Either the alcohol hadn’t hit him yet, or it wasn’t working. As soon as she touched him, he cringed. The thought of being with her only made him livid and sick.
“No. I can’t do this.” Pushing her off him took some strength, but he managed. He stepped away from her and wiped his neck, trying to get her saliva off him. “I’m giving you my life, Penn. Do you really understand what that means? And all I asked for in return is a few more days.”
“No. That’s not all you asked for.” She followed him, unrelenting. “You want me to keep your girlfriend safe and Gemma safe and these people safe and blah blah blah. All you do is make demands, Daniel! And you have yet to give me the one thing I want from you!”
“Fine. You wanna have sex? Let’s do it.” He started loosening his tie, but then decided that wasn’t good enough. He turned around and swept his arm across the island, knocking off the glass, the brandy, and the few small appliances and dishes that sat on it, and they all clattered loudly to the floor. “Right here, right now.”
“Not sex, you idiot!” Penn shouted. “I want you to love me!”
He sighed in exasperation. “You can’t bully me into loving you, Penn.”
“I’m not. I will give you anything you want, everything you’ve imagined. Immortality, power, money.” She tried to sound softer, imploring him, nearly begging him, as she put her hands on his chest and stared up into his eyes. “Any earthly pleasure you could ever possibly desire, I will give to you. I will make your life heaven on earth, and all I ask is that you love me for all of eternity.”
“I will do what you say. I will be as obedient as I can,” Daniel contended. “But I can’t love you.”
“You don’t know that. You haven’t even tried.”
She kissed him, and it was hungrier than it had been before. Her patience was wearing thin, and there was an overt desperation in the way her lips moved against his. He let her kiss him, though, and he even tried to kiss her back.
She was unbuttoning his shirt, and he put his hands on her arms, trying to be romantic in even the slightest way. When he felt her fingers, warm and smooth but with sharp nails, running along his bare skin, he instinctively pulled away.
“You’re thinking of her, aren’t you?” Penn asked, growling.
“No. This isn’t about anyone else. It’s just…” He moved away from her and shook his head. “This is abrupt, and I need to get my head in it.”
“It’s not your head that I’m interested in right now.”
When she went to him, he let her kiss him, and again, he tried to go along with it. But she was too aggressive, and her hand sliding down his pants bordered on painful.
“Penn.”
He grabbed her wrist, preventing her from going any farther. When she tried to pull it away, he gripped it tighter, and she laughed. He grabbed her other wrist, holding them as tightly as he could, and he knew that if he’d gripped Harper this way, she’d have bruises. But with Penn, it probably barely even hurt.
“You want it rough then, Daniel?” She smiled wider. “I’ll show you rough.”
Still smiling up at him, he heard a strange cracking sound. He had no idea what it was until he saw her wings spreading out from her back. Pure black, they stretched out to the length of the room when she fully extended them.
“That might be a little too rough,” Daniel said, and that just made her laugh again.
He let go of her wrists, so she grabbed him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Then she flapped her wings, and, with startling speed, she flew up, carrying him out of the kitchen and over the railing into the loft bedroom.
She hovered above the floor for a few seconds, and then half dropped, half threw him down. Daniel hit the bedroom floor rather painfully, then she landed, much more gracefully, on her feet.
With her wings still out, she climbed on top of him and tore off his shirt.
“You know, I never could decide which would be more fun: fucking you or eating your heart.” Then she kissed him fervently, and he felt her fangs scrape against his lips and her claws dig into the bare skin of his back.
FORTY-THREE
Collide
Harper drove up the winding roads toward the top of the cliff, and she was going well above the speed limit. That surprised Gemma, who normally had to goad her sister to go faster, but now she braced herself against the dashboard.
A flash of headlights behind them caused Gemma to turn around and look behind them. She hadn’t expected to see anyone she knew, but she’d recognized Marcy’s old Gremlin instantly.
“Marcy is chasing us.” Gemma focused, making her eyes shift from human to their more advanced bird form. “And Alex and Kirby are with her.”
