To Seduce A Siren

by Cousins, Jane

  “And where would bikini-bombshell Cyd fit into this little equation of yours, Lover?”

  “Well, if you’d bought your A-game to this little dance Destiny, then there wouldn’t be a Cyd question still in play. I was beginning to think you didn’t care.”

  “You’ve been using Cyd to make me jealous?”

  “Think of it as retaliation. Why? Did you expect me to be okay with you shacking up with a multitude of vamps that live for nothing but to do your bidding and please you?”

  Destiny re-settled herself on his chest, bringing the stiletto heel of her right boot down to rest again one of his favourite body parts. “You seriously expect me to believe that you don’t find Cyd attractive?”

  “I’m not saying she’s not a beautiful woman; she had to be in order for you to consider her competition. But aside from the face and the body, there’s not much more to her.” Surprisingly, Nate noted that beneath him Bettina took umbrage at his words on Cyd’s behalf. What a strange twisted relationship the two had, it seems Bettina actually cared about Cyd… interesting. “She’s too soft, doesn’t have the stomach for bloodshed, for what it means to be with a warrior.”

  Destiny leaned down once more, her breath smelling faintly of blood. “All the right words and yet… you haven’t told me how you really feel about me yet Lover.”

  Nate wasn’t sure if Destiny was genuinely falling for his shtick or whether she was playing with him… either way thankfully the clock was ticking and he could now flex his knees. He just needed his leaden feet to join the party and he’d be good to annihilate the vamp Queen. “I felt the connection the moment our eyes met. You can’t deny you felt it too. And when we fought in the lab, the way you moved. I was the one who volunteered to put the tracker on you, and I could have accomplished that in any number of ways, I didn’t have to kiss you.”

  “Mmm, the first moment I tasted your blood. Good times.”

  “You’re so resilient… strong, a leader. You know what you want and you go after it. I found it hard to believe at first, that you would want me so badly.”

  “Is that why you have been acting so coy?” Destiny queried.

  “I like to think of it as playing hard to get. You wouldn’t want someone who fell too readily into your lap, would you? You’re like me. You need the chase… the challenge.”

  Destiny tossed her head. “For a warrior, you do like to run your mouth a lot.”

  “Some would say that’s part of my charm.”

  “So you’re telling me, you want me?”

  Nate nodded, giving her solemn serious eyes.

  “Prove it.” Destiny yanked down the zipper of her catsuit.

  Nate forced an easy smile as a wave of revulsion threatened to make him sick. Thank Maat the leather of Destiny’s suit was so tightly fitted, even with the zipper pulled down to just below her naval the material hardly moved.

  “Well?” Destiny released a small gasp as Nate grabbed her by the upper body and rolled them, bringing his weight to rest on her. They’d barely come to a stop when Destiny laughed and rolled them again, once more placing herself in the dominant position, double damn the slow recovery of his lower legs. Destiny picked up Nate’s left hand, placing his palm on the cool pale skin between her small breasts. “I hope you like it rough Lover?” She leaned over, nipping at his lips. “Remember I bite.” And just to prove her point, she sunk her fangs into his lower lip.

  The pain was negligible for Nate, what weirded him out more was the thrill of excitement that shot through Bettina beneath him. A voyeur rock… who knew.

  “Well…” Charisse cleared her throat. “Don’t I suddenly just feel like the third wheel.”

  Ah Cyd was here, that explained why Bettina was suddenly so thrilled.

  Destiny retracted her teeth, glancing up, her lips curving into a rather unnerving smile, a smear of Nate’s blood across her chin. “Oh I don’t know about that pretty one… I often get the munchies after sex and you might just fit the bill.”

  Charisse reached back to wring out her pony-tail before doing the same to her sopping wet t-shirt, trying to act cool and collected. She’d thought jumping off Corkscrew Point in the dark and plummeting into the unknown below would be the freakiest thing she’d have to deal with tonight. That was until she’d come across the sight of Nate feeling up a half-naked psycho vampire Queen. Assuming they survived this, she was thinking it would prove to be perfect blackmail material for the next decade or so.

