Siren Nights (Series Part 1) (The Lure) (7 page)

“Better than putting it in a room with a mortal,” Roloth
retorted.

Claire shrugged. “She was only here for a day.”

“Um, is there something I’m missing?” I
asked timidly. Claire pursed her lips.

“I suspect there is a great deal you are
missing, dear one,” Roloth said with a laugh. “But suffice to say that there
are things beyond the thresholds of the world which it is better for mere
mortals to avoid. Iron bars discourage, but they do not block.”

“Just get it out of here and into the
truck,” said Claire flatly.

“Very well,” He lifted it with one hand,
sprinkling the ground with black flakes. Tucking it under one arm, he bowed to
me and departed.

***

“Yes, he’s quite dramatic,” Claire said with
a sigh. “He’s at least five hundred years old and maybe more. Remembers the way
this country was like when the Europeans first found it, a bit different
perspective than us. But we need him or someone with a true vampire’s strength
and he is the best we could have gotten on such short notice. And he’s an old
friend of the family’s.”

“True vampire?”

“Yes. Jason can’t lift that mirror and
storing it magically is... dangerous. Likewise with my books. However...”
Claire looked around. “That chair you’re sitting in is another matter. In fact,
there’s no way we can fit it out the door physically.”

She withdrew a piece of chalk from her
pocket and bent down. She circled around me with the chair then elongated it
into a spiral. Within the tines of the spiral she scribed strange characters.
Many, many characters, precisely and mechanically. I shifted uncomfortably.

After what seemed like an eternity of chalk
strokes and weaving, she straightened. “That should do it. Sorry, but we’re
going to move the chair now. If you wouldn’t mind waiting over there,” She
pointed to the corner.

I didn’t need a second warning. Magic would
be here soon, my instincts screamed as I leaped out of the chair. 

Claire fished around in her pocket again,
this time coming out with a strange pink powder which she casually tossed on
the chair. “Om-bala-mitsu,” she called and the chair trembled. The tines of the
spiral glowed blue and the entire armchair began to sink into the floor with a
soft squelch. Ripples spread from it as if the floor beneath it had liquefied.

Within a few minutes the chair had
completely sunk below the circle. “All right. Jason might as well get those
clothes in there too.”

He nodded and tossed them in a single
bundle into the circle, where they fell without a trace.

Roloth returned and his eyes fell on the
circle. “Oh hey. I’m almost done with the books.”

“Good timing. Get the desk too, will you?”
asked Claire. “Careful, don’t step in it.”

He rolled his eyes. “What neophyte do you
take me for?” He threw it in and it too quickly vanished. “Pretty cool, eh?” he
asked me.

Claire sighed. “Another hour should do it.”

***

The hour passed quickly, though
uncomfortably as it seemed that the other vampire, Roloth, was watching me
closely while trying to remain unnoticed. But pass it did and finally the room
stood empty of everything, except for Claire, carrying a paper bag, the two
vampires, and me with my purse.

Claire glanced around the room, satisfied.
“And it’s only midnight. Perfect. You two get down to the truck.” Jason and
Roloth departed.

She turned to me, setting a brown bag in
front of me. “The spells on this room will dissipate in one hour. I apologize
for leaving you here until then, but we can’t take any chances. Please take
these sandwiches until then and this cushion. ”

I nodded. “Thanks.”

“Again, I’m sorry we had to involve you in
all this,” Claire said apologetically. “With luck, this will be the last time
we have to trouble you.”

Jason poked his head back in the door.
“Take care, and only kill the assholes if you can,”

I laughed, although I felt uneasy and oddly
sad. “Fair enough. You take care of yourselves too.”

They departed together and the door shut
again. Silence reigned once more, except this time it felt even more poignant
in the bare unfurnished room.

I settled myself on the cushion,
cross-legged, and opened the bag. Inside were plastic-wrapped sandwiches and a
yellow envelope. Opening the envelope, I withdrew a signed note that read, “For
your troubles. Take care!” There was a stack of hundred dollar bills included
inside.

I swallowed as I counted the money. Two
months groceries and rent, assuming I didn’t spend it all in one place. And I
was tempted to, as I realized abruptly that I wanted nothing so much as to get
the hell out of town.

I looked out at the window and relaxed
against the wall. Soon, very soon.

***

A knock came at the window. I thought I had
imagined it at first, but then it came again... a persistent rapping noise. I
rose, stretching my legs.

I moved to the window and parted the
curtains. The street was empty below.

A familiar voice came from above, low and
menacing. “I’ve come for you, my cloistered Princess.”

I jerked back in surprise, but it was too
late. The scent of roses filled my nostrils and I reflexively looked up to see
a dark figure, eyes piercing my heart.

I smiled up at him, certain that I had been
rescued from something terrible. “Roloth,” I whispered lovingly. “You have
returned.”

“How could I not?” he said. “Pray, this
cursed window divides us.” He placed one hand on each side of the window pane
and strained. With a loud creak, the whole wooden window ripped off the frame
in a shower of dirty plaster. Contemptuously, he threw the window to the floor
with a crash.

He then leaped inside and embraced me. “You
have no idea how much I’ve searched for you.”

“Searched for me?” I echoed against him,
intrigued but not alarmed.

He released me and pierced me with his
steady, hungry gaze. “Yes. I’ll explain everything soon, my dear. We must go
before you are found.”

He scooped me off my feet and held me
tenderly against him. I wrapped my arms around his neck.

Roloth hopped into the gap in the wall,
jolting me slightly. Even so, I felt secure and solid in his arms.

In a great gust of wind, he jumped from the
broken windowsill and I clung tightly as we flew over the street and onto the
rooftop of the opposite building.

