Bluedawn (A Watermagic Novel, #2) (20 page)

“Come on, Hailey,” Brigitte sang, holding out
her hand.

The other mers nodded, moving closer in on
me.

“No!” I protested. “Stop it, Dylan.
Stop!”

I moved closer to him, but he backed away.
“Go, Hailey—I don’t want you anymore,” he growled through gritted
teeth.

I grabbed onto him, but he pushed me back.
“Go!” he commanded. His nostrils were flared and his eyes widened
with anger. At once, his body started to transform.

Laurent and Pascal pulled me away. “Stop!” I
screamed.

But then, to my utter shock, the mers faces
started to change as well. Laurent and Pascal released me as their
eyes turned a demonic pale blue. Their faces elongated and her
teeth grew into incisors like that of a shark. I could still tell
who they were, but they looked much more like monsters than sirens
did!

Before I had a chance to figure out what to
do, I realized my body was changing too. It was a natural defense,
I presumed.

All at once, Dylan burst out of the water,
his enormous stone blue wings flapping. I flew out of the ocean
too. I wasn’t going to let him get away from me. In pursuit, I
followed behind as he soared through the night sky.

We flew as far as Venice Beach where we
landed on the trashcans in and alley. Without hesitation, our
bodies transformed back. We jumped down rattling the lids as we
landed on the asphalt.

“Why didn’t you stay with the mers?” Dylan
asked, his voice tinged with accusation. “I told you to go back to
your parents.”

“I said I can’t leave you.” My voice was
laced with emotion.

He shook his head. “Stupid girl. Stupid
girl.” His nostrils were flared.

“Stop it, Dylan. Please.” I grabbed ahold of
his shoulder, but he pulled away gruffly.

“Go,” he demanded, throwing his chin up
cockily.

“I’m staying with you,” I insisted, brushing
the windblown hair out of my face.

He seemed to ignore me as he stormed away
through the alley toward the beach, limping lightly as he went.

I chased after him. “Wait,” I called out
without recognition.

He started to run down the boardwalk toward
nearby Santa Monica Beach as I pursued him. There were homeless
people sitting against the closed storefronts and graffiti covered
buildings smoking dope and hanging out. One teenage guy with a
spray painted mohawk threw a can at me.

Immediately, Dylan turned around and ran over
to the guy, pulling him up off the ground. He kicked him hard in
the side and then started wailing his fists into his face. The guy
was cursing the whole time, trying to fight back, but his strength
didn’t compare to Dylan’s.

“Lay off…Lay off me… I give up,” the guy
finally called out as he wiggled his way out from under Dylan,
wiping his bloody nose with the back of his hand as he backed away.
But then, the guy’s eyes grew fierce and he charged at him
again.

The other stoners just sat there staring at
him, not even helping their friend. Dylan threw him to the ground
and kicked him a few more times until the guy rolled over on his
stomach and groaned. With that, Dylan grabbed me up into his arms
hardly stopping as he ran.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Don’t want to close my eyes,
don’t want to fall asleep, because I’d miss you, baby, and I don’t
want to miss a thing
–AEROSMITH

Before I could even process fully what had
just happened, we were near the end of the boardwalk in Santa
Monica. Dylan ran up the stairs that led to the pier. He set me
down by the Ferris wheel of the closed amusement park. Nobody was
around now except some men just past the rollercoaster at the end
of the pier who were fishing.

“I want to kill Wren, Lyra, and Gia,” I
whispered.

“Shut up,” he said gruffly. His green eyes
were burning with fury. “Just let me think.” He sat down on a bench
with his forehead in his hands.

I sat down next to him and put my arm around
him. At first he pulled away roughly, but then he pulled me to him
and started kissing me passionately.

The feelings rose and didn’t stop. “Please
don’t leave me, Dylan,” I begged. Everything within me felt like it
was ripping apart. “I would die without you.”

“I won’t leave you,” he whispered, his eyes
sharp as he stared into my eyes. “I’m selfish—I can’t leave you.”
He got up at once and took me by the hand. “Come. Don’t do anything
without me. Just follow my lead.”

I shook my head. I didn’t know what to say.
How could I make a promise like that? We rushed along the
sidewalks, crossing streets until we reached the hotel.

