My Immortal Playlist (The Siren Collection #1) (8 page)

“Explain further.”

“Um…well, usually it’s not so bad when I’m in a relationship of some sort, like with all of you. It naturally gets to a point in which the song is sung and you’re all transformed, but if I don’t have a victim picked out, my body will starting transforming, changing my speech, my physical appearance…anything to attract a male victim.”

“So you are a succubus,” Henry muttered. Noah punched him in the arm
lightly.

“So with less than two weeks out,
how have you been feeling? Furthermore, is this the longest you’ve gone without a feeding?”

“It is the longest,” I admitted. “But I don’t feel any different.”

“Would you consider riding these two weeks out and going cold turkey? See if this feeding actually is a survival mechanism or not?”

“The problem with that,” Henry interjected, “is that if it is, and we wait it out, she dies. No more Alexandra. No more house. No more cure.”

“Well, the cure is in her blood,” Noah said, with a hand to his chin. “If she died, theoretically we could try to-“

“- Get out my house. NOW!” I screamed
abruptly, pointing towards the door. “You come back when you come with a plan that doesn’t involve drinking my blood!”

“Geez,” he muttered, walking out the kitchen. “Double standard much.”

“Back to the matter at hand,” Elliot replied. “If we decided to ride it out to the end, it would certainly be up to you, Alexandra. I don’t want to put you in danger. One option could be that we procure a victim, tied up and ready to go on the last day available. In the mean time we would be able to study your body’s reactions, and you would still have someone to feed on if things look bad.”

“Okay,” I sighed. “But what do we do with the stranger if I don’t need him? It’s not like we can let him go. He’ll have the police swarm
ing this place.”

“Well,” Henry said, tapping a finger on the counter. “Your roommates all have needs too. He won’t go to waste.”

“Gross,” I said. “But it could work I guess. You and Elliot take care of that end. But please make sure it’s someone who’s evil or something.”

“We’ll start making a list tonight,” Elliot said, giving a smile with missing teeth.

“Regardless though,” I said. “I’m a goner in less than two years. No matter what I have to make a decision and sing a permanent song by then, or die.”

“We’ll figure out a plan before then,” Elliot assured me.

I didn’t feel reassured one bit.

“I know you c
an hear me,” Lucas shouted. I tried to pretend I didn’t hear him, pushing myself further into the crowd as I transitioned between classes. I heard him give out a couple expletives as the students around him refused to give up their imaginary place in the mob, and I couldn’t help but smile a little. What I didn’t know was what I was going to do once we were inside. He could easily walk over to my lunch table and introduce himself. Margaret was already sure to be on my case for all the meetings I’ve missed so I didn’t want to ditch them, but…I couldn’t have Lucas following me either.

“Hey,” Lucas said, somehow cutting the distance between us and grabbing my forearm. H
e spun me around to face him. “I just wanted to talk to you.”

“The feeling’s not mutual,” I snapped at him, yanking my arm out of his grip. 

“No girl’s ever talked like that to me before,” he said, trailing behind me like he was toilet paper on my shoe.

“I’m not just a girl, I’m a lady,” I said, putting my nose up in the
air and keeping my focus to the forefront. He snickered and glanced around him as I heard a number of whispers sound off from my right side. It was the lunch line, but the students weren’t focused so much on what concoction the cafeteria workers had cooked up rather than the spectacle before their eyes in the hall. It wasn’t every day you saw the founder of a notorious gang doing the chasing when it came to girls.

“Please leave me alone,” I sighed as I reached the second door i
nto the cafeteria. The one that would lead directly to where my friends awaited. “Can you do me that favor?”

“Well, favors don’t come cheap,” he said, crossing his ripped arms again. Okay, he was doing it on purpose at this point.

“I don’t understand why you’re bothering me. I didn’t do anything.”

“I want to talk about Henry.”

“Yeah. Sure you do.”

“How about you meet me somewhere? Tonight. We could have dinner.”

“Is that what you gang members do? Take a girl to dinner? I thought it was all about the
Pringles
.”

“The
Pringles
?”

“You know, the fun don’t – whatever, if you promise to leave me alone, I can meet you somewhere I guess. I’m not trying to get stabbed though.”

“I find it funny that you know who I am all of a sudden,” he said with a smirk. “Did some digging on me?”

“I like to know what kind of animal is getting into my garbage at night.”

“So you date bad boys often?”

“
Don’t be cute,” I said, with a sigh. “You’re not that bad…and are we going to dinner or not?”

