Chapter 14

We are all seated in the cinema, waiting for the trailers to be over so that the movie can start.

Justin is at the very end of the row, to my left. Next to him is his brother Austin, followed by Antares, who is sat next to me. On my right is, Lilah followed by Bella and beside her is Alexander.

The room is filled with hush chatter and laughter, with the occasional crying of someone's child. I cringe at another high pitched squeal from the little girl two rows in front of me. For the seventh time since we got here.

God give me strength and endurance.

"I've never thought of throwing a child, as much as I am right now," Justin murmurs through clenched teeth. And since we have supernatural hearing, it is so much more annoying. "For once, I might agree with you on something," Antares cracks her knuckles aggressively, snarling under her breath, glaring several holes through the girl's head. "Well just remember that, the judge will not accept 'making loud and annoying noises' as a good enough reason to delete someone's child. Not to mention she looks less than the age of eight," Austin states in a 'matter of fact' tone.

On the other side of me Lilah and Bella are having their own conversation.

"I haven't fed in a while, so if you start feeling hazy please stop me," Bella warns looking at the veins in Lilah’s wrist hungrily, fangs slowly getting longer as her eyes brighten. She lifts her wrist towards her lips, running her pierced tongue over her fangs before sinking them into Lilah's flesh. Delilah winces, gripping onto my hand to help distract herself from the pain. I can literally feel my bones slowly shifting.

Is she aware that I am not immune to pain or did she just forget?

Bella pulls away briefly to say, "Eat something. That will make it better for both of us.” Lilah nods and releases my wrist to eat her nachos. Thank you God. I pull my wrist to my chest popping the bones back in place. As soon as she does, Bella bites back into her healed skin. She moans in delight, a little blood dripping from the corner of her mouth and down her chin but it doesn't seem to bother her.

"Austin, can I have some of your popcorn?" Antares inquires, staring into the bucket. "Only if you share one of your chocolates," he responds, attempting to compromise with her. "That's not a fair trade and aren't you supposed to get me to not hate you?" She raises a brow at him.

Is there anything they won't argue about?

Austin stares at her, his mouth slightly agape. "Why you manipulative little-" His more than likely insulting sentence was cut off by me clearing my throat. He sighs in defeat, handing her the popcorn bucket. She smiles victoriously. "Thanks, Halo," She says, taking a handful and stuffing her face.

"Excuse me?" Austin's brows furrowed obviously taken off guard.

"Halo. Since you're an angel and stuff. Justin would be Horns, since he's, you know a daemon," She explains with her mouth full of food. The twin look at each other asking, "Should we be offended?" "No, you should be happy. Plus, your real names can't make good nicknames unless I put them together to make A.J" She explains. "Fair point. If we're doing the whole nickname thing, then I'll call you... Gem." He snaps his fingers. "No, you won't and why Gem of all names?" She scrunches her nose.

She can pretend all she wants, I know she doesn't mind.

"Your eyes. They look like emerald gems." Justin points to her eyes. She slowly blinks at him, her mouth slightly agape. "No. Don't call me that." "Well since you don't like it and technically it is not supposed to be offensive, this is the closest thing we can get to annoying you, without being sent glares by Nate. I think we will keep it," Justin says, giving her a thumbs up, to which she rolls her eyes.

I turn my head to see Bella licking blood from Lilah's wrist, just before it heals. "You're finally done now?" Lilah pants, as if she was running a marathon, in the desert, for days. "Thank you." Bella wipes her chin with her thumb before licking it. "Surprisingly, you taste amazing. I will never complain about what or how much you eat again, you taste fantastic." Bella... compliments? "Don't say that! You sound like a perv." Lilah looks away blushing at Bella's unfiltered statement.

