He seemed to think about it for all of half a second, lips pursed and eyebrows bunched together. “I always have been a glutton for punishment, so perhaps I’ll have to take you up on that offer,” he started to say, only to pause dramatically. A Cheshire grin widened his mouth, spreading it disproportionately from ear to ear. “But not quite yet.”
Splotches of red colored Arielle’s face, her entire body quaking. Straightening, she forced a face of disinterest, turning her back and snapping her fingers. “Kill them.”
Guards, ones much like the one still held hostage in Ari’s locked grasp, pushed to the front of the crowds, spears drawn. Ari and I exchanged a glance, our thoughts mirrored in our stare; this was going to get messy, fast.
Kayden turned his head just enough to see Ari. “Now, this is what I meant by ‘of sorts.’”
Slack-jawed, I took a quick look around the room, counting the guards. There had to be at least two dozen, maybe more. We had to stall, or try and get through to her, though I had no idea what Kayden had planned.
“And your daughter?” I challenged with a stun, whirling back to face the the nearly eight foot tall woman. “Does she mean so little that you’d consider killing her in the process, simply for revenge?”
She turned her gaze to me, narrowing her eyes in revulsion as she ran her eyes over me, settling on the weapon still in my hands. It reminded me of how my Mother used to look at me; like I was a bug waiting to meet death under a shoe. “I am simply taking back what is mine, little mortal. Don’t presume to know what has transpired here in the past. If losing my child to gain the death of this, this
vile
and obscene creature, so be it.”
My legs started to shake, and I willed them to hold. “You could always enlighten me.”
She gave her head a little shake, a harsh and jagged laugh leaving her lips. “What is your name?”
“Essallie.”
“
Essallie
,” Arielle said, drawing on the syllables as if testing them on her tongue. “Lovely name. Different. Well, Essallie,” her fingers wrapped tighter around her staff, revealing long red nails nearly as long as each fingers, tiny gems pressed and glittering on the tips. “Perhaps you can ask
Kayden
why he felt the need to brutally slaughter over seventy of my females, stripping them of their gills, before he vanished into the night.” Heat from her stare beat on my face, as if she had stuck my head in an oven. Slowly, she turned her burning gaze to Kayden. “Well? Was it worth it? Slaughtering all those souls, our own family, all for your precious Juliet?”
“Enough,” Kayden snarled, eyes flashing in warning. The sudden change in his behavior startled me; the moment Arielle said Juliet, Kayden’s sense of poise and control had vanished. Unmistakable rage quelled just under the surface, shimmering red scales rising on his cheeks, his arms subtly shaking. He barely managed to speak between tightly clenched teeth. “That isn’t your story to tell, sea-witch.”
“I guess not. Pity,” Arielle smirked in delight, taunting him like a foolish child would taunt a lion in a cage. Her attempt at faking pity was laughable at best. “Even a soulless, heartless bastard like yourself should be allowed the chance at a happy ending. Of course, not that it would matter much now.” What little sympathy she had tried to display washed clean from her voice and face. “You are here now, and I will have justice for what you have done.”
Kayden’s mouth pulled tight for the faintest moment, eyes flashing. He immediately switched tactics. “Arielle, please,” he tried desperately to stall. “We’ve only just arrived. Can’t we discuss a punishment later?”
Ari and I exchanged a quiet glance, his arms still holding one of the Sirens hostage. His face said exactly what I felt; Kayden’s dark past extended far deeper, and appeared far more twisted than either of us could have imagined. Now, we might pay the price.
Across the room, Arielle let out a ear-shattering cry. “And have you vanish like you had before? I think not.” She snapped her fingers twice, the guards around us inching closer at her command.
Kayden ignored her brash fury, boldly stepping closer toward her and her throne. His hands tightened on the last lifeline we could use to our advantage in his arms. “I will not beg,” his voice was low, stained with uncertainty. “But I will ask of you to please hear us out, hear me out. We came for your help, because I know you’re the only one who can help us. The only one I know who loathes Lucretia and her family more than I do.”
