“No. I think I can threaten you into sleeping with me, and once you have, you’ll never want to leave,” she replied matter-of-factly.
“Penn, that’s…” He lowered his eyes. “It’s disgusting, and I won’t do it.”
“Really?” Penn arched an eyebrow. “I’m promising you that I would leave Harper and Gemma alone, if you have sex with me one time. I would spare the people you care about most, and I would give you the best night of your life.”
He decided to go with a different approach to turning her down, and asked, “Do you realize how desperate this makes you sound? How pathetic this offer is?”
“Oh, trust me, Daniel, I get it,” Penn said, and her expression led him to believe that she did. “But I’ve thought about this a lot. I want you, and I will do anything to have you.”
“I’m really not that great,” he insisted. “You can ask some of my ex-girlfriends. I think I’d end up disappointing you.”
“Are you a virgin?” Penn asked.
He hesitated before saying, “No, but it has been a while.”
“Then what I’m asking really isn’t that big a deal.” She smiled up at him. “Let’s just do it. I can make you feel things you’ve never felt before.” She stepped closer to him, so she was almost pressed up against him. “I’ll show you ecstasy you didn’t even know your body was capable of. Let me make you happy.”
His shirt was unbuttoned all the way down, so he was exposed. Almost tentatively, she put her hands on his stomach, and he let her. He stared down at her, his breath coming out ragged.
Penn stood up on her tiptoes, and he closed his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see her as she pressed her lips to his. She kissed him gently—tenderly, even.
At first he did nothing, but then slowly he began to kiss her back. Her body was pressed hot against his, but he kept his arms at his sides, unwilling to touch her.
She leaned in, kissing him more deeply, and he was surprised to find his body responding. As much as she repulsed him, the way she touched him actually did feel good.
Her lips traveled down, kissing his neck and then his chest. He leaned back, resting his head against the wall, and he felt her hands moving south, unbuttoning his jeans.
“Penn…” He pushed her hands away. She let go of his pants, but she moved her hands to his sides, still hanging on to him. “No. Penn.” She tried to kiss him again, and he turned his head away. He grabbed both her wrists and pushed her back away from him. “I said no. I can’t do this.”
She yanked her wrists free from his and stepped back, stomping on the floor. Her eyes were yellow-green, and Daniel stayed against the wall, not wanting to set her off.
“It’s because of that stupid bitch, isn’t it?” Penn snarled. “If I get her out of the way, you won’t have any reason to deny me, will you?”
“Don’t even.” He walked to her, so he could stand right in front of her and tower over her. “Right now you’re just a nuisance. You’ve been harassing the people I care about, but you haven’t done anything to me. If you hurt Harper or Gemma, then you’ve crossed me. Then I’ll do everything in my power to destroy you, and you will never touch me again.”
“What’s the difference?” She threw her hands up in the air, but her eyes had returned to their normal color. “You’re already telling me that I’ll never have a chance with you. What incentive do I have to keep them alive? What reason do I have to keep you happy?”
He softened a bit and relaxed his stance. “If you care about me the way you supposedly do, you won’t want to hurt me.”
“I don’t think you understand the way love works,” Penn sneered.
He laughed darkly. “No, I think you’re the one with the skewed ideas here.”
“I’ll be completely straight with you, okay? I’m laying it all out,” Penn said. “I have been alive for thousands of years. And I used to care very deeply about things, but after a while, your heart kinda goes numb. Everything kinda goes numb.
“I may not love you,” she went on. “I may not love anything. But you are the first thing that has held my interest in a very long time, and I will lie, murder, and devour anything to get what I want. Do you understand what I am saying to you?”
“Yes,” Daniel said softly.
“So what’s it going to be? Your girlfriend’s head on a platter, or a night with me?” She crossed her arms and waited for his answer.
He swallowed hard. “Fine. But not tonight.”
“When?”
“After Harper leaves for college.”
“When is that?”
“A few days.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Her classes start this Thursday.”
