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Kandomere's POV
I waited beneath the bridge of my district that the orc was coming from. Nick Jacoby, my mate's roommate. I still wonder why she roomed with him… Maybe it was because he's honest and from what I have seen from their interactions, a good friend. Montehugh is giving the speech letting only a little information slip about the assailant for the attack on downtown and in Elf town. Anyone with common sense would easily assume that the attacker was an elf. Who else could get into our district with no detection.
Orcs were so slow. He should have been here by now. But it was not his fault entirely, I needed to think of a plan of what to do with O. Her power, my superiors could find out about her. They will want to contain her. Her family will never allow that to happen. But neither will I. Maybe in the water she was safe. The Inferni cannot get to her there. I will stop them and I will regain order. The loud whooping noise of a siren squad car made my ears twitch as my attention was shifted. I was leaning off my car when Nick got out of the car. O should have been with him and when I approached him I could not hide my glare. Honestly, I wouldn't hide it.
"So what exactly happened, Orc!" I asked, authority in my tone. The orc frowned and before I knew it he shoved me hard. On instinct I removed one of my blades and holding it tight in my hand, my body crouching some. He didn't even bat an invisible lash as he approached me.
"Let's get one thing straight, Elf. You aren't gonna talk to me like I am some second level piece of shit, because believe it or not, you are every bit of responsible for everything that's happened to this city!" he barked. My eyes widened.
"Me! I am doing what must be done to protect the city- to protect O!" I shouted.
"Oh yeah," he growled," you want to protect her then it should be your face on the news telling everyone who is exactly to blame for lives being destroyed, for carnage and the riots that we cops have to contain. You are a coward! If you even cared about Odette, you would have immediately given up your kind! But you're scared. Your government is scared to bring to the light that elves are just as bad as everyone else." My nose twitched into a slight snarl.
"You know nothing, Nick Jackoby." I hissed and he nodded.
"Yeah I do. In the siren community you stick by your kind… you breed within your community and you build your community's status up. I am an orc and they accepted me way quicker than they did you." he said. I snorted.
"I fought and earned my right in the community." I stated.
"I took a bullet for Mathias and chose the sirens over an orc! You took a bullet, but you didn't know who the gun belonged to. I did. A JackKnife member was threatening him and before he could defend himself, the orc pulled a gun and I jumped in the way of it. So I proved that I would die for them because they are my family. You haven't proven a thing." he said glaring down at me as he spoke. Each word was a knife that cut into me as he loomed over me, fists clenched as if ready to take an assault. I stared at him for a moment now seeing why O valued his friendship. He had gumption. I straightened my body up and put my knife away.
"We need to talk to Dorghu. Figure out everything he knows. After that… we look for Odette." I merely replied moving to open my car door. He started to follow of which I immediately stopped and raised a hand to him. He almost stumbled right into my palm. "We're not partners, you're not stepping foot into my car. You will follow me." I demanded before getting into my car. He huffed and rolled his eyes before moving back to his car. I smirked and got in my car and began to take off into the city.
Odette's POV
The water around me is different. Tainted by years of abuse from the land above. My father spoke of days when the water was clear and beautiful. It may have even sparkled because nothing impure had ever touched it. Now carcasses of the dead were all around me and I just looked around wondering was there any other sirens down here? I looked down noticing the darkness below me. It's deep, so deep that any creature could not adapt to light. It'd be blind. No machine should ever go so deep. I am not machine. I moved down, the darkness reaching out to me. The water was getting colder and colder the further my tail moved. My pupils grew really cold all of a sudden and I noticed the darkness began to expand and disappear as it suddenly looked brighter. At the very bottom, I could see bones that formed a creature so large that I followed its spine until my neck could no longer move. I swam closer to it, the fish around me quickly swam to get away from me.
Once my barbed tail touched sand, I ran my webbed fingers over the bone slowly. I leaned in and inhaled its scent before suddenly gasping and leaning back. It was a dragon, a water dragon. It smelled like my people. I looked up high at the bones seeing the distant light from the sun. I was very far down indeed. But I was not afraid. Sharks began to swim above me circling as if watching over me. I swam inside the skeleton never even seeing a dragon before, the creature that my family worshiped, the creature that swam beside us as we ruled the waters hundreds of years ago.
I wondered how it died. The skeleton is too large to explore, so I made my way back out and swam to the very front of it. The fangs are still sharp. I had to look up just to see the top. I ran my fingers all over the rough layer. Something glistened above me and I looked up in curiosity. Something was definitely shining and I was immediately drawn to it. I swam up fast to the top of the skull. The head itself was definitely massive. Three large horns stuck right out of the top. As I finally reached to the top, I saw the purple light coming from the left eye socket. I tilted my head and moved inside it, the darkness brightening. Something was just floating in place and as I neared it I noticed it was round and spiked with three long barbs. It was a scale shaped in the form of a crown.
