Water and Blood

  “Stay safe,” Sam whispered in her ear as he leaned down to kiss her and give her hand one last squeeze before he turned to Mark. Whitney nodded, giving him the reassurance that she would be as he walked away.

  Whitney didn’t follow Sam and Mark as it was kind of fun just to watch everything around them. She passed through an open door and around a corner to follow the noise she heard from people. Signs pointed to the backstage and security dotted the hallways, so she wasn’t worried about getting lost. Sam had mentioned on the ride that there was a VIP section near the front of the stage that her pass would get her into, and his warning of the rain coming was enough to keep her from going out to the main audience.

  Following the signs, it wouldn’t be difficult to find the VIP section, and she made her way up the stairs. She realized that the maze she was walking around had been underground which explained why the noise was muted. As she opened the door above ground, she heard the voices increase ten-fold. A large, beefy man stood behind the door she had just opened. He looked down at her pass and nodded to her, pointing to a door on the right. Following his direction, she made her way to the VIP lounge.

  Opening the red door led to an unexpected lavishly decorated room. There were red velvet couches that a few people lounged on and a table set up on the far wall filled with a variety of foods that looked almost as artistic as edible. Whitney wasn’t hungry. Actually, since she had turned into a siren she had found her need for actual food decreased a lot. She looked over the room and didn’t glance at the people. It wasn’t like she was going to know anyone. Passing the couches, she continued toward the noise. A hallway on the right side of the room was actually a connection to seats right at the edge of the stage. Whitney smiled. She was going to get the best seats in the house to watch her boyfriend sing. Yep, her life was beyond surreal now.

  Whitney sat down and pulled out her phone. There were no messages from her aunt. She probably didn’t check if she was home. At least her cousin knew she was out, so she wouldn’t get in trouble in the small chance that Aunt Marissa came looking for her. It was only a very small chance. There were messages from both Trudy and Tina. They obviously didn’t approve of Sam taking her out of town, but wanted to know where they were going on a date. When she had texted them earlier about it being a concert, they both agreed that was a cool date to go on and were a bit jealous. She left off the part of Sam singing, as she didn’t know if she was supposed to tell them. She’d have to ask Sam after the show if they or any of the other sirens knew.

  The lights dimmed around her to tell everyone that the guys were going to take the stage soon. The audience’s excitement was almost palpable. Whitney tucked her phone away and grinned along with all the energy that was building. She had caught a little of the guys singing before, and she had heard of the group without knowing it was them, but to be there sitting and seeing it live was much more exciting.

  The stage cut to black and from her seat she could see the guys enter, even if those further away couldn’t. She didn’t need to be told which one was Sam because she just felt it. The audience screamed as the drums began their beat with Mark’s bass strumming along with it. The energy around them grew as the beat grew louder. Whitney wondered how she would hear over the crowd, but it was like someone was slowly turning up the volume. She felt the music reverberate inside her all the way down to her bones, but the part that took her breath away was when the lights turned to the stage. Sam was standing there in ripped jeans and a tight black shirt, showing off every perfect chest muscle he had. He looked absolutely flawless, and Whitney wasn’t the only one who thought that. Practically every female in the audience gave a collective sigh.

  Sam leaned forward to the mic and began to sing. Whitney leaned forward at the same time and closed her eyes. His voice was perfect. She let it flow over her and listened to the words of the song. It took until the second song in to realize all his songs were about love. Really? He was a rock star singing about love. How more cliché could he get? Whitney opened her eyes as the song changed, and Sam had stepped back to play a solo on his guitar. A guitar playing, perfectly chiseled, rock star merman boyfriend. Whitney’s life was never going to be the same. Any kind of life after Sam was going to be dull.

  Whitney’s heart ached a bit. She already knew it was true. There was going to be life without Sam at some point. He was a siren, and he had explained that they all went back to the island eventually. She wasn’t part of it. She was an outsider, and someday he would have to go back. She shook her head to try to get rid of all the sad thoughts. Sam seemed to sense her and pointed at her to get her attention as he sang. He winked and that brought a smile to her face. She was going to just live in the moment and enjoy it.

