To Seduce A Siren

38. The Witching Hour - Part 1

Selene's head whipped back to see a smirking Kali, leaning across a wall with her arms crossed right outside the metal stripes of their cell door.

"What are you doing here?" Selene blurted out—several more questions razed her mind. Most pertinent of all - why was she here?

Kali arched a brow, spinning the keys to the cell door on her finger. "Oh I'm sorry, should I just go back and not save your sorry ass?"

"No!" Raz interjected before Selene could get a word in. "No," he continued, eying Selene, "Please get us out."

Selene shook her head. The cost of getting them out of a predicament could be high. Higher than rotting in this cell. "Not before you tell us what you want first."

Kali frowned, "I want to get you out of here. With haste. Before someone catches me. Preferably."

"No, what do you want from me? You can't have risked getting stuck here without wanting a payoff."

Raz rose, unsteadily to his feet. "Are you kidding me? Shut up and move." He stagged to the door without a backward glance. All the tenderness from before, gone. She was surprised that it hurt.

Selene knew better than to go with Kali without a care. She'd ended up in hellscapes escaping a bad situation. One thing she knew for sure - things could always be worse.

A click resonated in the cell before Kali swung open the door. Immediately, Raz walked out. Kali didn't even glance at him, her gaze was locked in on Selene

"Get up. Now." Kali's voice distorted to a menacing echo, her dark eyes turning a deeper shade of midnight. Selene remembered why Kali had got that name. She'd impersonated the goddess she was named after so well, her city thought she was Kali reborn.

Things could be worse, but Selene was also wise enough to know Kali was scarier than any Redeemer could be. They might kill her, but Kali could break her.

Selene rose to her feet and then ducked out the door.

"Finally," Kali grumbled before reaching out a hand to both Selene and Raz.

It was as if Selene blinked and she was back at the cabin.

The world seemed too normal. Too strange to have sunlight filter through the windows and warm her skin. Warm wooden floorboards to stand on instead of damp stone.

Stranger still for Theron to be standing there to catch Raz as he crumpled down, his body weakened by the magic.

"Denise gave me this ring." Kali looked pointedly at a large ruby encasing her index finger. "Only works as a return ticket - such a shame."

Selene didn't look at Kali as she said this. She was busy looking at Theron lay Raz on a small tartan couch where Raz sank rather than lay. "What's happening?" Selene finally said.

"Thanks for saving him," Theron said without looking at her.

"You care?" Selene couldn't help but reply.

Theron said nothing instead disappearing to another room where she could hear him clattering things.

Kali whispered, at a volume Theron was sure to hear, "Oh yes, he does. Cares about everything, amazingly, even the little human. This is going to be the pay-day of all pay-days."

Theron glared as he entered the room, carrying a bottle of antiseptic and bandages.

"Is that why you came and got Raz? Theron paid?" It was likely considering how he had got to work wiping away the dried blood off Raz's skin.

Kali's smile faded. For the first time since she had known Kali, the witch looked disappointed. "No. I paid Denise. Handomsly for the ring."

"Why?"

"God you are dumb," Theron exclaimed. He kept his task of cleaning Raz's wounds, gently dabbing at the cuts on his forehead. "Too stupid to know you have a mate and too stupid to know you have a friend. You deserve neither."

Selene turned to Kali who was looking down before saying, "I didn't know you would do an extraction without money involved. We're mercenaries. We don't risk our lives for nothing." Kali shifted a foot under Selene's intense gaze. 

Kali shrugged. "A good partner is hard to find. Keeping you alive is an investment."

"Why are all of you so emotionally constipated," Raz managed to croak out before his chest was rattled by coughs. Theron immediately got up, all thoughts of nursing cast aside.

Theron immediately got up, all thoughts of nursing cast aside. "If you're well enough to make quips, you can wrap your own wounds."

But Selene and Kali both noticed how his shoulders had relaxed.

Kali walked to the kitchen and motioned Selene to follow. Once they both stepped inside, Kali murmured something in a low voice and a blue glow emanated across the room, disappearing just as fast.

A silencer spell? Did Kali have a secret?