Before Levi could respond, Edwin gave her a condescending smile and said, “You will finish the job, Miss Doré. In fact, it is you who will be the bait.”
For a moment, the only noise in the carriage was the thwacking of the wheels running through the mud. Then Levi growled, “Are you mad?”
“Not in the least, Mr. Cannon. Using Miss Doré as bait will rid me of two problems at once: the Siren Eel and the source of all this insanity.”
Levi’s voice thundered within the small space. “Your inability to accept Melusine’s refusal of your affections has poisoned your brain.”
Edwin just chuckled.
Levi reached over, taking Melusine’s hand in his own. His fingers were strong and warm. “Stop this coach at once. Mel and I are getting out.”
Edwin sniffed. “Not until I say.”
Though Melusine knew the door would be locked, she tried the handle, regardless. It did not budge under her grip. Mounting panic snaked through her, like a weed growing over a plant, choking out its life bit by bit. Any hope she’d had of coming through this without Levi knowing her secret or without him getting hurt was quickly being snuffed out.
Levi pounced on Edwin, one strong hand around Edwin’s throat, pinning him to the velvet carriage seat. His other hand twisted Edwin’s copper wrist joints until they squealed and popped, broken. “Nothing happens to her, or it won’t just be your metal parts that need fixing.”
Edwin nodded and Levi removed his hand, slow enough that he could catch the other man in his grip again if he needed to. Edwin coughed and rubbed his throat, then breathed out, “I’ll have the driver open the doors—we’re by the docks, regardless. But first, Miss Doré must disrobe.”
Levi’s hand shot out again, squeezing Edwin’s windpipe. “You sick—”
But Edwin managed to croak out, “She’s not human!”
Though he did not remove his hand from Edwin’s throat, Levi turned to Melusine, his eyes wild. “What is he talking about?”
Her throat constricted. She could say nothing, let Levi knock Edwin cold and then disappear the moment night fell. That way, she wouldn’t have to see his face when he learned the truth. She hesitated, her breath ragged.
Her hesitation cost her everything. In that moment, Edwin’s damaged copper fingers seized the material of Melusine’s gown at the waist. A sliver of metal caught the line of stitching, ripping it apart. Levi cuffed Edwin across the chin, but before he brought his fist down again, the dress fell back to reveal Melusine’s scale-covered hips and legs.
A thin trickle of blood escaped Edwin’s mouth as he grimaced. “Mermaid. I knew it.”
Levi stared at her, the coral scales still shiny in the dim light of the carriage. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed, then swallowed again. “But…I saw you. Your legs.”
“She’s a monster. An expert in seduction. She has been playing with us all along, intent on devouring us,” said Edwin, prying Levi’s fingers from his throat.
“No! Not at all. I’m human. It’s a curse.” Melusine’s heart felt like a boulder in her chest.
But Levi was still studying her, his face slowly paling. “A mermaid?” he breathed. “You’re a mermaid?”
“I only turn when in love.” The look of betrayal in Levi’s eyes brought the raw sting of tears to the back of her throat. She loved him. Oh, have mercy on her, she loved him.
Fire lit her shins and ankles as she felt new scales growing in. In a matter of moments her feet would turn to fins and then the change would be complete. It was then, she imagined, that she’d become the siren who would taste his tongue and swallow his blood so it would beat stronger in her own veins.
As she watched, Levi lost his ghostly pallor and a surge of color rose into his cheeks. “The night of his death, my brother told me he’d met the most lovely of creatures. That he had to see her again or drown in his own desire. And that was exactly what happened. He was tortured and drowned by the woman he worshiped.”
His eyes flashed black and he punched the carriage wall directly next to Melusine’s head. The metal clang reverberated in her ear. His face was only inches from hers. She could see his pulse throbbing in a thick vein in his neck.
“The curse…” she whispered. “I never wanted this to happen. It wasn’t my plan. I wanted to stay away from you, but I can’t control my feelings, Levi.” Her vision blurred by unshed tears, Melusine could no longer see Levi’s face clearly. But she heard him; his voice was a hard line.
