Call of the Siren (Obsidian Cove Supernatural Academy)

March 17

Evening

Lachlan

"She just jumped off the fucking bridge!" Tristan yelled, pulling me with him as he bolted through the corridors. My heart thudded in my chest, the image Tristan projected to us made me want to vomit. These fucking humans. All of them are so afraid of differences, of losing their place on the top, that they try to crush anyone who doesn’t fit their mold. This was exactly why the supes stayed away from them. They were vile creatures by nature, and they had yet to prove me wrong.

The sea of students seemed to ge

t thicker the closer we got to the doors. They were shoved out of the way by Calev while he took the lead, not bothering to apologize or care. They were the reason we needed to go save her in the first place.

Once we made it outside, the night was still. No noise could be heard, save the churning of the dark water of the Obsidian Sea. Our feet slid across the thin dusting of ice as we worked our way down the path to the shore, where Evander was already diving in after her. Her head bobbed above the surface, strangled coughs breaking the frantic silence around us.

"There!" Calev yelled, spotting her at the same time as me. Evander quickly swam over and grabbed her, his vampire speed coming in handy.

"Holy shit," Aeson whispered as Calev and Evander dragged a sobbing Lennox to shore. Her skin had a dusting of iridescent purple and black scales that gleamed beautifully in the dying light. I guess that narrowed our suspicions down to very few options, like a mer or siren, but she couldn’t be fully either of those. Her legs were still legs, even if they were covered in scales at the moment.

She coughed and vomited water, spurring Aeson into action. He knelt down next to her, holding out his hand until a soft white glow surrounded Lennox and Evander, the coughs finally quieting and color returning to her cheeks. Evander looked over at him and gave a nod of acknowledgement, their shivering done thanks to him. Once she was able to take in a normal breath, although shaky and I'm sure painful, she glanced up at Evander before clutching him tightly and sobbing harder. Her whispered “I’m sorry” broke my heart into pieces, as we all stood in a quiet vigil around them, not wanting to freak her out more. She hadn’t exactly been our biggest fan the last few weeks. I'd honestly thought we’d ruined our chances of ever figuring this out.

Her breathing slowly quieted until her eyes slipped closed. Evander finally looked up at us, his eyes showing his pain at having to see her like this. It seemed he'd become a bit more attached than we’d realized, his vampire’s protectiveness over her like nothing I’d ever seen from him before. Though, come to think of it, I didn’t think I had seen any of them have a girl around for longer than a night or two. Sex was pretty casual in the supernatural community, so that wasn’t surprising, but it did mean that relationships were rare and coveted when a supernatural found someone he or she felt truly connected to. I knew something about her was different, that warmth I felt around her wasn’t normal.

"You're both going to freeze. Let's go inside. I can't regulate your temperatures much longer," Aeson said sleepily, wavering on his feet for a moment, before Tristan propped him up. Van stood up easily, Lennox tucked safely in his arms. She didn't even stir as he carried her inside. Instead of heading for her room, we went to ours. Since we’d enrolled later in the year, we were given a room on the staff side, which meant a lot more privacy than a regular dorm room. Which was definitely something we could use right now. It’s not everyday someone goes from thinking they’re human, to then finding out they’re a supernatural.

"Her scales are gone," Calev pointed out. Weird, a siren usually needs to be completely dry to transform back to human in appearance.

"I don't think she's full siren. And she's not a mer. Maybe something else in her bloodline mixed with siren, though she hasn't shown other signs, either," Aeson said, perking up slightly now that he wasn’t using his entire magic store at once.

My bear was bristling under my skin, wanting to be free so he could tear this school down. He wasn’t easy to anger, but seeing her like this had us fired up. Once we got to the room, I waited at the door until they got her settled. I have to know she’s safe before I walk out. As soon as I saw she was content, I had to get out of here.

"I'll be back in a moment," I said, looking specifically at Calev. He nodded, able to see that my bear and I were on the edge and needed to find a way to let some of it out.

My focus was on holding my bear back as I stalked through the halls of this wretched academy. I had no purpose, but clearly he did, as we ended up in front of the main office. It may have been Sunday, but I knew he would be here. He rarely left.

My fist pounded so hard against the door that the walls shook. I had no intentions of being subtle in this conversation. At this point, I was feeling more hate than I ever had toward humans, and I didn't care who knew.

The door flew open, and the headmaster looked appalled before his face contorted in anger at the sight of me. "How dare you come banging on my door in this manner?" he blustered, pointing at me with his meaty finger. My eyes flashed as my bear lunged forward, almost escaping my hold. He looked startled as he took a slight step back. I stalked forward, my tall frame towering over him. He retreated quickly this time, trying to close the door in my face as he muttered about insolence. I brought my bear to the surface, my strength overpowering his easily as I eased the door open and slipped through, locking it behind me.

"Listen, you useless fuck. I just witnessed one of your students try to throw herself off of a bridge because you allowed her to get bullied to the point of hating herself. You gave her main bully even more fodder by handing over that letter, and letting her read it in front of the entire school. You, sir, are an accessory to attempted suicide, and in this day and age, you can go to prison for that," I said, my powerful voice sounding more like a growl than usual. His face paled as I dropped that bomb of reality on him.

He squared his shoulders and straightened up, stupidly thinking he could take the power back from us. "How dare you come into my school and think you can intimidate me," he thundered, his face turning a deep red as spittle flew from his mouth. I let out a low laugh, the sinister smile on my face making him even more uneasy.

"You need to start being the headmaster this school needs. That girl deserved none of this, yet you had a hand in her misery. So now, you are going to punish Clara accordingly, you are going to allow Lennox to have a room directly next to ours so we can keep her safe, and you are going to make damn sure that some kind of anti-bullying program is started. Are we clear?" I growled, letting the bear harden my features and bare my teeth. A wet spot formed on the headmaster’s pants as he collapsed into the seat behind him.

"Very well," he said quietly, his voice shaking slightly. "I'll grab her a new key and send for Clara." He walked awkwardly to his desk and shuffled in a drawer for the right key. Once he handed it over, I nodded before leaving his office, slamming the door behind me. Ignorant fuck.

March 17

Evening

Tristan

"We need to get her warm," Aeson muttered, pacing back and forth while trying to find a solution to undressing Lennie.

"Fire?" Lachlan suggested, walking back into the room in time to hear the problem.

"It's just a bra and panties, we can handle it. Lachlan is probably the tallest, so grab a shirt," Calev said, sounding annoyed that we were letting her get cold instead of handling it. Lachlan nodded, grabbing a shirt from his drawer and tossing it to Cal.

"She's moving to the room next to ours, so a few of us need to grab her shit and move it over. Also, I ensured that bitch would get some form of punishment. I'm not letting that just fucking slide," Lachlan said, his bear causing his skin to ripple slightly.