Siren Song

13

I didn’t get a good look at the boat as we went on board, what with trying to keep the scent of my own blood from making me leap on Creede and suck on that amazing-smelling neck. I’d taken a previous fishing trip with Bubba and knew that Mona’s Rival was a really nice boat. Bubba was telling King Dahlmar all about her.

“She’s a 1986 Chris-Craft Catalina, but I put in a custom hardtop and upgraded the motor and dinghy. My wife decorated the mess and the stateroom.”

I was lying on my stomach, facedown on the pillows in said stateroom, trying not to scream or break something as Creede used a sterilized knife and tweezers to pull fragments of baby food jar and shake-can shrapnel from my calf. That’s what the pain had been. A shotgun blast had shattered the jars and exploded the cans, which had sliced right through my jeans and embedded in my leg.

He had to reopen the wounds over and over again to dig out the bits because my skin kept healing over. I was watching television and trying to pretend that he didn’t have his hands all over my bare legs. Because it felt really, incredibly good. Until it hurt, that is. But then it went back to feeling good.

No, he probably didn’t have to keep putting his hand on the back of my thigh for balance, but . . . some of the glass had gone that deep, and it didn’t want to come out with the tools in the rinky-dink first-aid kit on the boat.

“Okay, hold still. This is the curved one I’ve been avoiding.” I braced myself and stared at the cartoons on the screen—a DVD of SpongeBob SquarePants. Bubba’s a huge fan, for some reason. The sound was off, but at least there was motion and bright colors to distract me. Still, when Creede dug out that last shard I screamed and it was all I could do not to break something.

There was an abrupt moment of silence topside, where Bubba, Ivan, and Dahlmar were enjoying a perfect night under glittering stars as the boat skimmed toward the Isle of Serenity.

Creede said, “Look, lighten up a little. You’re alive. We lost them for the moment. We’re on a boat over moving water, so they can’t track you. And on the ocean you have the advantage.”

“They’re cops, Creede, and they’re hunting me. ’Splain to me how this can possibly end well.” I didn’t mention that I wasn’t sure what advantages the ocean gave me.

He didn’t like the sound of that at all. I didn’t blame him. “You’re sure they’re cops?”

I nodded. “They were at my court hearing. They were supposed to be witnesses for the prosecution. They were seriously pissed when I got off, swore they’d get me.”

He swore a little under his breath and I felt a tug as he pulled another shard from my skin. A soft clink as he dropped it onto the growing pile and he was back to digging. “Missed one. I’ll try for the big one again now.”

I grunted a little from the pain as he cut open my skin once more. “I’m guessing it was bad enough when they thought I’d be locked up in a ritzy mental health spa like Birchwoods instead of being put down or locked up by the state.”

He finished the thought for me. “But you didn’t even get that.”

“Right. So the best they can probably hope for is to get me deported, or ‘catch me in the act’ and be forced to kill me in ‘self defense.’ ”

“Good cops don’t pull vigilante bullshit.” He sounded disgusted. His next cut was deep enough that I let out a hiss. I couldn’t blame him. Cops are supposed to be the good guys, protecting the innocent and upholding the law. Vigilantes make their own law and they’re considerably less fussy in the application.

“So they’re not such good cops.” Of course they probably thought they were. To serve and protect. Protect the humans. I was getting a little bit bitter about that. After all, I hadn’t chosen to get turned, hadn’t wanted this life. I’d accepted the risk of injury as part of the trade. Bodyguarding is a rough business. People get hurt, disabled, sometimes even killed. But they do not generally get turned into one of the monsters. I suppose I should be grateful. But for a freak of genetics and the intervention of Kevin and Emma I’d be dead. Looked at that way, I’d been unbelievably fortunate. But I didn’t feel lucky in the least.

We were silent for a minute or two. When Creede spoke again, his voice was flat and unhappy. “They got a good look at my car. All they’ll have to do is run the plates to know it’s me.”

