Heart of Siren (Merworld Book 1) Read online

  He stared down at the puddle of blood.

  She tugged at his elbow. “Let’s go, Clines.” He followed her without saying another word. Just outside, in the corridor, the bodies of the dead guards lay in heaps.

  Clines had killed them all.

  She glanced at him. He said nothing, but kept his head low and followed in her footsteps. Jo was sure there would be many more guards coming soon. She wasn’t sure if this building was the same one where Saiyan had attacked and captured her, but it didn’t matter. The equipment mounted on the walls and doors told her it was a decently secured venue. She would need to get out of here as quickly as possible.

  She ran with a fresh burst of speed when they got close to the entrance. She hadn’t heard much from Clines, and when she turned around, she saw that he had slowed down significantly.

  “Clines, we need to get out of here as quickly as possible!”

  He stopped walking and looked at her. His eyes were strangely distant.

  “We need to leave! I know you’re in shock, but you’ve just killed your boss, and more guards will be coming.”

  He stared at her. “I don’t like going into the water, sister! You know that, right?”

  The female voice coming from Clines was the same one she had heard in her mind when she was standing in front of her sister’s grave on Block Island.

  “Shauna? It’s impossible. You’re dead.”

  “Yes, I died. And I’m glad you remember, sister.”

  “You’re not my sister. She died when she was only a child.”

  “You don’t think spirits can grow old?”

  “Whoever you are, if you’ve developed a programmatic profile to try to upset me, my condolences. You’ve got no talent, and your career is doomed. If you studied me to learn about my sister, then you also know I’m a kick-ass computer programmer.”

  “I told you I don’t like the water, sister. But you insisted. You were curious. You wanted to know what the shiny thing in the water was.”

  “Shut up! Shut up!”

  “I shouldn’t have had to die just because you wanted that talisman…”

  “I told you to shut up. You’re not real.”

  “Nobody knows that secret but us. Do you believe me now?”

  “I live in Eudaiz now. I am from the multiverse. I know there are programs that can extract information from people’s minds—even from the dead.”

  “Sister, I just want to let you know that I forgive you for what happened. I’ve proven my good intention—I have just saved you.”

  “Good intention? I don’t know how, but what you’ve done is possess a man’s body and make him commit an act that will cause him to be hunted by his own people. You call that a good intention?”

  “I can’t force anyone to do something they don’t want to. But I can push an intention someone already has in his mind. This man wanted to help you. I only needed to give him a gentle push, sister, and he did all that for you. As I said, I just want to let you know I forgive you for what happened. Now my job is done.”

  “Hey …” Clines’ body swayed. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed onto Jo.

  She knew she had a height disadvantage, but she had never before thought being five foot two was inadequate. However, she couldn’t hold him for even a second. His body crashed to the floor.

  She looked toward the entrance. How was she going to drag him out and back to the water? Once there, the water would carry his weight. But what if they weren’t close to the water? What if there was an army waiting for her out there?

  She kneeled down next to him and gently shook his shoulders. “Clines, you need to wake up. I can’t carry you. More guards are coming, and I don’t think I can defend us both.”

  He blinked and groggily awakened.

  “Clines, can you get up?”

  “No …”

  “Well, you’re going to have to. Please get up.”

  He tried to sit up. She pushed against his back to help him. He sat, but just as quickly flopped back down.

  “This isn’t going to work, is it?” She knew she had no other option. She tapped his face slightly. “Clines, is there a medical kit somewhere that I can access? I need a syringe.”

  “On the wall … at the end of the corridor…”

  “In the blue cabinet?”

  “Yes …”

  Jo ran to the cabinet hanging on the wall. It looked like the emergency first aid cabinets she used to see when she worked at a computer development company on Earth. It required a thumbprint to open it. She turned on her internal microchip system then bent down and emitted a small light beam from her left eye. The beam gently brushed across the surface of the thumb scan. Her system absorbed the print of the last person who had opened the cabinet.

  A small amount of a gluey substance oozed from her nail. The liquid ran down and blanketed her thumb with a thin layer of film containing the print she needed.

  She pressed her thumb on the scan panel, and the cabinet clicked open. She grabbed a syringe and darted back to where Clines lay on the floor.

  She stood close to the wall, facing it so the surveillance camera wouldn’t capture what she was doing. She pulled up her top, traced her finger along a faint mark on her right rib cage. She switched off her eudqi and very carefully inserted the needle of the syringe at the mark. She withdrew a very small amount of a semitransparent silvery liquid. She knew the dose—three drops.

  It was her silver blood energy, and the mark by her ribs was her fatal point—if her superpower was on.

  She felt a slight hazy sensation afterward, but it soon passed.

  She turned to Clines, still on the floor.

  “Clines, I am Jo Cassidy, Sciphil Four of Eudaiz. I am offering you a chance to be my apprentice, and will thus convert you into a Eudaizian. Do you accept?”

  No answer.

  She shook his shoulder.

  “Do you accept?”

  “Umm …”

  “Open your eyes, Clines.”

  He forced his eyes open and looked at her, but she didn’t think he could see much. His pupils were dilating. He was dying.

