We walked in silence toward the bar, the howl of the wind off the lake the only sound that broke the dark night. I listened. I could hear ‘Hungry Eyes’ in my head again. Finally, I spun on my heel. “Would you stop playing that song in my head?”
“Song, mistress?” His jewel bright eyes glittered at me, and he tilted that foreign head in an animal like way. The fey always reminded me of cats in their mannerisms, and Avery was no different. Like a cat, he stalked me under the glow of streetlights in the falling snow.
“In my head I keep hearing ‘Hungry Eyes.’ It is annoying.”
He furrowed what brows he had. The fairies had little to no body hair. No eyelashes to speak of, and nearly no eyebrows, more dents in their heads. But the expression on that nearly hairless face clearly stated his confusion. “I truly do not know what you are talking about.”
“You are trying to glamour me.” I stabbed a finger at him as I accused the shrunken freak.
He smiled now, and his expression grew feral. “Yes. That I am doing. Is it wrong of me to make you feel the needs of your body?”
I rolled my eyes. Fairies didn’t usually outright lie, though, so he wasn’t playing the music. Which I guess made sense, since he had never been topside that I knew of—how would he know the music to an eighties movie?
Suddenly, I shivered with a chill that had nothing to do with the subzero weather.
Something else was out there.
And that something else had just turned up the volume on the song in my head. I look at you and I fantasize. You're mine tonight. Now I've got you in my sights, played in my head. I looked into the night. I searched. I saw no one or nothing.
Something saw us though.
I glanced again at Avery. “You any good against bad guys?”
As I met the strange darkling eyes, he raised one almost hairless brow. “I am a dark fairy. I have been at the elf queen’s side for more years than even I care to recall. Are you asking how I am in a battle?”
I shrugged. “Kind of.”
“I am not sure whether to dignify that with an answer.”
He was maybe not an entire wimp, even if he stood shorter than my kid. I tried to decide on how to put him at my back. Tougher still was how to put him to my back when I didn’t know which side we would be attacked from or by what.
With these hungry eyes, one look at you and I can't disguise. I've got hungry eyes. I feel the magic between you and I. It annoyed me to have music forced in my head. Way worse, by the way, than having a song stuck in your brain. Similar, but in stereo, or surround sound.
Suddenly, Avery held his ears. “I can hear it too.” He fell to his knees.
He held his head. His response reminded me of everyone else’s response to me singing. Everyone but Chance. I grudgingly took interest. Or, I would have, had the song not blasted in my own skull at such decibel levels that it triggered a headache. I should have searched for the hidden enemy, but in an automatic move that made no sense, I pinched my eyes closed to block the sound. Even as I did it, I knew it would not work. Because my ears could not close, my body pinched the only thing it could. Then the wind blew.
Something swept in. I managed to open my eyes to a squint. Darkness shrouded the street like a fog of some kind descending to cover the entire area. I blinked to force my eyes open all the way, but they watered too much to stay open.
The fog condensed over Avery and a high keening wail squealed from it. Avery cried out as red mist flowed from the fog like rain. When the warm crimson haze hit my arm, I realized dully it had to be blood. A deep scream came from the fog. Mufasa deep. Avery was screaming.
‘Hungry Eyes’ continued to play. Whatever had Avery would come for me next. I fought to think over the music blasting in my brain. I could not concentrate, or could not hear myself think over the damned music. I could not let them take Avery. I could not let them have me. I knew those things without thinking. That was the upside of being impulsive. I never thought first about my options. I acted on them, and thought later. And I could not stop that damn song in my head so I could not think. But then again, I was a siren.
I tilted my head back and let them know what they attempted to eat. I sang for them. They had bled my—not by my choosing, but mine nonetheless—fiancé. They threatened to consume me, so I sang their own song back to them, to whatever the hell they were.
