antsy and pent-up, like she could run a marathon and still have energy. Which was especially funny since she hated running. Dem’s breath caught as she opened the door.

  “I mean, I knew what you guys said, but it was hard to believe, ya know?”

  “I know. Trust me, this is way harder for me than it is for you.”

  He sighed and moved forward into the room.

  “Did she tell you her name?” he whispered over his shoulder.

  “My name is in the wind. It is not meant for simple mouths such as yours,” the dryad said as her eyes creaked open again. She looked at Cin. “I did not expect you to return. You have brought someone new. Will he be able to free me?”

  “I hope so.” Cin tried to smile, but the tension around her was crackling, on the edge of breaking. It was making her skin itch.

  “I’m Demetrius. You met my brother Thaddeus earlier.”

  “The one with the seer’s eyes.”

  “Yep, that’s him. If you would allow me to try and remove the manacles with magic, I would be most appreciative.”

  Cin marveled at how the boys changed their language when they spoke to the dryad. They were much more formal and polite.

  “You may approach. I can feel the power you have over water singing to me. It should be able to readily assist you in removing these bindings.”

  “I’m concerned about hurting you.” Dem’s voice sounded unsure.

  “Bark can regrow, just as skin can heal. Do not concern yourself.”

  Cin watched as Dem’s breathing slowed and his body naturally centered itself. The air around them began to feel charged, as though a thunderstorm was rolling in. The hairs on her arms stood on end, and she knew if she touched anything metal right now, she would get the biggest static shock of all time.

  As Dem’s eyes opened, Cin could see the moisture condensing in the air. The water distilled into a stream that flowed through the diamond shape his hands made. It was directed at the iron shackle in front of him. The brown, slightly rusty, patina darkened as the water hit it, making the rust appear faster and spread all over the shackle itself.

  It was like watching time-lapse photography. The water ate away at the shackle, rusting it until it fragmented and fell off the dryad’s wrist.

  “Wonderful! I see your water wielding has many years of practice behind it!” The dryad was smiling now, making her look more human, less . . . tree-like.

  “Dem, I’m going to go and check the last three rooms. Make sure there is no one else to rescue.”

  “No.” He didn’t even look at her as he moved around to the shackle on the dryad’s other wrist.

  “No? I wasn’t asking permission. I was telling you what I was doing.”

  “You don’t know what you’re walking into, and you don’t have the experience I do.” He had lost his focus on the shackle and was glaring at her now, water dripping from the hands that had fallen to his sides.

  “I can handle myself, thank you very much. I’ll be back in two seconds. Just focus on getting her outdoors.”

  Before Dem could say anything else, she turned on her heel and was out the door and down the hall. She heard him call for her a couple times before either she was too far away to hear or he had given up.

  The anger rose inside her again. How dare he try and control her? Who did he think he was, her mother? She tried to shake it off, but something about the way he had dismissed her really pissed her off. She was a strong, capable woman, dammit!

  As she rounded the corner to what was the last hallway, the decor changed. The wood and cream color that had been present throughout the house disappeared and was replaced by stainless steel and pristine white walls. It looked more like a hospital than a poorly decorated doctor’s office.

  The doors weren’t frosted glass anymore; they were more like the doors she saw in the bar or when she’d been a waitress. They swung both ways and had a porthole-style window in the top third. She peeked through the first window, her imagination prepping her for the worst.

  There was nothing there; the spotless medical room was as clean as the hallway. The bed that sat in the middle of the room was empty, and the privacy curtain was pushed back against the wall. The only thing that was weird was that it looked more like a morgue than a surgical bay. Cin’s confidence bolstered. She knew everything would be fine. The brothers needed to trust her.

  She moved to the next door, expecting to find the same, but she couldn’t have been more wrong. The curtain around the bed was drawn in this room, making it impossible to see what was going on. The thought of leaving someone here at the mercy of the same people who tortured Aster propelled her into opening the door.

  It swung open with only the slight noise of the plastic on the edge scraping the doorframe. The smell of bleach overrode her senses. Cin didn’t know what had happened in here, and she probably didn’t want to know, but the smell of cleaning products made her chest tight with the need to cough.

  It was the faint whistling that made her freeze. It was a melody she recognized, but she couldn’t remember where she had heard it before. Something classical and elegant. The happy tone seemed at odds with everything around it.

  Edging forward, she could see a figure on the other side of the curtain standing over the bed. Her heart kicked up in her chest. She backed against the wall and felt the edge of some cabinets in her back.

  One more step and she would be able to see around the curtain.

  Her eyes couldn’t make sense of what they saw. There was blood and fur, but there was also skin.

