This chapter describes my original take on a siren.

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One new text. Bunny why aren't you at school? Are you already trying to skip? ;)

Matt. I beam down at my phone, Julius cocking his brow at me through the review-mirror. "Girlfriend?" He laughs, something worrisome hidden behind the light chime.

"More like extremely worried friend."

"Ah," He sighs. "I always knew the Eden boy was a little...possessive."

"It's not Eden." I comment, sliding my phone open. I text back my reply to Matt's twenty-questions.

Have to go to my Shower.

What?

I get gifts and cake and it's a giant party sorta like a baby shower. Julius gets gifts too.

Oh well have fun.

"Moon we're here." I stare up at the building beside my school, it has a more natural appeal with simple bricks and concrete. In every open window there lies a cubicle. A few of the creatures wave frantically at me, their pencil skirts and ties going askew.

Julius leads me up the concrete steps into the building. I barely avoid breaking my face as he steadies me and slides a card into some new-age looking device before the double doors automatically open for us. He grabs hold of my hand before running to the left of the building and it's cubicles towards a clear glass elevator.

"Ready?" He giggles and brings our entwined hands to his lips before jumping over for a peck on the cheek.

"I think that helped the nerves." I reply shakily. It isn't even a lie. The scent of oranges is suffocating in the small glass orb that's strangely empty, dinging on the tenth floor to let us out. The office is laid out like any other with cubicles here and there, muffin carts, a few offices that would make it seem packed but the room is the polar opposite. A rather large and empty space sits in the middle cluttered with ice-cream, cake, cupcakes, gifts, and two gold and velvet thrones.

"Oh my God! Julius, he's beautiful!" A lanky woman screams drawing the attention of fifty plus people.

"Is this him?" A round man questions Julius at the speed of light.

"I can't believe you are gay. I would've never thought my boss was gay!" Another woman laughs in semi-denial. The lanky woman rushes us over to the two thrones, everyone a bit too cheery though the emotions seem genuine.

"Me first!" A woman shouts and pushes her way to the front. She grabs two gifts from the massive pile and shoves them in our arms while her pixie cut sways madly.

"Aw!" Julius claps his hand to his heart and hugs her. I shrug. Might as well open mine too. I open the box to see a stuffed lion, it's mane a fluorescent orange and it's body the same type of matte white as White Out.

"Smell it." She presses.

"Oh my god." All of my nerves are instantly released as Julius's scent wafts from the lion's body and mane, a small orange printed on it's bum like some sort of My Little Pony. "This is amazing." Burying my face back into it's artificial mane I catch a whiff of tangerine, bringing back the distinct memory of Lucy running through the halls. It smells identical to home, shelter, warmth, and love but I'd never tell anyone that-except possibly Julius.

I lean over my thrown to shove it in Julius's face and embrace the platinum blonde lady with the pixie cut. I cuddle the doll, Jewel, in my arms and draw my legs up onto the red velvet cushion. The lanky woman returns in front of us handing Julius a book and gives me a circle of wrapping paper.

Our gasps come out synchronized earning us a few giggles. My jaw drops as I unfold the wad of bills and do the mental math. A complete stranger just gave me six-hundred dollars. We both give her a hug and she pushes my jaw back up for me, planting a lipstick-y kiss on my cheek.

"This...oh my lord Suzan! You...I'm happy and embarrassed at the same time! This is turning sexual." He bites down on his lower lip, failing at his attempt to be sexy while he holds up the book to the laughing audience. I tap Suzan's shoulder.

"What is it?"

"A book."

"Of what?"

"101 Ways to Spice Up Your Sex Life." She pats my head before a husband and wife duo (I think) comes to face us.

"We didn't really know what to get you so we thought we might as well embarrass you!" The woman laughs and hands the box to him while her husband tosses up a box to me. These people are insane. I gasp at the designer cologne that must've cost hundreds or thousands while Julius turns bright red and slams the box cover.

"Don't be shy!" A co-worker screams from the middle of the crowd. Julius gives the girl a mock glare before holding the dildo in front of the not-so-innocent eyes of the erupting crowd. After more designer shoes, jackets, pants, and various other items we take a break from gifts to devour the cakes with our names in blue icing. I take a deep breath and drag Julius to the corner of the room.

