Siren Hunter- Resurrection Read online

  SIREN HUNTER: RESURRECTION

  Book 2 of Siren Hunter: The Experience

  J.G. Barber

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, and events in this book are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Published by Laughing Tortoise, LLC

  Copyright © 2019 by J.G. Barber

  All rights reserved. Neither this book, nor any parts within it may be sold or reproduced in any form without permission.

  Cover Design by Sanja Gombar using licensed stock images from Shutterstock.com, DepositPhotos.com, and Daz3D.com

  Editing by Lori Diederich

  Contents

  Title Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Epilogue

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Chapter One

  ARGUIN ISLAND, ATLANTIS, 10,234 B.C.

  Atlantis. The legendary city-state where it all began. Atlantis was a center of global trade, artistic expression, scientific achievement and human consciousness. Her citizens enjoyed a peaceful and prosperous life. They shared a mutual admiration with the Sirenians, the humanoid shapeshifters known as mermaids and mermen. Humans loved the mermaids for their beautiful songs, uninhibited sexuality and ability to transform to swim in water or walk on land. The mermaids enjoyed interacting with humans and some became lovers with their human friends. The mermen were fierce warriors, suspicious by nature. They lived their lives in the ocean, protecting their gossips. Though women longed to know them, the mermen resisted the temptation to venture on shore and mate with humans.

  When the Anunnaki giants infiltrated Atlantean society and affairs, they brought ambitions of global domination. A dark night of the soul overshadowed Atlantis. The Sirenians faced a threat to their existence for the first time in their history.

  Seduced into paranoia by the Anunnaki, Atlantean military and scientific leaders exploited the city-state’s technology for the purposes of war. They sought to create an army of Sirenian super soldiers. Laboratory experiments manipulated the Sirenian genome to enable shape-shifting into air, land or water creatures. They subjugated the Sirenians’ will, changed their kind natures to calculated aggression, turned their enchantments into psychological warfare, and twisted their gift of song into sonic weaponry.

  This dark faction hid their laboratory on the sheltered bay of uninhabited Arguin Island. The military built a facility to house thousands of male Sirenian super soldiers. After perfecting the male transformation process, the scientists switched focus to Sirenian females. They sought to speed up their growth to sexual maturity, to make breeding possible, and to create super soldiers capable of infiltrating enemies through feminine wiles and seduction.

  When she was a child, the military captured Leucosia and her gossip. The males—those who survived the transformation—joined their army of super soldiers. Her mother and the other females died in failed experiments. Leucosia was the first female to survive. The genetic manipulations caused her to mature rapidly. Her coming of age brought attempts to impregnate her. None succeeded. Leucosia refused to submit. Her captors responded with increased force. Forced mating and artificial insemination resulted in irreparable damage. The scientists continued the experiments, enabling her to regenerate injured body parts. The change, however, could not repair her reproductive organs.

  The laboratory furnishings accommodate the stature of giants and ordinary humans. Leucosia lies naked, strapped down on a steel table by her feet, knees, torso, chest, neck and head. Flowing red hair shaved. Emerald green eyes clouded by the drugs and nanotech saturating her blood. Her raw skin bleeds around the bindings, the result of her relentless fight to escape. Exhausted, she stops fighting for a few minutes. Her wounds heal.

  Nine-foot-tall Lord Etanautine inspects Leucosia. The scientific leader of the project checks displays that visualize her vital signs and rate of genetic reconfiguration. Her progress pleases him. He taps a sequence of symbols on the main display. “The transformation is ninety-nine percent complete.” Another tap activates an audio graph. “Encode voice signature. Grant administrative rights to control codes.” He taps another sequence of symbols, releasing the final nanotech injection into her bloodstream, changing her genes and brain synapses with the final program: the enable, disable, and submit commands. With this program in place, Lord Etanautine takes control of her will.

  Leucosia releases a bloodcurdling scream. The table shakes and clatters as Leucosia fights with all her will and strength to escape. Defeated, she sobs.

