An Erie Operetta (9 page)

I writhed, squealed, bit, then flooded the air with musk, all to no avail. The siren that held me in one oversized sparrow foot skipped ungracefully back into the diva’s dressing room. The sirens’ heads changed from birds back to women. The better to lure men to their deaths with, my pretty. I felt lightheaded with fear. The siren with the human head completed her transformation. She gagged when the cloud of musk hit her nose. Good. A trunk was cleared out. Wings flapped in vexation. I was thrown into a large black trunk with wheels and a trio of formidable locks like I was an old shoe. The lid was shut. I felt the trunk being moved. A door opened with a terrible howl of rusty hinges. I squeaked as loudly as I could and heard the door being closed with attitude. Silence, and some pretty advanced darkness, fell over me. Well, damn. This sucked. But at least I had one solid clue to pass along to Mikel... if I didn’t end up in some mythological singing bird-woman’s gullet.

Nine

Things were pretty dire. I tried a variety of options to break free, but none of them worked. Picking the locks, chewing on the locks, cursing the locks. All a no-go. I thought of shifting, but then I would be a full-sized man folded into a travelling trunk. Also, as a skunk I used far less air. As far as I could tell, the tiny openings in the locks were the only means of fresh oxygen. After a small breakdown of sorts I curled into a tight ball, nose tucked under tail, and waited for my fate to befall me. Probably they would eat me. A shudder ran over me from tail tip to pointed ears. Or maybe they would throw the trunk into Lake Erie.

No, they would just eat me. That would be far less work and far more filling for the bitches. What the hell were sirens even
doing
here? The last I had heard, they were still resigned to living on small islands somewhere south of Capri. Had they been given leave to move among humans? Elders know the few times these harridans got near men terrible things happened. Luring sailors to their deaths upon jagged rocks. Tempting Jason and Odysseus to come be drained of their life forces. What dolt would give sirens the freedom to play among the mortals? Probably the same dolts who gave that same right to we shifters. The days of being relegated to the mountains of Transylvania -- or the islands of Capri -- were over. I sighed in resignation. It seemed the Sirens weren’t obeying the rules of proper human/mystical interaction, though.

My mind tumbled over itself furiously for quite some time. How long I can’t say, but I’d imagine it was as long as the second act of
The Magic Flute.
I really wasn’t in any hurry for the curtain call. I sat up abruptly when I heard muted voices. The talking grew louder, louder, and louder still. Someone had entered the diva’s dressing room. A man, as well as the head siren. It was difficult to make out what was being said through the wall of the trunk as well as the closet door. I sat quietly, head leaned to the right, listening. More voices could be heard. Laughter. Was that a clinking glass? They were celebrating the success of the performance. The nerve of those damned turkey-necked bitches.

I stewed in that trunk for what seemed to be hours. When the party broke up, I grew tense. I heard the grating sound of that squeaking door hinge. I drew back into one corner of the trunk, showing my teeth as viciously as I could. The trunk wobbled. I smelled myself. Oops. Then the lid flew open. I was momentarily blinded.

“Templeton?” someone asked. Akio! I blinked rapidly as my sight adjusted. “Oh man, you reek.”

I climbed out of the trunk. Akio was pinching his nose shut. His eyes were watering. I hit the floor running. The vampire’s chosen followed, coughing and sputtering about my odor.

“What were you doing in that chest?” Akio asked when we skidded to a halt in the hallway. I glanced up at him then cocked the whiskers over my right eye. “Oh, yeah, sorry. Guess you can’t talk when you’re in skunk mode, huh? Is there a book I can read that will fill me in on all this?”

I shook my head then tore off down the hallway, Akio tripping over me on occasion. We hit the end and banked a right. This hall led us to another, then another, then some stairs, then more corridors. The damned place was a labyrinth. Pity we wouldn’t stumble across David Bowie in those nothing-left-to-the-imagination, skin-tight grey pants. We did run into a befuddled trio of men standing in the chilly corridor that led to a rear exit five minutes later. Akio ran up to the ensorcelled males.

He snapped his fingers in front of their slack faces, shook them, slapped them. Nothing seemed to shake them from the spell of the Sirens. I chirruped at my new friend. We had to get moving. I did not fancy anyone tasting my toes unless it was Mikel. Akio began shoving the men towards the exit. They stumbled along with glassy eyes. Akio threw the door open. Bitter cold wind bitch-slapped us soundly in the face. I was glad I had opted to stay in fur, although my glasses would have been nice. They were safely tucked into the inner pocket of my tuxedo jacket.

