Elegy

TWENTY-SIX Carnage

Anthemusa Bay was far too crowded for a swim, but the watersong was calling to her, so Gemma settled for sitting on the beach. Night was falling, and she’d hoped that some of the people would clear out, but At Summer’s End had brought in far too many tourists for that.

Earlier, there had been a classic car show at Bayside Park, but that had been replaced by a local band playing covers of hits from the fifties. The sound of their crooning an old Elvis song wafted over the beach.

Gemma dug her feet into the sand, not daring to go any closer. The water lapped at the edge of her toes, enough where she could feel the slightest hint of a flutter but not enough to bring on a shift.

Stars shone brightly in the indigo sky, and Gemma lay back so she could stare up at them. Searching for the constellations that Alex had shown her, she almost wished she’d invited him down here with her.

But she’d wanted some time alone. Her head was buzzing from the watersong, and she needed to ease it. Her failed attempts at breaking the curse had left her crestfallen, and her hunger pangs were only growing stronger.

She needed to do something if she wanted to keep from going mad, but it appeared that it would be very late before she’d be able to sneak off for a night swim without the risk of being spotted.

Her eyes automatically shifted in the fading light, and she could see clearly in the night sky. The ocean breeze went over her, soothing her headache some, and she watched as bats took flight from the nearby cypress trees.

As she was staring up, she saw a huge bird taking flight. She turned her head, watching as it flew toward the cliff at the other side of the bay, and quickly realized that it wasn’t a bird. The crimson wings were far too large for any bird in Maryland, and, more telling, she saw human legs.

Thea had taken off from Bayside Park.

Gemma sat up and looked over toward the park to see if anyone was reacting, but she couldn’t hear anything other than “Heartbreak Hotel.” People might not have noticed Thea—either because she’d somehow been discreet since humans didn’t have the night vision that Gemma had, or she’d used her siren song as camouflage—but that was still a big risk for her to take.

Penn and Liv might not care as much about attracting attention, but Thea always did her best to avoid it.

Her heart thudded in her chest, and Gemma began to fear that something was wrong. Thea had flown toward the cliff, but once she’d reached the heavily wooded area around the sirens’ house, Gemma had lost sight of her.

It was only a few minutes longer that she had to worry, because then her phone started belting out an old Heart song—Thea’s ringtone.

Gemma answered the phone. “Is something going on?”

Thea waited a beat before speaking. “Yeah. How did you know?”

“I saw you flying overhead,” she replied as she got to her feet. “What’s wrong?”

“Meet me behind the band shell at Bayside Park.”

“Why? What happened?”

“Just do it, okay?” Thea said, then hung up without waiting for a reply.

Gemma shoved her phone back in her pocket and jogged toward the park. It wasn’t that far away, but she kept glancing up to see if Thea or Penn was flying above her, which slowed her down.

The closer she got to the park, the denser the crowd became, and Gemma soon found it impossible to jog because she had to weave through the people. They normally parted for her, thanks to her siren beauty, but everyone seemed too entranced by the band onstage to notice her, and she actually had to push people out of the way.

Gemma wondered if that’s how Thea had flown away without being spotted—she used her siren song to get the crowd to focus completely on the band; so they wouldn’t notice Thea’s transition or any of the trouble going on around them.

The band shell was a concrete bandstand shaped like a seashell, so the music would project better. It was on the other side of the park from where Gemma had been, closer to where her father worked and Daniel used to dock his boat.

Behind the band shell was a thick cluster of cypress and maples, and it went down a rather steep hill before becoming the smooth trail that led to the docks.

Once she reached it, Gemma looked around, spinning in a slow circle to be sure she hadn’t missed anything, but she couldn’t see the sirens anywhere. She wasn’t even sure if Thea could get here so fast, but Gemma headed behind the stage, like she was told.

Large speakers were set up at the sides of the band shell, and Gemma ducked around them. She pushed through a prickly bush and was beginning to think that Thea had been tricking her for some reason when she finally rounded the back of the stage.

