My Immortal Playlist (The Siren Collection #1)

by St. Clair, Julius

  “And what did he say?” I asked, afraid of the answer.

  “Like my slaves, you too, must be broken. And that is what waits for you if you refuse my offer. I will first butcher every one of your friends, even those that supposedly ran away. We’ll find them. I will then have Leroy take you, and you will be placed in seclusion for an undetermined amount of time. You will lose your mind, and once I am certain that you will follow my commands, then, I will train you and raise you into the Siren you were meant to be.”

  “That could be a very long time,” I said to her, but she shrugged one shoulder.

  “Perhaps you will see the light eventually. I’ll tell you right now though, even if Lucas knows a Siren song or two, it won’t work. And even if I did lose my mind and you were attempting a surprise attack, it wouldn’t work. Look at Leroy.”

  I did.

  “Do you know what he is?”

  “No.”

  “He’s a hybrid. One of my finest pieces of work. A splice of two songs. He is half-vampire, and half-zombie.”

  “What?!” I shot my head at her in disbelief. “That’s ridiculous.”

  “But so deliciously deadly. I mean look at him. Really look at him. He wants to eat you so bad.” I looked at him, and I could see it in his eyes. He was a big man so I thought it was his muscles rippling, but once I looked closer, I realized that he was shaking involuntarily. And his eyes were so intense that I was sure that if it wasn’t for Pamela’s orders, he would have ripped me apart. I had seen those eyes before…

  “You gave him the zombie appetite, and a vampire’s strength,” I said to her, and she nodded slyly.

  “Once I let him go, there is no reasoning with him. There is no begging. He will not pause. He will not stop. Even when he is full, he will gorge himself. And that is just one of the types of monsters you will face in my collection. Even if you kill me, there will be nothing left to hold him, or any of my other creations back. One way or another, the apocalypse will come.”

  “I could bind him,” I said nervously.

  “But he’s still just one man,” she explained. “And there’s so many others.” I looked back at Leroy, and then her.

  “I’m not going to join you,” I said with a heavy heart. “I can’t.”

  “Choosing the hard way?” she laughed. “Even after all I’ve just told you? Fine. Let’s go to the backyard. I don’t want to mess up the living room.”

  Before I could take a step towards Pamela, unsure what I was about to do, my face ran into Leroy’s wall of a chest. My face bounced off it, and while I was still in a daze, he reached out, grabbed me and Lucas by the shirt and lifted us off the ground.

  “Henry, help him with the door,” Pamela said, rising from the couch. Henry ducked under our kicking legs and opened the door, leading out into the yard. Before Leroy threw us onto the grass, I gave him one last kick to the ribs, but he barely registered my presence.

  He chucked us out the house and we went rolling into the grass. Lucas rose to his feet first and studied our surroundings, but there was nowhere to go. The fence was so high, and the backyard was so bare that it really was just us and our enemies.

  Pamela stepped forward, between Henry and Leroy and sighed. She threw her cigarette to the grass and crushed it out.

  “The breaking ceremony will commence,” she shouted to us as I rose to my feet. Lucas pulled out his steak knife from his back and I did the same, but I knew it wouldn’t do much.

  “Alex?” Lucas said to me with knife poised.

  “Yes?” I sighed as a smile came over Leroy’s face.

  “I love you,” he said, and then he ran forward. I didn’t know what to do. I knew he was immortal, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t be hurt. And without choosing a final form, I was in even worse shape. Unlike most of the people out there, I could be killed…

  Lucas was still sprinting forward when Pamela whispered inaudibly. The bodybuilder disappeared, and in the next instance, he shimmered into view right behind Lucas. He reached out and practically crushed his shoulder, squeezing so tight that Lucas cried out and dropped the knife in his hand. He quickly grabbed the hilt with his other hand and tried reaching back to stab his assailant, but Leroy snatched it from him and crushed the blade in his bare hand.

