Page 28 of V for Vindictive

Chapter 10

Sirens Say, What?

My head fell forward like it was suddenly a hundred pounds, and I struggled to stay upright. But not before I caught sight of Sloan grasping something in his open palm. With a reverberating crack, electricity surged into the air and broke whatever spell we were under. A blink later, both of us were on our feet, weapons clashing into the beast.

Re-energized, I swung my arm out, blade tightly clutched, and aimed for my grandmother’s throat—something I never imagined in a hundred years I’d do. But this was an imposter, not my sweet Grams who spent every waking hour since my parents died giving me all the love and comfort I needed. You know, when I was young. Then she kicked my ass repeatedly for years.

But hey, with love.

Sort of.

The creature dodged every one of my swings, and Sloan was just as unlucky. His body danced through the air, trying to penetrate its defense. The shiny metal of his blades glinted in streams of daylight. Then his form twisted and moved beautifully through the space, and if I wasn’t so worried about my own head, I would’ve stopped to watch the gorgeous display of what a true, high-level Hunter looked like when they fought. But I didn’t relish being decapitated today.

Don’t lose your head, V. Focus on the fight.

When the other Hunter finally landed a blow on its bare flesh, his long blade sparked and a harsh clang rang out.

Thanks to the many tomes Sloan forced me to read, I figured out in a single moment what we fought. The speed, its morphed appearance, the pheromones, the impenetrable skin…

Siren.

It was one of the first creatures I learned about, because Phillip cautioned it as one of the many nefarious assassins my enemies would send to capture me.

Swiftly, I evaded the gleam of the Siren’s serrated weapon, one that would hurt like a motherfucker before I instantly healed. Like I’d spent a lifetime practicing, I somersaulted out of reach and honed my focus on the unique sheen of its skin.

Talk about an epic defensive and offensive fighter. Sirens were no joke. They were Fae who used magical pheromones to weaken their opponents into compliance. As if that wasn’t bad enough, they also sported skin stronger than any known material in the human plane. Even Hunter blades couldn’t penetrate their armor.

I caught Sloan’s gaze, and we shared a silent moment. I depicted his plan with the quick movement of his hands, then moved into action. His blade clanged over and over, testing different areas, but each place was shielded by the Siren’s invincible flesh.

The only way to deal damage to a Siren was to break down its shielded skin until it was vulnerable. From what I read, that was a task in of itself. Worse, Sirens could only be killed by stronger magic or full, heal-evasive decapitation. Long story short, I’d need to be quick and overly thorough.A simple swing and lop off move wouldn’t suffice for this fucker. Unfortunately, my magic only seemed to come when a person I cared about was in danger, and I wouldn’t risk Sloan’s life just to use it.

The Grams Imposter twirled, throwing several blades our way, many we dodged. But unfortunately, a couple stabbed me straight through the chest, and it was a bitch to remove them so I could heal. It also seemed they were doused in poison, but nothing that did more than throb and burn before dissipating.

It wasn’t clear how long we had before another pheromone spell was in the works, but from what I read, they couldn’t do it limitlessly. It’d take time to regenerate their energy. So I had to be thankful for that little nugget of hope. Since the Siren hadn’t tried to overpower us again with its pheromones, I had to believe it had used all its energy already.

Maybe my luck isn’t total shit after all…

The beautiful Hunter beside me lassoed a barbed rope around the Siren, his ethereal light eyes igniting with homicidal rage. He knew how little time we had to defeat this beast of an opponent because the dude had likely fought one of these damn things.

Thanks to torturous tutoring, I was pretty clear on the stakes, too.

His little lasso trick didn’t work. The tiny Grandma Rose lookalike broke through the Hunter-strong metal wrapped around it and an explosion of pheromones flooded the air.

Just as Sloan swung his sword out and prepared himself for another fight to maintain control over his mind, something that started in the pit of my stomach surged up into my chest and pushed out. A shrill cry fled the Grams lookalike and she scurried back on her hands and feet. It washonestly the creepiest fucking thing I’d seen in a long time. Something right out of a horror movie.

That’s going to give me nightmares.

My grandmother’s face morphed for a second, and then fell away to a color that wasn’t human. White with a rainbow hue. Its skin seemed to melt away and fall onto the forest floor. Its fingernails grew obscenely long and sharp. And when the thing opened its mouth to hiss, its incisors were razor-sharp like vampire fangs but longer. Horns grew out of the middle of its forehead and temples, and everything about the creature was unnaturally long and awkward to look at. In full daylight, what once resembled Grams now took on a form I’d only seen in the huge books Sloan brought for me to read.

Sirens were supposed to be beautiful creatures that lured humans to their death in the deepest recesses of the ocean. But they were actually just clever magic-users capable of assuming any identity they wanted. Despite seeing pictures of their true, authentic forms drawn in the books I’d read, it still hit like a gross nightmare to look at one crouched like a demon of Hell right in front of me.

“You can’t be!” the Siren hissed.

It was in that moment both Sloan and I seemed to realize the pheromones weren’t affecting us. Even though I sensed them in the air and detected their scent, I retained my thoughts and control. Whatever I’d done, it rendered the attack useless.

Sloan didn’t waste time attacking the cowering beast, and I was right behind him. We worked together to get the creature into a corner.

But something about it seemed weaker than before. Most surprising was it hadn’t used its pheromones again, almost like it couldn’t. Like its powerhad been snuffed out. It wasn’t fast, barely evading our attacks. Its eyes shot from left to right, looking for an exit. When the creature postured for escape, Sloan swung his sword out, ready to decapitate it before it could.

---