A/N: This is for SkyeElf, in an answer to her challenge concerning her fic, Skye Night, a prologue on Tanya, an OC of hers.
Now, you must be either entirely genius, psychic or must have read Skye Night to understand this.
The Siren Song
Tanya's POV
I sat on top of a jagged rock in the middle of the Loch Ness Lake. Another ship wheeled its way to me. I heard the whir of telescopes and everything as they searched for Nessie.
That was my job. To keep the ship away from my Nessie. Or, our, Nessie. She was the reason we sat atop rocks, and faced our foes. Humans. I was neither man nor mermaid. I was in between. On land I had legs, in water I had a fishtail, but my upper body remained unchanged. Different from the mermaids born in the sea. I was semi-siren. My mother a ghastly mermaid, whilst my father was a handsome man. Me mam had somehow managed to seduce him, and thus I was born. Blonde hair – I didn't get it. My eyes – typically associated with mermaids.
I never see him anymore, my father. He took off, well, after he woke up from his stupor in sleeping with me mam. Not that I mind, I might kill the man if I ever laid eyes on him.
One sailor spotted me, and he couldn't stop staring. Good. I smiled my incredibly fake smile and opened my mouth. I sang no song, but a melody. It consisted of twelve notes and it's been passed on from generation to generation. As soon as the other semi-sirens saw me, they abducted me, to raise me above water, away from my mother. I still saw her, but they taught me to hate her. And I did. She created me – and I was doomed to a life of singing and dooming fellow sea-lovers.
Not that I minded. Killing them was easy. Inviting. Pleasurable, even. Invigorating. Adrenaline.
Killing was my hobby. I know it's wrong, but I just don't care. I was doomed to hell anyways.
The ship neared me. I sang even louder, the tone becoming sweet and syrupy.
And they steered the ship right into one of the jagged rocks. The men couldn't move, too entranced by the beauty of my voice.
Within minutes they were all dead. I made sure there were no survivors.
"Good job, Tanya."
I turned around; it was the head siren, Lalita.
"Sod eff." I snapped at her. She shook her head, almost sadly.
"And I had such high hopes for you."
"I have even higher hopes for her." Said a new voice. I whipped around, and sprang to my feet. It was her. The Empress of Darkness. I fell to my knees. I knew about her. The Empress. Not the Empress, but my Empress. The Empress was another. Unlike the woman in front of me, the other Empress was nearly immortal. My Empress was to defeat her.
"So you already know about me?"
"Yes." I answered quickly.
"Rise, siren." She ordered. I complied. "Join me."
Not a question. Not a request. But a demand. I had to comply.
"You can't go, Tanya. Your mother." Lalita reminded me. I grinned at her. Bloodthirsty, perhaps, but utterly naïve.
"Of course. Me mother." I repeated. I looked at the Empress. She offered me a cruel smile and a tiny nod.
I jumped from the jagged rock into the blue abyss. My legs sprang together and they transformed into a single, turquois tail. I marveled at the dazzling color for a second. The way the reflecting rays of the sun shone on my tail, the way it glimmered… sometimes sailors thought our tails to be precious stones or treasure.
More often than not the sailors met a gruesome end. I relished at the idea.
I took a deep breath, allowing the oxygen filled water to fill my lungs. At least I would never die by drowning.
I opened my arms as if to embraced someone, then I dove, beating my tail rapidly to make me move faster, and it added grace. Deep into the Lake, until I found me mam. She looked up at me, an uncertain look in her beady eyes.
Without further ado I put both my hands around her body and forced her to swim up with me.
I got out, pulling her with me.
"Tanya, what are you doing?" Lalita asked in horror.
"Provin' meself." I answered, dragging my mother onto the rock.
"You can't possibly…"
"Whay no'?" I countered. "We do it daily wi' humans."
"They threaten our secret…"
"Ya threaten maine." I said, drawing out the sharp blade I kept in my hair. I used it to tie my hair, and to end the life of a struggling sailor. I pulled it in front of my face, poised as only a weapon could be.
"What are you doing?" Lalita asked in disgust. Her eyes flitted to and fro from me to my mother. My mother wasn't aware of what I was planning on doing. Then again, neither Lalita nor the Empress would expect it.
"I don' believe in repea'in' meself." I said, and I lashed forward. My intended victim was not my mother. I wiped the blade across her throat. She didn't see it coming. A look of shock was forever etched onto her face. Lalita fell backward, the blood, scarlet, drip-drip-dripping from her neck onto her too vivid skin.
Both the Empress and my mother stared at me.
"Goa." I said softly. It was directed at me mam. "Now!"
She tumbled into the waves. I glanced at the Empress.
"Mercy?"
"She'll suffer more now. I killed the head siren."
"Good. Now, follow me."
The Empress certainly needed a make-over, though.
