6. Sebastian

Chapter 6

Sebastian

I spent the whole dinner with Grace thinking of her burgeoning superpowers. Really, the chances of her launching a shoe across an entire room and find the one table full of influencers and their husbands who'd been invited onto my cruise expressly for advertising purposes, was an astronomically infinitesimal chance. And yet...

I'd had to use my vampire mesmerism to make them forget the whole incident. Not exactly ethical, but the women had been harpies. I tried explaining that it had been an accident, and all they were interested in were their expensive clothes, and having me boot Grace off the ship at the closest port. And since that wasn't happening, and they would not let it go, I'd had to mesmerize them a bit. Just enough to get them to forget the incident. They'd probably gone back to their cabin thinking they'd been clumsy eaters, but I didn't care. Shallow minds equated with shallow hearts, and I'd long since stopped letting people like that get to me, or cause me a moment's loss of sleep.

The two men from earlier who had actually laid hands on Grace had been kicked off my ship. We had a small helicopter that we used for emergencies, and my pilot had been more than willing to offload them onto the nearest continent with their luggage. And that had been both legal and ethical.

My pilot was a good man, who I relied on for those types of things. Well, he was a good wolf shifter. His secondary job on the ship was security, and even though I hadn't assigned Grace to him, I'd noticed that he still shadowed her, protecting her from afar. With Micaela and Kazi protecting her around the clock and Gray keeping an eye on her, I hoped she'd stay safe for the remainder of her cruise.

When the call about Grace had come in over the walkie, my blood had run cold. I'd foolishly underestimated what having a siren of Grace's power on my ship would do to the average person. The guys that had hassled her had been human.

One of them had had a girlfriend.

I'd let the girlfriend stay. My staff told me she'd broken up with him over one of our SAT phones the moment he'd been kicked off the chopper with his luggage. I'd thought it was fitting. Then again, my sense of justice was a little more razor sharp than others.

"Day three tomorrow. It's an at - sea day. Any plans, Grace?"

Grace was frowning at her pot roast and potatoes as though they had personally snubbed her, moving them around her plate without really eating anything. She glanced up at Rafe's question. "Hmm?" Her eyes focused. "Oh, well, I thought I'd check out the spa." She shrugged. "I now have all this onboard credit. I may as well use it up."

"I'd love to join you, if that would be okay," I said.

Rafe stared at me. "Boss. You're killing me! I wanna go to the spa!"

I gave him a look. "It's unbecoming for a full-grown man to whine."

Micaela snorted into her drink.

Rafe gave her a wounded look. "He works me like a dog."

She shook her head. "I don't feel sorry for you. You get time off, just like the rest of us, and you make seven figures a year."

Rafe grumbled about no respect under his breath and then sighed. "Fine. I'll take your to-do list for tomorrow and add it to the mountain already on mine."

Grace, who I guessed might be uncomfortable with someone having to work overtime for something relating to her, was instead staring at the ocean through the window of the restaurant.

"Grace?"

"Hmm?"

"Is it okay if I tag along to your spa day?" I asked again.

She nodded. "Oh, sure. That sounds good." She tried to smile, but it was clear something was on her mind.

"Is something bothering you?" Micaela asked. "You seem preoccupied."

Grace sighed, her finger swirling around the rim of her glass, a faraway look in her eyes. "My whole life I always thought I was under a curse. People have always reacted to me like they did today. It's made me afraid to leave my house." She looked at the table, her eyes filling with tears. She swallowed. "I thought that finding answers would be freeing. Instead, I feel trapped. I don't want to be a siren. I don't want to have this effect on people. To see reason leave their eyes. To have them pawing at me."

I handed her a fresh linen napkin for her tears and scooted closer to her, moving Kazi over a bit. "I think you're under some misconceptions about being a siren." I put an arm around her.

Her chuckle was watery. "Well, I will admit I know next to nothing. Lay it on me."

"First, as Micaela told you earlier, these men have a choice. Yes, you draw people. Perhaps more than the average person. But that does not mean you take their free will away. They choose."

I really wanted to get this point across to her, because it was important. My lure as a vampire made others want to be closer to me. A leprechaun's lure did the same thing. But we didn't force people. And everyone that we came into contact with on a daily basis chose how to react to us; just like they chose how to react to the rest of the population.

