Bluedawn (A Watermagic Novel, #2) (18 page)

I tried to keep my mind from spinning all
over again. “I just want the gift.”

He scoffed and raised an eyebrow. “Sassy
one.”

“What?” I was flabbergasted. “Did you read
the same courtship manual as my dad or something?” So much about
Dylan reminded me of my father’s and mother’s interactions.

“Yes,” he said solemnly. “I’ve been spying on
your parents for years.” His voice was teasing, but I almost
wondered if he had.

“Here,” he muttered as he placed a little
silver box on my thigh.

I gazed at it suspiciously before picking it
up.

“Go on, open it.”

I lifted the top and pulled out a diamond
bracelet just like the one my father had given to my mother the
last time that I saw them. I remembered how just after he gave it
to her they got in the car at the campsite. I would never forget
how Mom stared at me from through the window and held her hand up
against the glass as they drove away. My last memory of her.

“Thank you,” I whispered. “It means more to
me than you can imagine.” I held it against my heart.

“What’s wrong?” he asked softly. His
expression conveyed surprise.

I pressed one of my temples on the side of my
head. “I killed four men in the alley who attacked me,” I mumbled
the words. “What’s left of their bodies is still there.”

“What?” He took my hand. “Is that how you got
the bruises?” I was sure he was startled by my admittance.

I nodded feeling ashamed.

“I’m glad they’re dead.” His voice was
adamant.

My eyes drifted out to the ocean. If I had
just been a normal girl and four men attacked me like that, I would
likely be dead now. Technically, killing them was legal. It was
self-defense. Maybe they did deserve it.

But I ate one of them. Oh, how gruesome that
sounds. I’m sure that was against the law. I had never killed
anyone before and it sickened me to think that these men would
cease to exist in this world because of me.

“I’m not happy that I killed them.” I looked
at him more intensely, my breath still uneven. I ran my fingers
along the diamonds on the bracelet.

He shrugged. “They would have murdered you
and likely done worse to you first. Freaks like that deserve what
they get.” His eyes locked with mine. I got the feeling he was
studying me.

“What?” I asked, trying to get a handle on my
mixed emotions. I was still upset that he left the suite with that
chick and even more than that I loathed myself for what I had
become. But if someone was trying to figure someone out, it should
be me figuring him out, not the other way around. “Where’s that
girl you left with?” I scowled.

His chin lowered at that and he looked at me
with devilish eyes. “Jealous are you?” His voice was facetious.

He was making me so mad. “No! Maybe.” I felt
my cheeks redden.

“I didn’t want the girl dead, so I told her
to go home.”

“Did you kiss her?”

His voice lifted. “No!”

I exhaled, listening to the waves splash
against the rocks. “Why did you bring her to the hotel suite in the
first place if you weren’t interested in her?” I finally asked,
probing his eyes for an answer.

He evaded the question, only shrugging and
then looking away. When he turned back to me, he just explained why
he sent her home. “The sirens can’t kill Brenda’s friends now
because she would tell the cops who they were last seen with.”

I nodded. He saved all of them, I realized.
Even though I was frustrated, he made a valid point. “Right. She
could lead the police right to us.” As unsatisfied as I was, I felt
relieved that the kids playing spin the bottle wouldn’t be murdered
tonight.”

“Wren must be pissed that I left with the
girl.” His eyes widened briefly.

I shook my head. “She didn’t let on that she
was.”

He looked up at the sky. “She didn’t have the
plastic laid out anyway. Maybe she wasn’t hungry. We did eat a lot
last night. Or maybe she’s going to punish me.” His mind seemed to
drift off.

“What do you mean?” I asked, my body
tightening.

He didn’t respond.

I saw that I was getting nowhere, so I tried
another question. “How often do sirens have to feed?” I asked,
draping my hair over my shoulders and down my chest to warm
myself.

Dylan watched me. “We can go for weeks
without any flesh, but usually we eat more often. The more we feed,
the better we feel and the stronger we become.” He squeezed my
hand. “Come on. I want to take you out.

I don’t know why, but I blushed at that. “You
mean a date?”

