Heart of Siren (Merworld Book 1) Read online

  Chapter 25

  Cold. Rough. Soulless.

  Lavinia smiled to herself as she left the ground and landed on the roof, her feet gripping the cool tiles. She was half siren and half vampire. She was powerful, dangerous, and stealthy on land, yet still ruthlessly fast and violent under water. She was a mixed-blood cross-world creature—the only of its kind.

  She had never been this powerful. Her innate suppressed power was triggered when she drew the poison from Tadgh’s wound. But the enhanced power came from Tadgh’s blood, the superpower from the multiverse.

  She could take the power away from the Nepolymbus royals at any time. But she didn’t want to be hasty. She still had work to do, revenge to seek, and those she loved and cared about to free. To do all that, she needed the power of the royal court.

  She still wasn’t free.

  The timing of her returning superpower from saving Tadgh was unfortunate. She’d had no intention of killing the gaxanxi. After all, he had been her companion for a while. But if she couldn’t ward off the signs of being a creature, then her time as his wife would be up, and she would have to act.

  Her fangs skimmed the jugular of her husband. She was so close to ripping the vein wide open. Then she thought of Tamari, the daughter she had yet to free from imprisonment. Lavinia knew too well that a single powerful individual could not defeat the united army of the rebels.

  Can Tamari wait a little longer?

  That thought gave her the willpower it took to stop herself from ripping open the throat of the man she married. But before she retracted her fangs, Simon, the gaxanxi’s deputy walked in.

  She pressed her thumb at the base of her husband’s skull, knocking him out instantly. She turned back and saw that Simon had exited the room.

  Lavinia let her form come out in full—her skin became a scaly blue, her senses heightened, her hair darkened, her eyes turned red, and her fangs descended once again. She ran after Simon with a vampire’s speed, and soon she was leaping to the roof of the building.

  She knew where Simon’s chamber was, but she didn’t think he was stupid enough to return to his own room. She tilted her head back and sniffed the air, sensing him. With her heightened supernatural sense, she quickly found traces of Simon in the wind.

  She headed west and leaped over a few more buildings. She knew he was heading to the open crowd in the market near the entrance of the dome.

  Smart move, she thought.

  Indeed, Simon mixed in with the crowd and worked his way toward the entrance. She knew he wouldn’t go into the water, because then he would be isolated.

  Lavinia smiled to herself. She was learning to be patient. The market would soon close, and Simon would be there by himself.

  Lavinia hopped down to the ground, turned back to the gaxanxi palace, and raced to her husband’s chamber.

  She woke him. He opened his eyes, groggily looking up at her.

  “You’re overworked, Bodhi. You just passed out. Let me take you to your bed to rest.”

  She mixed a drop of her blood into his tea and held the cup to his lips. He took the vampire blood like a thirsty and wounded patient. Before she left his bedside, he grabbed her hand. In his delirium, he smiled at her.

  “Promise me you’ll never leave me, Lavinia.”

  She smiled at him. “As long as we’re alive and survive this vile war, I’ll always be with you. I promise.”

  He smiled and fell into a deep sleep.

  She left his chamber and smiled to herself. “As long as you survive,” she whispered.

  Standing on the roof again, Lavinia sniffed the air. She leaped over several buildings and then jumped down to the front yard of a small private compound.

  From inside the house, Simon shouted, “Vampire bitch, you’re not invited into this house!”

  Lavinia walked slowly toward the door. She enjoyed this, playing with her prey before she consumed it. “Congratulations, Simon, you’re well educated. It’s true—a vampire can’t enter a private house uninvited.” She stopped and smiled at him. She reached her hand forward and did feel some resistance. “And you do, indeed, own this house. Very smart. You knew you couldn’t do the same in the deputy gaxanxi’s chamber because it’s a state house, not yours. So you ran here. But how long can you stay inside?” She smiled again.

  “I’ll stay here as long as I have to. How long can you stay out there? My people are coming for you.”