“Let’s get around to the front. The carriage is parked there,” Akio yelled into the frigid zephyr. We got behind the dullards, pushing and nipping at their heels. The front of the opera house was deserted but for the big Lupei conveyance. I had spent more time in that trunk then I had realized. The driver we had procured for the night clambered out of the carriage when he heard Akio shouting.

The Halfling held the door open. I scampered up inside. Akio shoved the stupefied men in. They sat down like automatons. “Drive!” Akio shouted. A sharp crack of a whip was followed by a robust lurch. I rolled from the seat to the floor. Akio barely got his toned rump inside. The carriage sped off. Just as I was getting myself righted on the floor, I heard it. A blood chilling shriek that filled the winter air. Akio shoved his head out of the carriage window. “Drive faster! We have to get to the dock!”

“Aye!” the driver replied. The horses were given their head. My shoulder slammed into a man’s leg.

“Hang on, Templeton!” Akio said after pulling his head back inside. “There are at least a dozen of them and they are pissed off.”

The driver screamed. The carriage bounded off the road. I heard the sound of horses crying in pain mixed with the howls of the Halfling being torn to bits. The carriage began rolling. Those inside were tossed around like floppy dolls. I cracked my head soundly on the roof. Akio landed on top of me. The carriage slammed into something hard. The horses were silent now. The wheels continued to spin. We lay on our side, the door hanging open to admit the cold wind.

“Go! Go!” Akio grabbed me by the scruff of the neck then tossed me outside. I landed in a bank of snow. My world was upside-down. I began burrowing out, stopping only when my nose broke out of the crusty snow bank. Akio was limping away from the wrecked carriage, pulling on the arm of one of the bewitched men in tuxedoes. The strike from the night sky was so fast all Akio could do was stumble to the side. The Siren plucked the ensorcelled man from the ground like a hawk would a rabbit. Fear clogged my throat.

The man was lifted into the air with nary a sound coming from him. Akio was clearly terrified, as he should be. The Sirens threw their victim to the ground and fell upon him. The poor shifter never uttered a peep. I did. I squeaked as loudly as I could. Akio fell over his feet. He got up. The moon was showing us a sight that I did not need to see. The Sirens were sucking the man dry of all his life essence, as well as his magicka. I wondered if the now depleted man was one of the men I had overheard in the bathroom. If so, I guess he got his wish to spend time with the diva. He was now fueling her, and her sisters.

I ran to Akio. He looked down at me with terror. I nipped at his ass when he simply kneeled in the snow without moving. That seemed to get him moving. We made a dash for it. The Sirens were nearly done with their meal, I feared. We ran in the direction the carriage had been headed. The winding road was cut out of old forest. We kept the trees on our left. I hoped we could make a dash into the forest if needed. Possibly hide under a gnarl of roots until the danger passed. Damn. That would not work for Akio. Pity he wasn’t a lycan or cat. We sure could use some muscle right about now.

That was when Akio went down. I don’t know if he got tangled up in a tree root, or hit some ice, or if his feet simply got fuddled, but he went down to his face hard. I hustled up, my lungs burning. Akio lay on his stomach wheezing strongly. I jumped on his back, trying to get him to move. Something swooped down from above. I was knocked off Akio’s heaving back. My skunky nature demanded I hide and do it now. Nocturnal birds! Flee! Flee! Death is nigh! Death is nigh!

My head was spinning. I stood up. My leg buckled. The pain of stepping on my rear left was incredible. We were done for. The Sirens flew over us in a circle, the air thick with both bird-like caws of triumph as well as proud arias. I flopped to my side. Akio lifted his head to look at me. He reached out to pull me under his arm. His nose wrinkled. I whined an apology then closed my eyes for the death strike. It didn’t come. The singing stopped. The caws changed from triumphant to shocked. I peeked at the night sky. Shapes were all I could make out.