“Get me out of this carriage before I kill you both.”
“You must finish the job, Mr. Cannon,” said Edwin.
Levi pulled a pistol from a holster inside his waistcoat. “I don’t care what you do to the mermaid. I don’t give a damn if the Siren Eel swallows her or even you. But if you do not unlock this carriage, I’ll blow your brains out of the back of your head.”
“Unlock!” Edwin pushed on the handle and the door swung outward. Levi tumbled out into a relentless sheet of rain and stalked off in the direction of the city. A hot blade of grief cut through Melusine.
The lake churned before them, the water gray and frothy. At the closest pier waited a floating vessel of dull metal. It was not even half as long as a sailing ship, but shaped like one, tapered at both ends, a trio of thin smoke stacks where a mast might have been. The silver balloon of a one-person airship was tacked to the hull. It flapped about in the wind, fanning clouds of steam that the boat engine spat out. “Levi!” Edwin called out. “Feed her to the Siren Eel and then slay them both. I’ll pay you double!”
Levi kept walking, his head down, his hands tightened into fists. He did not stop did not turn around. Yet he did pause mid-step, his head lifting, when Edwin cried in desperation, “This is your chance to finish it, to eradicate those creatures that killed your brother once and for all!”
Melusine’s breath caught. Would he do it? Would he come back to kill her?
But he continued on again, becoming only a silhouette in the curtain of rain.
Agony shot through Melusine’s feet and legs. Her fins were coming in and her shoes did not mold well to their form. She took a step away from Edwin, but stumbled on the uneven boards creating a path to the shore on one side and the street on the other.
“Oh, no, my dear, dear Melusine. You are coming with me.” Edwin’s crippled clockwork hand locked her wrist in a vice grip, bits of broken metal sharp against her skin.
She twisted her forearm above his and brought it down sharply against the joint that connected the prosthetic arm to his elbow. It bent inward, pinching Edwin’s skin, tiny rivets piercing his flesh. Edwin screamed. Rivulets of blood mixed with the rain. Melusine shook his hand off of her wrist and took two steps back.
He raced towards her, his blue eyes burning, rain streaming from his long nose. She knew she could take him easily, even without a weapon, so she stood her ground. As he neared her she extended her right hand, fingertips pointed at his windpipe. But before she could finish the move, a searing pain tore through her and she doubled over, sinking to the wooden sidewalk. She tore at her boot laces, her fins finally formed.
Edwin wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her. She knocked him off of her by smashing her head backward into his. She heard a soft crunch as her skull made contact with his nose and a long tear as he ripped at her dress.
Though he let go of her, she flailed about on the ground. Instead of legs and feet she now had two tails ending in fins and no way to stand. Without her clothes to cover her, she looked more siren than human. Her scales climbed up over her hips and narrowed above her navel, finally coming to a point just between her breasts. Even under the dark cloud cover, her skin shone like mother of pearl.
When she breathed in, she tasted the moisture in the air.
Edwin stood over her, a look of something between hatred and adoration in his eyes. “So this is you in love. I guess it is a good thing you never loved me.”
“I didn’t want to hurt you. I couldn’t allow mys
elf to get close to you.”
“But you got close to Levi, didn’t you?”
Melusine said nothing. There was nothing to say. She let Levi into her heart and she ruined everything.
Edwin bent down to pick her up, but the barbs on her scales pricked his skin. “Damn fish!” He fiddled with the crushed fingers of his mechanical hand and, getting it to respond as he wished, locked a copper arm tight around her. Perhaps she would have fought him off, but just then an intense throbbing around her ribs diverted her from any thought other than the pain.
They approached the little boat where an automaton servant waited, rusting in the rain. Edwin half-held, half-dragged her, her ribcage itching and burning, as if acid were eating her from the inside. She tried to force herself to stay alert, to stay herself, but a black veil fell over her consciousness. When she awoke again, she was in the water, bubbles flowing in and out of tiny slits between her ribs. Gills. Oh, dear God, she had gills.
