by Lora Edwards
Ovidia closed her eyes and felt a small measure of the hurt she’d felt fall away. She was still angry that he’d let her think he had let go for a noble purpose, acting for the good of his people like any good Norseman would have done, but now that she was older, looking back, she could see that she had smothered him a bit with her dream of how their life was to go and hadn’t given him the chance to say what he really wanted.
Chapter 16
A loud knocking in the middle of the night woke Ovidia from a deep sleep. She immediately reached for her sword and felt the loss of it keenly when she just grasped empty air. She had to get that stupid necklace off; without her sword, she was at a huge disadvantage.
She slipped out of the bed and hurried over to the wall. “Delphine,” she asked.
“Ovidia, Blackbeard was able to reach your people at the institute and they believe they may have developed an incantation that will remove the necklace. Blackbeard tried it on his and it worked! And it worked on mine too—we’re free! Now you need to try it on yours and Erik’s,” she said excitedly. “The incantation is venire ventus venire, sinere solus.”
Ovidia looked at the stone at her neck and repeated the words. It glowed and then darkened, then she felt a snick at the back of her neck and it fell to the floor.
She felt tears come to her eyes as she reached for her sword and pulled it free. The metal shined brightly in the dark room as if it, too, had missed her.
“It’s time to play,” Ovidia told the sword. “It worked! Let me rouse Erik. Don’t move—we’re coming to get you! Tell Blackbeard,” she said then hurried over to the bed. “Erik!”
He bolted upright and squinted in the light of her sword.
“Vid, put that thing away…Vid, your sword!”
“Teagan and the institute found an incantation that worked.” Ovidia repeated it to Erik, who repeated it himself. The jewel on his necklace flared to life, the same snick was heard, and it fell to the floor.
Ovidia picked it up and placed it in her pocket—the researchers at the institute would be interested in looking at it.
“Let’s get out of here,” Ovidia said.
They moved to the door and Ovidia cautiously turned the knob. The door was unlatched; they didn’t need to be locked in when the necklaces were keeping them bound to the room.
They moved out into the corridor, Ovidia with sword at the ready. It was silent, eerily so. There was no sound of movement anywhere.
They slipped to the next door and slowly turned the knob. The door swung open and there stood Delphine, her beautiful long hair shimmering in an ombre of blues. She was dressed in a simple dress that swirled and changed color, just like the ones Ovidia had worn while on the Siren isle.
“You must be Ovidia and Erik. Nice to meet you,” she said, curtseying to them.
“Great to see you, but we don’t have time for all this rubbish. Come on, we have to get Blackbeard and get out of here,” Ovidia hissed.
“What about all the others,” Delphine asked. “We cannot leave them here.”
“We will get others from the institute of this time, come back with them, and free the other captives, but we can’t do that if we’re all dead,” Ovidia said, grabbing Delphine by the arm and pulling her out of the room before shutting the door.
Putting a finger to her lips to remind her to keep quiet, Ovidia moved to the next room.
Sword at the ready, she again easily turned the doorknob, and there stood an unknown man.
“Hey Ovidia, let’s get out of here. Just give me one moment to shift. The residual magic should have left my system by now.” A glowing shimmer surrounded the man, and then there stood the Blackbeard they knew well.
Ovidia had only caught a glimpse before the shimmer had hidden his form, but what she had seen had given the impression of hard muscles and a handsome face.
He strode out of the room and as he came closer, she noticed the burns circling his neck.
“What in the bloody hell are those,” she asked, pointing to the marks.
“I’ve been at this since we were brought here, and the first few incantations we tried didn’t work.” He winced as he gingerly touched the marred flesh around his neck.
“Once we are away from here, I can treat those,” Delphine said to him, looking sympathetically at the scorch marks.
“Thank you Delphine, and it’s nice to meet you in person,” Blackbeard said, smiling a bit shyly.
During the past few days, they’d had many conversations about everything and nothing. She had helped to stave off the pain when the incantations failed and his skin had burned.
“More leaving, less flirting,” Ovidia commanded in a whisper as she started down the hall, her sword aloft and Erik covering her back, the two moving as one.
Blackbeard took Delphine’s hand and followed them down the corridor, ever vigilant.
It was quiet, no sign of the servants or guards. The farther they went without encountering anyone, the more Ovidia became certain something was going to happen, certain something was waiting for them around each corner.
Reaching the wide foyer and seeing the double doors that led out, she sighed in relief. They were almost out and away.
“I see you have found a way to breach my magic,” said a voice behind her.
Ovidia whirled to meet Stanton.
“Did you really think a human could defeat us,” she said, sneering at him.
“You may have won this round, Valkyrie, but even if you kill me, there are more like me who know the truth and will hunt your kind to extinction. You may run, but you cannot hide.” He laughed as he pulled a glowing red vial out of his pocket. “I prefer to not divulge all of my secrets, so I will go in my own way and time. Watch your backs—they are coming for you,” Stanton said as he gulped down the potion.