“Oh yeah we are,” he chuckled, then paused to think for a moment. “How about Angelo’s?”

“Ah yes. The cheapest, dirtiest place possible. Perfect.”

“
Not fancy enough?”

“
Fine. Angelo’s,” I groaned, hearing someone calling my name from inside the cafeteria. “Now can you please go back to your West Side Story rehearsal?”

“
Why? You like that movie?”

“Not particularly.”

“Because you know it was based off my life story.”

“That doesn’t –“I laughed, cutting myself off. “West Side Story is like three times your age.”

“I mean, they even stole my theme song against my will.
When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way, from your
–“

“- please stop,” I laughed from within, closing my eyes and
folding my lips into my mouth. He was doing this ON PURPOSE. Trying to win me over with his charm and looks and bad boy vibes. It wasn’t going to work. Not now. Not ever.

“Okay, you said dinner, not lunch, so I’ll see you tonight,” I said, pushing past him into the cafeteria.

“Meet me there at 7 o’clock!” he yelled at my back. “I know we didn’t agree on a time, and you’re not getting out of this one!”

I rolled my eyes and kept moving. Margaret, Crystal, Theresa and Justin were all glaring at me with eyes so wide it was like I had just spit in their food.

“What?” I said, sitting down in my designated spot. Crystal was holding the binder to her chest so tight that I thought she was going to have to demote her bra to a lower size by the end of the day. Theresa was playing with her hair and staring at me in contemplation. Margaret kept her jaw dropped and Justin began playing with his taco boat. You know, taco boat? A square corn tortilla with processed meat, cheese, lettuce and…okay, whatever. Just trust me. They exist.

“Have you lost your mind?” Margaret finally asked in a whisper, leaning in
so close that I could see a pimple beyond her concealer. “I have put up with your scandalous lifestyle to this point, but Alexandra, now I have to draw the line. You cannot, under any circumstances get involved with that boy.”

“Trust me, I wasn’t trying.”

“It’s her magic,” Theresa replied, applying her lip gloss. She opened up her wallet sized purse and half-threw it inside. “The boys can’t help themselves around her.”

“I didn’t ask for this curse,” I winked at her, and she snickered.

“You could be killed,” Crystal replied, allowing the binder to breathe. “Do you know who Lucas is? Do you realize what kind of lifestyle you could be getting yourself into? Whether you like it or not? If he’s taken an interest in you, he’s not going to let go. He’s going to reel you in and you’re going to get gutted.”

“Okay, first of all, I’m not a fish. Second, I can handle myself. I’ve been through a number of relationships already and I’m telling you, guys are all the same. Doesn’t matter how macho Lucas thinks he is, he’s just as i
ndecisive and lackadaisical as the rest of them. No offense, Justin.”

“What?” he asked, turning to me and blinking at me rapidly.

“Go back to sleep,” I said, and he obeyed, nearly slamming his forehead on the table.

“This is different,” Crystal said adamantly, shaking her head. “This is different.”

“He probably didn’t even mean to start a gang,” I said, my voice beginning to rise. “He was probably part of a chess club that got mad at the jocks for getting all the attention and so they did a few petty crimes to get girls and they gained a reputation because of it. You know how rumors spread.”

“Some rumors are true,” Margaret said, giving me a wary eye. “I didn’t want to believe that my friend was a Loose Lucy, but apparently I was wrong.”

“She’s not loose,” Theresa replied, leaning in. “It’s not like she’s doing anything with them. Matter of fact, it’s the opposite. How else do you explain the guys going to her house one night and then wanting nothing to do with her the next day?”

“Sounds to me like they got exactly what they wanted,” Margaret huffed.

“Are you all done?” I scoffed. “As much as I appreciate this mini-intervention, I’m fine. Trust me. This Lucas – I’m going to dinner with him tonight to get him out of my life for good. I wanted to tell him off earlier but I’m not trying to cause a spectacle in the middle of school. That’s the kind of thing people like him thrive on.”

“I thought he was just a chess club pl
ayer,” Theresa chuckled softly.

“I don’t care what he is. I don’t want anything to do with him.”

“Chess players can be sexy.”

“Okay,” I said with a grimace. “Whatever.”

“If they can master such a complex game, then surely they’re good at mastering other complex things.”

“Theresa, if that’s true, then why do you only go out with the football players?”

She shrugged her shoulders and began digging through her purse as I rolled my eyes. I stared at them all, one at a time, taking in the worried looks on their faces. I shook my head.

“I’m fine. Really.”

