Does anyone know how hard it is to hide from the shiver that wants you dead when you can’t even get out of their house? My nerves aren’t shot or frayed; they are wisps of memory of frayed. My poor talons and fingernails have been bitten down to the quick; I am constantly hungry and thirsty. I am bored!
So, so bored.
The furtive movement towards the sleeping quarters are so quiet I almost don’t hear them, but then my senses explode, like decomposing bodies bursting from full guts of gas. I race through the house, having already mapped it completely.
I inhale as I run, ignoring those hated ocean scents, and catch a whiff of something like grass.
You don’t belong here;I sing in my head, and before I can stop myself, I giggle.
The creature, almost upon the sleeping Sirens, freezes, panic in the stillness of its body. I can feel it trembling through the air. Its rich fear bursting up and oozing out of it.
“Naughty, naughty,” I whisper and let out another maniacal laugh. It’s like a cannon boom.
It tries to run, but I’m fast, deadly, and bored.
There is no way it’s getting away from me. I slice and attack. It shrieks and screams. So much delicious noise. The metallic scent of blood fills the air. I am alive; I am free.
The icy rage of the Sirens wakes up, rolling over me like a blanket of misery.
I ignore them, but they really have stolen my fun. With a murderous flick of my fingers, I slice through its throat, sending its life force to spray across the walls. I hum happily, relishing in the warmth of arterial blood.
This is what I’ve been missing.
“WHAT THE FUCK?”
There’s that word again. I grab my prey and drag it to my mouth, biting deep, claiming it as mine.
“Of all the ocean’s filth, would you put that down!” Reed snaps. “You can’t eat it.”
“Mine!” I hiss.
Something clocks me over the head, and my prize is stolen.
“Mine!” Ronit says in his deep, rumbling voice.
The outrage. The nerve! Before I can turn on him, I’m shoved up against a wall. The hot aura of Brio stabbing at me. He is so prickly.
“How did you get in here?”
Listening to him talk for three months has made me feel like I know him, them. We’re almost friends now. Except, you know, they want to eviscerate me.
I snort and lick the blood off my lips. Mmm, so good.
“Ugh, she is foul. How the hell did she get in here without us knowing?” Brio shouts. “She could have killed us!”
Could have. I fucking well should have, but I’m not sure I could have actually succeeded if I’d tried. That is the only reason they are still alive. Well, the only reason I will admit to.
Plus, I also need to know how to get out of this prison. The doors don’t open, there are no windows, no holes anywhere. It’s sealed.
When the force holding me lets go, I stumble in the blood and crash down to the floor, soaking myself in it. I let out a giddy giggle and roll in it just to rile them up more.
“Ronit,” Canto says in a strained voice.
“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t kill you right here, devious Strega,” Ronit hisses, and I feel a sharp edge of something press against my skin.
“Strega?” I have missed the way he says that word. Sharp, pointed, like a declaration of war, like I disgust him. Well, the feeling is mutual.
I shove the word away, focused more intently on the sharp metal pressed to my throat. It’s times like this I wish I still hadmy sight. I want to see his expression; does he hunger for my blood? Does the need to slay me turn his expression into that of a hungry dog?