“Now, just play along,” he directed me as we
took the elevator up. “We don’t have to rush anything. Don’t be
rash.”

“Okay,” I mumbled as my mind reeled with
possible plans on how I could kill the triplets. Aside from the men
who attacked me in the alley, I had never killed anyone before. Did
I really have it in me to murder them? As much as I hated them, I
wondered if I could really do it.

When we walked into the suite, it was dark.
Dylan flipped the light switch. It was so quiet. Nobody seemed to
be there. But, when we walked into one of the bedrooms, Brenda with
her pixie hair, her two girlfriends, and the boys, Aiden, Luke, and
Paul, were all unconscious on the two queen size beds. They were
arranged in perfect order lying on their backs like sardines in a
can.

“Oh, no!” I looked at Dylan. “What the hell
is this?” My adrenaline was rushing like mad.

“The sirens must have got Brenda’s friends to
bring her back here, so they could kill them.” His hands were
balled up in fists. “I’ve seen this before. The triplets drugged
them and sent Travis and Blake out for plastic and trash bags.”

I was horrified. “Their saving them for
later?”

“Yup.” Dylan nodded. “They didn’t want to
leave a mess.”

By now, I was pacing the bedroom. “Then where
are Wren, Lyra, and Gia?”

Dylan was staring at the bodies. “I’m
guessing they went flying, so they could burn off some calories and
work up an appetite.”

“That’s what they do?” My eyes narrowed as I
looked at him. “They just fly around until they get hungry?”

“Pretty much.” He stamped his foot. “Damn!”
he growled.

“Let’s get them out of here,” I insisted. I
hit my fist against the wall.

He dropped his chin in a sarcastic manner as
he raised a dark eyebrow. “How do you suggest we do that?”

“Carry them.” My eyes widened sharply
countering his sarcasm as I rubbed my hand.

“The security guard and the people at the
front desk will see us.” His voice sounded hollow.

I started pacing again. “We can fly them out
the window.”

He scoffed. “One at a time, lay them on the
beach and hope nobody sees the huge birds carrying people?”

“We can’t just let them die!” I crouched over
with my fists against my head.

Just then the front door unlocked. We rushed
out to the living room. Wren closed the door behind her as Lyra and
Gia walked in first.

“Stupid slave,” Gia said with one hand on her
hip. She smacked Dylan on the forehead with the back of her hand.
“Where’s your gratitude?” she asked Dylan with a scowl on her
flushed face. Her red hair was messed from the wind.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he
said as he walked over to her and pulled her up against him.

I felt like a knife had just stabbed into my
heart, but I tried to remain expressionless. He couldn’t really
like her.

“What? Do you think I’m a fool?” Gia coughed
as she pushed him away.

Lyra and Wren appeared angry too. Their hair
also looked windblown and I got the feeling that Dylan was
right—they had been out flying.

“You could have had it all,” Wren said to
us.

“What are you talking about?” Dylan walked
into the kitchen where he got a bag of potato chips and started
eating them. “Are you pissed off that I took Brenda?”

Wren looked at Lyra and Gia. They rolled
their eyes. “Traitor,” they said in unison.

All of a sudden and at once, they charged us.
Wren and Lyra jumped on Dylan. I couldn’t see what was happening to
him because Gia pushed me to the ground. She was kicking me hard
and fast in the stomach.

“Stupid bitch!” Gia screamed as she wailed
into me. “You thinking you can align with the mers!”

The triplets must have figured Gia could take
me down all by herself. But they didn’t know that I was super
strong because I had only hours ago fed on the guy in the
alley.

I was hurt, but kicked her off with both my
feet. She fell to the ground. I didn’t let up. My heart was
pounding so fast as I climbed on top of her and started punching
her in the face in rapid fire.

I glanced at Dylan. Wren was on top of him,
clawing at his face. He threw Lyra against the wall. She fell to
the ground.

I wanted to run over to him to get Wren off,
but we all started changing. My body arched back uncontrollably as
I was hitting her. She knocked me over to the side and we were
rolling around on top of each other on the floor. Feathers were
growing from our legs.