“What? Why?” Harper looked back, trying to see what was going on, and she almost missed the curve and drove them into a tree.
“Harper! Watch the road!” Gemma yelled, and Harper jerked the wheel back just in time.
“Sorry.” Harper glanced in the rearview mirror. “I thought you told them to stay—”
Gemma was turned around fully in her seat, watching Marcy follow them, so she saw everything. The moon was nearly full above them, with just a sliver missing, and so Liv cast a shadow as she got closer.
But it all happened too fast for her to say anything. A split second after she saw the shadow, Liv was crashing down on top of Marcy’s car, her golden wings spread out wide behind her. She did a three-point landing, slamming her bare feet and fist into the roof of the Gremlin with all her might.
It was enough to crush the roof of the car inward, and the windows all shattered, glass flying outward.
“Stop!” Gemma screamed, as Marcy’s car skidded and jerked to a halt behind them.
“What?” Harper asked, but she slammed on the brakes. Then she looked behind them. “Holy crap. Oh, no.”
Gemma jumped out of the car and ran toward the Gremlin to see if her friends were okay. Then Liv stood up, and Gemma realized it might not be such a good idea to rush, so she stopped.
Other than the wings, Liv appeared entirely human. Her wide eyes and bright smile still gave her that unnerving innocent look that Gemma had noticed when she’d first met her. When she stepped down from the roof of the car, her foot crunched on the hood.
“If any of them are hurt at all—” Gemma said, as Liv drifted delicately down to the ground, thanks to her wings working like a parachute behind her.
“You’ll what?” Liv asked with a laugh. “Bore me to death?”
The passenger side opened first, and Alex rolled out onto the ground. It took him a few seconds, but he staggered to his feet and shook his head, shaking bits of glass out of his hair. He appeared to have a few scratches, and a thin line of blood came from his temple, but he didn’t look that bad off.
“I’m okay,” Alex said. “I think Kirby and Marcy are okay, too.”
While Liv stared down Gemma, Harper snuck around them to help Marcy get out, but Marcy moved much more slowly than Alex had. Her glasses were crooked but unbroken, and there was a nasty gash down Marcy’s shin that seemed to be making it harder for her to walk.
“Enough is enough, Liv,” Gemma said, and using the focus she’d learned from practicing with Alex, she made her wings spread out behind her. Each time she used them, it got a little less painful, but she still heard her flesh tearing as the feathers broke through.
“Ooo.” Liv pretended to be impressed. “Look who finally came out to play.”
Kirby had gotten out of the car, and he helped Marcy off to the side of the road, where Alex was standing. Harper stood closer and seemed to be debating what to do.
“Harper, go,” Gemma told her. “Stop Daniel before it’s too late. I’ll be up there in a few minutes.”
“Cocky, aren’t you?” Liv asked.
“I’m a fast eater,” Gemma replied. “It should only take me a few seconds to swallow your heart.”
Harper still appeared unsure, so Alex told her, “Go. I’ve got her back.”
Alex had brushed the glass off himself, and he moved closer to Gemma, so he could defend her if he needed to. Daniel was alone with Penn, but Gemma had her siren strength and her boyfriend to help. So Harper nodded and ran to her car.
“Look at you,” Liv said after Harper sped off up the hill. “You have a posse of invalids to defend you.”
“It’s not them you have to worry about,” Gemma said.
She opened her mouth, letting her jagged fangs show in the moonlight, then she jumped at Liv. Liv was slammed back against Marcy’s car, crushing the metal in, and shards of glass stabbed into her skin and wings.
Liv let out an angry squawk and punched Gemma in the face. Gemma flew back, but used her wings to catch herself before she hit the ground. Liv jumped up, flying in the air to meet the other siren, and Gemma rocked forward, then back, propelling her legs so she could kick Liv in the face with all her strength.
As Liv sailed backward, Gemma glanced down at the ground below them. Marcy had popped the hatchback of her car. It didn’t open all the way, but that didn’t stop Alex and Kirby from looking through it.