  “I have no doubt you’ve been dealing with the Independents. But I’m not worried, because when they find you, you’ll be nothing but a chewed-up chunk of meat. And dead men don’t talk. They will never know who killed you.”

  “You mean what killed me. All creatures leave traces, Lavinia.”

  “Of course, but if it’s your word against mine, nobody will believe you. But wait, you’ll be dead, so who will speak against me?”

  “So you know I’m with the Independents. There’s no need for us to fight. Go back to the royals. I’ll leave here with the Independents, and I’ll go onto land. I’ll never return to Nepolymbus. Nobody will know your secrets.”

  She chuckled. “And why should I make a deal with you?”

  “Because your husband keeps secrets from you.”

  “He’s allowed to have a harem. That’s something we agreed on. Other than that, what secret could you be talking about?”

  “He arranged the kidnapping of Princess Tamari.”

  She couldn’t control herself—she switched to her siren mode and entered the house like a gust of wind. She stood next to Simon before he could react. Her nails dug into his jugular.

  “How?” he whispered.

  “I’m not just a vampire. I am mixed blood. If the rebels didn’t take Tamari, do you know where she’s being held?”

  “I didn’t say they didn’t do it. It was a deal between the gaxanxi and the rebels.”

  “What was the deal?”

  “Your husband wants to be king. He arranged for Princess Tamari to be kidnapped so he can ask for a ransom from the king. The plan was that when the king tried to rescue the princess, they would kill the king, and the girl would die in the process. But things didn’t go as planned because of what they did to the princess—”

  “What? What did they do to my daughter?”

  “Your … your daughter? The princess is your daughter? ”

  “Yes, what did they do to her?” A stream of blood ran down Simon’s neck as she dug her nails deeper into his flesh.

  “Please don’t kill me …”

  “Then tell me!”

  “They electrocuted her and destroyed her special ability ….”

  She couldn’t control herself. She ripped Simon’s throat open with her nails as she screamed out her anger. Nothing made sense around here. She wanted to cry, but that wouldn’t help. What did they do to Tamari? Where are they keeping her? She looked at her bloody hands. She had killed Simon—the only one besides her husband who knew precisely where Tamari was.

  Lavinia wiped her tears, pulled her hair back, and returned to the gaxanxi palace.

  Chapter 26

  Trouble. Ciaran LeBlanc didn’t operate on gut instinct, not only because he didn’t have his wife’s mind tracking ability, but also because he was king of Eudaiz and responsible for the multi-billion citizens of his universe. He dismissed the looming anxiety growing in his mind and stepped into the main hall of Lorcan’s residence.

  It was a routine visit to check on Lorcan’s status.

  This was the Daimon Gate, the neutral universe that policed all traffic between member universes. It was similar to Interpol on Earth, but with much more power and authority. Lorcan was not only a good friend but also one of the top-ranked technical chiefs who managed one of the most important data portals of the Daimon Gate. Ciaran had cracked Lorcan’s security codes before. But that wasn’t the reason that Ciaran had security clearance in Lorcan’s station. He had clearance because Lorcan trusted him, and in situations when Lorcan was incapacitated, Ciaran
was the only one with the knowledge and power to assist.

  Floor-to-ceiling steel doors slid open as he approached. Floor robots, floating screens, and holographic messengers scooted out of the way as Ciaran walked by. In the control tower, where there were no common robots and a technician was close by, the main door slid open. No one in this station knew Lorcan was down, except for his wife, Orla.

  Orla rushed out. It had been just a few days, but the anxiety had worn her down a lot. Ciaran pulled her into his arms for an embrace. She needed consolation, and he understood her need.

  Lorcan and Orla had been childhood sweethearts. Ever since Ciaran had known them, they had never been separated. He eased her out of his arms and looked into her eyes. “Orla, I know this has been hard on you, but we’ll fix it. Lorcan is going to be fine—I promise.”

