A Haunting Melody: The Golden Lyre

15 | Gamma

The symbol Gamma (γ) has a muffling effect on Hunters, making their tread almost completely silent. Hunters can receive this Mark by killing an entire nest of Sirens (three or more), completely undetected by the Sirens or any passers-by.

***

Astrid had no hesitation as she sprang into action and launched herself at the Siren, grabbing her hair and yanking at it with all her might. She knew how much they loved their hair and right now, her only goal was to anger it. The Siren yelled out in rage and thrashed her clawed fingers at Astrid's face, catching her slightly on her eyebrow.

Astrid kept an iron grip as she pulled the Siren by her hair into the apartment and shut the door, not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention.

"Ah!" Chris yelled from behind her, causing her to whip her head around and look at him with wide eyes.

While she had been fighting the Siren by the doorway, another had revealed herself after stepping out of the shadows of the dark apartment and began to attack Chris.

Astrid slammed her foot down on her Siren's chest to keep her from getting up again while keeping her eyes on Chris, who was trying his best to dodge incoming attacks.

"What do I do?" he asked frantically.

"Fight her!" she yelled back impatiently.

"I can't! She's a girl!" he replied.

Astrid huffed irritably. These outdated, sexist ideals were exactly why men were such easy targets for Sirens.

"Her gender is irrelevant! She's a monster!" she yelled, feeling the Siren which she had pinned beneath her suddenly grab at her ankle, pulling her to the ground beside her.

Even Astrid's quick reaction speed couldn't keep up with the speed at which the Siren had pinned on her back and held her arms down so that she couldn't fight back.

As she stared up at the Siren in rage, she watched her face contort into that of a demon. Her teeth grew into long fangs and her eyes became as black as the room in which they had been fighting. She used up all her strength to keep the Siren away from her face as she bared her teeth at her and gnashed them like an animal.

"You can't run from my mistress forever," she said in a hoarse, scratchy voice.

"Who said I'm running?" Astrid asked, forcing her hips in an upward motion, throwing the startled Siren off of her.

The Siren shrieked in pain as she released her tight grip on Astrid, giving her the opportunity to jump to her feet. She quickly threw her foot forward and kicked the Siren squarely on her nose.

Her hands instantly went to her nose as she screamed in agony. Astrid was sure her nose was broken, after a kick that hard.

Looking up to check on Chris, her eyes widened in horror as she watched the other Siren whisper something in his ear with a devious smile.

She swore under her breath and pulled out a throwing knife from her left boot.

As she turned to face her Siren again, she narrowly missed her sharp claws as they swing with frightening speed towards her face. Although they missed, they still managed to graze her shoulder, ripping the material of her shirt. Astrid was fuming. Shirts were expensive.

Quickly punching her hard on her already-broken nose with her free hand, she expertly plunged the throwing knife into her chest.

The Siren looked down at the knife in shock, as if she had never expected something like this to ever happen. Looking back up at Astrid with a numb expression, she quickly fell to the ground and morphed into all the appearances which she had changed into over the past years which she had spent as a Siren, before finally dying in the form of a woman who looked to be about thirty years old.