The problem was immediately obvious. There was so much blood. Splattered against the smooth, white concrete of the back of the shell and soaking the grass all around. The leaves on the trees were even stained dark red, and parts of human intestines dangled from a branch.

Worse than walking into a bloodbath like this was Gemma’s reaction to it. Instead of wanting to throw up the way she should have, her stomach growled impatiently, and she had to fight to keep her fangs in check.

It only got messier the closer she stepped toward the victim. He’d been completely eviscerated, torn open from his throat down to his groin. Most of his organs had been ripped out, and while some had certainly been eaten, parts of his liver and lungs had been left in chunks that littered the ground.

“Finally, you got here,” Liv groaned, and Gemma realized she had become so entranced by the fresh blood and warm organs, she hadn’t even noticed the siren standing beside the body.

Blood dotted Liv’s cheeks and forehead in a light spray, almost like she had freckles, but her lips were completely covered. Her golden hair was soaked red from her ears down, and it dripped heavy droplets onto her shoulders. From the waist up, Liv looked like she had gotten hit by blood sprayed from a fire hose.

“Finally?” Gemma asked, trying to comprehend the situation.

“Yeah. I’ve been waiting forever.” Liv was completely human, except for a long talon at the end of her pinky, and she used it to pick at something between her teeth. “I don’t know how to get rid of this stupid body.”

“I have no idea what to do with it.” Gemma motioned to the band shell, rumbling doo-wop beside them. “A ton of people are here. There’s no way you can get a mangled corpse past them.”

“Ugh.” Liv groaned and stared up at the sky. “This is all stupid. We should just kill them all.”

“Kill them all? The thousands of men, women, and children in Capri right now?” Gemma asked dubiously.

“Yeah.” Liv glared at her. “They’re weak. We can take them out, and we should. Anything that stands in our way, we should get rid of. We’re the top of the food chain.”

“This isn’t a food chain, Liv! Those are human lives!” Gemma shouted at her, not caring if anyone heard. “You can’t just go around massacring people!”

“Oh, honey.” Liv’s irritation had given way to her innocent act. She batted her eyelashes, which were coated in blood. “Don’t you even realize? Tonight, I just proved that I can. I can kill whoever I want, whenever I want.”

“What are you talking about? Who did you kill?”

Before Liv could answer, Gemma crouched next to the body. His face was almost too drenched with blood to recognize, and maybe she wouldn’t have … if she hadn’t made out with him once.

“Aiden Crawford,” Gemma gasped, and jumped back.

“Oh my.” Liv laughed, almost sweetly, at Gemma’s surprise. “Aren’t you the prude?”

Gemma pressed her hand to her stomach, trying to ease the wave of nausea that hit her. “I thought you liked him.”

“I did,” Liv said. “But I killed one of the most prominent, eligible young men in town not twenty feet from this huge celebration, not to mention from his own father, the mayor.” Liv plucked at a bit skin of stuck to her hair. “I wanted to do it right in front of everyone, on the stage, but Thea wouldn’t stand for that, so I had to sneak back here and pretend I was gonna have sex with the handsome idiot.”

“You killed him…” Gemma trailed off, trying to get a handle on what Liv was saying. “Why? To prove that you could?”

“No, no, of course not.” Her mouth curved up in a smile. “I killed him because I wanted to. I was hungry, and I wanted to taste his blood.”

“Liv, you’re gonna…” Gemma was at a loss for words. She didn’t know how she could possibly reason with someone so cold.

“Now I’m stronger.” Liv stepped over the body, coming toward Gemma. “Much stronger than you. I’m almost stronger than Penn, and I’m certainly stronger than Thea. I eat every day, and it won’t be long until I’m unstoppable.”

“Unless the police or the FBI catch you first,” Gemma said. “I’m sure they’d love to have you. Lock you up, cut you open, see what makes you tick.”

“Gemma, I will kill them all,” Liv told her emphatically. “I will kill everyone on this whole fucking planet if I want to.”

