Bright Fire (Bright Fire Series Book 1) (11 page)

Chapter

28

The drive to the mountains is beautiful. All the trees changing colors from green to red to brown is breathtaking. If I wasn't riding in a car for ours and on my way to go steal a magical musical instrument from a mythological creature, this would be the perfect date. Not that Alec and I are on a date, just if we ever did go on a date this is what I would want it to be like. Something changed last night. I'm not sure what but ever since Alec was honest with me about this whole destiny stuff he seems at ease. 

Reading my mind, he asks, "What are you thinking about?" 

I decide that honesty is probably the best bet. "Your change in attitude since last night." 

"Is that good or bad?" 

"Why do ask that?" 

He rubs his hand on the back of his neck. "I don’t know, I have zero experience with the female species and what little I have had recently, I seem to be getting slapped every time I turn around. I just need to know if that's like a regular thing or if I did something wrong." 

"Oh, no girls always slap boys. It's a sign of affection." I smile wryly. 

"I don't want that kind of affection." 

I chuckle. "Mostly it's shock factor. When I woke up with you laying next to me, and I barely knew you, and you drugged me. It was a bit much. Same with Cass, I'm pretty sure she's never had children, and then she gets stuck with a sixteen-year-old who had a boy in her bed." 

"Oh, guess I didn't think of it that way. But she knew this would happen." 

This is too hard to explain to him, he's not a girl he just doesn't get it. "Anyways back to my original response, your attitude towards and around me has changed. You aren't as guarded, no pun intended, and you seem … relaxed." 

"It felt nice to be honest with someone. When you are raised the way I was, you don't have people to talk to. Feelings are kept inside. It's nice to be able to let that all out." 

I feel bad now, I know that isn't his intention, but I do. I’m upset with my dad for not preparing me, and Alec has been going through nothing but preparations. "Do you miss it?" 

"Yes and no, I miss the same everyday routine, but I don't miss the seclusion. Out here I get to have things that are my own. I get to use my skills
and
be useful." 

"Did you ever think about doing anything else when you grew up?" 

"Not really, they instill your duties at such a young age you really don't get the chance. But I remember at some point I was considering being fireman so I can get on one of those fancy calendars." He waggles his eyebrows. 

I can feel the blood try to rush to my face and I will it away. I can only imagine what he would look like dressed as a sexy fireman. "I wanted to be a princess when I was little. Guess you should be careful what you wish for, huh?"

I am still struggling with the fact that my parents are gods, I'm immortal, and I have this entire destiny mapped out for me. I don't even have time to think about what it is that I want out of life.  Part of me still wants to run and hide away, even if it is for eternity. I went from worrying about not having a license at sixteen like all the other teenagers to having my life thrown in an upheaval overnight. What if I fail? 

He senses my feeling of doom as he reassures me, "everything is going to work out, you'll see." 

"How do you know?" 

"I just do. We are almost there, let's go over the plan again." 

We spend the next half hour going over possible strategies for dealing with the sirens. Strategic battle expert, I am not; so the conversation is mostly one sided.

Alec pulls off to the side of the road and pulls out a map. "Lyla and Cass think the sirens are located at this spring. It's about a quarter of a mile northeast of here. We should go on foot from here so we don’t give them advanced warning." 

I nod and hop out of the car, grabbing the dart gun from the trunk. "I hope you are a good navigator because I have no idea where northeast is from here." 

He grabs the blade Endeis gave him. "I thought woman didn't trust men with directions?" 

"Shut up." 

He stands there staring at me. 

It's making me self-conscious. "What?" 

"Well, I was gonna say, come on it's this way; but you told me to shut up, so I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do." 

I slap his arm. 

"Is that more affection?" 

