There was no love lost between the two Siren brothers. If Reginald and Bastien had once been close, it was not the case now. Layla felt magic roar up into the air with death in it, from both Reginald and Bastien. Reginald’s magic was powerful in his Siren-form, but Bastien’s was horrifying, even as a man. The air was suddenly so thick with ice and vapor as Bastien powered up that Layla couldn’t breathe. Dusk gave a shout, and as Reginald coiled like a serpent to attack, Layla rolled out from beneath his tremendous weight.
In that instant, Bastien changed. This wasn’t some gradual process like Reginald. Bastien’s body knew how to shift; had known how to do it for centuries. Like Layla had seen with the Phoenix King and Hunter, Bastien was one moment man and the next moment roaring fast up into his Siren in a mirage of watery light. He towered over Reginald, an enormous serpent of grey and silver scales with long, flowing tendrils cascading off him like a leviathan. Bastien had gossamer fins all along the length of his back, and a massive mantle of fins spread from his skull like a frilled newt as he roared, cascading spray through the ballroom as he reared back to strike with fangs bared.
As Layla kicked off her heels, dashing across the wet floor towards Dusk and Adrian and Rikyava, the battle began. One moment, the floor was slick with flooding seawater, the next it was shuddering into whitecaps as the enormous Sirens slammed into each other. The room concussed with power; chandeliers crashed down. Dusk and Layla raised their hands in the same moment, and above their heads crystal was suspended on a barrier of power and wind.
They shared a moment as their gazes connected – astounded at what they had wrought together on instinct through their Bind.
And then the fighting Sirens hit a marble pillar. Sections of the crystal roof were suddenly shattering down and Dusk rolled fast, seizing Layla in strong arms as Adrian and Rikyava launched out of the way the other direction. Roars shuddered the ballroom; silvered mirrors exploded as crystal, wrought-iron, and steel from the roof smashed down through the water, sending chunks of the wooden floor ricocheting through the hall.
It was a war-zone. Sheltered by a pillar of marble and one of Dusk’s barriers at the edge of the ballroom, Layla and Dusk breathed hard as the Sirens careened through the space. Silver-grey and white-gold blood flowed as tails whipped, talons raked, and fangs tore. Over and over they coiled, hammering each other, strangling, biting and gouging and flinging deadly spears of water-magic to try and smite one another.
Being in the middle of the Phoenix King’s battle with Hunter had been frightening, but this was terrifying. Layla breathed hard, her heart hammering in fear as she watched the two behemoths battle, each of them three times the size Hunter had been in Dragon-form, and far more deadly. She had no question in her mind now that Sirens were the most powerful of the Dragons as she watched them slam into each other and explode the ballroom’s confines like tissue paper to a car-bomb. It was how she imagined people felt as they saw a tsunami coming for them from the shore – that it was nothing they could possibly flee from in time, or fight in any way.
Raging funnels of water tore through the hall as Reginald got a good bite into his brother’s shoulder, but then roared as he was whipped in the head by Bastien’s long, barbed tail and a spike of ice that shattered upon his armored snout. Bastien launched in as Reginald fell away with a dazed snort, Bastien’s talons raking Reginald’s underbelly and thrusting rapid-fire ice-spears into Reginald middle. But Reginald was swift, writhing over in an eel-like movement as he roared in pain, hammering his head into his brother’s injury with an armored shield of ice protecting his blocky skull and pulping Bastien’s already-damaged shoulder like a meat mallet.
Bastien roared; his magic shuddered the broken ceiling and another rain of crystal and steel came careening down. Layla saw Rikyava and Adrian peer around from the far columns; their gazes connected with hers. Guards with black spears held defensive positions behind the columns, heaving hard breaths. Fear was in their faces; Layla was certain that a Siren-battle inside the Hotel was so above their pay grade. At the ballroom doors, a few braver Owners gaped from a semi-safe distance. Hotel Guards held them back, though Layla was fairly certain Reginald and Bastien could have this whole ballroom falling down in minutes flat.
And start rampaging their fury through the entire Hotel.
“Layla.” Dusk spoke as the Sirens crashed by to the far end of the ballroom, trying to hammer ice into each other’s bellies. “What would you do to save Reginald?”
“What do you mean?” She gasped, her magic screaming through her body now as Reginald completely lost his own control. Their Bind was worthless at the moment, but perhaps that was for the best. She saw Dusk flare his nostrils, scenting her scorched bourbon fragrance blasting through the sea-scents around them, though still somewhat trapped by Reginald’s pearls.