A large chain was fastened around her waist with a padlock. The chain disappeared further down into the brown water, the storm kicking up sand so she could not see more than a few feet below her. She dove to see what she was attached to. Putting her two tails together to form one sleek whip, she darted through the water, a strange satisfaction filling her as she swam. Apart from the chain around her waist, she felt weightless yet sure and powerful. The cold water a secure embrace against her body.
An anchor held fast to the chain, its heavy arms nestled into the clay-like sand coating the bottom of the lake. No matter how hard she yanked or pushed, she could not make it budge.
She shot upwards, her face, shoulders and waist cresting the lip of the water before being tugged back by the immovable chain. She was far enough away from the docks and boats that the giant Siren Eel wouldn’t ruin the manmade toys with its bulk, even if a fight ensued. But she was close enough that she could see Edwin’s silhouette on the jetty; he had planted her as bait and would watch as the Siren Eel devoured her.
Yet while she should be frightened that the Siren Eel would be there any moment and that these were her last minutes of life, instead an eerie calm blanketed her. She opened her mouth and raked her tongue over her teeth. Real mermaids had a second set of teeth hugging the first – sharp tines they used to rip apart muscle or slice through a man’s tongue.
Melusine felt no new growth behind her own teeth, but she did feel the dark and heady brew of beauty and power snaking through her veins. In the back of her mind, she remembered her mother in the bath and how the magic worked on her through the water, her already lovely face and body turning to something irresistible, something so beautiful it could only be supernatural. So this is how she felt. Intoxicated, dizzy and invincible at the same time.
The siren’s glamour was hers now, but so were its monstrous desires. Despite the lack of fangs, she wanted to taste Edwin’s mouth upon her own, then taste his blood as she bit down. A smile played upon her lips and a melody worked its way through her vocal chords.
“Edwin,” she sang out, her voice carried over the waves even though it was barely above a whisper. Her new voice was her own, but sweeter, deeper. It was a melody that brought a longing to even her own heart. “My sweet Edwin, come to me. Bring the key to unchain me and I’ll be yours forever.”
He stood on the jetty, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. While he fidgeted, she called out to him once more. She imagined the sound of it reaching him, sending pleasant shivers all over his body. She imagined his desire as a drugged haze that enveloped him fully until his only thought was of her.
He jumped into the water in his waistcoat and shoes and headed directly for her.
At the sound of Edwin splashing in the waves, bile suddenly rose in Melusine’s throat. No! No, she would not let the beast in her take over. She’d allow Edwin to free her, but she would not allow those base instincts to fill her with bloodlust. She wrapped her hands around her own throat, trying to choke out the song that was building there. The black veil fluttered over her and to her great panic, she lost a few seconds. She had to hang on. She was Melusine. She was no monster.
But her doubt was greater than her conviction.
He approached her, his blonde hair now a wet, dark cap upon his head. He must have had his servant attach a replacement clockwork hand while he was on the boat, because he treaded water, holding the key to the padlock in a shiny new set of fingers. “Do you love me now, Melusine?”
His hand trembled as he reached out to fit the key into the lock. But as metal struck metal, the key slipped, swirling downward through the water.
The darkness that slithered through her veins expanded until she could barely feel herself inside her own body. Her vision went fuzzy as an animalistic rage exploded through her. She’d drown the fool! She’d drown him and use his tongue to sweeten her song!
She struggled to see out of her own eyes and use her own voice, the monster in her growing more powerful. Her voice cracked as she shouted out, “Get away from me, Edwin!” And when he did not move, his eyes only on her delicate fingers reaching for him, ready to push him under, she screamed again. “Go or I will kill you in spite of myself!”
The sound of a chugging engine cut through her words, and the small boat that had been tied to the pier (the one Edwin had surely used to bring her out to the depths only to chain her up) cut through the waves. Levi stood on deck, a rope in his hands, a look of fierce determination upon his face.
“Sir Aldridge, stay away from her!” He threw the line out to the other man and pulled him out of Melusine’s reach. She clawed at the water, but the chain held her where she was.
“Levi!” Desire swam over her – her own desire to love him as well as the siren’s desire to devour him.