I pinned Gia’s wrists back as her talons
started to grow out of her fingers. In a rush, I kicked her off of
me and quickly got to my feet where I grabbed a lamp off of a small
decorative table.

At once, I slammed the fixture against the
wooden edge and pulled up the wires where the light bulb had
shattered. She jumped on me again, but I shoved the top of the lamp
down her throat. She gagged as she kicked at me. Enraged, I snagged
an open bottle of Vodka off the table and poured it down her
choking mouth.

Her body started twitching and kicking as
electricity shot through her. Bile foamed up and out of her mouth.
I left her there on the floor as I swiped Wren’s legs out from
under her.

She dropped to the floor. I tore into her
chest with my talons. But she slashed across my stomach. Blood
poured.

Dylan pulled her off. I rolled over and saw
Lyra’s body strewn backwards over the arm of the couch. It looked
like she was dead.

Wren slashed open Dylan’s arms, but he got a
good grip on her. At once, he twisted her neck and she fell to the
floor.

“Come on,” Dylan called out as he clutched my
hand.

We rushed to the bedroom. “Let’s risk it,” he
said.

I nodded.

Our anger was still in full fire that we
remained in our siren form. “Take the three girls,” he commanded.
“I’ll get the boys.”

“I can only carry two at a time,” I
breathed.

“Okay, wait.” He pulled at the ends of the
girls’ bedspread and eased them atop it onto the floor. “Drag them
into the hall. I’ll be right behind you.”

Immediately, I gathered up the edges of the
blanket and started pulling their bodies with it out of the room
and through the living room. The triplets’ bodies had changed back
into human form, but there was a lot of blood mess.

Dylan was right behind me as I opened the
door and looked out. Nobody was in the halls. “Go,” he snapped.

I pulled them out. “Put them in the stairway.
Travis and Blake won’t find them there.”

Without hesitation, I dragged them down the
hall. Brenda rolled off, so I had to stop to put her back on the
bedspread. I was breathing fast. Sweat was dripping off my
forehead. If anyone was to see us, it would be shocking to see bird
like creatures with unconscious bodies. My hands perspired making
it hard to keep my grip. I repositioned and held tighter.

“There,” Dylan said as he ran around and
opened the door for me.

He pulled the girls in onto a flat area that
extended back before the stairs descended. I dragged the boys and
pushed them beside. There was no room for anyone to walk down the
stairs now, but most likely they would wake up before anyone found
them as most people used the elevator in a fancy hotel like
that.

We hurried back into our suite and locked the
door. But before we could make a plan, there was a knock at the
door. We heard the sound of a CB radio. It sounded like it was the
police.

Dylan and I looked at each other wide eyed.
He pulled my hand and we started to run for the window. But as we
were about to jump out, I looked back and Lyra’s body was in a
different spot, like maybe she had crawled over on the couch. And I
wasn’t sure, but it looked like I saw Wren’s hand spasm. Had I
imagined that?

In a rush we were in the air. Our wings were
expanded and we flapped to gain our speed in the blue dawn as the
sky turned from black to greyish blue.

***

We stood on the doorstep to my parent’s house
in Laguna Beach. I saw that her cousin’s 57 black Ford Custom 300
was parked in the circular driveway. “The mers must have gone
immediately to tell my mother what happened to me,” I whispered
with fear in my eyes. My stomach was in knots.

“It’s gonna be okay, Hailes,” Dylan said as
he squeezed my hand. “Just knock.”

I tapped on the door, but nobody came. Dylan
knocked harder. We heard a shuffling around in the house, a
pattering of feet, and then the door unlocked.

I inhaled deeply as the door opened. My
father was standing there staring at me. His shaggy brown hair was
now mixed with grey and was in tousled disorder probably from the
stress of losing his daughter. He was quite a bit thinner and the
wrinkles around his eyes were more pronounced.

Neither of us said anything for some time.
His jaw seemed to drop slightly as he looked at me. I think he was
trying to figure out if I was really his daughter or maybe he was
just in shock.

“Hailes,” he finally breathed and his jaw
really did drop now. He shook his head. “Is that you, sweetheart?”
His voice cracked at the end of his question.

My eyes welled up. “Yeah, it’s me, Dad.” I
tried to subdue my emotions, but my voice wavered.