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I feel Andi frown against my chest. “See, this is where you lose me. You say that I’m one of these sirens, and I know I’m not ugly, but I’m not the prettiest woman to ever live. I’ve never had people falling at my feet to serve me. In fact, my life has been pretty tough, and I’ve faced a lot of rejection.”

“As one who has experienced your charisma, ma souris, let me assure you that it exists. I was not open to your proposal of protection initially, but then you began speaking, and I could not help but feel for you. It was not as powerful or instantaneous as in the legend of Troy, but perhaps there is a secret to it, a way for you to access your beauty and let it grow until it reaches the heights of Helen. Now, don’t interrupt the story.” I playfully spank her thigh, and she chokes out a surprised laugh before nodding.

“Good,” I say. “Where was I? Oh, yes, Helen enchanted the royal family. Hector and Paris fought over her, only to eventually both take a place in her harem.”

“Her harem?” Andi asks incredulously.

I let the new interruption pass, smiling at her scandalized tone. “Don’t be such a prude, ma souris. Sirens are known for having harems. They usually consist of the strongest of her thralls that have the most access to her blood and who vie for her favor and work together to protect her. It is a sound strategy, surrounding herself with power and protection.”

“I don’t want a harem,” she says forcefully.

“That is good, ma souris. If you did, I would have to kill the others.” I have no interest in vying for Andi’s favor amongst a group of suitors.

She just snorts. “You seem very sure that you would be included at all if I did have a harem.”

“Wouldn’t I? You are attracted to me, and I am attracted to you. I am one of the strongest living vampires and the strongest in the United States. I am ancient and powerful, with an entire organization at my fingertips. A siren is only safe if her harem is strong. I would be the logical choice.”

Andi ignores my assertion that she is attracted to me, but doesn’t refute it. Instead, she asks, “You keep saying ‘her.’ What about boy sirens?”

“If you would let me finish telling you what I know,” I censure lightly, “I would have gotten to the bit about sirens only being women. Sirens only birth other full-blooded sirens, and they are always females.”

“How are they full-blooded? What about the species of the father?”

“That I cannot tell you. Like I said, there is not a lot of information out on sirens. It is almost like the information was purposefully destroyed. Maybe by the siren hunters Jade told you about.”

Andi absorbs this information before nodding slowly. “So, Helen started her harem of powerful men. What happened next?”

“Powerful people, ma souris. Helen was not bound by any gender preference. She also took Hector and Paris’ sister Cassandra as one of her harem, the most powerful seer of the age. She used Cassandra’s visions to move her armies across the borders into Greece and invaded the lands of her former husband. Her armies were like a terrible plague, stronger than any other. It is said that they drank wine laced with Helen’s blood, which made it sweet like honey, and cemented their loyalty to their queen. I can tell you from my own experiences that drinking your blood has made me stronger and faster. I’m sure that was another reason behind the blood-laced wine.”

“How did they lose, then?” asks Andi. “If Helen was so powerful and her armies so unstoppable?”

“Another lost secret,” I say. “The wisest strategist in Greece, Odysseus, was a warlock of renown and found a potion that neutralized the effects of the siren’s blood. Through his spy network, he slipped the potion into the enemy water supplies. When the Trojan armies awoke from their mind control, they were furious, and their one aim became to kill their once-mistress. They joined with the Greek forces, and together they attacked the city of Troy. Hector and Paris held them off for years, protected by Troy’s great wall and Cassandra’s visions, but once again Odysseus outsmarted them. He used a powerful curse to nullify Cassandra’s futuresight, to make it so that she was no longer believed by anyone who heard her visions, and then used the Trojan Horse to sneak into the city and spread his potion through the populace. Helen was destroyed by her own thralls, an arrow shot through her heart by Paris himself. So her reign of terror ended.”

Andi frowns against my chest. “This is all very interesting, but it sounds too much like a legend for it to be all true. If Helen could put just any strong man under her thrall, why didn’t she enthrall Odysseus or start with her first husband? Why did she start the wars in the first place? What was she running from? There are too many holes in the story.”

“I never said that I had all the answers, ma souris, just that I knew the legend. As to your original question, sirens have three main powers: the enthrallment of their blood, the influence of their voice, and the shock of their beauty.”

“Oh, great,” she says sarcastically. “Next time the kidnappers show up, I’ll just pretty them to death.”

I laugh at her grumpy reply. “I’ll admit the first two are more powerful as weapons. But you signed a contract that you wouldn’t share your blood with others, so it is your voice that you must focus on.”

“But I’ve already tried to use it on purpose, and that didn’t work!”

“Your voice has worked on me before, ma souris. Do not forget that your soulful plea for help is what brought me to your aid.”

“For a price,” she mumbles.

“But of course. I never do something for nothing, but even you will admit the deal I gave you was generous. Far more generous than I normally am. It was your voice that moved me. Can you not think of other times that people gave you your way, just because you asked them to?”

I can feel her scrunch her forehead in thought at my query. “Well . . .” she starts hesitantly, “The day before I met you, Bruno was going to fire me until I started crying . . .”

“He made you cry?” I ask dangerously.

She laughs lightly. “Focus, Julian. No killing my boss, either. What I'm saying is he was going to fire me, and then I started crying, and my voice, I don’t know, kind of echoed in the space? Then he just suddenly changed his mind. Jade told me later that tears didn’t usually work on Bruno, that he gets meaner if someone starts to cry, but it worked for me.”

“Good, ma souris,” I nod. “That’s good. It would seem that a piece of your puzzle is strong emotion. Desperation and sadness have worked for you so far, but it would appear they aren’t enough to call upon at will. You need to call up other emotions and try to channel them into your voice to see what works best.”

“Oh god, so it’s like acting? That’s bad.”