  The guys finished their set, and Whitney stood to go back downstage to meet them. The rain had luckily stayed away, and she was happy to not have to worry about that. The crew came on and began changing out the gear for the next group.

  “Leaving so fast?” someone said from beside her. Whitney hadn’t noticed all the VIP seats by the stage were filled.

  Turning to the person speaking, she stopped in her tracks. Sam’s older brother, Tim, was sitting there beside her, maybe he had even been the whole time. He looked eerily similar to Sam; it would be hard to not guess they were related, but what got Whitney was when she looked in his eyes. Sam’s always took her breath away. His eyes were kind and gentle. There was nothing like that behind Tim’s eyes. Tim smiled in a welcoming manner, but his eyes were anything but friendly.

  “I need to get backstage so I don’t miss my ride home,” Whitney said. Well, they weren’t going to leave without her, but it sounded like a good excuse.

  “Oh, I’m sure Samuel won’t leave his girlfriend behind. Then he wouldn’t be a good boyfriend,” Tim replied, not moving and letting Whitney by. “Why don’t you sit down and chat a bit with me? Has Sam told you anything about his wonderful older brother?”

  From the tone of his voice, she understood it wasn’t a question. In fact, there was a slight melody to it. That alone made her pause. Sam said that siren can control day humans with their voice. If she wanted to keep playing the part, she had to do what he asked, even though being near him made every fight or flight sensor inside of her go off.

  Whitney sat back down in her seat. She couldn’t leave and let Tim be suspicious of why she didn’t listen to him.

  “My sources say you recently moved to town,” Tim said to her. Whitney didn’t say anything. If it wasn’t a question, she wasn’t going to provide information.

  Tim must have noticed as he smiled and tried to be friendlier. It didn’t matter. She saw in his eyes he was anything but friendly, and from Sam’s few comments, everything she suspected was true and probably worse.

  “Have you lived in Florida long?”

  “Just a year and a half,” Whitney replied, looking to the stage and trying to will Sam to appear and see she was cornered by his brother.

  “And you must be into music, or is it just musicians?”

  Whitney shrugged. That wasn’t much of a question either.

  “Has Samuel told you he has to go on vacation this weekend?” Tim asked, leaning back like they were old friends chatting.

  “He hasn’t mentioned anything, but we did just start dating. Not really at the stage of telling each other everything and schedule details to the minute. I think that comes at stage two in the relationship, but once we get there, I’ll let you know.”

  Tim raised an eyebrow to say he wasn’t sure if he believed her. “But you are at the stage where you spend lots of quality time alone.”

  Whitney kept silent again. He could ask any of the sirens how much time they were spending together. She was pretty sure they all knew. Tim didn’t need an answer from her.

  “Has Samuel told you about having an older brother?” he asked, still trying to gauge her.

  Whitney shrugged again in an attempt to make it vague. “He said he had siblings when I mentioned I have a
brother.”

  “I suppose he didn’t mention I was older, cuter, and a much better kisser.” Tim fake pouted.

  He was older, and also drop-dead gorgeous, but she wasn’t about to say he was cuter. Sam looked at her with wonder and kindness; Tim looked at her like he wanted to drain her blood. Very big difference. She wasn’t about to let that happen. Whitney didn’t look back to the stage, but stood up again. She had sat long enough to play his game, even if she didn’t know what it was. Just his eyes on her made her want to take a shower. Tim maybe looked like Sam, but he was nothing like him.

  “The guys tend to head out quickly after these things. Something about not wanting fans to find out where they live. If they left without you, I can always give you a ride back,” Tim offered, this time standing with her.

  Whitney knew Sam wouldn’t leave without her, but she had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, Tim had done something to try to make that happen. She hurried from the seating gallery and back into the waiting room. As she pulled open the door to leave, she ran right into Sam. He grabbed her arms quickly as he looked over her shoulder, patting her down like she might be missing an arm or two.