“It’s Sunday,” Penn said. “So, in three days, we’ll do it.”
“Let’s make it Friday. Give me a day to … get myself together.” He paused. “But she can never find out, okay? Harper must never know. Gemma can’t know, either.”
Penn smiled. “I won’t tell if you don’t tell.”
“Penn. I’m serious.” He stared her directly in her black eyes. “I won’t lose Harper, not over you.”
“It’s a deal, then.” She smirked. “Shall we kiss on it?”
“I’ll shake, but that’s it.”
“Fine.” She held out her hand, and he took it, shaking it once.
“So I just sold my soul to the devil,” Daniel said.
“I’m really not that bad.” Penn leaned in to him, smiling up at him. “And once I’m through with you, you’ll think you’ve died and gone to heaven.”
Daniel stepped backward, away from her, and without looking he opened the door behind him. He motioned for her to leave.
“Thanks for stopping by, please hesitate to do it again; don’t call me, and I won’t call you,” he said as she slid past him, going out into the hot night air.
Penn turned back to blow him a kiss, and he slammed the door shut.
Resting one hand on the door, he leaned with his head bowed. He had no idea if he’d done the right thing making that deal with her, but he definitely felt like throwing up.
“Fuck.” He sighed. “I need a shower.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
My Discontent
The lights were dim enough over the stage that Gemma could see clearly out into the empty audience chairs, but she wasn’t really looking at anything. Her eyes were vacant, and she absently played with the silver chain around her neck. The theater stayed cool, despite the heat outside, but an odd humidity had crept inside, making it feel damp and musty.
She had stayed up late last night, crying as her dad tried to comfort her. This morning she woke up without all the telltale signs she’d spent the whole night a sobbing mess—no red eyes, no puffy cheeks, not even a runny nose. Her siren radiance was at an all-time high, but inside she felt like total hell.
Something had broken inside her. Gemma had destroyed the guy she loved in a misplaced effort at protecting him. No matter what she did, she only made things worse. All her attempts at saving herself and the people she cared about only put them in more danger.
“A pretty peat,” Thea said, and Gemma was dimly aware that Thea was talking louder than she had been a few seconds ago. “It is best. Put finger in the eye, and she knew why.” She cleared her throat, then repeated, “And she knew why. Bianca?”
“Bianca?” Tom asked, his British accent filled with irritation. He’d been sitting in the front row to more objectively direct, but he stood up when Gemma didn’t respond. “Oh, Bianca?”
“Gemma,” Kirby said in a hushed tone, and that finally broke through, pulling Gemma from her thoughts.
“What?” She blinked and looked around the stage dazedly, trying to understand what was happening.
Thea, Kirby, and several other actors were onstage with Gemma, trying to perform the scene. They were all staring at her, waiting for her to say or do something, but for the life of her, Gemma couldn’t remember what she was supposed to do.
Just offstage, standing beside
the curtain, was Aiden. His lip was swollen, one eye was blackened, and he had scratches and bruises on his cheek. Everyone had made a big deal about his injuries when he came in, but he’d insisted that he’d be fine in time for the performance in just under two weeks.
He hadn’t said anything to Gemma, but she’d caught him glaring at her a few times. Aiden was probably doing it more often than she noticed, though, since she was barely paying attention to anything that happened today.
“Glad to see you decided to join us onstage,” Tom said with an annoyed smile. “Now maybe you’d like to say a line or two while you’re here.”
“Oh, I missed my cue. I’m sorry.” She tried to look apologetic, but he didn’t seem to care if she was sorry or not.
“I just said, And she knew why,” Thea supplied for her.
“Okay. Um.” Gemma put her hand to her forehead and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember. “Why, gentlemen, you do me double wrong—”
“Wrong act, my dear Bianca,” Tom said, barely holding back his contempt. “Of course! You have all of four lines in this scene! Why should you be troubled to learn them all?”
“I’m sorry. I’m just…” She shook her head. “I’m not myself today.”