The anger in Arielle’s face wavered, uncertainty flickering on her beautiful face. “Do not play me for a fool, Kayden.”
“I’m not, and you would see that if only you listened, dammit,” he continued to inch closer, the gap between him, Ari and I widening. Nausea rolled in my stomach, a dull ache spreading through my body as I ached to unleash my fire like a wild, uncontrollable torch. “Think back to why we came to know another in the first place. Have you already forgotten what she has done to you, what her mother and her mother’s mother has done to you?”
Light blazed in her eyes, bright and determined. “I have not forgotten.”
“Then hear me out,” Kayden pressed harder, his feet inches from the her golden throne. Smoke hazed off his shoulders and arms, his physical body barely solid. Gingerly he raised his arms up, holding Zeevna to her like an offering. “Time is key. Take your daughter, and help me save our only hope at destroying Lucretia.”
The room was silent, all eyes and ears on the demon and their Queen. It was like a single key had been struck on a piano, ringing endlessly without quiver, waiting for the rest of the song to follow. High above, the ocean water over the glass dome changed to a dark, burned navy, sharks of varying sizes drifting as if they too, were watching the scene below unfold.
Arielle reached out, tentatively, placing her hands under her quiet child. Carefully cradling her, she pulled back, Kayden’s arms dropping to his side and stepping back. Zeevna stirred in her Mother’s protective embrace, eyes fluttering briefly before going still once more.
The words that came next severed all chances of a peaceful interaction. Arielle let out a long, tired sigh, staring at her daughter affectionately. She swept a strand of hair off her face, her voice barely heard over my heart hammering in my chest. “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...” Her head snapped up, eyes quickly meeting each warrior in the room. “Take them. Kill the demon if necessary.”
Arielle’s words acted like a firecracker thrown into an unsuspecting crowd. Adult Sirens grabbed their children, fleeing faster than I would have imagined. Few of them made noise, preferring to scatter rather than attract attention to them. Quickly the vast town center boiled down to the three of us, Arielle holding Zeevna, and more than three dozen Siren guard, each sporting some type of weapon fashioned from pure gold.
Pain slashed at my stomach, nausea forcing bile to the back of my throat. I swallowed it back, swearing under my breath. Beside me, Ari was staring down Kayden, each eyeballing the other as if they were sharing a private conversation amongst themselves. Or planning a way to get us safely out of here.
“So,” I weakly offered, breaking the silence. “I’m guessing this means we can’t talk this out.”
Turning her back, Arielle laughed at my poor attempt to talk. “Afraid not, little mortal. Well?” She glanced over her shoulder, glaring at her unmoving, non-fighting men. “What are you waiting for, a damn invitation? Seize them, and annihilate the demon!”
“Seriously, Arielle, it’s
Essallie,
not little mortal, and
Kayden,
not demon. We need to improve your memory with names when I’m done feasting on the lovely spread of fish you’ve given me,” Kayden shook his head slightly, his ever-infuriating smirk spreading across his lips. Spinning around to face the mass of Sirens waiting to fight, he raised a hand, beckoning them to him. “Come and get it, you bunch of spineless tadpoles.”
Five of them moved forward, screeching like a murder of crows. With a wink, Kayden exploded into a mass of black smoke, shouting at Ari in the same move. Ari had already leapt into action, flames of dazzling white igniting the person in his grasp. He tossed the broiled Siren into Kayden’s smoke, turned over his shoulder to face me, and pointed up at Arielle.
“Don’t let her get away!”
Swirls of fire flared off my skin, spiraling over my arms and hands, burning hotter on the spear as it formed a golden torch of blue and black. In the smoke, screams choked off, the sound of snapping bone and tearing flesh twisting sickeningly at my gut.
Ari spiraled around the room, swifter than a lion latching onto its prey. Fire blasted from his palms in short, violent bursts, searing off faces and limbs, igniting bodies in his wake. They collapsed to the ground, rolling and roaring in agony as the smell of their melting skin filled the air, black smoke coiling off their injuries while they lay motionless.