"Aww. Now that you two are done bonding can you shut up so that we can watch the movie?" My voice holds disingenuous sweetness and I smile sarcastically. "Nate, that wasn't very nice," Alex says looking across the two girls. "What? Someone had to say it." I shrug my shoulders. "No. Be nice," he scolds me, trying to look stern but only end up looking cute. "Fine. How can I say no to puppy dog eyes," I smile as he looks at me with forced irritation but the blush raising to his cheeks betrays his tough guy facade.

Soft laughter burst out of me before I return my gaze to the big screen. Poor guy looks like he's about to pop a blood vessel. I snicker under my breath. "Stop laughing at me!" Alex whisper yells, throwing food at me… very gently. I clear my throat. "Ok, ok, I'm done, for real this time." All of the will in my body right now is used to force down the cackle that badly wants out of my throat. He pouts, looking away. I shake my head, looking back to the screen before taking a sip of Coca Cola.

After a while of watching and laughing, I needed to go to the bathroom, which is what happens when you finish your drink in the first quarter of a film.

"I'm going to the bathroom. Fill me in when I get back," I whisper to Lilah. She briefly glances at me, whispering, "Ok. Don't be too long or we will assume the worst and come looking for you.” "Yes, mom." I roll my eyes, walking out of the cinema room.

I follow the sign for the men's bathroom and go inside.

The bathroom very clean and is scented with lavender air freshener and soap. The entire room painted white. I choose to use the stall instead of the urinal. Never using them again. One traumatic experience is enough. He took it as an invitation when I unzipped my pants and got on his knees, reeking of alcohol. I was so scared, I held it until I got home.

Once I finished, I wash my hands before drying them. My eyes glaze over my features, stopping at my hair. Brown curly strands scatter around my head. Why didn't anyone tell me that my hair was out of place? I use my fingers to fix strands to where they should be before combing through it. Now it's right and perfect.

As I walk out, my eyes lock onto a man who is slowly walking towards the exit. That wasn't what caught my attention. His eyes are glazed over and shining a bright sapphire blue. Everything about him is giving me a bad vibe. He drags his feet as he walks with his entire body sagging. My eyebrows furrow and I make the decision- probably a bad one- to follow behind him out of curiosity.

Following closely behind, I end up on the sidewalk .

The streets are busy with speeding cars and running pedestrians. The loud clamouring of people fuses with the sound of vehicles honking and several other noises of a busy street.

Now I know that he's not in his right mind because he is literally stepping into the street, right in front of a moving bus. My gaze shifts, spotting a girl with the same glowing sapphire eyes, standing across the street. The difference is that her's are not glazed over, they're clear and seems to have lightning flashes in them.

She has wavy dirty blonde hair with platinum highlights, that stops a few inches above her hips. Peach pink small yet perfect lips, covered with shiny gloss. Fair cream complexion without a single flaw or imperfection.

Diamond earrings with a matching necklace and bracelet. Her skin is covered by a white, shimmery dress that stops above her knees. A silk, cream jacket that ends at her waist. On her feet are platform round toe, thin heel shoes with red bottoms with a thin strap above her ankles.

Off point but was she drawn or something? She could give vampires a run for their money.

How I see it is, it looks like she's controlling the man and forcing him to step into moving traffic. My hand reaches out as I run towards the man and pull him back before the bus runs him over. His body rapidly hits the ground and his body jolts like he has been struck by lightning.

That seems to have to snapped him out of it because his eyes stopped glowing and fades from hazy blue to empty grey. "What the hell is wrong with you?" He yells, picking himself off the floor, glaring at me. Ungrateful prick. "You're welcome." I roll my eyes at the glaring man before crossing the street.

As I am walking towards her, the girl glares at me with steam coming out of her ears but as I come closer her anger diffuses into irritation. Her eyes stopped glowing, turning into a clear blue with streams of white. "Why did you save him. Don't you know how to mind your own damn business?" The blood thirsty blonde asks, folding her arms over her chest. "You were pulling him in from of a bus. Why the hell did you do that?" My voice lowers so that by passers can't hear what is being spoken about.