  Lucas tried punching the monster but if there was any effect, there sure wasn’t any evidence. The bodybuilder punched Lucas in the stomach once and left him there, watching him in disgust as he slowly crumpled to the grass, coughing and clutching his abdomen tight.

  “That was quick,” Pamela shouted and I glared at her. Henry was still by her side, but Leroy was a good distance away. Now was a good a time as any.

  “Noah!” I shouted, and I saw Pamela smile. I didn’t expect that.

  Noah burst through the side of the fence like the Kool-Aid man and nearly thrust a blade through Pamela’s heart when Leroy once again, managed to grab the blade in the nick of time. He gave Noah a smile and crushed the knife in his palm, and then he back handed Noah away from Pamela.

  Noah somersaulted and landed on feet, but I could tell he was shaken from the interruption. How was Leroy faster than him? And so strong?

  Leroy left Pamela’s side and met Noah in battle. I could barely watch as they engaged in a flurry of fists, punching one another back and forth, knowing one would fall eventually. It was a horrible game, and I knew Noah would lose in the end. He wasn’t a fighter, so throwing his fists around was all he could do, and Leroy was glad to engage in that kind of battle. He was definitely the strongest between them, and it was only a matter of time until his opponent was whittled down.

  Lucas was still recovering from his wound so I decided to attack. I came at Pamela straight on, and I expected Henry to get in the way, but to my surprise, it was Pamela herself who met me. She dodged my thrust, grabbed my wrist and bent it back. I cried out from the sharp pain and let go of the knife. She then punched me once in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me, and put me into a headlock before I could blink.

  “Silly girl,” she whispered into my ear as I tried taking her arms away from my throat. “You really think I’m defenseless? That a high schooler is just going to run over and fight a woman like me? What did you think was going to happen?”

  “Stop,” I found myself pleading, but she tightened her grip on my throat.

  “I’m not going to kill you,” she said through grit teeth. “But I am going to make you suffer. I’ll bind your little boyfriend and have him hurt himself, and then we’ll see how much fire you have left when he’s done.”

  She pointed at Lucas with her free hand and began reciting a chant, reaching out to bind the man I had only freed last night. As I fought against her grip, it felt like she was getting stronger, and the chant was gaining speed as it neared its end. Just as she was about to utter the final word, she suddenly cried out sharply in pain, letting me go and immediately punching at the source.

  Elliot had his mouth clamped firmly around her right ankle.

  “Noooo,” she screamed as she tried to rip him off but he held on tight. He wrapped his arms around her legs as I reached down in the grass, grabbed the knife I dropped earlier and put it to her throat.

  “You’re going to do what I say now!” I shouted.

  “You kill me, Leroy goes on a rampage,” she said, but I pressed the blade against her even tighter, the edge causing a sliver of blood to seep out.

  “Shut UP!” I screamed at her. “Either I kill you or you do what I say. I don’t care what you choose, but you have to choose now.”

  “What do you want?”

  “I want you to choose your final form,” I said. I reached into my pocket, pulled out a crumpled sheet of paper and thrust it into her face. “And this, will be your final form.”

  She looked over the lyrics quickly and then started laughing. “Never!”

  “Henry, I –“she began to say, when a broken shard of steel was suddenly thrust to her throat from the right. Henry was on the other e
nd.

  “Not another word, witch,” he seethed, winking at me.

  “What are you doing?” I asked in surprise. Like I shouldn’t have been happy he was on my side.

  “She only controls me with orders,” he said. “No words. No control.”

  “Choose your final form,” I said to Pamela, but she was stalling. I knew she was hoping for Leroy to notice her predicament and come save her, but from the blows I could hear in the background, he was still busy with a certain vampire.

  “No,” she spat at me and Henry gave me a sharp look. He then turned back to Pamela.

  “Order Leroy to stay docile until you give him another order,” he told her. “And if you say one word that is different from what I just told you, you will die right here.”

  “Leroy!” she shouted. “I command you not to attack until I give another order!”

  “No matter how long it takes to give that order,” Henry said.

