Siren Sacrificed

by C. R. Jane

  Taking the left turn, I kept my head low and walked fast, hoping the guards on the security cameras didn’t send someone out for me.

  From my vision, the hallway looked like this one, with the flickering overhead fluorescent lights and the yellow stripes on the linoleum. I careened down the first left turn, which was a dead end. Nope, that wasn’t the bathroom. The next passage proved a waste too, and I started to wonder if I had imagined the whole thing, when movement caught my attention from up ahead.

  Keon pushed a towel bin into the corridor when he looked my way and our gazes locked. He froze, his eyebrows bunched up.

  I darted toward him.

  “What are you doing here?” he hissed through clenched teeth.

  “Had a session with the shrink, and there were no guards waiting for me. Actually, I came to find you.”

  His attention kept bouncing from me to the corridor on either side of him. “Babe, this isn’t the best time. You think you can make your way back on your own?”

  I leaned in closer to him, pressing myself to his side. “Maybe I can help you?”

  He studied me quizzically.

  “Look, I know what’s in the bin.” I eyed the towel bin and then looked up at Keon.

  His face turned a shade lighter. “No you don’t,” he growled under his breath.

  “It’s Christopher, now what is your plan?”

  He stiffened and hastily hauled the trolley bin back down the small corridor leading to the bathroom, his other hand on mine, dragging me with him.

  “How do you know, Selena?” The fear in his voice deepened. “What haven’t you been telling me?”

  “The shrink blew some magic smoke in my face, and next thing I knew, I was having an out of body experience.”

  “And you came to check me out?”

  I smirked sheepishly. “Of course.”

  He cupped the side of my face. I leaned against his touch, my insides fluttering with an explosion of butterflies beating their wings rapidly.

  “So, what’s your plan?” I asked.

  “Take this out to the back dock where they have dumpster bins and toss out the rubbish.”

  “Why not take it to the inferno down in the basement? I had gone there once with a bunch of rubbish, and I just threw it straight into the fire. No evidence left. A guard escorted me.” I winked, and I even scared myself at how easily disposing of a body came to me.

  “You’re not freaking out by this?” he asked with surprise in his voice.

  “You defended yourself against the asshole, I get it. And you were defending my honor.”

  The way he stared at me felt like he wanted to say more, but shivers were crawling up the back of my legs as we remained there whispering near a dead body. Anyone could stumble on us and ask too many questions.

  “We’ll talk later, okay. Let’s get this done,” I said.

  He drew me closer, and our mouths clashed for a split second. It was all I needed for my heart to race and remember why I fell so fast, head over heels for Keon.

  Without another moment to waste, I took hold of the handle of the trolley bin and pushed it out into the main corridor, Keon at my back. We moved fast without a word. The two guards we passed didn’t pay attention to me but exchanged greetings with Keon.

  Coming to a stop in front of the elevator, Keon hit the button, and I chewed on my lower lip. Shivers slithered up my spine as we stood still and waited. I kept glancing down the corridor, expecting someone to come running up and accuse us of murder.

  The ding finally sounded, and I flinched. Why the hell was I suddenly so nervous?

  “Keon,” someone yelled behind us.

  I hurriedly pushed the bin into the huge metal elevator and turned around to find him talking to a female guard. Her mousey brown hair was pulled into a bun. She had the longest lashes and pale green eyes, and when she looked at me, they narrowed. God, did she know what we were doing?

  Keon kept a hand on the doors, holding them open. “What’s up, Joy?”

  She batted her eyes when she turned to Keon. “Are you still up for swapping shifts next week?”

  “Told you I was,” he grumbled, getting into the elevator, and hit the only button to the basement while Joy stood there watching the doors close.

  At the last second, she stuck her hand out to stop the doors from closing.

  “What’s going on, anyway? Since when are you escorting an inmate to take the towels to the basement?” She studied me from head to toe, and I squirmed on the inside because my plan was flawed. They had cleaners for the office sector of the prison. Shit, shit, shit.