  The skin of the body on the table was much too pale and made her stomach turn. What made her want to vomit, though, was the man standing over the science experiment on the table. He wore scrubs and a clear plastic face shield, which were speckled with blood.

  She knew the face behind it.

  Norman.

  The man from the casino was here doing who knew what to that poor creature on the table. She wanted to rage at him, but he hadn’t noticed her yet. Glancing around, Cin couldn’t see anything that could be used as a weapon in easy reach. And she definitely wanted to use a weapon on this guy.

  His whistling grated on her. As she inched toward the end of the cabinet, he glanced up.

  There
wasn’t an ounce of recognition in his eyes. She knew she was dressed differently than she had been at the casino, but surely her hair gave her away?

  They were frozen, staring at each other.

  When she blinked, he moved. The scalpel he’d been using was now held like a weapon instead of a medical instrument. He moved away from the body on the bed and came toward her.

  Cin’s training kicked in, and she rushed him. She tried to disarm him, but when she went to grab the arm holding the scalpel to twist it toward him, he spun away from her. She closed quarters, landing punches where she could and keeping the blade away. The blood on the scrubs squelched under her hands. He grunted as her fists connected. Whatever was growing inside her relished the sound.

  “Who the hell are you?” he ground out as he tried to swipe at her with the blade.

  “You mean you don’t remember everyone you try to kidnap?”

  Cin knew she shouldn’t engage in a conversation with this monster, but she needed him to know that she was bringing the pain. Her, the woman he’d tried to kidnap, the sister of the woman he’d tried to torture, she was going to be the one kicking his ass today.

  “You’re thinking of my brother,” he said as he broke loose from her hold.

  Brothers? Cin paused for a moment before relaunching her attack, narrowly avoiding the scalpel he swung at her.

  She got one good hit in. Hopefully she had connected with his liver or a spare rib, anything to try to cause him enough pain to back off.

  Norman’s brother had clearly had some training but wasn’t used to being wailed upon. Just as she was about to go for the solar plexus, he brought a knee up.

  The impact in her stomach was vicious.

  She dropped to the floor, unable to draw breath. The panic that would have set in if she had been inexperienced with this type of thing tried to push through her consciousness. She’d been kneed in the stomach before, though. The important part was to get up as quickly as possible, to get back to defending herself.

  He moved around her, getting out of reach and heading for the door. Her coughing was subsiding, and she pulled herself up.

  Her side twinged, and she felt something wet.

  “I think I got your liver. Maybe not. Who knows? My mind is still on werewolf anatomy.”

  The guy was talking like a crazy person, but when Cin pulled her hand away and saw blood, she realized she hadn’t even felt the knife wound. She’d been too focused on breathing after being kneed in the stomach.

  The wound didn’t feel deep. Sure, it hurt, but her anger was fueling her now. The scent of blood and bleach combined with the pain and anger had the redness invading her vision again. It was the same as before, except for the man being highlighted.

  Her target was crystal clear.

  She could even see his pulse radiating off him in waves.

  “Now aren’t you interesting?” His voice was one of calm scientific inquiry. He thought she would stay down and that he was going to be able to get away free and clear.

  He couldn’t have been more wrong.

  She charged at him, only to find herself coming face to face with flames.

  Backing up, Cin reassessed the situation. The flames had to have come from somewhere. Her head tilted to the side; she could hear a rushing noise. He was whispering something to himself.

  The flames had caught on the privacy curtain that surrounded the bed. She watched in awe as they sprouted from his hands again. Was he some kind of witch? Cin barely ducked in time as the stream of flames shot over her head, the heat warming her face.

  “Well, that wound looks quite nasty. Sorry about that. I never have had the greatest aim. I was trying to put you out of your misery early, but now I guess the fire will have to do. Au revoir ma petite fureur.”

  Cin watched as Norman’s brother disappeared out of the room. The flames surrounded her now, and though she had dropped to the ground, she knew the smoke was getting to her. Everything that could burn in the room was burning, leaving her trapped in a corner, next to a dead werewolf, bleeding and coughing.

  Chapter 24

  Robin watched as the two guys fought Mr. Fields. She had no idea that the man who terrified her for so many years could do magic, or that he was a good fighter. It wasn’t something she exactly wanted to know, either. He hit the big guy right in the nose. Blood came pouring out a moment later.

  The other guy was smaller. Not small, just not as huge as the broken-nose guy, but the way he tackled Mr. Fields made Robin flinch involuntarily. They both ended up on the ground with the air knocked out of them. The smaller guy was dropping into Mr. Fields on his elbow. She could practically hear the grunts of pain from here.

  Broken-nose guy made his way over to them at a slow jog.