“Vincente!” I heard Akio whisper in adoration. Ah. So the vampire had arrived. Praise be to the elders. I stayed under Akio’s arm where it was warmer, and safer. I squinted at the darkness. Blurred blobs moved across the bright round moon. Screams of pain echoed off the woods. Feathers began fluttering downward, only to be picked up, tossed around, and then deposited several hundred yards away. One landed by my nose. I burrowed deeper into Akio’s armpit. The battle in the air sounded horrid. Something ran past the two of us. It was big, heavy, and unconcerned about tromping on a skunk. Mikel? Another massive beast thundered overhead, then another. The howls of the Erie pack drowned out the shrieks of the Sirens.

“You should see this,” Akio said. Oops again. “Vincente is knocking them from the sky then the wolves are ripping them to bits. You were right, they’re
nothing
like the old black-and-white movies. You really stink.” He then gagged a few dozen times.

The slaughter went on, with play-by-play supplied by the vampire’s main man, until the last Siren was torn limb from limb.

“You’ll never get that smell out of your tuxedo.” I was lifted out from under Akio’s arm by a cold, human hand. Vincente held me in front of his face. His cheeks and hair were smeared with blood. His long nose crinkled. I hung there, all four feet and plumed tail dangling, until a massive wolfish shape appeared. Vincente dropped me unceremoniously onto Mikel’s furry back. I snuggled close, digging my claws into Mikel’s thick fur. The smell of him was heavenly. The alpha turned his head, licked my face, then started making that disgusting dog-about-to-vomit sound. I didn’t even take offense. I just burrowed my nose into the collar of long fur around his muscular neck and breathed in my lover’s unique doggie smell.

***

“But how did you know where to find us?” I asked of Mikel. We were all gathered in Mikel’s study. The fireplace was crackling as we sipped hot toddies, with the exception of the vampire seated on a French country loveseat, his long arm dangling along the back of the short sofa, his fingers playing with Akio’s still drying hair.

“Vincente left me a text message,” Mikel said into his steaming cup of rum, honey, lemon, and tea. I glanced from my lover’s rugged profile to the vampire. Akio had drifted off, his head resting on Vincente’s lean shoulder. The undead one lifted a thin, dark brow in reply to my curious look.

“I thought he might wish to join me once I knew what we were facing.”

“And when did you know what we were facing?” I asked as I curled a little tighter under Mikel’s left arm. Dave and Eddie were seated behind us, engaged in a lively game of checkers beside the chilly window.

“As soon as the coroner opened the body of the first victim,” Vincente explained, the shadowy corner of the room they were seated in illuminated by the glowing gem tight against Vincente’s brow. “There are no other creatures in our database that reduce the internal organs to stone aside from sirens. Of course, it took me forever to go through all those dusty tomes in the Nosferarti office. Once I located the information I sent it on to Lassie there.” I frowned at the casual wave of the vampire’s hand at Mikel.

“Ignore him,” Mikel grumbled. I took the mug Mikel offered me for another sip. My stomach was warming quite nicely. “I suspect he’s not happy unless he’s taunting someone. The parasite seems to forget that wolf baiting was outlawed over two centuries ago.”

“Well played, lycan.”

“I have my moments.”

I lowered the mug from my lips to allow my glasses to clear. After the dispatching of the sirens, Eddie and Dave had returned to the Osterman to fetch my belongings while Mikel, Akio, and I walked to the dock where the ferry was waiting. There we were met by senior officers of OTTER as well as one elderly Nosferarti supervisor. After giving those over our heads a brief statement, we were sent back across Lake Erie.

“What will become of the opera house? Will they ever have another show? I’d certainly like to try to see one complete performance.” I took another sip before handing the mug back to Mikel.

“I imagine they’ll have more touring groups come in, but not for awhile. Several key members of some high-ranking families were lost,” Mikel explained. I let my head roll to his shoulder. Between the toddy, the fireplace, the wild evening, and the heat of the lycan beside me, I was having some trouble staying awake. “I have to wonder if the tour coming here as tensions continue to rise was purely coincidental.”

“I should expect not, Lupei,” Vincente answered. “That man that was drained in front of our partners was the senior advisor to the feline lineage board, as well as a powerful head of a large lion pride in north-central Pennsylvania. If I were a rebel seeking to eliminate those in power, I would dangle juicy prestigious gatherings in front of the wealthy ones’ noses. Rogues could easily wipe out half the upper class around Lake Erie with one well-placed explosive device.”

“And what better way to lure the aristocracy in than the opera and a famed diva?” Mikel mumbled. The clatter of checkers being jumped tickled my hearing.