Anatomy of a Siren [ARES]

[Alexandrea]

[for_sirens][/for_sirens][for_peace][/for_peace]

November 8th, 2017

Fall was almost over in Ontario and a hint of winter was already in the air. Humans wore more layers of clothes, and so did Alex. It didn't matter that vampires had been exposed and risking exposure by being overexposed was no longer as important. It was sweater season, it was fall colours, it was hats and gloves and scarves and it was Alex's favourite time to shop of the year.

And another Halloween had come and gone. Which meant another year as a vampire. At times since her turning, the time had seemed to fly by but when she paused long enough to long back and reflect on her time in Harper Rock it seemed like a whole lifetime and not just a few years.

Briefly, she felt a stab of sadness, longing for some faces that had been missing far too long. Some of them Alexandrea just somehow knew she would again never see. Others, like Madison or Odin, Alex still believed she would. (See again.) The Allurist, thinking over how many things had changed, started to grin. There would be a lot of explaining to do, she thought to herself with a chuckle as she handed the cashier in Moonlight Fashions her credit card.

The human girl raised an eyebrow at Alexandrea's sudden brevity but said nothing. The blonde had a phone up in front of her face, as was typical of young people these days, and seemed resentful of the fact she had to put her device down in order to take a customer's payment. Alex was oblivious, however. She was too busy reading crownet in her own head to notice.

The Administrator had posted again. And he seemed to be trying to play puppetmaster again. This time, it was the Sirens he claimed were the enemy. And despite Alexandrea's reluctance to trust the Sirens, or anything remotely Fae? She had no love for this so-called "Administrator", either. He had proven to be a manipulator before, and she hoped that the majority of her kind wouldn't let themselves once again get dragged into someone else's fight. Many of them were still suffering the after-effects of the battle over the supposed cure created by the government. Another classic case of everyone working together for the greater good. Not.

She sent in a quick reply just for the hell of it, not really expecting anything to come of it.

You ask us as if you actually plan to read any replies. Which I have reason to doubt that you will, seeing how much you have ignored our replies to you in the past.

Here's an idea. Be upfront with us about who you are and what you really want and maybe we'll start to believe and care give a damn about what you say.

Both women were distracted as they exchange pleasantries and concluded their business, Alexandrea left the shop with several shopping bags and hurried into her office on the second floor where the bags were dumped onto her desk and a couple of chairs.

A quick email was sent to her favourite Mystic Zodiac as Alex starting searching her files. Alexandrea had never realized before just how little information she had about the Sirens...

[Zodiac]

An eye snapped open in irritation as her laptop made that annoying noise when mail came to her private account.

”What now?” she grumbled as she sat up in bed. She was exhausted. All the prepping for the big sales and then working it out. Being immune to the effects of sunlight did not equal additional stamina, so by the time Saturday was coming to a close the gypsy was running on fumes. Cyber Monday was next but that did not involve all the in person face time Friday had. She could work that from her bedroom if she wanted to.

”What doom and gloom will happen unless the amazing Zodiac does not take action now?’ she half jested to herself as she checked the mail. ”Oh, it’s bunny girl,” a half a smile as she clicked it open.

Sirens?

Not again! At least this time she was away from it if they had pulled that trick again in the malls. No, that wasn’t it. She had heard a few rumors about them recently but then again she hundreds of such things a day ranging from the super serious to Vamp A is screwing Vamp B behind Vamp D’s back. The price of her profession if one tried to guide and counsel peoples. You got the garbage with the gold.

Was this becoming that big of an issue now? Outside of work, she had been keeping pretty much out of things. After the fiasco about the (so called) ‘Cure’ she lost interest in things. Her one chance to be normal again snatched away. So far she had not been tagged as a potential vampire and if she had anything to say about it she would not be.

She liked her quiet, private life away from her business. She didn’t people climbing up her case day and night, unlike some seem to enjoy. Zodiac glanced at the dart board hanging on the back of her bedroom door where she had put a picture of Enver Marshall– the poster boy for coming out of the coffin, as it were. ”I need more darts.” She hoped his bright idea was coming back to haunt him in spades.

Zodiac shook her head to focus. Sirens. There really wasn’t much to tell in reality. Clues from myths to be sure, but that was it.

She thought for a bit, then began to type.

Well, I can say this much on the subject. From what I experienced when that siren song managed to get played over the PA systems at the malls and on the radio, their voice may be their greatest weapon. How could you talk with a creature that all it would have to do is begin to sing a nursery rhyme and you are suddenly standing their all zoned out while it slits your throat?

A couple things suggest themselves from mythology. They are predominantly female as far as art is concerned. There were males but they quit being in illustrations around the fifth (or 6th) century BC. (I need to check that) and were the daughters of the river god Achelous. The Greeks had them lurking in meadows of flowers, but the Romans put them in the sea as far as myth goes so either/or may be right.

