I dig my feet in. “No.” I rip my arm out of his grasp. “I’m here because I want to be.”
“You can’t mean that. Look at this place. It’s a dump!”
“Hey!” Evan quips, then adds under his breath, “The other wing is actually quite nice.”
Simon goes to grab my arm again. “We’re getting the fuck out of here, Pisces.”
It happens before I can stop it. My teeth slide out and my vision completely blurs. All I can focus on is ripping and tearing and the blood that coats my mouth. I feel hands wrap around my upper arms, hauling me backwards away from the flesh I so desperately need.
I’m thrown down onto a pew and Benny is on top of me, yelling, “Sces, stop!” He snaps his fangs in my face and I snap my siren teeth back at him, but he’s restrained me enough that I can’t even nip him.
“Fuck, he got you good,” Evan murmurs a few feet away.
Someone is breathing heavily and I can smell the blood. “Snap out of it, Sces,” Shaun says from my right. I realize he’s holding my shoulders down on the pew.
I look between him and Benny and take a few calming breaths, and then everything comes back to me.
“Oh god,” I whisper. “No, no, no.” I push Benny and Shaun aside, my siren teeth back in my gums. I run to my cousin. “Simon!”
Evan is cradling Simon in his arms. There’s blood everywhere. “What are you waiting for? Heal him!”
“Sces,” Evan says softly. “I already am. Look.”
Guilt and terror war inside my stomach as I take a closer look at Simon’s injuries. I reach out a hand and grip one of his.
Evan’s magic continues to wash over Simon, knitting skin, muscle, and sinew back together.
“He’ll be fine,” Evan murmurs to me. “Just a little nip really. I forget how easily humans bleed.”
I roll my eyes at Evan. The second he’s done healing Simon, I pull him into my arms. “Simon.” I push his dark hair out of his eyes. “Are you okay?”
His eyes flitter open and he looks up at me, horror sketching across his face briefly. He looks around wildly, pushing himself out of my grasp, his hand going to his throat. He scrambles backwards until his back hits the side of a pew.
“What the fuck are you?” Simon eyes us all with fear. “I— I don’t understand.”
“I’m sorry, Simon. I’m so sorry.” I move towards him, but he tries to move backwards again so I stop. “Fuck. I’m so sorry.”
“What are you?” he breathes out.
I don’t dare look at Evan or Shaun. I don’t want them to stop me. “I’m fae. A siren, specifically.”
“You bit me,” Simon says, fear still ruling his eyes.
“Yeah, he does that sometimes,” Evan says.
I glare at him. “Not helping.”
“Your teeth,” Simon says, ignoring Evan.
“Yeah, I know, they’re scary. God, I’m so sorry, Simon. I—” I look around helplessly. How am I supposed to explain any of this? I got angry at Simon, maybe even because he was angry with me. And then I bit him. I almost killed him, and worse, if Evan hadn’t been here, I wouldn’t have been able to do anything to save him.
My head slumps forward. I look to Evan. “Make him forget. Send him home. Maybe add in there something about not looking for me again,” I say in resignation. Simon can’t be around me. He’d be in too much danger.
“What?” Simon asks. “No, I don’t want to forget. I just found you.”
I turn around, seeing him pushing himself to his feet. Tears are in my eyes, blurring my vision. “You can’t be around me. It’s too dangerous.”
Simon wipes at his throat where I bit him. “I’m fine now. I don’t get what’s going on, but I can’t lose you again.” He plants his feet firmly and crosses his arms. “I’m not going anywhere.”
