Free Starving for Love by Nicole Zoltack

wounds. Her tongue deadened, and her sight blurred. Her thoughts grew cloudy, her last clear one was that she was changing yet again but not into a hag.
    Into something worse.
    Now, she was the zombie.
    ****
    Hunger. That was all she knew. Someone was in the room with her. His loud heartbeat sounded like the sweetest song she'd ever heard.
    The person was opening their mouth, talking, shouting, screaming — she wasn't certain. His heartbeat drowned out all other sounds.
    Going for his neck, she leapt toward him. He jumped back and ran toward the door. Somewhere deep inside, she hesitated. She wanted to eat him, and yet something was holding her back. Her hesitation allowed him enough time to flee.
    Growling with frustration, she stumbled around the room. He had closed the door behind him, and her hands and arms didn't cooperate well enough to turn the knob so she made another exit for herself — through the window.
    New wounds appeared on her arms from the glass, but she didn't care. She was free now. Free to find someone to eat. Her legs didn't want to cooperate, and to have any semblance of balance, she had to have her arms out straight in front of her. The sun shone down on her, but she felt cold, as if heat couldn't touch her now.
    A rock on the path destroyed her gait, and she fell. The stench of something smelly filled her nose. She sniffed and followed the smell to its source. A man sat near a building, rocking back and forth, his arms wrapped around his knees. He stank, needing to be dunked in the ocean, and he looked thin as if he hadn't eaten in several days. None of this bothered Sirena though — all she saw was food.
    The first bite was delicious. So was the last. Soon, the bum had been reduced to a pile of picked-clean bones.
    She wiped blood from her chin and glanced up at the sun. For a second, she felt both warmth and full. Then the moment passed, and she awkwardly got to her feet as hunger once again claimed her. Time to find another meal.

Chapter Sixteen
    Small black specks swam in front of Kristian's vision. His first death by suffocation had been quick and somewhat painless because he had accepted his fate. But this drowning he struggled and fought against. Kristian had no way to save himself. He was going to die. Again. For real this time.
    The prince glanced toward the shore, to where his love was, wanting his last thought to be of her.
    A sudden sharp jab brought his attention back to the king, whose trident was stuck in Kristian's right shoulder. He winced, gasping, filling his lungs with water. The king removed the trident and knocked it onto the top of Kristian's head.
    That instance, the water fled his lungs, and he could breathe again. He gasped and choked and drank oxygen from the water until he caught his breath. "Thank you."
    The king grunted. "Didn't do it for you," he muttered. He sighed, his eyes still stormy. "She loves you more than me."
    Kristian shook his head. "No, I'm sure she loves you."
    "She always disobeyed me. Running off to the surface to spend time with you, a human of all creatures! If others were to start believing the legends about us, our lives would be in danger."
    "I think she wanted me to know who she was, but she never told me. Surely because it would be against your wishes."
    "She never told you about me. Just how well can you know her?"
    The king had a good point, but Kristian countered, "I know lines form between her eyebrows when she's deep in thought. I know how to make her smile, how to get her to laugh. Her being happy gives my life meaning." He began to give into a new fantasy — one where he could be in the castle with the one he loved. A large grin stretched across his face. "You saved me… Could you save her? Give her back her looks? Or would that mean—"
    The king snorted. "You only profess to love her. You want her to be a trophy."
    "No, Your Highness. I am more than willing to marry her as she looks now, but I don't want her to have