Siren Nights (Series Part 1) (The Lure) Read online

  Siren Nights

  Series Part 1

  By Jennifer Lewis

  © 2012

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including scanning, photocopying, or otherwise without prior written permission of the copyright holder.

  Disclaimer and Terms of Use: The Author and Publisher has strived to be as accurate and complete as possible in the creation of this book, notwithstanding the fact that she does not warrant or represent at any time that the contents within are accurate due to the rapidly changing nature of the Information Age. While all attempts have been made to verify information provided in this publication, the Author and Publisher assumes no responsibility for errors, omissions, or contrary interpretation of the subject matter herein. Any perceived slights of specific persons, peoples, or organizations are unintentional. In practical advice books, like anything else in life, there are no guarantees.

  First Printing, 2012

  Printed in the United States of America

  Contents

  Chapter 1: Just a Date

  Chapter 2: Friends and Allies

  Chapter 3: Siblings and Love

  Chapter 4: Revelations

  Chapter 5: The Hunt Begins

  Chapter 6: Another Night on the Town

  Chapter 7: Imprisoned

  Chapter 8: Perspectives

  Chapter 9: Anger and Memories

  Chapter 10: Moving Day

  Chapter 11: Goodbyes

  Chapter 12: A New Peril

  Chapter 13: Fateful Choice

  Chapter 1: Just a Date

  Darian said I was the most beautiful girl in the city and I wanted to believe him. But even if I didn’t, there were more than enough reasons to let him speak. His dark eyes were one. His silky, mid-length auburn hair falling across his pale face that held almost delicate features was another. And the smooth, almost melodious tone from which he sculpted his words made everything else seem rough and unpolished in comparison. He had the air of a traveler about him, someone who had visited many places and learned all of their secrets. His eyes danced as he told them to me.

  Though he was effusive with his compliments, his own appearance made me feel shabby. I straightened my miniskirt awkwardly and resisted the urge to check my hand mirror. My brown straight hair was up in a half-knot that I had feared was too formal only an hour earlier. Now it felt too plain.

  “Anna?” his voice interrupted my pity party. “Anna, are you all right?”

  I managed not to jump. “Yes, I’m fine,” I said quickly. “It’s been a long day at work.”

  A long day at work and then a furious rush to shower, put on makeup, and choose my clothes. A date at the high-rise Heron Balcony, ten stories above street level, was not an occasion for jeans and a sweatshirt. I had eventually settled on a pale yellow blouse and a black miniskirt leftover from a secretary job.

  He leaned forward. “That’s quite all right, dear,” he said. “I think you look absolutely radiant regardless.”

  That voice again. I felt a flush of embarrassment mixed with pleasure as I returned his smile.

  “I must confess, Anna, I find you simply irresistible. One might even say... I’ve become enchanted.”

  He exhaled on the last word and a faint glimmer passed from his mouth. My vision blurred briefly and when it cleared, I was looking deep into his eyes. For a moment, I thought I smelled fresh roses.

  He reached across the table and cradled my face into his white-gloved hand. Slightly dizzy from the scent and the unexpected contact already, my heart skipped a beat at the touch of his hand.

  After what seemed like an eternity of this, I remembered that he had paid me a compliment and that it was only polite to respond. “Why thank you, Darian,” I managed to say. “And I think you’re quite lovely too...”

  What was I saying? This wasn’t like me at all, not to mention the words sounded stupid the second they came out of my mouth.

  Darian only laughed and dropped my chin, taking my hand instead. “I know a gorgeous lookout we can see the city from. I think you’ll quite enjoy it.”

  “That sounds lovely...” I murmured, relishing the touch of his hand.

  He drew me up from the table to stand beside him. “Shall we be off, my dear?” He smiled and offered an arm.

  I took it. His arm was cold, almost colder than the air in the restaurant. I wondered at that for a moment, but the moment passed and I simply luxuriated in the pleasure of standing beside him as we turned to leave. He seemed much taller than when he had introduced himself this evening.