Aiden snorted offstage, and she glanced over to see him smirking as she floundered. That, of course, didn’t help anything, and for an awful second she thought she might cry.
But then she flashed onto the image of her mother, the picture hanging outside the dressing room. Nathalie had mostly given up acting after she’d had her children, but she’d done a few more plays when Gemma was small.
While Nathalie had been running through her lines one night, Gemma had asked her what her favorite part about acting in the theater was, and she distinctly remembered her answer.
“It’s all live. It’s life-or-death onstage, and no matter what comes, the show must go on. You have to put on a brave face and play your part, whether you screw up or not. And there’s something exhilarating about that,” Nathalie had explained to her with a smile.
“Can someone help her?” Tom asked. “Or shall we stand here all day watching her flail?”
“Um, I have it here,” Kirby said. He had his script rolled up in his hand, and he flipped through it, hurriedly scanning for Bianca’s line. “It starts with, Sister, content you—”
“Sister, content you in my discontent,” Gemma began reciting before Kirby had even finished. It all came back to her, and as she spoke clearly and loudly, she kept her eyes fixed on Aiden. “Sir, to your pleasure humbly I subscribe: My books and instruments shall be my company, on them to look and practice by myself.”
Last night had been awful, and things were horribly messed up, but that only meant that she had to work harder to put things right again. But she wasn’t ready to give up. Not yet. She’d gotten knocked down, but the fight wasn’t out of her.
“Excellent!” Tom shouted and walked back to his seat. “Now we can get on with the scene, and if we’re lucky, we might make it through Act One by opening night.”
“Hark, Tranio, thou may’st hear Minerva speak,” Kirby said, continuing on with the play.
Gemma looked away from Aiden and focused on the action around her, trying to be present in the scene. Her exit came only a few seconds later, when the actor playing her father dismissed her offstage.
As she walked past Aiden, Gemma let her shoulder slam into him. What he’d done last night had been unforgivable. She might have been more alluring as a siren, but that didn’t give guys free rein to do with her as they wished.
Thea had told her that sirens attracted rapists and pedophiles, and so far that had been a frighteningly apt description. But both Kirby and Alex always behaved themselves around Gemma, so it wasn’t like she turned men into deviants who couldn’t control themselves.
Shortly after her exit, Thea had hers, too, and she went backstage to where Gemma stood. Gemma had pulled out her script, meaning to go through it again before she went out for her next scene.
“Is everything all right?” Thea asked, her voice low so as not to disturb the players on the stage. “You seemed pretty out of it back there.”
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” Gemma insisted with a smile. “I just couldn’t remember my lines.”
“Did Harper tell you that I talked to her the other day?” Thea asked.
“What?” Gemma’s head jerked up. “Why? When? Where?”
“Calm down. It’s not like I killed her or anything.” Thea smirked. “We just had a nice little heart-to-heart where I told her it might be in your best interest to remain a siren.”
“How do you figure that?” Gemma asked.
“So far, it’s the only way I know of keeping you alive,” Thea said.
“Maybe.” She forced a smile at Thea. “I’m keeping a low profile and trying to get along with Penn and Lexi, just like you said.”
Thea seemed surprised by that, but she smiled. “Good. I’m glad you’re taking my suggestion seriously.” She paused before saying, “But you need to give up your search for the scroll.”
Gemma lowered her eyes. “You know that I won’t.”
“Well, you won’t be able to find it anyway,” Thea told her. “Penn has it under lock and key now.”
“So she did move it, then?” Gemma asked.
Thea nodded. “She had it in a box buried at the bottom of the river. Normally we hide it in the ocean, but Penn thought a river named after our father was a sign.”
“Doesn’t that seem dangerous?” Gemma looked up at her. “Someone could find it.”
“Nobody has gone looking for it so far,” Thea said. “Until you, of course.”
Thea was called back out onstage a few seconds later, and Gemma was happy for it. She didn’t know how well she’d be able to lie to Thea, but Gemma had no intention of making nice and trying to play siren.
