Siren Hunter- the Curse

by J G Barber

  Paul emerges from the cockpit, beaming a smile. “I love this boat!”

  “She’s for sale, if you’re interested.” Dutch hands him a business card. It bears the same eight-pointed Icelandic symbol embossed on Alexei’s business card.

  “Definitely.” He pockets the card. “Thanks for the tour, Dutch. I’ll be in touch.”

  “Good luck with your odyssey, brother.” Dutch shakes Paul’s hand again, looking in Lorelei’s direction. “Call if you need anything.”

  He rejoins Lorelei in front of the Isara 65. “How do you like my new boat?” she asks.

  Paul looks at her, dumbfounded. “You just bought this?”

  “Why not?” she teases, her emerald green eyes twinkling with trouble. “Wanna race?”

  Paul’s connection with her and the change processing in his cells enable him to sense she’s playing a much bigger game than an impulse buy of rich girl toys. Paul looks at her, wanting to know what else she knows.

  “Art’s selling more shares,” she reveals. “What do you think? Should I do it?”

  “Unbelievable.” He processes a moment of outrage as he digests Art’s latest move to undermine the value of his shares. But the anger gives way to amazement. Paul’s impressed by her ability to manipulate events and impose her will on others.

  Lorelei dials Art on her smartphone. “I’m interested. Send me the details.” She ends the call and kisses him passionately. “It begins. The consummation of our concupiscence will bring many more blessings from Great Mother.” Paul panics as he feels her kiss and her words in the cells of his body. She caresses his face. “I told you our union would be a creative force. Don’t worry, Sailor. I’ll take care of you. I always take care of my lovers.”

  Paul backs away from her and runs toward the street, powering up his smartphone. The Serpent Goddess displays on his phone. Lorelei’s laugh echoes through the parking lot. He looks around him, seeing nothing. Paul freaks out. Alexei’s car pulls up out of nowhere. Alexei opens the passenger door and commands, “Get in.”

  Paul obeys. “What a coincidence. Thanks.”

  “No coincidence.” Alexei drives away. “Dutch texted me.”

  Paul’s mind tries to make sense of everything he’s felt this morning. “What’s going on here, Alexei?”

  “It is far more dangerous than you realize.” Alexei turns to look back at Paul. “Did you have sex with it?”

  Paul scoffs. “Excuse me?”

  “Did you have sex with Lorelei?” Alexei demands.

  He looks down in shame. “Yes.”

  Alexei pulls the car over and parks. “Listen to me. The nixe has total access to your innermost thoughts and fears. It will play you like a puppet on a string. Tempt you. Use you. Until you cannot resist. The nixe will dig into the darkest depths of your soul until it drives you to suicide. To avoid this fate, it will require you to do the unimaginable.”

  Paul hears Lorelei’s siren song calling to him. “You keep saying it. What is it?”

  “Wake up,” he says impatiently. “You cannot kill the nixe by ordinary means. You must beat it at its own game.”

  Paul’s head spins as Lorelei’s chemistry pulses through his veins, clouding his mind and emotions. “You’re insane.” He climbs out of the car and marches to the street.

  Alexei drives alongside, trying to convince him to get back in. Paul flips him off and pounds his fists on the roof of the sedan until it dents. Alexei pulls over and tries to force Paul back into the car. But Lorelei’s song fills Paul with unusual strength. He grabs Alexei’s arms and holds him at bay. Alexei searches Paul’s eyes, spooked by what he sees. Alexei gets back in the car and drives away.

  At the wheel of the Isara, Lorelei grins. She starts the engine and backs out of the slip. She steers her way out of the marina and towards Possession Point.

  Paul sits alone in a hotel room, lights on, curtains closed. A room service tray stacked with plates and an empty bottle of wine blocks the door. Small bottles of liquor and candy wrappers litter the room. All this eating and drinking did nothing to suppress his panic attack. He sweats head to toe as his heart races from the excess of alcohol and sugar.