“Yeah, that’s what I mean.” He raised an
eyebrow.

Really, I had never been on an official date
with anyone. I liked the idea of my first date being with him, but
more than anything I was really curious what he had planned.

CHAPTER NINE

Love -- bittersweet,
irrepressible -- loosens my limbs and I tremble.
–SAPPHO, 
To
Atthis

Dylan took me on a two hour midnight dinner
cruise in nearby Marina Del Rey. The ship was filled with mostly
teenagers from the local high schools. It was Friday night and
apparently everyone was celebrating homecoming on the Pacific Ocean
after the high school football games.

Seeing so many young people made me miss my
own high school. This should have been my senior year. I missed my
friends and felt disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to compete
for my final season on the swim team.

We were sitting at a long table with lots of
other teenagers eating appetizers before the main meal. “Taste
this,” Dylan said as he dipped a thin strip of chicken in some sort
of teriyaki sauce. He fed it to me which made me laugh.

“That’s so good.” My eyes lit up as I chewed
the sweet, savory tastes.

For a thin guy I was surprised how much he
was enjoying the food. He tried some of everything. And he was
funny about it—dipping his fingers in the puddings and licking them
off, gnawing on the tiny corn cobs like a cartoon character. I was
more than shocked when he started humming as he ate. “My mom does
that!” I almost shouted.

“Bet she doesn’t sing as well as me,” he
retorted haughtily.

“You’re wrong there,” I teased. “She sings
like a nightingale.”

He furrowed his eyebrows. “Nobody sings
better than a siren,” he scoffed.

“Well, she does.” I nodded my head
adamantly.

“Hmmn.” He seemed to consider what I said.
“That’s strange.”

My forehead scrunched up a little. “I guess
it is. Really, I never thought about it, but she sings better or at
least as good as the triplets do.”

Just then, we were interrupted by a boy
jumping on the table yelling, “Go Ravens! Go!” He was tugging at
his hair and making funny faces.

His friends pulled him off before the manager
came over.

We laughed.

“Do you miss high school?” I asked Dylan.

He shook his head. “Actually, I do.” With
that admittance, he set his fork down. “Like you, this was supposed
to be my senior year.”

“It just doesn’t seem right to miss out on it
all.”

“At least we’re not dead like the rest of the
triplets’ victims.” He stretched back with his hands over his
head.

“I wish they were dead.”

His eyes widened as he placed his hands
behind his head. Even I surprised myself with that declaration. He
dropped his hands at his sides, leaning in closer to me as he
whispered, “I want to kill them.”

I tried to read his cold expression to figure
out if he was serious. The way he stared at me unwaveringly, I
supposed he was.

“They shouldn’t be allowed to feed on
innocent kids.” My body tensed. “There has to be another way for
us,” I whispered. “We shouldn’t have to eat human beings to
survive.”

“We’ll find a way.” He squeezed my hand under
the table as he glanced around making sure nobody was paying
attention to us.

Just hearing him say that gave me a glimmer
of hope. Some of the tension released from my body.

He stood up. “I want to dance with you,” he
said in his mesmerizing voice that sounded like music in my
ears.

“Okay,” I replied weakly, hoping he couldn’t
tell that I was blushing.

Brushing past high schoolers and an older
couple that looked out of place, he led me out to the dance floor
off to the side of the tables on the deck. A slow song, Belinda
Carlyle’s
Mad about You
, was playing. This is our song,” he
grinned as he pulled me into his arms.

My heart started to throb against his chest.
I never had a “song” with a boy before. Something about that made
me feel like a normal teenage kid which I liked, instead of the
horrible monster I had become.

The electricity I felt between us was
intense. I looked up at his face and saw him smiling. “How do you
want to kill them?” I asked, matching his smile.

We were silent for a minute. I was losing
myself in the song and what it now meant to me. Not to mention how
his strong hands felt so perfect on my waist.

He sighed as he looked up at the stars. I
stared at him, watching his shaggy dark hair ruffle lightly in the
night wind. When he looked down at me, he spun me around.

As much as I didn’t want to, I couldn’t help
but giggle. “Stop,” I begged.