  Something tugged at my wrist. Oh yes, my purse. I was always forgetting it. It was so trifling; I wondered if I should just leave it behind. Then I remembered it was tied to my arm.

  Had I done that? I thought, puzzled. What an odd thing to do. No matter. Feeling a touch irritated by the inconvenience, I picked it up and threw it over my shoulder.

  We walked together through the side hallway, leaving the bustling restaurant behind us. The ambient music and dinner conversation faded away. Everything faded away, except for him.

  We continued to walk. It seemed we had gone a fair ways from the restaurant. I tried to remember why that was important, but just as I started to remember, he smiled again and swept me away on a cloud of bliss. “Not much further, my dear.” It couldn’t have been important, I decided.

  He led me up the stairs to a tall wooden door, revealing the room beyond with a flourish. Inside was a wide, well furnished room with a four poster bed and a wide window against a north-facing balcony.

  As the door clicked shut and locked, a brief moment of clarity mixed with unease descended on me. But it vanished in an instant as the man seized me by the arms, his expression shifting into a predator’s triumphant leer.

  “At last!” he said, in a low, menacing growl.

  I gasped and struggled, trying to break his iron grip in vain. My heart raced in terror. He contemptuously tossed me on the bed like a sack of flour and then climbed on. He straddled me effortlessly and pinned my shoulders with his arms.

  “Don’t worry, my dear,” Darian said with a hint of civility creeping back into his words as if to taunt me. “Your pain will be brief and then your blood shall join mine in eternity.”

  He leaned closer, gleaming fangs extended. Trembling, I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the inevitable.

  The window exploded in a rain of glass shards.

  "What? Who dares?" The vampire cried as he leapt off me, bleeding from several cuts on his face. As he rose, he grunted once and staggered as three wooden bolts embedded themselves in his chest. I opened my eyes and pulled myself into a defensive crouch, but his attention was clearly not on me.

  I had just enough time to register Darian’s open-mouthed expression of surprise and fear before a figure in black Kevlar flew through the window with a fierce war cry, bearing him to the ground in a flurry of tangled limbs and tearing cloth.

  My hunter and my savior wrestled on the floor, and at first I could not tell who had the upper hand. I watched, heart pounding.

  Then, for a brief second, the chaotic match froze, with the figure in black pinning Darian by the throat against the ground with one hand. The vampire screamed a shrill and inhuman cry cut short by a weighty sound of “thunk” as the newcomer drove something deep into his chest.

  Darian’s body thrashed and shook, while the other man rode his chest holding the stake in with both hands. One deathblow shattered the night table; another snapped the leg off the bed and nearly sent me to the ground.

  Finally, the scene stilled. On his back, lay Darian’s eyes wide and vacant. Blood oozed
from his chest around the wooden stake driven into it. The armored man panted above the stiffening body.

  Starting with the fingertips and working up, the corpse eroded, dissolving into dust. Sighing quietly in relief, I rearranged my face into a scowl, "Took you long enough this time, Tony."

  He only laughed, pulling off the helmet to reveal a dusty-haired young man with dancing blue eyes. “Not our fault he strayed from the plan, Siren. He was supposed to use the room above the restaurant.”

  “Oh, okay,” I shot back, annoyed. “So it’s okay that I almost got bitten this time. It’s the vampire’s fault for not going where he was supposed to.”

  “Well, you’re lucky you didn’t leave your purse behind this time. If we had no way to track you, you’d be drained dry now.”

  A sudden flashback to the vampire’s paralyzing gaze sent shivers up my spine.

  He chuckled again at my sudden silence. “Aww, don’t worry babe. You know I’d never let anything happen to you.” He put one arm around me in a gesture that he must have imagined was comforting. His hand touched my ass briefly.

  “Hey, don’t get too close you two. I think Siren’s still under the Charm.” An assertive female voice declared from the balcony. Tara moved from behind the curtain holding a large wooden crossbow in both hands. Looking to be in her late twenties, she wore combat fatigues and a contemptuous smile. Her black hair was cropped ruthlessly short.

