He accepted it with a smile and immediately put it on. Touching the pearl and gold pendant, he gave a nod of thanks. “She was the weakest of us all but the bravest. Minerva would be proud.”
“Oh yes, Minerva. I expect we will be hearing from her.”
“I expect so.” We stood facing one another. We were so close now, I could feel the warmth of his skin. I could get lost in his scent, in his muscular….
“Whoa, Nik. We’re friends. That’s it.”
I slapped his arm. “Oh my God! You mean you’ve been listening to my mind the whole time?”
“Well, not the whole time.” He grinned like the mythological Cheshire cat.
“Ugh, I hate you.” I turned to walk away.
“That’s a lie. But don’t worry, your secret is safe with me. I am still your protector.”
I turned back and gave him a cautious smile. Then I left him there and went to find Cruise’s car. I had somewhere else to be. Someone else I was supposed to be with.
This was the way it should be.
Epilogue—Nik
Sunshiny Day
I walked into the police station with a picnic basket in my hand. “It’s lunchtime, Officer Castille. I’ve got some fried fish and lots of goodies in here. Care to eat outside at the picnic table? It’s a beautiful day.”
“Why yes, I would love that. Molly, hold my calls please. Unless the District Attorney calls about Dan Belloc. I’m guessing he’ll be gone for quite a while after all he’s done.” The older woman nodded.
“Imagine breaking into a liquor store. It’s unheard of for a police chief.” Cruise tidied up his desk, and I winked at Molly, who winked back. She was not only the secretary to the new chief of police but also the new Guardian of the Gate. I was glad she was there so I could finally leave that task to someone else. I was looking forward to traveling off the island. I had been here since the 1500s. It was time for a break.
“I had the weirdest dream last night, Nik. I dreamed about this thing…it had legs like a bird, a black bird, and the upper body of a woman. Anyway, it came after me. It had these black claws and a bird mouth. Ew…it was gross.”
I plopped the basket down on the table and began removing the plastic containers. “Pizza dreams, probably,” I offered disingenuously.
“Probably. It’s just that I have dreamed it more than once. It bothers me. I know, I know, I am a grown man…”
“Stop that, Cruise. I am not making fun of you. Look at me. Everything is going to be all right.”
“Will you stop that? Every time you say that, it gives me a headache.”
“Sorry. You want a Coke?” I made a mental note to call Ramara. His mesmerizing power was greater than mine. Since Cruise had some supe blood; he needed someone stronger than me to make him forget. Ramara had done it once for me already, and I was sure I could talk him into doing it again.
“So, I’ve been thinking, Nik.”
“Yes?” I said as I dug into the fruit salad.
“Technically this could be considered our second date.”
“And your point?” I knew Cruise was a three-date kind of guy. He was young, handsome and eager to “get to know me better.” That’s the thing about mortals—they are always in a rush to see one another naked.
“No pressure, just wanted it on record.”
“Listen, I’m a huge fan of spontaneity, Cruise. I hope that’s okay.”
“Well,” he said, pretending to stroke his nonexistent beard, “can’t I at least have a kiss?”
He closed his eyes and leaned close to me. I was tempted to lay one on him. It had been such a long time since I had given myself permission to let go of my inhibitions. I wasn’t sure that the handsome young cop could curb my desire. I tapped his lip politely with the chastest of kisses and acted as innocently as I could. He seemed none the wiser. He grinned and kissed me quickly once more before changing the subject.
“So you do like me,” he said confidently.
“Of course I like you. We’ve been friends for quite a while,” I replied, smiling at him.
“Maybe even love me?”
“Love? This is only our second date, Cruise!” I couldn’t believe my ears.
“Aha, so this is our second date! I knew it! You know what that means. What do you say? You ready for our third date? Life is short, you know.”
“Is it?” I asked with a laugh and then paused to stare at him. “Once again you fail at asking me out.”
“This again?” With a good-natured smile, he opened the top of my bottled Coke.
“Come by the house at seven and I’ll give you my answer.”
