Chapter 8: Chapter VII
"This is fucked up," Aiden thought to himself as the morning rays crept into the NAIAD." So I am a Titan, not a Tidelander. Well, yeah, If the Sirens are the Oceanids, they are the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys. Second generation titans. And if Bijou and I are the children of Oceanus and his daughter Ocearos, that makes us third-generation Titans. Yeah, I'm Titan, not a Tidelander."
" My mother is my sister." he gasped. "And my sister is my niece? No wonder the Gods and Titans were fucked up. Just mapping the family would make you go mad. And they sure picked a shit time to do a family reunion."
Aiden took a breath and remembered Violca. With his newly established identity as a Titan. Aiden rolled over and put his arm around Violca. Placing his hand on her stomach, he pulled her close and whispered. "If you decided to keep it, now you will have a fighting chance."
Violca's burn scar left by Oceanus slowly healed and faded away. Every strand of energy was taken in by Aiden. The veins in his arm bulged in pain. His muscle spasms like they were being electrified, but he held firm.
Violca didn't dare move. She couldn't go back to sleep and was lying in bed when she felt Aiden grab her. She was going to say something snarky, but his words shocked her stiff, and his actions blew her mind. All she could do was look down at the arm that was soothing her abdomen reign, taking away the mark left by a Titan.
When Aiden finished, he rolled out of bed and spoke to Violca, who he knew was awake, " You should stay inland with your pregnancy. I can take you to a friend's house in the city."
"Why are you helping me?" Violca asked as she was lying in bed.
Aiden thought of many answers. The Old Titan of the Seas is his father. It made him royalty in a sense. But regardless of the many noble reasons Aiden had mentally conjured. He spoke the truest reason.
"I bashed your face into my dash for what you did to Bijou, and then I stopped the bleeding and cleaned you up. My life, in no way, has been hard. But I like to consider myself a learned man. Rough around the edges, but learned. I didn't kill you then because I wasn't ready for war with Adrielle, and shit was happening that needs all of our attention. However, I helped you today because I felt sorry for you and myself. Our situations defy the decrees of Gods, so I am giving you a fighting chance the way someone did for me, I think. The situation is still developing."
Violca giggled as she walked to Aiden. She then rose to the tips of her toes and pulled Aiden down to give him a thank-you kiss on the check.
"Colton used to be scared of you. After the rough stretch four years ago when your buyer tried fuck you guys, the way you killed the lot of them stuck with him. I thought you were a trigger-happy prick. When I found out that you were one of us, I thought you were a supernatural trigger-happy prick. " Violca explained. " Then I shared a moment with you that left me bloody and changed the way I thought about things. I am sorry about what I did to Bijou and Gilles... L'Attente has never had a King...But I'll be willing to help you become the first if you take away the baby the way you took away the aches."
Aiden sighed. "So you decided?"
"I can't live away from the water. And I can't watch my child grow old and die. Are you sure it's completely human?"
Aiden's eyes shined, and he looked at Violca's stomach. "Completely," Aiden replied.
"Then I will end it before it has a chance to know what suffering is. She is not a mistake, but it will be a mistake to have her. Help me, and I'll help you take over Orphelin Bay."
Suppose Violca would have said those words to Aiden the day before. He would have brushed them off. He never wanted to rule the bay. He liked his life whoring and freedom and drug smuggling. It was even better now that Calliope was home, But with his power raging through his body, Aiden didn't like the idea of being anyone's employee.
Sometime later, When Violca was absolutely ready, Aiden did the deed. And together, they jumped off the docks and waited in the water. When nothing came, Violca sighed and said, "Augie was setup, but he made a go for it. I killed the guys from your crew to save you. They were waiting here for you."
Aiden didn't even blink as he just swam back to the NAIAD and geared up.
"You know how to use a gun?" he asked Violca.
"I don't need one."
"You do. It's faster. And you can't talk your way out of everything, even if you're a Tidelander. " Said Aiden.
"And what are you?" Violca finally asked the big question.