  “No matter how long that takes!” she shouted. I glanced back and the giant just stopped short of a blow to Noah’s face. Still, Noah staggered as if he had been hit and fell to his knees, clutching his face like it was on fire. Henry gave me a stern look.

  “You need to look away now.” I was taken aback by the order in his voice.

  “Why?” I asked, but his face remained the same.

  “You need to trust me. Look away.”

  I didn’t question him any further, even if he was still somehow under Pamela’s control.

  A second passed, and then I heard Pamela screaming in a way I never wished to hear again.

  I was about to turn around when I heard Henry snap at me sharply. “Turn around!” I obeyed and he finished whatever ghastly work he had begun. “Now you can turn back,” he said, and once I saw Pamela, I cupped my hands to my mouth.

  He had taken her tongue.

  And now she was on her knees in the grass, clutching her mouth and moaning. I felt a tug on my jeans and I glanced down to see Elliot.

  “Can I get a lift?” he asked me, and I bent down to pick him up without a second thought.

  “You took her tongue,” I said to Henry in shock. He chuckled and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

  “Like I said. No more words. No more control. She’s a joke now.”

  “Why did you keep her alive?” I asked, and he glanced back at me.

  “You wanted her alive. I know you can still use her and learn more about your culture, translate some stuff. We can use her. Besides this way, there won’t be any warriors coming after us. Not even her big ox over there.”

  We all looked towards her bodyguard. Leroy was just standing there in the grass, glancing back at us with a lost look in his eyes. He knew we were the enemy, yet he had been forbidden to attack. What was he going to do now?

  “Well, we survived,” Elliot said in my ear. “That’s what’s most important.”

  “Are you okay, Noah?” I asked, speaking in my regular voice. I know he could hear me from where he sat. In the next second he was right in front of us, his face as smooth and handsome as always. “You don’t even look hurt,” I said to him.

  “Doesn’t look it,” he said with tired eyes. “But I sure feel like it. Now I know why vampires sleep in coffins. After that fight, I feel like death.”

  “You can go home if you want,” I said, hugging him. “We can finish things up here.”

  “No,” he said adamantly. “I’m here until the end.”

  “Okay,” I said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Henry walked over to Pamela and stood by her, making sure she didn’t go anywhere. The Siren sat there quietly in the grass, holding her mouth and rocking herself.

  “Anyone got asprin?” Lucas asked, stepping next to Noah. He was still clutching his abdomen tight, and he was hunched over when he walked, but at least there was smile on his face. I couldn’t help but smile back.

  “I got some back at the house,” I said to him. I stooped down so I was eye level to him in his hunched over state and gave a tender kiss on the cheek. Elliot gagged in my ear from behind me.

  “So what do we do with her?” Lucas groaned. Noah took one of Lucas’ arms and placed it around his shoulders to help him stand and walk.

  “It’s Alexandra’s call,” Henry replied. I looked over at Pamela. She was no longer rocking now. She was glaring at me, with a hatred in her eyes that I knew I could never forget. She was going to kill me the first chance she got. There was no doubt.

  But it didn’t have to turn out that way. I was realizing more and more – that there were alternatives to suffering, and loneliness and worry. There were always options. And I was tired of choosing the ones that brought forth fear and grudges and death.

  So I walked over to Pamela and stood above her. She kept her murderous gaze, but I ignored it. I dropped down to my knees in the grass, so that I was only a few inches away from her, and then, to everyone’s surprise…

  I hugged her.

  I hugged her tight, and I wept for her and whispered in her ear how sorry I was for what happened. I half-expected her to try choking me out one last time, but she didn’t. She didn’t embrace me back, but she did remain still, and I made sure I held her a long, long time.

  When it was over, I stood back to my feet, and I helped her to hers. I kept her hand in mine and she kept scowling at me, but I ignored it. Noah, Lucas, Henry and Elliot all met us with a sea of puzzled faces, but I simply smiled and said:

  “She’s my sister.”

