Siren's Call (A Rainshadow Novel)

by Jayne Castle

  She looked across the meadow and saw radiant water spilling over a rocky outcropping and splashing heavily into a glowing pool of gem-dark water.

  “Why are we interested in a waterfall at this particular moment?” she asked.

  “There’s power locked in water. Think about it. You can run an engine or flood a town with the force of water. It gives off a hell of a lot of natural energy, especially when it’s crashing over a chunk of rock like that.”

  “Got it. The energy released in the waterfall will mask our psi-tracks.”

  “That’s the plan. Even if those Vortex guys don’t try to follow us, we’ve still got the critters to worry about.”

  “Does it occur to you that all we ever do when we go out is run from bad guys?”

  “One of these days we’ll do coffee. I swear it.”

  “Promises, promises.”

  The fierce music of the Alien bell shivered through the psi-laden atmosphere just as they reached the waterfall pool.

  “The bastards did follow us,” Rafe said. “They must be crazy.”

  “Or desperate. They seem to want you very, very badly.”

  “We’re in luck, there’s a cavern behind the waterfall. Hold tight. The rocks will be slippery.”

  He helped her up onto a wet, rocky ledge.

  “Hold your breath,” he said.

  She obeyed. He drew her through the rushing waters. In an instant she was drenched. So was Lorelei, who evidently considered the waterfall trip grand entertainment. The water was warm and sparkling with energy.

  Once they were on the other side, Lorelei gave herself a shake and chortled exuberantly.

  Ella pushed her wet hair behind her ears and let the wild energy of the water flash across her senses.

  “Okay,” she said. “That was different. Maybe when we get home to Crystal City Lorelei and I will start hanging out at the local car wash on slow nights.”

  “Are you still cancelling out the bell vibe?” Rafe asked.

  “No. That’s the effect of the water that’s distorting the wavelengths now, not me. Or maybe the bell just doesn’t work as well inside the fence.”

  The forces in the muffled music were still strong but their summoning power had lessened considerably.

  Rafe moved to the edge of the roaring water and looked out at the meadow.

  “Looks like two of them made it through the fence,” he said. “The guy with the bell and one member of the team. Perfect.”

  Ella frowned. “I beg your pardon?”

  “Evens the odds. Two of us, two of them. Plus we’ve got Lorelei.”

  Hearing her name, Lorelei chortled agreement.

  “You’re going to try to grab one of them?” Ella asked, dismayed.

  “That’s the plan.”

  “Rafe, I hate to point this out but they’ve still got that damned bell.”

  “You take care of the bell,” he said. “I’ll deal with the two Vortex guys.”

  “How, exactly, do you propose that we take out two mobsters who are armed with Alien tech? Your fancy little knockout gun won’t work in this environment.”

  “Distraction is the key in a situation like this.”

  She was about to ask several more questions when she heard the faint, eerie music. Not the summoning wavelengths of the bell this time—a gentle lullaby. Lorelei suddenly went still and sleeked out, all four eyes gazing intently through the waterfall as though she could see something on the other side.

  “Damn,” Rafe said. “Did you hear that?”

  A shiver swept through Ella. “Yes.”

  “The bell. It drew one of the dinos.”

  “Maybe. Or maybe four humans running around inside the fence were enough to catch the attention of one of the critters.”

  “You know,” Rafe said, sounding thoughtful. “This could be just the distraction I need.”

  Ella listened intently to the sweet harmony. The waterfall muffled some of the energy of the monster’s music, just as it did the music of the bell, but the very fact that the lullaby was coming through so clearly was an indication of raw power.

  “It’s strong, Rafe. Whatever is coming this way is very big and very dangerous.”

  “Can you handle it?”

  She raised her senses a little, feeling her way into the music. The process was complicated because of the water energy.

  “I can probably deflect its attention from us if necessary. But it’s not hunting us. I’m guessing it can’t detect us because of the waterfall. We just got caught in the net that it’s using to fish for the Vortex guys.”