  He opens his wallet to a picture of Laura. As he does, his smartphone display lights up with an image of the Serpent Goddess. The ‘Die Lorelei’ song plays. “I think that the waves will devour, both boat and man, by and by. And that, with her dulcet-voiced power. Was done by the Loreley.” Paul attempts to power off. Nothing happens. He stuffs the smartphone under his mattress. and lies against a stack of pillows on the bed.

  Lorelei’s siren song, the lullaby she sang to him on the MaverickONE, permeates the room and activates the snake collar around Paul’s neck. Within seconds, the collar oscillates and Paul succumbs to the song. He drifts off to sleep. As he snores, the siren song transitions into the supernatural buzz, bringing with it another vivid dream.

  Paul struggles to break free from something unseen. His eyes open. He’s in a stone dungeon on a large wooden table. Snakes surround the table on the dungeon floor. One by one, the snakes slither onto the table. First, they bind Paul’s legs together and strap them down. More snakes bite each other’s tails to lock down his hips and torso, pinning his arms to his sides. Finally, pulling his head to the table. A snake wraps itself around Paul’s neck and chokes him.

  Paul lurches forward in bed, screaming as he pulls at his neck. “Goddamn fucking snakes!” His eyes dart around the room as he tries to figure out where he is. No snakes anywhere. He opens the curtains to the Seattle streets at night. His reflection in the window reveals the snake collar around his neck and Erik’s eyes staring back at him. Lorelei’s sweet, sad song of self-destruction echoes in his mind and resonates through his body. Alexei was right. I’m fucked.

  The siren hunters consume their meals at a late-night cafe near the marina. “It’s not finished with him yet,” Alexei explains. “It will lure him back to Los Angeles.”

  Dutch shoots Alexei a concerned look. “We must intervene,” Dutch insists.

  Alexei closes his eyes to hear Erik speaking into his mind. Paul received the Atlantean gene from his mother. He can do what we cannot. Do not be fooled by appearances.

  Alexei reflects on what he saw in Paul’s eyes. He saw the change taking place. “We must follow Erik’s plan.”

  “Alexei.” Dutch tries once more to convince his partner. “He’s headed down the same path as his father.”

  “My dear friend, you are mistaken about this,” Alexei assures Dutch. “Paul has a greater strength, something no siren hunter before him has possessed. He will know it soon enough.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Back on their home turf in Los Angeles, the New Century crew gathers in a conference room. All eyes are on Paul’s empty chair. “Let’s get started,” Lorelei says.

  Paul snores in his hotel room. A knock awakens him with a start. “Housekeeping,” the maid shouts through the door.

  “No!” He looks at the clock. 9:22. “Fuck me.” He jumps out of bed and into the shower.

  A taxi skids to a stop in front of the ADMS offices. Paul jams another stick of gum into his mouth as he runs inside. He grabs the videoconference room and fumbles with the control until the online meeting opens.

  The display fades in to Lorelei’s face, her emerald green eyes staring back at him. “Where have you been, Paul? You knew we had meetings in L.A. this morning. I tried reaching you all evening. I’ve been sick with worry.”

  His mind spins in confusion as Lorelei’s chemistry in his veins fights with his instinct to call bullshit on her games. “Sit down,” she commands. Paul obeys. She continues. “The deal is falling apart again. Art called Jerry this weekend. You know the rest of the story.”

  Paul scans the halls for spectators. All clear. “I thought our consummation would make this deal happen.”

  “And it will, Sailor. It will. Now it’s time for damage control. Get down here as fast as you can.” Lorelei ends the video feed.


  Paul pulls at the snake collar around his throat. I’m hallucinating. She must have slipped me something. The tastes and smells from his passionate night with Lorelei dominate his senses. There’s no way I imagined that. He opens his wallet, looking for Alexei’s card. It’s gone. He reaches into his pocket for his smartphone. Shit. I left it at the hotel.

  He sneaks into his office, pulls a spare smartphone out of his desk, and a packed suitcase from the side of the filing cabinet. If my father taught me one thing, it was to always be prepared for an unplanned departure. Paul makes it out of the ADMS offices unseen. He calls a car to SeaTac Airport.

