by D. R. Rosier
I pulled my gun and aimed it at the noise.
“It’s just me,” Theo’s voice said casually, and I almost pulled the damned trigger on accident. Which… would have merely annoyed him most likely.
“I was just coming to see you Theo,” I said a lot more calmly than I felt right now. Out of the corner of my eye I could see that Lisa was extremely still and stiff, so I put my gun up and reached out and took her hand, “Why are you invisible?”
Theo laughed, “You’re not intimidated at all are you. As crazy as your mother was.”
“You knew my mother?”
Theo sighed, “You could say that, Brent let me know you were coming, I didn’t want anyone else to know we talked. Probably paranoid, but even if I could prevent anyone from listening, the fact that we were talking at all would make people take notice. I’m not exactly sociable, and you’re a siren.”
I stiffened, “Why does that matter? What the fuck…” I took a deep breath to calm down, “umm, what’s going on?”
He snorted, “It’s a little complicated, so don’t interrupt me. I was hoping to never have to tell you this, and your life depends on that discretion, so… maybe Annalise could wait inside?”
I frowned over at her, “Annalise?”
Lisa shrugged, “I changed my name, its Lisa now.”
I nodded, “I can trust her, and if she leaves I’ll just tell her anyway.”
I heard a loud sniff, and a grunt of understanding, he must have scented our… closeness.
“That’s up to you, but you might regret it. Betrayal isn’t exactly a foreign concept to Annalise here.”
Lisa hissed and her eyes turned blood red, “I was the one betrayed dragon, you know nothing,” in a voice that threatened death.
I looked over at her in shock, who was this person? I knew a lot about who she was in the here and now, I lived and worked with her, and now shared her bed. But I realized I didn’t really know very much about her past at all.
Theo sighed, “It’s true I only have one side of the story, but today isn’t about you, so calm down.”
I frowned, “Just tell me, what am I, what did you do for me, and why?”
Theo cleared his throat, “Fine, but Lisa should drive us around, it will look suspicious if you keep sitting out here in the parking lot.”
He waited for Lisa to take the car out onto the road and then started, “You look a lot like her, your mother I mean. I’m over two thousand years old, not many things have given me pause over that time, excepting perhaps the power of my own kind. I was rather jaded as well, until she showed up. It was hubris that allowed it, hubris on my part and your mother’s part.
“She came into my life like a whirlwind and it was like I was alive again. You see, I was too filled with arrogance to think a siren could actually overcome my magic and will, and your mother was just fucking crazy enough to want to bind a dragon. From what I understand, she was bored with her humans, and… hell if I know actually, she was just crazy.”
I frowned in annoyance, not sure if I wanted to hear this anymore.
He continued, “You have to understand, dragons are extremely protective of bloodlines and purity. What she did was absolutely insane. I was in heaven of course, nailing her almost constantly, I didn’t even have a clue that I was virtually a slave, and I’m not sure I would have cared if I did. The sex was just that good and I hadn’t had that much fun in centuries.
“But then one of my allies visited, and he found an enthralled dragon and a pregnant siren. The results were predictable, he attacked to kill your mother and you, most dragons would see you as an abomination, a dilution of their blood and power. Of course, your mother ordered me to protect her, so I did. Luckily my ally kicked my ass.”
He added in a musing voice, “I never thought I’d ever hear myself string those words together.”
I was only half listening now, as I sat there in shock. Theo was my father, and I was a half dragon, that had no dragon magic and couldn’t shift. Oh, and if any other dragons found out they’d gut me.
He continued, “Anyway, she’d escaped by then, and my ally freed my mind. I was… beyond angry. I swore my ally to secrecy when I calmed down enough to talk, and then set out to kill you and your bitch mother. I couldn’t just go right after her, I needed to figure out how to make myself immune to her power. My mind was freed, but it would have been easy for her to reestablish the bond.
“It wasn’t easy to get that information, and is another story altogether, suffice it to say, by the time I was sure I was immune, and could deal with your mother without fear of becoming her slave again, she was already in labor at a hospital. I went there right away, and with my magic found what room she was in. I didn’t have any problem getting to her.”
I shook my head and interrupted, “So you’re my father, and you killed my mother?” I asked in an pathetically weak voice.
He cleared his throat, “Not exactly, when I got there she was already close to gone from complications. I just didn’t heal her, and let her die. When that happened, I tracked you down in the baby ward, but when I saw you I just couldn’t do it. I cast some spells and saw that your dragon was so weak it was practically unidentifiable, and that you would never transform. You’d simply be a siren, with a quirk or two. At least that’s how I justified leaving you alive to myself. I contacted my ally and let him know it was finished, and I wiped my hands of the whole thing.
“You see, there was no way I could claim you, we would have both been attacked and killed by others of my kind. I gave you the only chance to live that I could. You see, my ally is still well and good, which is why we can’t be seen talking together, ever. Because you are the perfect age to be my daughter, and my ally knows I hate sirens now, save one. If he ever saw us talking, he would be immediately suspicious.”
