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“As I’ve said, multiple times already, I do not control the demon bitch baby!” Crimson eyes traced the source of the commotion, seeing Kaoru emerge above deck with a fuming Koga on his trail. “She pops up whenever! She doesn’t give a shit ‘bout my orders! How many times do I gotta repeat myself to yer dumb stupid ass ‘bout that!?”
Kaoru only rolled his eyes. Rei could assume that he was eager to plug in the earbuds they’ve all brought out for the occasion, yet can’t find the perfect opportunity to do so without further angering his fellow Greek demigod. “I’m just saying, If Puppy—”
“Don’t fuckin’ call me ‘Puppy’!”
“—wasn’t the one who made a mess out of my bunk, then who else did? No offense to Sakuma-san and Adonis-kun here, but the Romans don’t exactly have a sense of humor to pull something like this off.”
“I don’t know! It’s a goddamn ship!” Koga threw his hands in the air out of exasperation, almost hitting the son of Venus who had also come to witness the argument. “The waves are fucky! We’re in the Sea of Monsters, for fuck’s sake! Of course stuff’s gonna fall ‘n hit everything all the time! Maybe if you…!”
Rei plugged in one of his earbuds. Listening to Koga argue with everyone aboard this ship should’ve been considered a norm for the past few days. Rei should’ve been used to it for the past few months since he caught him playing with his automaton dogs under the rain. But no matter how innocent and charming the youth could be, perhaps noise would forever be his nemesis.
He looked past the crew, staring at the horizon to look for any clue that they were nearing the island Kaoru predicted that they would pass. The island was home to the Sirens; vultures with human heads with alluring voices to bewitch sailors to their death. Kaoru appeared to be knowledgeable on the topic as he had urged them to have anything they could use to cover their ears on them at all times even before the quest has started, though he didn’t share anything else on the subject matter.
Rei heard the first few notes of their song before he even caught a glimpse of the monsters’ island. Immediately, he put on his other earbud. He encouraged the others to follow suit, relieved when he found that Adonis has already put his on and Kaoru doing the same.
That left…
“—Doggie,” Rei warned, putting a hand on Koga’s shoulder. Koga only slapped the hand away and shoved a finger at him, then the other members of the crew as he noticed that they were all wearing protective gear for their ears. He didn’t need to read his lips; Rei knew that Koga’s already cursing at them like a sailor.
It was far too late when Koga realized what was happening. The rest of the crew stood frozen as a cloud of haze washed over golden eyes. Before any of them could act, Koga jumped off the deck.
Naturally, Rei dived after him.
Rei was completely unprepared for the impact of icy cold water on his system, having to bite on his lip to remain alert. Despite being within an arm’s reach earlier, Koga was already far away. He most likely had experience wading through large bodies of water for him to effortlessly cross the sea towards the island. Rei, being a Roman and a vampire? Not so much.
But he persisted. Whether it was through his own strength or through Hakaze-kun’s magic as a descendant of Poseidon (which he did not receive earlier, but Rei was hoping that the son of Hecate was doing something onboard to help), Rei soon managed to grab hold of Koga’s arm.
“Let me go!” Koga yanked his arm from Rei. He continued to swim towards the island, his gaze still fixed on the figures that occupied it.
Some said that Sirens embody a person’s greatest desire. Others suggested that they sometimes exposed one’s fatal flaw. For someone who had found his goal to achieve in life, there was no doubt that the Sirens’ appearance to Koga was enough to make him fall prey to them. Their song was just the icing on the cake.
As for someone like Rei…
The monsters appeared in their true form. Rei knew his fatal flaw years before this encounter. They didn’t have to lure him with false appearances or hypnotizing songs when they already had Koga trapped in their incantation.
Rei tried again. This time, he wrapped his arms tightly around Koga’s waist. Koga howled and thrashed, throaty cries of Let me go!, Don’t be ridiculous!, and Sakuma-senpai—It’s Sakuma-senpai! The greatest man in the world! leaving his lips. Rei felt himself break little by little as he struggled to contain Koga.
A thought surfaced in his head in desperation. There was a legend back at Camp Jupiter about how a son of Poseidon saved a daughter of Athena from the Sirens’ spell. Rei was no son of Poseidon, and the young man screaming and flailing in his arms was certainly no son of the wisdom goddess, but repeating it was possible. However, there was the dilemma of being unable to breathe underwater that needed to be solved first.
The plan he devised in his mind couldn’t be considered foolproof. Koga would surely protest if his mind wasn’t influenced by the Sirens’ song.
But between Koga completely falling prey to the Sirens and the possibility that the Greek demigod would refuse to spare even a glance at him after this, Rei would rather choose the latter.
With great difficulty, Rei moved his arms from hugging Koga’s waist to firmly holding his cheeks, hands pressed against his ears.
“Doggie—no, Koga,” Rei continued to struggle. It was hard enough to keep him at bay earlier, but it was even more challenging now that Koga could easily conjure his blade and injure him. That, or he could will the seaweeds beneath them to drown the Roman praetor trying to control him.
…No. There was no room for failure.
Rei took a deep breath. “I pray you’ll forgive me after this, my sweet doggie.”
He captured Koga’s lips in a kiss, keeping the air between them as he pulled the both of them underwater. Rei searched for the part of Koga resisting the spell of the Sirens and amplified it, willing it to spread across Koga’s body the same way he had given strength to his legion.
Golden eyes began to focus. Koga ceased fighting back, breaking away from the kiss and turning to slump in Rei’s shoulders. Rei held his breath for as long as he could before he brought them back to the surface.