  “Crazy seeing you here,” Tim said as he wandered up behind Whitney. She didn’t turn to see his face, but could feel the anger between Sam and Tim, and it wasn’t a one-way thing.

  “Considering this is my concert, I could say the same to you,” Sam told his older brother. He glared at him as he added, “I’d love to stay and talk, but my bandmates are under the impression they need to leave immediately.”

  Whitney finally saw Tim’s face as Sam pulled her to his side.

  “I’m guessing you all have a lot of schoolwork to get done. I hear that makes people want to get back home. You know, to study and all.” Tim smiled with his sparkling white teeth.

  “I’m sure that’s it,” Sam replied and turned Whitney to the door.

  “What, not even a goodbye hug?” Tim called to them. “Oh, yeah. That’s not needed since you’re coming home this weekend.”

  Sam didn’t turn around and kept nudging Whitney going out the door.

  “I prefer you don’t head home. It will be much more fun that way.”

  Tim’s last words were muffled as they left the room, but they both still heard him. Under his friendly façade was certainly a threat. Whitney had no idea what she gotten in the middle of, but she was happy there were be a few hours of a bus ride to talk to Sam about it, as long as his friends were busy in the hot tub with the girls they liked to pick up.

  CHAPTER 8

  Sam stroked Whitney’s hair as she slept on his lap. The blonde curls were softer than they looked. It didn’t take much to make her pass out in the shower when he fed her. She was hungry, which also makes one very tired. He hoped that would happen as he had a lot of talking to do with his two bandmates, Mark and Leo. They sat across from him on the benches alone since they didn’t even pick up girls at the concert like normal, thanks to Tim. Both of them were convinced they needed to leave immediately, and if Sam hadn’t commanded them to stay, they would have left him and Whitney behind.

  “Bummer. This gig wasn’t a coincidence?” Mark asked disappointedly.

  It was actually one of the larger ones they had done in a while. The pay was much better and so was their choice in girls. Mark was bummed they hadn’t scored any food.

  “I had a feeling it wasn’t,” Sam replied evenly. He was doing his best to keep calm. He needed to talk to the guys without Whitney hearing. “Which one of you was going to tell me that Tim was here?”

  Leo looked sheepishly at Mark. Mark stared at the floor of the bus like it was the most interesting thing he had seen all week. Sam needed a different approach. Neither would look him in the eye, and he had a feeling they both knew.

  “How long has he been in town?”

  Leo met his gaze, confused. “He never left.”

  Sam ran a hand through his hair. Tim had to have been the mer he was feeling at the pool yesterday when Whitney came by. Sam knew there was someone there watching them, but he figured it was just one of the ones from school, curious about him and Whitney. He didn’t think it would be Tim. Tim hated being on land or away from the island. In fact, to know he had been on land for over a day was actually kind of strange. The last time Tim came to land, he made sure everyone knew he was never coming back. Sam would have laughed at him being there if he wasn’t there to spy on him.

  “I assumed he was here to make sure you go back,” Mark added, trying to be helpful.

  Sam nodded. That was more than likely why Tim was there. It just stunk that everything with Whitney was happening at the same time. Sam’s two friends both looked guilty and ashamed they hadn’t said anything. He wasn’t about to get mad at them for that.

  “Have you hinted that you have to break up with her soon?” Mark asked as he looked at the sleeping Whitney. Sam could see beyond his normal teasing façade, Mark actually cared for Whitney. He was actually the one to hire her at his restaurant.

  Sam shrugged. No one would understand if he told them he wasn’t going to break up with her, that he couldn’t. Then he’d have to explain more than he was willing to say. He just needed to play the part of jerk boyfriend to them, and no one would care.

  They knew as little as he did about what Tim was planning. If he knew Tim, he wasn’t about to tell anyone. Sam would have to be prepared for anything.

  “You guys know there’s a new family moving to town,” Sam changed the subject.