Aiden paused. " I think I'm an act of war," he answered truthfully.
Aiden grabbed a duffle of firearms and ammunition left the NAIAD. Violca didn't know what to make of his answer.
When the duo was in the truck and drove the streets, Violca asked what Aiden was planning. He told her that humans need to learn what fear was again.
"Are you going to kill your whole crew?"
"No, they are how I find Stolin. But if kill enough of them. It'll give Augie some leeway as they scramble to defend against me." Said Aiden.
Violca adjusts in her seat, and she stared out the window without a comment.
"What is it?" Aiden asked.
"That's what Adrielle would do," she said.
"In the future, I'll be better. In the future, maybe you can have a child with a man that you love, even if he is human. But right now, we sacrifice. This is the war you wanted, Violca."
Aiden did just as he said and led Violca into a blood bath as they hunted down his old crew and killed them one by one. Just to make a point, Aiden left a knife in each of their backs.
When enough of them died and the word spread, the crew met at the factory, where they found Colton's body. After asking around, Grayson blamed Calliope for his son's murder. She was seen leaving with him and bringing back his dead body.
When it became hard to find his old crew, Aiden figured they fled to regroup.
"This is the leeway I was talking about. If the crew isn't running the streets, this is Augie's chance to get to move. Find him and take him home."
"Home? Won't they search there?"
"No, because when I find out where they are regrouping, I'm going to kill them all," Aiden replied.
Violca just nodded and left the truck. Aiden then went hunting for the rest of his old crew. Honestly didn't know whether to kill them or look them up until everything was over. But every step of the way, Aiden worked hard to keep himself in check. Only slowly, over time, did he get used to his power and inherent traits. He was oddly tyrannical when he thought of the traitors, like plagues of Egypt tyrannical.
Though his titan-hood expanded his knowledge, it was all general. He was aching to understand exactly what was happening by asking his mother. But then he remembers his mother saying she would be missing. He had no idea when he was going to see her again.
When Aiden arrived at the factory, he pushed all the supernatural thoughts from his mind refocused on the mundane.
With just the constable's car outside of the factory, Aiden figured that Murdoch was in on the scheme as well. This made his idea to look everyone up difficult. However, when he enters the factory, He finds Calliope in chains at the bottom of a water tank. Next to her is the lifeless body of Grayson Raxter, Colton's father.
Aiden immediately got to the tank and pressed his hand against the thick glass. Calliope was surprised to see his eyes glowing. And like Violca, she had felt the effects of holding his divine gaze. Aiden then feels people arriving but ignores them as he guides the water to explode outward, shattering the thick glass windows on the tank.
The water rushes out, and Calliope beings to cough. Augie suddenly breezes past to be with his sister as Aiden turns around to look at Dylan.
Dylan stares in awe as he catches a glimpse of Aiden's glowing eyes. Aiden then had a wild thought that his eyes had the same effect on men as his siren voice could work on both genders as well.
"You came here for her?" Aiden asked Dylan. "Why?"
Dylan looks at Calliope, but Calliope coughing up water and sobbing into Augie's arms.
"Answer me!" Aiden was overbearing as he used his siren's voice on Dylan. Or more like a divine decree that Dylan couldn't refuse, as Aiden found the tone of his voice very foreign to him.
"Adrielle says she is a threat. She wants Cal back in L'Attente," he says.
"Did Adrielle have anything to do this?" Aiden stepped forward.
"No. Adrielle said she wouldn't hurt her."
"Do you believe that, Dylan?"
"N-no. Cal should stay far away from L'Attente." Dylan replied.
"Well, tell Adrielle to fuck off. And you, fuck off."
Dylan turns around like a zombie and walks away. Aiden then shakes his arms out as he felt so bottled up and itchy in his own skin. Without a word, he walks out of the factory to get some air.
When Aiden returned, he saw Augie and Calliope standing over Grayson and Colton's bodies. Aiden had just caught the tail end of the conversation when she heard Calliope say, "I drowned him. And... I liked it."