  Citizen Aztlan barges into the lab. He’s a high-ranking politico who celebrates the Atlanteans’ friendly relations with the Sirenians. Etanautine blocks his path to Leucosia with a massive hand. “What goes on here, Lord?” Aztlan demands.

  “Leave here at once, Citizen,” Etanautine warns him.

  Aztlan evades the large hand. Leucosia’s eyes beg him for help. Aztlan cannot release the bindings. His eyes tell her to prepare for his move. Etanautine stands between him and the main display.

  “The Citizen Council does not approve of these activities,” Aztlan says. “I remove you from your position.”

  Etanautine wraps his hands around Aztlan’s head and tilts it up so Aztlan can see the deadly intent in his eyes. “Remove yourself from my laboratory. Now.”

  Aztlan matches his gaze. “Lord Etanautine! You violate our directives. Relieve yourself of duty, or I will do so myself.”

  Etanautine laughs. Aztlan lands a skillful kick into his knee. He loses his grip on Aztlan’s head. A sweeping sidekick from Aztlan takes Etanautine’s legs out from under him. He bounces off the floor as Aztlan leaps on top of him, reaching back to deliver a deathblow. Etanautine throws Aztlan off. Aztlan rolls onto his feet, leaping over Etanautine’s massive leg before it sweeps him off his feet.

  Etanautine stands. “Enable Leucosia…”

  Aztlan lands a kick with all his weight, breaking Etanautine’s knee before he completes the command to take control of her will. Etanautine collapses, screaming in pain. He grabs Aztlan’s torso with one hand. As he closes his massive hands to crush Aztlan’s body, Leucosia accesses her programming. She unleashes a powerful call that forces Etanautine’s hand to release Aztlan. Another call unlocks her bindings and causes Etanautine to cover his ears. Leucosia moves at hyper-speed, grabbing liquid-filled hypodermic needles in each hand and plunging them into the temples of Etanautine’s skull. His eyes roll back as his body spasms, his limbs flailing around the lab, destroying the equipment.

  Leucosia runs to Aztlan and helps him to his feet. “We must go, now,” Aztlan says. He finds a lab coat for her to wear. They proceed out the lab and through a labyrinth of hallways to an exit outside.

  Aztlan rushes her to the nearest oceanfront. “You are free.” Leucosia embraces
him, refusing to let go. He kisses her head and compels her with his kind, firm touch to release her grip. “Leucosia, you must go now. Swim as fast as you can. Fulfill your destiny.”

  Tears stream from her eyes. “I love you, Aztlan.”

  “You look just like your mother,” Aztlan says with the full strength of his loving heart, giving her the courage to act.

  Leucosia drops the lab coat as her feet enter the water. She morphs into her mermaid form as she dives into the water. Leucosia swims away with amazing speed. Entranced by her transformation, Aztlan does not see the guards rushing toward him, firing laser weapons. He falls from multiple laser hits.

  The guards fire into the water. Too late. Leucosia is long gone.

  Chapter Two

  BAJA CALIFORNIA, MEXICO, PRESENT DAY

  Strong southern winds propel Paul and Laura Douglass down the coast of Baja Mexico in their Open 50 sailboat, the Oddyssey, at maximum speed. Paul secures the sails, locks the steering wheel, and runs forward to join Laura on the bow extension. “You set the wheel in this wind? Dangerous,” she says, thrilled to her core.

  Paul takes the binoculars. “You know how to swim.” They swap positions on the bow extension. Laura returns to the cockpit and takes the wheel.

  Paul zooms in on the Isara 65 trimaran ahead of them, the Labrys. He observes the three sirens on deck. Leucosia responds with a predatory stare. Brianne guides the trimaran in the wind, widening the distance between their boats. Paul dials in maximum zoom to check out Monica’s pregnant belly. “Holy shit, that kid’s growing fast.” The buzz of Alexei’s plane interrupts Paul’s flashback to the celebration of desire, that crazy drug-fueled night on Whidbey Island where he impregnated Monica during the siren mating ritual.