  “Do you accept my offer, Clines?” She waited. “Now! Nod your head!”

  Clines nodded.

  “Say yes, I accept.”

  “Yes, I accept.”

  Then he was totally out of it.

  “That’s good enough.” She turned his head to the side and injected the liquid from the syringe into his jugular.

  Chapter 21

  Lavinia rushed along the corridor toward the main chamber where her husband worked.

  Faye had convinced Tadgh about Jo’s location. Not only had he changed direction, but he’d also asked Lavinia to leave the vehicle so that he could go about rescuing Jo on his own. He no longer trusted her, and that meant her daughter, Tamari, had no chance of being rescued this time.

  Lavinia promised herself she’d come for Tamari again soon. She didn’t quite know how, but she always fulfilled her promises. But for now, she must return and face her husband.

  The guards opened the heavy oak door as she approached. The aura in the air told her that her husband was angry. Bodhi disliked her taking liberties in anything, let alone an expedition to the rebel base.

  He was a powerful gaxanxi in Nepolymbus. But to her, he’d always been the husband to whom she played the role of a faithful wife. He asked her for nothing more, but he definitely expected nothing less. There had never been love between them, but love in Nepolymbus was an overrated concept.

  “Are you hurt?” he asked without leaving his chair. His long white hair had grown even whiter recently, and he looked tired. He was holding a scroll in his hand that she recognized as an inter-dome message. The scroll was to protect the objects inside from the sea water. It must be from one of his intelligence bases.

  The turning time of the Key of Pisces was coming close, and he didn’t appear to be handling it well.

  “No, I’m not hurt,” she said, lo
wering her voice and keeping it as calm as possible.

  He raised an eyebrow in anticipation of her apology—but he wasn’t going to receive one.

  “I saw the opportunity, and I took it,” she stated calmly. “Has your intelligence given you the precise location of the rebel base?”

  He nodded. “I understand why you did what you did. But there are two things I don’t care for. One, you put your life in danger for business that you have no right to get involved in. Two, you’ve lost two guests from Eudaiz. You understand how important our relationship with Eudaiz is. And you know I’m trying to help our king establish that relationship, don’t you?”

  She smiled at him. “First, my life means nothing if it is not to serve you and Nepolymbus. Second, we didn’t lose the guests from Eudaiz. I know exactly where they are.”

  “You took them a different way instead of sticking to the planned safe route to the king’s castle. That’s why you were attacked.”

  “I understand. And your guys might have told you there were mercenaries in our very chambers.”

  He nodded. “Simon disappointed me. He needs to know his place—he shouldn’t have gone against you. And for that, I made him pay.”

  He gave her the scroll in his hand. She opened it and unrolled a page made of a special fiber from Nepolymbus. A 3-D image emerged immediately. It showed Simon’s head, which had been detached from his body. His eyes were still wide open. This was no lawful execution. It was an assassination attempt.

  “You—”

  Bodhi cut in. “I ordered his death without giving him a chance to explain his actions. He went against you—the wife of a gaxanxi. I don’t care what his reason was. It was the act of a traitor, and a traitor has no place in my court.” He stood and looked deep into her eyes. “I’m sure you understand that, wife?”

  She nodded. “Understood. You know I’d never betray you.”

  He smiled and lifted her chin up with his fingers. “That’s the spirit of the O’Lan tribe. That’s the woman I’m in love with.”

  She smiled back at him. “You’re a warrior, Bodhi. If I were to say you deserve to be more than a gaxanxi, would that be too much of the O’Lan spirit?”

  He laughed. His eyes twinkled and some energy sparkled in the aura around him—the energy of his youth. But the aura died down quickly. “Yes, that’s too much of the O’Lan in you, and it won’t serve you well, Lavinia.”

  “Understood. I’m rather tired now. Can I go back to my chamber?”

  “Sure. And don’t you worry about the guests of Eudaiz—I’ll sort that out.”

  “You’re sending troops to the rebel domes?”

  Bodhi smiled gently. “No, I don’t provoke a fight without good reason. Whoever captured the guests of Eudaiz will either have to return them or let them go so that they can come back to us. That’s the most peaceful solution I can think of.”

  He lifted her chin and looked into her eyes again. “Simon didn’t act alone. I’ll find his accomplice and get revenge for his attack on you.”

  “There is no need for that.”

  “Yes, there is. The O’Lans are famous for their warrior blood. I know you don’t let go of a grudge too easily. So before I can do something for you, I have some news that might please you.”

  “What is it?”

  “The O’Lans’ number one rival was killed. All of them.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “Aren’t you happy?”

  “I don’t understand. What do you mean by all of them?” Alarm bells were ringing in her head. She had used Tadgh to kill only a handful of leaders.

  “Ah, see? You’re a beautiful but vicious little creature. You want to know whether they’ve all been killed. Let me assure you, they have. I received news that some warriors from outside Nepolymbus killed a handful of the Vanie tribe. I summoned my contractors to wipe those out remaining in the name of those warriors. No one can trace that kill back to you and me.”

  “Do you know who the warriors are?”

  Bodhi smiled. “No, but who cares? An interesting fact that was reported back to me was that the Vanie tribe were vampires. Did you know that?”

