Kissed by Fire A Zodiac Shifters Paranormal Romance (Maidens Book 2)

by Michelle Fox

  "I know that," I said.

  She paused. "Then why?"

  I explained about my sister and the slavers. "And she's not the first one they've taken. There have been others and we've never been able to save them. I want to go after them. I need legs to do that."

  Her green eyes narrowed as she considered my request.

  Before I could blink, let alone swim away, she snatched me up again and moved us both to deeper water. Her voice warbled through the sea and struck my ears in sharp, uneven tones. "Two songs, mermaid. Two songs from your strong voice and I will give you legs two times."

  "What kind of songs?" I asked, matching the pitch and cadence of her voice.

  "Blood and death songs."

  I shook my head. "No."

  Her grip on me tightened. "No?"

  "They're forbidden," I said. I might use them if I had to, but I didn't trust her with that magic. Better to bargain for something else and hope she didn't push for more. If it came down to choosing between Siya and giving the witch the darkest songs of our people, my sister would win.

  "So am I," the witch said with a cackle that rippled in the water around us. "And yet you called to me."

  "Lullabies," I offered. "Sleep songs."

  She snorted, water bubbling from the flat holes that served as her nose. "That is weak magic, mermaid. I don't need naps."

  "You can steal anything with a mermaid lullaby. Sing them to sleep and take everything they have." I held my breath, hoping the offer would pass muster. If only I'd thought of that earlier and had more time to sing...maybe Siya would still be here.

  She pursed her black lips and then gave a curt nod. "Okay. Two sleep songs, yes?"

  I nodded and squirmed as the thick tentacle winding its way around my body squeezed even tighter. "Yes. Two."

  A thinner, more delicate tentacle floated up to my face and pressed a glass bottle against my lips. The sun pierced the water around us, providing enough light to reveal the glass was a dark green. I could see shapes and forms in the darkest ocean, but color required light.

  I would have preferred to not see the witch in such sharp detail, though. Her misshapen body bulged, black as octopus ink. The suckers along her tentacles ran so large they could have peeled away chunks of my flesh if the witch had been so inclined. Her seaweed hair gave off a rotten stench.

  The things that passed for her eyes were the worst of all. They weren't real. They were just balls of phosphorescence she'd crammed into the coconut that made up her face. And yet they saw everything...even as bits of the orbs flecked away, landing on her face and glowing like stars no one would ever wish to see.

  The witch gave me a little shake as her tentacle forced the bottle between my lips. "Sing."

  I nodded. The gills at my neck fluttering, I filled my lungs and let my voice pour out, giving her the two sleep songs. I shuddered to think of what the witch would do with a war song, one that could bludgeon and bloody. As desperate as I was, I had limits. There were still things I would not do.

  I'd already gone too far.

  But I had no choice.

  And so, thinking of Siya, I sang. When I finished, the witched corked the bottle with seaweed she pulled from her head.

  Wrapping more tentacles around me, she said, "Be still."

  I didn't have a chance to ask what she meant before an array of dark tendrils too thin to be called tentacles seized my head. A scream burst from my throat as pain stabbed through my ear. I thrashed, bucking back and forth, trying to break free, but the witch's strength outmatched mine.

  "There. It is done. Two songs for two legs." Abruptly she let me go.

  Flicking my tail, I tried to move out of range, but her tentacles streamed around me in unending lines of black. If she wanted to hurt me, I wouldn't be able to stop her.

  "Turn the shell toward dawn to bring legs. Turn toward dusk for your tail. Twice you may walk and then the magic is done." Her tentacles plunged downward as one and dug into the sand. Using them to heave her rotund body through the ocean, she scuttled away, kicking up debris that clouded the water.

  I watched her go, relieved things hadn't been worse. I touched my ear, finding a shard of shell thrust through it. When my finger connected, a little hum of magic strummed through my body. She'd honored our bargain, just as the legends had said.

  I had a chance.

