Testing For Hope

Chapter 22 - The Dorrstep Of Something Bad

"So what happened then?"

That's all I heard from the conversation Daphne and Vanessa were having at the other end of the bar before I had to prepare another order. This time it was an Siren City favourite, the Blue Lagoon.

I had the alcohol while another person who was going to take over for the end of my shift walked in and got the hint at the drink. They got out the candy that was made to be put in drinks like this and placed it on the table and then got started at the night jobs they had to do when they checked in. I gave them a nod in their direction for getting them and finished the drink with a plink as the gummy hit the drink and slid over to the person who ordered it.

When I got done, I noticed that the room was silent.

I looked over to where I left Vanessa and Daphne and saw no one there. Oh no...

I excused myself from the end of my shift since it was close enough to ending anyway and left the bar in search of them. I took off the apron and grabbed my cloak from my locker, but kept on my wig.

I then left the building of neon lights and wandered the streets in search of the girls. They usually do this when the stress of the room is too high or they need to discuss something privately.

As I wandered the general area around the bar, I almost ran into an argument between a siren and their acquaintance. The human was sickeningly entranced by the shouting man as they got closer and closer to a wall.

The human looked absolutely petrified by what was going to happen to them, but they couldn't do anything or look at anyone but the siren that kept getting closer and closer.

"Stop!" a voice called from behind them. I looked over to where the sound came from and saw Vanessa with her arms crossed and Daphne facing towards her but grimacing at the actions they were intervening in.

"And why 'ould I?! Ish just... a lowly pet!" The man looked so intoxicated that he seemed to wobble even standing up, but to add in the fact that he turned so fast that he could have snapped his neck in two. The man was about to fall. The human was on the floor and smiling. There was no saving them from the torture they have probably endured.

It's why the sirens are almost always forbidden from bringing humans down here. They can't handle it and it has the same effect as playing with your food as a child in the human cities.

Vanessa was fuming, which is understandable. She has some interest in the circumstances of this part of the law.

I walked forward, deciding to pitch in at this moment when out of nowhere, Daphne walks up to the guy and grabs his tie and drags him over to the dumpster in the nearby alley way and throws him against it. "Interrupt me again and it'll be worse. Got it?"

The man started nodding furiously as both me and Vanessa walked over to the human and grabbed them, careful to not turn them in the wrong direction, as it seems that they were pretty spelled in by the man. They now can't look in a direction that he is not in without getting hurt. It's powerful magic, but most sirens have an innate ability to do it over time.

"Which way is your house?" I asked Vanessa.

"Right over there," She says, pointing across the street, "Me and Daphne were heading over there to chat and catch up."

As soon as she says Daphne's name, she walks over and grabs the human with our help. We walked behind her and made sure the human was in the right direction.

Vanessa's apartment was on the first floor, so we didn't have to climb any stairs. Vanessa unlocked the door and while we got them in, she got a chair that was facing the direction of where we had left the man.

Once we got the human situated, we gathered in the kitchen behind the human and started gathering ingredients.

After all, it's usually a witch that gets rid of a curse.