Chained (The Siren Series #2) (5 page)

“
Interesting, what else did he
say?”

“
Well he said that I was his.” Just
thinking about him made me feel ill “the leaches also listened to
him, like he was commanding them.”

Rhea remained sat in her chair and I could
see he
r mind working.
“Mmm, Barbus is hardly the brains behind this, but we should be
carefully none the less.”

“
Yeah, He makes my skin crawl.” I
replied.

“
He does seem to have that effect of
some people. I hated him ever since the first time I met
him.”

I wanted to ask Rhea a personal question,
but I didn’t know if I would be over-stepping. I took a deep breath
and just let it out.

“
Rhea, what are you?” I
interrupted.

Rhea looked at me and gave a little
smile.

She cleared her throat. “I am what you would
called a demi-god my dear.”

Wait, what! A god?! Did she really say that?
“Sorry, can you explain?”

“
A demi-god, surely you have heard the
word before?”

“
No, not really. They don’t teach us
that
in school.”

“
Well they should.” she
said.

My tired mind tried to come to terms with
Rhea being a god, but I just could not continue that train of
thought.

I tried to muffle a giggle, I was sitting
next to a god! “Were you born one then?”

“
No, I was..” Rhea cut herself off. She had
a blank stare across her face. A cold icy stare formed in her flame
coloured eyes. I had brought up memories that she wasn’t ready to
divulge yet.

“
Rhea, you ok?”

She brought herself back with a
smile.

“
That’s a tale for another day.” Rhea
stood up from her chair and started to pace around the room. I just
sat and watched her float effortlessly around her
bedroom.

Another piece of information came to light
inside my still weak mind.

“
Oh yeah, my doctor was with them. He
treated me when I was in the hospital after the..” Just thinking
back about the hospital was a bad idea. It seemed ages ago when I
laid in that hospital bed. I tried to throw off the guilty words
that surrounded me.

“
Your doctor? That’s strange. Did you
notice anything weird about him?”

Her question pulled me from my self
doubt.

“
Come to think of it, yes. It was like
he didn’t want to be there, like he was being forced to do
it.”

Rhea was about to say something but there was
a gentle knock on the bedroom door.

“
Enter.” She ordered.

A large tall man appeared, the same
guy
from the kitchen. He
had a strong presence about him. He looked me up and down with
interest and I had to resist the urge to blush. He then gave his
full attention to Rhea.

“
I have information.” he spoke but he
remained quiet.

“
You can report, she’s fine.” his eyes gave
me another glace before he reported his findings.

“
Yes mistress. There have been numerous
reports of leaches roaming around in public, and with many
numbers.”

Rhea paused to take in all the
information.

“
It’s very unlike them to attack in
public, and you say there are many of them?”

“
Yes, mistress. They are at a very high
level, close to the danger zone.” he said.

“
She
must been breeding them. This isn’t a good sign.”
Rhea said to herself.

“
Breeding?” I was totally
lost.

“
Yes Ellie, leaches don’t breed like normal
people they get birthed about ten at a time or even more, but these
numbers are high.”

“
We’ve had some protectors gone missing
while hunting for the nest also.” he spoke with a formal
tone.

Rhea started to think again. “What does the
council say about this?” she asked the strong young man.

“
They want us to deal with it quickly
and quietly. They want you to front the operation.”

“
Thank you Marcus, we will leave first
thing in the morning. If that’s all you can go.” she waved him
off.

He bowed his head and left, closing the door
behind him.

“
Where are you going tomorrow?” I
asked.

“
To find a nest of leaches and you, my
dear will be coming with me.”

“
What?!” I blurted out.

I’m surprised that Rhea wanted me to
accompany her down into a leach nest. “You want to put me back in
danger again? After what I’ve been through?

“
Yes and I know what you must be
thinking, but you will be safe with me and I don’t want you out of
my sight.” Her soft voice was like music to my ears, but I had to
try to resist it.

“
That’s what you said last time and you
know what happened.” I stood up from my chair in
protest.

Rhea took a deep sigh. “That will never
happen again. I will put my life on the line if it means your
safety.”

Was this all going to happen again? No, I
won’t let it. I won’t let them take me again.

“
I need to think about this, I cannot
go back to that dungeon. I won’t!” I ran out of the room and down
the corridor pushing past Sophia.

“
Ellie?” she called after me but I
didn’t stop.

I ran back to my room trying to avoid the
many runaways that filled the halls. I closed my door hoping it did
not lock me in. I just wanted to scream, I felt trapped. I would
not allow myself to go through that again. I clenched my teeth
together wishing that the rage would pass. Rhea had no right to be
putting me in that position again.

It was getting late but I was too upset to
sleep and my stomach started to growl in protest. I decided to get
a snack from the kitchen. Quietly, I walked down the many halls,
not wanting to disturb the others. Some of the runaways were in the
sitting room reading or just chatting quietly away to each other.
Every room had at least two protectors watching over their charges,
once they saw me they would watch me with interest. Many of the
runaways smiled and waved at me while I walked past trying to find
the kitchen. Slowly, I was finding my way around this maze; god
knows how many corridors there are. I would have to get used to
this place sooner or later and right now I just wanted to find the
kitchen to get some food.