“Really?” he said with a bright smile, his playful dark eyes flashing with desire.
“Really. And for goodness’ sake. Wear something nice.”
The Blood Feud
Sirens Gate Book Two
By M.L. Bullock
Text copyright © 2016 Monica L. Bullock
All Rights Reserved
Dedication
This series is dedicated to my brother, Lance Matthew.
“Her eyes have feasted on the dead,
And small and shapely is her head,
And dark and small her mouth,” they said,
“And beautiful to kiss;
Her mouth is sinister and red
As blood in moonlight is.”
The Vampire
Conrad Aiken, 1916
Chapter One—Nik
Smashed Siren
“I’ve heard of getting ‘smashed’ before, but you took it to a whole new level last night, princess.” The familiar voice filled my pounding head and woke me up with a start. If I could have mustered the energy, I would have thrown the bedside lamp at him. But it wasn’t to be. At the moment, I only had the strength needed to push my wild hair out of my face and give him the dirtiest look I could. I tried to pretend I didn’t notice that I had pillow feathers stuck in my wavy hair.
“What are you doing in my house, Ramara?” My voice sounded rough and gravelly, as if I’d been screaming all night. I desperately wanted a glass or two—hundred—of fresh, cold water.
“You mean you don’t remember? I thought sirens remembered everything,” he quipped dramatically in a playful voice. As he sat beside me on the bed, he stroked my arm gently with his index finger. It would have been an enjoyable sensation if I hadn’t felt so seasick. I rolled over on my back to tell him off face to face when a new revelation hit me. I was completely naked. Pulling the covers around me, I gasped and blushed.
“What the heck? Where are my clothes, Ramara? Don’t tell me we…I mean…did we?” I pulled the covers over my face in an attempt to avoid his big, cheesy grin.
He patted my arm. “Uh, no, but I can honestly say you thought about it once or twice.”
Angry now, I sat up and leaned against the padded headboard. “What have I told you about reading my mind?”
“It’s hard not to when you force me to drink with you, princess.”
“I have asked you a thousand times not to call me princess. Why are you here in my house uninvited, and why am I minus clothing?”
“You sound disappointed. You did invite me, Nik. After I listened to you cry about the mermaid for yet another hour, you passed out. That was after the incident at the Shark’s Tooth. You put on quite a show, so much so that the Order contacted me this morning and reminded me we are supposed to keep a low profile.”
“Oh God. What did I do?” Still clutching the white down comforter to my naked frame, I dreaded the answer as I peeked over the covers.
“Let’s see…You insisted on singing karaoke after you drank about four shots of tequila—which, for the record, I tried to talk you out of, princess. You cried about Meri and the death of a mermaid, but I don’t think anyone understood you. Well, besides me. Then you grabbed the microphone and belted out ‘Wind Beneath My Wings.’ It was a great performance until the key change at the end.”
“I’m sure I don’t want to know what happened next.”
<
br /> “Probably not, but since it might be in the island paper or at least on your criminal record, I feel obligated to tell you. You shattered the windows out of the bar and sent the customers ducking for cover during your finale. I wouldn’t be surprised if they banned you for life from the Shark’s Tooth.”
“Great.”
“It gets better. Your boyfriend answered the call, because naturally the owner called the cops. Although I don’t guess you can be arrested for bad singing.”
I sighed in exhaustion. “Cruise came to the bar? Crap.”
“Yes, and you’re lucky you aren’t waking up in jail this morning. I’m sure he wishes he’d skipped that call.”
“Whatever,” I fussed at him halfheartedly. “That doesn’t explain why I have no clothes on and you’re shirtless.” Through groggy eyes I noticed that Ramara wore only his blue jeans. His muscular frame was aggravatingly perfect. He would have made the perfect model for one of Agabus’ statues. That had been so long ago. I reminded myself that he could read my mind; I had to keep my thoughts clean. Like he smelled, clean and sexy. Oh Lord, am I still drunk? Get it together, Nik!
