Soul Breather (21st Century Sirens Book 1)

by T Stedman

  His brain raced. The implications of what had just happened were hitting him like a boxer. That girl whoever she was – was meant for him, and she was beautiful. That meant that everything he’d been told since childhood was true. He wished he’d paid more attention. Fuck! He must go home. He must get sober. Detox. He must learn properly who he was. He was Atlantean, for fuck’s sake … a descendant from Atlantis … the eldest son of a family of five sons. With a Siren, that made him… king!

  That was what she was: a fucking Siren!

  Chapter 7

  Tia had no idea who the guy was, he was gone as soon as she zoned in on him. All she knew was that it had felt like being hit around the head with a baseball bat just before she saw him. Her temperature had shot through the roof and she was at least thirty feet away. She’d never had a reaction like that with anyone and needed to get out of there fast.

  Luckily the guy who ran the place took pity on her; she must have looked rough, and he had let her go half an hour early.

  She walked out into the fresh air, took some deep breaths, and began to feel better immediately.

  She decided to go home as quickly as possible. She longed for the wonderful incubating feeling of her bath.

  Fuck! Mark was coming round. She really wasn’t in the mood. Maybe he’d get tied up and not come. That thought cheered her up a bit as she sped down the A20 into Kent.

  ***

  Tia was feeling very sorry for herself when the headlights shone around the room in her loft, alerted her to the car turning around on the shingle drive.

  She seldom used her overhead lighting as it hurt her eyes. She much preferred the soft glow of candles.

  She’d bathed quickly and put on some fleecy pyjama bottoms and a comfy t-shirt and wound her hair up into a bun on the top of her head.

  She’d got very maudlin when she’d mulled over recent events to herself. Sean was abandoning her to marriage. Jay was just abandoning her full stop. She’d seen the brush off enough times to recognise it when she saw it. And now strange men in crowds were knocking her out from a distance. God, she was losing it. She thanked God that she’d just got off the phone to Cash, who had booked her on a plane back to the States the next day. All hands were needed for a mounted cavalry, battle scene.

  She dropped her rickety ladder down and called to Mark. She didn’t have a doorbell or knocker as she never had visitors. “Come up!” she shouted.

  Marco’s head came up the ladder through the square hole in the floor. “Hi!” He leant over to kiss her on the cheek. “Nice place,” he said, as he glanced quickly around the room.

  “Hi! It’s not too dark for you? The lights hurt my eyes.” I hope he doesn’t think I’m trying to be romantic with the candles. Bugger.

  “No, it’s fine really.” He held on to one of her hands and pulled her a step closer. “May I?” He stared into her eyes.

  She tried her upmost not to flinch away from him, but found it really awkward.

  “I’ve never seen anything like them.”

  “No-one has,” she said shrugging, and moving out of his grip. “Can I get you a drink?”

  “Sure, I’ll have whatever you’re having.” He continued to look around at her things. The first time anyone else had seen them.

  Feeling completely exposed, she poured them both a scotch and passed one to him. She sat on the fluffy rug next to the fire and leant back on the sofa. He sat on the sofa next to her.

  “Bad night?” he asked.

  “A bit.” She turned to the side and looked up at him. He interested her in the way someone does when you can’t work them out, but she didn’t trust him. There was something about him that set all her alarm bells off and she wondered what the hell she was doing letting him into her private space.

  Marco just lay back and scrutinised her.

  Tia was quiet and just stared into her drink. “Sorry Mark, I’m not very good company tonight.”

  “Don’t worry about me. It’s nice just to chill out for a bit.” And he snuggled back into the sofa. “You are refreshingly different to some of the girls I meet, Tia,” he said, after a while.

  She sighed. “You know sometimes I think I’d give my right arm not to be.”

  Marco relaxed and stretched out his long legs behind her, and lay down with his hands clasped behind his head. “Man problems?” He needed to tread carefully. He had to find out how complicated her life was, so no ripples were made should she disappear. He decided to employ all his acting talent on the sympathy front.

  “Is it that obvious?” she said, frowning.

  “Most people’s problems boil down to two things: the opposite sex or money.”

  “True.” She nodded.

  “You don’t strike me as someone who’d ever have a problem getting a man?”

  “Oh I collect ’em alright. The problem is I keep them in the friend category. I don’t get close to anyone very easily. And if I do, they’re always the wrong ones.”

  Marco nodded, as he exhaled. “Maybe you just haven’t met the right person yet?”

  He watched her thinking about his words. He still wasn’t sure how much she knew about herself and the world she came from.

  “Do you believe we have a person we are meant for then; like fate or something?”

  Now she was getting the idea. “For some people, yes I do.”

  The conviction in his tone of voice made her turn to face him, cuddling her knees to her chest. “You are a romantic I think.”

  “Who me? Not at all, it’s how I was brought up. My brothers and I have had it drummed into us.” She didn’t have a bloody clue who she was. Astounding.

  “Really? Wow, that’s unusual, especially for blokes. I’m afraid I find it hard to believe life deals us crap on purpose.”

  “You should come home with me some day. You never know, your Mr Right could be one of my brothers.”

