Chapter Forty
Nicole
THE SPEAKEASY – NAMED THE MERSEY MERMAID BY THOSE who knew about it – was hidden at the back of another bar, crowded with humans.
As they entered, Callum slowed to walk beside Nicole.
Instead of a dress, she’d opted for a skirt with a decent slit for easier movement, and lace-like tights beneath.
It reached down to her ankles and the patent black heels that clipped across the wood floor.
A silky black shirt finished the look, and she’d pinned her hair up in a wavy bun to keep it out of the way, a few face-framing pieces loose.
As she’d done her make-up, she tried to remind herself that they still had time.
As long as they weren’t found by anyone else.
‘Thank you, for helping Dylan the other day,’ Nicole said quietly to Callum, referring to the Varian attack.
The magnetic Empyreal at her side smiled. ‘It’s what we do. Besides, I prefer him with his pretty head on his shoulders.’
That, and Dylan transforming in the middle of the city would change his scent, marking him as a newly transformed Empyreal and triggering any of the Wake’s nearby Empyreals’ oaths to hunt him down.
‘But we should talk about my family,’ Callum added.
Nicole shot him a surprised look. It took her a moment to realise he was talking about Kyan.
‘Watch him, tonight,’ Callum warned.
She frowned. They’d gone over the plan multiple times. ‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean, now that you’re together and your bond is … solidifying.’
Heat seared her cheeks.
‘He may get vicious, especially where you and danger are concerned.’ Callum’s gaze raked over her expression with a wicked smile.
‘You think he has morals? Where you are concerned, dear Nicole, he has none. He will hunt, he will kill, he will eviscerate rules and regulations. He’s nothing but a snarling beast driven by the most essential instinct: protect.
You have given him something to fight for, and he will kill anyone that gets in the way.
You don’t get between an Empyreal and their mate. ’
‘So, it’s the mate bond—’
‘No,’ Callum interrupted, smoothly walking around humans. ‘He’s this way because it’s you, not because of the tether between you, or something as base as a biological compatibility. That’s an added layer, but not the only reason. I think you know the real reason.’
Her throat went tight, and her heart …
Callum leaned closer, his energy gentle, his eyes creasing with understanding.
‘I’ve been around for longer than I’ll ever admit, and there’s one thing you need to know about mates, Nicole.
You cannot reason them away. They’re biological, physical.
And in a way, magical. But they are also fuelled by emotion and connection.
‘Your soulmate is not something to ponder and put in a box. You cannot interpret it, you cannot write an essay about it, you don’t need to resist it like you have everything else. You feel it, and welcome it. It’s rare,’ he said, more softly, as if he knew; as if the mere idea broke his heart.
Her surprise at the emotion in his eyes was tempered by the fact he’d hit a chord with his academic jab.
She’d tried to take a step back and be logical.
She’d tried to do it since she’d met Kyan.
But it was beginning to feel like leashing herself the way she had in Estwood.
Her feelings for him were intense and physical, while also calm.
Calm as a still ocean, as a warm place to sleep, as if being wrapped in his arms against the hot protection of his chest was the safest place in the world besides her family.
The place she felt at home.
She blinked hard.
She was scared of how much she felt; of how her body could transform her like this, and yet she wanted to embrace it so desperately.
Which was why she’d stopped by a local pharmacy and grabbed some protection while Remi pretended to look at nail-polish to alleviate her nerves about the possibility of singing again tonight.
Because if Nicole let herself feel these building emotions fully, if she admitted them, what then?
Their world was blood, secrets, and a supernatural organisation eager to tear them to pieces.
She couldn’t. She’d wait until they were all safe.
As much as other people found it easy to feel this much, it scared the life out of her.
She couldn’t risk anything happening to him because of her feelings.
Or what he might do if she admitted them.
Callum smiled softly. ‘Stop thinking so hard … Nikki.’
His use of her family’s nickname blinked her out of the knot of her thoughts.
His nose crinkled. ‘Too much?’
Nicole laughed, earning a curious look over Dylan’s shoulder. It seemed, beneath Callum’s mysterious, sensual exterior, there was an infinity of wisdom and layers of sensitivity. She just hoped he let Dylan see it.
‘There’s one thing you didn’t mention,’ Nicole said, as they came to the back of the bar and headed up a set of stairs. ‘I’d do the same for him.’