"I need you to watch me." The pain in my abdomen comes back causing me to wince before continuing. "I love chocolate and I'll eat it like crazy but I'm deathly allergic to it."

"So you're asking me to make sure you don't eat any chocolate?" He rebuttals.

"Uh yes." I head over to the cakes and am about to cut a slice before a woman frowns at me.

"These cakes are for the guests darling." A smile breaks her stern features as she points to a vanilla cake with white icing. "That cake is just for you."

"The whole cake?" I ask a bit taken aback. I rush to the sugar and pick it up, heading back to my throne with a fork and Jewel until a slight scream stops me.

"It's just the school bell." A man assures me and sure enough my phone is buzzing seconds after the first kid walks out.

I picked up your homework bunny. You can come over to my place later if you want and I'll help you. You can spend the night.

I'll have to ask my Blood Master before I do anything.

You mean your maître maudit

I guess...? No need to be technical

I hit send before we continue with the gift giving and receiving, my phone occasionally buzzing here and there. The sun is almost setting by the time the celebration is over. Julius snakes his arm around my waist pulling me in while a man teleports all the gifts but Jewel to our house. "What do you have planned tonight?" I ask.

"What do you plan to do? If you have nothing to do then I'm staying home with you."

"Can I stay the night with Matt Anderson?" I tilt my head and practically beg with wide these-probably-aren't-as-cute-as-I-think eyes. Julius whips his head around to the platinum blonde. "Kristy, I'm going drinking with you all!" He turns back to me in a whisper saying, "I'm a crazy drunk so if I start to text you just ignore the messages. Have fun at Matt's." He pecks my lips lightly, swings me over his shoulder, jogging out the front steps.

•••

Matt's place is a simple two story beige house with black shingles and a shitload of windows everywhere. I walk up to the red door and knock, waiting anxiously for a reply. The wind blows Jewel's scent around me and I grin before shrugging my light jacket up. It's getting too late in the year for this thing. Matt opens the door for me leading me past the brick fireplace, it's logs slowly burning down and giving the house a rather odd cinnamon aroma.

He takes me up the steps two at a time to a rather classy wood floored hall. "Is this your room?" He rolls his eyes as we stand before a door with 'Matt's Room' hanging from a football shaped sign. The bed is pressed against the back wall to the left near a window with a mahogany desk in the opposite corner. The dark brown, almost black, bookshelf is flat against a wall, opposite of the shelves upon shelves of medals and trophies.

A few posters are hung near the TV mounted on the wall. Matt swings his backpack out of the way and leans against the frame of the red and white blanketed bed. "How was the party?" He questions, throwing me a rather odd look.

"I got a lot of gifts and cake." The abdominal pain returns and worry floods Matt's lolite eyes, contorting his features as he leans closer.

"Do you want an Advil?"

"Sure." Matt returns seconds later with two pills and a water bottle. I crush the Advils with my teeth before flushing my mouth with the liquid. He pulls his backpack from the mattress behind him.

"What subject do you want to start with?"

"Not math." He laughs as he pulls out a book and branch before tossing me my leather journal. After about ten horribly failed attempts he gets the tennis ball five inches off the ground, an improvement from his standard two. I manage to get halfway finished with my cake recipe spell before he drags out another book.

"We learned about sirens today. Basically all you need to know is that they're huge." Matt shrugs nonchalantly about to toss the book away. I snatch the textbook from his hands and start to read aloud. "Sirens are creatures that live in lakes, rivers, oceans, and occasionally creeks. The smallest siren on record is fifty feet while the largest was a lengthy one-thousand-two-hundred-seventy-three feet washing up deceased on a shore in Iceland. The average weighs two tons and is two-hundred-fifty feet long when fully grown.

"The fin is poisionous...blah blah...avoid contact with sirens especially the fin which causes excruciating pain and a torturously slow death. Sirens have the bottom of a fish top of a human standard mermaid stuff-"

"Mermaids don't exist." Matt cuts in.

"Well whatever. Sirens shape shift into people who have a significant meaning to you, mostly the deceased, such as lovers and children. To kill a siren chop off it's tail from the waist blah blah...this is just really boring stuff. Oh! When in contact of a siren disturbing memories will be resurfaced, paralyzingly the victim long enough for a siren to kill and devour them. Sirens mostly prey on vampires since their past is longer which gives the siren more time to kill the beast. Did I miss anything?"