From what I could tell, he seemed to consider
my pleas for a moment, but as soon as he started, he pulled me back
close to him.

I held his shoulders to still the dizziness
in my body. “Do you always torture your victims for fun?”

“Only the one’s I really like.” At that, he
grinned.

“Lucky me,” I teased.

As much as I didn’t want this dance to end, I
realized my bladder was full and if I didn’t make it to the
bathroom, I might pee right on the ground. “I’ll meet you at the
table,” I said anxiously. “I have to use the restroom.”

I think he must have noticed that my face was
turning red because he laughed. “Don’t fall in,” he muttered.

“Ha ha,” I said sarcastically, looking over
my shoulder as I made my way through the other dancers.

Looking around, I couldn’t find a restroom. I
had to ask one of the waiters who directed me downstairs to the
lower deck. Aside from a few kids leaning over the rail chatting
and another young couple kissing at the bow, there wasn’t a lot
happening down there.

The bathroom was set off to the side in a dim
corner of the ship. I hurried into the ladies’ room. The
fluorescent light flickered overhead while some girls with long
hair were at the mirror putting on makeup. I hurried into the stall
and relieved myself.

When I stepped out, I had to wiggle my way in
between the two girls. One girl’s long black hair caught on my new
bracelet. “Oh! I’m sorry,” I said, untangling the strands.

“No problem at all,” she replied in a mumble
as she applied her lipstick. In my embarrassment, I barely looked
at her. I wanted to get back to Dylan as quickly as possible.

But while I was washing my hands, I noticed
that the blond was staring at me. “Hailey?” the girl said.

My jaw clenched. Who would know me? I turned
to her and realized who she was. Marine! I was standing between my
mother’s French cousins, Marine and Brigitte.

My pulse sped up. I didn’t know what to do.
Surely, they couldn’t be certain that it was me—I looked so
different than the last time I saw them when they dropped my mom
off in our driveway right before our camping trip. I backed
away.

Brigitte was staring at me now too.

“You must be mistaking me with someone else,”
I finally said, wiping the sweat off of my palms onto my skirt.

“Wow!” Brigitte exclaimed in a breathy voice.
The blood drew from her gorgeous face. She looked like she was
about to faint.

“Josette was right,” Marine gasped. “Look
what have they’ve done to you.” Her eyes were wide with
disbelief.

Words caught in my throat. I felt so dizzy
myself. My mind was clouding up. I reached for the door handle.

“Wait,” Marine coaxed. “We can help you,
Hailey.”

I shook my head, trying to still my teeth
from chattering. “That’s not my name.” At once, I rushed out of the
bathroom. But on my way out I bumped hard into a boy. I looked up
at his face. It was Dylan.

“Hailey!” he said as the girls stood there
watching. “What’s wrong?”

I looked up at him, the words not coming out
of my mouth.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” He
stroked my hair.

“It is her,” I heard one of them say.

“Oh, my!” the other one said.

“What’s going on?” Dylan asked my mother’s
cousins.

I looked up at his face and saw his nostrils
flare as he stared at Brigitte and Marine. “Come on, Hailey. Let’s
go.” His voice was stern.

I just stood there, unable to move.

“Come on,” Dylan said harsher now. Without
waiting for a response, he grabbed me up into his arms and threw me
over his shoulder. He started running across the deck. At once, he
sprang onto the rail. He looked back for a second as he grabbed me
tighter. And then, he dove right into the ocean.

CHAPTER TEN

Love's wing moults when
caged and captured, Only free, he soars enraptured.
–THOMAS CAMPBELL, 
Freedom and Love

We hit the water hard, but once our heads
broke the surface, Dylan didn’t give me time to catch my breath.
“Hurry Hailey. We have to get away.”

I looked at him with shock in my eyes. “Why
the hell did you do that?”

“There’s no time to explain,” he pleaded. A
vein was raised in his neck. He looked horrified.

We looked back at the ship moving away from
us. I saw five bodies, long hair blowing in the wind, jump off the
rail like we had. It was surely my mother’s cousins, Brigitte,
Marine, Laurent, Pascal, and Marcel and they were after us!