Gemma didn’t have time to see what they were searching for because Liv had come back at her. When Liv hit her, she grabbed Gemma’s dress and slammed her back into the top of a cypress tree. The branches smacked her and tore at her wings.
Liv was right. Feeding all the time had made her incredibly strong, probably even stronger than Penn. But Gemma had a lot of anger in her, and she was ready to let it all out on Liv.
“Not so tough, are ya?” Liv asked, smiling to reveal her fangs.
In response, Gemma thrust her forehead forward and head-butted her. Liv didn’t fall, but she let go of Gemma and flew back a bit, her wings flapping haphazardly for a second. Unfortunately, the head butt also left Gemma a little dazed, so she didn’t recover as quickly as she’d hoped.
Her wings were tattered from the branches clawing at them, and that made it harder for her to pick up speed when she charged Liv. She grabbed Liv to throw her to the ground, but Liv only laughed, then got the best of the situation.
She gripped Gemma and pushed her downward, slamming her into the hard pavement of the road. Her wings crunched underneath, and agony shot through her back. But she gritted her teeth and refused to cry out.
Instead, she punched Liv in the face again, and again, until Liv grabbed her wrists and pinned them to the ground. All her jagged teeth were out, and a bit of saliva dripped down onto Gemma’s cheek.
“I bet you’re tasty,” Liv said, her saccharine voice mixed with the demonic monster’s.
Then she heard a bang. A flash of orange light cut through the air, then it sliced straight through Liv. It landed on the road, only inches away from Gemma’s head, burning brightly. It had gone through the middle of Liv, right above her navel at an odd angle, and since it had been on fire, it left a nice singed ring that Gemma could see through.
And through the hole, she could see Kirby, looking rather dumbfounded as he held a flare gun in his hand.
“Great shot!” Marcy shouted.
Liv looked back at him and growled. “You stupid son of a bitch.”
“Kirby! Run!” Gemma shouted as she tried to push Liv off her.
But when Liv did get up, she moved much faster than Gemma, much faster than Kirby. She raced over to him, and before Gemma had even gotten up on her feet again, Liv had ripped out his throat, and Kirby fell back to the ground, holding his hands futilely against the surge of blood.
FORTY-FOUR
Termination
The car skidded to a stop, nearly driving right into the front of the house, and Harper leapt out. The engine was running, the door was open, but she didn’t care. She didn’t have time to waste.
She wasn’t sure if she did the right thing, leaving Gemma alone with Liv, or if coming here was even the right thing to do. But for the first time in her life, she didn’t care what was right or wrong. She couldn’t let this happen, and she’d do anything to stop it.
“Daniel!” Harper shouted as she ran into the house.
“What is that bitch doing here?” Penn growled from the upstairs loft.
“Harper, get out of here!” Daniel yelled.
She’d started running toward the stairs, ignoring him, but then Penn appeared, leaning against the railings and looking down from the bedroom. She’d slipped out of her dress into a black negligee, and Harper hoped that she hadn’t made it too late.
But even if she had, it wouldn’t be the end of the world. She did not want Daniel to have sex with Penn, but the main thing she needed to prevent, the thing she’d risk her life to stop, was his becoming a siren. And that couldn’t have happened yet, not if Liv was still alive.
“I’m not letting you do this, and I’m not leaving without Daniel,” Harper told Penn.
Penn smiled. “It’s cute that you think you have control over anything that’s happening.”
Daniel appeared at the railing next to Penn. His shirt was off, and a line of red scratches ran down his chest. Jagged dots on his arm looked like bite marks.
“Oh my god, Daniel.” Harper gasped. “What is she doing to you?”
“Just get out of here. Please,” he begged her.
She shook her head. “No. It was stupid for me to agree to this, and I take it back. Leave with me, now, before it’s too late.”
Daniel made a move toward the steps, but lightning quick, Penn was around him and standing in front of him, blocking his path.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Penn asked.