  “Doin’ all right, bud?” the guy on the ground said as he got up, leaving Mr. Fields looking crumpled on the ground. At least, for the moment.

  “Yeah, nose is shot, though.”

  “We’ll fix that in a minute.”

  Smaller guy went to kick Mr. Fields in the stomach, only to be repelled by something. As her boss stood up, both of these strange men were physically forced backward. Their feet slid across the dry dirt as they resisted. It didn’t do them any good, though. They both ended up a few steps away from the man who ran her life.

  Robin watched as Mr. Fields dusted himself off as though it was the most natural thing in the world. It was like he had some kind of force field around himself.

  A noise sounded to Robin’s side.

  Aster was waking up.

  If she started freaking out, it would be the end for them both. Robin needed Aster to stay quiet.

  “Aster?” she whispered as she huddled closer. “Are you awake?”

  When no noise came from the woman on the ground next to her, Robin thought maybe she had misread the noise. Aster could just be dreaming or something. After all, Robin had no idea what The Surgeon had done to the poor woman.

  She glanced over at the fight. The big guy was wailing on Mr. Fields. She had no idea how her boss was still upright. Anyone taking those kinds of hits should be flat on his ass by now.

  A crashing noise came from around the corner. A moment later, a man who looked like The Surgeon came running out. The only reason she knew it wasn’t The Surgeon was because he wasn’t dressed the same way.

  The guy took one look at the fight and dove in. Broken-nose guy wasn’t having any of it, though, and he got a couple good punches in before The Surgeon’s lookalike even got his hand into a fist.

  Aster stirred beside her, drawing her attention away from the fight. If she could get Aster up and moving, they could both run away. She could finally be free. Robin savored the thought for a moment before reality came crashing back.

  If she ran, then her family was forfeit. He would kill every single one of them. The only way she could escape was if these two guys killed Mr. Fields. She glanced over at the fight and felt guilty that she almost hoped they did, but she didn’t want to be here to scream for him. She didn’t want to let him know his death was coming.

  Aster stirred again beside her.

  “Aster?”

  The woman’s eyes flickered.

  “I’m going to help you get out of here, but you have to stay quiet.”

  Aster’s head nodded slightly as her eyes began staying open longer and longer.

  “I’m going to try and stand you up. Anything you can do to help would be appreciated. I’m really not all that strong.”

  Aster coughed. “Thank . . . you,” she rasped out, sounding like each word hurt.

  Robin got on her knees, the rocks in the dirt digging in painfully. She couldn’t stop now, though. She needed to get them both out of sight before Mr. Fields knew what was going on. If she could stash Aster somewhere, then she could come back and check on the fight. She had to get Aster out of here first.

  Clasping the young woman’s hands, Robin pulled her up into a sitting position. She honestly had no idea how she was go
ing to get Aster standing up. She wasn’t exactly large herself, and she’d never been very strong, so picking someone up? Not exactly something she could do.

  “Come on, Aster, I need you to help me out here.” She said it more to herself than anything else, but Aster’s hands gripped hers with an unexpected strength.

  “Up we go.” She brought herself to standing position and all but dragged Aster with her.

  Once Aster was on her feet, though, it was more like dealing with her father after he’d been out drinking. She was the only one he’d let near him long enough to get him to bed, with some water and aspirin for when he eventually woke up.

  Robin pulled Aster’s arm around her shoulders and gripped her hand, snaking her free arm around the almost-unconscious woman’s waist.

  “One foot in front of the other,” she said as they took their first tentative steps away from the fight. “There we go.”

  They finally started to move, not very quickly, but it got them around the corner without anyone yelling out to them. Robin’s chest relaxed a little. They weren’t in the clear, by any means, but they weren’t directly in Mr. Fields’ line of sight, either.

  There was a door into the house, but she didn’t think that would be their best choice. Robin couldn’t remember her way around inside, and she definitely didn’t want to get stopped by one of the security guards if she could avoid it. She knew she could bluff her way through since she was Mr. Fields’ office manager, but she could only pull that card once before people got suspicious. So they made their way around the outside of the house.

  When they had first pulled up, she hadn’t thought the place was that big, but now, carting Aster with her, the place seemed huge. She glanced behind them and was happy to see no one heading their way. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the circumstances, it would have been a perfect summer day. The sky was a bright azure blue without a cloud in sight, and the grass was stunningly green.

  She breathed deeply, taking in the scent of the woods off to her left, and tried to commit the scent to memory, in case she had to go back with Mr. Fields. The scent wasn’t all nature. Sure, there was the mossy green and the slightly floral edge to it, but there was also smoke.