But she couldn’t exactly tell Thea what she was up to. Thea had already told her she wouldn’t let her have the scroll, so from here on out Gemma was on her own. She couldn’t let Thea know her plans.
Practice went on fairly well, with Gemma remembering all her lines properly. She didn’t have as much stage time as Thea or Aiden or even Kirby, and she found herself backstage watching them.
Toward the end of the night, she heard the back door slam. Daniel had been coming and going throughout most of the rehearsal, apparently working on sets outside so he wouldn’t interrupt them. But every time he came in or out, he’d been careful to close the door quietly.
At the very back of the stage were steps that led down to a narrow hallway. One end went right to the back door, and the other led down to the basement and the dressing rooms.
Gemma left her post at the curtains to peer down the steps to see if Daniel needed help, since it was unlike him to be loud or disruptive.
She’d expected to find him struggling with a large piece of the set or something, but he was only talking to Penn. He leaned away from her, with one of his hands reaching for the door.
Her fingers were knotted in the sleeve of his shirt, and her nails had shifted into black talons that tore through the fabric. Her black eyes were locked on his, and she refused to let go of him.
They were having some kind of hushed discussion, but Gemma couldn’t make out the words. Daniel’s jaw was set firmly, and his eyes were stormy as he glared at Penn.
Daniel leaned down low and whispered something to her. Gemma wished she could hear it, because whatever it was he said, it seemed to make both of them angrier.
“Don’t play games with me, Daniel,” Penn hissed, finally loud enough for Gemma to hear.
“I think you know me well enough to know that I don’t play games,” Daniel said. Then he glanced up and spotted Gemma eavesdropping. “Gemma.”
Penn turned to look up at her, and her expression instantly changed from frustration to her usual sultry smile. She released Daniel’s sleeve, and he moved away from her.
“Sorry, I heard a noise,
and I wanted to see if everything was okay,” Gemma said quickly.
“Everything’s fine,” Daniel said. “Penn was just checking to see if rehearsal was over, but since it’s not, she’ll wait out in the car.” He gave Penn a hard look, then attempted a smile at Gemma. “You know how Penn hates to be disruptive.”
“That I do.” Penn smiled at Gemma, then winked at Daniel. “See you around.” As she left through the back door, she purposely slammed it behind her.
“Sorry.” Daniel offered a remorseful smile. “I didn’t mean to interrupt rehearsal.”
“No, it’s fine.” Gemma walked down the steps. She stopped when she was two steps up from the bottom, so she was at eye level with him. “It’s almost over anyway.”
“Good.” He moved toward the door. “I should get going now.”
“What was all that about? With Penn?” Gemma asked, stopping him before he left.
He rubbed the back of his neck and gave a hollow laugh. “You know Penn. She’s always…”
“No, Daniel, something’s going on,” Gemma insisted. He seemed reluctant to answer, so she pressed, “We agreed to tell each other everything. Remember?”
“No, actually, the deal was that you tell me everything,” he reminded her, and his hazel eyes were grave when they met hers.
“Yeah, so that you can help me keep Harper safe,” Gemma said. “And so you can have my back. It goes both ways, though. I can help you.”
Daniel smiled bitterly. “Not this time, kid.” He leaned back against the wall. “If you really want to help me, you just need to find that scroll and destroy it. That’s the only way we’re all getting out of this okay.”
“I’m doing everything I can,” Gemma said. “Lydia’s looking for someone that will know how to destroy it, so once the scroll is in my hands, this is over.”
“Good.” Daniel rubbed his eyes and fell silent. “Do you want me to walk you home after rehearsal?”
“No, I think I can handle it. You just go home and get some rest,” Gemma said. “You look like you need it.”
“Can do.” He gave her a half wave as he headed out the back door. “Stay safe, Gemma.”
She’d been meaning to tell Daniel about her plans to go up against the sirens after Harper left for college, but after seeing him tonight, she knew she couldn’t. He was already going through enough for them.
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