“To get rid of her,” he said, then he slid around Penn.
Harper raced up the stairs, and he met her in the middle. She wanted to throw her arms around him, but when she tried to touch him, he grabbed her arms and stopped her.
“There has to be another way,” Harper said. “A better way.”
“The only other way is death, and pretty soon, I won’t care, and I’ll just kill all of you,” Penn said. “This is starting to prove to be far more work than it’s worth.”
“I would rather die than spend the rest of my life as a siren or see you spend the rest of your life as a siren,” Harper said, her eyes fixed on his. “And I know that you feel the same way. I know this isn’t what you want. We can fight her.”
“The hell you can,” Penn growled, and walked toward the steps.
Daniel turned around to face her and stood in front of Harper, shielding her. “Penn, I’ve got this.”
“You do not.” Penn glared down at him from where she stood at the top landing. “You don’t have anything. You are weak, and you are a waste of my time. I don’t care what you say or what you want. I’m killing her, and I’m doing it now.”
Without waiting to see if she would act on her words, Daniel ran up the stairs. He knocked her back down on the ground and climbed on top of her. He’d straddled her and pinned her hands to the ground, and even though Harper had never fought Penn, she knew that had to be too easy. Penn had let him do it.
“Now this is hot.” Penn smiled up at him. “This is what I was looking for from you.”
Then she lifted her legs, pushing him upward, and did a backward somersault, rolling him so that he landed on his back with her on top of him, pinning him on the ground. He grunted as he tried to push her off, and Harper raced up the stairs to defend him.
She jumped onto Penn’s back, hitting her as hard as she could. But a second later, Penn hit her hard enough to send her flying back into the railing. The wind was knocked out of her, and for a moment, she was too dazed and in too much pain to do anything except lie there.
“I should’ve killed you a long time ago,” Penn said, and she got up to take care of Harper.
She didn’t make it very far before Daniel was up. He grabbed her arm, meaning to stop her, but Penn had had enough. She grabbed him around the throat, so tight that he struggled for breath, and she lifted him off the ground that way, carrying him to the bathroom off the bedroom.
Pen
n threw Daniel into it, then slammed the door shut. A small fireplace was in the corner, and Penn grabbed a poker from it. With her superior siren strength, she easily twisted it around the door handle and the frame, making it impossible for Daniel to pull the door open.
Harper got to her feet, leaning back against the railing, and she could hear Daniel pounding on the door as he tried in vain to open it.
“Harper!” Daniel shouted as he beat on the door. “Run, Harper! Get out of here!”
“Now that he’s out of the way, us girls can finally have the heart-to-heart we’ve been needing for so long.” Penn walked slowly toward her, and as she smiled, her smooth teeth gave way to rows of jagged fangs.
FORTY-FIVE
Mêlée
Gemma had her hand around Liv’s throat, squeezing it hard. She wanted to be able to pop her head off, the way that Penn had done to Lexi, but she couldn’t seem to do it. It might have been because Liv was staring up at her.
Or it could’ve been because Liv had her claws out, and instead of tearing Gemma’s hand away from her throat, Liv was trying to break through her chest and get to her heart. She could feel the talons piercing her skin and scraping her ribs.
She should let go and jump off, before Liv succeeded in breaking through and ripping out her heart, but Gemma didn’t want to let her go. Not after what she’d just done to Kirby.
Then she felt a hand tugging on her wing, pulling it so hard that Gemma let go of Liv’s neck and stood up. She whirled around, preparing to fight whoever was pulling at her, but it was Thea, with her own crimson wings stretched out.
“Always guard your heart,” Thea said, as Liv got to her feet. “That’s a siren tip.”
“What the hell, Thea? You’re helping her?” Liv asked with an incredulous whine.
“You really thought I would help you? After the hell you’ve put me through?” Thea asked.
“Whatever.” Liv cracked her neck, stretching it out after Gemma had been choking her. “It’s better this way. Now I can kill two birds with one stone.”
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