  She nodded and wiped away the tears that ran down her face. “I know. He trusts you.”

  As a wicked sorceress in the top-ranked in the clan on Earth, Orla must have felt helpless seeing her husband harmed by magic, especially since she couldn’t do anything to help.

  “What’s the urgent message, Orla?”

  Orla gestured toward the chamber. Ciaran walked over.

  Inside the chamber, locked with the strictest security system Lorcan could come up with, was Lorcan. His body lay in a sealed cabinet, and his system was wired to the monitoring machines outside. He looked as if he were asleep, but Ciaran could tell that a significant robotic part inside him was rapidly deteriorating.

  “There’s a signal—”

  Ciaran gestured for silence from Orla. “I need to check his system first. Give me a second, Orla.” He approached the control panel.

  Lorcan’s heart and a large part of his mind was human. But the rest was created by technology that neither Lorcan nor Ciaran fully understood. Ciaran didn’t want to run tests on Lorcan’s non-human system, thus they would never be able to figure out who or what had made him. He had fallen into a coma, based on what Orla observed, because of a hideous dark spell cast on his human part. It kept his body and mind floating in unconsciousness. His body was now governed by his non-human system, and Ciaran had managed to put it in still mode.

  “What have we here?” Ciaran muttered, looking at the monitor. In the robotic section closest to Lorcan’s heart, a microchip glowed red. The chip hadn’t been there before. They couldn’t have missed it. They only way it could be there now was that the chip had materialized when triggered externally. He didn’t know how or why, but he could see waves of signals coming out of that microchip, signals waiting for Lorcan’s system to accept them.

  Because Lorcan was unconscious, his system rejected the signals by default, and as a result, the chip leaked a foreign chemical into his system. It would soon shut down his robotic part, and then Lorcan would have nothing to keep him alive. But if Ciaran set his system to accept the incoming message, he wasn’t sure what the consequences would be. He had not seen this microchip technology before.

  “There is a foreign chip that has materialized inside his robotic system. It’s sending out signals. I’m going to try to extract it without accepting the signals.”

  “Does that mean he needs surgery?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’ve done it before, and I have no doubt you can do it again. But what if removing the chip kills him?”

  “Leaving it there will definitely kill him, Orla, and accepting the signals it’s sending is unknown territory to me. The chip has just now materialized, so it means he has lived his whole life without it. If the surgery goes poorly, and I will make sure it doesn’t, his body will revert to its status before the chip, meaning he’ll live.”

  “But that’s the signal I tried to tell you about. He wants to accept it.”

  “You have the ability to read magical information. How does that work with a microchip?”

  “I don’t know, Ciaran. I’ve been monitoring Lorcan’s mind, keeping my connection with him so he doesn’t slip away. There was a thought flaring in his mind—his desire to accept an incoming message. That was all I could read, and that’s why I called you.”

  “So Lorcan can feel the message and wants to accept it?”

  Orla nodded.

  “Are you sure, Orla? I haven’t seen this technology before. If I accept, it might have unexpected consequences. And because it’s inside his system and very close to his heart, if the reaction is negative, there isn’t much we can do to save him.”

  Orla looked at Ciaran. There was no definite answer, and he knew the feeling. When his wife, Madeline, was in the same situation, he made the call in a heartbeat. He’d do whatever it took to keep Madeline alive, and he didn’t care what she might turn into. Ciaran nodded. “Accept the message, it is!” he said.

  He adjusted Lorcan’s system to accept the message. Text flowed onto the screen.

  “Lorcan, you owe me your life. Now I need a favor. I am in Nepolymbus, and I need your help. Connect with the chip in your heart and you will get to me.”

  Sender: Faye.

  “I know this name,” Orla said. “I saw it in Lorcan’s mind, although he said he had no recollection of her. I believe him. Something must have happened before we went to the Daimon Gate. He was on a job. He disappeared for a few days without a trace. And the next thing I know, the police found him washed ashore, barely alive.”

