Sirens (Theo Raeken) [1]

Sirens

My body is on fire.

I can't see anything, I can't smell anything and I most certainly can't taste anything except the gag in between my teeth.

My vision is still shaky and my head feels like it's about to explode, but the thing that's most painful is the burning feeling tearing through me. My senses come to me one by one: taste, smell, sound, touch and, finally, sight.

My eyes flitter open into the overhead light, and for a few seconds I can't see anything but darkness and white spots on the inside of my eyelids when I blink. I blink the tiredness out of them and snap my head down, where the face of Lucien Caraway looms.

"She awakens," he says, studying me with a wicked grin.

I let out a string of profanity, but none of it comes out because of the gag.

"You didn't think I'd let a siren have her most lethal weapon, did you?" he taunted. "You really thought I was so stupid as to give a siren her voice?"

As I grow more aware, I realise the origin of the searing, burning pain. My wrists and legs are bound, but it doesn't feel like a regular type of tie.

"Wolfsbane," he says, as if reading my mind. "See, I think it's quite unfair that Ian's favourite child got everything plus werewolf and siren powers."

He's rambling now. "I'm the leader of one of the most coveted American packs in history and, quite frankly, being abandoned for a little girl really pissed me off as a kid.

"And then your mom, well, she just had to stick her foot in it and kill my father — our father. I don't hate you, Arden, but blood must have blood."

I strain against my ties and he lets out a slight chuckle. "Don't be mistaken. I do love you, sister. Hell, that was the reason I killed Lex so that you'd favour me and want in the pack. But here's the thing: bringing you into my pack would be like a country inviting their enemy into their soil. Tragic."

I furrow my eyebrows, using as much excess emotion as I can since I have no words. "I came to discover that, well, you were more powerful than me. With a bite from a werewolf, you'd be able to amplify both sides of you. And God knows that Theo would've bitten you without a second thought — who, for the record, I don't approve of your little beau.

"So I decided that if I can't beat you, I'd have to kill you, which is why we're here today in the Hale house."

I swear at him again, my words unintelligible through the gag. I rock forward, trying to get out of the restraints. Lucien looks me up and down and laughs. Wordlessly, he gets up and leaves.

I am left with nothing but silence.

Hale house. The others had told me about the Hale house — how it was famous for being burned down by none other than an Argent and how it used to be synonymous with Derek Hale. I had heard a lot about the infamous wolf and his good — and bad — deeds throughout the years.

He was something of a legend to Scott and his pack, and it made sense that his former haunt would be something so grand and gothic.

I could make out the little details of the room which painted a picture of a partially burnt building: rotted wood, ashes dusting the floor around my feet and blackened furniture.

I was surprised that it hadn't fallen under the weight of me already.

But Lucien was clever in his location. Whether it was seclusion or cruel irony that made him choose this place, it was both obvious and not obvious at the same time, which meant that Theo would probably have trouble finding me.