Free The Siren Series 3: Brandon (A Siren Novel) by Marata Eros

breeder.”
    Goddess.

CHAPTER TWELVE
    Brandon
     
    The blood from Alicia sustains me as I shadow-skip. Like most Reapers I encounter, this bunch isn’t much for modern accoutrements. Their dislike of cars really works for me.
    Broken branches and impressions of three sets of the typically worn soft-soled, knee-high shoes show the direction the Reapers have gone.
    Two sets of footprints wear deeper in the spongy soil of the forest.
    They carried someone. Two someones.
    The Harborer and the Druid. I'd stake my life on it.
    A frown bisects my brow. Why keep the Harborer alive? Maybe he'll be a pawn to gain control or cooperation from the female.
    Hard to know, and I'm not a big fan of speculation. I’m more a fan of concrete facts, and those are: the breeder is gone and three Reapers are in control. Whether she is aware she's a pure-blood or possesses witchery skills is unknown. If she were privy to her inborn talents, it could be her only advantage of escape.
    The sun reigns, weakening me. I lean against a trunk, checking the position of the light. It’s late afternoon. I've been traveling all day, hoping to beat the Reapers’ wake-up call. Time is on my side. It's late summer, so I have just a little more light before night falls. If I can slip into wherever they're holding her, I can snatch her away before they awaken.
    That's the hope. Whether that'll happen? I'm not a betting guy.
    I continue traveling. When the trees thin, I use the shadows of buildings. Those eventually cease as the area becomes progressively more rural.
    Finally, I find myself in front of a meadow. A thatch of woods stands a quarter mile away like an oasis. But I must travel in the open sunlight to make it to the secure shadows of the forest.
    I breathe deeply, taking in as much damp, shadowy air as possible.
    I sprint.
    Dirt kicks up from my heels as long fronds of pasture grass whip my legs.
    The sun blisters my skin, and I gasp.
    My flesh cooks in a slow broil. If I were not Druid, I would be burning like a vampire shish kebob.
    The distance between the two stands of woods seems to grow longer.
    I pump my arms as I race toward the treeline like water for a starving man. I leap and roll past the border of cool dimness. Tumbling into the trees, I hit a trunk with a teeth-rattling crash. I fall to the side and just stare up through the canopy, getting my wind. Lifting my arm, I watch steam rise from scalding red skin. My arm drops.
    Close. Too close.
    I wait a vital minute then stand. Time to move out.
     
    *
     
    I attempt to blend into the last stand of trees before a huge stone structure. Pushing a heavy branch aside, I study the fortress I'll need to break into.
    I remember a similar practice mission with one of my vampire mentors, Tarrin. Tarrin—who would be king in his own right—was a rare Exotic and possessed many layers of the rarely encountered old magick. He is now mated to Lucia, also an Exotic warrior . When I was a youngling, he took me on various scouting missions. This moment holds that same feeling.
    I squint at the stone building, which is a rarity in the United States. I've been here before. From what Tarrin says, these houses are typical in Europe, where he spent many years.
    Done in the Victorian styling of the late nineteenth century, the mansion's three-storied stone façade is anchored by an elaborate turret at the forward north corner. Ivy runs the length of the turret, leaving holes where small rectangular windows appear to float inside the greenery.
    I glance at the sun.
    It's hovering at the horizon.
    If I do anything, it must be now. I can't sit around stinking up the entire countryside with my presence, which the Reapers will scent out in about four seconds.
    Trees line the trail to the front door, which is done in a medieval style that predates the building. The thick wood door is every bit of nine feet tall at the highest point of its arch. Patina covers the metal fasteners holding the slats together.
    I try the