I wave my hand for him to lead the way. We leave the road and head to the group of trees to the left. There is only the crunching of leaves as we walk deeper and deeper into the forest.

~~~~

Alec
is the first to speak, "Do you hear that?" 

"No." 

"Exactly, we are in a forest and it's dead silent. Not even birds, we must be getting close." 

Incredulous, I ask, "The lack of birds tells you that?" 

"Animals are attuned to danger. They will steer clear of the sirens out of instinct." 

"Oh, I guess that…" 

"Help, somebody help me, please!" The voice comes out of nowhere. 

"Is it a trap?" 

Alec stiffens beside me. "I'm not sure." 

"Please help me, somebody, my husband, oh god my husband." 

Alec takes off in the direction of the voice. I sprint to catch up. Through the trees, is small clearing. A woman, not much older than eighteen, is holding her head in her hands. She is sobbing uncontrollably. She hears our approach and looks up. "Oh, thank god I thought I heard someone but I wasn't sure. My husband and I were camping for our honeymoon and he wandered off to use the bathroom. That was two hours ago. I can't find him." 

Alec goes straight into warrior mode, "OK, OK, calm down. Which direction did he go?" 

Hang on, something doesn't feel right. I can't see this woman, who looks like she walked out of a magazine, camping out here. I look around, and I realize what's bugging me. There's no camping gear. The clearing is empty. I turn to Alec. "She's lying." Shock crosses her face.

"Excuse me!" 

"Dell, her husband could have gotten lured by.. Yah know… So we have to go find him and help him." 

I pull him to the side and whisper, "Alec, trust me, please, something is not right here. If they were camping, where is there gear?" 

He looks around. "I dunno, maybe they weren't camping here, she just went to look for him and ended up here." Out of the corner of my eye I see her twirling her hair. Definitely something off about her demeanor. "Look I'm going to help her, either follow me and help or go back to the car." 

He looks at me with disgust, and I step back. "Listen to me she is a siren, I know it." 

"Whatever. You're just jealous I want to help another girl. I'm not your lap dog you know."  He loops his arm through the woman's and strides off deeper into the woods. I run to him and try pulling on his arms to keep him from going any further. He easily shrugs out of my grip. "Just get over it, I don’t want you anymore." 

I try to grab him again, but he dodges it, leaving me standing there in the wake of his hurtful comments. The woman looks over her shoulder, flicks two fingers and I go flying. My head hits a boulder with a painful crack, and everything goes blank.

Chapter

29

"You need to wake up honey; Alec needs you." I can barely see the beautiful woman. My vision is blurry, and I have a pounding headache. "Dell, get up, move, now. Save Alec." What is she talking about, she’s not making any sense at all. 

Realization hits and I jerk awake. I'm not sure how long I was out for, but the sun is still up, so I hope not too long. I scramble to my feet and stand up. The dizzying wave is too much, and I double over and wretch. With the dizziness wearing off, I slowly stand upright. I have to find Alec. Where do I begin to look? This forest is huge, it could take days and I doubt Alec has hours let alone days. Think, Dell, think. 

I talk to myself as I work through the situation. "OK, they don't want to wander too far from the water source. So they can't be that far away." I close my eyes and listen for any sounds, grateful there aren't any birds chirping or animals scurrying about. It's completely silent, except for my breathing. I listen harder, forcing all of my other senses to shut down so I can hear better. Off to the right I hear it, it's faint but it sounds like splashing.

I walk through a patch of trees. With each step, the sound of water is getting louder. Now I can hear voices, female voices. I stop just shy of the spring in front of me still hidden by the trees. I see three beautiful women frolicking in the spring. One of them is the woman from before. I knew I was right. One of them says, "Wow, you're so handsome. Do you workout?" 

The sound of her voice is so sickly sweet I want to gag. All three of them have long hair that reaches the waist deep water. They are splashing him and giggling like flirty schoolgirls. He looks at them with such adoration my blood boils. It’s just the siren’s spell I tell myself, but it doesn't take away the pang of jealousy.