  “Yap, yap, yap. You do love the sound of your own voice, don’t you Destiny? Tell the truth, your minions ripped out their own eardrums in self-defence so they would no longer have to listen to your constant yammering didn’t they?”

  Nate grabbed Destiny by the arm before she could move in Charisse’s direction and strike out. “She’s just baiting you Love.”

  Destiny blinked and looked down at Nate, the smug smile once more back on her features. “Lover here.” She tossed her head back to eye Charisse once more. “Was just telling me how he’s been using you to make me jealous.”

  “Is that right Nate?” Charisse kept her tone even, edging it with just the slightest tinge of pain. Easy done since Bettina chose that moment to dig her claws into their bond, sending a multitude of emotions surging across it; murderous rage, revulsion, outrage and surprising of all a small measure of sympathy. Sympathy? For who? She pushed back on the bond, now was not the time for drama diva Bettina to be the focus of her attention. She had a vamp Queen to outwit so that she could ease Nate out from under her clutches.

  Destiny reached down grabbing Nate by the face with one hand, digging her nails into his skin absently as she turned his face towards Charisse. “Tell her Lover. Tell her what you told me. Then we can play and I can… feed.”

  Nate reached up to pull Destiny’s hand away carefully, not wanting to rip off half his face in the process. His left foot twitched, it was good sign but still he needed to buy just a little more time. “You didn’t actually believe all those compliments did you Cyd?” He forced an amused condescending chuckle.

  Charisse wrapped her arms around her upper body. Nate had given her so few compliments since they’d met but each one meant more to her than the truckload of baloney she heard from her Siren lured admirers. It was going to hurt to hear him tear them apart. “You… you didn’t mean it when you said…”

  “The freshly cut grass? The milk thing? Just how vain would you have to be to believe that a man like me would say stuff like that an actually mean it?”

  Charisse dug her nails into her arms so she wouldn’t laugh. Trust Nate to bring up that particular incident, he’d been more horrified than her, at the drunken admirer slurring those compliments. “You’re seriously trying to tell me you prefer that flat-chested bag of bones with the bad dental work to me?” Charisse thrust her chest out, wet t-shirt and all and cocked a hip. “So all you wanted from me was sex? And now that you’ve had it, you’re moving on. Careful there Vamperella, who’s to say he won’t love and leave you next.”

  “There’s only one way men leave me Cyd.” Destiny trailed sharp nails down over Nate’s chest. Leaning over she pressed her lips against Nate’s, her other hand moving to undo his belt buckle.

  Charisse huffed out a laugh. “You seriously think I’m just going to stand here and watch you two go at it?” She knew they were stringing Destiny along, but that seemed to be taking things to the extreme.

  Nate pushed gently but firmly against Destiny, until their lips parted. “She’s right Destiny, I don’t work in front of an audience.”

  Destiny smiled. “You’ll learn.”

  “No way am…” Bettina pulsed a warning down their bond, Charisse dove and rolled to the side just as the last remaining vamp minion touched down right behind where she’d been standing a split second before.

  The creature clacked a series of rapid fire, unintelligible words in his Queen’s direction.

  “Honestly.” Destiny rolled her silver eyes. “Whine, whine, whine.
Good minions… so hard to find, so easy to subjugate but unfortunately, there’s no off switch… hmmm, unless I start ripping out tongues.” Destiny giggled; a chilling, high pitched sound. “Grab the girl Gustave.” Destiny instructed with an imperious tone, frowning when Gustave did nothing but stand there glaring at his Queen. “I said grab the girl Gustave.”

  “Oh no, I think tearing out those eardrums has just come back to bite you on your flat ass Destiny.” Charisse laughed and then gulped, damn, somehow she’d managed to draw Gustave’s attention her way. And there was a light in his eyes that was definitely lustful but way more blood-orientated than she was used to. Shit, she ducked and rolled once more as Gustave leapt for her, his claws entangling in her pony-tail, bringing her to an abrupt halt.

  “Shit.” Nate sat up fast, almost unseating Destiny.

  “Don’t worry about it Lover, let him have his fun. I can always find a late night snack elsewhere.”

  Nate pulled back a fist and punched the vampire Queen right in the mouth, breaking several of her teeth, gouging jagged gashes across his knuckles.

