A Siren's Choice (Book One in A Siren's Series)

Chapter Twenty-Five: Prepared

Lia

I lie there, sprawled out in the sand, my wing lays broken beside me as I fight to keep my eyes open, the beautiful darkness threatening to pull me away, but I have to stay awake.

It has only been a few minutes since Nerissa disappeared inside the town. Her goal: to find Nathaniel before The Council do, and kill him.

And I know she will be able to find him. For The Council may use a tracking spell to find his where-abouts, but Nerissa had actually met Nathaniel, had been in his presence long enough to be able to get a good whiff of his scent. And it would take more time for the spell to track him down then it would for Nerissa to just follow his scent with her keen sense of smell.

Our kind's sense of smell may not be as great as a vampire or a shifter, but just like our sight and hearing, it is far more advanced than any human, and would be good enough to hunt Nate down.

Nate...

Once she finds him, he won't stand a chance.

My eyes become heavier and heavier by the second, and it's getting harder to stay focused no matter how hard I try to stay conscious.

My body suddenly seizes up as my broken wing randomly spasms, causing what feels like fire to shoot through my already aching nerves. I grit my teeth against the pain, stopping myself from screaming out in agony again, until finally it stops. A sigh leaves my dry lips as my body becomes lax once again, but my tears continue to fall silently down my cheeks and into the sand.

My body begs for the sweet bliss that the darkness will bring, but I refuse to succumb to the temptation, to give up, to just leave Nathaniel to die.

Behind me to my left, I can hear a very panicked Maris muttering nonsense, she's been that way since Nerissa's departure.

Unable to ignore it anymore, and needing something besides my pain to focus on, I carefully roll my head until I can see Maris as she paces back and forth a few meters away from me.

"It's okay", she repeatedly mumbles to no one in particular, her arms tightly hugging herself as she spins around on her heels and paces a couple steps in the opposite direction before spinning back around and pacing the other way; and repeat, literally forming a path in the sand.

"Everything will be okay", she says a bit louder, like she is trying to reassure herself as she runs her hand through her hair, messing up her ponytail causing parts of her curly hair to stick out.

Another spasm wracks through my body and I'm unable to stop the pained groan that manages to escape my lips once it finally passes. 

Maris turns her wide eyed gaze to my crumpled form, physically blanching at the sight.

"The Council will be here soon. They... They can help", she stutters out, seemingly trying to convince herself more then she is trying to convince me.

"And how exactly are they going to help, Maris? They are coming here with the intent to kill", I growl at her, or at least I tried too but it probably came out as more of a pathetic groan.

"But they will help you", she tells me, but I can hear the uncertainty in her voice as her hands tightly clutch onto one another.

"They will exile me", I state because I know that that is exactly what they will do the second that they find me.

"They'll heal you", she exclaims, sounding like she so desperately wants to believe it too.

"Will they?" I throw the question at her, and I watch her flinch like my words had physically slapped her, giving her no choice but to see the reality of this situation.