Ballad - Chapter Four

Alley way of Rouge - 8:15
“ Goodnight. Sleep tight. Don’t let the dead bite.”

The lyrics of a song flooded out of the popular strip club into the alley way where Marilyn Baxter was being murdered. Her raspy gasps of air and the rush of her heart beat filled her ears and tuned out the sounds of party life. A scream was her only chance to survive so as she opened her mouth the great owl clamped even tighter around her throat.

“Do it and I will leave you bleeding here without a face.” He cawed, brown eyes blazing with blood lust.  The siren’s heart pounded even faster as he snapped at her with his large beak. Doing this, his weight shifted to her chest which left her legs now free. It was his mistake once more as the youth seized the moment and slammed her legs into his stomach. His guard has been down and in that split second, the owl’s pain caused him to remove his talons from her throat. He fell back against the dumpster that the owl had faked falling into her earlier. His cries for pain were silent compared to the piercing noise of the siren’s call. Marilyn stood, bloodied and filthy but still alive as she moved towards her attacker. Her noise increased in pitch causing the owl to start clawing at his ears. Soon enough, he shifted back to human. The girl pulled a dagger out of her boot and shoved it towards his Adam’s apple before stopping. The distracted owl sucked in air and looked towards her with a hateful look.
“Name. “ She requested with authority.

“Whopkins. Triston Whopkins of sector 43.“ The defeated owl whispered.

“Who sent you?”

“Duke Barath. Brother of-”

“Of Brendan. Yes, I know. How did you know I was here?”

The owl grinned. “There are eyes everywhere little siren. “

“How many?”

“I seem to have lost count.” Another grin.

The blade went into his throat easily. The trouble was severing the head cleanly with a dagger. She had to do it messily which she did not really mind. The owl’s blood continued to drip as she staggered back into the Rouge. As she entered, some human women at the bar were the first to see her. Screams erupted then and the sea of people parted. She made her way without a single problem to the back of the club where she knew an elevator would be to take her to Duchess Eve.  What a sight she must be, Marilyn thought as she passed pale faced people. With a head in one hand, a dagger in another, blood stains, and dirt, the siren probably looked like some poor excuse for a murderer. That resulted in a snort from her as she started to enter the metal door that lead to her destination. The werewolf from early trotted up besides her causing her reflexes to go into overdrive, the dagger pointed at him. The tan male opened the door for her with an almost amused grin.
“Duchess Eve won’t like this at all.” The Louisiana accent came from behind her as he followed her into the elevator.

“How do you know?” She questioned as the doors shut, a southern tone calling after her as the wolf pressed the only other button in the metal box.

“Because, that is her lover’s head you have there.”

Duchess Eve’s Office - 8:45 p.m.

White. White on every surface of this damn office. White as far as one could see when you entered the office of Duchess Eve, Sector 4. From the white walls with golden designs to the white carpet, the everything white theme was a little….overkill. Marilyn was going to fix that for she threw the head of Triston Whopkins across the room, letting it bounce and splatter blood wherever it happened to be.
The shocked looked of the Duchess was one that the siren would forever treasure. This is for several reasons. The mouse brown haired siren was an older woman coming around the age of 420 years old but she didn’t look a day over thirty with no wrinkles in sight. Her creamy white skin was flawless besides the fact that her too bright red lipstick would have made a hooker scream. Plus, there was the fact that her dark grey eyes could kill with the glare she dished out to anyone who pissed her off. Points for Miss Baxter for getting that glare more than once in her life. The older siren stood up from her all white desk and slammed her perfected manicured hands down on the hard surface. A drop of blood bounced from where the head stopped on the ground and landed on her desk. She looked at it with distaste and stood straight, hands on her nicely ironed dark green pants suit. The Duchess tucked a loose hair behind her ear and sighed, looking towards the head.

“Well, dam. I should have known someone that young wasn’t just here to be seduced.” The older siren gave a tired look and rubbed the spot between her eyebrows.

The younger siren laughed. “I guess you learned a lesson there, ma’am.”

“Looks like you learned yours to. “

The siren hissed. “Watch it, Eve. I don’t take too kindly to people being rude to me. Ask your man on the floor.”

The duchess rolled her eyes and looked at the bleeding head. “Was this necessary? It’s white for god’s sake, Baxter! Look at this. Blood everywhere! And you are filthy. I swear if you sit on my couch, I will-”

“You’ll what?” The girl snapped back, sitting on the couch. “Scream at me? You won’t dare. You’d ruin your cheap lipstick.”

“Ladies. “ The werewolf hushed the two women down. “Please. We have bigger troubles. I don’t know if you can tell, Duchess Eve but you’re little siren friend here was almost murdered.”

The obviously angry older woman turned to the man. “I can tell. Was it not your job to watch her?”

The werewolf crossed his arms. “She had a vamp with her. An old vamp. The woman could have ripped me in half.”

“And I should have ya good for nothing puff ball!” The southern vampire entered the room in a huff with a somewhat confused human boy. “You were suppose to protect my friend and you sat there in the dance room, drinking like ya gone a decade without water. “ Caroline jabbed a finger into his chest. The were stood a head taller than her and probably had 30 pounds more muscle on him but the man stepped back in fear. The vampire turned around and stood with her hands on her hips. “And this man was your lover?”

Robin seemed to notice the head at this point. His gag reflex was really working today for he doubled over and lost his stomach there.

“My fucking carpet!” The Duchess screamed, slamming her hands on the desk. The four others in the room winced as the noise penetrated their eardrums.

“Some of us have sensitive ears!” The werewolf yelled, shaking his head.

The human wiped his mouth. “I am so….sorry.”

“Don’t apologize to this….woman.” Caroline went to her boyfriend and rubbed his stomach. “My poor bird.”

The Duchess sighed and settled back down in her chair. “I’m so tired right now. I can’t even tolerate this any longer. “

Marilyn sat up. “Then we can change the subject. We can talk about why you asked me here in the first place, risking my identity.”

The siren looked towards the other and smiled. “I just wanted a chat.”

Caroline shot a glare to the Duchess. “Cut the crap, honey.”

With a bitter look, the older woman tensed in her seat. “It’s about your father’s death.”

A confused look was mirrored on each of the three friends’ faces. “What about my father? He died of natural causes.”

The man answered. “So it seemed. Recent evidence shows otherwise. “

“He’d been sick. “

“Yes, he had been. But it wasn’t completely natural. Poison. “

Marilyn turned towards Duchess Eve for confirmation. The woman nodded and wearily spoke. “It’s true. The man was murdered slowly by his own people. Do you think it could have been your cousin’s family?”

“Harlow and her family are honest people. Don’t you dare accuse them of something like this. Yes, her parents are gone but they were nothing short of good. “

“She was betrothed to Brendan. “ The werewolf added to the Duchess’s case.

“Who the hell are you?” Marilyn stood, anger coursing through her blood.

The were blinked his dark eyes at the siren. “Colin Sader. Alpha were of the Sector 4 wolves.”

Caroline snorted. “Alpha and afraid of me.”

“That’s kinda piss poor, right?” Robin asked to no one in particular.

A growl erupted from the wolf’s throat causing the vampire to step in front of her lover. “Back.Up.” The Duchess commanded, picking at her nails. “Wolves these days. What can you do?”

“You do not own me, Duchess. I came here because you asked for help. No more. No less. “ Colin stated.

“What would the duchess lady need help with?” Robin asked.  

The Duchess looked to the crowd and sighed. “With my murder. “

Hell, Marilyn thought. She was just hoping this was going to be a pleasant chat about her not visiting sooner.