He smiled. ‘Oh, I know. You’re just as protective as your mother.’
Nicole turned her attention to the painting at the top of the stairs.
The life-size replica of Orpheus by Franz von Stuck from 1891 had a flat, shimmering background of gold leaf.
Orpheus had his back partially to the viewer, naked and shadowed from behind, holding a string instrument in a bold red.
Surrounding the musician were animals of all different types, as if all of these creatures had come to hear the gods-gifted poet.
It was the perfect image for a secret Siren Speakeasy.
Remi knocked on the door and a slot opened to reveal little but darkness.
‘Philharmonic,’ she said.
The slot slammed shut for long enough that Nicole shifted uneasily in her heels, glancing up at Dylan, who had come to stand at her right, his smart black jacket over a shirt of pale grey-blue.
Then the painting swung inward to reveal a small, dark ante-room and reinforced door.
The creature before them was tall and wide, with greyish skin and an intimidating energy. Its overall form was human – as heavily muscled as a bodybuilder – but its features were stony and wider, as if it had been carved from a mountainside.
Nicole mentally flipped through her mother’s bestiary, landing on a Gnomus – but clearly this one was from one of the branches that had intermarried to grow much taller than those in the mythological stories.
Lures didn’t work on them, hence the high demand for their services in establishments like this.
As they were ushered into the small room, the painting door closed behind them and the Gnomus checked their supernatural IDs.
Nicole kept her pulse steady as he looked over her and Dylan’s fake ones, which claimed they were both Seers.
Once the creature was satisfied, a great lock cracked and the reinforced door behind it swung open.
Nicole was blasted with the growl of jazz trumpets, the swell of strings, luxurious darkness, and the scents and feel of a dozen new creatures, like a gallery come to life.
The room was rectangular and tiered slightly, with one long mirrored bar on the left. On the right, a copper wall of banquettes caught the low glow of lamps and candles on each table. Above, a bevelled ceiling with crystal chandeliers – most likely heavily soundproofed – gave the sense of a vault.
Small tables were set throughout but the focal point was the stage across from them, alive and vibrating with a small orchestra and a boy band, the red drapes behind adding a bold backdrop to the four Sirens on the stage.
Remi’s attention was on them immediately, their song a blend of R&B and jazz.
Each was dressed in a unique suit and polished in their own way: from the tight coils of dark hair and oversized suits in different colours, to the flash of tattoos and the bright lure of smiles.
Their voices blended with the flow of music, adding to the magnetic feel of the bar.
The candlelight was nearly not enough to make out what other beings danced, glided, or sprawled in the space, which meant the glimmer of their varnishes reverted to just that.
There were iridescent wings, and the momentary curl of a horn like a ram’s twisting up from dark, curly hair.
A Nymph-like creature with hair down to the floor and slick as an oil spill, as if she’d stepped from an Arthur Rackham illustration.
Something more like a leathery arm than a leather jacket brushed Nicole as they passed, someone else had lightly pointed ears, another, tattoos that almost looked like they moved.
Nicole smothered the purr of her Empyreal and the curiosity of her art-loving heart.
Remi knew though, and smiled.
‘You okay?’ Nicole whispered to Dylan as they came further inside, following Remi’s confident lead.
He nodded tightly, eyes swiping over the room of creatures.
Neither of them had ever been this close to supernaturals they didn’t know.
Despite her trepidation, her chest was alight with a reluctant happiness, hearing snippets of conversation about spells and supernatural permits, noting the potent herbal alcohols perfuming the room, and spying the bar snacks of fried flowers and nuts that would cause a human an irreversible psychedelic trip.
It was like they’d stepped into one of her mother’s bestiaries or tomes on supernatural society. Now she was a part of it.
But she was also responsible for keeping it safe.
Images of Wild Hunts and apocalypses swirled like unholy fire through her mind.
‘Have a few drinks,’ Remi said, interrupting them. ‘Take the edge off, or you’ll make people nervous.’ She used her Siren abilities to bend the sound in a way that only Dylan and Nicole could hear.
‘Join me at the bar?’ Callum suggested.
Dylan sent him a look, but the other Empyreal’s eyes held only amusement, challenge, and a bite of heat.
‘Fine,’ her brother said.
Callum’s smile was as dangerous as a dare.
Tension seared and Nicole quickly hooked her arm through Remi’s as Dylan peeled off from them.