“Sorry.” I really was sorry. The men stalking me were assholes with power. They could, and probably would, make his life hard. They wouldn’t be able to arrest him—this little escapade was completely off-the-books. That wouldn’t keep them from harassing him, pushing and prodding, trying to find something they could use against him. Of course that would be against the rules. But I’d noticed that they’d already shown a certain . . . cavalier attitude about that sort of thing.

“Shit,” he growled. He dug a little more forcefully after a curved shard and I yelled again before I could stop myself.

“Sorry. Sorry.” His voice was apologetic as he was using a cloth soaked in rubbing alcohol to disinfect the most recent cut. He was going through a lot of alcohol because he had to keep resterilizing his tools and reopening the cuts. He started to rub my thigh in a very comforting way. I didn’t stop him, which surprised me. Yeah, I didn’t know if I could get an infection, but having food- or crud-encrusted stuff embedded in your body can’t be good for you. So, if I had to put up with a little more pain to be on the safe side, that was fine. But the parts of my body that were tightening from his magic and his touch didn’t seem to care that I had just been dumped.

Apparently, he hadn’t even realized he was rubbing my leg, because when he did finally notice the slow, smooth back-and-forth motion of his hand from the back of my knee nearly up to my panty line he pulled back his hand as if he’d been caressing a hot stove.

For the next few minutes, I felt nothing but pain as the curved shard of baby food jar inched its way out of my leg. I did my best not to kick or scream, though I pounded a fist against the wall once or twice. When the glass shard was finally out, he spoke. He sounded tired, which might be the reason he was letting down his guard. “I know it’s not your fault, but I really don’t need any more trouble than I’ve already got at the moment.”

Was he still talking about the cops? I didn’t ask. “Yeah, you and me both.”

He gave a wry laugh. “We’re quite the pair.” With brisk efficiency, he gathered the mess into a neat bundle and walked toward the door. “I’ll take these up top. Bubba has a grill we can use to burn off the blood before we put it in the trash.”

“Thanks.” Leave it to a mage to take care of the magical details. My blood could be used against me magically in all sorts of nasty ways I didn’t even want to think about. Oh, it usually isn’t. Blood goes bad pretty quickly. But under the circumstances I was inclined to be cautious.

“I’ll be up in a minute.”

“Don’t bother,” Creede suggested. “We’re going to be on the water for hours and you need to get some rest.”

“So do you and the others.”

“Yeah, well there’s a bench in the mess that looks fairly comfy and a couple of decent chairs. We’ll make do. You take the bed.”

“Because I’m a girl?” I asked with a smirk.

He snorted and somehow that restored us to the way we usually behaved toward each other. At least it made the tension in me ease. “Hell no. Because you’re injured.”

I wouldn’t be injured long. But I was exhausted. And somebody was going to get the bed. I closed my eyes and slept.

“Yo, Graves. We’re almost there.”

Bubba’s voice boomed down the staircase. I blinked a few times, trying to wake up, remember where I was, and get oriented. Bright sunlight filled the stateroom and I was glad for the air-conditioning that kept the room comfortably cool and doubly glad for the sheet I’d pulled over myself. Otherwise I’d have been crisped. One good thing about boats, they’re small enough that you can find things fairly quickly. Things like the bathroom . . . I mean, the head. I threw back the sheet and stumbled over to avail myself of the facilities and wash up.

My legs looked fine. Not a scratch, and the only scars were the old ones from back when I was full human. I’d been afraid that the cuts would screw up the ivy tattoo I had climbing up one leg, but it had come through it just fine. I’d spent a fortune getting it done, in honor of my baby sister. Thinking of my sister usually brought me a sense of her spirit presence. Not today. I didn’t know if she couldn’t follow me onto the boat or just hadn’t, but neither she nor Vicki was here. Of course, they weren’t always near. They came and went as they wished. Ivy usually came if I called her—but not always. Unlike my sister, I’ve never had actual power over the dead. Thank God. Just thinking about the horrors Ivy’s uncontrolled talent had visited on our family in my childhood gave me chills. She’d been so young and so powerful it had been really hard on all of us.