“Brent?” I asked, wanting to change the subject.
He chuckled, “Well, I did keep some tabs on you. And you were turning into a fucking nightmare, breaking laws and building a harem, just like your mom, so I did what I could. Brent was a brilliant young mage with lots of fresh ideas in wards, security and other things, but he was poor. I set him up with the seed money, and a few contacts in the right places, in return he was to teach you how to deal with your power in a non-destructive way, and watch out for you, give you a place to belong.
“That sounds cold, but I couldn’t do it myself, no more than I could raise you. If it makes a difference, he sees you like a daughter and cares about you a lot. It may have started out as a business deal for him, but it didn’t stay that way for long. So now you know, and if you don’t just drop it and move on with life, you’re liable to get all three of us killed. Do us all a favor and don’t try to contact me again, and never tell anyone else.”
My mind was spinning, and all the breaks Brent had given me were starting to make sense. No wonder he’d put up with my bad temper, he had no choice but to follow his oath to protect and guide me. The funny thing was that my temper seemed distant right now, I was well fed, not to mention a little bit in shock.
Dear goddess, my father was a fucking dragon. But I’m not, all I have to show for it was a fucked up childhood.
“What’s the secret, will you tell me?”
He coughed, “Why do you want to know?”
I sighed, “Because… well I guess it doesn’t matter now, but…”
I had to organize my thoughts, “I suppose I just want some people to be able to treat me for who I am. Lisa does, and I met someone else who knows the secret as well. I suppose it just gets exhausting, I want more people in my life that don’t either want to just fuck me, or stab me in the back.”
He was silent for a moment, “Seriously?”
I growled, annoyed that he was surprised I wanted more meaningful contact and actual friends, “Why not? I was raised human you know. Why do you think I was so confused and fucked up at sixteen? But I suppose it doesn’t matter, I have Lisa, and…”
I felt naïve, did
I really want to give up my advantage? Yes, in some cases, it wasn’t really an advantage. I’d really enjoyed my time with Harold as well.
He sighed, “I suppose I can tell you, but it won’t do you any good. How will you know if someone will be a good friend before you free them from your influence, plus if any of them decide to betray you and the information gets out, the… source of the immunity would be destroyed by the others of your kind.”
I frowned, “Why?”
“Because it’s not a spell, or an object, the truth is there is no immunity at all. Not in the way you were thinking. I’m immune to other sirens because I’m already enthralled by one.”
I gasped out, “What?”
He laughed at my shocked expression, “There are always sirens who choose to live away from the islands. There are fifty or so scattered around the U.S. that feel the way you do about enslaving others. Well, the story goes that two sirens, twins, experimented a bit maybe a hundred years ago, I’m actually a little vague on when to be honest. But the upshot of it was, that one sister would enthrall a man, and they tried share.
“Turned out though, sirens don’t share, because they can’t. A man can’t be enthralled by two sirens at once. They figured that out pretty fast. Long story short, the second sister and the man fell in love, without enthrallment, something no siren had ever had before. So her sister returned the favor and they both found real love. Ever since, that line of sirens has… charged to give others immunity to the rest of their kind. For a price, they enthrall you and let you go. Right now there are nine sirens in that line.
“It was a little weird, at first I just wanted to go back to her, but after a few days away the need to always be around her faded, now I’m immune to every other siren. Even their enhanced pheromones don’t affect me very much, because they aren’t the one I’m bound too, the scent is off a little bit.”
I frowned, “But she could call you back at any time.”
He grunted, “Yes, but she won’t, if she broke the family code, the rest of her line would take care of it. There is more to it I think, something they didn’t tell me, but they’re absolutely committed to not using slaves.”
I frowned, I knew what it was of course. They’d be getting the same upswing of power from sex that I got with Lisa, so in a way, power and ambition was driving their line’s dedication to that principle, and their business model. Sure, love was a strong enough bond and motivator, but without the other betrayal and ambition would eventually destroy it. I decided not to tell him about my insight, maybe that was petty after all he’d told me, but I really didn’t want to.
“Alright, I’ll stay away, should we drop you back at the bar?”
I still wasn’t sure what to think about it all, but it could have been worse.
He said, “No, just stop at a store somewhere, I’ll make my way back. Have a good life daughter, and don’t be too hard on Brent. He really does love you, even if he’d like to strangle you on occasion.”
“No promises, but I get it.”
He was silent for the last few minutes of the drive, and then left wordlessly when we pulled into a Mexican place for lunch…
Chapter 11
I did my best to smile politely at the waiter, as he almost tripped over a chair at one of the tables next to us after dropping off my fajitas, because he’d been staring over his shoulder at me. He blushed a deep red and fled after that, and I started to eat. At least he didn’t dump my meal. Thank the goddess that kind of extreme reaction wasn’t overly common.
Lisa looked a little uncomfortable sitting across from me, she didn’t eat of course, but that wasn’t why. She’d sat down through many meals with me and was usually completely natural and relaxed.
I cleared my throat, “Did all that freak you out?”
