38

O's pov

My face hit the air and as I moved to climb above the water and stand on its surface. The moon was out high and I had not realized so much time has passed. I looked around at the water beneath me. It was calm and gentle and just as it should be. It was pure. But I could no longer see the dragon. Was what I saw real? Did it come back to life or was that my imagination? As I looked up, I could see the beach I had come from. I could feel him.

"Kandomere." I said gently. I already missed him. He must have been so worried for me. I moved in the direction of the sand watching as its view grew closer and closer to me. He was near, I could feel him. I missed him. As I neared the sand, I could see someone standing a few feet from a very nice black and shiny car. Blue hair shimmered in the light. I smiled. The water began to part beneath my feet as the soles of my feet touched sand. He saw me immediately, his deep grey eyes showing great relief.

"Odette!" he called out to me and ran to the water. I smiled more and stretched out my arms for him. He embraced me immediately, scooping me off the sand and twirling me around. Our lips connected seconds later. I wrapped my arms around him immediately. "Are you okay, where have you been what is all this?" He questioned after he sat me down, eyes roaming my body. I looked down noticing the scales were still covering me like a body suit. I then looked up and felt the top of my head. The crown of scales still on my head. I looked at him with caring eyes.

"I am alright. I just had to connect with the water." I said turning to look back at the waves. I could feel the water's power, I could feel its strength. "I had to see what I needed to see in order to understand what I am now." Kandomere watched me almost carefully now.

"And what are you, Odette?" he asked. I looked up for a moment closing my eyes.

"I am the leader of my people, their protector… The water below used to be pure before the war between the sirens and elves, and not they are tainted by the impurities of everyone above. At first I felt I needed to purify the water again… by purifying the earth, getting rid of everyone who caused those impurities." I explained finally turning to look at him watching his still concerned face. "But I have seen that doing so does more harm and good." He tilted his head placing his hands gently on my neck to caress my skin.

"You've seen it?" he asked and I nodded raising to remove the crown from my head and as it left my head the suit of scales vanished away.

"My crown has shown me the minds of other sirens before me. Everything they did they did for the good of the siren race, but those methods still ended in bloodshed… I will not become those sirens, but I will not let anyone hurt my people." I replied. He nodded.

"Of course, we should probably get you out of here since you are no longer covered." he said glancing down at my body, and I looked down seeing indeed bare. I nodded and he took my hand and led me to his car.

"What have I missed?" I asked as he led me to his car, pulling off his jacket and putting it around my shoulder.

"Your roommate spoke to the orc, Dorghu… he told us that the Inferni shot up the town in order to cause a panic so everyone would go after the orcs. Then they'd attack the sirens to force them to go to war. With all the chaos then it would leave the Inferni time to attack and get to you." he said. I winced as he led me around to the passenger side. I paused at the door, sat my crown inside and looked up at him.

"And what will you do?" I asked lowly remembering our last conversation on wanting to tell the public who the real culprit was who attacked many downtown. His jaw tightened and he looked down some.

"I already put out a news broadcast that elves were responsible…" he said lowly. My eyes slowly widened at his words.

"You gave up your kind." I said.

"I did… for you." he said looking up at me. I noticed his gorget was not around his neck and slowly I slid my hands up his chest, realizing that what he did must have been very hard for him. Thinking of the pressure his family put on him, how his kind has shaped him, I knew this was something he couldn't come back from. I looked up at him slowly smiling.

"I'm proud of you." I said lovingly, and his ear twitched some at my words and he looked down at me lovingly before wrapping his arms around my shoulders and pulling me into him, our lips smashing against each other.

After a moment we got into his car and took off.

"Nick was on his way to your people's home. Dorghu is still being held." he informed. I nodded in thought some.

"Now that the town knows who is responsible, they will be looking toward elf town for answers… didn't the Inferni attack an elf museum?" I asked. He nodded.

"Fifteen dead. Some stones were stolen. They had belonged to the sirens." he explained. I nodded slowly keeping my eyes on the road for a moment. I was familiar with the route he was taking. He was headed back to the home I shared with Nick.

"The Stones of Authella. They are purification stones created by the Authella triplet sirens. Since they were one egg split into three, they each had the ability to sing the songs of the fallen." I replied.

"What do these stones do?" he asked. I sighed some as I truly did not want to think about it.

"They have the abilities to subdue sirens with the powers to sing the songs of the fallen. Should the day ever come when a siren with the power tried to use their gift for evil, the stones locked their magic away for a certain amount of time." I said.

"And now the Inferni have it." he said with a stressful tone. I nodded.

"Yes." I replied. As we drove under the night sky, I asked for Kandomere's phone to call Nick.

"Jesus Christ, O, are you okay?" he asked in panic. I nodded aware that he could not see me.