  I’m not thinking about this problem in the right way, Paul admits to himself as he stares out the window of the car. It’s just like Ellen said. She’s operating on the mental plane, and controlling everyone through the emotional plane, including me. He feels the snake collar choking him. Of course! The snake collars enable her to use her mind to manipulate our emotions. I have to keep seeing the unseen or I’ll keep getting my ass kicked.

  The snake collar tightens in response, triggering another panic attack. “How do I get this fucking thing off of me?” Paul shouts. The driver shoots him a disturbed look through the rear view mirror. Paul rolls down the window and breathes in the fresh air. He tries the breathing exercises Laura taught him. Rage replaces his panic. Paul feels Erik’s will overtake him.

  Laura storms into the restaurant where she met Alexei before. She finds Alexei sitting in the same booth, eating breakfast. “It wasn’t his choice to sleep with Lorelei. It was Erik’s.”

  Her quick rebound surprises Alexei. “How do you know this?”

  “The sirens turned on Paul’s phone while he was with her. I saw them together.” She refuses to allow her emotions to overtake her. “I heard Erik’s voice. And I heard Lorelei say Erik’s name.”

  “Erik’s one weakness,” he admits. “As I explained, it has caused us problems.”

  “Caused you problems? Are you fucking kidding me?” Laura says as the waitress arrives. “I’ll have what he’s having.” Laura refocuses on Alexei. “Generation after generation, you siren hunters have failed because of Erik.”

  Despite his unusual intelligence and wisdom, it never occurred to Alexei before now that this could be true. “We have always followed Erik’s plan.”

  “How does Paul heal the ancestral curse?” Laura demands.

  He considers her question. “You can help him break the cycle.”

  “Me?” Laura doesn’t understand. Somehow, she keeps getting dragged into this. First by Aurora, now by Alexei.

  His words infuse her with confidence. “You are stronger than any Douglass wife before. A true warrior.”

  Laura nods. “I will not permit this curse to destroy Paul. Or my son.” She calculates her next move. “Take me to where the sirens live.”

  He feels compelled to warn her. “Engaging them at their residence is very dangerous. It’s where they store their objects of power. You risk your son’s life and your own if you do so.”

  Her piercing blue eyes project her warrior intent. “I refuse to live in fear any longer. These bitches are going down.”

  He pledges himself to her intent. “I will protect you.”

  The waitress arrives with Laura’s breakfast. They eat together in silence. Alexei recognizes the genius of Erik’s plan for their first victory against Lorelei and Leucosia. Laura reflects on the moments where Leucosia has entered her consciousness and wonders what she will do if she encounters the siren again in the flesh.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Paul waits for Lorelei in the New Century lobby. He’s suited up, coffee in hand, rage contained, and ready to do business. Lorelei emerges through the main door to the offices. She dismisses him with a glance and leads him inside. This time, he’s not her obedient lap dog. He studies her the way a hunter observes the behaviors of his prey.

  They enter a three-hour meeting focused on damage control. Paul learns what Lorelei spent the morning dealing with. After Lorelei said yes to Art on the additional investment, Art used his new position of power to reassert the non-negotiable value of the company to Jerry. Jerry’s anger got the best of him. He ranted and vented about Art to his team, enmeshing them in his emotional state, and turning them against doing the deal.

  Lorelei tells them about her additional investment and how she will use her additional leverage to correct this injustice. She commits to closing the deal with terms that favor New Century. Paul reassures them of his commitment to realizing the technical solution. By the end of the meeting, everyone has calmed down and the path to closing the deal is clear.

  Paul and Lorelei enter the parking structure after the meeting. “That was a lot of drama.” He opens the door of the Gemballa for her. “How will you get Art to give up his position?”

  “I showed you how.” Lorelei circles her fingers around Paul’s neck.

  “You told them you’re the largest shareholder now,” he says. “How did that happen?”

  She lifts a finger to her lips to silence him. “You’re the only one who knows my secret.” Lorelei slides into the driver’s seat of the Gemballa.

  Paul expects her to invite him in. She does not. He kneels down to connect with her, face to face. “I need to see you tonight.”