“My shirt and the dress you wore are in the dryer now. Apparently, the rotgut they serve at the Shark’s Tooth makes sirens vomit. I wonder how your boyfriend got the puke out of his shoes.”
“Oh, hell.” I flopped on the bed and covered my face, hoping for Death. It didn’t come, but someone decided to bang on my front door. Might as well be Death, right?
“Should I answer it?” he asked politely.
“Well, I’m not going to, so yeah, that would be great. Tell whoever it is I’m dead.”
He chuckled at my plight and padded out of my bedroom, his bare feet slapping on the tile floor. Through slitted eyes I watched him walk. Oh no! What if it was Cruise? I bolted out of the bed and ran to my dresser. I found a giant blue whale t-shirt and covered my body with it. I couldn’t do anything about my hair at the moment except pull it back in a scrunchie. I dashed to the bathroom and scrubbed my teeth furiously. The minty flavor made me want to retch, again. I held on to the side of the sink until the waves of nausea passed.
“There you are. I’ve never been in here. Um, you have a guest.”
“I’m really not up to seeing anyone unless it’s…”
“No, it’s not him.” His face reflected his disapproval.
“I think I’m going to throw up again.”
Another voice joined us in my tiny bathroom. “Suck it up, buttercup. That’s what happens when you make an ass out of yourself and drink up the whole island.”
“Lily?” I pressed my hand to my forehead, as if that would stop the room from moving.
“Yep, it’s me. We need coffee, pronto—not Tonto. Hop to it, eloi.”
“My name is…”
“Whatever!” She flipped her hand at him and turned her nose up. “Black coffee and burnt toast is what she needs. We’ll be out in five minutes.” With that she shoved him out of the bathroom, shut the door and turned on the shower, all in less than ten seconds. And that made me sick, too. Once she got the temperature where she wanted it, Lily snapped her fingers at me. “In the water, now, Nik.”
“Gee, you haven’t changed much,” I said as I plopped down on the toilet lid.
“Yes, yes, yes. I’m bossy and you’re a twit, but here we are together again. I don’t have much time. You know we can’t be together for long, and I have a ton of stuff to tell you. So get moving!” She snapped her fingers again. I shed the shirt, pulled the scrunchie out of my sloppy hair and stepped into the icy water.
“Lily! This is freezing! What are you trying to do? Kill me?”
“Not yet. Now get cleaned up, and I’ll meet you in the dining room. The Order sent me, and I’ve got a job to do so I can go home. I’d hate to hurt you, Thessalonike.”
“Fine, Liliana! A little privacy, please?” I barked back as I adjusted the water temperature from freezing-my-ass-off to nice-and-warm.
I heard the door slam, which sent another wonderful wave of pain through my head. “I’m going to kill her for that.” My thought had an unexpected sharpness to it that surprised me, but that came with the territory when two sirens got together. They always brought the worst out in the other—cruelty, hatred, a territorialism unmatched in others. That was the way it was, the way it had always been with our kind. We weren’t like mermaids or any other supernatural creature. We didn’t have “families” or “covens” who hung out together. We brought out the worst in one another. To put it bluntly, there were no siren BFFs to spend time with.
Nope. Whenever you see two or more sirens together, you know it’s never going to end well. Someone will get hurt—usually in cruel fashion.
So far, my day wasn’t full of sunshine and roses. Liliana was here, Ramara read my mind constantly and I learned that I’d puked in Cruise’s shoes. Not to mention everyone on the island was probably talking about me.
Yep, this was going to be a great day.
Chapter Two—Lily
Healing Song
The eloi didn’t speak to me when I walked back into the tiny kitchen, but I noticed that he put his shirt on. He was nervous, as he should be. He was Thessalonike’s unofficial Protector, or so he thought of himself. I wondered how long it would be before he lost his wings again. I smiled at him, and he grimaced at me. He didn’t like that I was there, but that was his tough luck. We were all pawns in the game, weren’t we?
