Siren's Fall [Siren's Mark: Book 2]

Chapter 54

ℤ𝕒𝕟𝕖

The cool outside air is a welcome change from the hot, humid club.

"So much for having a nice night out as a last hurrah before Greece," Kami says with a heavy sigh as she slumps against the outside wall. "I called a Council contact for cleanup, they should be here soon."

Finn stumbles, leaning on the wall with one hand, and heaves forward, throwing up on the sidewalk. He's pale and holding his stomach tight. I can't tell if he's gotten more averse to violence or is just repulsed by the thoughts he's just been subjected to.

"Fuck," he curses.

"Is someone gonna explain what the heck just happened?" Ava asks, looking between Kami and me with questioning eyes.

"Yeah, I'm a little lost too," Kieran says, twisting his hair between his fingers. "It doesn't help that I'm also legit wasted off that drink I ordered. They weren't kidding when they said it was demon strength."

"You're lost because you're not an Immortal," I say.

"In our world," Finn chimes in, "what he did in there is a capital offense. Immortals don't have many laws, but we have a couple big ones. Most of them are to keep anyone from drawing too much attention to the community. The others are against the worst atrocities. This one... is a bit of both."

"What exactly is it?" Kieran asks.

"Immortals with powers of body or mind control can't make a person complicit in their own victimization. So you can't use your powers to convince someone not to fight back while you hurt them, you can't force them to kill themselves, and you can't encourage them not to report abuse."

"Because it's sick and cruel," I say, gritting my teeth as I wrap Ava tighter in my arms.

"Forcing a person to participate in their own assault," Kami says, shaking her head as her eyes glow gold. "It's despicable. Not everyone agrees on how to treat humans, but we all know there's a line. It's preying on the weak and using psychological torture to do it. If I didn't kill him, the Council surely would have...or worse."

"Why did he come after you in the first place?" I ask, feeling bile rise in my throat. "Just because you interrupted things between him and some girl?"

"Well um... I think he was trying to do the same thing to her when I got involved."

I turn to Kami, whose face holds a mixture of rage and disgust. Finn must've told her something I didn't get to hear.

"I think he was trying to charm someone into having sex with him," Ava says softly. "He didn't know I was immune."

What?

A tremor creeps from my fingertips to the rest of me, until my entire body is shaking. I knew something more was going on than a small physical altercation, but I didn't want to think about it.

"That's fucking wrong, dude," Kieran curses. "I'm kind of disappointed he's dead now, I would've liked to have killed him myself."

He kicks an empty can across the street and huffs.

"How... how did he even know you were..." I start to ask, but I look down at her hand in mine and am confronted with the answer—her wristband. "...human. You're wearing a human wristband."

"That bloke had a whole system," Finn says, still hunched over. "Sick fuck has been doing this for a long time."

I feel sick to my stomach too. Wills was only a minor acquaintance in the Siren community, but I had no idea what was lurking underneath.