Levi was helping Edwin over the edge of the boat, his wet sleeves clinging to the shape of his arms. He glanced at Melusine then quickly turned away, his chest heaving with quick breaths. “You are one of them.”
“I don’t want to hurt you, Levi. You must go before I’m overtaken by the curse completely.” But even as she was saying it, her voice lilted into song, the notes set out to ensnare him, to bring him to her.
She saw him hesitate, hands still on Edwin though the other man was now inside the boat. But then he shook his head as if trying to rid it of cobwebs. “I’ve come to finish the job.”
“You’ve come to kill me.” Strange how much it hurt, though she knew he was right to do so. She was a danger. A threat. A monster.
Levi grasped the edge of the boat, the small metal hull tossed about in the waves. He did not look at her, but out at the expanse of lake behind her. “To kill the Siren Eel. It is what I was hired for.”
Her skin tingled at the base of her neck. It was near. She turned and saw its immense head shoot out of the water a few hundred yards from them. It had caught her scent and it was on its way.
Instinctual fear burned through her and the blackness that was her inner monster nearly took over again. But, like a toddler fighting sleep, she blinked and refused to give in. The chain around her waist was heavy and cold. There was no way she was getting out of this alive without the key.
She dove, slicing through the water until she reached the bottom. With the storm, there was little sunlight and what murky light did seep through the depths was filtered to nearly nothing down this deep. She searched for any telltale glint in the sands, but saw nothing except a blanket of gray.
The Siren Eel was heading for her, its jaw stretched wide in a sharp toothed grin. Its tail slapped the water, the reverberation of it causing the lake to heave and pitching Melusine about.
Please, please! She had to find that key.
Her fingernails scrabbled the icy thick sand as the shadow of the beast thrust her into complete darkness. She flattened her body to the lake floor, inching forward on her forearms, still feeling around for the key.
The eel screeched, horrendous pitches in its cry now audible to Melusine as a siren. Her ears throbbed and po
unded, a needle of pain at the center. The beast’s right eye flamed indigo and orange. A slate black orb shone dully where Levi had shot it in the left eye. It opened its jaw wide and skidded along the sand, trying to catch her between its teeth. But just as it reached her, she twirled away, the creature’s fangs and the barbed scales of its head missing her by a mere fraction. But its gigantic tail did not miss the mark. It whipped about, colliding with her, flinging her several feet backward through the water.
The spines on the eel’s scales had not scraped her this time, but had rasped against the thick chain. The beast swam on, gathering speed and space to turn around in, churning the water as well as the sand as it did so.
In the cloud of particles, Melusine spotted the shimmer of the key. She wrapped her fingers tightly around it, a jolt of hope shooting through her. The chain jerked and the undertow swelled and surged as the Siren Eel advanced, water pressure hurling Melusine about like a die in the hand of a gambler. She stabbed the key at the jerking padlock, a scream of frustration escaping her as she missed each time. The Eel was practically upon her when she felt the slip and click of the key fitting into the lock. The chain dropped.
A BOOM shook the water. Bubbles from the creature’s jaw flowed over Melusine. But the Siren Eel was suddenly less interested in her. Its eyes rolled in their sockets and it turned its head around to look at its back and tail.
A line of fire lit up its dorsal fin, burning brightly despite the water. Above it swam Levi, kicking his way back up to the surface. As the eel wriggled, trying to put out the fire, Melusine followed Levi. Once he was back near the boat, only his legs visible beneath the waves, a silver arrow sped past her, nearly touching her right shoulder.
Her face broke through the surface, the air cool against her wet skin. In the sky directly above her, the wind batted about a miniature airship, Edwin’s form squeezed into its basket along with an automaton pilot. He bent over the side, watching her through binocular goggles.
Levi was still in the water only inches from her, his torso naked, beads of moisture shining in the dips and curves of his muscles. He held onto the boat with one hand and pointed a miniature crossbow at her with the other. “Get into the boat or the next shot won’t miss.”
Falling in Deep Collection Box Set Page 112
