By moonlight's shadow

Chapter 58

Lukas rocked Aurora in his arms who cooed in her sleep and he looked up at Luna in surprise.

“I know she is a Siren, Aunt Luna but telling such kind of things about her when she is nothing more than a baby is low even for a witch. You are not supposed to speak ill of the dead and of the children who are innocent and that is the reason they can converse with the Gods and Goddesses directly. So how can you say such things about her? She is just a wee babe,’ said Lukas as he moved the curls of her hair from her forehead. She was a beautiful child, and there was no doubt that she was going to grow up to be an even more beautiful dame.

“Lukas, this is a known and proven fact that you are nothing but a moron but I did not realize until now that you are an imbecile as well,” said Luna as she scowled at him. The anger and disgust was evident in her expression even in her corporeal form.

“I might have to warn you that I am not going to tolerate anything more or any more of these insults tonight. You have already said enough and that is something I would really not mention if you were not crossing your limits,” said Lukas, his voice deepening and slightly changing into a growl as Luna smiled at him.

“Why don’t you place her on the couch and then we will talk about what I said,” said Luna and Lukas looked at her with suspicion but did not find anything to mistrust her.

Lukas gathered the cushions and then placed sleeping baby Aurora on the couch inside the house and then looked at Luna who was hovering over the child.

“What now?” asked Lukas as he looked at Luna. His expression was much softer than earlier.

“Do you have this memory of punching Charlie in the face because he had said that he had this notion that the child was a Siren?” asked Luna as Lukas’s brows furrowed up at the expression.

“How did you come to know that?” asked Lukas as Luna sighed and a cold air blew over him.

“That is not the answer to the question I asked. You do remember about punching Charlie in the face right? Do you know what the reason was for that? I think you have deciphered it from the wolf point of view, that is you were the first one to pick her up and bond with her, and place Aurora under your care and protection, under the care of the pack, but you never had any idea that it could happen from her end as well, isn’t it?” asked Luna as Lukas made a gesture of thinking as he started remembering the incidents of the night that the Pack had gone out for a Hunt for a babe and they had brought back Aurora.

Whatever Luna was saying was making more sense to him at this point of time and he nodded at her asking her to continue. It was evident that he had seen the things from only one end when in reality the fact should have different. Rather he should have done it differently.

“Sirens are mostly known for their songs, their songs are irresistibly sweet and melodious but the grief that lies in their hearts are laced in their words, the lyrics of their music. The melody purred to the soul, piercing through and engulfing the sailor's entire being from within. That is why the sailors are so drawn towards them and then they are lured away from their ships and they stay with them until they are finally feverish and mad from lust and then they find their graves in the sea itself. But that is the case for the ones who are born and brought up in the vicinity of water, specifically merpeople. Their call is the call of the Siren but in reality Sirens are different creatures. They are connected to the sorceresses by the magic that lies in their veins and that is to us. They have a distant connection to both the mermaids and the witches which is why it is so difficult to understand the real characteristics of a Siren. But there are a few things which are known to us about them and one of them is Claiming,” said Luna as she paused and Lukas sat down on his favourite arm chair and the spirit sat on the table in front of Aurora.

“I am sure you are plenty curious to know about what is supposed to be this Claiming ritual, isn’t it?” asked Luna and Lukas nodded at her. It was evident that he needed to know more about all the supernatural creatures because he would probably come in contact with some of them during his quest.

“She sat upon the rocks singing a song of sorrow and heavy heart. I had never seen her before nor did I even know his name, but I knew I had fallen in love. She noticed me staring and out folded wings whiter than the snow on the mountain tops. She sang more allowing her voice to drift on the wind. I walked towards her pulled by an invisible string of symphony that drifted from her lips. I soon found myself lost in black eyes. She let the last note of his song curl slowly from his lips. He leaned down and attached his lips to mine. As I release my final breath and fall limp in to her arms I can't help but smile, drifting into my permanent rest. That is what the Siren’s effect is to humans and in legends,” said Luna as she smiled at his nephew. He started saying something but she put up her hand and silenced him.