I shook my head to clear it. I needed to eat and get topside. It was only a couple of steps from the door of the stateroom into the kitchen and dining area. The tiny, galley-style kitchen was well organized and spotlessly clean. The microwave and dorm-size refrigerator were built-in, and everything else was designed to keep things from moving around in rough weather.

Opening the fridge, I grabbed one of the three cans of diet shake that had made it through last night’s adventure, flipped the top, and drained it as fast as I could. I’d been getting increasingly tired of them. The Creamy Chocolate Mocha didn’t taste too bad, but I seriously regretted the loss of the toothpaste and toothbrush I’d had in the bag that got shot. And I definitely needed a hairbrush and . . . aw, crap, sunscreen. I’d completely forgotten to buy any.

“Bubba, do you have any sunscreen?” I shouted. I really hoped he did.

“I think Mona’s got some stashed in a cabinet in the bedroom. Help yourself. But hurry up. You gotta see this.”

He sounded both awed and amused. Curious, I hurried past Dahlmar and Ivan as they came down the stairs from the deck. Based on their expressions and the tones of their voices, they seemed to be arguing, but they were doing it in a language I don’t understand, so I didn’t worry too much about it. Either I’d find out about it later or I wouldn’t.

I grabbed the sunscreen and stepped out onto the deck while slathering it on, momentarily blinded by mid-morning sunshine. I could still hear and I heard boats: lots of them; and the raucous call of gulls. Lots and lots of gulls.

Holding up a hand to shield my watering eyes, I looked to the west. A group of perhaps a dozen boats of various sizes and styles was coming up fast, moving in perfect arrowhead formation. Above them, the sky was dark with seabirds, also in formation.

Wow.

“See what I mean?” Bubba lowered his camera to grin at me. “Told ya I knew where the island was. Pretty cool, huh?”

It was cool, assuming they didn’t mean any trouble. Twelve to one would be rotten odds if things went south.

Creede grinned at me. He looked a little rough around the edges. There was stubble on his cheeks, but the look suited him, gave him kind of a rakish charm. Today he smelled of salt air, fish, and charcoal in addition to the cologne. Very outdoorsy and nice. “Your relatives know how to make an impression.”

Eleven of the boats stopped about five hundred yards away. The lead boat continued moving closer. I could see a bearded man in jeans and a T-shirt standing at the prow, a loudspeaker in his grasp.

“Ahoy, captain of Mona’s Rival. Is Celia Kalino Graves on board?”

Bubba set down the camera and headed behind the wheel. A moment later his voice boomed across the water, only slightly distorted by the megaphone in his hand, “She is.”

“Stand by for her escort,” was the prompt answer.

“Your escort?” Creede turned to me.

I shrugged. “How the hell would I know? I didn’t even know they were expecting me. I thought I was going to surprise them.”

We didn’t have much time to wonder about it. The words were barely out of my mouth when Ren stepped out of thin air and onto the deck of Mona’s Rival, accompanied by a stunning woman of about twenty or so with Hawaiian features and a dark braid twined with flowers. They each wore the colorful lavalava common in Polynesian cultures and they looked damned good doing it. Ren’s hands were empty, but her companion carried a paper-wrapped package.

“What the—” Creede doesn’t like being surprised, and admittedly he should have felt magic being crafted nearby. He stepped back, reaching his hands out in the same stance he’d had during the Will reading. He froze in mid-motion at a signal from me. I didn’t think they meant trouble and I’d learned from experience that sirens are a touchy lot.

“Celia.” Ren dipped her head, more an acknowledgment of my existence than any show of respect.

“Ren.” I gave her the same in return.

Even her hand wave was as graceful as flowing water. I hated her. Well, okay, not hated—not the way Cassandra thought of me, more in the California sense. She was just so much better at the elegant stuff than me. “This is Hiwahiwa. She is Queen Lopaka’s foremost aide. Hiwahiwa, this is Princess Celia Kalino.”

Creede’s eyebrows just about climbed off his face at the title, but he kept silent. Probably just as well. The sirens were pretty much ignoring everybody but me.

