The Siren

"How was practice today?" asks Jasper while passing the bowl full of pasta to Maddox. Both brothers shrug. Emrick is still throwing daggers at me over the salad I'm eating. I sigh, placing the bottle of water directly in front of me and interrupting his direct line of vision. Maddox pushes the bottle away and pours himself a little of water in his glass, even if it was already full. I roll my eyes at their antics and focus on eating my salad. Every single bite cost me a small fortune of time. My stomach hasn't been used regularly in months. Eating feels like a novelty to me, like trying a new sport. I have to swallow a dozen of times to keep my food down.

"Our first game is this Friday," announces Maddox and Cora claps, very happy at the prospect of attending one of their games. I just keep staring at my salad. Back in Canada everybody followed hockey instead of football. I have no idea what football entails, neither its rules or the regulations. I couldn't care less. Sports was, is and will always be meaningless to me and a complete waste of time for the entire world. Can you imagine how many vaccines and effetive medical treatments could be created if we just give all the time, money and attention that sports have, back to medicine? I'm suddenly not hungry anymore and I push my plate away.

Its October, school had just started here in America. Or so I believe. I look to the windows of the living room and try to remember what I would be doing back in Canada during this time. Probably not much. Read, go to the nearest coffee shops with some of my friends, stay at home over the weekends and take care of my mom while my father worked...I flinch, thinking how that scenario would never repeat itself. I have no friends left. I've lost them all to my mom's sickness. Not that I care either way. Friends are supposed to be there for you when you need them the most and I didn't have anyone. Not one single friend during my hardest times. I pinch the bridge of my nose, fighting an upcoming headache.

"...what do you think, Vi?" I look up, staring at Cora who just asked me a question. I look around and find the boys smirking at me. They could tell I hadn't been paying attention to whatever they had been discussing. Busted. I play with my food, nodding and Vi smiles proudly at me, "Excellent, we would go tomorrow then."

Go? Go, where? I have plans for tomorrow. They can't be postponed. It's all about me, my new bed and the shades of the windows pulled down. I lick my lips and suddenly I feel Maddox's heavy stare on my face. I look at him and find him staring at my lips. The look lingers, he doesn't blink. He is owning it, letting me know he had been staring at me. I take a sip of my water and return my attention to Cora, ignoring the warmth crawling up my cheeks.

"At what time, we would be going...to that place?" I ask, cringing a little bit at my own lack of creativeness. I'm sure that by this point even Ivy can tell I hadn't been paying attention to the conversation. Cora is oblivious though, she chews, takes a drink of her water and smiles at me.

"Well school regularly starts at eight. The boys leave early for morning practice, but I could take you to sign the applications and then bring you back," Cora frowns as if she just remembered something, "I completely forgot. Tomorrow are the SBAC tests and I need to be at my work earlier."

I couldn't help the smirk that climbs to my mouth. Point to the bed, zero to reality. I catch Maddox's frown then and I knew, I just knew he was going to ruin my plans for tomorrow. He runs a hand over his head, resting his back on the chair and focusing all his attention on me. I could see the challenge in his eyes. It was fire, a spark in his pupils to my smoky ice. I crossed my arms readying myself to fight back whatever he was about to say. I wasn't going tomorrow to their school to sign my application. Hell no. I still wasn't ready to mingle with the living. And then all the sudden the Walsh brothers threw their first curve ball at me. Emrick clears his throat and finishes chewing before looking back at Maddox, who was still looking at me challenging.

"Coach didn't ask you to come later to practice tomorrow?" asks Emrick innocently, but I assure you, Emrick Walsh is anything but innocent right then. Maddox lifts an eyebrow as in thought. It is all for show, I could tell Maddox and Emrick have done this a million times. They were manipulating all the variables like master puppeteers. I just couldn't see what their end game was. Jasper looks over at Maddox with a worried frown. He cares for his son, it's all written in his face.

"Why is that?" he asks and Maddox shrugs.

"I'm the quarterback, the coach doesn't want me over exercising before Friday's night," he says distantly, almost as if he couldn't care about this discussion. But he does. Maddox knew I didn't want to go to school. He knew I was still not ready. It was still too soon. And he also knew this was their triumph card. Making me do exactly what I didn't want to do was his end game all along. Oh, they are good. The Academy needs to watch out for these boys. Maddox shrugs one shoulder, taking another sip from his water, "I was planning on going early to practice either way."