  She laughed, “It’s not you then?”

  He laughed with her, “No, it’s not.” His face changed to serious. It had become some sort of perverse game to him to sail so close to the wind with the truth, and her being so totally oblivious, he almost laughed aloud.

  “Way to shoot a girl down,” she said, with mock anger on her face. She sobered for a minute. “You know you’re not at all like my first impression of you.”

  “Oh yeah, and what was that?

  “That you were a vain, superficial, up yourself, prick!”

  “Don’t pull your punches on my account,” he laughed, in shock.

  She smiled and bowed her head.

  “I think there was a compliment in there somewhere for me?” he said, frowning.

  The two of them were quiet for a while.

  “Seriously though, why don’t you come with me to my family home this weekend, it might cheer you up?”

  “I’m sorry Mark. I’m travelling back to the States tomorrow.” She smiled at him.

  “Work?” His brain whirred to find an alternative.

  “Yes, my friend is supplying the horses for the cavalry charge scene.”

  “The cowboy?”

  She nodded.

  “What if I come back with you … I’ll have to go back in a few days myself anyway for filming.”

  “No, I can’t expect you to do that.”

  She was looking surprised and obviously looking for an out.

  “No really, I’d like to. In fact, I was planning on getting away with a couple of my brothers for a while now, and just not got round to it. They could meet us over there?”

  “Well ok … if you’re sure?”

  “Think nothing of it. I couldn’t possibly let you go off alone feeling so low.”

  Marco was already reaching for his phone. He took details of her flight and managed to get a last minute seat in first class. He upgraded her so she was sitting with him, oblivious to the sadness that crept across her features.

  He then texted his brothers:

  Tell father am on flight to US with her tomorrow. Get
on first available flight after. Meet me there. Expect to bring her home on return. Make arrangements.

  He put his phone away. “Just re-jigging a few things. Is it okay if I crash here?” He ignored the fact she looked a little railroaded. He painted an angelic look on his face of him just being a nice caring friend, which he was sure she bought.

  “Sure. Won’t you need a few things though?”

  “No, I’ll get what I need at the airport. It’s not a problem.”

  She went to get up and then sat back down. “I almost forgot. You wanted to talk to me about something?”

  He looked at her blankly for a second. Shit. Then waved his hand across his face. “No matter. I’m over it now.”

  “Oh well, okay. If you’re sure … I had better go to bed then.”

  “Sure, go ahead.”

  She grabbed a pillow and spare blanket for him. “I hope you’re okay on there?” she said, pointing at the sofa.

  “I’ll be fine.” He watched her as she walked away to brush her teeth in the bathroom area and then climb into bed. He wasn’t going to let her out of his sight for a second until she was safely home with him in Ireland.

  It was weird; she was actually a nice person, but he wasn’t going to let that fool him. Sirens could take a life in an instant.

  He let fifteen or twenty minutes go by, and when he was sure she was asleep, he got up and walked softly over to her bed and stood and watched her. She turned over as he stood there. It made his heart beat fast in fear of getting caught, but she was just turning in her sleep.

  Her hair was now strewn over the pillow behind her giving him a clear view behind her ear. There, as clear as a bell, was a raised ridge of skin about two inches long. A gill.

  Chapter 8

  Cash was worried about this one. He didn’t trust the guy as far as he could throw him. Now the bastard had talked Tia into staying in LA for a few more days before she came up and joined him to work. To cap it all, she didn’t even sound genuinely happy about it. He needed to speak to her himself and make sure she was okay.

  Cash had watched over Tia for the last two years. She’d come into his life during some work he’d done with young offenders coming out of council care in the UK. His job had been teaching them the western way of riding. But sometimes showing them how to care for an animal, especially one with behavioural problems, very often helped them with their own.

  Tia had taken to it like a duck to water. She possessed a quiet strength and depth of character, and was not afraid of hard work.

  He’d offered her a summer job on his ranch in Montana as soon as she was released. Very soon it became obvious that she was different. He couldn’t help but shelter her from the other youngsters who worked for him, or anyone else who would pick on her or single her out through jealousy or just plain meanness.

  The thing that Tia didn’t know about him yet was that he knew what she was, because some of that blood flowed through his own veins.

  To prove this, and passed down through generations of his family, was an ancient piece of turquoise jewellery. It was flat like a St Christopher, but had a trident carved into it; the insignia of Atlantis; the birthplace of his ancestors. It now belonged to him.

  His grandmother had told him stories of his heritage from when he was a young boy, and how he had a special role in life. That role was a Protector – a lifelong job – as a guardian to a Siren should one ever cross his path.

  The very first time she had spoken to him was as clear as day in his memory, probably because of the gravity she had placed on it. He couldn’t have been more than about seven years old …

  “Come here son, I have something for you.”

  He ran straight to her as she opened a real old jewellery box. “This was your grandfather’s.” She took out the necklace from its velvet nest.

  “What is it Grandma?”

  “Whoever wears this has the most important job in the world.”

  Cash’s eyes went wide. “What job? I wanna do that job,” he whispered.