OK, I need to come up with a plan. Alec has the blade so that isn’t going to help me unless I can get it from him. Three on one, lovely odds. Maybe if I try to distract them and get to the blade. No, that won’t work, they are almost on top of him there is no way I can get that close. I touch the dart gun at my side. That’s it! It’s risky, but I have to give it a shot. I pull the gun out of the holster and try to steady my hand as I level it upwards.

I point the gun at the woman who flung me across the clearing earlier. She is rubbing her hand up Alec’s arm, and I see red. I pull the trigger, willing the dart to reach its target. Sadly, I miss. The dart ricochets off the stone wall behind them. All three turn their heads toward where the dart hit. I use their distraction as another chance to shoot the dart gun. I reload as quickly as I can and pull the trigger. This time it meets its target and a victorious feeling washes over me.

The woman howls in pain and staggers back away from Alec. The sight of her is both fascinating and revolting. Where her blond hair used to be is a gray scaly scalp. Her entire body is the same color as cement. Her eyes are sunken black holes, and her nose is nothing but two slits for nostrils. Her mouth is in the shape of an O and with razor sharp teeth. She is thrashing wildly in the water like she’s having some sort of seizure.

I reload the gun again, and as I look up I see Alec coming towards me. Good, I could use his help right about now. I run out of the shield of trees to get to him. "Alec, listen, you were under the spell of the sirens, where is the—" His hands are suddenly around my throat.
Crap!
He’s still under the siren’s spell. I claw at his hands trying to pry them from my neck. I can’t speak, and the edges of my vision are getting fuzzy. I try to surprise him by go limp. It works for a second, just long enough for a breath. And then he has me down on the ground hands wrapping tighter. I fling my arms around and around trying to find something, anything, when I feel something hard and smooth about the size of a softball. I pick it up, and before I can think about what I am doing I smack Alec upside the head with it as hard as I can. He instantly loosens his grip and falls to the side.

I gasp and suck in deep lungfuls of air. I grab the dagger from its sheath on his side and head towards the water. The one siren is still thrashing about. The other two, still in woman form, give off a high pitched keening sound. I look around wildly trying to find a place where they could keep a harp. There is a small waterfall rushing over what looks like a mini cave behind them. How am I going to get in there?

The other two sirens drop their glamor and start snarling at me like feral animals. I walk closer to the waters edge. I feel an arm clamp around mine and turn around swiping the dagger back and forth. Alec catches my wrist just before the blade penetrates his bicep. I try to pull back, but his grip is is like an iron vice.

"Dell, calm down, it’s me." I keep trying to wrestle out of his grip. "Settle down. Look at me. It’s me."

"Let go of me!"

"No." He wraps his other arm around my waist and jerks me away from the edge of the water just as a siren attempts to grab my ankle. He pulls back his booted foot and kicks her square in the jaw.

He is Alec again. I loosen my grip on the dagger, and he grabs it. He pushes me back, "Stay behind me." The siren he kicked across the face is coming at us again. He lunges forward, and the dagger penetrates her heart. There is a whooshing sound as her soul is being sucked out of her body.

"Alec, watch out!"

The other siren is coming at him from the side. He swiftly pulls back on the blade and twirls around bringing the knife up across the other siren’s throat leaving a gaping wound. He plunges the knife into her chest, and there is the same whooshing noise while her soul gets ripped out.

Breathing heavily, he looks at me. “Where is the other?"

I point to the final siren who is still jerking wildly in the water.

"We need to find the harp."

"I think it is in the cave behind that waterfall."

"You go look for it; I’ll take care of this one."

I hesitate for a second. I don’t want to go in there alone. I look up at him, overwhelmingly happy he’s not dead or trying to kill me. I am overtaken by my emotions, and I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him. It’s quick, but I can feel everything. Every nerve ending is electrified as I pull back and look him square in the eyes and then take off towards the cave.

I risk a quick glance over my shoulder, and he is staring at me with a mixture of awe and shock written all over his face. He shakes his head and turns to the last siren. I focus back on my task and look at the rock wall to find a way to get into the cave. It is a good forty feet above the top of the lake.