"You shouldn't. Straining your muscles before a game can be risky. This works perfectly fine for all of us, you can take Violet with you to school tomorrow," says Jasper, nodding as if the subject is closed. Maddox's eyes zoom in my direction with a triumphant brightness in them. This was their payback to me for getting closer to Ivy. Emrick smirks and I swear those two bump fists under the table. All along I just stared at them silently, measuring their game, calculating. Maddox arches an eyebrow at me as if he is asking me a question. Do you really think you can take me down? Oh I do. He just doesn't know it yet. I put another layer of ice around my heart and nod, accepting his help to take me to school tomorrow. I even go further and thank him in a small voice. What else could I do? The Walsh brothers had put me on the spot, making a big deal of doing this favor for me because Jasper asked Maddox to take me to school. Of course they made it look like Jasper's idea, not theirs. I would look like the spoiled brat Maddox thinks I am if I fight back and demand to stay at home.

It was then when I remembered an important lesson my father taught me once. I was ten and I'd been crying for hours because Rosie Martin had stolen my part as Cinderella in the school play. My father came to my bedroom still dressed in his white, doctor coat and wearing his black, rimmed glasses. He was a very tall man, lean, who favored the skinny side. He sat with me on my bed and took me in his arms, before asking what was wrong. I told him I hated fucking Rosie Martin for being Cinderella and he nodded, understanding. Then he took me to his personal library, took a tiny book from one of the bookshelves and gave it to me. It was Sun Tzu's Art of War. My father placed me on his lap and opened the book. He looked for a specific quote and explained it to me. I nodded after understanding what Sun Tzu was talking about. I thanked my father and went to the bathroom to wash my face. Next day I went to school as a changed woman. I observed Rosie, I studied the enemy and then I smiled, knowing exactly what I needed to do to win her part on the play. Turn out that Rosie Martin was failing in Math. The girl couldn't remember her time tables even if her life depended on it. During our next surprise quiz she tried copying my answers, but I kept changing the results so much that she gave up and answered whatever numbers she came up with. By the end of the week Rosie Martin's father put her out of the play so she could receive tutoring classes after school and I was given her part on the play.

Do you know what my father taught me? He read me a Sun Tzu quote and explained me with his words why fighting and hating a person was useless. "The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting." And thank you Sun Tzu for that too, because I'd always been an extremely cold bitch that liked to win all my battles without putting a fight. Fighting is tiering, don't you think? But strategizing is fun. Extremely fun when a girl needs to put a man back in place.

Subtly, to not appear extremely conceited I look back to my aunt and clear my throat. Cora looks up and smiles fondly at me. The boy's eyes were following my every move, I could feel them, trying to uncover what my next move could possibly be. And is then when I deliver my killing strike.

"Did you hear sounds coming from the garage last night?" I ask innocently, but through the corner of my eye I see the moment when Maddox tenses. Emrick and him share a knowing look. You know what kind of look, the look that says I've got them by their literal balls. Cora frowns and looks back at the boys.

"Maddox, did you remember to close the garage door?" asks Cora and Maddox's clenches his jaw. I'm holding to my chair for dear life, ladies and gentlemen. I'm using all my willpower to not smile right now. My heart, that useless thing inside of my chest is now beating, its rhythm accelerating, basking in the adrenaline that I'm experimenting. I lift an eyebrow at Maddox as if to ask him, do you think you got what you need to fight back? Maddox smiles at my aunt and shrugs.

"I swear I closed the door. What kind of sound did you hear Violet?"

"Probably some animal growling in the dark," I said with a shrug, playing it cool, but inside I'm laughing at him and Maddox knows it. There would be consequences to pay for my little stun, but right then I don't care. I get up, holding my plate even if I've hardly eaten a whole bite and make it to the sink to clean after me. I excuse myself shortly after that and make it upstairs, to my bedroom, where to my surprise I laugh under my breath.

I take a shower for a couple of minutes and when I walk out of my bathroom I find two hot guys inside my bedroom. I gasp and tighten my hold around the tiny towel that covers whatever is left of my modesty. Emrick is checking out my closet and is currently sampling my bra's collection, inspecting my underwear as if he was a great connoisseur of the subject. Meanwhile Maddox is stretched on top of my bed, reading the book I've left open on Cora's kindle. He is so big that his feet are hanging from the end of the bed. For some inexplicable reason my bedroom has shrunk in the space of a couple of minutes. Or maybe it's the fact two huge, hot guys are in it. Taking possession of my things, invading my territory. If this is how intimidation works then I consider myself intimidated. I knew there would be hell to pay for playing with them at dinner, but this is just plainly ridiculous.