“So here we are, supernatural creatures acting like humans. Doesn’t it get old? Don’t you miss the days when you could just be yourself? I know I do. Sometimes the human charade gets so tiring.” I sat down at the table and watched as Ramara buttered some dark toast and poured two cups of coffee. Yes, he was completely in love with Thessalonike. Hmm…this could be problematic.
“It is a necessary charade.”
“So they tell us. Tell me, eloi. How do you come down on the whole ‘protect the humans’ theology?”
He sipped some coffee but didn’t offer me any. Obviously that second cup was for the Macedonian. He leveled a serious gaze at me. He scanned me, and I let him without worry—but I didn’t let him peek too deeply into my mind. He wasn’t going to know my personal thoughts, but I gathered he’d gotten used to reading Thessalonike’s. That would change as she got stronger. Unless she wanted him poking around in there. Our race had enough challenges to deal with without the unwanted invasion of an oversexed eloi.
“As Faydra says, the races must be treated equally if we are to survive here.” His voice sounded smooth like buttered rum.
I couldn’t help but laugh at his attempt at political correctness. “You’re telling me you believe mermaids and eloi are equal? That muses are equal to sirens?” A dry, condescending chuckle escaped my lips. I didn’t really feel that way, but I wanted to test the waters with this one. Although he wasn’t my assignment, it would be good to know his feelings on the matter. Might come in handy later.
“I don’t think directly the same, no. We are different, but we are equal. In the eyes of the Order,” he added diplomatically. I wondered if he was ever going to offer me any coffee.
“What about vamps? How do you feel about those, eloi? Did you know you have some on the island?”
He shot to the window faster than a lightning strike. “Just the one, but she’s buried deep under the police station.”
“Calm down, Ramara. You know the vamps don’t travel about much in daylight. They are nighttime creatures, like the brionne of old. How I hated those monsters.”
He shivered at the mention of that ancient evil race, long dead and best forgotten. The brionne had no redeeming qualities. They had been ruthless killers, killing even their own kind.
I continued, “Vampires are the only race of supernaturates that do not keep human families, which provides them with little opportunity to develop any compassion toward humans. Well, and eloi. They don’t keep human families either. Just a point of fact.”
“No, b
ut we don’t prey on humans—we don’t eat them,” he corrected me. “What do you want from me, Lily?”
I didn’t answer his question. I liked the idea of this handsome angel dangling on the end of a string that I held. However, it wouldn’t pay to make an enemy at this juncture. I expertly changed the subject. “Sorry I missed the fun with Roxana. What a witch! At least Nemesis has been secured now—we assume. I wonder how the Order allowed her to slip away like that.”
That put a pause in the action. He faced me, his muscles tense, his face a handsome stone mask. “Is that a question? Speak plainly now.”
His defensiveness puzzled me. I waved my hands. “She is Nemesis. Opposing others is her job. Breaking free and looking for fights? She literally lives for that stuff. It seems to me that her favorite opponent is you, eloi. I wouldn’t be surprised if she found a way to challenge you at some point in the future.”
“Why don’t you speak your mind? Are you suggesting that my continued presence here might put Nik in further danger?”
“I said nothing like that, Ramara. Just following a logical train of thought.” I smiled at him as I rolled one of the green apples in my hand. “I have no power to command you, but technically, you are no longer ‘Nik’s’ protector.”
He put the cup down with a thud and looked like he wanted to say a few rude words but thought better of it. “Tell Thessalonike I am going to work. On second thought, don’t say anything. I’ll make my own excuses.” He pushed on the screen door, his handsome mouth set in a frown, and left the kitchen quickly like only an eloi could.
I smiled at his back and felt proud of myself—I definitely had a mean streak. That was too easy! The Order hadn’t asked for information on that one, but Ramara wasn’t difficult to read. If only getting rid of the vampires would be that simple. I dug inside my book bag and pulled out my mini-laptop. Tapping into my cell phone’s hotspot, I continued my research using the files the Higher Order had provided me with.
Escape to Sirens Gate: Sirens Gate Books 1-3 Page 12