Augie obviously has conflicted feeling's about the revelation, and his eyes told it all. Augie walks away, and Aiden watched Calliope as cracks formed in her shell. She felt like a monster.
----
Aiden, Augie, and Calliope rode in silence. Augie finally asks where Aiden was. Aiden replies, "In the sea, maybe. I don't remember clearly. I only know what Violca told me."
"You saw her," Calliope asked.
"Yes, she saved me from Penny. She's meeting us at the flat. Don't worry. And Thea?"
"She's with Bijou in L'Attente."
"Good."
"What did Violca tell you, Aiden?"
"That I came out of the sea when Colton was... Sacrificed. After I left the factory, I made it to the NAIAD, and then I blackout. I must have been in the water the whole time."
"Well, while you were on your Tidelander bender, the guys tried to kill me. So we're own our own. And we have nowhere to hide." Augie spoke with venom. Bill had told him about Aiden and Cal being Tidelanders. Augie was disappointed that neither of them had told him themselves.
"Well, not quite. When I heard what they did, I picked them off. That's why I was at the factory, to finish them off." Aiden saw a horribly hidden smile on Augie's face.
"I tried calling you," Aiden said.
"I was kind of--"
"Not you, Aug," said Aiden.
" We've all had near-death experiences, and crazy shit happen to us today. Can we just ride in silence?" Calliope generally spoke without addressing Aiden.
---
Calliope was in the shower soaking under the falling water. Aiden steps in and hugs her from behind. He kisses her shoulder and up her neck. His lips find her check, and she finally turns her head up to take the kiss she had been longing for all day.
Now that Aiden got Calliope to look him in the eyes, he said, "I'm sorry, Love."
"For what?" she asked.
"You were next to Colton when I sent that torrent of water your way. You would have been collateral."
Calliope closes her eyes and rests her head back on his chest as they stand under the water. Calliope held his arms as he held her. Together they just breathed and felt each other's heart echoing through their bodies.
"You weren't in control." Said Calliope. "Something is happening to us, and it scares the shit out of me."
Calliope turns around to face Aiden. "I felt it. The sacrifice. It made me feel... powerful. And today at the factory, when I drowned Grayson, I liked it so much that I want to do it again. To feel that life completely under my control. To watch him hopelessly fight for life under the water got me off... Am I a monster, babe?"
"No...Humans are." The words left Aiden's lips seamlessly, and Calliope resonated with them.
"They are monsters, aren't they?"
The couple went back to holding each other as Aiden's words echoed in their mind.
"I was with Corey today. It's why I didn't answer your calls. You know things have been fucked up since I got back. Well, I didn't answer your call because I felt like I was changing. That I wasn't the Calliope that you loved anymore. I know now that I was overthinking things. " Said Calliope, breaking the warm silence. "They are the monsters. They turned on Augie, tried to kill me, Set me up for a murder that I did not commit, and stole ten years of my life. "
"Set you up?"
"Corey told me that Dubrow was dead before I set the fire. Murdoch killed him, and Rosa used me to cover it up... She admitted it when I asked her. Adrielle was in on it. I want them dead, Aiden. I want the years they took from us. "
"We'll get them all. I promise."
Calliope seemed to have released the weight from her shoulders. Aiden then took his turn to do the same by lifting Cal, putting her against the shower wall and kissed her to arouse the fire in her. He had been pent up all day, and if this didn't work, he could always go and create a typhoon.
Cal looked her arms behind his head as she snaked her tongue in his mouth, taking their union to a deeper level.
Aiden's thick cock rose and grew with hardened splendor. Aiden was on his knees in a few motions, between Calliopes soft thighs with her legs resting over his shoulders.
Cal's back bent and in pleasure as she felt her lover's tounges tease her aroused folds. Her hips then bucked, and she squeezed Aiden's head with her thighs. Her sweet juices were manipulated and stimulated every part of her wanton cunt, even areas she had yet to discover herself.
