Beneath the Waves ➵ Carlton Drake

[11] ULTRAVIOLENCE

   The next day Carlton could not think, his mind was stuck on that song Brina had sung for him the previous night. The song which left him completely breathless and entranced by the siren.

   He remained with Brina until midnight when she fell asleep, allowing Carlton to finally leave. He was barely able to sleep, the beautiful noise his siren had made stuck on replay in his head. Even this morning when he was driving back to work, he could not bear to turn on the radio in fear of losing the melody that had constantly haunted him.

   Whatever that song was had bewitched Carlton immensely, he thought he was intrigued by her before, but now that man was obsessed. That little siren sitting in the lab had dug her way to the forefront of his mind, leading almost every thought of his to be about her.

   Carlton sighed in the meeting rubbing his head as he listened to the information his scientists were dispersing about his rocket. His rocket was still a few weeks away from making touch fall back to Earth with his samples. For himself and Doctor Skirth, he made their schedule revolve around mornings concerning anything to do with the rocket, and the afternoon would revolve around Brina.

   Currently, Carlton was far more concerned with Brina than his rocket, all the secrets, and knowledge hiding in her head. There was so much to learn from her, from her species.

   Because of this, Carlton had ordered Doctor Skirth to stay with Brina all day today and skip this meeting of the rocket in favor of studying her. Brina had started talking, and Carlton had no doubt that they would learn something useful today. Of course, he wanted to skip this meeting as well, but seeing as he could not, he figured Doctor Skirth was the next best option.

   It was not that he did not trust the aquatic team with Brina, but he simply felt more comfortable knowing Skirth would be there recording everything.

   With those thoughts on his mind, Carlton swung one leg over the other, his attention going back onto the boring data his science team was spewing. Carlton had never found a meeting about his rocket so boring before.

   Back downstairs in the lab, Brina sat on her bed casually laying down. Her thoughts teetered to the human doctor who had inexplicably caught her heart. Brina may have barely known the man, but that was simply how sirens were. It was hard for something to truly earn their attention and affection, but once something did, the effects were immediate. Instantly, they would be attached to the person they essentially anchored themselves too.

   In this case, it happened to be Doctor Carlton Drake, something which in its own way was slightly preposterous. However preposterous it was, it was still happening.

   "Are you sure about this?" Doctor Callahan questioned Skirth, both of them hesitant to proceed in the next phase of the testing.

   Unfortunately, it was necessary. The scientists realized that Brina not been exposed to natural UV rays while in their care.

   It was simple curiosity seeing as Brina's skin had no tan and they wanted to see what would happen when she exposed to UV lighting.

   "Yes, it's necessary," Skirth sighed, motioning to the other scientists to get the notes and video ready.

   Brina sat unfazed, not realizing what was about to happen as she laid on her bed. Turning, Skirth nodded for the others to power up the machines. In Brina's containment unit, the lights had the ability to give off natural ultraviolent rays.

   As Callahan walked toward the switch, his shoes sounding heavy on the marble floor, he nodded.

   "Powering up in 3, 2, 1!" He shouted before switching the flip.

   In a matter of seconds, the light began making buzzing noises as it got brighter, the heat radiating throughout the containment cell. Brina furrowed her brows at the warm feeling, not accustomed to such warmth as she generally stayed in the chilly Pacific Ocean and rarely used the blanket when she slept in the containment cell.

   Frowning, the siren looked up only to be met with the harsh glare of the UV lights. At first, she felt nothing except for warmth, but in the next second, it felt as though her entire body was on fire.

   Brina gasped, her body going rigid as the warm air turned to fire.

   "Her pupils are dilating!" Doctor Linkin cried in surprise, seeing the way Brina's ocean eyes turned glassy.

   No Doctor was able to say anything else for in the next second, Brina had fallen onto the ground of her containment cell screaming.

   Everyone clutched their ears at the terrible shrieking noise which made them want to rip their own ears off. Brina screamed as the burning continued, clawing at the ground.

   "Turn it off!" Skirth cried at Callahan who quickly flipped the switch, the lights in the containment cell turning off abruptly leaving it dark.

   Brina sobbed in pain as her skin burned, the fire ceasing only slightly at switch of light. All the doctors watched in horror at the burns now adorning what was once Brina's once milky white skin. Her teeth bared in a feral manner revealing enlarged incisors and fingers which had changed to claws.

   "I'm getting Doctor Drake," Skirth said frantically, turning and racing out of the lab.

   "Wait, Doctor Drake will kill us!" A scientist called after her.

   Skirth ignored him and Callahan threw a glare at the scientist.

   "You don't think he'll find out when he sees those burns, look at her!" Callahan shouted furiously, pointing toward Brina who was now looking to the lot of scientists as if they had betrayed her.

   With her trust now broken, Brina cried out, ripping her clothes off before launching her still burning body into the pool of water, hoping it would cool her off. Despite the pain of the transition, the cool feeling far outweighed it.

   "How bad is it!" Every scientist jumped in fear at the harshness of their boss's voice, the attention turning to Carlton Drake as he waltzed in with Doctor Skirth following. He immediately looked to the containment cell, growling when he saw no sign of Brina. "Where is she?"

   "We were testing UV lighting—" Callahan started only for Carlton to turn to him with a fierce look.

   "I know, Doctor Skirth already told me, now where the hell is she?"

    "She jumped into the pool," Callahan immediately answered. "I think it'll help her,"

   Carlton nodded, taking a deep breath to try and calm down. There was no use in getting even angrier. Clenching his fists, Carlton slowly looked to Skirth.

   Sensing what her boss wanted, Skirth quickly started spewing a hypothesis, "she has not been exposed to UV lighting as far as we're concerned, and because this was not natural UV lighting I believe that may have been what caused the reaction. I believe if she were placed into natural sunlight, this reaction would not have occurred." Skirth said it in one breath, Carlton staring at the woman blankly.

   Slowly, Carlton nodded, releasing his clenched fists. "Just," he ground out, "be more careful next time."

   It was later that night after every scientist had gone home that Brina emerged. Or at least, she thought every scientist had gone home. Pulling herself away from the pool, Brina grunted at the pain of transforming.

   As her tail molded away, Brina stood tall in her pale nude glory rolling her shoulders. Quickly, the siren examined herself, looking for any sign of damage. Thankfully, it would seem the water and being in her natural form healed all her burns.

   "I'm sorry," Brina jumped at the unexpected voice whirling around to see Carlton standing on the other side of the glass.

    Brina tilted her head, Carlton doing everything in his power to keep his gaze from trailing down her beautiful form.

   It was silent for a moment before Brina surprised them both by letting out a small "it's okay". If it had been anybody else, she would have hissed and glared at them, but Carlton was different. Carlton was more than any other human.

   Despite the silence, Brina and Carlton remained fixated with each other.