"Wear the crown of those who sing the songs of the fallen and all will know our power."
My hands slowly grasped the cold object, my thumb gently rubbing against it. I can feel the power. I can see the beauty of my reflection. My heart was starting to beat fast in my chest. I raised the crown up high, and as I did, I could hear the songs of everyone who possessed this power. I could hear the power in her voice, in his voice… in their voices until I could only hear my own voice in my head singing of the moment my power truly erupted.
"All the colors and of life ever more!"
I placed the scale atop of my head and it fit perfectly and immediately I felt the power rip through my chest. I screamed hard as I raised my hands out and was devoured by the songs of all my people, by the songs of the dead and those alive. My eyes faded white as I felt it all moving through me and out of me, from my eyes, mouth, nose, ears, everything. My voice shaped my screaming into a deep harmony as it sounded like a choir once more singing.
I can see their faces of those who wore this crown. They fought against their enemies, they loved, they bred a new generation of siren. We were pure in a world that sought to destroy us. My body began to raise as my tail blew away into the water. As I moved out the eye of the skull, I took note of the muscles that began to form around the creature. Rows upon rows of muscles began to shoot up the spine and down to the legs and all the way to the tail and more and more layers of skin began to grow upon the creature. I continued to rise through the water, my dark skin, now growing a silver suit of scales.
Normal POV
Dorghu sat quietly in the interrogation room. He hadn't moved since the elf and the human left. The door opened once more and the blue haired elf entered followed by someone else who made Dorghu immediately scoff.
"Oh now this is comical. Running out of options, elf?" he asked with a vicious laugh. Kandomere just stood there crossing his arms as Nick leaned over the table.
"Tell me everything you know." he demanded, eyes dark and serious. Dorghu looked at Nick blankly before looking at Kandomere who just stared at him with no emotion in his eyes.
"Really?" he asked before laughing. "And why the hell do you think I'd talk to you?" Nick just leaned over, placing his fists calmly into the table, leaning forward, his glare just as cold as Kandomere's.
"Because I know you're in love with her." he said and he was completely bluffing, but seeing the hard look on Dorghu's face drop, gave it all away. Kandomere's face broke as well as he looked at the back of Nick's head. "She's in trouble and you know this or else you wouldn't have gone through all this trouble to get involved with elves as dangerous as the Inferni. She told me to talk to you and she put faith in you that you would speak to me. So…fucking… speak." Dorghu stared at Nick for once stunned. Kandomere himself was stunned at how strong the young orc was being. Dorghu looked down for a moment closing his eyes for a second.
"The elves shot up down town to piss off the humans so they'd go after the orcs. The orcs and other creatures would defend themselves and there would be a riot. They attacked this district because they wanted the elves to be to preoccupied. Distracted." he said.
"Why?" Nick asked, his hard look remaining.
"Because the government would be paying attention to it. They'd have no idea of why they attacked and would be running in circles trying to find out. Meanwhile, they'll attack the sirens to bring them into a war and attack everyone. If everyone attacks the sirens then the darkness would have already started. Meanwhile, they'll grab O and do what they gotta do. Hold her until the baby is born, probably kill it and use whatever dark magic to bring the dark lord's soul into it. A siren elf hybrid would already be strong, he'd have their powers." he explained. Kandomere's eyes widened in surprise at what he had just heard.
"And you thought you could stop them on your own?" he asked. Dorghu shook his head.
"Nah. I was going to go to her parents and let them know what was going on so they'd be prepared. Maybe the orcs and them could team up." he said. Nick leaned back and looked down for a moment hearing enough. He exited the room, much to Kandomere's surprise. He moved after the orc.
"Where are you going?" he asked watching Nick pull out his phone.
"Calling Mathias to warn him of more elf intruders. We need to find O." he answered. For once Kandomere was in agreement. As they reached the lobby of their building, the two looked at each other.
Kandomere looked at him.
"I'll head to the beach and look for O. You should let your superiors know and head back to Matthias incase anything." he said before pulling out his own phone and calling is partner.
"Monte… I need you to make another press release. Tell everyone the truth." He replied. Nick's eyes widened as the elf nodded looking down at the ground and speaking. "If anyone ask issues, direct them to me." Within a few more seconds, he hung up.
"Do you realize what you just did?" Nick asked. Kandomere looked at him with a look he had never seen before. It was fearlessness.
"Yeah I'm protecting my mate." he said and walked past him. Nick watched for a moment before smiling. He followed the elf out the door. The two separated once at the district border. Kandomere did his best not to speed and cut his phone off once it began to ring and blow up with messages. He didn't care about any elves calling. For once he did not care.
"Elves above all. Above all elves." he whispered to himself before letting one hand slide over his gorget with almost tenderness. His father bought it for him and he had worn it all the time. The gentle caress quickly gripped the metal violently and he yanked it off and threw it into the back of the car.
"Fuck all other elves." he said as his car picked up speed.