The moment I'm out of the steamy bathroom both brothers look pointedly at me. Emrick whistles in appreciation, making me roll my eyes at him. I cross my arms and look back at the master mind in this duo. Maddox's eyes are focused on the curves of my breasts and slowly descends, blatantly checking me out. I feel my cheeks blushing under his perusal. Can you hear it too? Drip, drip, drip. What is it about Maddox that makes my heart beat so hard? It's only him in case you are wondering. Emrick is hot too, his face is more childish than Maddox's, giving him an air of debauchery. I can tell these two are equally popular amongst girls. But Maddox is the one that affects me. Emrick just manages to irritate me.

It's then that I remember another quote of the amazing Sun Tzu. "Appear weak when you are strong, and strong when you are weak." I look as vulnerable in that moment as I could possibly be. I'm half naked, they are invading my personal space. Hell, Emrick's hands are all over my new bralettes. I'm pretty sure Maddox did this on purpose to throw me out of my game, but he had another thing coming if he thought this could disbalance me. The good thing about killing my heart and dedicating myself explicitly to breathing and blinking over the past couple of weeks is that I can keep a good poker face if I need to. That's how I've tricked everyone into thinking I'm fine when I'm really not. I straighten my back and push my arms to my side, facing him. Maddox's eyes move up to my face. Without skipping a beat I smirk at him and walk over to Emrick, who's now checking me out.

"Damn girl, you have legs for days. Want to wrap them around my hips?" says Emrick, making me blush, but I don't break my stride, I don't let them win. I will look strong when I'm low. Exactly how my father taught me. I stop in front of him and take my bralette from his hands, before rolling the underwear slowly in my hand and for Emrick's utter surprise I push the folded bralette inside the elastic of his black boxers. Emrick opened his mouth in shock, his eyelids hooded. I smile saccharinely at him.

"That's how close I will ever get to your dick, asshole. I'm not interested in whatever you have to offer, I don't give a fuck if you are popular and all the girls are dying to get in your pants. I'm-not-interested. Is that clear?" I ask him, making a point to look at his eyes and not the boner that he is sporting under the hand I've kept on the rim of his boxer, "Is-that-clear?"

"Crystal," he says nodding. Emrick swallows, his shoulders tensing and I know my point hit home. I keep looking at him for good measure, before picking my pajamas and walking back to the bathroom without sparing them a second glance. I change into my pajamas, wash my teeth, brush my hair and suddenly I run out of things to do. I sigh and open the door. Sure enough Maddox is still laying on my bed but Emrick is gone. I walk to my bed and stop, facing him. Maddox passes a page on the kindle and blows a raspberry at it.

"This is porn made into a book," he states, referencing to the book I'd been reading. I shrug. There's no point telling him Cora bought that book either way, he already thinks the worse of me. Maddox keeps reading, not looking at me, "Did you enjoy touching my brother's dick?"

"About as much as I enjoy taking a punch to my throat," I say. Then I sigh, suddenly very tired. I need to go to bed early if I'm planning on waking up early. I'm not one of those stupid early birds that like waking up early. I hate mornings, especially if they are sunny and perfect. I wave my hand to the door and look down at him with a frown. Maddox ignores me, passing another page of the book. Fine, he wants to talk so I will give him exactly what he wants, "I'm not playing with Ivy's feelings. I know you don't trust me. I know you don't like to have me at your house, close to your little sister, intruding your privacy. Believe me, if I'd a choice in the matter I wouldn't be here in the first place."

Maddox throws the kindle to a side and stands. He towers over me and stares at me with all that anger that pulsates in his eyes. I swear when he looks at me like that, he looks more and more like an angry god. Slowly, as if we were under water and every movement is in slow motion he fixes the straps of my camisole. I tense at his touch. I'm not wearing any bra and my pajamas is light pink. He can see my hard nipples under my camisole. He can see my pebbled skin and the blush in my cheeks. We become statues facing each other. The only difference is that I'm ice and he is fire. The place in my shoulder that he is touching becomes warmer, alive. Waves of heat expand in circles around his hand until it descends all the way to my sex. Once again I feel weird between my legs. I look up and study him under my eyelashes. Maddox is clenching his jaw, studying me with disgust.

"I know exactly who you are. What you are." he whispers, caressing my shoulder with a hand as if he owns the skin underneath. Maybe he does. Maddox is condensing my blood and I don't like that he has that power over me. If I close my eyes I will hear the drip, drip, drip of my heart defrosting. How many of his caresses would take for him to breath fire into my heart? For all I know I'm one caress away from being alive. The thought scares me and I move away, staring at his angry eyes.