  Destiny slashed her claws out in reflex, leaving four furrows across the side of Nate’s throat and cheek as she leapt up an away from him. Coming down to land like a cat, crouched and ready a few feet away. Spitting out blood and teeth fragments Destiny glared at Nate who was now standing, watching her closely as she wiped away the black blood dripping down her chin. “The wedding is officially off Lover, we’re skipping straight to your funeral. Lucky for me I look so good in black.”

  Nate palmed the knife he kept in his boot, diving straight at her, tackling her as hard as he could so the trajectory sent them slamming into the minion struggling to get his chompers into Cyd’s pale throat. The four of them scattered like bowling pins, hitting the rock hard.

  Except when they came up for air, Nate quickly realised he’d managed to make the situation worse, not better. Destiny now had Cyd in a tight choke hold, a triumphant look in her eyes that terrified him. Fuck, he had to save Cyd, if anything happened to her… no, he refused to think down that path.

  Destiny laughed, casually spitting out a few more teeth fragments. “Hasn’t this just turned out nicely? Gustave…” She kicked out with her sharp pointed boot, catching the minion as he loped past her, practically on all fours, the minion’s focus on the blood welling from Nate’s various cuts and gashes. Gustave hit the ground again hard, panting but staying in place, thanks to the boot Destiny slammed down on top of his head. “Gustave.” Destiny yelled loudly and then hissed a sigh as her deaf minion continued to struggle. Rolling her eyes, Destiny applied more pressure. “I’m thinking of putting this one down on my to-do list as a mercy killing. Too stupid to live and so far too annoying to die. Why don’t you finish the job for me Nate whilst I entertain myself with your girlfriend here. She is your girlfriend right?” Destiny shook Cyd hard enough to make her head whip back and forth.

  “Yes.” Nate grit out from between clenched teeth to keep from saying anything else that might antagonise Destiny into separating Cyd’s lovely head from her shoulders.

  “I thought so. You’re a man of action and all I was getting was words… it just wasn’t ringing true for me pet. Drop the knife Lover.”

  Nate unclenched his fist, letting his only weapon fall to the sand at his feet.

  “Now he chooses to be obedient. Men are so exasperating sometimes. Gustave…” Destiny smiled, moonlight glinting off her jagged and broken teeth for a moment. “And you can stay here and have some fun whilst I have a play date of my own with Cyd… toodles Lover.”

  “No!” Nate yelled the word loudly as Destiny soared into the air, taking Cyd with her… shit, no… no! It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Curses spewed from his mouth as he watched them disappear into the night sky.

  Maat, he needed to follow them, but how? He scowled at the remaining minion, who he was pretty sure wasn’t Gustave, not that a name mattered, as the vamp scrabbled to his feet. Without eardrums there would be no point in questioning not-Gustave on where his Queen might have absconded with Cyd. Now the dagger-clawed minion with bloodlust in its crazed, almost clear eyes was just an impediment to him getting to Cyd as fast as possible.

  With a roar he charged the minion, leaning down low he shouldered not-Gustave up off the ground. Charging towards the centre of Bettina he lifted and body-tossed the vamp down hard… right onto the embedded crowbar. There wasn’t even time for not-Gustave to hiss as the steel punctured his heart and he disappeared in a cloud of dust.

  Nate didn’t pause to admire his handiwork; he was already running fast for the edge of the rock, once there he dove off Bettina and struck out for shore at a furious pace. One thought and one thought only in his head… Cyd had to be safe, she just had to be.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Twenty minutes later Nate was pacing the old, creaking floorboards in the living room of Kaleidoscope Folly. For what felt like the hundredth time, he turned to head towards the conservatory, where Destiny’s daytime minions were being questioned. For what felt like the hundredth time, Vaughn, Captain of Maat’s warrior guard and his friend, blocked his path.

  “Drum and Hadleigh will get the information we need. You need to calm down, focus.”

  Nate fought the urge to strangle his friend. Logically he knew Vaughn was right, emotionally he wanted to rip, tear and sunder. “I just feel so fucking helpless. We should be out there doing more.”

