𝐒𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐍 ↝ 𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳

𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍

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CASSANDRA CAMPBELL HAD A WAY WITH WORDS.

No, really.  From the age of six on, Cass somehow had the ability to get anyone to do anything she wanted.

Her father attributed her power of persuasion to her rosy pink cheeks, sparkling hazel eyes, and the general charm of being a toddler.

But her coercion continued through her childhood and into her teenage years, where she continued to refine her skills, and with her developing maturity, her father began to attribute it now to flirtation and coquetry.

It got her into trouble.  Innocent hijinks rapidly evolved into larceny, embezzlement, or the one time she convinced a classmate to hand over his stash of cannabis, only to flush it down the toilet during fourth period.

The gift of charm and charisma was ordinary enough, even if the lengths to which Cassandra was able to carry it out were a bit drastic.  No one questioned a thing.  The girl just knew what to say to get what she wanted.

Hughie would've hated her for it, had he not known the truth.  Only he was the one to catch the brief clouding of pearly white in his sister's irises as she coaxed someone into doing her bidding.  Only he seemed to notice the glazed over expression on her victims' faces and the milky fog that covered their eyes as they blindly obliged to her requests, only coming to after it was too late.

To most, Cassandra Campbell's talent for sweet-talk was the plus side of her dazzling good looks and undying positive energy.  To the siblings, her gift was viewed more as a power... perhaps, even, a superpower.

Hughie drew up sketches of costumes, sparkling fuchsia hues with sweeping fabrics and billowing capes. 

He brainstormed aliases.  Lady Persuasion.  Charmer. Bewitcher. Allure. The Captivator. Temptress.

Even if Cass had sworn her younger brother to secrecy, she couldn't help but entertain his infatuation with creating her very own VOUGHT identity.

Only now, as a grown woman, whose eyes no longer sparkled with the wicked gleam of guile and a smile that no longer lit up a room, did she realize who she really was.  What she really was.

Only now could she see how quickly a blessing could be unveiled as a curse.

Cassandra Campbell was a fucking monster. 

She knew her true nature. She could feel the twist in her gut, the churning resentment tainting her very being as she watched her future unfold, powerless to stop it. A troubled adolescence lead her to make the one big mistake of her life—one that she could never, ever take back. One that turned a beautiful, powerful, confident young woman into a timid, submissive shell of a person. One that created a being who had learned to ask instead of tell.

Hughie didn't believe her, he said she was wrong, it wasn't her fault, but Cassandra knew the truth.  There was only one thing on Earth that could articulate the true malevolent evil that was hiding beneath the visage of a superpower. There was only one alias that could encapsulate the veracity of her reality.

The Siren. Beautiful from afar, enchanting and intriguing and tempting and bewitching and irresistible.  Only when it was too late could the truth be revealed; for with every sailor she lured in with her seductive song, they would drown in her murky waters—for every man she enticed, they would never live to tell the tale.