  She places her fingers over his lips and twinkles her emerald green eyes. “You have more work to do, Sailor. Close the deal.” She removes her fingers and kisses him. “I have special plans for us Friday night, after the deal’s done. To reward you for all your hard work.”

  “I’m in love with you, you know,” he admits, looking through Lorelei’s eyes to the woman he saw during their night of intimacy. The woman’s eyes peek out in a moment of vulnerability.

  “Of course you are.” Lorelei shuts it down, starts the car and drives away.

  Back in his downtown L.A. hotel room, Paul resumes his new ritual of pacing around the room in a panic. “I’m not in love with her. Why did I say that? I’m not in love with her! Why did I say that? Stupid mother fucker!!!”

  You discovered her weakness, Erik says. She is like me.

  “Her weakness?” Paul remembers Erik told him before he would show the way to defeat her, but he doesn’t know how to process what that means. “But I just told her I’m in love with her.”

  Erik corrects him. You love the woman whose body the Loreley inhabits. Make her your ally. Victory is at hand.

  “What does that mean?” Paul breathes as his panic attack explodes. “Erik, what does that mean?” Erik does not answer. Paul resumes his pacing, walking in circles until he collapses on the bed, exhausted. He doesn’t need Lorelei’s lullaby to fall asleep this time. The chemistry she infused him with continues its work as he sleeps through the night.

  Three more days of drama at New Century, spent untangling and venting everyone’s emotions about the deal as they work through the final details. This is nothing new for Paul. In his decade of experience in this business, he’s seen many corporate players mask their fear of making a career-impacting mistake with business and technical issues. He works through them, one by one, until everyone’s exhausted. Lorelei remains quiet, allowing Paul to lead and take the credit. He has no sensation or perception of the snake collars around his neck or others. He ends the three days feeling back in control of the deal.

  Friday morning, Paul concludes the meetings with a half-day review of all the issues raised during the week, and the issue resolutions they agreed to. He demonstrates his mastery of the deal to Jerry, the crew and New Century management, inspiring confidence on every point. By Friday afternoon, they have a handshake deal.

  Paul and Lorelei stop in at Jerry’s office on the way out. “Outstanding work, Paul,” Jerry proclaims, shaking Paul’s hand. “I knew you’d be the difference maker.”

  “Team effort, Jerry.” He pats Jerry’s shoulder. “Thank you for hanging in there with me.”

  “Then it’s on,” Lorelei says to Jerry. “I’ve made
all the arrangements.” She hands him a stack of letter-sized envelopes. Jerry’s name is hand-written on the top envelope.

  “What’s on?” Paul asks, puzzled.

  “The celebration, of course,” Lorelei says with an attitude, as if Paul should have known.

  “The celebration of desire.” Jerry explains. “It’s a tradition with her. After every deal she closes, Lorelei hosts a big, crazy party at her old mansion on Whidbey Island.”

  “Old mansion?” Paul didn’t know she had another mansion. He looks to Lorelei for further explanation. She shrugs.

  Jerry continues. “She flies in all her money friends from L.A. and other places, and we party with lots of beautiful women and her money friends from Seattle. This will be my fourth one.” He shoots Paul the same disturbed look from after dinner at Jerry’s house. “It’s a party unlike any other. One you’ll never forget.”

  “Time for us to go,” she says, hooking her arm under Paul’s leading him out the door. “We’ll see you and the crew Saturday night, Jerry.”

  They cross paths with Monica on the way to the lobby. She’s already holding an envelope. As the women exchange an intimate hug. Lorelei projects her thoughts into Monica’s mind. The tests confirmed what we already knew. Great Mother has chosen you, sister. Paul studies their interchange, trying to figure out what’s going on.

  Monica jumps up and down like a little girl who just found out about her surprise birthday party. “I’m so excited! Thank you, Lorelei!”

  “This will be a celebration of desire for the ages.” Lorelei kisses her on the lips. “We must go now, my dear. We’ll see you at the mansion.”

  “Okay. Bye.” Monica’s eyes devour Paul. “See you there.”

  He shakes the image of a threesome out of his mind. “You haven’t invited me to this party of yours,” Paul comments as he walks with Lorelei to the parking garage.