Calliope tossed her back and moaned with gut-wrenching power as she came faster than she ever had before.
Aiden rose to his feet as he licked her juices from his lips in delight. Calliope panted, but Aiden cared not for her recovery as he turned her around stretched her to her limits. Tender and sensitive, Calliope was taken on the ride of her life as she pleased by the cock of a newly awaken titan with energy burn.
Calliope now had her legs wrapped around Aiden's waist asher ass set on the edge of the tub, and her upper body hung in mid-air as she was plowed past the point of cock drunk.
Aiden held her, thrusting in and out with long deep strokes until his body tensed and his cock swelled in Calliope. With great force, his cock explode, sending forceful spurts of his seed to paint the insides of Calliope's womb. Her body trembled, and her aromatic nectar seeped from the crevices of their union like a ripe peach freshly bit.
The shower suddenly stopped, and the water it rained was suspended in the air as the couple rode out their simultaneous climax amongst the cosmos.
When they descend, they found each other's gaze. Aiden pulled her in close to share a simple kiss that said no more than three words.
-----
" We should get down there." Said Aiden.
"We should. Hey, I didn't know you were close with Violca." Calliope found the connection odd, considering Violca kidnapped Bijou and caused Gilles to lose an eye.
"We crossed paths once. But nothing serious. It was either Bill or me. She came to me."
"Hmm, I know she was in love with Colton, but she's pregnant. Should she really be fighting?"
Aiden refrained from telling her about the abortion. It leads the conversation to topics he wasn't ready to discuss yet. "umm... I'm sure she'll be fine... Hold on, I need to get this."
Aiden's phone had rung, and it was vibrating on the bathroom counter.
"Go ahead. I'll meet you on the bottom floor."
As Aiden went off to talk to Crumberland. Calliope watched him leave and then took a moment to herself. She reminisced about her days with her father. The man who took her in despite what she was and even when he knew her true nature had always told her that she belonged in Orphelin Bay.
----
When Calliope was dressed, she went to the bottom floor to see Violca and Augie enjoying a beer.
"You feeling better?" Augie asked.
"Loads better." Calliope sang as she plopped on the sofa.
"Mmm, lucky woman," Violca spoke with a smirk.
Not all the time, but if a Tidelander focused, they could enhance their senses the same way that they enhanced their strength and speed. With that being said, Violca heard everything that happened in the bathroom.
Calliope's cheeks acquired a light pinkish hue as she rolled her eyes.
"I'll go find Aiden," Violca added as she left her chair to let the siblings speak alone.
Upstairs, Violca approached Cal's bedroom and heard Aiden talking on the phone with Crumberland.
"Look! Five Million American dollars. You give me the information on whoever buys it, and then I'll steal the shit myself. It's a win for you. Just take it."
"Yes! Take him. If she does manage to get the money, I want to take the vase before it gets to her." Aiden looks over his shoulder at the door.
"We'll finish this later." He ends the call. "Violca, it isn't nice to eavesdrop."
"I didn't mean to." She spoke in a soft voice as she walked into the room.
"Sure, you didn't. What do you want?" he asked.
"Cal and Augie are talking. Just wanted to give them some space."
"Oh, well, I was just about to head down."
"Thank you for not telling Cal about the baby." Said Violca
Aiden smirked. "I thought you didn't mean to eavesdrop," he said. "It wasn't my business to tell. But that isn't what you want to talk about."
"Who are you giving five million American dollars to?"
Aiden was well aware of how the Tidelanders of L'Attente operated. Complete transparency. Adrielle lacked transparency, and it was one reason she was losing her people to Violca.
"My broker," Aiden replied.
"So what are we stealing, and how can it help us?"
"That's as much as you get from me right now. Be satisfied," he said while brushing past her.
As the duo got to the bottom floor. Augie was sitting alone. He told Aiden that Cal has stepped outside with Corey Welch. Aiden just nodded and joined him. Violca went to grab a few more beers.
"You aren't worried about that?" asked Augie
"No. Should I be?"
