Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 531(@200wpm)___ 424(@250wpm)___ 354(@300wpm)
I stare at her, mouth agape. “You speak Spanish?” I ask, blinking at her. How is that possible?
“I speak enough,” she says in a beguiling accent.
Then, she spits on my face.
I wipe it away and grin at her. “Well, this has certainly made your little predicament a lot more interesting. For me, that is. I’m so used to talking to a God who doesn’t answer back, it might be nice to talk to someone who does.”
She growls in response and spits on me again.
This time, I wipe it away, glancing at it between my fingers, tinged with wine. I give a small shake of my head and rub her spit along my tongue, swallowing it. Even her saliva tastes divine.
“If you think spitting on me is a deterrent, you are sadly mistaken,” I tell her, tipping over the empty chalice. “I drink your spit like wine. Speaking of wine, I could give you more, but it all depends on your temperament. So far, I’m not sure you’re taking any of this seriously.”
“Damn you, whore,” she sneers.
I burst out laughing, my own laughter foreign to my ears.
The Syren can curse, albeit creatively. She grows more interesting by the minute.
“I like you, you know,” I tell her, still chuckling. “That’s not a good thing in the long run. But yes, I like you very much. Tell me, Syren, where did you learn to speak my language?”
“It is none of your business. Let me go.”
I raise my brow, running my fingertip over the rim of the cup. “Let you go where? To do what? You know, had you been a human who had murdered those men like you did, you would already be dead. That’s how we deal with things in this world. You kill them, we kill you. It’s safer for the world for a savage creature like yourself to be put in the ground, turned into fish food.”
“Put me back in the water or…” She trails off, licking the wine off her lips. I’d like to lick it off for her.
“Or what?” I ask idly.
“I’ll scream,” she threatens. “You know what a Syren’s scream can do.”
“Actually, I didn’t. Not until I met you. I confess. I know nothing about you or your kind. The only thing I know, the only thing I need to know, is that your blood sustains me for very long periods of time. That’s the only reason why you’re here. That’s all I want from you.”
Her eyes darken. “I don’t believe you. You are here to punish me.”
“Well, I suppose there is a little punishment involved. God is the judge, but perhaps I am the jury and the executioner.” I lean in closer to her, daring to brush away a strand of wet blonde hair that’s fallen across her eye. “I will treat you fairly, but you must understand that if you were to scream, if you were to escape, you would find no safety in my world. These men would either chop off your tail or sell you to a museum. Can you imagine a real Syren for the world to see? Do you want to spend the rest of your life in an aquarium, having people crowd around you, tapping on the glass?”
She jerks her head out of the way, growling like a rabid dog.
“I am your only ally here,” I inform her, my voice low. “And through me is the only way you’ll reach any kind of salvation. Perhaps I do want to keep you here as punishment. Perhaps I just want to make sure I get the most out of you that I can. You are going to bleed for me, little fish, until you have nothing left to give. Then, and only then, will I even think about letting you go.”
“You’re a monster,” she says, baring her teeth at me.
I drop my hand from her face. “You have no idea.”
I lean in closer, inhaling her scent. I’ve been so entranced by the sweet smell and decadent taste of her blood I’ve barely registered what her natural aroma is. Like her blood, it’s sweet and rich, but there’s something fresh and bracing about it. It brings memories to the front of my mind, ones I thought I’d forgotten. She smells like the time I traveled to a village on the Mediterranean, back in Spain, back when I was human. I had my son with me, and we had traveled through olive and lemon and almond groves until I glimpsed the sea for the first time. The woman at the inn gave us a slice of cake with honeyed lemon rinds…
The memory catches me off guard, disorients me. This creature smells like the last time I remember being happy and whole and—
With a snap of her head, she leans forward and bites my hand, which I had rested on her shoulder. Pain explodes as her teeth sink in and savagely tear at my fat and sinew, tearing my ligaments to shreds.