CLIFFHANGER AG SERIES {Sunken~Part Two}

1775, The Shores Of Whales

Andro snapped her fingers and as soon as I closed my eyes to blink, the feast was on the table.  Really, our establishment took little effort.

I wrinkled my nose, “I detest the smell of the human’s liquor,”

“Yes, well,  you’ll have to deal with it if you want us to get the job done,”  Andro snapped.  my younger sister always seemed to be the most rational. All she cared about was our goal.

She looked distastefully at the food and sighed, do you ever wonder what where we would be if…”  she bit her lip before finishing her sentence.  I knew what she was trying to ask.  But she was always too scared to offend anyone.  Even me.

I smoothed the creased fabric of my dress and my eyes flitted back and forth, never quite meeting hers, “No.  I’ve learned to live with the life I had to choose, and you should to.  Because if we had not chosen this, you know very well that we may no have a life.”

“Shh!”  she beckoned me to hush, and I held back an unladylike attitude, only saying, “Pardon?”

“They’re arriving,” she said through gritted teeth that turned swiftly to a wide smile as they came through the doorways.

“You two are a sight for sore eyes!”  the sailors smelled disgusting, but we both blushed, though we knew there was nothing to blush over.

Dismissing the man’s improper commentary, Andro pulled the chairs out, “Take a seat, gentlemen!”  Though we both knew the men we dealt with were no gentlemen, “Welcome to the Quackenbush Tavern,”  The two slipped eleven coins into the small pouch she held out.

They took their seats, and dug in ravenously to the food set out.  Andro would need to set out more in a few minutes.

She smiled and bid a warm welcome as more and more men poured in. Like the coward I always was, I stood in the corner offering nothing but a grim look on my face.  My occupation was not pleasant, but our kind could not resist our urges.

 

She pulled me out into the center of the tavern, tugging the sleeve of my dress and whispering into my ear, “You can’t resist, you know that,”

I pulled free of her grasp, picking up my flute case, and rushing back to where all eyes fell on me.

“And now gentlemen, my sister, Wilfreda, will perform.”  She clapped, and the men joined in, but they were far too busy consuming ham and breaded baguettes.  We both knew that this would be their last bites.   It was good, I suppose, that they savored them.

 

I took a breath, and despite the grunts and growls of the men, I channeled my air through the delicate instrument.  The sounds from their mouths stopped, and they gasped.  That would be their final struggle for air.

Sounds of love and loss came.  I held back the tears that glazed my eyes, and closed them instead.  The melody of the flute only ever reminded me of the one thing I would rather not be reminded about.  The namesake of our kind come from the piercing voices we have.  I am reminded how my own mother cast me out of our home in the sea only because my voice was not fit for our line of work.  I always wondered my Andro came with me.  She told me I would be fine, that we could satisfy the monsters inside of us in other ways.   The song from my flute reminded me of how Andro sang, and how she no longer does.  The song from  my flute told the story, but none of the men were alive to hear it.  The musical talents of the sirens were too much for any of them.  No man can resist.  I opened my eyes, and breathed in.  The deed was done.

Glasses of beer were rolling all over the floor, and  the men had dropped.

Before I noticed him, Andro gasped and three out her voice.  It was like all the harshness and beauties of nature in one sound.  But I could tell that her shocking voice was wavering.. I could tell that her song was one that she had locked within her for many years, and she was not prepared to let it out at the time.  She stopped, sobbing, knees buckling, and tears streaming down her face.  I had not heard her song since we were young sirens among the waves of the ocean.  Where we belonged.

Before I noticed him, Andro gasped and three out her voice.  It was like all the harshness and beauties of nature in one sound.  But I could tell that her shocking voice was wavering.. I could tell that her song was one that she had locked within her for many years, and she was not prepared to let it out at the time.  She stopped, sobbing, knees buckling, and tears streaming down her face.  I had not heard her song since we were young sirens among the waves of the ocean.  Where we belonged.

He flipped his chair.  He was handsome, I realized.  Looking back at it, he was quite attractive with his caramel hair and green eyes.  But I was not paying any attention as it was happening.  I cowered, breath shaking.

“No!”  I shouted for the world to hear.  Because not one man had ever been immune to the siren’s song.  Not one.

“I will have you killed…. you… you monsters!”

He drew his knife.   “We are no monsters, my dear,”  she was still backing away from him, but her voice was still singing the words she spoke.  Her voice was still quivering.  I dropped my flute and it clattered the the floor.  He kept approching us, and Andro turned to her last hope as we were pressed against the walls.  She bared her long, sharp teeth.  Teeth that had not feasted in anything in the longest time.  She unsheathed the claws she hid underneath her tamed and painted fingernails, and from her long brunette locks of hair, she sprouted the horns she had kept below the hair.

She was no longer a picture of beauty.  She was a picture of danger.  She growled, and approached the man.  Yet he was still undaunted.  Andro tried once more.  She sang to him, but all the man did was take his dagger on her.  She fell to the floor, and he turned to me.

The end… for now

Yes, for now.  Hello again, reader.  It is your anonymous narrator here.

This was the second installment of our new series, Cliff Hanger.  Quite a dark and mysterious one, wasn’t it?  We hope it did not satisfy you with that cliffhanger.

Here is how the series works:

• Every part we post is a whole new and different story
• each part is like a pilot of different series
• after we post all the parts, you will be able to vote on which one you want to see the ending to
• the winning story will be put into it’s own season one
• But the rest… will be a mystery forever

Stay tuned for the next part, coming soon.

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