  ***

  I swam away from the witch, my ear throbbing fast as my heart. Just one more thing and I would be able to go after Siya. For the second part of my plan, I needed to pass through my home waters without anyone seeing me. I took the long way and stayed on the outskirts of the coral reef my tribe lived in. If Kark found me and realized what I'd done...well, he might cast me out, leaving me with nothing.

  It was worth the risk.

  Because I didn't have anything if I didn't have my sister.

  Kark believed we could hide and it would all go away. That had been his reaction the first few times, but I knew better now. Hiding didn't make us safe. We needed to fight like the northern tribes, and if Kark wouldn't do it, I would. Never again would I be caught without the notes to defend myself. I would be ready next time.

  Fueled by anger, I swam through the ocean faster than I ever had before, looking for the one person who could help find my sister. There was no time to be lost. Not if I wanted to catch up to the two-legs who'd taken her.

  Ndia lurked, as always, in the hull of a sunken ship, hiding from the light. Judging by the crust covering the ship’s cannon, it had become part of the sea long ago. We all knew she lived there, even if no one talked about it. When the topic of two-legs came up, voices would become hushed as pointed glances looked toward her ship.

  She was the only one who had ever come back, but she refused to take up her usual spot in the coral caves, shunning us. We left her alone, respecting the trauma she’d been through, but now I needed to learn everything she knew.

  “Ndia?” Her name trilled in the water startling a school of fish with the sound. They turned as one, flashing silver as they darted off.

  If Ndia was there, she didn't answer. I called for her again and swam closer to the broken ship she’d chosen as her refuge. “Please, Ndia. They’ve taken Siya.”

  I was at the entrance now, a gaping hole edged in splintered wood. Poking my head inside, I saw an electric arc of blue.

  Eels.

  Dozens of them swarming like overgrown kelp.

  I whipped my tail forward and pushed off the ship, wanting to stay far away from them, but they followed me, a squirming mass of black and blue. There were flashes of white, too, from another animal— one I couldn’t readily identify. They moved a second later and separated from the eels, giving me a clear look at them. Swallowing panic, I did my best to increase the space between us while also moving too slow to cause alarm. The pale white came from sea snakes. Lots of them. All poisonous and now agitated. Mixed in with the eels, they undulated toward me in waves made of sinew.

  Nervous, I opened my mouth to sing a current between us, but Ndia’s head emerged in the midst of the eels and snakes. She moved through the cluster, pushing the slithering creatures behind her. “Mila, what are you doing here?”

  “What is all this?” I waved toward the sinuous forms that wrapped themselves around her, hanging on her limbs and clutching at her tail.

  She raised an arm, smiling as a sea snake coiled around her wrist. “The two-legs will not find me such easy prey next time. Their nets may catch me, but I will kill them before they take me from my home again.”

  “But how did you find the eels? They're not oceanid kin.” I flicked my tail, maintaining a safe distance between us.

  “I swam to where their river meets the sea and called them forth.” She gave me a smug look.

  “Won’t they die?” I frowned.

  She shrugged, unconcerned. An eel settled on her head, its dark skin blending in with her indigo hair. “If they do, I will call more.”

  “And they don’t shock
you?” I watched with amazement as electricity flashed in the water around Ndia, giving her the neon glow of a deepwater jelly fish. I’d swum in rivers and seen eels before, but never like this.

  “No.” She pinned me with her gaze. “But that’s not why you’re here, is it?”

  “No, it’s not. They took my sister.”

  “I heard. They’ll take all of us if we let them.” She cast a bitter glance toward the coral where we lived. “I know most of you think I hide because I can’t bear to let anyone see my ugliness.” She parted the eels and snakes clustered around her stomach, revealing the gouges in her flesh. “But it’s because we are not safe in our home. Not anymore.”

  “They don’t know where we live,” I said.

  She cocked her head at me, her eyebrows raised. “You’re naïve as a little tail. All of you are. I know the truth.”

  “Which is?”