  Ciaran nodded. “He collapsed when working with Jo, and he asked for a talisman. Jo recalled having one buried with her sister. She said it was just an artifact her sister had picked up in the sand, and there was no significant meaning attached to it. I sent Tadgh to get Jo on Block Island in New York.”

  “Because you suspect there’s more to the talisman than it seems. You mentioned the Key of Pisces.”

  “Yes, but it was just a conversation I had with Tadgh. I told him only people in Nepolymbus could verify this information, and I don’t have any plans to deal with that universe in the near future.”

  Anxiety exploded in Ciaran’s mind. He entered his master code into the computer system and bypassed all security. He retrieved the last message on Jo’s wrist unit.

  “The key was sent to Eudaiz’s hidden dimension.”

  Sender: Jo.

  Ciaran understood Jo’s actions. Hidden dimensions were unstable, but they were much better than the situation she was in. She would only make that decision if she was in danger and there was a chance that important information might fall into the hands of Eudaiz’s adversaries. Jo was with Tadgh. So both of them must be in danger if she had decided to take this action. Ciaran switched to Tadgh’s panel.

  “The Key of Pisces can only be verified by the Nepolymbian authority. Please seek verification.”

  Sender: Ciaran.

  A chill ran up his spine. “I never sent this message. No one and nothing can infiltrate the Eudaizian system.”

  “What does it mean, Ciaran?”

  “It means we are facing a war with something related to Nepolymbus, and that something might be much more advanced than we are.”

  Chapter 27

  Tadgh’s vision was reduced to ten percent. His flesh felt as if it wanted to detach from his bones. To recover from his injuries, he needed to rest so the eudqi could focus on the healing process. Yet, he tried to stand up as the guards were charging at Tamari and him.

  “Can you run, Tamari? Out that door, running straight, you’ll get to the water. I parked a shell just outside the dome gate.”

  “I won’t leave you here.”

  “Look, I can’t protect you, Tamari.”

  “Then stand aside.”

  “Excuse me?”

  She didn’t wait for his approval but pushed him aside. At the same time, a handful of guards stormed over, weapons in hand.

  “Stop,” said Tamari.

  To Tadgh’s surprise, the guards stopped.

  “Drop your weapons.”

  All guns and knives were dropped to the floor.

  “Now stand facing the wall, and st
ay still.” The guards did what Tamari asked.

  Tadgh rushed over and grabbed the guns and swords then withdrew toward Tamari.

  “Do your commands work on everyone? They certainly don’t work on me.”

  “No, they work only for guards.”

  “Fair enough. For those who aren’t guards, when they attack, can you use this on them?” He gave Tamari a small gun. “You only need to aim and pull this trigger here.”

  “So you don’t like it when children swear, but you’re fine with them using guns?”

  “Hey, I’m trying to save you. I’m injured, and I have to crash right now or my injuries will take forever to heal. If you leave now, it will make my life a lot easier. The next bunch of attackers might not be guards.”

  A bullet hit Tadgh’s right shoulder. He crashed to the floor and accelerated his eudqi’s healing process.

  The second group of guards charged toward them.

  “Stop,” Tamari said. But this time, the guards didn’t stop.

  “They aren’t guards, Tadgh.” Her voice was shaking.

  She raised her voice again. “Stop.”

  Apparently, the commands had no effect on the new attackers.

  “Damn it.” Tadgh cursed. He turned his eudqi off, grabbed a gun, and fired at the group of mercenaries. They shot back at him. He knew it wasn’t a fair fight because he could heal himself after being sprayed with bullets, but the mercenaries didn’t have that ability.

  In a flash, Tadgh wiped out the group. Then he flopped to the floor. But before he could switch on his eudqi to restart the healing process, he heard footsteps. He shook his head, gripped his gun again, and stood up. Jo ran toward him, with a tall person running behind her.