I sang and released my fist of power into the fog. Whether mist or fog, when I opened my fist, I found enough energy within it that it had to be alive. My siren vision cleared the cloud in my brain somewhat. The creature knelt over Avery. Lit by a live power, its dim light shimmer. A glittering gold color hung like a shroud that masked the creature from my view, but a living being controlled it. Therefore, I could drain it. I sang and called my power down onto it. As I released the fist fully and sang, I caught the creature as it had tried to capture us.
Now I've got you in my sights with those hungry eyes. As I sang, thankfully, the song in my head receded. Like any other song in my head, once I sang it out loud, it broke free.
The fog thinned further and the thing tried to rip away from my power. I could possibly have held it. Maybe, I could have drained it. However as the fog diminished, I saw Avery lying on the pavement. The thing had literally been eating his stomach. He lay there with bits of himself missing. I dropped the cords I held the creature with in favor of helping my bleeding fiancé. It wanted away, and I needed to see to Avery.
I had backed up automatically when the mist of blood hit. I ran to him and bent to survey the damage the thing had done. The handsome fairy seemed fine until I got to his waist. There he was a mess of gashes and tears, as if an animal had gnawed at him. “For an ancient fairy warrior, you kind of suck at being ambushed, don’t you?”
He blinked up at me, shoving at my hands. “What was that thing?”
“Like I am supposed to know?” Blood oozed from him. Thankfully, I didn’t get overly nauseous. I figured I had saved the day. I had done my part. Stopping the blood after…yeah, that was beyond me.
“I have never seen power like that in the courts.” His pale hands fingered his newly exposed innards and I tried to control the bile that threatened.
“Um, is there a fairy 911?” I shook my head, abruptly, thinking better of it. “Nevermind,” I unlocked my cell and dialed my mother.
“You are not getting out of this already.” My mother’s voice rang out over the phone, sharp and broaching no argument.
“Hi, mom.”
“I repeat, you are not—”
“Not trying to.” I tried to make my tone as comforting as possible. “But I do have a bit of a situation.”
Momentary silence on the other end of the line greeted that statement. “Santino dropped you off less than a half an hour ago. What could have possibly gone wrong in thirty minutes?”
“I broke my fiancé?”
Although I hadn’t meant it to come out as a question or quite like that, my mother sighed. “I will send back Santino. He’s the closest.”
“Thanks, Mom. A monster attacked and tried to eat us. I made it go away, but Avery got chewed on, and I figured you didn’t want me to call an ambulance, so…” I left the sentence dangling.
Her fingernails clicked on something. “Are you trying to get rid of him that way then?”
“No!” I nearly shouted down the line. I knelt in the falling snow, freezing my butt off with some tiny man I didn’t even want, hoping he was magic enough and immortal enough not to bleed out before help came, and she thought I had tried to what? Rip his guts out to keep from being dragged back into fairy? I was not the nicest of people sometimes, but even I was not that royal of a bitch. She was not even that royal of a bitch. That I knew of.
“Actually.” Some of my uncertainty crept into my voice. “Neither of us is sure what attacked us. If you want to be helpful for once, you could look into that. Not that, mind you, I am complaining about getting out of keeping him tonight.”
I plac
ed a hand over the receiver. “No offense.” I squinted at the fairy at hand.
He glowered at me.
“I help all the time.” My mother spoke in a huff.
I could hardly hold in my disdain. I rolled my eyes only a little grateful that she couldn’t see me. I noticed a car slowing and hoped it was Santino because, as I have mentioned in the past, I have next to no fairy talent and Avery didn’t seem up to any major glam at that moment.
“Hey, mom, I think the troops arrived. I’m sending your guy home for mending.”
“We will have the healers tend him. He will return to you by dawn.”
I sighed. “You don’t even know how badly he’s injured. He is pretty torn up. I don’t know that your healers can mend all this by dawn.” I mentally hoped they could fix him, yes, but if it took them, say, a week and I got out of my week entirely on a loophole, who was I to complain?
“By dawn.” Mom repeated icily and hung up on me.
I slid my phone back into my pocket and stood to watch the car as it braked on the icy road. Help had arrived.