  “The Sanctuary enforcers are searching every abandoned and empty property in a ten mile radius. Dash and Flynn are in the air searching further out still. Marcus is looking at the satellite feeds and Rafe is getting air, sea and land transport organised. As soon as we know a direction, we’ll move.” Vaughn studied Nate intently. “Are you ready?”

  Nate’s head snapped around, a scowl on his face. “What the fuck do you mean by that?”

  Vaughn’s gold eyes were blank and shuttered. “You have no weapons, your clothes are torn, your boots ruined by seawater. Instead of gearing up for the fight you’re pacing. Is that in anyway useful? Helpful?”

  “You!” Nate pointed his finger at his commander. “Don’t get to judge me. I was there when Hadleigh was bleeding out. You were manic and completely unreasonable.”

  “No, I was fighting for her. Willing to go to any lengths, but if saving her had involved leaving her, then that’s what I would have done. So I ask again Nate, what could you be doing right now to save Charisse?”

  “Fuck you.” He said the words without any real heat. Turning he strode fast for the stairs. “Call me as soon as they have the location.”

  Upstairs in the master suite he did his best to ignore the sight of the bed with its still rumpled sheets, a harsh reminder of what he and Cyd had shared together earlier in the day. Not going there Nate, he reminded himself.

  Dumping his ragged t-shirt, damp trousers and slimy boots in a pile, he slammed into the bathroom. In record shower time he was back in the main bedroom, pulling on fresh clothes and boots. He’d just finished tying his boot laces when the Goddess Maat appeared, standing by the fireplace, examining the tile that had previously been covered by plasterwork.

  “Hello Tootsie-Roll, like what you’re doing with the place.”

  It took all of Nate’s willpower not to rail and beg his Goddess for help in finding Cyd. Maat was notoriously unhelpful, you wanted something, the last thing she’d do was provide any useful information. Instead he let out a slow deep breath, watching intently as she moved around the room. Dressed in pale blue yoga fitted pants and matching long-sleeve top, she looked like a well preserved woman in her fifties, smooth, line-free dark skin, with long black hair she wore back in an habitual plait and a teasing ‘I know something you don’t’ smile that constantly graced her lips. Only her eyes, currently the colour of sand dunes under the light of a full moon, gave a sign of her otherworldliness.

  “Maat.” He nodded his head in solemn greeting.

  “So serious Cocoa Puff. Problem?�
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  Nate just continued to stare at her. She was a Goddess. She wouldn’t be here if she didn’t know exactly what was going on.

  Maat beamed a smile his way. “You can’t blame me Fairy Floss, and you certainly shouldn’t be blaming yourself.” Maat halted by the window to glance out at the ink black night ocean. “A very interesting woman… your Cyd, and a Siren, I haven’t come across a Siren in centuries. Is her voice as lovely as myth would have it?”

  It was easier for Nate to shrug than open his mouth. If he did that, he was afraid of what words might spew out in anger.

  Maat’s smile grew ever so slightly wider. “Did she lure you in with her song Krispy Kreme?”

  “No.” Nate ground out the word. “Did you do something to my hearing so I would be immune to her?”

  “Interfere? Me?” Maat’s pupils began to swirl like sand devils. “You are the same as the day I made you, perfect in every way. And from where I’m standing, you hardly appear to be immune to the girl. Do you know much about the legends of the Sirens?”

  “No, it took me a while to figure out what she was and it’s not exactly like I’ve had a lot of free time lately to crack open a book.”

  “It’s said that Sirens are the early ancestors of the modern dugong. That their song weaved a spell of enchantment so that sailors when spying a Siren would see not the monstrous reality, but the woman of their heart’s desire, and be unable to resist the lure.”

  “Cyd is not related to the dugong family.” Nate scoffed.

  “Of course not Soda Pop.” Maat chuckled softly. “But in every legend there is always a small, sometimes infinitesimal, grain of truth.” She stared at Nate pointedly.

  Nate bit back an exasperated sigh, dealing with Maat could be all the colours of frustration but she never lied… outright, and she had a millennium of wisdom at her fingertips. How she went about imparting that wisdom often made him and his fellow warriors want to throttle her, but still, it always paid to pause and work out what Maat was trying to say.