  “I might be able to work with that.”

  She looked past Rafe’s shoulder and saw two men at the far edge of the glowing meadow. They appeared to be entirely unaware of their plight. Both wore headphones. One held a familiar-looking, vase-shaped artifact in his hands.

  “I don’t think they know they’re being hunted,” she said. “Not yet at any rate.”

  “I’ll bet the headphones are interfering. The dino is aware of them but they can’t hear it.”

  “Either that or they simply don’t recognize the music for what it is. They’re going to be easy prey for the creature when it gets here. Rafe, we can’t just stand by and let those two get eaten. I mean, they’re bad guys, but the thought of watching two humans torn limb from limb by a monster—”

  “Don’t worry. I don’t want to see them get eaten, either. If that happens, I won’t be able to get my answers from them.”

  She was about to ask him how he planned to save the pair but she was interrupted by a thundering roar. The rocks on which they were standing shuddered.

  Lorelei hissed.

  “It’s here,” Rafe said.

  The great beast stalked into the radiant meadow. Ella caught her breath. The thing was twice as big as the one she had sent fleeing in Wonderland. The head was reptilian. The eyes glowed yellow. The wide mouth was filled with multiple rows of huge teeth. The creature moved on four of its six legs. The two front limbs were armlike appendages tipped with claws that were probably used to rip apart the belly of its prey.

  The creature seemed to lumber forward but it crossed the meadow with unnerving speed. Its silvery scales sparked in the ambient psi-light, but in the lush, green environment of the Preserve they did not provide the camouflage that they did in Wonderland. Engineered for a very different ecosystem, the beast was plainly visible in the night light.

  Not that it needed to hide, Ella thought. This was a top-of-the-line predator.

  The monster’s hunting cry must have finally pierced the headphones. The Vortex men ripped off the gear and whirled to confront the dinosaur. The one holding the bell dropped it and instinctively yanked out his mag-rez.

  “No,” the second one pleaded. “You’re crazy. Run for it.”

  But the warning came too late or, perhaps in his panic, the first man simply didn’t hear it. He rezzed the pistol, which promptly exploded in a small fireball.

  The shooter screamed. The burning weapon fell to the ground.

  The second man tried to flee in the direction of the psi-fence but he froze. The first man went abruptly motionless, too. Ella knew that the creature’s music had transfixed them. They could see their doom bearing down on them but they were helpless to run.

  “Are you sure you can handle this thing?” Rafe asked. “Because if you’re not, we’re staying here, behind the waterfall.”

  “Those two men—”

  “Shouldn’t have followed us.”

  She listened to the monster’s music. It was no longer a soft, sweet psychic lullaby. The wavelengths of a violent hunting song crashed and roared in the night, rolling across the spectrum, audible to both the normal and the paranormal senses. It was the dark music of a primal hunger; a deep, unending, desperate hunger that could only be satisfied with blood.

  But it was still music, Ella thought. And she was a Siren.

  “I can handle the dinosaur,” she said.

  She mo
ved around Rafe and emerged at the edge of the waterfall. Bracing one hand on the wet rock wall to steady herself, she raised her talent.

  Lorelei dug in her little claws and growled softly. She clearly did not approve of taking on a dinosaur but she was sticking with her partner.

  Rafe gripped Ella’s arm, ready to pull her back to the relative safety of the waterfall if necessary.

  Ella focused on the hellish wavelengths of the killing music and began to sing.

  She wove her harmonies into the thundering waves, seeking to disturb and destabilize the powerful, primitive forces generated by the monster.

  Her goal was to send it fleeing in confusion when it lost its connection to its prey. She was working on the theory that disrupting the vibe would bewilder the predator. It was a theory that had worked well in Wonderland.

  But this wasn’t Wonderland; this was a different environment, and the creature she was trying to repel was not only more powerful physically than the first one she had encountered; its paranormal hunting senses were stronger, as well.