  “Why are you giving me hell, Joy?” Keon groaned.

  “You know why,” she sneered.

  The silence between them thickened to where it felt like I breathed through molasses.

  Eventually, she stepped back and Keon jabbed his finger into the close button. The doors shut with a final thump.

  “She likes you,” I stated flatly. “She seems very stalkerish. Want me to take her out?” I half smirked when he looked over to me, and he rewarded me with an air kiss.

  “She’s not on my radar. I have my sights locked on you, gorgeous.”

  I couldn’t hold back the beaming smile at his compliment.

  The lift shook, sending us into a stumble before the doors groaned open.

  An oppressing heat slammed into me first, and even breathing hurt my nostrils. The last time I came here was for five minutes, and I’d never forget how dark and awful it was. The brick walls seemed to drip with perspiration from the heat, the lights dim, and there was only one way to go…a tunnel-like corridor that led straight to a door at the end to the furnace room.

  “What’s down here beside a furnace?” I asked as I pushed the bin out of the elevator.

  “A prisoner.”

  I glanced at him with shock on my face. “Only one? What is he or she, a god?” I half chuckled, but Keon didn’t find it funny. Fuck, was it a god?

  The wheels of the trolley bin crunched on the ground that was earth, the whole thing bouncing about.

  “Hang on, a god, seriously,’” I began, but he interrupted me.

  “It’s more of an uncontrollable demonic wolf.”

  My mind spun with questions… So many of them.

  Keon snorted a short laugh. “No, I’m not answering everything now. So don’t ask.” He knocked on the basement door.

  Seconds later, it opened, and we were greeted with a guard.

  The earlier worry slammed into me once again, and I lowered my gaze.

  “Dirty shit doesn’t go down here,” the guy stated at the door, standing in our way. “Take it up to laundry.”

  “Wish it was that easy,” Keon joked, hiding his worry smoothly. The guy was good. “These here are blood stained by someone really sick, and I got orders to burn them. Come, I’ll show you.” He shifted over to the bin and leaned in.

  “Fuck no, man. You keep that infection crap away from me.” The guard stepped aside, and waved us inside a massive room. “Go, do it fast.”

  The heat curled around me, and I sweated profusely already. It felt like we walked into the furnace, instead of toward it directly ahead of us. The black walls and ceiling only made it hotter in here.

  Several inmates were in the corner, flattening boxes from a mountain of them, their faces cherry red, their clothes spotted with sweat stains. Thank hell the warden hadn’t sent me to work down here.

  Keon collected the extended stick near the furnace that looked like a giant metal wood fire oven, and drew it open. The fire roared.

  I cringed and squinted my eyes, covering them with my hands. The heat was insane, and I might not have any eyebrows left after this.

  “Let’s get moving,” Keon barked at me so everyone heard.

  Wiping the sweat from my upper lip, I dug into the bin and yanked out a towel, revealing a hand. My heart beat ridiculously at how we were going to do this.

  I rolled up the towel and tossed in into the f
ire and backed away instantly from the blaze. There go all the hairs on my arms.

  Keon stood next to me and whispered, “Go to the guard and cause a commotion. Something to attract his attention and the inmates from me.”

  My stomach dropped through me. “Are you kidding? I’m not good at doing that. What am I supposed to do? Flash them?”

  “Hell no. Don’t you dare flash them. You are for my eyes only. Now go, you’ll think of something.” He nudged me in my back, and I stumbled toward the guard.

  Just great! I kept chewing on my lower lip, which tasted salty from sweat.

  The guard’s head jerked up on my approach, and I made sure to pivot when I faced him, so he turned his back to Keon.

  “What do you want?” he asked.

  It was so hot in here, I swore I would pass out. “Do you have any water down here?” I squeaked and clasped my throat. “I don’t feel well.” I went with that angle. But when he wasn’t buying it, I made a strange half-moaning, half-gurgling sound, and dropped to my knees, then started crying out of pure panic.