“I need to catch Reginald in a crystal cocoon,” Dusk breathed hard, peering around the column. “You need to support Adrian and Rikyava in trapping him, long enough so I can weave my power.”
“What happens if we can’t trap him?” Layla gasped, watching the Sirens roil by again, trying to strangle each other with nooses of seawater now. Removing Reginald’s pearl bracelet from her wrist fast, along with his earrings, she saw Reginald was retreating, coiling through himself again and again in pain. Layla saw why; Bastien had raked his talons deep into Reginald’s face and gold-white blood surged down into Reginald’s eyes. Layla saw Bastien side-wind in to bite Reginald’s throat while he as blinded, but Reginald whipped his tail and his brother was hammered back against another column – causing the column to crack with a deafening retort.
“If we can’t trap him, Reginald dies.” Dusk glanced around the pillar again as his hand moved quickly, taking Reginald’s pearls from Layla and stuffing them into his pants pocket. “The Forbidden Spears are almost ready. If Rikyava can get even three of them into Reginald, he’s dead. We can’t let that happen.”
It was then that Layla saw something she’d missed in the melee. Behind the pillars at the edge of the hall, the Guard hadn’t been idle. Each person, no matter their Lineage, was vibrating with a violet light pouring through their hands and wrists now, deep into the spears. The gold sigils on each ebony spear and their obsidian tips glowed a shade so deadly that Layla knew it was poison – last-ditch control for a rampaging Dragon. As Layla glanced around, fifty more Guards with black spears sprinted into the ballroom, taking up defensive positions at the columns. Beside Adrian, Rikyava held up a hand, watching the fight get critical but stalling her men.
They were hanging back on the Head Guardswoman’s orders, powering up to max.
And once that max was reached, she would send them in to succeed or die.
Layla saw the determined set of Rikyava’s shoulders; she felt the focused sensation of battlefield scorch all around her friend as Rikyava’s gaze went a bloody crimson. A whirling vortex of blood flared up around the Blood Dragon, and as Layla watched, Rikyava’s eyes began to bleed like she cried pure death. Somehow, Layla knew that the Head Guardswoman was only a moment from changing into her own Dragon to stop this fight.
And Layla knew that if she did, the death toll would be high.
“What do you need me to do?” Layla spoke to Dusk, as a storm of blistering bourbon scent roiled through her. Her Dragon rose inside her, rolling through her veins with an eager roar. Layla was shuddering from the force of her own power now; curls of blistering golden flame rushed off her in simmering waves. Clenching her fists, Layla felt that heat concentrate in her chest, rushing down into her hands and causing a hot mirage in the air.
Though it was wild, she felt the focus of Dusk’s crystal energy at her side – and further away, Adrian’s furious winds adding to her heat.
“Get to Adrian,” Dusk breathed as the Sirens slammed into the stained-glass cupolas at the far end of the hall, blasting them out into the night like cannon-fire had hit them. “Join your power to his. You both resonate with the same magic. I can hold my own; you two need to get a noose of fire around Reginald. Hold him. I’ll do the rest.”
“What about Bastien?”
“Rikyava and the Guard can handle Bastien.” Dusk glanced at Layla, something complicated in his eyes. They flared with a diamond-hot brilliance, and as Layla watched, Dusk began to thrum with the power of earthquakes. Reaching out, he seized her behind the neck and kissed her hard – then thrust her towards Adrian. “GO! NOW!”
She ran. Sending a ward of energy down to protect her bare feet from broken crystal and wrought-iron, Layla sprinted towards Adrian at his column, as hard and fast as she could. Their gazes connected; Adrian saw her coming. She saw him recognize the plan as he shouted at Rikyava, making a motion for the Head Guardswoman to take a different position at a nearby column and get a better angle on Bastien.
But then everything went wrong.
As Layla ran, an enormous silver-grey tail snaked out, hammering her in the back. Layla flew; she hit Adrian’s column with a solid crunch and a blast of pain. Falling to her back in the surf; Layla gasped. She’d had her forearms up; it was the only thing that had saved her. Her power had made a sudden shield of wind as she’d hit the column, but still, everything hurt like hell from Bastien’s powerful strike. But Bastien’s hit had thrown her to Adrian, and as she lay there gasping, he hauled her up, pulling her behind the column with him.
“Layla!” He scanned her eyes fast. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah,” she gasped. “Yeah, I’m ok. I’m ok.”