  TRACK 22 – Lullaby (Bonus Track)

  It was a strange sight to behold, and if someone had told me even a month ago that I would be living with a diverse group of supernatural monsters, I would have laughed in their face and then cried privately in a corner about how I had no real friends. But here we were, back at the house, laughing and staying up all night without a care in the world.

  I offered Pamela a place in my home, with Henry volunteering to be her watch and more importantly, my bodyguard –you know…in case she ever decided to murder me in my sleep.

  I couldn’t kill her.

  I had done enough of that in my life, and to be honest, I really didn’t want to remove the sole link to my people either. There was no telling what knowledge I could gain from her and how strong I could become as a Siren over time. I knew she wouldn’t help me for a while. We had still hurt her…but I was hopeful. Her hate for men ran deep, but perhaps living with a few would change her mind, especially with such upstanding gentlemen as my boys.

  “You’re disgusting,” Elliot said, as Henry let out an echoing burp across the kitchen. Pamela rolled her eyes and leaned her head into one hand. She was squished between Henry and the cold wall and had been trying to mouth stuff at us all evening. No one knew what she was trying to say, but she refused to use a pen and paper. Her loss. Guess she just had to stay there with us at the table until she asked to be excused.

  “So you’re still enchanted to Pam, aren’t you?” Lucas asked Henry. Henry burped again and leaned his head on her shoulder. She took the palm of her hand and shoved his head away.

  “Yep,” Henry replied happily. “She’s as beautiful to me as a sunset on the beach.”

  “You two will make a happy couple,” Lucas laughed. “Isn’t that right, Pam?”

  “Leave her alone,” I said, punching his arm. “She’s been through enough.”

  “Hmph,” he said as Pamela looked down at the table.

  “Also,” I said. “No more calling her Pam. She hates that nickname.”

  “It’s true,” Leroy said with a heavy nod. Given that he was three times the size of any of us, he was placed at the head of the table. He was huge, and hungry all the time, but he seemed like a nice guy. Without Pamela barking out the orders, he was free to speak and act on his own. He wasn’t so scary when he wasn’t being controlled.

  “You hungry again?” Noah asked Leroy and the giant shook his head.

  “Thanks for hunting with me by the way,” he said, his massive arms causing the table to
creak when he shifted his weight.

  “No problem. I know you can’t…um, attack anything so that makes it kind of hard.”

  “I’ll figure out a way around it,” he sighed, turning to me. “You really don’t mind taking care of her?” I shook my head.

  “She’s welcome here. But what are you going to do? You know you can stay here if you like. It’s already a freak show.”

  “I think I’m going to see about the other warriors she has under her spell. Give them the news that she’s not going to be ordering them around anymore. Find a place in the mountains. Someplace secluded where we won’t hurt anyone.”

  “What about your hunger?”

  “I have to figure that out. But I promise that I’ll be mindful.”

  “Okay,” I said, unsure of what his words meant exactly.

  “I’ll come help you,” Noah offered, and my head swiveled at him. He caught the motion and laughed. “As long as Alex doesn’t mind, that is. I would love to travel a bit, maybe show you guys what’s taboo.”

  “I would like that, brother,” Leroy said, patting Noah on the back.

  “Of course you can go,” I said to him with a chuckle. I pulled back a strand of my hair. “You’re a free man. You can do what you want.”

  “Thanks, Alex,” he said with a smile. “Guess I better go pack my bags so it’s not so chaotic in the morning.” He got up from his chair and headed out. Elliot glanced down at his watch.

  “Oh, my. It’s 7 in the morning already,” he said.

  “I’m going to go help Noah,” Leroy said. “We’ll probably head out within the hour. Didn’t know the hour was so far gone.” Henry turned to Pamela.

  “You want to head to bed?” he asked her. Pamela nodded, and he pulled out her chair for her. She rose to her feet and he offered her his arm. She gave him a wary look.

  “Hey, I’m still yours,” he laughed, and I’ll admit that I felt a needlelike pang in my heart when I heard that. Pamela didn’t smile or attempt to say anything. She simply nodded, and Henry began leading her out the kitchen. Lucas whistled.