"How did you even hear us? You were dealing with that table."

I winked. "Vampire hearing."

"Ah. So that's real. I'm going to need details on vampirism for my books. I want to make them feel authentic."

"I will answer any questions you have," I promised her.

"Even the embarrassing questions?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Do you have embarrassing questions?"

She bit her lip. "I actually have quite a few."

I nodded. "Then, yes. Even the embarrassing questions. Back to being a siren. Your singing voice has the ability to calm storms. Storms in nature. And the storms in people. That's why everyone was so mesmerized by you in the Starlight Lounge. Your song calmed the storms within them, whatever that storm was."

"So..." she fidgeted with her glass. "There are some good things about sirens."

"If by good you mean the ability to save lives, yes," Rafe said. "Our lives will always have storms, but you're like a sunny, rum-filled port in those storms. There will be those that are drawn to you simply because you're a siren. But there will be others that are eternally grateful because you quiet the storm within them."

"You'll also have a longer life span―about triple a normal human's. That can be both good and bad," I added.

She smiled tremulously. "My mom is in her seventies. I've always thought she would go before me, but the idea that I'll live so much longer than her..." She shook her head. "It's hard to imagine."

"Wait, hold up. Your mom is in her seventies?" Micaela said.

Grace laughed a little burble of sound. "Mama adopted me when I was eleven. The adoption agency she went through had strict instructions to only let a single woman adopt me. I guess they'd tried couples and had some problems, but oddly, I don't remember any of that. I remember bits and pieces from the group home, but not much." She smiled. "My mom's a firecracker. She learned early on how guys react to me, so she took to carrying around a baseball bat everywhere we went."

Her face grew grave as she no doubt imagined living the rest of her long life without her mom.

"I can turn her, if you'd like?" I offered.

Her eyes widened. "Into a vampire?" And then she laughed. "I can just imagine a seventy-three-year-old vampire going around with a baseball bat." She shrugged. "Well, I can ask her. I'm betting she'll say no, though."

"She won't think you're crazy for thinking vampires are real?" Micaela asked.

Grace smiled a small little smile and shook her head. "We've always been honest with each other. If I tell her, she'll believe me."

"Did you want to talk to her? I have a satellite phone in my office."

Her eyes lit up. "Can we use it after dinner?"

"Of course."

"Then, yes. Thank you!" She leaned over and gave me a hug, and I looked bemusedly at Rafe as I patted her back. He winked at me, and I shook my head.

I withdrew. "On to factoid number three about sirens. You have a mate. A soul mate. Sirens are generally weak supernaturals. You don't have extra strength or savagery like a vampire or shifter, you're not nearly indestructible like a gargoyle, and you don't have magic like a sorcerer or a witch. In the old days, there were a few sirens that lured sailors to them, crashing their ships upon the rocks. The reason the men were never heard from again is because they chose to stay with the sirens. The sirens didn't want to be a part of the normal world, but they wanted companionship, and so they stole a few shipfuls of men." I gave Grace a firm look. "Being a siren does not make you evil. You are who you've always been."

She looked down, but before she did, I saw the naked relief in her eyes. I softened my voice. "So, your mate will be someone strong enough to protect you."

"It's because you're so squishy," Micaela said with a smirk.

Grace laughed. "Thank you, Micaela," she said drolly.

Micaela winked. "And on that note! Dessert!"

I tried to unobtrusively do paperwork while Grace was on the phone with her mom, but my vampire hearing picked up every word between them.

"Hey, Mama." Grace sounded exhausted and I felt bad for her. She was supposed to be on vacation. Instead, she probably felt like she needed a vacation from her vacation. I hoped the spa day would help.

"Gracie!" an elderly lady squealed. "How are you calling me? I thought cellphones didn't work at sea."

"I'm calling on a satellite phone, Mama. I'm in the owner's office."

"Did something happen? I knew I should have gone with you, Gracie. I just knew it!" I could hear rustling around, and then, "I have my bat. I'll book a flight. Do you think they'll let me board the cruise ship at a different port?" More rustling. "I'm packing right now. You just let me at ‘em. No one treats my Gracie that way. What is wrong with people? I tell ya, no one has any respect anymore!"