“At first, I thought you were just a little power hungry,” Gemma said. “You were having a hard time adjusting, and this was all going to your head. But now I realize that you’re just insane. Totally and completely insane.”

Liv narrowed her dark brown eyes, and the wide-eyed innocence instantly evaporated, changing into pure evil. Penn was cruel, but empty. Liv was full, but with darkness, and Gemma felt a chill run down her spine.

The brush beside them rustled, but Gemma didn’t look away until Liv did. She didn’t want to take her eyes off her, not when Liv was looking at her like that.

“This is bullshit, Thea, and you know it,” Penn grumbled, and within seconds, she appeared, pushing her through the trees.

“Tell that to Liv,” Thea replied, following at her heels. She had a duffel bag slung over her shoulder, and Gemma could see a blue tarp poking out through the top.

When they emerged from the trees, there was still someone coming up behind them, and Gemma tensed up even more, fearing that a stranger had stumbled on them. Instead, it was Daniel, with his shirt unbuttoned almost all the way down to his navel. As soon as he saw her, he froze.

“What are you doing?” Gemma asked, but he just shook his head.

“Oh, this is ridiculous, Thea,” Penn snapped as she surveyed the mess around her. “You could’ve handled this.”

“Maybe, but I’m not doing it anymore,” Thea said, and tossed the duffel bag down on the ground. “You think Liv is so great, then you take care of her. She’s your problem now. I’m done.”

“Thea, this isn’t so bad,” Liv tried as sweetly as she could. “I just don’t know how to get rid of a body.”

“You’ve done it enough times, you should be a goddamn expert,” Thea told her.

“I can’t get rid of a body in this crowd without being spotted. And I’m fine with that, but you told me—” Liv started the same spiel she’d given Gemma when she got there.

“Liv!” Penn shouted in frustration. “You need to stop making a mess and provoking the humans. Just calm down. We have eternity. You don’t need to get all your killing done in one day.”

Liv suggested that they leave the mess and let the animals and the rain take care of it, which immediately resulted in a squabble between Penn, Thea, and Liv about how best to deal with this, with each of them shirking the responsibility.

With the sirens otherwise occupied, Gemma edged back to where Daniel was standing. He stared down at the body lying a few feet in front of him, and she wasn’t sure how much of the carnage he was really able to take in thanks to his weaker human sight.

“Was that human?” he asked.

“Yeah.” Gemma nodded. “It was Aiden Crawford.”

“Aiden? Holy shit.”

Daniel wheeled around just in time to dry heave into the bushes. It sounded more like he was coughing than actually throwing up, but the reality of it had obviously hit him hard. When he’d finished, he wiped his mouth on the back of his arm and mumbled an apology.

“It’s a lot of blood to take in,” Gemma said when he turned back around.

“I didn’t know there was that much blood in one human body,” he admitted. “That looks like it should be five or six people. At least.”

“I think Liv was making a point of splattering him around.” Gemma kept her voice low, so the sirens would be less likely to notice her, but they were so busy arguing among themselves that she could shout their names, and they wouldn’t look.

Daniel exhaled sharply. “Dammit. He was a dick, but … He was my older brother’s best friend for years before John died. Aiden wasn’t a good guy, but he deserved better than this.”

No, Aiden probably didn’t deserve this, but it hadn’t been that long ago that she’d been about ready to do the same to him when he wouldn’t take no for an answer. Saying he wasn’t a good guy was a massive understatement.

“I know,” Gemma said anyway. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

Gemma tilted her head. “Maybe it is. I brought the sirens back to Capri. The reason they’re here is—”

“Don’t do that.” Daniel was quick to cut her off, and since he obviously wasn’t in the mood to argue, she didn’t push it.

“On the subject of why people are here…” Gemma began after a pregnant pause. “Why are you here?”

He stared straight ahead, his eyes fixed on the ground, and she could see the muscles in his jaw tense. “Don’t ask me about that. Please.”

Daniel had arrived late at night with Penn, and the buttons were ripped off the front of his shirt. There was only one conclusion Gemma could draw, especially after seeing Penn fawning over him so much.