CHAPTER Seven
Having gotten rid of both my wanna-be-fiancé, Chance, and some weird boogie man all in one night, I headed onward and upward and decided, yet again, to earn my paycheck. A glance at my cell phone informed me it was almost one AM, so technically Monday had passed. I hadn’t slept, though, so it still felt like a Monday to me. Possibly the worst Monday in history, but then again, last Monday had been a doosy as well so I quit counting.
I brushed what remained of the snow off my butt from kneeling next to Avery and wished that being a siren made me waterproof. Snow melted fast on warm skin leaving my ass cold and wet. My cell phone began to merrily play the theme song to Gilligan’s Island, and I almost cringed. What more fun could tonight really have in store for me? I almost cursed myself for thinking that. That thought alone almost begged for things to get worse.
Sven’s number on the digital readout cheered me somewhat. I flipped it open. “What’s up?”
“Hey, how’s your night goin’?” Sven’s voice was loud over the line.
I stumbled and caught myself before I did a face plant on the snow. I tried to think of an answer that would sum up my evening. “Eventful.”
“Things have been quiet here.” He stifled a yawn but it still echoed in my ear. “Vic fell asleep around nine thirty and I got a call. Do you know where Brennan’s Pub is?”
“Yeah.” I huddled lower in the borrowed coat as a particularly nasty shift of wind blew snow that cut like ice into my face. “Best wings in the Harbor.”
“I got a call from the Terrible Trio…you remember them right?”
“Yep, went ghost hunting with them while Mia was out of town last week, remember?”
“Right, well, Zane called a few minutes ago. I guess he and the rest of the Trio were down at Brennan’s having some of those wings you mentioned before going out to do some ghost hunting. Anyway, they called because, the Hammer situation…hmm?” Sven’s voice faded out then returned. “Mia and Vance are back.”
“What?” I got a beep from Vance on the other line. “Sven, Vance is calling, could you hold a second?”
“Sure.” Sven seemed to perk up, instantly.
“Janie?” Vance’s voice, like liquid chocolate, rippled over the line.
Instantly warmer, I quickened my step. “Hi.” I smiled even though he couldn’t see me.
“Sven called and asked us to come back and watch Vickie. We just pulled up. Any idea what popped up in the middle of the night that he had to take care of? He was very mysterious and that is not like Sven.”
I furrowed my brows. Now that was odd, especially as Sven had sounded like he had no idea why Vance and Mia had come back.
“Nope.” I took a moment to fill Vance in on what had gone on in our conversation before biting my lip. “I’ll try to squeeze it out of him. Can you stall going in?”
“Mia is sick and crabby. I doubt I can keep her outside the shop for long.”
“I will squeeze fast.” I nibbled nervously on my lip. “Hold the line a minute.”
I flipped lines and went back to Sven.
“Sven, what’s up? Something about the Hammer and Vance and Mia are back?”
“Yeah, they popped back up. Oh, well, I am probably going to go out. I mean, if the guys are out, maybe I will go out for a while, too. You guys are always out and about. Maybe I want to go out for once, too.”
That didn’t sound like Sven either. Especially when he yawned again. He did not seem like someone who wanted to go out. He sounded like someone who should go to bed.
“So you are going out? Did you call Vance?” Okay, I admit it. I was not good at being vague. I ask what I want to know. Sue me.
“Yeah, okay, I called them. I want to go out. What’s wrong with that?”
“Nothing. So, you’re going out for a while and Mia will stay with Vickie, who is already in bed. Um, and you said Zane called and said something about going to Brennan’s and that he had a lead on the Hammer situation?”
Then Sven did something I had never heard him do. He giggled.
It was not particularly a good sound. Coming from a man that large, it sounded downright creepy. I shivered and not from the cold.
I suddenly realized that although Mia had known him for years, I did not really know all that much about Sven. I did not feel terribly comfortable with that giggle.