"What am I?"

"You are a siren, Violet," he pronounces my name slowly. He owns my name, it sounds alive in his mouth, as if my name had found a home in his lips and had claimed those lips as it's land. I tense at his words and look down, to my feet. My feet that are pointing straight at Maddox. Why they keep facing him? Maddox takes a step and grips the back of my neck, forcing me to look up into his stormy eyes. They are even more greyish tonight, as if the emotion battling in his face has changed the color of his eyes, "You are toxic and dangerous, and I would be damned if I let you destroy this family."

"I mean no harm..."

"Bullshit," he spits angrily, "You enchant people, don't you? You think you have them all wrapped around your little finger, but I can see right through it all. I will not let you win them. They will see you for what you are."

"And what the fuck is that?" I ask him angrily and Maddox tightens his hold on the back of my neck. We are just one kiss away. His eyes darken a bit when he realizes the same thing. This close I can smell him. Maddox smells like the sun. He is warm and bright, exactly like a star. This close he can smell me too. His nostrils flare, as if he is the one absorbing me.

"An impostor. A choker. You will leech on this family's happiness until you are done with us, until there's nothing for you to gain and then you will escape and do it all over again to some other poor bastards," he says in my ear and I tremble a bit. There's a foundation to his words. A platform. Those words in his mouth...they were born long time ago, birthed into this world through Maddox's pain. I can feel the darkness in his words. It calls for my own darkness. I don't know what is happening anymore. We were playing before, but now we are hunting each other down. We are punishing each other. I'm breathing through my mouth the same air he is breathing. The sound of our breathing echoes in the room. I look into his eyes, but he is looking down, to my lips. There's a war waging in his face. I wonder what he is going to do next. Is he going to punish me now or later? I'm all for instant gratification, but I also know he hates my guts. What is he going to do with me?

With disgust Maddox pushes me away. I back off a couple of steps on shaky legs and look at him until Maddox stops by the door. His shoulders are tense and his jaw clenched.

"If you want to live here you live under my rules. You will stop Ivy if she starts getting attached to you. You will respect Emrick and if I ever see your hand remotely close to his dick again I'm kicking you out of this house. And you will be gone soon after graduation, so Ivy doesn't miss you too much," I frown, ready to fight back all of his stipulations but Maddox doesn't wait too long before opening the door and walking out of my room. I wait until I hear his footsteps marching down the hall to throw myself on my bed.

Part of me, the part that already told you all about my Windsworth' s curse, knows that Maddox is right. What did he call me? A siren. And what sirens liked to do? Kill men, drown them to the bottom of the sea and eat them. He is right. I'm a choker. Or at least I know I can be one. Just that this time I don't want to love a person so hard that it kills them. I killed my heart to not love like that. I killed my heart to not become my parents. I close my eyes, trying to push away his words and what remains is the memory of him. The smell of Maddox's strong vitality. The force of his hand in the back of my neck. I wonder if he would fuck me like he fucked that girl? Hard, fast, from behind. I wonder how his cock will feel inside my pussy? Now I'm hot, I'm burning hot. My heart is still frozen, but my body is having a fever.

I roll on my belly and open my legs like a bitch in heat. You are the only one that knows this, but I've never masturbated before. I don't know what to do with my hands. I hump the pillow between my legs while I touch my breasts. My nipples are still hard. Maddox turned them that way and left me like that, not knowing what to do with them. Clumsily I push one of my hands inside my panties and moan into my pillow when I feel how wet I' am. Fuck I want him. I hate him, but I need his cock inside of me, hating me as hard as he can. I fuck my fingers slowly, trying to find a rhythm with my hips until I finally feel the slow burn of my nub against my middle finger. I rub it hard, then slow, hard and slow, until all I can see are Maddox' strong hands gripping the hips of that girl I saw him fucking. I focus in the memory of his hands while I rub and rub. Maddox's hands gripping my hips. Maddox's hands pumping my breasts. Maddox...Maddox...

Maybe you don't want to know this, but that night I had my first orgasm thinking about him. The boy who called me an impostor, a choker and a siren. I fell asleep right after coming, as if all the pleasure had left me senseless and defeated. I should have felt dirty, crazy, ruined, but I didn't. I've enjoyed coming at the memory of Maddox. My lust was born that night and grew up in a space of seconds until it become another part of me. I just didn't know my lust had been born for him and for him only. For Maddox. The angry god.