  Monica clutches her belly as she tracks Alexei’s flyby over the Labrys. “What’s going on here?” She grabs Leucosia’s hand. “Our son is freaking out!”

  “It’s the Russian.” Leucosia leaps into the cockpit. She opens a storage bench, withdraws a harpoon gun, releases the safety, and takes aim. The plane swoops up and out of range before she can fire. Leucosia scampers to the high point of the trimaran’s cockpit, tracking the plane as it circles for another pass.

  The sirens have an unseen advantage. Lorelei resides in the pregnant one. Act now! Erik says to Laura.

  Laura unclips the radio from her belt. “Alexei! We have to take them out now!”

  “Acknowledged.” Alexei steers the airplane to an attack vector.

  Paul runs from the bow to the cockpit, stepping in front of Laura as she steers the sailboat to ride the wind. “What are you doing?”

  “Finishing what we started.” Laura tracks Alexei’s descent toward the Labrys. Paul blocks her line of sight and they exchange a long look as he processes the undeniable fact that his wife has become a person he no longer knows, a fierce warrior… and aspiring murderer. Laura directs Paul to take the wheel, grabs a long-range semi-automatic rifle from down below, and clicks on the radio. “I’ll cover you from the bow.”

  Paul’s instincts kick in to protect Monica’s child. His child. He grabs the rifle. “We can’t kill them!”

  “Why the fuck do you think we’re here?” Laura twists to free the gun, pushes Paul out of the way, and returns to the bow extension. She sets her firing position and tracks the plane’s descent with her gun sight.

  Alexei cracks the pilot’s door and dangles a canvas bag as he steers into position over the trimaran. Paul’s jaw drops as the bag drops. “What the fuck!” Paul screams.

  Leucosia fires a harpoon at the bag. It strikes dead center, causing an explosion. Alexei banks the plane to recover from the air displacement. A shard of the harpoon hurtles back toward the Labrys, striking Brianne in the head, killing her on impact.

  Paul watches through the binoculars as Monica rocks back and forth, covered in Brianne’s blood, cradling her corpse and moaning a siren’s song of grief and loss. When he sees Leucosia drop the sails on the Labrys, he races to take down the mainsail.

  Laura opens fire as a siren song fills the air. Water swirls around the trimaran, creating a waterspout, deflecting the bullets, and catching the airplane in its tornado-like swirl. The plane spins out of control. Alexei ejects with his backpack before the plane crashes into the water. The waterspout spins out.

  The dispersing wind knocks the Oddyssey around, creating a kerfuffle in the slack sails. Paul ties down the sails and fires up the motor. Laura tracks the sirens through her gun sight. Engines churn as Leucosia cranks the trimaran’s motors.

  Paul steers toward Alexei as he treads water, grinning ear-to-ear. Laura extends a rope ladder and helps Alexei climb on board. “Lovely day for a swim!” he declares as she takes his backpack and checks him for injuries.

  Laura leads Alexei to the cockpit. They watch together as the Labrys, with its superior engines, fades into the horizon. “I thought you disabled Leucosia?” Laura asks Paul.

  “Lorelei created the waterspout,” Alexei replies.

  The mention of Lorelei’s name brings Laura’s rage to a boil. He tries to calm her with a look. Not a chance. “Which one of them did we kill?”

  “You killed Brianne. Monica and Leucosia survived.” Paul’s memory flashes on the horrifying scene at Lorelei’s Whidbey Island mansion, when Shannon shot herself and collapsed into his arms. For an instant, he sees the green eyes glow in the gold Serpent Goddess statuette on the shelf. “The gold idol. It contained Lorelei’s spirit after she left Shannon. Alexei, could she have transferred into a new host?”

  “Lorelei survived?!?” Alexei restrains Laura before she punches Paul. Her voice filled with poisonous disdain. “Monica? Brianne? Shannon? Who the fuck are these whores and why do you know their names?” It requires all of Alexei’s strength to prevent her from wrestling free to attack Paul.

