Fear the Siren

Fear the Siren 

By Kendra Dantes

    There was something so pleasant about a human’s scream. 

    The way their bodies reacted with an instinct so deep that they lost control. The way their eyes widened at the sight of the siren with claws for nails. The siren with teeth like needles who was more beautiful than the devil. That dark power that was so incredibly irresistible that people died at the sight of her.

    Ivy frowned. It was so utterly inconvenient when the humans died before they could scream. The terror that wafted off of them in waves was as delectable as the blood in their veins. So sweet and yet—

    It was getting rather old. Being alive for two hundred years was great and all but Ivy wanted a challenge. An opponent, someone worthy of her. 

    She licked the blood of her latest victim off of her sharp claws, making a smacking sound with her lips as she did so. Grinning, the blood dripped from her lips into the water she relaxed upon, lazy and delighted. 

    Perhaps it wasn’t necessary, though. It was awfully nice being the alpha of the sea. Queen. God. No one dared set a hand on her. She was feared by all creatures of the deep.

    Ivy sighed in annoyance as she realized she’d drained the body of the man she’d killed of his blood, so that he was no more than an empty husk. She dropped him and dragged herself below the surface, taking her time as her powerful, lethal fins propelled her through the water, sharper than a knife. It was the season for hunting and Ivy bathed in the glory of every second of it. 

    The currents gently guided Ivy through the water and she kept her eyes ahead as her arms naturally came in front of her, silver scales covering them that reflected the light in a myriad of color. Ivy’s thick, black hair trailed behind her as she propelled herself harder, faster—until she was lightning, carving through the water like a scythe. Her eyes were black as her hair, no room for regret or love. Ivy smiled faintly. She was power incarnate. 

    She swam until she reached the border of a small island she could not be bothered to remember the name of. Rumors had quickly spread of its inhabitants who believed in the sirens and their deadly ways. Ivy scoffed inwardly. They had no idea. 

    Ivy wondered how they knew of her kind. Someone must’ve been sloppy enough to be seen while feeding. And then the stories were created and—

    It was such a mess. Humans were never to know of the silent existence of the sirens. They were to be kept secret—something that gave them power and the upper hand. Not that Ivy needed any sort of leverage. She was a beast, and a heartless one at that. 

    Ivy approached the sandy beach and began to sing, her voice alluring and beautifully grotesque. There were no words to her song—just a haunting melody that was impossible to resist. Men crawled to her, and died the moment they looked into her eyes. 

    It made Ivy positively giddy. She loved the adrenaline that pulsed through her veins, and the sound of the beating human hearts. It was so very lovely when that beating stopped. 

    She heard the men before they approached, their lumbering footsteps loud enough to make the nearby birds fly away. Their eyes were rolled back in their heads as their bodies took over their willpower. They walked closer and closer, their steps a steady drum. Ivy grinned—a sadistic, wicked thing. 

    The first man couldn’t have been older than twenty and Ivy’s eyes flitted to him first. Her smile—if it could even be called that—seemed to grow wider as he involuntarily dropped headfirst in the water, right into Ivy’s awaiting arms. He looked into her eyes a second before he did so, his irises coming briefly back down out of his head, his jaw dropping like a fish’s, right before his sad little life ended. Ivy took her time feasting upon his flesh, its saccharine flavor filling her with life and strength. She laughed—a wild, unhinged sound—before discarding his body to the ocean itself and starting again. 

    Ivy must’ve gone through ten men—a beautiful variety—before she decided she’d had enough for the day. The blood surrounded her, staining the water a deep crimson—so dark it was almost black. She reached out her hand to feel it and it coated her like a second skin. It would've been wonderful if she could keep it. 

    Ivy surveyed the island a final time, the land bare and lifeless without its most recent human inhabitants. If she strained though, she could hear humans farther away, living out their pathetic, useless lives. Ivy scowled at that. 

    Except the beach wasn’t empty. There was a child less than ten yards away—a girl by the looks of it. She must’ve been no more than twelve years old, her long brown hair in braids, her skin darkened by the sun. The girl stepped toward the siren, her steps stronger than they should’ve been. 

    She approached Ivy who waited patiently, her fingers already itching with the thought of feasting upon a girl. Ivy had not tasted the blood of a female in quite a long while. 

    Ivy smiled once more, the sun glinting off of her long, metal teeth and purred, “Hello there, my child.”

    The girl came closer, which Ivy thought was very convenient, seeing as how she wasn’t even singing. Her eyes drifted to Ivy’s and—

    She held the siren’s gaze. Did not balk or back down from the unearthly creature of the sea. The female’s eyes were brown as her hair, something about them somehow older than the body they came with. 

She stopped walking a good ten feet from where Ivy waited in the water, her head cocked slightly to the side in confusion as to why the girl wasn’t dead or at least screaming in terror. It deeply unsettled Ivy, making her want the child even more. 

“What is your name?” asked Ivy, her eyes boring into the girl’s, sharper than daggers.

“My name is Maia,” replied the girl. “And I do not fear you.”

    Ivy laughed, her voice cracking with the sound of it. “I am feared by all, little one. You are human, and I have hunted far deadlier prey. You, girl, are no exception.” The child said nothing—just looked into Ivy’s eyes with such courage that Ivy blinked—the only shock she allowed to show through her carefully honed mask

The female smiled grimly and said, so quietly that Ivy had to strain to hear, “Why do you do it, siren? Why do you kill innocent people?” Ivy’s face fell a bit, but she shrugged and said, “I am feared by creatures of the land and the sea, girl. And to be frank, it brings me satisfaction.” She paused, contemplating. “I don’t have anything better to do anyway.” Ivy silently cursed herself. Why hadn’t she killed this stupid child already?

    There were silent tears running down the girl’s face. Ivy frowned. Why was she crying?

That was it. Ivy opened her mouth and began to sing her song. But the female did not move. Well, that was odd. Even females were inexplicably drawn to sirens. Especially Ivy.

Ivy hissed in frustration as the girl stayed put, the same determined look in her eyes. Well, an opponent she certainly was. Ivy grinned once more.

“Well, human,” Ivy said, licking her lips. “You’ve put up a fight.” Ivy ran her claws together, creating a scraping sound. “I will enjoy tearing you apart.”

The human just continued to stare at her, unmoving. Ivy sighed, glancing at the beach. This was going to take a while—not that she had anything better to do anyway.

Ivy looked up once more and gaped. The girl now held a bow and arrow—aimed right for Ivy.  How had she missed that? Ivy had always been an arrogant creature, and it was so utterly stupid of her not to have seen the girl's weapon. The siren snarled—the sound inhuman and horrific—when pain lanced through her chest. Pain—when had she last felt the strange sensation? It was not something she missed, and she was certainly not happy to experience it again. 

It was chronic—paralyzing, and Ivy realized with absolute horror that the barb was poisoned. Ivy thrashed until she was on the sandy beach and realized she would die here—at the hands of a child. 

    Ivy’s thrashing stilled and her eyelids began to droop as her body failed her. She briefly saw the girl kneel down next to her dying form. 

“How?” Ivy practically spat. Her chest heaved as she struggled to bring oxygen into her lungs. The female gave her an almost pitying look. “You are Fear, siren. That is why so many have perished from you. You evoke fear in the very soul of your every victim. And it consumes them until they cease to breathe. But you do not make me afraid. You are weak, a coward.” She leaned closer. “Goodbye, vicious thing,” the girl whispered in her ear. “I will make your death a quick one. I will gift you mercy that you never gave us.” And with that, the girl removed a knife from her pocket, and stabbed the siren through the neck.