Gracie started laughing, but I could see tears come to her eyes at her mom's words. Without looking up, I pulled a tissue from the box on my desk and passed it to her.

She grabbed it and delicately sniffled into it, drying her eyes. "Mama, we can talk about all of that in a minute." Grace hesitated. "You know how I came searching for answers?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I found them. Mama... are you sitting down?"

"Okay, I'm sitting. Lay it on me."

"I'm a siren."

Total silence.

"Huh. It makes sense," her mom said.

"What do you mean it makes sense!" Grace wailed. "I just told you I'm a supernatural creature of myth and legend and you say it makes sense!"

"Now, Gracie girl. You're still you, hun."

Thank you, Miss Liora . That was what I'd been telling her. I could see she only started to believe it once her mom said it, and I didn't at all take offense. Moms had their own brand of supernatural gifts regarding their children. Wise and mystical gifts that I respected.

"Does that mean that the cruise is full of supernaturals?"

"Mom," Grace growled, rubbing a weary hand over her eyes. Then she sighed. "Yes. In fact, the owner is a vampire, and he's offered to turn you."

"Oooh, will I be young and beautiful?" Mama Liora sounded excited at the prospect.

My lips quirked as I scrawled my signature at the bottom of the restock form for the next port. "A few minor things will change. Her eye color will deepen. Her skin will tighten. She'll look about twenty years younger, but she won't ever go back to being in her twenties, if that's what she's asking. She will be beautiful, but she will remain the same age."

"Did you hear that, Mama?"

"Yes, I did! And who is that delicious-sounding man?"

Grace groaned. "He's the vampire that offered to change you, and he can hear everything you're saying."

"Good! No sense in handing out compliments to people if they can't hear me."

I wanted to laugh. I really did. But I had the sense that Grace would try to skewer me alive with her laser eyes if I did, so I coughed a bit, my eyes watering like mad as I tried to hold my laughter at bay.

Grace poked me with a capped pen and gave me a dirty look.

"I want to talk to him," Mama said.

Grace sighed in resignation as she handed me the phone.

"Good evening, Mama Liora," I said, running computations of the numbers Rafe had given me this morning in my head as I spoke. "What can I do for you?"

"Is my Grace safe on your ship?"

"I assure you she is. My lion is protecting her, and I have a few bodyguards guarding her as well when I or my cruise director cannot be with her."

Mama Liora sighed. "Thank you. I've been concerned. She doesn't leave the house anymore. I was excited that she was finally doing something fun, but worried about what she'd find."

I paused. "Mama Liora? If you'd like, I can send a plane to pick you up and bring you to Hilo, Hawaii, our first port. There's plenty of room in Grace's suite."

"I'm all packed and ready," she assured me.

I pulled a scrap piece of paper toward me. "Can I get your address?" I nodded as I wrote it down. "Could you be ready in an hour? I'll have a car pick you up and take you to the airport."

"What can I call you?"

"My name is Sebastian, ma'am."

"Sebastian, that all sounds wonderful, and I'd sure love to be there with Gracie, but you see, I have my cat, Sir Winsor, and I don't have anyone to take him for a full month."

"Bring him. My lion will look after him."

"He won't eat him?"

"Mama Liora, I assure you that Kazi is a gentleman. He will not eat Sir Winsor."

"Then you have a deal, Sebastian. And Sebastian?"

"Yes?"

"You treat my Gracie right. I'm bringing my baseball bat with me, just in case."

"Of course, ma'am."

"And I'll think long and hard about your offer to turn me."

"It's always open to you, Mama Liora."

She giggled like a woman half her age. "I just love that you call me that. I'm not going to tell you my actual name now."

Grace groaned. "Mama, don't flirt with him!"

I pressed my lips together. Her mom really was a firecracker. "I'm honored by whatever name you choose to have me call you, Mama Liora," I assured her.

She laughed again and hung up.

Grace sat back in her chair as if she'd just run the Boston Marathon. She looked exhausted and slightly embarrassed, but... whole and happy.

I'd have to let the captain and crew know about the new arrangements. Mama Liora was coming aboard, and heaven only knew what would happen next.