Her eyes scan me up and down, narrowing at my eyes. She opens her mouth but then immediately closes it, contemplating whether or not she will answer my question. However I have the upper hand, she can't lie to me. The answer she gives is short and does not justify the reason for trying to kill someone.

"He deserves it." She says, shrugging her shoulders without remorse. My eyebrow shoot up as my eyes widen. "What could he have possibly done to deserve being killed?!" I whisper yell, my eyes darting around for eavesdroppers.

"Nosy much?" She raises a shaded eyebrow at me. "Yes, very. Now answer the question." A quiet sigh passes through her lips. "Not that it's any of your business strange boy, but that man has been hurting his wife for months and she is too scared to go to the police for help because she 'loves him so much', so I was helping her by getting rid of her problem. The poor woman is so sweet, she brings cookies to me all the time when I'm in her area. She doesn't deserve what she's getting." A saddened expression takes over her features as she explains.

I get it. She feels a responsibility to try and help to poor woman. "Killing isn't the answer. In my opinion, that's too easy and the woman would be devastated. Think bigger than that. Revenge doesn't always need to involve murder." She hums thoughtfully, looking up for a few seconds.

"Who even are you?"

"My name is Nathaniel and you are?"

I extend my hand to her. She looks down at it and back to my face skeptically. "I'm Siren." Our hands shake firmly. My hand engulfs hers, which are as smooth as a babies bottom. I have never meet someone with such soft hands. It's like she has never done any hard work in her life or touched anything fr that matter. "And what are you, Siren?" My hands pushes into my pockets as a gust of wind sends a chill through me. Her hair dances elegantly as the breeze passes by and waves at it as it goes.

"I am a Shapeshifter." She notices my confused expression and rolls her eyes before explaining. "That means I can shift into anyone or anything. I possess the ability manipulation the mind of a person. Much like a vampire but eye contact is not needed. All I need to know is my target and from there I can make them do as I wish. As you might have figured out, pain or harsh contact will break my control but it might only be temporary bases on how deep I am in their head."

Well that is totally not terrifying at all.

"Is this your true form?" I look her up and down once. Siren looks at me suspicious before nodding. It's as if I was asking for top secret information, with the way she looked at me. "What are you, besides nosy?" For a brief second I was taken aback. Rude. True but rude none the less. I shrug my shoulders. "I don't have the slightest idea." My eyes gaze into hers, reading her personality. Protective, manipulative and dangerous. "Wow. That's quite the personality you have there." I comment, not really being sarcastic but not genuine either.

She squints her eyes at me. "And you are quite judgmental aren't you, Nosy Nathaniel?". I snort at the name. "You have no idea, Sinister Siren." She makes a noise of offence. Before she could reply, I hear my name being yelled.

"NATE!" They call out for me, looking around the area.

"I'M OVER HERE!" I yell, waving my hand to them. They all look over at me, relief on all their faces. They cross the street to my side and while everyone seems calm, Lilah is fuming. When she gets closer she smacks me behind the head. I wince, rubbing the spot tenderly. "You almost gave me a heart attack. You can't just go wondering off all on your own without telling anyone!" She screams at me. "My goodness, you have some pipes on you." I cover my ears, feeling them ringing because of her high frequency screaming. She looks at me with disbelief, her left eye twitching.

She raises her hand to smack me again but Alex holds it where it is and shakes his head at her. She growls, looking at me before scoffing and rolling her eyes.

"You really worried us, Nate. We searched the entire building for you," Alex says, with a soft voice. "Look, I'm right here and I'm fine. Plus, I can handle myself." I smile, ruffling his hair. He ducks away from my hand. "Bro, watch the fluff man!" He complains, fixing his hair back. "That still doesn't mean you can run off without telling- who is she?" Bella asks looking at Siren.

"This is Siren," I introduce, gesturing towards her.

"Greetings." She waves her palm in a circular motion.