He stood for one moment before his eyes rolled back and he crumpled to the floor, convulsing as Ovidia ran over.
“He’s dead,” she said, kicking the prone body in disgust.
“Good riddance,” Delphine said, coming over to look at the staring eyes of her tormentor. “What do you think he meant about there being others,” she asked, looking around, afraid.
“I’m not sure. After the mission is completed, we can do some research at the institute. For now, let’s contact them and get some help here,” Ovidia said, gesturing at Blackbeard.
He pulled the small mirror out of his pocket and contacted Teagan, who said they would send a team shortly to help.
Ovidia nodded. “Well we are not going to stand around here and wait. Let’s see if we can find the others.”
Brandishing her sword again, Ovidia and Erik started down the long hall, opening up doors and looking in. The place was eerily empty, as if Stanton had known they had broken their necklaces, as if he had known they would contact the institute and had moved all the other captives.
The entire ground floor of the manor was empty. Climbing the stairs to the second story, they crept down the hall, still wary of the empty feeling.
“Hey, look at this,” Blackbeard called out as he stood next to the wood paneling outside the room where Ovidia and Erik had been kept.
“What is it?” Ovidia frowned, not understanding what he was looking at.
Blackbeard pushed lightly on a part of the paneling and it moved under his hand.
“What the hell?” Erik said as he moved forward and pushed the paneling open farther. It opened soundlessly to a narrow hallway beyond.
“Let’s check it out,” Ovidia said, gesturing them forward.
The passageway was dark and cramped, but from the light of Ovidia’s sword, they could see sconces along the way with candles in each.
Ovidia waved her hand and the hallway was lit with a bluish light.
Ovidia nodded and tried to calm the slamming of her heart.
Delphine looked over at her in awe. “All Norse Supernaturals have magic, comes in handy at times like this.” Ovidia said winking at Delphine.
&n
bsp; They slowly made it down the corridor. Stopping outside the door that led to the first room, they saw something odd.
“Bloody hell,” Ovidia said as she exhaled.
There in the wall were two small holes with a latch across them.
Erik undid the latch, looked through, and saw into the room they’d occupied.
“Why didn’t we see this?” she asked.
“I’m pretty sure the eye holes are carved out of the painting that sat on the wall, the one of the Victorian lady.” He looked at Vid.
“I had the same painting. She had a long white dress, was seated in an ornate chair, and had dark black hair and blue eyes, right,” Delphine asked.
“Yes,” Ovidia and Erik answered at the same time.
They all looked at Blackbeard and he nodded in confirmation. They’d all had the same painting.
“He knew all along. He knew we had accessed the institute through the mirror, knew we had gotten the necklaces off. Why didn’t he just kill us?” Ovidia wondered out loud.
They retreated back the way they’d come then spent the next hour looking through the entire manor. There was no one. It looked as if they had left in a rush—things left on beds, some of the coals still warm in the fires.
Ending up in the downstairs foyer, they met the team from the institute of that time.
“False alarm—they are all gone. Everyone is gone. There is a lab set up in the basement that you may want to investigate further. Maybe it will give a clue to how he came across the knowledge he did,” Erik told the team.
“Thank you. We will investigate further and make sure the institute in your time knows of our findings,” one of them said before they spread out throughout the manor to see what they could find.
“I may have at least one answer,” Delphine said from behind them. “This was on the desk in the study. I went in there looking for clues.” She held out a sheet of paper covered in small cramped script.
Dear institute interlopers,
You may be wondering why you are still breathing, why I didn’t kill you when I had the chance. To be frank, you were much more resourceful than I anticipated. Once I found out from my lookout that you had contact with the outside and it was only a matter of time before you figured out how to remove my charms, I had a choice: try to kill two immortals, a shifter, and a Siren, or move my operations elsewhere and continue my research. As you can see, I chose the latter.
I took the potion, and much like in Shakespeare, it made me appear to be dead. A trusted associate watched and waited for you to go in search of the others and then he loaded my lifeless body into a carriage before placing this note where you could find it.
You may have bested me this time, but we will meet again. I will continue my research, and one day soon, I will be the last thing you see.
Delphine, enjoy your time on the island. I will be there to wipe out your kind soon.
Sincerely,
Albert Stanton
“I have to go home—I have to warn my father,” she said, the color rapidly disappearing from her face.
“Yes, we need to warn the Sirens and the institute. This man is dangerous to all supernaturals. He will need time, though, time to rethink his plan and recover. If we leave now, we can be at the Siren island in two days,” Ovidia said.
“We can take the ship—we still have the other charms, do we not,” Blackbeard said.
Ovidia blanched at the thought of having to wear another necklace.
Seeing the look on her face, Delphine touched her arm.
“Don’t worry I will slip into the Ocean and warn my father tell him we are coming he will tell the Sirens of the rock and they will sense my presence on the ship.”
Ovidia hated to admit a weakness but after having lost contact with her sword, she was not about to allow herself to be enchanted again so soon, even if it was by the institute.
