To Seduce A Siren

11. Some Like it Hot

This was the shabbiest motel Selene had ever seen.

She glanced at the lobby, if the closet-sized room could be called a lobby, and fought the urge to leave. She couldn't leave though. Raziel would think she was too soft and she couldn't afford that in this situation.

Even if the floor was sticky.

Raz was talking to the teenage boy at the desk in hushed tones. The boy kept glancing back at Selene and she couldn't tell if they were talking about her or if he was trying to sneak a good look.

Selene turned around, with a sigh, to gaze outside the window. Their car sat alone in the parking lot. The sandy afternoon landscape blew a regular dose of dust into the lobby, through the large gap beneath the door. She would have sat at the singular armchair close by, but the large ass-shaped wear on the chair made her recoil.

Hadn't she suffered enough in these two days?

She tried not to think of the bedbugs this establishment must-have.

The presence of Raziel behind her jarred her from her thoughts.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey?"

Raz sighed, taking one big hand to rub across his nape. "Look. This is going to be awkward but - let's just head up to our room."

Selene raised an eyebrow.

"Our room."

Raz nodded very seriously.

"Our room?" Selene repeated. She knew how this went. The number of men who thought she was this stupid was far too high.

Raz nodded again, an almost imperceptible tug at his lips gave him away.

"Let me guess." Selene clapped her hands together. "Somehow there's only one room in this place which looks like it hasn't had a booking in at least a year."

He grinned, "There are multiple rooms. But I thought it might be safer if we camp in the same room." He nodded towards the parking lot. "So, I can keep a watch over you."

Usually, Selene would have laughed and made a joke. She opened her mouth to say something witty and instead she snapped, "Just because we're working together doesn't mean I'm going to fuck you."

Raz turned red. Like a tomato. In a way, she thought was only possible in books. Real people surely didn't turn that red. "I - I - I never thought - I was going to take the couch - That is - I didn't think you would." He managed to get out.

Selene felt something suspiciously like guilt in the pit of her belly, for thinking the worst of him. "That boy keeps grinning at us. Great! He probably thinks I'm a low-class hooker."

Raz cleared his throat, looking slightly less red, "A hooker?"

"A low-class hooker." Selene clarified. "One who has to get clients in the afternoon at dumps like this place. If somebody thinks I'm a hooker, they better think I'm at the least, a high-class mistress."

She was rewarded with another tiny tug at the corner of his lips. If she had blinked, she'd have missed it.

"Let's go."

Again, a strange sensation in her stomach. Dread or anticipation?

Selene thought back to the car ride here. The three-hour ride had made her almost like Raziel. In another life, she probably would have liked him. Even though he barely tolerated her. She had sensed that he wasn't the type to be unnecessarily mean because he mostly kept quiet.

Except when she asked him if he had a code like Batman.

"What?" He said, shocked.

"Do you, like, not kill people. Like Batman?"

"Why do you say that?" He said after a lengthy silence.

"Maybe, it's the fact you haven't killed the three people. You didn't kill the people at the rooftop, did you?"

He frowned, "I don't think so." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I have killed. I just try not to."

Selene looked at him. His eyes were staring straight at the road, unmoving, but she could see his turmoil with the tenseness of his muscles. Did it weight on him?

She didn't know why but she said, "Don't worry. It gets easier."

"Killing?"

"No. Ignoring how it feels after." He whipped his head to see. Selene ignored him and continued, "One day, it won't even feel like anything."

There was a pregnant silence in the car after that. Selene knew he must think about the things she said, which didn't deserve any deep thought, because he asked later, "How old are you?"

Selene grinned at him, "How old do you think I am?"

"The file said you're three hundred. I think you can't be older than a hundred."

"Wrong! On both counts. I'm about two hundred."

"You don't remember?" He asked, incredulous.

"It's hard to keep track after a while!" She joked, meaning to keep it at that. She didn't know why she gave him more information about herself. Against her better judgement, she added, "I don't even really remember being human. My human life I mean. I only remember bits and pieces. Not even my real name."

Raz exhaled loudly at that. "Selene isn't your actual name?"

She shrugged back. She hadn't meant to say that much. Nobody knew that she didn't know her actual name, except for the siren who had given her a name.

It was far too easy to be at ease with Raziel and she reminded herself of that as Raziel opened the door to their room.

As soon as she stepped inside, she felt an overwhelming urge to sneeze. The room was covered in a frayed carpet while the small bed at the wall held yellow sheets, that once used to be white. The motel didn't even attempt to make this room less depressing, with bare wooden walls. There was no desk but there was a ratty-looking couch in an indescribable colour.

"Charming", Selene said.

Raziel gave her a wry look as he set his bag onto the floor.

"I'm going to need some new clothes tomorrow," Selene said, picking at the small hole in her jeans that wasn't there, to begin with.

"Yeah. We need to change clothes so they'll have trouble recognising us."

Not exactly what Selene was thinking but if it served her purposes, she wouldn't argue.

She looked at the bed, still exhausted but hesitant to even sit on it.

"I'm going to go take a shower," she said, as she walked over to the small bathroom. The bathroom was ever more depressing than their room. The tiles were brown with age, and the whites that were meant to separate them were black. Selene tried not to think about that as she stepped inside the tiny shower.

Thankfully, hot water did come out of the showerhead, which Selene was unsure of. She loved the feel of warm water on her skin, prefered scalding water even over lukewarm water. Her body had never felt so warm and relaxed. So comforted.

After her shower, Selene dreaded putting on her clothes. They had been on her for too long. She was about to suck it up when she realised Raziel might have a spare shirt. She couldn't help it then, she smirked realising, she could step out wrapped in the tiny towel she had on.

Although Raziel didn't seem like the sort of person to be overwhelmed by lust. At least not enough to let his allegiance fly in the wind. A little hint of heat couldn't hurt.

She took a deep breath, her chest tight for some reason, and stepped out.