My nap is long and the dreams I had were of Kayla and I being together forever as vampires. Could I really give up a piece of my identity for a woman? Is it possible for me to surrender a piece of myself for the betterment of someone else? If you love someone you are willing to sacrifice anything and everything for that person. That's what the werewolves believe. Werewolves are loyal to their lovers. They mate for life, unless banishment sets in. That happened to me and I never thought I'd love again. But somehow I miraculously did. For Kayla, I would give up my werewolf life and become a vampire. We can't be together as sirens and wolves, but as vampires we could be the same. One flesh and one blood molded and changed by the vampire's magic. One bite and we really could be together forever. "Aiden, are you in here?" Ethan says as he rises from his coffin. "Yes, what?" I ask half asleep. My voice cracks like a thirteen year old human kid. Brianna chuckles at the sounds I make. I al
"Hello, Kayla," a guard knocks on my prison cell. There is no sense in trying to convince anyone down here that werewolves aren't so bad. I've only ever met Aiden and he's nice to me. But what about the other werewolves? Perhaps there is a nastiness about them. Perhaps they are evil and Aiden is the exception to kindness. He was banished after all and in my book that is not a kind act. In fact it is quite the opposite. His family has hurt him just as mine as hurt me. He was banished and I was deceived. I hope Aiden finds me before these wretched mermaids force my hand to marry their king. There's nothing sexually appealing to me about sirens. Squid tentacles and fish faces don't do it for me. King Caspian has the largest beard of them all. He has a long flowing purple octopus beard with kelp like mustaches to match. My lungs have gill slits by my rib cage. It's disturbing to watch myself breathe and watch those gills shake as I inhale and exhale the water."Hello, have you come to
"Kayla, want to go to the beach? The sun's a scorcher today, and the sand is burning my toes already," Brianna says to me with her ebony hair blowing in the ocean breeze. The sea air hits my nostrils and opens me up to the possibility of sailing. I've never been sailing, but the air today would be perfect, and I am up for anything.. The beach is a safe haven for me and always has been. My mother and father used to bring me here a long time ago, back when the world made sense. But the world is backward now because all my family are dead, consumed by the sea. "Yes, why not. I could use a beach outing. I must warn you I am not much of a swimmer. I'll just read and get a tan while I'm at it."I've never been a strong swimmer; perhaps it's my uncoordinated legs. My legs have always been wobbly from the time I started walking. I was always falling upstairs instead of down them. Being a clutz has made my life miserable, and my weak ankles made swimming next to impossible. My heart murmur i
In my dreams, my legs are missing. They are surrounded by water that turns them into scales. The scales of a fish of varying hues. Some are green, and others are teal. The voice of an angelic creature sings in the distance beneath the rocky sea cliffs beyond the fog. The mist hides the face of the songstress and I wake up thinking of mermaids.I've seen mermaids often in my daydreams and nightmares. They come to me, in the form of songs on the ocean air. Perhaps my mind has a hankering for a good old classic fantasy film, or perhaps it means something more. Mermaids aren't real we all know that. As a little girl, my parents would take me to Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum. For those who don't know what that is it's a museum carrying various oddities and mysterious objects that have tall tales to go with them.Among the strange collection is a half-monkey half-fishtail, clearly sewn together to trick an ordinary uneducated fool. But I am no fool, as a child that display case looked f
The wind picks up as the ocean tide pulls me toward the water's edge. With each step out to sea, my footprints sink further and further into the sandbar. My feet create ripples every time a new step is taken. The moon is still out and comes and goes between the clouds. It hovers in the clouds with a soft brightness that only nocturnal creatures understand. Between the mist, the voice, and my desire to heed the message of the song, something or someone stops me from proceeding into the blackness of my destiny.A hand touches my shoulder. A large hand that can't belong to Brianna. The hand is firm, and strong clearly attached to a male member of the human species."Where are you going? I wouldn't follow the voices tonight, lass. The fog is no place for a nice girl like you," I recognize the voice and turn around.That's when I see Aiden's eyes as blue as they were the day we met on the beach. But why is he out here and topless no less? Not that I mind the view before my eyes, he's beaut
"Did you suddenly go deaf, Kayla?" Brianna says as I continue to cook to the sweet sounds of sizzling bacon, eggs, and sausage. I use the spatula to turn the food over and eventually, I dish it out onto a plate for Aiden to eat."I'll explain later. For now, Aiden is our guest. He's been through a trauma and needed a place to hang out for a while until he figures out where to stay."Aiden looks at me and I look back at him. It isn't a lie, but it isn't the truth either. Maybe he isn't in shock that he was banished, it sounded to me like he knew what the risks would be. Perhaps hearing me give permission to stay here is a relief. He doesn't have anywhere to stay as far as I can tell, and judging from his outward appearance he's going to need to go shopping."What happened to the blonde friend of yours you were walking with on the beach earlier," Brianna turns and asks Aiden. A question I wish I had thought of myself, but a good one nonetheless."He isn't exactly a friend. I was asking
The evening returns to the shoreline. The stars appear above the remaining line of pink and purple, remnants of an amazing sunset that would have made for a fantastic date night if I do say so myself. But I don't have the luxury of date nights anymore, now that I am still healing from what he did to me. Jaxson Miles did a lot of things to me, he became my world and wrote songs for me on his guitar under the stars on nights like this. But all that's left now is my broken heart and the memory of his arms wrapped around another woman burning into my skull. The tide interrupts my tears, and my eyelashes catch tear drops the way leaves in the canopies collect rain. When I blink my eyelashes stick together and when I open them they are hard to pull apart like a pair of coupled hands. Hands are meant for holding, holding someone else's as an assurance that the world is safe and that all the darkness in the world isn't real. I sit on the rock with my sundress covering my knees. My legs are i
The middle of the night is stirring, stirring like a thousand hurricanes lost at sea. Aiden hasn't returned to the shed in our backyard. He needed to be alone and I know that. The focus of his frustration stems from his banishment which is an ever-present issue. Brianna and I pass the time by watching corny crime shows about cougar mothers who murder their young lovers. Nothing gives me the creeps more than that. The rain picks up and falls in a slanted pattern. Worrying about Aiden Atkinson is foolhardy at best, but I am not in my right head space at the moment. I am not myself right now. Everything about Aiden is mysterious and makes me wonder if he knows where my parents are. Something about his eyes changing color is off-putting and alarming. Like a nightmare consuming a soul for its victim. "Are you tired of watching the movie?" Brianna asks as she tosses a few stale popcorn pieces at my head. "No, I'm worried about Aiden. This storm is getting worse." "So what..he isn't our