  For a moment it seemed that it would succumb to the confusing feedback it was receiving. It stopped and lashed its spiked tale from side to side in what looked like the dinosaur equivalent of frustration and rage.

  Ella increased the power of her song, sending the distorting energy in a relentless tide. The monster roared its fury and then went still. For an instant it looked like it would turn away and go in search of other prey.

  Instead, it seemed to get a new, if uncertain, fix on the Vortex agents. It started to advance again, more tentatively this time. It lowered its massive head, its yellow eyes brightening with a merciless fire.

  “I think it has a visual on its quarry,” Rafe said. “It’s using eyesight to override whatever its paranormal senses are telling it.”

  “It’s still generating enough energy to keep those two men pinned down.” Ella pushed her talent higher. “I need to go for what Mom calls the money notes.”

  “Money notes?”

  “Never mind. The thing is—just so you know—I’ve never done this before.”

  “Meaning?”

  “You might need a Plan B.”

  “You’re my Plan B. Sing.”

  She sang, going farther out on the spectrum, weaving the music of the dark and the light into chilling, spectral harmonies. She hurled the terrible waves at the monster.

  She sensed she was reaching her own limits. Like a runner pushing her body to the edge, she was burning psi at an enormous rate. She was strong but she was dealing with a creature that had evolved an ability to trap its prey in a paranormal web fashioned of strands of music.

  The world around her began to waver. She was getting light-headed. She could not hold out much longer.

  Lorelei huddled close and muttered encouragingly into her ear. Rafe’s hand tightened on her arm. She was not alone, she thought. She could do this.

  It seemed to her that she was suddenly drawing energy from Rafe and Lorelei and the forces of the paranormal landscape around her. The crashing, churning water, the mysterious darkness of the pool, even the forces of the night-bound atmosphere rushed through her. She created music of shattering power.

  She sensed the exact instant when the creature’s life-force began to fail. It came to a shambling halt, swaying on its great clawed feet. It lifted its massive head to the night sky and howled, a strangely mournful cry that carried the irreversible wavelengths of death.

  Uncomprehending of what was happening, it sank slowly to the ground and toppled onto its side. The rocks beneath Ella’s feet trembled again.

  The energy in the monster’s strange eyes dimmed. Dark blood ran from its gaping mouth. The link between Ella and the monster snapped.

  The shock washed over her in a heavy tide. She would have crumpled to her knees if Rafe hadn’t steadied her. Lorelei mumbled anxiously in her ear.

  “Are you all right?” Rafe asked.

  “Yes.” Her voice was so thin it almost disappeared. “I’m okay. Just a little tired.” Sleep pulled at her senses. She could barely keep her eyes open. “Those two men—”

  “Unconscious. With luck I’ll be able to drag them both back through the fence before something else arrives to eat them. But first I need to get you out of here.”

  He picked her up in his arms. Lorelei transferred adroitly to his shoulder and fluffed up.

  “Told you, I’m okay,” Ella mumbled. “I can walk. Just need to nap a bit first.”

  “You need rest, all right,” Rafe agreed. “But not here.”

  She tried to call up a little psi to push back against the lethargy that threatened to overwhelm her, but she had nothing left. Rafe’s arms were warm and tight around her.

  When he carried her past the body of the dead creature, a tide of grief swept through her. Sensing her sadness, Lorelei hunkered close and made comforting noises.

  “That poor beast,” Ella whispered. “It was never intended for this time and place. They had no right to do that to a helpless animal.”

  “Who had no right?” Rafe asked.

  “The Aliens.”

  “It’s just a dinosaur, Ella.”

  “They’re dying, Rafe,” she whispered. “All of them, I think. I can hear it in their music.”

  “Maybe they were bioengineered to die off if things did not work out as the Aliens planned.”

  “They had no right to run their experiments on helpless animals.”

  She did not realize that she was crying until she discovered that the front of Rafe’s shirt was damp with her tears.