The kitchen was devoid of people, it was
nice not to have the idle chit-chat with a total stranger, I prefer
my own company. I opened up the fridge and it greeted me with its
cold chill. Inside was food different variety of foods with fancy
names that I hadn’t really heard of. I didn’t even know what half
of it was and I didn’t want to go around smelling them if they were
edible. I didn’t know whether to put it on my face or eat it.
Instead I settled for some toast, it amazed me that they had
electricity down here. I prepared my toast and sat in the kitchen
eating in silence.

I was almost done with my simple snack
when I could hear footsteps coming towards the kitchen. Was I
allowed out at this time of night? Crap, crap. I quickly tried to
tidy up the crumbs I had left but it was too late. Behind me I
could hear someone clearing their throat. Oh crap!

I turned around to be greeted by one of
the protectors that I had met inside Rhea’s room. Was he stalking
me?

“
Sorry, I’ll just move on. I should get
back to bed anyway.” I said sheepishly.

I tried to tip toe around him, but his words
stopped me.

“
You’re Ellie aren’t you?” he asked and
I stopped dead.

“
Yeah, why?” I asked.

He leaned on the wall and crossed his strong
arms around his chest. “Just that I’ve heard things about you
that’s all, good things though.” He added.

I chuckled nervously. Oh god I’m acting like
a school girl. (Well I am one.)

“
Well I’m glad people have been saying
good things about me, for a change.” I said to him.

“
What do you mean?” he
asked.

“
Uh, it’s nothing. Rhea said your name was
Marcus, was it?”

“
Yep, that’s me.” He then smiled with a
devilish grin.

“
So you’re
here to protect us then? I don’t really know
what’s going on around here. I’m kinda’ new to the whole
supernatural scene.”

“
Well if you have any questions you should
come to me.” he said “I’m new to this whole protector thing myself,
I only became one a few weeks ago and they send me here, but I am
not complaining.”

“
Are you enjoying it?” I
asked.

“
Yeah, it
runs in the family. Even my past generations were
in the protectors, so I’m doing my family proud.” he
said.

“
What do the
protectors
do anyway?” Marcus laughed and I felt my cheeks
flush with colour.

As Marcus moved his belt shimmered with light
as it did before. With a closer look, strapped to his belt was a
long thin sword sheathed in its holder. Did they really need these
with them?

“
You really are new to the scene aren’t
you?” he cleared his throat “well the jobs in the title, the
protectors, we help supernatural beings like yourself, when they
are in need. And sometimes we do special jobs, like tomorrow. Are
you coming with us?”

I didn’t really know how to answer his
question. “Maybe, I don’t know yet.”

“
I’ll protect you, it’s my job after all.”
he said with a wink.

“
I’ve had many people claiming to
protect me.” I said.

“
There’s nothing to worry about.” replied
Marcus.

“
You’d think, but there is always that
doubt at the back of your mind that everything could go wrong in a
matter of seconds.”

Marcus didn’t give an answer, he just
remained quiet.

“
I think I should go back to bed.” I
mumbled.

“
Night.” h
e replied.

I walked back to my room with a silly
school-girl grin across my face.

I awoke from my peaceful sleep to
see
Sophia’s face inches
from mine while and I screamed in fright. Sophia was thrown back a
few steps before putting up one of her barriers just in
time.

Quickly, I shot up from the bed. “I’m so
sorry Sophia.”

“
It was my own fault Ellie. I shouldn’t
have woken you.”

“
What were you doing?” I asked
her.

“
Watching you sleep.” s
he replied.

“
Are you ok?” I didn’t want to hurt
her.

Sophia regained her composure.

“
It’s fine, really
. I came to tell you we are getting ready to
leave.”

Leave? They must’ve been getting ready to
leave for the mission. I didn’t really want to go but did I even
have a choice? Will Rhea let me out of her sight again?

“
Just to tell you, I’m going as well.” she
said.

“
What? Why? Shouldn’t we leave things like
that to
those
protectors?” I asked her.

“
Well I have been on a few missions
with Rhea before, besides I’m quite excited for it.” I could feel
the excitement flowing from her. “We know what we are doing; you’ll
be safe with us.” Sophia walked out of the room and l quickly got
dressed.

The many runaways filled the halls, all
trying to get a peek at the leaving party. I carefully weaved my
way through the adoring crowd, where Rhea, Marcus and Sophia stood
waiting for me.

“
Morning.” said Marcus.

“
So you have decided to join us then?”
Rhea asked.

“
Like I have a choice.” I
mumbled.

“
I’m glad.” she replied.

I looked around at the small crew, was this
it? I didn’t really feel much safe with just a small group.

“
Is this it?” I asked them.

“
No there is one more, he is late.”
Rhea’s tone was sharp.

From within the crowd there were shoving and
unhappy yelps. Something was moving towards us and it wasn’t in a
good mood.

“
Move, move out of the way.” said a
voice from the crowd.

The group of people parted revealing a middle
age short man. “Him?” I asked surprised.

“
Yes, missy, me.” h
e said as he came closer.

“
Ellie do not be deceived by his small
stature, we all have our uses, even him.” said Rhea.

“
Charming, Com’on I’ve got places to be
and I don’t want to be here anyway.” The balding man
said.

“
Robin, you owe me. So you will do this
for me.” Rhea said.

“
Where are we going?” I
asked.

“
There has been lots of leach activity
outside of the city, so we are going to check it out.” Marcus
answered.

“
But shouldn’t we have more protectors
with us?” I asked.

“
No, they need to stay here and we only
need a small group otherwise we will attract attention.” Rhea
explained.