Of course, no one believed me.

Not even me.

*
              *              *

“You are not going to be okay,” Elliot said with all the certainty in the world. I took a deep breath, looked deep into the mirror and ran my fingers through my coarse blonde hair. The hair spray was holding up nicely, and I needed it nice and tight. I had never gotten into a scuffle with any of the boys I had had interactions with, but then again, they had always been on my turf, and under my conditions and spells. This was different. I was walking into an unknown situation. I knew nothing about Lucas, and it kind of scared me a little.

“Can you please take those medieval contraptions out your ears?” Elliot pleaded as I tapped the gauges in my earlobes.

“No,” I smiled at him slyly.

“Why do you wear those anyways? You look like you lost a bet, or a dare, or some combination of the two.”

“They’re both cool and intimidating.”

“How so?”

“It shows that I can deal with more pain than the average person, and more importantly, I could care less what the world thinks of me.”

“Two notions that are completely false,” Elliot replied, readjusting his position in the bathtub.
There was a meager amount of warm water, about an inch in height beneath him. His arms were draped over the side and he was critiquing every little thing I was doing. You didn’t see me telling him that soaking his fragile body in water was bad for his decomposition. I left him alone because I knew he enjoyed the experience of “taking a bath.” I just wished he did the same for me.

“You’re going about this all wrong,” Henry said
suddenly, stepping into the doorway.

“Is this going to become a thing?” I shouted at him, stomping my feet and throwing a brush at him. He dodged it easily, threw up his hands in surrender and left me in peace.

“Where’s Noah?” Elliot asked me. “I want him to see what you’re doing to yourself.”

“I didn’t know you were the CEO of Vogue or Elle or –“

“Well I am,” he said matter-of-factly. “And I’m telling you. Those gauges have to go. Besides, you’re doing it for all the wrong reasons. By putting on a bad girl façade, you may be enticing him, not turning him away. I submit that being yourself will be a lot more off-putting.”

“Thanks,” I said, giving
him a fake smile of appreciation, “but I disagree.” I grabbed the black, leather, fingerless gloves on the counter and squeezed my hands into them. “He’s probably used to 50’s housewife types. You know, the kind that will bow to his every whim, cook and clean and rub his feet while he just naps all day.”

“I never thought of it that way,” he said, staring at a corner of the tiled floor in thought.

“I can be right sometimes, you know.”

“We’ll celebrate with balloons and confetti
after
you’ve returned with a successful report.”

“So, how do I look?” I asked him, facing him completely from the front. He gave me the once over and nodded.

“Not my cup of tea, but it will quench the thirst.”

“I’m not sure if I should thank you or be disgusted
by that comment.”

“A little of both will suffice.”

“Why, look at you!” Noah replied, standing in the doorway where Henry had once been. “And I thought I was the vampire!”

“A vampire does not wear these type of clothes,” I huffed, taking in my ensemble. The black gau
ges and gloves, the leather tank top, and my hardened hair and eye shadow. “Hmm,” I murmured, looking back at Noah. “Maybe I do look a little like a vampire.”

“It’s okay. I’m sure gangs aren’t into that kind of thing. Besides, it’s not too late to cancel the date and join me on the dark side.”

“Oh shut up, Noah,” I said, pushing past him. “You’re about as dark as snow.”

I could hear Elliot chuckling as I continued on, past the bedrooms and down the steps of the home that was no longer mine. It was so strange. One of the few things I
always wanted was companionship. The house was usually so dark and clammy that it seemed to make me a part of it at times - the loneliness often entering my bones like a winter chill. But ever since I got my wish, and I had gotten my roommates, I was just more irritable. It wasn’t like they were doing anything wrong.

I sighed as I h
eaded out, the door slamming hard behind me. I have to admit that the wind helped. Though it should have been winter at this point, the town of Casper was stuck in an eternal autumn. The leaves had changed colors long ago but they refused to fall off the branches. The wind would scratch at your face for a moment but then disappear for hours on end, just long enough for you to forget it had ever been there. There was an eerie ambience in the air that confused you to no end. The people were friendly once you bumped into them, but otherwise, everyone made it a mission to avoid each other. It was like we had all died and ended up in purgatory, but no one had let us know.

I rubbed my bare forearms and realized how stupid I was to wear a tank
top when I arrived at my destination. I had been so deep in thought that I had nearly missed it altogether. I pivoted around and entered the hazardous restaurant. With so little business due to the horrible food and stained walls, the place had to be a front for drugs or something illegal.