To Seduce A Siren

1. A Little Problem

Selene eyed the man sitting two tables across from her. He might be fun to kill.

To hurt! Hurt not kill! She reminded herself.

Selene was bored with killing. She had vented out enough rage in her early years by drowning sailors. It seemed pretty fair to her now to just hurt people for sport.

And only if they were annoying...

She thought herself to be a progressive siren. Many of her kind still killed. Others hurt humans physically. Selene had given that up for something a little more...

Fun.

The guy she had her eyes on was pathetic. He was slugging down a beer, the golden droplets glinting off his grey beard, some sliding down to drip on his potbelly. Occasionally, he'd guffaw at something stupid, scratching his head through a baseball hat.

He suited this small town bar with its 'rustic' wood panelling and dusty sports paraphernalia. She had felt like sneezing ever since she came in. She couldn't wait till she finished this evening's entertainment and went to sleep.

He didn't stand out from any other of the guys he was sitting with except for the look in his eyes. A glint in the corner that rubbed her the wrong way. Maybe it was the slow way his eyes roamed over the bodies of any woman who had the misfortune to pass by him. Or what he said to the young waitress that made her frown. Maybe it was the way he sat like the world was his domain and so were the people in it.

It didn't matter. Selene didn't really need a reason.

She wondered for a second if she would do something so gauche as to stab his eye with his beer glass but that was the work of an amateur. Then she noticed the ring on his finger. A simple but thick gold band on the fourth finger of his left hand. She got a little idea.

Selene smoothed her black hair as she slid out from her chair and sauntered to his table. She had given up her typical sleek and chic clothes for something that didn't stand out too much, skinny jeans and a tight tank top. She slowed as she got closer, giving him a lazy smile as she sat at the bar, flicked her hair, and gave a look over her shoulder.

He was still staring at her.

It didn't take too long before he took the bait. She had only ordered her drink before she felt him take a seat next to her.

"Hi there," he said, his voice slowing on the 'there'. His eyes widened.

People had a visceral reaction when they saw her up close. Every single time. It was that way for all the sirens. Selene was hardly amongst the most beautiful of her kind. But it was inevitable that people around them, humans especially, got drunk on their magnetism.

"You have real pretty eyes," he whispered reverently, "light angel eyes."

She wanted to roll those light angel eyes and tell him a few choice words. Instead, she said, "Thank you."

"Can I buy you a drink?" He signaled the bartender to them.

Selene smiled as she drummed her fingers on the tabletop. The pads of her fingers were sticking onto the wood panelling where years of beer must have sloshed onto. She needed to get out here and deal with her little problem.

"You can tell me what your plans are for this evening," Selene said.

He grinned. The effect was jarring with the smile too wide on his small face, swallowing it up. She could even see he had two black teeth near his right molars.

"Oh, just spending some time with a beautiful lady."

Liar.

Selene giggled, putting her fingers to her lips, "Oh no, tell me your real plans," she said with her a touch of her song.

He blinked. "I, uh - Me and my buddies were planning to go to the strip club down the road."

Perfect.

His eyebrows rose in bewilderment. They were always so confused when she used her powers on them. Selene didn't want to give him time to dwell on that, she said, "I think you should go soon."

The man nodded.

"I think you should go and blow the paycheck you just got on the stripper with the least tips. Venmo her. With the account you share with your wife."

He shook his head, "I don't share an account with her."

Asswipe.

"Well, does she have access to yours?" Selene snapped.

"Yes."

"Then do that!" She loved the confused look on his face. "Get really drunk, punch a buff guy," she added for good measure. "And when you Venmo the money, get creative with your words. Say its for 'being a nice girl' or something dumb like that." Because she had a sense of humour.

He stumbled off his stool, steadying himself on the wood counter.

"Wait."

He turned around.

"Do you have kids?"

"Yes, two boys." He turned to his table where two young men who had the same knob nose sat. "They're builders, just like-"

She didn't need a history.

"- Yeah, okay." She didn't care about the two assholes in the making.

He turned away, walking back to his table with a weighted gait he didn't have before. Selene watched him rouse his friends, watched still as they left. She waited for a twinge of guilt, a stab of conscience, something that might make her go to him and reconsider ruining his life and family.

There wasn't one.

Not for CEOs who committed corporate fraud. Not for bitchy landladies. Not for kind-looking firemen.

The truth was she had been getting bored of ruining a life here and there. At first it was fun to take money, family heirlooms and things they had been dumb enought to attach sentiments to. Then it had been fun watching them fuck up their life. Then it had been a mild amusement forcing people to do whatever she wanted.

Now she didn't even care enough to see if that man really did end up screwing up everything.

What else was there in life for a siren to do except destroy and wreak havoc?

Selene shook her head. This was her human side talking. She just needed to spend time with her coven again and get up to real destruction. None of this petty ruination.

Sirens didn't really have covens like other immortals did. Their covens were more like groups of sirens they had been with, in their transition. Occasionally they would meet again, once in a couple of decades. They were solitary creatures.

But if she needed them, they were there.

She just needed to get out of this small town. Why did she think this might be a good idea?

Then she remembered something important. Her reason for coming to this little hole in the wall.

In the corner of the bar, shrouded in darkness, lay her 'little problem'.

The man who had been following her for a week.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hey guys! This is my first proper attempt at a story. If you liked it, please vote and comment or if you have any tips or feedback, that'd be really appreciated!