“Then let’s get on our way. We need to warn the Siren king of the danger,” Erik said.
Heading out, they rounded the building and saw that they were in luck: in his haste to leave, Stanton had left horses.
“Do you know how to ride,” Ovidia asked Delphine.
She laughed a beautiful, musical sound.
“Yes, the hippocampi of our island can also shift form, and I have spent many an afternoon astride one.”
“Yes, I met two of them, Loki had a fondness for all things Norse,” Ovidia said. They each chose a horse then started the journey back to the docks and back to the Siren island.
Chapter 17
Delphine stood at the bow of the ship, watching as it cut through the waves. She smiled at the frolicking dolphins that followed them, she had dove in earlier to warn her father of the possible danger, and to have him alert the Sirens of the rock. The water here would be a bit warmer than the frigid sea off the coast of England.
She turned as she heard boots on the deck and saw Blackbeard come up beside her.
“Happy to be on the way home,” he asked.
“Yes, I missed the island, and my people. I need to warn them of this threat.” She rubbed her arms at the goose bumps that appeared.
“Your kind is strong and fierce. They will protect themselves, and I am sure Armand, the head of the institute, will send out a team to track down and stop this plot of Stanton’s. The anonymity and survival of all supernaturals is at stake,” he said.
“What will you do now that your mission as the great pirate Blackbeard is coming to a close,” she asked.
“I plan to ask Armand to be one of the team who comes back and tracks down Stanton,” he said.
Delphine was surprised by the disappointment she felt. What did she expect him to do? He was a member of the institute; of course he would have to go back to his own time.
She smiled at him. “That will be a great adventure for you.”
He looked at her with a curious expression. “What is it that you plan to do when you return to the island,” he asked.
“Go back to my regular routine, I guess.” She shrugged.
“And what would that be?”
“Reading, helping my father with disputes among our kind, taking long swims in the ocean, taking my turn out on the rock—normal things for a Siren.”
“It’s normal to sing sailors to their deaths,” Blackbeard asked, frowning at her.
Delphine frowned right back at him. “That is largely a myth, you know. It is not like we sit out on the rock salivating and waiting for a ship to pass so we can kill them. We mostly sing to drive them away from us, trying to plant a feeling of this place being dangerous. Most ships that hear our song go the other direction. It is just the ones who are too curious that end up at the bottom of the ocean. It is survival for our kind. Would you not protect yourselves from an invading army,” she asked.
He looked at her for a long moment. “I never thought of it that way, and I was not aware that you try to drive them away before using your alluring face and beautiful song to lure them to their deaths.” He winked, breaking the tension between them before walking away and barking orders at his crew.
Delphine remained there at the head of the ship, her arms wrapped around her body. He thought her alluring. Well of course he did—it was part of her biology to be alluring, and to sing with a crystal clear voice. She knew human men found her attractive—she had felt the stares of the crew—but her beauty was nothing more than a survival mechanism for her race. All Sirens were blessed with an ethereal beauty and a lovely singing voice. She did not want to be wanted for her looks and voice, but for things that were uniquely her.
“Thinking long thoughts are we,” Ovidia said as she walked up to stand beside Delphine.
“I will be glad to be home,” Delphine said simply, not looking Ovidia in the eye.
“Hmmm, I was thinking you may be thinking long thoughts about a certain pirate captain,” she said, nudging Delphine with her shoulder.
“No more than you would be about a certain Norse demigod,” Delphine shot
back with a feral smile.
“Well played, fish girl. Well played.” Ovidia chuckled at the fire that lit in the other woman’s eyes.
“Fish girl,” she said incredulously.
“Don’t get your tail in a twist, I was only playing. Are you excited to get back home to your island?”
Delphine looked out at the sea again. She would always have to be in close proximity to it or a saltwater source as it was part of her biology, and yet…
“If you had asked me before all this happened, I would have told you I loved my life on the island. I became restless from time to time, but who doesn’t? I didn’t have any real desire to leave, but then this happened. I have experienced so much, and I don’t know if it will be enough,” Delphine explained. The thought had been nagging at her since the rescue.
“You can always join up with the institute, help us track down Stanton before he exposes the entire supernatural community,” Ovidia told her.
Delphine looked over, thinking she would see a smile on the Valkyrie’s face, that she was just humoring “fish girl”, but when she did, she saw Ovidia’s serious expression.
“I don’t know if I could leave my father or my home,” she said.
“Just something to think about,” Ovidia told her before striding away.
Delphine went back to staring at the ocean and thinking.
“I think we may have a new member in our midst,” Ovidia told Erik as she walked into Blackbeard’s quarters. She knew he was there poring over the papers they had taken from Stanton’s study.
“She’s ready to join up and avenge the Sirens, is she,” he asked, pulling his attention from the research and looking at Ovidia.
“I think it might also have something to do with our captain as well.” She winked at him.
“Ahhh, love does bloom in the strangest places.” He smiled at her and then his expression became more serious. “Or rekindles,” he said in a low voice as he stood from his chair and strode to her.