"Nah not really." He sweeps his blonde hair over his eyes and yawns. I take In his ruffled appearance. He rolls up the sleeves of his oversized Duke crew neck sweatshirt his gray sweats covered in dark water splotches and his hair still drying from a shower. He smells like an earthy concoction of ash and rain but it could just be the demon and siren stirring in him.

"Are you staying the night?" He points at my duffle bag and Jewel before throwing the bag onto the bed. "Have you seen the episode 'Blink' from Doctor Who yet?" I rest my head on his shoulder while he sets it up, hugging him from behind and catching a whiff of his strawberry citrus shampoo.

"Can we leave a lamp on?" No need to alert him with my paralyzing fear of the dark. I mentally and physically shake the thought of father from my mind as the episode starts to play. I resume my position of snuggling my face into his shoulder, gripping Jewel in front of his stomach by wrapping my arms around him.

"Shit!" I scream into his collar bone as the first Weeping Angel shows up.

"Don't blink!" He chuckles as the door flings open to a rather large man with glasses.

"What the-" Mr. Anderson turns his attention to the TV before biting his lip to hold in a laugh. Mr. Anderson isn't as terrifyingly deformed as a troll-demon hybrid would seem. His blonde hair shows way to a few gray strands and his black rimmed glasses are slightly crooked on the bridge of his nose. His eyes are smoked topaz with flecks of siam swimming through them. He gives me a smirk before shutting off the main light and exiting the bedroom.

"Ready?" Matt chuckles as I squirm behind him. Statues should not be this freaky! I squeal again as the Angels whip the Tardis back and forth, panting heavily near Matt's ear. A slight moan seems to escape his lips but my phone buzzer covers most, if not all, of the background noise.

MOOOooOooOooN 8 vodka shots!!!!!!!!!!! I beeeeeeat them ALL!

"Who is that?" Matt turns to catch a glimpse of my phone screen.

"Just my maître maudit."

"Drunk?"

"Totally wasted." I sigh with a sympathetic grin.

Good job. Don't drive home. Be safe.

Matt peers over my shoulder before cocking his brow. "You aren't going to say 'I love you'?"

"Nah." I flinch as the Weeping Angel comes closer. He giggles.

"I'll protect you, bunny." Is it weird that that just completely turned me on? Nah. I'm still straighter than a ruler, it was just cute and childish. Not that children turn me on! I love kids but not like that! I attempt to snuggle back into my previous position but Matt's body blocks me. He spreads his legs and pulls me in between them giving me a direct view of the TV. I feel him drop his chin onto my head before the TV clicks back on.

"Matt!" I hiss, backing into him and inhaling Jewel like a madman.

"Bunny, calm down."

"I'm not a bunny!" I turn in time to avoid the next shot of the Weeping Angel.

"Yes, you are. You're my bunny now turn back to your horror episodes!" Matt buries his nose into where my neck fades out into my shoulder and collarbone giving me a playful raspberry. I obey with a playful pout, turning my body sideways as he holds me. Sigh. God dammit there I go sighing again...is this weird since we're both straight? Him holding me while I scream like a girl over Doctor Who?

My phone buzzes again as the credits roll, my eyes bugging out as I turn to Matt. "What is it?" I hold the phone up to him. "I know he said to ignore his drunk texts but I think this is for real." Matt stares at the screen before reading the words aloud in the deafening silence of the room.

I love you, Moon Hiroshi.

Note:

I know it's a short chapter! (I think so. The stupid app doesn't tell you how many pages so you have to guesstimate! I want to get to chapter 15 before I start on the new book again. SO MANY IDEAS! All the rest of my books will be 15 chapters max but i've narrowed most of them to 10-12. If I had to guess, this book will end up to be 30-40 chapters max. To be honest I have no clue why I added Matt and if you haven't caught on yet chapter 9 was sorta a "filler" chapter that's just kinda meant to take up space and has no significance to the story- it's like a Christmas special. I think I rambled enough (my rambling is longer than the chapter). Until next time! PS apparently the italics only show up on the app :/