I could go way deeper into origin myths, but these points seem to apply in reality.

Point one: they mean NO ONE any good except for themselves. Humans and vampires both seem to come out on the crap end of things when dealing with them. There were a few points in myth where they helped a particular person, but those were rare things. People always die because of them. If they have humans helping them now, their life will end once their usefulness ends. If so, I doubt you could take anything you learn from them as actual fact. The siren would lie and any human thrall will just be parroting whatever lies had been fed to them.

Two, unless you find a way to cancel out that singing of theirs, I have no clue how you could fight them, let alone reason with them. Any vampire group would have to have soundguards on their ears and all be telepaths to co-ordinate their actions.

Again– how could you ever communicate and reason with such things? Of course we know some of our own kind who fit that bill as well, but I digress.

And three, it makes me wonder when I think about it. What happens to the people once they kill them? Dragging dead sailors off to rot in the waters they lived in (in mythology) sounds downright nasty to me. That would be like throwing garbage in your own bed. Also, if myth is true and there are no males– how do you mate with the dead? So they not grabbing them for sex. (maybe this is where those Enchantado sex dolphin worker guys come in?)

She laughed at that. Someone on a message board had used that term and it stuck in her head. ”I wonder if they run a bordello of their own? Excuse me, I had a appointment with Fernando Fish. That guy knows how to use his nose, let me tell ya. And the bubbles! Oh my, let me fan myself here.”

She coughed and returned to her reply.

Personally? I think they eat their prey, but I never found anything in myth to suggest that. Perhaps that is part of their hatred for us? Competition? Or us draining the bodies makes them unconsumable in some way to them? Tainted meat?

Or they just pissed cause we way cooler than they are. Who knows?

I am sorry I can’t give you more info. Sirens do not fall into the list of things I get asked about normally. I can try digging deeper into history for you, but usually all I can find is the myth end of the deal. If I can help further, let me know. Will probably answer tomorrow.

Peace out, toots.

~Z~

She hit send and then leaned back in her bed. So now vampires had declared war on the Sirens. Just like they had declared war on the blood thieves and the paladins and the Enchantado sex dolphins and who knows who else, and they all saw how well those things worked out. Ironically, if myth and suspicion was right, the little mystic doubted there could be any discussions or bargains or truces. This would turn into an all or nothing mess.

Just the kind of thing they needed now that humanity had decided vampires weren’t as cool as they first thought. It was brilliant. This had to been planned out and that suggested their new opponents had working brains in their heads. If there was war and the vamps won? Humanity would scream for all the chaos they were causing. If vamps lost? Humans would be cheering their new fish overlords for removing the fanger problem.

Either way it meant more **** for the night crowd to deal with.

”And they romanticize what we are in books? *****, please!” she moaned while trying to get comfortable again. She didn’t want to think about this. She wanted her lost sleep from going full tilt through Black Friday. Yes, they would all screw it up without her help but then again when did anyone actually listen to her words and take them to heart? All they would need is a few key persons of note to be in the group and that would be the end of any advice and help she could give. “You actually listening to this little freak?”

Again, one of the hazards of her profession.

Zodiac clapped her hands, causing the lights to go out. She shut down almost at once. Any replies Alex would send would be waiting for her when she finally awoke.

[Meara]

[for_peace][/for_peace]

It had been a couple weeks since the Administrator had reared their ugly head to reveal the latest crisis facing the city. To be frank, Meara didn't like the idea of non-vampires altering how vampires lived. However, the last time vampires were under threat with the cure research people rushed off and blew it up before anything could be learned from it. Meara thought it was important for people to understand how far along they were, what was the manner of action, and what did the scientists knew about vampires before the nuking of all that data. She had exchanged a couple texts with her sire to this effect. Slowly but surely a plan was starting to be cobbled together to try to understand how and why the Sirens were trying to close the Rift.

Meara however was starting to grow anxious at the lack of activity on the side trying to befriend the Sirens. She hoped that they could perhaps convince them to not be so hasty, but she was prepared to fight them if they were going to try to make her species extinct. So, one night Meara toddled up from her workbench in Alex's show to the second floor offices. This place always felt special to her as it was here where she and her sire met nearly a year and a half ago now. She could hear Alex typing away at her computer, so she walked back to the office and stopped at the doorway. Her weight leaned on the door frame before she wrapped a knuckle three times against the wood. "Hey Alex." The redhead gave a smile and a wave. "Have you heard anything about trying to talk to the Sirens yet? I now we can't rush these things, but I worry people are going to jump the gun and start killing them before we can try to figure out their motives."