“Essallie, move!” Ari shouted, sprinting. I spun around, a spear thrusting for my face. I collapsed to the ground, shoving my spear high and pushing a wave of fire from the tip into the oncoming Siren’s face. It sliced into his cheek, hands dropping his weapon as they desperately tried to pat out the flames spreading across his face.
I leapt up to my feet, tossing the spear aside and making a run for the steps. Arielle was already halfway up the sky-high staircase, tail swishing left and right as she sped off like a frightened child into the nothing. Oh hell no, not after all the misery we had endured to get here. If I had to hold the fish-woman thing by her tail and make her help us, I would.
A shattering cry from below stopped me cold in my tracks. Spinning around, I looked down at the mass destruction below. Kayden stood nearly a meter away from the pack of Siren surrounding Ari, his body contorted at an awkward shape as he crouched over the ground. Smoke billowed off his skin, clouding the air around him. He thrashed, twisting his neck and arms, almost as if he were struggling to keep something in place. A long, sea-foam colored hand reached out from the smoke, quivering with the final stretch of life.
His body shuddered, and he whipped his head around faster than I could register with my mind. Boiling white rage colored every inch of his eyes, smoldering with a heat hot enough to scald me with a look. Blood dripped from his mouth, his gleaming white teeth smeared in cherry red, a strip of sea-foam colored flesh clinging to his cheek. He held a limp, tiny body alongside him, pressed tightly against his side in a vain attempt to hide his kill.
I heard my breath catch, shaking on my lips. His eyes flickered black for the faintest moment, then narrowed into slits as white covered them once more. A slow, predatory smile slid over his lips, and just before he flexed his newfound black claws, he licked them as if he could taste the future blood on them.
Two Siren appeared from the thinning black smoke, grabbing at Kayden while he moved forward to slaughter another one of their own. The first encased his arms around him, Kayden flailing and kicking back as he struggled to free himself, while the other grabbed a sword of gold, its hilt a mass of emeralds and onyx. Pulling the blade back, the Siren swung forward, straight for Kayden’s neck.
It all happened so fast, I could barely think, only react. “Kayden!” I screamed, scrambling to my feet. I had barely made it a few steps before I collapsed, head swimming as darkness threatened to pull me under once more. A new round of nausea gripped me, voices whispering in my head. The scream barely left my lips, and I choked on my desperate plea to them that I knew he’d never hear in time. “
Don’t hurt him, stop!
”
Around me, the room began to spin, twisting sideways before narrowing into a thin slit, black swimming around my sight. The battle continued on; Kayden had broken from the grip of the Siren, having used him like a shield for the sword to sink into. Ari volleyed between seven Siren of varying height and weight, sprinting and launching off them like tiny green trampolines, each kick incinerating their face. Behind me, Arielle surged onward, not even sparing a glance back at me. Everything seemed fine, only the rapidly growing roar in my head warned me of what was to come.
I staggered to my feet, turning to move after Arielle once more, but collapsed. My vision continued to swim, narrowing further as it dissolved into black smoke. My name was called out, screaming through the growing darkness, but all I could see was black thick and impenetrable. It cloaked me, like pressing a pillow to my face, pulling me into the deep recesses of my mind to join the last person I wanted to see.
Ebony stood amidst the vacant dark, hands laced in front of her like a prim and proper lady. Black hair swung over her shoulders, sailing past her hips and tickling the ends of her kneecaps. A sweetheart cut, black corset trimmed with red velvet lace, and matching red velvet skirt gave me the distinct impression that she enjoyed the darker things in life. Judging by how stained and tainted my soul no doubt was, she probably thrived off my ends of me I would prefer to forget.
“You look like you’ve had better days, darling,” she spoke sweetly, raising a hand to cover her mouth as she let out a tiny, feminine giggle. “You look so... tired.”
I was in no mood to play with her stupid little games. “What is going on? What are you, or who are you, why are you-”
She vanished with a blink, reappearing behind me, hands pressing on my shoulders to hold me in place. “Who I am,” she whispered, heat from her breath and body hot on my neck and cheek. “Is your undoing.”