“Yeah.” His voice came over the line in his normal tone. “Zane said you should head to Brennan’s. He and the guys are there. I gotta go. Vance and Mia just came in.”
With that, the line went dead in my hand. I flicked to the other line, but apparently I had taken too long and Vance had given up and taken Mia into Odd Stuff.
Something was off. I couldn’t decide what. I burrowed further into my coat and hurried down the street toward Brennan’s. I wanted to find out what I could before the Hammer issue came knocking.
Two large oak doors and a green and white neon sign decorated by a leprechaun marked Brennan’s as the only Irish style pub in the Harbor. Pushing past two people coming out of the bar, I scanned the bar.
Music thumped around me beating a rhythm that raised my pulse and made me smile. Music has always been desperately important to me. I was not sure if this is true to everyone or especially true to me because of what I was. The bar speakers blasted heavy rock music. Other than me, it didn’t seem like anybody was. My head and fingers automatically moved a bit with the rhythm of the music.
The song playing always seemed like it belonged in a Jackie Chan movie to me. I searched the bar for the Terrible Trio and half hoped that our night turned out to be a less exciting than anything Jackie was used to.
I couldn’t see much from the front end of the bar because of the way the place was set up. Brennan’s started with a long narrow entryway, which held the bar and a row of booths. Once I had walked down that tunnel, I came to a set of steps and a bit of a foyer, which had a cash register where people ordered the wings. I really did love their wings, but I bit back temptation and continued onward for the cause. Beyond the till, the sea of bodies and sound that I wove my way through, three more steps led down to a small area occupied by three pool tables. Near the pool table room, the bar finally widened. And then it also abruptly ended. Luckily, I found Zane there with little trouble.
As the youngest of the Terrible Trio and the most outgoing of the three, he dressed and acted like an emo boy. His entire wardrobe appeared to have been purchased from Mia. His hair was a mass of black spikes tipped in blood red. Super skinny jeans that looked like he had to jump off a building to get into them encased his gangly legs. A button down shirt, tight enough to reveal his ribs, hung crooked on his narrow body, the buttons done unevenly as if a blind drunk had fastened them. It wasn’t my idea of dressing up, but judging by the dark makeup around his eyes, it worked for him.
I smiled and waved to catch his attention through the mob and made my way down the steps
to his side. Someone touched my back and I turned to see Chance.
“What are you doing here?” I did not even try to keep the annoyance out of my tone.
“One could ask you the same question. However, since you seem to be a magnet for disaster, it would be easier to assume that if I simply went everywhere things were about to go sour, I could stay one step ahead of you for the rest of our lives.” He smiled his happy smile at me, the one that had initially reminded me of a golden retriever.
I glowered back as darkly as I could. I had to come up with an expression darker than a glower just for Chance. I wrote it down on my mental to-do list. “I am not a magnet for disaster. I am here for a reason. And what could go wrong in a bar?” Even as I said that, I thought of all the things that had gone wrong in bars for me in the past. I bit my lip and elbowed him when he snickered. “So, are you following me or something now?”
“No.” He used the hand at my back to guide me more smoothly to Zane. Instead of taking a direct line, he slid us somehow around the crowd. It worked faster than my usual nudge and pause method, so I cooperated. Next thing I knew, I stood in front of Zane, and his heavy cologne hit me like a wall. I had forgotten that all of the ghost hunters seemed to smell like French whores.
“Hey.” My voice sounded breathless, and I chalked it up to rushing, rather than any reaction to Chance.
“Hi.” Zane stood with his mouth hanging open a moment before he spoke again, and I restrained myself from laughing at his blank expression. “There is some weird stuff going down in Bula tonight.”
“Weird how?” I tried out my interrogation method.
“So, me, Gary and Bob got to the bar and heard this story about the Hammer.”
I nodded and waited for him to continue.
“We figured it was, like, an urban myth or something. Some dude who hits sailors over the head with a hammer…anyway.” He waved a general hand in the direction of the pool tables.
Odd Melody (Odd Series Book 2) Page 8