Lisa’s eyes widened, “No, I was just… why haven’t you asked me what he meant, and about my name?”
I smiled, I’d thought she was freaked out by my life story, she was just worried about hers.
“I figured you’d tell me about your past someday. I know there’s probably a lot of it, but not much else. I know who you are now though, that’s what matters.”
Lisa frowned, “I actually haven’t changed all that much. But I’ve put my past behind me. It was… a bad situation.”
I nodded, “You don’t have to talk about it.”
She sighed, “I will tell you, just not now, and not in public. Stop being so understanding, its freaking me out.”
I laughed, “Bitch, tell me now,” but my voice didn’t come out very threatening.
She shook her head, “Thanks for the effort.”
I was curious about her past, but my mind was still reeling with my own. Plus, I trusted her, whatever it was it couldn’t possibly be that bad. I finally got my beef, chicken, fried onions, peppers, and guacamole all rolled up in the hot tortilla, and I took a bite.
She asked, “How are you handling things?”
I shrugged, “I don’t know yet. I feel like I should be mad for them manipulating my life, on the other hand, I could be in jail right now, or worse, being hunted down by you.”
Lisa shook her head, “I can’t even imagine that. You’d have figured it out.”
I could tell she actually meant it, but I wasn’t sure I bought it. I don’t think I was upset so much that my father had figured out a way to help me, but more that he didn’t figure out a way to do it himself, despite the risks. About the best thing I could say about him was he wasn’t a baby killer.
Brent… well he did what he did to forward his career. I was also extremely glad he hadn’t taken me up on my offers to join his bed when I turned eighteen, another point in his favor. Although, that crush I’d been nursing was pretty much dead now. Regardless, I had Lisa and wouldn’t change that for anything, I was more than satisfied.
That night was another new experience for me. Lisa and I got dressed up and hit a club, danced, had a great time, and went home with no men at all. There was a first time for everything. This time she took me to her room at the end of the night, and I eventually let her get to sleep. I wasn’t sure how long this phase would last, but I couldn’t get enough of her, and the feeling was obviously mutual. Me… I was still wide awake, and hadn’t slept for days now.
As far as Lisa’s story, she hadn’t talked about it yet, I was extremely curious but I was willing to wait for now.
The next morning, we went into work, and I hadn’t even gotten to my desk yet when I heard the phone ringing. It was Pricilla letting me know Brent wanted me up in his office in her usually snotty way. I rolled my eyes, hung up and headed toward the elevator. I wasn’t surprised to see Lisa already there, and we went up together and into Brent’s office.
Brent said, “Morning,” in a wary but mostly professional voice.
He seemed a little tense as we sat down, and then relaxed when he realized I wasn’t going to tear his head off. He activated the large screen and I studied the picture that came up. It looked like some kind of excavation or dig site. There were two pillars half exposed, the rest covered in dirt in a pit in the ground. There were also some magical runes inscribed in the partially unburied door.
I have to admit I was intrigued, but what the hell did that picture have to do with our jobs?
Brent said, “A dig team unearthed this ruin after a construction company broke ground for a new hotel just south of Corpus Christi. It’s been dated at about thirty-five hundred years old, the strange thing about it, is it’s still active magically.”
I frowned, “What does that have to do with us?”
It was outside our jurisdiction so to speak, we only dealt with the Dallas area. Old ruins also weren’t a part of my job description. I’d never been that close to the ocean before either, it’s well known a siren’s power is related to water and oceans in some way, it was why most sirens lived on islands. I’d always avoided the idea of going to check it out.
It’s said the song is stronger there, more easily heard
, but there is speculation that isn’t true, instead of the song being stronger, some believe it’s the siren that’s more powerful being closer to the sea.
I could see why they wanted to get in there though, wards have a limited life expectancy after being set up, and requires a mage to either recast or recharge them. If those wards have been active for over three millennia, they no doubt want to know the secret of how that was accomplished.
Brent nodded, “Directly, it doesn’t have a thing to do with us. Indirectly, the mage down there failed to get past the wards and doors, he referred this problem to Harold Moffett, who asked for you specifically to guard him again. Apparently you made a positive impression on him.”
Lisa frowned but Brent cut her off before she could object, “I know you don’t like guard duty, but it’s either this, or work with Tad again. Everyone else is already out on cases.”
Lisa sighed, “Alright, but I’m not kissing anyone’s ass.”
Is that why she hated guard duty?
“He’s not that bad actually, last time he insisted on first names, and he isn’t an arrogant asshole either.”
Lisa nodded reluctantly and asked, “So what’s the plan?”
Brent said, “Take the VIP vehicle, pick up Harold and head down there. It’s about a six-hour drive.”
He added, cutting off my next question, “Harold doesn’t like to fly.”
I nodded, “Alright, this will probably take a couple of days.”
“Don’t forget receipts. I’ll see you both when you get back.”
The briefing broke up, and we got ready to head out. We needed to stop by the house too, pack a few days’ worth of clothes, and grab some extra ammunition just in case.
Chapter 12
