The Siren's Prisoner (Completed)

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

All of us sat around Mia's table once again. It was a fragile peace with a tense silence. No one spoke, but stared at one another curiously or suspiciously. Finally, Haydin broke the silence. "What are we  doing just sitting here? If anyone wants to find out what really happened, someone is going to have to start talking." Haydin looked pointedly at both Mia and Eric. Then, his eyes lingered on me for a moment.

 Andre looked curiously at Eric and then looked at Mia pleadingly. Mia sighed. "My new name is Mia, but my name used to be Maya Tech. About twenty years ago, I ran away from my home for refusing to have a child with a human. As you know," she said looking at me,"an Aikoade is expected and sometimes threatened to have a child by a certain age. Every Aikoade is to have at least one Aikoade child. It doesn't count if they are of another species like human or Muiridu." At this, her gaze fell lovingly on Andre, who gave a lopsided grin in return. "I didn't want to have a child with someone I didn't love, whether they be human or otherwise. I ran away from my family and vowed I would never go back. I wandered through America and eventually stumbled upon Thomas. He introduced me to his family and we fell in love. We were on our honeymoon in Hawaii-I knew that was a mistake- when some Aikoade ambushed us. We fought so hard but, when it was obvious we were doomed to fail, Thomas told me to leave. I wouldn't have if he hadn't told me that I was pregnant. His exact words were,'Live for our child.' Mia's eyes filled with tears. Muiridu know when a woman is pregnant. I suppose he was waiting until I found out for myself. I ran and that was the last time I saw him," Mia said the pain in her voice evident. 

 Andre's eyes were filled with tears; he probably hadn't heard this story before. Eric looked shocked; all of his suspicions were tamed with her story. "Why didn't you come to us?" Eric asked,"We could have protected you." 

 Mia looked pointedly at the broken furniture strewn about the room. "Would you have?"

 Eric had the decency to look properly ashamed. "We would have seen the similarities between Thomas and Andre," he argued half-heartedly. 

 "I wish I could have believed that. He needs to be around his own kind. I only know simple facts about the Muiridu. As much as Thomas loved me, he couldn't disclose secret facts. Andre needs to know these things. I don't even know how long he'll live."

 "Well, the youngest Muiridu is one hundred and fifty years old and the oldest is about two millennium," said Eric casually. 

 Andre's eyes grew wide. "Who is the youngest and oldest?"

"The youngest would be me," Eric replied. We all took in his young looking profile. Eric didn't look a day over twenty five. "And the oldest is Saul. Born right around the time that Jesus walked the earth. He said he was a lovely fellow. He didn't agree with his crucifixion." We all gaped at him.

 "Can we die?" asked Andre.

 Eric turned a disbelieving gaze on Andre. "Of course, we can die! Everything has a weakness. Although, it's not all sunlight and stakes. I think humans came up with that because most all of us are ridiculously pale," at this Eric gestured to Andre and his pale skin", We heal much faster, which probably sprouted the stake to the heart deal. We can't heal that fast. We also are impervious to most all  diseases. Occasionally, a Muiridu gets cancer, but it's very rare. So most of us die from old age, excepting a horrible accident that we can't heal or cancer."

 Andre's eyes grew awed. Suddenly, he turned to his mother. "But that means I'll outlive mom," he said dejectedly.

 Mia looked at him sadly. "Parents aren't supposed to outlive their children. You'll just live much longer than most children." She smiled reassuringly at him.

 Andre looked sad, but didn't push the issue.