Hiwahiwa bowed, her braid swinging forward to brush the ground. “It is an honor, Highness.”

“The pleasure’s mine,” I answered. Only then did she straighten up.

“Her Majesty assumed that since you were coming on such short notice you wouldn’t have time to pack.” How the hell had they even known I was coming? Sigh. I did not need to be messing with sirens who were also clairvoyant. “She asked that I bring you something appropriate to wear.”

They were dressing me for a meeting I hadn’t even known I was having. Great. Just great. I smiled and took the package she held out. Turning, I made introductions, then excused myself to go change.

I went down to the stateroom, carrying my package. The Rusland contingent was in the mess/kitchen area. They’d quit arguing in favor of glowering silently at each other. I should probably find out what was going on, but I figured it could wait until I got changed.

The queen had sent me a lavalava. I’d never worn one before, so it took me a few minutes to get the knack of tying the skirt. Both the sleeveless top and the ankle-length skirt were a vibrant red that I expected to look hideous on me but just didn’t. The fabric wasn’t cotton. In fact, I couldn’t identify what it was. But it was natural and it breathed beautifully. Much better than the jacket I slipped on over my new outfit. If anyone complained about the jacket, I’d explain about the sun sensitivity. If they complained about the weapons, I’d remind them about my upcoming duel. But I was wearing it and I was going armed. Both Ren and Hiwahiwa had been barefoot. I didn’t do barefoot much. I hoped there were no rocks. Because sneakers would be . . . gauche.

When I finished dressing I stepped once again into the tiny space that served as the ship’s head. I was delighted to find toothpaste and a couple of unopened toothbrush boxes in the cabinet above the minuscule sink, along with a hairbrush. I wished for makeup, but that was too much to ask. Still, in just a few minutes, I was dressed and presentable.

When I opened the door, Dahlmar was standing outside. His hands were clenched into fists, but his voice was calm. Almost serene, in fact, which made the fists all the more noticeable.

“Ivan has reminded me that my first duty as king is to remain alive. He also pointed out that I have no immunity to the siren glamour. Thus, we are staying hidden downstairs.”

Ah, so that was what the argument was about. Couldn’t say as I blamed Ivan. But it does take balls to stand up to a king like that. Then again, Ivan had brains and power and had somehow managed to get his king to safety in the middle of a coup. A sure sign that Ivan had great big polished brass ones.

King Dahlmar brought my attention back to the matter at hand. “It is traditional in this situation to present a gift to a monarch . . . something of significance to you personally or of great value. It would be a grave insult not to do so. Do you have such a gift? We had little time to plan this trip.”

No, I didn’t. I could probably come up with something. Maybe. “Do you have something that would work?”

His expression grew rueful. He made a gesture to include his Disneyland getup. “If I did, would I be dressed like this? I just felt I should warn you. But she anticipated your need for clothing, so perhaps she will understand—” But he sounded doubtful.

“Don’t worry about it,” I told him. “I’ll think of something.”

He opened his mouth to say something, but I didn’t let him. “I said, don’t worry about it.” I’d had a thought. Not a welcome or happy thought, but there you go. I had something that would work as a gift. It was magical. It was valuable. And I really, really, didn’t want to part with it. That should make it perfect.

I pushed past him, moving quickly up the stairs. I was tired. Tired of not being able to eat, of having to slather myself with sunscreen; tired of political bullshit, constant near-death experiences, and narrow-minded assholes stalking me. I hated it all. My life was completely out of control. I was still reacting because everybody else kept anticipating my plans. Worse, there wasn’t any guarantee that any of this was going to change, no matter how much I wanted it to, tried to, change it. And today I was going to have to part with one of my most treasured possessions because of some political bullshit nobody’d bothered to warn me about, and then defend my right to exist.

Sucks to be me.

I stepped onto the deck; the ladies were waiting patiently. Bubba raised a brow at the lavalava, which admittedly hugged every curve. Creede didn’t take his eyes off the women who’d managed to surprise him. I didn’t blame him at all.

“Let’s do this.”