  “No.”

  “Well, now you do. They were killed by wooden stakes and silver and things like that. They deserve it. Vampires have no place here.”

  “You killed women and children, too?”

  “Exactly, darling. When we commit such a massacre, we don’t want to leave any seeds for revenge behind. Not a single trace.”

  Lavinia nodded.

  “I thought that this would be a nice gift for you, something you can bring back to your family. They will never have to worry about the Vanies ever again.”

  “Thank you, Bodhi. I’ll let my family know.”

  Bodhi traced his fingers along her jawline. “You usually return my favors with a special kind of gratitude …”

  She smiled. He wanted sex. She swallowed a lump in her throat, smiled, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him lightly. Thoughts about Tadgh crossed her mind. She recalled the taste of his flesh and his blood. Sensing a surge of energy, she stopped the kiss. She embraced her husband and tried to focus on the current moment instead of the past. But she couldn’t control her vampire’s energy. Inside her mouth, her fangs came out.

  Chapter 22

  Tadgh drove toward a dome that his wrist unit’s navigation suggested might be the rebel dome where Jo was being held. He tried to connect with the Eudaizian system one more time using his wrist unit. It would be ideal to get some backup before he did anything drastic. He also wanted to confirm Ciaran’s intentions in Nepolymbus. Apart from a brief conversation they’d had before he went to New York to look for Jo, they hadn’t had a chance to discuss strategy, and Tadgh knew for sure that when dealing with complicated universes, his brother wouldn’t do anything without a plan.

  Still, there was no signal. Tadgh made a mental note to reconnect after he finished with this dome investigation.

  Tadgh stayed far enough away so that no one in the dome would notice him, but he did venture close enough to see what was happening at the dome wall. On his navigation dashboard, the dome appeared to be round with four markers for the entrances. Tempted to drive around the entire dome to survey it fully, he turned left at one entrance and drove for a while. He didn’t see the next entrance. He didn’t know what kind of energy the shell used and didn’t like the idea of running out of whatever made it go, so he drove back to the entrance he had just passed. The idea of having to get into the water because his shell stopped running didn’t appeal to him in the least.

  There were several mer-citizens going in and out of this dome. It looked like a civilian area. Then why did Faye tell me this is the dome where I can find Jo? He thought it might be a military camp, and he had a feeling that Jo was here. But he wasn’t a fan of operating on speculation. Given there wasn’t much to go on, he parked the shell behind a large rock outside the dome.

  Inside the shell, in the air environment, he switched on his eudqi and dematerialized. He entered the dome formless. Nobody saw him, but he could see everyone and everything. He enjoyed this ability.

  Unlike the other dome that he had entered with Lavinia, the one where he killed a bunch of vampires in a village, the interior of this dome was like a small city. Rock solid buildings stood on hard, flat ground that looked artificial, almost like concrete. There was not much natural soil or sand like the other domes he had been to, even at the entrance.

  He passed a few buildings and moved toward the center of the dome, and here things appeared a little more industrial and military to him. This was well hidden, and if he hadn’t entered the dome, he wouldn’t have seen it from the outside. That was likely why Lavinia said he wouldn’t be able to navigate within the rebel domes.

  She underestimated him.

  The experience he had in several battles with the Black Rock and other elusive and notoriously dangerous universes such as Xiilok had given him very good instincts about battlegro
unds. And those instincts were now telling him that this dome was a battleground. The innocent-looking civilian areas could be giant traps designed to swallow any royal army that came this way.

  In front of him now was a large, ugly, concrete fortress.

  As much as he disliked relying on gut instinct, his was telling him that Jo was nearby, so he continued to circle around the military bunker. He passed through the walls and entered the building sideways. After going through several compartments that looked like top-secret labs, he arrived at what appeared to be a fish farm with large water tanks with clear glass walls. Inside the tanks, sea creatures of all shapes and sizes swam. He could tell what the majority of them were.

  Passing through the fish farm area, he arrived at a more office-like room. Large computer screens were everywhere. It was the most bizarre scene he had ever seen—mer-citizens with strange hair and limbs and scaly skin operated the computers and high-tech equipment.

  He wouldn’t materialize here. There were too many of them, and he would certainly stick out like a sore thumb. He moved through the office area, trying not to cause a disturbance.

  The next area had him on high alert instantly. This is it, he thought. A curved wall encircled the central area. He didn’t know what the wall was made of, but it startled him because he couldn’t pass through it as he did with other materials.

  In his formless body, he had to enter the area via the door. Computer screens curved around the walls, looking like ancient mirrors. He knew it was an extremely high-tech computer screen because he had seen screens like this in the multiverse.

  The mysterious and eerie aura of the place told him this was an important place for the rebels. Whatever they were protecting must be so important they guarded it with top-level technology, rather than using mer-citizens or anything with a pulse, blood, and a few brain cells to guard it.

  He saw a doorway that led to a lower level, and somehow he knew that Jo was down there. But before he proceeded toward the doorway, he heard the sobbing sounds of a child. It came from right behind him, and it made his invisible hair stand on end. He turned around.