"My Sister is the most loyal woman that I know. If she didn't want to be with you, she'd tell you. And she'll do it before she fucks around."
"But can I be honest with you, Aug?" Aiden pursed his lips and wrinkled his brow.
"You know you can."
Violca returned with beers and found a seat of her own.
"I love them both. Calliope and Thea. I mean, Zara was fun to have around, but Thea set my world on fire. When Cal stopped talking to me. I let Thea in, gave her a chance that I hadn't given anyone else. But I couldn't give up on Cal. I've been in love with her since I was 14." Aiden takes a breath.
"But Cal has been confined for ten years. Ten years of love lost and missed growth. And life is mysterious and full of opportunity. Laura married Zach, moved here only to fall in love with you, maybe. Who am I to take the many possibilities of love from Calliope. But every time she turns away Welch and anyone else, I can guarantee you that she's choosing me every time. As long as she chooses me because she wants me and I make her happy. It doesn't matter who pursues her because I trust her, and I trust myself to become the man she needs in every step of life. But if there's room in my heart for two, there's most definitely room In Cal's heart. What matters is our actions."
"So, no more Thea?" Augie asked, seemingly understanding Aiden.
"Love is strange, Aug," Aiden replied.
Violca gave Aiden an inquisitory look. 'So the loving King suffers because his Queen was raised human.' she thought.
'So much man to be kept for one women' Violca subconsciously licked her lips as she thought of his large cook and enslaving deep ocean eyes. Calliope's moans replayed in her mind and were then crushed by Augie's question.
"And what if she decides that she wants someone else?"
"That's the scary part of love, isn't it? It's possible finitude."
"Damn, you are fearless. And a much better man than I am. I would be cutting Welch nuts to throat right now." Augie joked.
'Possible finitude? He believes in eternal love. That's kind of romantic.' Violca smiled at her thoughts.
"As I Tidelander, I could most definitely cut him in half with one stroke. But that wouldn't be fighting for love. That would be my insecurity getting the best of me. Why should I feel insecure about a human?"
" You always were a thinker."
"I'm a better warrior. "
"Aye. Wish I had your stones. I would have taken that leap with Laura."
"What are you talking about?" Aiden asked as he noticed the disheartened expression on Augie.
"She wanted to leave Zach last year. But if she could leave him so easy, can't she do the same to me? Let's not mention the things we did while she was still married."
"You're really into her?" asked Aiden.
"Yeah."
"Then, just do it. And once your heartbreaks, it'll be tougher for it."
"Yes, because the heartbreak will come," Violca interjected. "Tidelanders live different lives. But we're not so different when it comes to relationships. It's either open or closed. It can be two, three, even four people in one relationship. But if you all decided to close the relationship, to step out is a betrayal. People like that can't be trusted."
Augie titled his head and thought for a moment. He looked at Aiden and said, "You are such a Tidelander. I can't believe I couldn't see it. " Augie laughed.
Augie could see that Violca and Aiden were nearly of the same mind when it came to relationships. He then thought of all the conversations he had with Aiden and realized he should have guessed Aiden's identity years ago.
"Worse. He's the King of the Tidelands." Violca emptied her beer as she stared at Aiden. She had found excitement and a road to the life she wanted in Aiden. But she dared not openly admit it, for Aiden had made it clear how he felt about Calliope, and Thea would join his relationship long before she was ever considered.
Augie's laughed faded as he stared between the Violca and Aiden. Before he could question the statement, Calliope comes back into the house and looks at them with suspicion.
"What are you guys talking about?" she asks.
"Just small talk," Violca looks at Calliope with a warm smile that Calliope found off-putting. She glances at Augie and notices his hard stare at Violca.
"Yeah, right." Calliope takes a seat on Aiden's lap, then snatches his beer.
"So what did the constable want?" Augie asked.
"What he always wants. To skip town. Didn't you know Calliope McTeer is too good for Orphelin Bay?"
"You are too good for Orphelin Bay." Aiden and Augie spoke in unison.