She knew why he would do it, the only reason Daniel would do something like this was to protect Harper or her. That made her heart ache, like it was being torn in two, and her stomach twist in knots. Knowing that Daniel would resort to prostituting himself because of her, and how much it would kill Harper when she found out.

“Daniel. You have to tell Harper.”

He sighed and just kept staring at the ground. “We all do what we need to do.”

“No, Daniel,” Gemma said firmly, hating that she had to do this. “If you don’t tell her, I will.”

“Fine!” Penn threw her hands up in the air, and turned her attention back toward Gemma and Daniel. “We’ll wrap him up, then Daniel can dump his body off his boat.”

“What? Why can’t you guys take him out there?” Daniel asked.

“Because they’ll be busy cleaning up this bloodbath.” Penn pointed to Thea and Liv. “And it will look less suspicious if you take a tarp on a boat than if a girl drags a tarp into the ocean.”

“Fine.” Daniel shrugged, like he really didn’t care what he got dragged into anymore. “I’ll do it. As long as I don’t have to touch the body.”

“Great.” Penn smiled at him. “You all can wrap up the body, then Daniel takes it out to sea, and Thea and Liv clean up all this blood.”

“No, Penn. I’m not kidding. I’m not doing this.” Thea smacked her hands together and rubbed them, gesturing that she was washing her hands of all this. “This is your problem now.”

Penn rolled her eyes, then looked to Daniel. “See? I told you she’s bossy and obnoxious.”

“But Thea’s not the reason you’re in this mess,” he said reasonably, then nodded to Liv. “She is.”

Liv smiled at him, and in her sweetest, silkiest voice, she said, “One day, Penn is gonna get tired of you. And when she does, she’s gonna tear you apart, and I’ll be there to watch.”

“I’m out of here,” Thea said, and started heading back toward the trees to make her escape. “Sorry, guys. Best of luck.”

With Penn overseeing, Gemma and Liv broke up Aiden’s body so it would be easier to transfer. Daniel had edged closer to the side of the band shell, keeping a lookout, but it also kept him from having to witness their dismembering a guy he’d known most of his life.

When they were finished, the tarps containing Aiden’s body fit neatly inside the duffel bag. It would still be too heavy for Daniel to carry comfortably, so Gemma offered to carry it down to his boat for him.

Penn wanted to take that job for herself, but Gemma had no idea how to get the blood out of the trees. She wiped the blood off herself as best she could, using one of the towels that Thea had tucked in the duffel bag, then she and Daniel headed down to the trail to his boat.

“I got it from here,” Daniel said when they’d stopped on the docks in front of The Dirty Gull.

“You sure? I can help you get rid of it,” Gemma offered.

“No. I got it.” He took the bag from her and gave it a swing so he could throw it up over the railing and onto his boat. “I just wanna take a nice, long boat ride out past the island, then go home and take the longest shower of my life.”

Some blood had gotten on his hands and arms, and he even had a few droplets on his bare chest, which had probably dripped down from the branches. But by the way he avoided looking Gemma in the eyes, she had a feeling that wasn’t the only reason he felt so dirty.

“What happened between you and Penn—” Gemma began carefully, but Daniel held up his hand, stopping her.

“I know that you mean well, and I know that you think you understand, but…” He trailed off. “I can’t talk about this with you.” He swallowed. “And Harper will know what she needs to know soon enough.”

“I know that whatever you’ve done or will do, you’ve done it to protect Harper and me.”

He chewed the inside of his cheek and stared out at the ocean. Impulsively, Gemma threw her arms around Daniel and hugged him tightly, pressing her face against his chest. Tears stung her eyes, and she barely held them back.

“I just wanted to say thank you,” she said, her words muffled against his chest. “For everything you’ve done and everything you’ve given up.”

He put his hand on her head, stroking her hair for a moment and letting her hug him. Then, abruptly, he pushed her away.

“I gotta go,” he said thickly. Daniel turned and got on his boat, without looking back at her.