  I scowled and used the opportunity to step away from the wandering hand. “I’m not. I’m fine.”

  “Oh really? I guess you must be as you’re not calling everything ‘lovely’ anymore.” Tara snickered.

  My face flushed with embarrassment. “Well excuse me for playing the part too well.”

  “Um... guys? I think we should move on.” A nervous brown-haired scrawny young man wearing thick glasses and a black headset poked his head up from below the balcony. “This room almost certainly belonged to our spook and there may be more of them lurking around here. And they won’t go down nearly so easy without the element of surprise.”

  “Good catch, Brett,” said Tony, moving to sweep me into his arms. He ignored my startled squawk and uncomfortable squirm. “Let’s move out, people.” He moved to the balcony and jumped out the window, landing easily on a landing two stories below. Tara followed. “Watch the skirt, jailbait,” she called to me as she jumped and I hastily covered my knees.

  Behind them, the pile of ash on the floor blew away in the night breeze. The others didn’t seem to notice.

  ***

  Chapter 2: Friends and Allies

  The door to my apartment was jammed again. I yanked it fiercely and with a shower of splinters, it finally opened. I staggered into the living room. Elena, one of my roommates, snored in an armchair in front of a desktop computer. “That’ll kill your back,” I muttered, before grabbing the ratty blanket from the couch to cover her.

  Moving to the bathroom, I flipped open the light and shooed a silverfish away from the sink. The mirror’s prognosis was not good; I was a total mess. My mascara was smeared and so was my red lipstick. Half my hair had escaped from its arrangement and stuck out everywhere. I switched on the faucet and splashed myself a few times before burying my face in the remover cloth. After, I loosed my hair and attacked the knots with a brush.

  When I was done, my face was bright pink and raw and I no longer looked like an abused hooker - just plain old, ordinary Anna.

  Why vampires were attracted to me was a mystery. I wasn’t super model pretty, though I cleaned up well enough. My body was just a shade too curvy. Evan, one of my exes, told me that I should be on a diet until I was less “squishy.” But even after I’d cut my calorie intake to a sliver and worked out every day for four months, I had only lost five pounds and was as “squishy” as ever.

  Unbound, my nut-brown hair fell to the midpoint of my back, framing two cloudy grey eyes. I pursed my lips, still pink from the scrubbing even after the lipstick had worn off. Round and full, they were undoubtedly my best feature. One man had even called them “tantalizingly kissable.”

  Without my makeup on, I looked and felt ordinary. So why had I been stalked and attacked by three vampires in less than a month? I was too tired to think of an answer.

  After briefly checking to make sure there was nothing lurking in my room, I swept a pile of dirty clothes aside and flopped into my bed.

  My alarm clock read one thirty four am. Well, that wasn’t so bad, I thought drowsily. If I didn’t have a seven am double shift tomorrow, it’d be perfect. I faded out without so much as flipping off the lights.

  ***

  The diner was so crowded at lunch I could barely hear myself think. But I wasn’t paid to think.

  I set a tray with drinks down on the table. “Diet Coke, iced tea, and a bottle of Sam Adams. Are you ready to order?”

  After the diners gave their answers, I straightened and returned to the kitchen to put the orders in. On my way back out to the floor, I paused. Was it just me, or were there fewer regulars here than usual? Its seemed like everyone was a stranger.

  Maybe one of them was a vampire, I thought with a shiver. Like “Darian,” if that had even been his real name. It was only yesterday that he had sat at the back table by the window and professed his admiration of me. The seat was empty now; recently vacated as it still had to be cleared before someone else could move in.

  I quickly made my rounds, and the first chance I got, ducked out into the back of the kitchen into the narrow hallway between the kitchen, staff room, and bathroom. There I gathered my thoughts and straightened my outfit, a pink tight blouse drawn low to expose cleavage and a red skirt that was even shorter than the one I had worn last night. Tan sheer stockings and all, but painful black heels completed the ensemble.