"Yes are you okay?" I replied.

"Yeah I was just worried about you. I just left your parents and warned them about the elves." he said. I nodded again in relief.

"Good. I'm headed back to our place now." I replied.

"Alright. I doubt you saw the news, but your boyfriend actually took one for the team." he said almost smugly. Kandomere, hearing him scoffed.

"Fuck you." he said. Nick laughed some before it died down.

"There's going to be some major backlash. Lot of people are going to want answers from the elves." he replied. I noticed Kandomere getting my attention mouthing me to put him on speaker, so I did.

"Jackoby, I have already spoken to my superiors and they have spoken to yours. The precincts will do all in their power to make sure there is no riot or mobs moving upon elf town from the inner city." he told.

"What afraid the orcs and humans will band together and rise up?" he asked. Kandomere frowned.

"Both your species aren't smart enough to band together." he insulted. I frowned tired of the bickering.

"Enough!" I snapped glaring at him and then the phone. Kandomere's jaw clenched but he nodded looking back on the road.

"We are taking full precautions in our district to ensure we keep any violence to a minimum. The Inferni want war and we cannot give it to them. Right now our mission to heal from the shooting and find the members responsible and make sure the public knows the culprit is brought to justice." he commanded.

"I know. Do we even know how many of them there are?" he asked.

"Could be a few, could be hundreds." he said with uncertainty. I could tell he didn't like not knowing. I was worried about this. If there were numerous of these rogue elves then a fight may not be avoidable.

"Fine. O just let me know if you need anything." he said. I nodded.

"I will. I'll see you later." I replied and hung up. I inhaled some and ran my fingers through my hair leaning back and keeping my fingers around the crown. It seemed I couldn't sit back on the side and wait for them to come to us. Maybe we would have to come to them.

"What's that look?" Kandomere asked. I shook my head.

"Just thinking of what we need to do." I said.

"You aren't going to do anything except stay with your family. They're strong enough that they could probably handle an attack." he said. I shook my head looking at him now.

"I cannot hide behind my family. And we can't wait for the Inferni to change plans and do something worse than shoot up a town. If they do attack my family, the enemy will not be the only ones effected. Remembers our screams together can be horrible for everyone." I said. He nodded.

"I know, but you're all civilians you cannot be involved. My team is handling it." he said. I looked at him stiffly.

"How? How are you handling it?" I asked.

"You aren't a part of the team, so I can't tell you anything." he said. I inhaled some and looked ahead.

"If they come for me, I will do what is needed to stop them from hurting my people. Whatever methods you have are not working." I stated icily.

"Odette, I am doing all that I can. If the government saw you walk of out the sea like I did today, they would immediately detain you and lock you up and try to figure out how much of a threat you are so they can put you in the darkest hole imaginable and I won't let that happen!" he said firmly. I was quiet for a moment and I glanced down at the middle console to see his hand open to me. I didn't even hesitate to take it. I curled my hand into his as we were finally pulling up into the driveway of my home. Once he cut the car off and we unhooked our seatbelts we finally looked at each other, showing the weakness and vulnerability in our eyes.

"I'm scared, Kandomere." I said softly. "I am scared for you, my family, this power that can do horrible things if I lose control-"

"Hey, hey, hey," he said just as softly, raising his hand to gently intertwine into my hair above my ear. "Whatever happens we will deal with it together." He seemed so sure of himself. I nodded slowly before we leaned in to each other letting our lips collide in deep passion. So warm and soft yet enough to spark a match deep inside my body. Our lips parted, but our heads just rubbed together softly.

As we got out of the car, Kandomere moved to wrap his arm around my shoulder as his jacket was the only piece of clothing hiding me from the world. All my keys were in my bag and my bag was probably in the house. I leaned over to get the spare key from under the potted plant by the door.

"We will need to regroup with my family when you know something… and I need Dorghu brought to me." I said. Kandomere's body stiffened and his frown was deep.

"Why?" he asked lowly. I placed the key in the door knob.

"Because we will need his help. If he knows something then he can help us stop the Inferni." I said moving inside and placing my crown down on the coat rack. I cut on a few lights smelling around. Empty.

"Odette, it's obvious the Inferni would never truly trust orcs with their real intentions. We cannot trust his words." he said.

"All the more reason to get him to help. If anything he dislikes elves just as much as you dislike these elves. We may need his help. We may need Nick and his partner Ward's help. You have to do things by the book," I purred moving toward my stairs and sliding his jacket off so it fell to the ground. I glanced back at him catching his eyes as they looked directly at my behind, a dark fog looming in them, " I don't." With that said I strut up the stairs knowing he would follow.

Author's notes

Hope everyone is staying healthy with the coronavirus out there