  “As in the kind we’d like to move out of town?” Mark asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

  He knew exactly what Sam was hinting at and kept it in code in case Whitney woke. They sure couldn’t be talking about hunters in front of a day human, and even though she wasn’t a day human, Sam still didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was. She already wasn’t herself after her visit with Tim. He had done his best to be friendly, but Whitney knew better and was rightfully cautious of him.

  “Most definitely. I took Whitney down to the beach, and one was coming back on the pathway. He seemed to know his way around, or he was off searching for trouble. We have to keep our eyes open now to make sure no one slips up. With a hunter family hanging around, we’re all in danger. And you know where there is one, there is more to come. Shifts will need to be taken to keep the area safe. Tell the rest of the guys we need to meet at my place before school to divvy up the schedule.”

  The guys both nodded to Sam as he continued to rub Whitney’s arm with his thumb while he spoke. He hoped the sirens in town weren’t too much to worry about. Everyone on land had been safe since he came to town and implemented his rules. He hadn’t actually had someone disobey him in over a year. That wasn’t his worry. Whitney was. She was too new at it. If she didn’t learn how to fit in better, it was going to be a very big problem. His family would toss her away if she was taken, but he couldn’t. Sighing, he rubbed his forehead.

  Tim picked the perfect time to start following their dad’s order, and it stunk. Not that Sam ever liked him much before, but the way that Tim looked at Whitney made his blood boil. The siren code was to not feed on any day human another had already fed on, but Tim didn’t think the code pertained to him. In fact, Tim was one of those sirens that didn’t think any of the rules were for him to follow. Tim did as he pleased when he pleased and that wasn’t good news for Sam. He had seen how Tim looked at her, and it wasn’t just to annoy Sam. This was going to be a long week to get through, and an even longer weekend avoiding his brother. Add into the mix a hunter family moving to town and Sam just felt like he got screwed over with all of it.

  He looked over to his two friends, and he could see their worry. They were concerned about the hunter. Any siren in their right mind would be. Hunters had ways to train to be immune to the song of the siren. It didn’t bode well for any of the sirens who had never been taught to fight, and that was most of them. They relied too heavily on their voices to get out of every
thing. Sam’s life was overflowing when all he wanted to do was just spend more time alone with Whitney. That wouldn’t be an option now. He had to do his job and keep the sirens safe; all of the sirens, including her.

  Whitney found that their Tuesday night concert was going to be their last date for a while, and that was more than a little disappointing. At least she still had her Thursday night swim lesson. It gave her one hour alone with Sam, but that was it. While she went to lessons with her questions ready, he whisked her off to the locker rooms to be alone, and those questions really didn’t come up. She was more than a little occupied with him, and she figured they could always wait until later. By Friday, she was ready for the weekend and hopefully some time alone with Sam.

  “Wait up,” Mark called from the closing door of Bingos as she left from her Friday night shift, which went from right after school until closing.

  They hadn’t seen each other because Sam was busy with “siren stuff” as he put it, but she was busier. Mark had scheduled her for every shift he took that week, and since Sam took most of the swim lessons, Mark had picked up extra shifts at the restaurant, and it seemed that meant Whitney would also. After three nights of working in a row when she only got hired to work two days a week, she was tired and ready to go home to sleep.

  Whitney paused outside the door as Mark joined her.

  “I’ll take you home,” he told her, ordering her around very similar to Sam.

  Whitney rolled her eyes at him. It had to be a siren trait.

  “It’s only ten o’clock,” she told him. “The murderers don’t like to come out until at least one in the morning, so I have a few hours of safety.”

  Actually, Whitney didn’t fear walking home as she felt the night human blood flow through her. It would be a problem for whatever sorry person tried to hold her up if they did. They wouldn’t know what was coming. Sam had explained that sirens didn’t train to fight, but they were stronger and faster than day humans. Whitney, though, had been raised a skinwalker and hand-to-hand combat training was part of growing up. With her new senses, strength, and speed, she was more than capable of taking care of herself if someone did try to pull something on her.