  “They want all of us. If you let them, the humans will empty the sea of magic and leave it to die. They’ve sent divers to watch us, to follow us. They haven’t found the cave entrance, but they’ve come close, very close. You think you’re hiding, but they can see you. They have their own power and we can't hide from it forever.”

  A chill went through me as if ice from the northern seas had hit my skin. “No.”

  “Yes. It’s only a matter of time. Do you even know what they want with us?”

  I shook my head. I hadn't thought of much more than saving Siya.

  She leaned in close, her voice dipping into a deeper register. "They want to sell us. To make us slaves. They're slavers."

  I straightened to my full height. If what she said was true, then my mission was even more urgent. “Tell me what you know so I can kill every last one of them.”

  She rose in the water and smiled down at me. “All by yourself?” Ndia laughed. “You’re no warrior.”

  “I can sing,” I said.

  Ndia waved a hand, dismissing my magic. “Singing will only get you so far. You need to follow them onto land.” She pointed at my tail. “Where are your legs? Or will you flop after them, moving as fast as one of their slugs?”

  I pulled on my earlobe, displaying the piece of shell piercing my flesh. “I have legs.” I didn’t tell her I didn't even know if the magic would work.

  That surprised her and she shot up in the water, until she almost breached its surface. “That is dangerous magic.”

  “There's nothing safe left for me,” I countered, rising until we were both level. “If I do nothing, I will lose everything anyway according to you. At least this way I can give us all a chance.”

  She sank back down into the sea and I followed suit.“What did you give the witch as payment? Your soul?”

  “Two sleep songs,” I said, suppressing a shiver at the memory. “Now, tell me what you can about these slavers. I’m not hiding anymore.” Siya was my only blood. I had to find her.

  Ndia squared her shoulders, her tail gleaming silver from the sunlight streaming into the water, and said, “I doubt you will prevail, but you will buy us a little more time at least.”

  Casting aside my fear of the eels and snakes, I swam closer to her. “Then it’s worth helping me, isn’t it? Let me do what I can for my sister and the rest of our tribe.”

  "You shouldn't go alone. The others should come with you."

  I shook my head. "Kark won't let them. He thinks hiding will protect us. It's just me." Kark was making weak choices, and if I managed to bring my sister back, I would change that. We had to be stronger than the two-leg slavers. Even they didn't capture great white sharks—no one did. It was too dangerous. I wanted us to be that kind of dangerous, but first, I had to save my sister.

  Ndia gave a curt nod. “Very well then. The first place we stopped was Kingston, a two-leg city in the warm islands. From there, they took me to a place called Inverness in the cold seas. They may not be there, though. I cannot tell you if they always travel in the same pattern. Only that after they captured me that was where they docked.”

  “Do you know their names? Anything about them?”

  She shook her head, the movement agitating the eels crowning her hair. They drifted up, sparking blue and then slowly settled back into her indigo curls. “Nothing, but that their hearts are black with evil. These are not good men. There are no princes among the humans anymore. Be careful. Don't trust any of them and don't let their magic sneak up on you. They have invisible energy that tracks and traps.”

  “I won’t let them catch me,” I said, resolute. I would sing their guts into knots first.

  “I hope you’re right. If you fail, the two-legs will make us all slaves.” She shuddered, her tail quivering. “Swim fast, swim strong, Mila.”

  Chapter Three

  For days, I lurked in the water looking for my sister and watching my back for signs of Kark. Kingston held no clues which left me trailing the dark shadows of ships as I headed north toward the place Ndia had called Inverness.

  I could have sung, cast a lure and brought the two-legs who'd taken her to me, but I worried about being trapped like my sister. If they had their own magic like Ndia said, it would be better to sneak up on them and have the advantage. Even so, in my head, I began rehearsing the songs my father had taught me. I would not be caught by surprise again.

  Most of the vessels I encountered carried goods, stacked high in metal boxes, destined for one port or another. Others held two-legs on vacation—a strange concept that I found difficult to absorb. The fireworks were pretty though, like jelly fish in the sky.

