Page 33 of Monsters of Midlife

“Harpies,” she whispered. “The necklace keeps them in human form.”

It glowed slightly when they spoke. They were talking amongst themselves, not to me. I moved over to the microphone, closing my eyes and grabbing it as I listened to the strains of the violin and the guitar playing together on the stage. I opened my mouth and began to sing. I sang the notes, lifting high above the noise of the crowd and bringing a calm quietness to the room as all eyes turned toward me.

Aurelius stared at me, his eyes opening wide.

His eyes misted over as others in the pub began to cry. I looked quizzically at everybody, not sure what was happening, but even the bartender was crying. I glanced at Sophie, who was on the stage with me. She and the band members all had tears streaming down their faces. The violinist stopped and the rest of the band faded to silence. She walked over to me quietly as the noise in the pub started up again. People began talking, but this time their voices were rushed and low, as if they were all talking about something bad that had happened in their lives.

An exceptionally pale Aurelius rose and rushed out of the pub.

“What’s happening?” I asked the violinist who came up to me, her large black eyes blinking wide as she dried her own tears.

“You have no idea what you are, do you?” she asked.

“What do you mean, what I am?” I said. “It’s pretty simple, I’m human. I’m a research scientist from Boston.”

“And you’ve lived your entire life not knowing who and what you truly are,” the violinist said.

“What the hell are you talking about?” I asked solemnly, biting my lower lip, feeling like she was going to tell me something monumental that I really needed to know. Something that would help me understand my life better, but the deep feeling of dread inside me made me think maybe I didn’t want to know exactly what she was going to tell me.

“You are extremely rare.” She glanced over at Sophie, including her in the conversation. “In fact, I don’t think we know of any like you, at least not in New Attica.”

“What am I?” I ground the words out slowly as Sophie reached out and gripped my hand.

The violinist took my other hand. “I’m so sorry.” She spoke like I was cursed. “You’re a banshee.”

Chapter 21

RYDER

A banshee? I heard the words just as I opened the door from the stairs and came into the bar. My teeth grated against each other; my lips drawn in a firm line. How could I not have seen it? How could I have been married to her and not have realized?

Well, she’d never sung before, but that was hardly the point. I should’ve known. I should’ve sensed she was supernatural. I walked up to her and reached out to grab her wrist, but she yanked her arm back before I could get it. “We need to get out of here now,” I said, glaring down at her.

“Did you know I was a banshee?” she asked, her voice strained.

“I had no idea, no. Let’s get out of here before people start asking questions,” I said.

I turned back to look at Tony. “I’ll be back shortly to sort things out with you. I’m going to take her and get her tucked away.”

“That’s a pretty good idea, considering she’s a banshee,” Tony commented with a frown.

I put my hand on the small of her back, figuring it was the most she would accept and pushing her toward the door, knowing all eyes were on us and there would be one burning question in everybody’s mind.

Who was going to die tonight?

Because that’s what happened when you heard a banshee sing.

It wasn’t until we got to the front door of the bar that two of the satyr bikers stepped in front of us. They were bulky and imposing. I could’ve easily taken them out regardless, but it wasn’t exactly something that would improve my relationship with Tony. He wasn’t likely to help me if I started making a mess in his bar, especially a mess of his own people.

The satyrs didn’t try to hide their physical forms from us, not in here. Their horns were out and their fuzzy goat legs were splayed in the strong stance of “We’re sure as hell not moving.” One had on a T-shirt and a leather jacket, the other one just a leather vest.

Caroline looked at them, not afraid, but more annoyed and perturbed. I think that was why I worried about her. She didn’t seem to understand when she needed to back off. She ran at everything full bore withouttaking a moment to pause. And this just wasn’t the world you wanted to do that in. Especially as a human, or a banshee I guess now. I still didn’t understand how I had missed it.

“We’re leaving,” Caroline said to the Satyrs who were staring down at hernervously.

“Your woman is quite ballsy,” the one in the leather jacket said to Ryder.

“We want to know who it is,” the satyr with black hair and the leather vest stated.

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