  I knocked on the door of the staff room. It opened and Brett popped his head out. “How are we doing out here?” I asked, a little anxiously.

  Brett glanced at his phone and squinted. “Don’t worry, we’re clear.”

  I nodded, rubbing my eyes. “Good. Don’t think I need anything more to worry about tonight.”

  “Tired? Yeah, same here. Three vamps in two weeks, that’s a new record for us I think.”

  I shuddered. “How many are there, anyway?”

  “Hmm... Good question. My estimations suggest there could be a few hundred. A city this size is like a playground to them.”

  I sighed, feeling weary. “So we’ll be doing this hundreds of times more?”

  “No, I think only a few dozen more in this city. Kill too many of them and they’ll start to realize something’s going on. Lucky for us, vamps are pretty cliquish. If you tried to take out shifters this way, they’d probably sniff us out by the third or fourth kill.”

  I shook my head. Shifters, vampires... I was still not used to the knowledge that legendary monsters stalked the streets at night.

  But that was my reality now. “Right... by the way, you done with my upgrade yet?”

  “Sure thing,” Brett handed a black box back to me, an ugly electronic rig that seemed to be made of microphone foam and lenses. “Don’t worry, I tested it first. The GPS shouldn’t cut out as much now.”

  As I took it, his hand closed over mine. “Uh... thanks,” I muttered. Was it just me or did he seem unwilling to let go of it? I pulled away and put the device back into my black purse, carefully arranging the camera lens so it peeked out the translucent flap on the side.

  It was probably my imagination.

  “It’s all because of you, Anna,” Brett said with a grin. “Those vamps just can’t seem to stay away from you.”

  I shrugged, “Seems I’ve been attracting creeps all my life. About time it finally paid off.”

  Brett laughed. “And it’s not just creeps, eh? Tony seems to like you a lot too.” He smiled, but it seemed his lips were too tight to be genuine.

  “Yeah... I guess so.” I continued to keep my voice level and disinterested, an attempt to be nonchalant. “I should
head back to the floor.”

  He wasn’t done. “You know, I found some interesting things when fixing your GPS. You really shouldn’t stay logged into your email.”

  A chill ran down my spine. “Beg your pardon?”

  “I saw you had a... rendezvous... with Tony last week, right after that last incident.”

  My jaw clenched. How did he..? “It was nothing.”

  “Nothing,” He eyed me suspiciously and commented “Even when he said ‘you were great’ afterwards?”

  I didn’t respond.

  “Look, I can see how you’d want to get in good with him. Totally,” Brett said with a forced laugh. “Tony and Tara are the ones with the real jobs and the cash flow, not to mention the strength and skills for all this danger. For them, it’s all part of the ‘family business.’ But that just means normal losers like you and me... we gotta stick together, right?” He placed a hand on my arm and this time it was no accident. His greasy hair stank, like it hadn’t been washed in a week, and his gaze remained fixed on the low neckline of my blouse.

  “Don’t... do that...” I managed to whisper, shying away.

  “Oh yeah?” Bet you didn’t say that to Tony.”

  Actually, I had. He didn’t really listen. He was also the kind of guy who ripped doors off their hinges with one hand, so “no” didn’t work very well.

  Not that it was working out well here. I had to get the situation in hand.

  “You’re very nice...” I began, a little shakily, “But like I said before, I don’t really think--”

  “Nice, huh? Maybe that’s the problem.” He tightened his grip. “Maybe I should stop being so nice.”

  “Let me go.” I said again, this time with no trace of fear or hope. My mind was strangely clear and detached, as if watching a movie in a theatre or maybe as if I was watching one with my arms bound to the chair and my eyelids taped open.

  Or maybe it was that I was in another place, another time with a man twice my size towering over me and holding me down and claiming a selfish love. No word or action would stop him.