  • • •

  He had planned to take Ella through the psi-fence and leave her in a safe place some distance from where the ambush had taken place. He assumed the other two Vortex men would be waiting for their companions.

  But when he emerged from the Preserve with Ella in his arms, he discovered that one of the vehicles was gone.

  “The other two probably figured we all got eaten,” he said to Lorelei.

  With some effort and a bit of awkward maneuvering, he managed to get Ella curled up on the rear seat of the SUV. When he was satisfied that she was reasonably comfortable, he opened the door on the driver’s side and angled himself behind the wheel. With one foot braced on the ground and his gun in his hand, he took out his phone.

  Slade answered on the first ring.

  “I could use a little help,” Rafe said.

  Chapter 26

  Slade ended the call, clipped the phone to his belt, and looked at Rafe. “My officers found the missing vehicle that was used in the ambush. It was abandoned near the marina. Looks like the fools stole a boat.”

  “Idiots.” Rafe shook his head. “They don’t know the currents around Rainshadow.”

  “Even experienced fishermen who have lived on the island all their lives try to avoid taking a boat out at night. I doubt the two we’re looking for will get far. Probably wind up on the rocks. The bodies might wash ashore in the next day or so.”

  “We’ll get some answers from the two we pulled out of the Preserve tonight,” Rafe said.

  “Maybe. But their ID looks solid.”

  “Bail bond agents working for a Crystal City bond outfit?” Rafe shook his head in disgust. “Give me a break. What are they going to say? That I was a case of mistaken identity? They were after someone else?”

  “Why not? It’s as good a story as any other.”

  “Not a lot of bounty hunters are armed with Alien tech,” Rafe said.

  They were in Slade’s office. It was nearly two o’clock in the morning. Ella was fast asleep, curled up on a bench in the outer office. One of Slade’s officers, a woman named Myrna Reed, was keeping an eye on her.

  The unconscious men were locked up in one of the police station’s two small cells. The bell weapon and the headphones that the agents had worn earlier were currently sitting on Slade’s desk.

  Rafe knew that taking the chief’s job on Rainshadow had not been anywhere on Slade’s agen
da back in the days when he had been with the Bureau. The world of a small-town police chief held little appeal for a man who was used to chasing serious bad guys in the Underworld. But things had happened and Slade had been forced to reinvent his life. The surprise was that he looked thoroughly at home here in his new office.

  “Any idea why Vortex wants you so badly?” Slade asked. “Assuming whoever is behind this really is Vortex?”

  “Not entirely sure yet.” Rafe looked at the gray stone in his ring. “But Ella thinks it’s connected to what happened to me three months ago. I’m strongly inclined to agree with her.”

  “You’re saying it goes back to when you got psi-burned.”

  “I think so, yes.”

  Slade leaned back in his chair and went quiet for a time.

  “We need some help with this one,” Rafe said finally. “Okay if I call Joe Harding? This case started in Crystal City and it involves Alien tech. Joe has resources that aren’t available to either of us.”

  Slade thought about it. “You’re right. Call Harding.”

  There was a little more silence.

  “I got burned once,” Slade said eventually.

  “I heard about that.” Rafe paused. “Obviously you survived.”

  “There was a time when I wasn’t sure I would. That was followed by an even worse time when I figured that I would survive but without my talent.”

  Rafe hesitated, not sure if he wanted to push the subject. “Did anything change afterward?”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  “I mean, besides getting this cushy job here on Rainshadow.”

  “Besides that.”

  “Got to say you look fairly normal,” Rafe ventured.

  Slade’s mouth kicked up at the corner. “Appearances can be deceiving.”

  “You’re married, holding down a job, and expecting a baby. That’s pretty much the working definition of normal.”

  “Yep, life is good. But between you and me, my talent changed after the burn.”

  “I suppose it would be amazing if it hadn’t been affected in some way.” Rafe felt as if he were walking on eggshells. Conversations like this were complicated.