  Finally, I ran across a yacht, its hull scraped and unkempt as if it had been battered by the ocean too long. The two-legs on this boat had deep voices filled with aggression and anger. Curious, I swam as close as I dared and listened.

  “Traps were empty. Again,” growled a man, his voice tinged with frustration.

  “We’ll catch something, we always do,” said another, his voice calmer than the others.

  “The sheik is waiting.”

  “He’s always waiting.” The man snorted. “The bastard is never satisfied. He’s got a building full of mermaids and other fair folk and it’s still not enough. If the sheik can’t wait, he can go catch his own damn menagerie. These things don’t exactly grow on trees.” A lit cigarette dropped from the boat, the flame hissing as it hit the sea.

  I dove underwater, my stomach filled with anger and dread. Slavers. I'd found them, but were they the same men who'd stolen my sister?

  I followed the yacht for several days, learning the voices of the men onboard, watching their daily routines and looking for a sign of my sister. If they were the ones who'd taken her, she wasn't on the boat any longer, but I followed them hoping they would show me where she was.

  The slavers smoked a lot, always throwing their cigarettes and cigars into the sea. Sometimes they drank, and that brought fights. Mostly, though they paced up and down the deck, killing time.

  Every day, I fought the urge to drown them all. Revenge parched my throat and the desire to destroy the slavers—to make them pay— warred with the logic of needing to follow them to their lair. They couldn't tell me where Siya was if they were dead, and singing might draw their attention. I had no way to know how powerful their magic was. It could be big enough to silence mine, leaving me without any defense. Ndia hadn't said and I hadn't thought to ask, but alone as I was, I hesitated to make any big moves until I'd found Siya.

  But after more and more time passed, I was unable to stand it anymore. I had to do something. Maybe I couldn't fight them, and I didn't dare risk allowing them to see me, but I could do a little song. Just a touch of magic to release my anger and frustration. My voice would be quiet as a calm breeze. Surely they wouldn't notice something so small? They would never know, and I would have the satisfaction of making them suffer—even if it wasn't very much.

  Opening my mouth, I let loose a dark, growling song full of aches and sleepless nights. My ancestors had used the same dour notes to weaken their enemi
es. I’d learned the song at my father’s knee and relished how its deep, guttural intonation fit so well with the anger burning in my belly. Denying the slavers any peace made waiting for justice more bearable.

  As I lurked in their wake, the slavers conducted their sordid business up and down the eastern continent. They docked in country after country, smuggling mysterious crates on and off their boat. Sidling up to the side of the boat, I listened in on their chatter, my ear assimilating the cadence and pitch of their language. They had contacts everywhere and slowly I came to know their network.

  But not the location of my sister.

  Days slipped into weeks without any new clues. I didn’t give up, didn’t stop following the sea scum, but my hope waned. Surely by now, my sister could be anywhere. Dead even.

  I gave in then and changed my song. A sweet lure meant to draw out the leader of the crew. He wasn’t a captain. This man did not steer the boat, but he told it where to go. They called him Murdock and he was a tall, hulking beast with thick arms, a swollen belly, his dark eyes looked like they swallowed souls. I would make him talk, and I would not be gentle.

  He ambled onto the deck, head cocked as he listened to me. It was night. The moon shone like silver in the sky, its crescent sharp as a fishing hook. Clouds swirled around it like gray ghosts, obscuring the stars, but unable to completely block their shimmering light. I hid in the boat’s moon cast shadow, strengthening my song, infusing it with promises this two-leg shark would find irresistible.

  In between notes, I gnashed my teeth, wondering how soft his flesh would be.

  I never saw the net coming. It swept me up in a rush of churning water and rough, webbed rope. I screamed and then bit at the net, working to break free, but before I could make a hole big enough to fit through, they hauled me up and threw me onto the deck. Changing tactics, I threw notes of pain at them but one of the two-legs rammed a fist into the side of my head. The impact silenced me for a moment and that was all they needed.

  Leaving me tangled in the net, the two-legs picked me up and shoved me into a cage. The door slammed shut with a metallic scream and a lock clicked as it slid home.