“I am not nearly done yet sweetheart. So just now what I said is nothing but a myth. This does not happen in reality. So you don not nearly need to think about it but you need to know this in case you want to tell the same story to humans to keep them away from a certain island,” said Luna as Lukas smiled at her, the implication of her words dawning upon him.

“Sirens are the creatures who would die after a certain age if they don’t find their mates and mate with them. They mate for a lifetime with one single person only and they actually do not differentiate between humans, wolves or Druids when it comes to choosing their mates which is the reason the Sirens were born or the race was created in the first place. Almost everyone amongst them is a hybrid, just like your Aurora. She is not a complete Siren, rather she is if she embraces that side of hers. She has human genes in her body as well. And so what she has done is, she has placed a Claiming mark on you so that no other category of Siren, witch or mermaid can touch you or harm you in any way. It is just the same like you putting her under the protection of the Alpha in the Pack,’ said Luna as Lukas glanced at Aurora who was still sleeping peacefully under the covers.

“Then why did you tell me to stay away from her and be careful about her? This thing, this Claiming thing seems to be good thing only, isn’t it?” asked Lukas as Luna nodded her head.

“Well when it comes to witches dear, you can never take everything as black and white. There are things which are supposed to be simple or will look simple but are actually not. Whenever it comes to making a deal with any of these creatures you need to know the pros and cons of that. For they will show you something else and you will say yes for something else. In this case she has put you down to be her mate when she reaches her age of maturity,” said Luna as she saw the change in Lukas’s expression.

“What the f**k is wrong with you Aunt Luna?” asked Lukas, as he looked at her in shock.

“Nothing is wrong with me at all dear. It happens to the best of us and trust me I think this is for the better since she is still innocent and she has asked nothing from you and will ask nothing from you in return of being your mate except love and affection and protection which has already been provided to her. You need to know this for sure that she has put a Claiming mark on you, isn’t it?” asked Luna and Lukas vigorously nodded his head.

“Then you need to wait for Charlie and Rhea to come back and then you need to take Rhea to the cliffs and go for a swim,” said Luna as he looked up at her in surprise.

“Now? At this time of the night? Swimming at the cliffs? Don’t you consider that it is a risky affair?” asked Lukas as he glanced at Aurora who was starting to wake up and was moving her small pudgy hands.

“You are never going to face any problem in the water and all the aquatic creatures are aware of the mark that is on your body. Now Rhea needs to witness it as well. She is not going to be comfortable in water like you are but you do understand that if you want to be the part and parcel of her life and her secrets then you have to show her yours. So before you tell her about your powers you need to tell her about the things which would have a much lesser effect on her that to know that you are the Hand of Death,” said Luna with a wry smile.

“I am what now?” came the question as soon as she had stopped speaking.

“I think I have given you enough lesson for today and you do not need to put so much pressure upon yourself so as to forget all the details,” said Luna as Lukas scowled at her.

“If you did not have to tell me anything about this Hand of  death stuff then why at all did you have to mention it to me?” asked Lukas and Luna laughed out loud in mirth.

“Since you are aware of almost every single thing then why don’t you tell me what has happened with Rhea today? That way I won’t have to ask her things which she might not be ready to tell me?” prompted Lukas and Luna came closer to her making the air near him grow colder.

“This back door policy is really not going to work with your sister. She is a creature who is a wolf like you along with being a Druid and who are extremely proud creatures just like you and they don’t have the idea of this lying and stuff. Some of them are really tough and pricklish, like they have the similar characteristics that they belong to the trees or the species which they are born of but lying is something that they cannot tolerate. So you better decide how you are going to adjust with everything and then make her deal with it as well,” said Luna as she gestured at Aurora who was now fully awake and was now looking at Luna once more.