  The guard quickly crouched down with me, and I looked over my shoulder to see the inmates had stopped working and looked our way.

  Keon better be dumping that body into the furnace.

  “Come with me.” The guard took my arm and hauled me to my feet then outside the room where the colder air made breathing bearable.

  “It’s cooler here.” He turned to head back into the furnace room, but I grabbed his arm.

  “Please, don’t leave me. I’m scared.”

  I sounded so stupid, and I cringed hard on the inside. But the guy bought it and stayed by my side.

  “What’s your name, sweetheart?” he asked.

  I moaned as though I was in too much pain to hear his question.

  His hand rubbed my back, heading lower to my ass a bit too quickly. Sometimes, my allure was a damn curse.

  “I just need some space,” I insisted, and pushed against him.

  But he wasn’t backing away or releasing me.

  Heavy footfalls sounded, and I ripped myself away from him as Keon approached. “Oh, geez, I am starting to feel so much better now.”

  Keon eyed me, and the guard looked ready to jump on me.

  “Alright, man, thanks for that,” Keon snapped, and pushed me toward the elevator.

  By the time we were inside and the doors shut, I exhaled loudly. “Fuck that was close. Did you do it?”

  “Sure did. And you were amazing. After that, I want to fuck you so badly.” His voice dipped to a seductive tone, and as if my body responded to him, a blaze curled in the pit of my gut.

  Once we emerged from the elevator, Keon paused, tapping the piece in his ear. He nodded, and I stared up at him as his face twisted with frustration. I guessed this meant we weren’t celebrating.

  “I’ll be right over.” He lowered his hand and looked over. “We’ll have to postpone, angel.”

  “Of course.” I held back the disappointment pouring through me.

  “Something big is going down in the prison.”

  We moved with haste back to my cell where he left me, and then took off without even a kiss. Not sure why I expected it when we had to be careful with our relationship. And after everything that just happened, I needed time out for reality to really sink in.

  Christopher was dead.

  Joy suddenly sauntered into my cell, the female guard who had been trying to pick up Keon back at the elevator.

  The hairs on my nape shifted that she so conveniently appeared here in my room.

  “Did you follow me back here?” I asked.

  But she didn’t respond and closed the distance between us. “I’ve heard about you. The siren who’s fucking our dear Keon.” Her nose wrinkled with pure disgust.

  “He’s good in bed isn’t he?” she continued. “But don’t let him fool you. You are not the first prisoner he was obsessed with. Keon has a compulsive issue. You are not his first victim, and you won’t be the last either.”

  It took me a moment to process her words that came rushing at me. “What are you talking about? Why are you telling me this? Did he reject you?”

  She barked a laugh in my face. “Girl, you’re so blinded by him already, aren’t you? I’m simply doing a good deed and warning you before it’s too late for you.” She dug into her pocket and pulled out what looked like folded newspaper pages. She opened them and showed me articles titled, “Stalker Claims Another Victim.” The next one mentioned, “Stalker Released on Good Behavior.” The next three articles were along the same vein. I quickly took one and scanned the article about how Keon had stalked a female in her home, visited her daily, broke into her house, and threatened to kill anyone who touched her.

  My stomach twisted on itself. No, this couldn’t be right… yet everything I knew of him fit this profile.

  The way he was always around me.

  His dominating nature.

  He killed a freaking guard who hurt me.

  Keon was a serial stalker.

  The guard folded up her articles and stuffed them back into her pocket. “Just figured you should know what you’re getting yourself into. This is the only job he’s allowed to do, but it hasn’t stopped him from stalking females in here.”

  I stumbled over to my bed and flopped down. I didn’t hear the guard’s last words as she slipped out of my cell. Instead, I curled up in bed and hugged my pillow as a sickness rose through me.

