To Seduce A Siren

24. Planning to Win

"Come on, Selene, it's not going to kill you!"

Selene glared at Kali who raised her hands in surrender. "I am not eating that."

Kali shrugged, sliding the bucket of chicken wings closer to her. "Fine, I don't mind eating a family meal all by myself." She eyed Raz's grim face before adding, "Half a family meal all by myself."

Denise once again stood at the edge of the kitchen watching them all.

Selene doubted Denise avoided the KFC lunch for the same reason she did. Denise didn't trust them - that much was obvious - but the way her eyes stalked every movement Seline and Raz made, she couldn't help but feel Denise was here as Kali's watchdog.

Had the witch grown more brain cells in the years she hadn't seen her. Or had she always been like this but Selene couldn't pick apart the facade?

"When are you going to tell us about your plan?" Selene demanded.

Kali tore her mouth from a wing to answer, "Oh right, the thing I came here for. Now, I have the plan fully formed..."

"You mean you didn't before?"

Raz rubbed his face with a hand.

The feeling of dread that had formed when hearing about Kali's plan grew every second. If Selene didn't have her survival tied to this she would have abandoned this long ago. Selene promised herself that if this all worked out she would live deep in the Pacific Ocean for one hundred years, at least.

"It's very rude to interrupt someone trying to eat their meal," Kali said.

"Why did you even come with this garbage?"

"It's not garbage! KFC is the best invention the humans have ever made!"

"It's not even food!"

"Just get on with it," Raz interrupted grabbing a wing from Kali's bucket. Traitor.

"Okay wait, can I just-" Kali grabbed a hot sauce bottle, a wooden salt shaker, a banana, a ceramic coffee mug and a chicken wing, fumbling around the kitchen as she collected each item. "I've always wanted to do this!"

"I'm the hot sauce because... Well. Selene's the salt grinder because she's salty. Raziel is the banana"-Kali had the audacity to smirk at that. "Denise is the coffee mug and Theron is the chicken wing".

She arranged the pieces around the table placing the wing in the centre and pairing the banana with the salt grinder and the mug with the hot sauce.

"Thanks for getting chicken grease on my table," Selene muttered.

Kali ignored her saying, "The plan is very simple. We're going to rely on the fact that Theron thinks Raz doesn't know he tried to have him killed."

A chill ran through Selene's spine at the dark look crossing Raz's face. Was he truly this angered by his leader's betrayal? Selene could remember the bitter taste of it... Not recently though. You had to trust a person for their betrayal to hurt. Selene took it as a norm rather than an exception.

Kali placed the banana and salt grinder near the chicken wing. "Raziel will get Selene inside the Redeemer stronghold, Castle Elysium, under the pretence of handing Selene in. Make sure she's gagged and has her hands tied but loosely so she can get out."

"I hate the plan already," Selene interrupted.

"Patience! Let's hope the Redeemers won't be wearing enchanted earplugs but we have to be prepared." Kali looked to Raz, "Try not to let Selene get taken away to the dungeons. I would prefer not to go looking for her after I'm done. The dungeons are a maze of tunnels under the castle and not even all the Redeemers know how to navigate it. I have this map"-Kali whipped out a piece of parchment that had several extensive blueprints, some of them blank in spots-"But the details are... Incomplete. I don't suppose you know the layout of the dungeons, Raz?"