  Paul moves to the opposite side of the wheel, well beyond Laura’s reach. He considers whether to answer her question. They never talked about their solo experiences at the mansion where each of them took a siren as a lover. Paul never told her what happened with Monica at the celebration of desire.

  Laura’s eyes tell Paul she will not let it go. He explains. “Monica used to work at New Century. She took off with the sirens. Brianne was another hot mess Scott was fucking, a pawn in the sirens’ scheme to steal our money. Shannon told me her name before she shot herself right in front of me, to free her soul from Lorelei. Satisfied?”

  The tears in Paul’s eyes disarm Laura. “I thought we leveled the playing field. How do we take these bitches down?” Laura asks Alexei.

  He fishes a waterproof bag out of his backpack. Alexei lays out a map of coastal Baja Mexico. Pen marks identify a coastal bay and a handful of locations in the nearby highlands. “I found the sirens’ destination. Zihuatanejo.” Alexei points out the areas of interest. “They are buying up real estate in this area.

  Paul tries to study the map, but his spiraling emotions prevent him from focusing. Laura looks at him, expecting Paul to jump to action. She snaps when he doesn’t act. “What’re you waiting for? Crank the fucking engine!” She claps her hands to command his attention. “Come on, let’s go!” Paul opens the engine to full throttle.

  Chapter Three

  ZIHUATANEJO DE AZUETA, MEXICO, PRESENT DAY

  Ixtapa-Zihuatanejo. The sleepy fishing village from The Shawshank Redemption coexists with a modern seaside resort. It’s a thriving destination for expats and global tourists. Residents and visitors enjoy fishing, diving, nightlife, and what remains of the traditional ways. They stay in the tourist zones to avoid the cartel and other criminals.

  The siren hunters take in the view of the Ixtapa tourist zone, a long beach scattered with people and a strip of resort hotels rising behind it. Paul steers toward a small cluster of islands north of the Ixtapa beachfront. He circles the islands, finding no evidence of the sirens or the Labrys. “We lost them,” he says, hoping his words are true and he can somehow escape what’s coming next.

 
Alexei points to the Zihuatanejo Bay marina on his map. “This is their destination. We will secure a rental home as our base of operations.”

  Paul steers away from the islands. “It makes no sense. Why here?”

  Laura cites her research. “According to regional legends, freshwater sirens lived in the highland waterways. 250 kilometers from here, on Laguna de Huamuxtitlan, there are fourteen small Aztec pyramids devoted to a mermaid goddess. They named her La Tlanchana.”

  He recalls what the marina desk clerk said back in Seattle. “Home to the Mexican sirens.”

  “The Mexican government discovered a massive underground site outside of Zihuatanejo,” she says. “They’re buying back land from commercial farmers so they can excavate it. Who knows what transpired here.”

  Paul locks eyes with Laura. “This is cartel country. I don’t want our son to be born into violence.”

  “We conceived our son in violence. It’s the way of the world. Man up.” Her warrior eyes shut down any further pushback. Alexei stows the map in his backpack. They continue south along the coast until they reach Zihuatanejo Bay.

  As Paul steers into the marina, they pass the Labrys on their way to the guest moorings. “Already shuttered for long-term moorage,” he says. He guides the boat into an open slip near the dock office. Alexei and Paul tie off the Odyssey. Paul goes to rent a slip while Alexei shutters the boat and Laura searches her smartphone for a suitable rental home.

  Laura covers the living room couch with a handmade blanket. She does not understand the meaning of the symbols. But the colors and the woman’s face in the design fill her with strength. She explores her feelings about the life she’s bringing her son into. Since leaving Seattle, she hasn’t stopped long enough to consider the consequences of her choices. Her newfound warrior nature, the ever-present drive of Erik’s will and the vengeful obsession with sirens they share overshadowed her motherly instincts.