"Fuck you guys. I'm not fourteen anymore. Why can't people see that? The glass case that dad put me in was shattered a long time ago. I belong right here. With you two. Fighting in the mud for our home, or way of life, the people that we love." Calliope reached down and interlocked her fingers with Aiden's.
"They've tried to kill us all. Now we show them what happens when they fuck with our family." Calliope aided with sternness.
"Then we need to get rid of Adrielle." Said Violca. "She's the root of it all."
Calliope wore a straight face. "Augie and Aiden are my family. If they wanted Adrielle gone, okay. But what's your play?"
"I wanted to be Queen, but know I just want to put my King on the throne." Violca looked past Calliope at Aiden.
Aiden chuckled. "You can't help yourself. That overzealous behavior is what got your lover's throat slit and sacrificed to the Sea Mothers."
Aiden's lighthearted laughter vanished, and his glowing gaze threatened to lash out. Violca sunk back into the coach and avoided his gaze. She had expected to feel the sensation she had felt on his boat, though this time, it caused her body to jerk, and she felt fear and contrite.
Aiden pulled back once he figured her girlish games were finished for the night.
"You have something to tell me?" Cal asked as she shifted on his lap.
"No," he replied.
"Are you sure, Sire?" Cal put emphasis on 'sire.'
Aiden rose from his chair. He took his beer, then went out to the veranda. He didn't feel like talking about it. To talk about becoming King, something Violca decided, though it was something that he was becoming keen on, would only bring up his parentage and his need to be King.
No matter how he looked at his life, he was born to be a declaration of war or a provocation towards the Gods that most of the world thought to be myths. His life was becoming riddled with complexities.
Augie stepped out and stood next to him. "Calliope is pissed. She thought you guys shared everything."
"That's not possible, Aug," he replied. "She'll get over it. Send Violca out. She wants to help her King, and I have business to tend to. Do me a solid and tell Calliope that I love her."
"You do it yourself," said Augie.
"If I go in there, she'll only want to hear about my plans, and to be honest, I haven't even got them figured out."
"And Violca? What's that all about?"
"Complicated. But not what you think. She's just a bit raw right now." Aiden then left Augie and went to his truck. A few moments later, Violca came out in a light jog.
When she was in the Truck, Aiden pulled off and went back to the NAIAD.
----
At the NAIAD, Aiden moved a panel and began to put bundles of cash into a black bag. Packing a total of five million American dollars, Aiden and Violca got on the word. But Violca soon recognized a few signs, and when Aiden arrived at the border of L'Attente, he told her to go back and find who she could to fight against Adrielle.
He was confident that he could kill enough of them with his newly acquired power, but slaughter isn't what he wanted. For he knew, L'Attente was the only home of Tidelanders.
When Aiden convinced her to find Thea to gather support, he made his way to the city to find Crumberland. The two men talked for a bit and discussed the newly discovered vase in the depths of a pyramid on the coast of Mexico. In the vase were dozens of pieces of the Ancient horn.
Aiden was sure that it was safer to have every piece of the horn in his possession than to have them floating around with the power to summon sirens with unknown intentions. But the only problem was a woman name Peggy Trevino, who had forced the price up to fifteen million US dollars, and Adrielle, who always managed to win the auctions for the Horn shards.
With five million dollars in hand, Crumberland pulled resources to find what information he could on Peggy Trevino and any prospective buyer participating in the auction.
While sitting on the couch and sipping a glass of bourbon, Aiden asked Crumberland if he knew anything about swords related to the Titan Oceanus and the oldest family chart of the Greek pantheon.
"I don't know, but there is a guy I consult. He's the one that told me about the scrolls from the water caves. Ian Mitchell, a graduate student at the University of Sydney, he might know."
"Get him here tonight. Whatever it cost, send me the bill." Aiden tells him. " I have to get back home, but keep me updated, and I want you to find me a jet."
"What kind of jet?"
"The blackbird and I want to be able to fit a team in it," Aiden replied
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone