Page 61 of Song of Her Siren

Chapter Nine

Shiri

Ifollowed the Ravinisoldiers who were dragging a chained Drae and Ash, hardly believing this was happening while cursing myself a fool for not recognizing Wolfy was demon possessed. They’d already placed the smelly hound in a smaller cell at one end of the dungeon. We passed Arabella’s cell, her eyes widening when she saw us. The bitch was lucky she didn’t smile, or I would’ve turned her to ash. We passed my father’s cell too. He still hadn’t woken after Tari had healed him, and I wondered if there was any soul of his left to wake. My mother and Marius were already fast asleep in a bed beside Derrick’s cot. Good thing, because I was in no mood to deal with my mother’s hysterics.

I swore when the soldiers brought us to two barren cells at the end of the dungeon, both smelling like moldy hay and piss.

“You there.” I pointed at two nearby guards, infusing siren into my voice. “Find them more comfortable accommodations. They need warm beds and fires and chamber pots, but first, these cells need to be swept.”

The guards nodded their understanding and took off at a run, compelled by my magic to do as I’d commanded.

After the soldiers set Ash down on the floor in a cell, I followed Drae into the opposite cell. He hung his head when they chained his wrists and ankles to the wall. They also strapped leather bands on his wrists and neck with what appeared to be Tau stones embedded in the leather. Good. There was no telling how much magic this demon had access to, and I didn’t want to risk he’d be able to break through his chains.

I paced the hall, projecting thoughts into Drae’s mind, alarmed when I got no response. “Drae, look at me,” I finally commanded aloud, terror burning a hole through my chest when he didn’t respond to my siren voice. I released a deep breath and summoned the courage to say the next words. “Demon inside Draevyn Inferni. Look. At. Me.”

My mate’s head shot up, two bright red eyes reflecting back at me. Great Goddess! What manner of creature was this demon inside my mate, and why did he smell worse than Wolfy?

I stopped pacing, magic swelling my chest as I faced him. “Who are you?”

He bared his teeth. “My unfamiliar name is Mephis.”

“Well, Mephis.” I swallowed back the bile that burned the back of my throat, trying, and failing, to still the trembling in my limbs. “How have you completely taken over your host’s body?”

His feral smile made a shiver ripple down my spine. “Some demons are stronger than others, and I’m the strongest.”

No! No! No!The strongest? My first thought was that he was bluffing, but how, when I was using my siren voice? “What do you intend on doing to my mate?”

He shrugged, acting as if we were discussing supper. “Claim his body and discard his soul.”

An animalistic snarl escaped me as a boiling kettle of rage threatened to crack open my skull. “You will not do any of those things. Do you understand?”

“You can’t make me leave,” he taunted. “I have access to his memories, and I know you don’t know the siren song.”

“The siren song?” I blurted, momentarily caught off guard. “What is that?”

He flashed his fangs again, his eyes gleaming with triumph. “It is the song the siren sings to expel demons.”

Angling myself toward him, I let my siren speak through me. “Sing the song.”

“I cannot.” His laughter was like spiders burrowing beneath my skin. “I’m not a siren.”

I curled my hands into fists. How badly I wanted to punch that smug smile off his face, but I reminded myself Drae was somewhere inside that body and could feel the same pain I inflicted on the demon. “Teach it to me.”

He heaved an overly dramatic sigh. “I do not know it.”

Ugh. This demon was so infuriating. “How do I learn it?”

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