  Did I even know who Keon really was? How long before he moved on to his next victim?

  Chapter 11

  Alaric

  I couldn’t fucking believe I was doing this. This was going to infinitely complicate my life and my plans, but here I was, walking to the warden’s fucking office to get the crystal for Selena.

  Fuck my life.

  One nasty side effect for a newly mated incubus was their desire to please their mate. I’d, unfortunately, began experiencing this side effect basically as soon as her mark had appeared on me. It was hard to get anything done when you were always forced to think about what could make someone happy. Seeing her face when I told her I wouldn’t help her that first time had been a particularly unpleasant memory to relive, over and over again.

  I’d finally had enough. So here I fucking was.

  My plan was working perfectly thus far. I’d paid off a group of rat and honey badger shifters to cause havoc in three of the mess halls. They would create enough damage that most of the guards would be sent over to assist in the cleanup and recapture of the shifter prisoners. Those honey badger shifters in particular would keep them busy for a long time. I knew for a fact that they allowed themselves to be caught and sent here over and over again because of the fights it allowed them to get into while they were here.

  Crazy little motherfuckers.

  I’d also had some of the vampires and succubi released for the evening in some of the maximum-security units. Between the vampires trying to drain everyone dry, since they were basically starved here as the warden’s favorite form of punishment, and the succubi causing the others to start trying to have sex with everything that moved, I’d be free and clear.

  I regretted not being able to watch what I’d put in place. I always loved a good orgy.

  I’d also ensured that Selena would be safe. Keon, the psycho, was watching over her tonight and making sure she didn’t leave her cell.

  With all those ends tied up, I had been free to head to the warden’s office. Hopefully, there were a few other things that I could take at the same time to make this worth it. I wasn’t going to admit to myself that seeing my mate’s face when I handed her the crystal was payment enough.

  I stayed in the shadows as I walked. One of the treasures I’d found in this place was a sort of cloaking device. If there was any darkness around you, the device took the darkness and wrapped it around you so that you were invisible to everyone around. Of course, it wouldn’t work very well in the light of day, but here in the prison where everythi
ng was dimly lit, it worked perfectly. And it helped me pass through the manned doorway heading toward the office section of the building as it opened to a group of guards rushing out.

  I strode around a corner, a little disappointed when I saw that the usual guards set up outside of the warden’s office were also not around. Evidently, my plan was working a little too well. What was a good breaking and entering without a few cracked bones?

  I rolled my shoulders back, summoning a good dose of lust just in case the warden was inside the office and not checking on the carnage I’d set in motion. The warden’s office was usually bright. For a shadow demon, he sure did like the light. But maybe that was because he knew firsthand the dangers that lurked in the dark.

  Using my skeleton key, I opened up the door and stepped inside. The office lay empty when I stepped through. I knew there was some kind of silent alarm that was most likely set off as soon as I’d come in. The warden wouldn’t have left all of his treasures unattended after all, the greedy bastard. I needed to get in and get out before he came back if possible. Although, I was kind of hoping for the warden to come… That would make my next few weeks here even more exciting.

  I was sure it had been a while since someone had broken in, and he would be furious. He’d be in my dreams, trying to feed off my soul for weeks. I didn’t mind though, the nightmares that haunted my dreams at night were far worse than anything he could do. Shadow demons fed off of the fear they elicited in your nightmares. But if your mind was already beyond fucked up, you had instant protection.

  I guessed my past was good for some things.

  I strode over to the bookshelf on the far wall where I was sure he would have placed the crystal. I’d noticed on my perusal of his treasures in previous visits when he’d called for favors from me that he kept his treasures categorized. This one in particular seemed to always hold his favorite things. These items usually became his favorite because of how much pain it caused its previous owner when the item was taken from them.

  I imagined that the fae prince’s precious crystal was one such thing.

  I had to give the warden credit where credit was due. He was a particularly sadistic bastard. I could learn a thing or two from him to take back home.