The wind nipped us as he ran and jumped
amidst the rooftops. Briefly, I looked up at the crescent moon, then back at
his face. He turned to look at me and smiled, and his teeth gleamed in the
moonlight. Silently, I longed for the moment to last forever.

At last we reached the bay with rows of
ruined warehouses lounging around a three-dock wharf. He landed in the window
of a two-story warehouse and set me down on the floor. My shoes crunched on
broken glass and I looked up at him inquisitively.

“We must make sure you are not found,” he
explained. “Or all will be lost. Moreover...” he leaned closer. “Your closeness
fills me with a fire I’d long forgotten. We shall not go further tonight.”

He inhaled deeply of my hair and I caught a
whiff of him too... and flinched. He smelled of dust and spores and something
old. He wore faint, but spicy cologne. Beneath it, something rotted.

He seemed to sense my nervousness. “Are you
frightened, my beautiful Siren? Do not worry. Unlike the others, I know your
true value.”

I felt disoriented, like there was
something I was forgetting, “My... value?”

“Enough talk.” he walked me back, arms
encircling me. “There will be time for that later,” he whispered in my ear.
“Tonight, know only that I am your Lord and I claim you.”

His fangs were inches from my neck and I
cried out involuntarily. My mind raced and for the first time, I realized the
danger I’d put myself in. It must be wearing off; some tiny part of my mind
spoke. Do something! He’ll kill you!

But there was nothing I could do. He had me
and he would do what he pleased. And despite knowing this, I still adored him.

As he spoke, his breath caressed my neck.
“Do not fear, darling. You are more than a meal,” he whispered. “I shall make
you a beautiful memory.”

He pushed me backwards and over onto a
crate. Sinking on top of me, he pinned my arms and leaned down ruthlessly. His
cold, hungry lips met mine and melded together. His hands wandered up and down
my body and I shivered with arousal despite myself. It felt perfect, but also
terrible.

Savagely, he tore open my blouse and yanked
down my bra. He seized my breasts in a vice-grip, making me cry out again and
struggle helplessly in his iron grip. He laughed and squeezed again. “You’re
enjoying this, aren’t you?”

Roloth’s hands trailed down to my legs,
reaching one hand up my skirt and pulling off my panties. I froze, motionless,
torn still between arousal and fear. The voice in the back of my head was
screaming at me to move or do something.  Anything! But I pushed it aside with
a practiced mental shrug. There was nothing to do, I told it. He might be a
predator; if so, I could be nothing else, but be his prey.

Nothing else, but prey, I told the voice
and at last I achieved a sort of calm as he brought his head to my thigh -- and
plunged into me. Another cry seeped from my lips as his fangs pierced skin and
muscle, a pain deeper than anything I’d ever felt before, along with a rush
like nothing else I’d ever felt. I kicked my free leg out, in agony and
ecstasy.

He withdrew quickly and sunk his teeth into
my side. I moaned again and my hands jerked in spasms.

His teeth roamed all over my body, piercing
and splitting me open. Blood flowed forth and my body shuddered with every new
wound. I was dying, I thought. He would kill me.

At last, he stared deeply into my eyes as
my vision swam. I could no longer even lift my hand to stop him and he sunk
deeply into my neck.

I felt a presence within me or was I the
presence within Him? Feverishly, I saw visions of fields and valleys and
ancient cities, mixed with scenes of my own past of mothers and school and
boyfriends. They swarmed my mind like floating clouds.

How small and petty my memories looked
beside HIS, I thought and gradually they grew smaller and less frequent. I saw
a tower worked of bone and black metal that stretched to the heavens; then a
great stepped pyramid adorned in gold. For only a moment, I saw the house I
grew up in on, then a sprawling city surrounded by waves.

My being was subsuming into HIS and I found
that I did not care.

No one would miss me, I thought. No one
needed this tiny, worthless existence. Being a part of HIM, I thought, was
worth so much more than being me.

He would remember me, I said to myself as
consciousness fled away. That would be enough.

***

It was dark and my head hurt. I was sitting
on uneven ground. I couldn’t move my hands.

I realized it was dark because my eyes were
shut.

I opened them, slowly. The light shot into
my skull and I winced painfully.

Slowly, the picture became clearer. It was
daytime, but the room was covered in shadow. I was in a warehouse. I was alone.

Alone? My eyes flew open and I looked
around frantically. No one else was in the room. I breathed a sigh of relief.

I looked up at my wrists. They were tied to
a vertical beam. My head swam and I closed my eyes again until the worst of it
passed.

I had been captured by another vampire.

This was starting to get old, I thought in
frustration. I had thought my ordeal in Jason’s room would be the end of it,
but it seemed things only got worse. For one thing, my shirt was still open and
in tatters, some of the buttons were gone and my underwear lay in a shredded
mess next to me.

Well, enough was enough. I had had it with
sticking around and waiting for people to release me. I took a deep breath to
calm myself; now was no time for my emotions to get the better of me.

I looked around for something of use,
something anywhere. There was a door across the room and a large frosted window
to my right that seemed like it overlooked the rest of the warehouse. Behind me
was the window that Roloth and I had entered. None of the exits were within
reach.

My eyes fell on my purse, lying by my feet
next to the bag Claire had given me.

I reached out a leg and hooked it closer,
then bent over, fishing for the flap with my teeth. My head spun as I bobbed
for it, finally snagging one edge of the leather in my mouth. I flicked my head
and the flap fell open.

My phone was still inside, I saw with a
flash of relief. I just had to get it somehow.

I twisted my wrists. My hands were
handcuffed together and the chain led behind the narrow beam. I could slide
them up and down, but not far enough to reach the phone.