  “Turn around.” She put the necklace on him. “This is now yours, Cash. This proves you are from an ancient race of people.”

  Cash’s heart beat faster with excitement. “Tell me grandma.” He sat in front of her, cross-legged.

  “We are Atlanteans, Cash. There are others like us that have mixed and married Humankind, but somewhere out there in the world there are hidden five beautiful princesses, the purest of all Atlanteans on land. We call them the Soul Breathers. The Humans call them Sirens.”

  “On land?”

  “Yes, son. The purest of all live under the sea in the legendary city of Murrtaine. They are the Murrs who belong to the Borge Family.

  “Wow…where do you think the princesses are?

  “No-one knows. There hasn’t been such as these for centuries.”

  “What do I do?” Cash asked.

  “For each princess, there is a special prince, usually from each of the five royal families of Atlantis and Murrtaine. But there are many princes and they all race to find their princess. Your job is to look after her, should you find one, and make sure she doesn’t get into the wrong hands.

  “Not let the bad guys get her?”

  “You got it.”

  “What would happen if they did?”

  His grandmother sighed and sat back in her chair as if in a dream. “Ever since Atlantis was destroyed, the princesses have been hidden amongst mankind from time to time. But each time the royal families have pursued them, they have killed and corrupted for them, only using them for the riches they could bring or Humans have found them. Never in the whole ten thousand years of our history here has the right path been taken and their power used for the right purpose.”

  “What’s the right path Grandma?”

  “Gosh, I don’t know son. I’m no seer, but when the right path is taken there will be a king who can lead and unite all Atlanteans, and the Murrs, so that when the other-worlders come again, they won’t destroy us like they did last time.”

  Cash was terrified. “When will they come?”

  “No-one really knows, but your grandpa used to think it was most likely when the Soul Breathers came.” She looked seriously into Cash’s eyes. “Will you take this important job Cash?

  Cash stood up to attention, “Yes Grandma. I will keep her safe.”

  ***

  Pretty soon after he’d met Tia, he’d become convinced that was what she was. He could hardly believe it had actually happened. He’d dug out the ancient parchment his grandmother had given him, along with the necklace, and in it was an address. The parchment explained that when a Siren was found he should disclose this to no-one other than the person named in the parchment. That was the oldest living relative of the Bonaci Family, located in Ireland for the last five hundred years. This he did.

  On tender hooks he’d waited, until he received a reply. When he’d opened the letter with shaky hands, it instructed him to keep her secret until such a time when she had passed eighteen and male suitors began to pursue her, particularly from the other four royal families. It listed them as: Dubonnetti, Florianna, Santalini and Borge.

  The only other help in identifying them other than their names, which could be changed, was a large ring made with an Atlantean stone of unusual colour. The letter ended with the words:

  The very continuance and prosperity of the Atlantean race depend on it.

  Now when he re-examined the letter he was convinced that the pansy actor calling himself Mark Dubonno was in fact Marco Dubonnetti. He wouldn’t have let her go off with any one of the so-called suitors without first checking them out, but this one had snake written all over him. This roused him into action. He quickly informed his contact of what he believed was happening and by whom. Then he picked up his phone and dialled Tia, telling her to get her backside to him ASAP, or she was fired. She could bring her fop actor with her if she must.

  He knew she loved him enough to be mortified that she’d upset hi
m, and would come to him straight away.

  ***

  Marco was pissed off. The cowboy was a definite spanner in the works. He’d managed to delay their internal flight to Montana until the next day, allowing his brothers time to get there. But everything rested on his brothers’ ability to convince her to go back to Ireland with them rather than go to Montana, and his confidence was fading.

  He’d thought of kidnapping her, but the rules clearly stated that marriage to a Siren must be undertaken willingly. Besides, it was pointless anyway because she was quite capable of killing her new spouse even if she didn’t know it yet.

  It was all really getting on his nerves.

  His brothers, Paolo and Antonio, were due to get there five hours after them, which he made about 7 p.m. He’d given them the name of the hotel they were staying in and arranged to meet them casually in the bar with Tia after they’d settled into their room.

  He couldn’t wait for the reveal. It was selfish he knew, but he couldn’t wait to show off such an important discovery.

  ***

  Tia felt tired as she finished getting ready to meet Marco’s brothers. She couldn’t explain why, but she just wasn’t into it.

  She decided to wear baggy silk, cornflower-blue trousers over Indian sandals and a long floaty top in a darker blue. Accessorised with chunky ethnic beads and her customary visor glasses, she looked like a film star – all without any effort.

  As she walked into the lounge with Marco, she was guided to the brothers already sitting in the comfy chairs.

  “Antonio … Paolo?” Marco said, and they both turned their heads as soon as they heard Marco call their names. “May I present, Tia Storm.”

  Both brothers stood immediately and bowed over her hand like charming princes.

  They were both jaw-droppingly good looking and shared Marco’s unusual blonde locks and light grey eyes combo. Both were tall, well-built and chic in good suits.

  The strange thing was that after greeting her so politely, both of them looked at their rings. They were identical, on their middle finger of their left hand. Then they looked at each other then at Marco and grinned. They really were a strange family.