Salem Falls

“You know,” Niall said softly, causing Siren to turn around. “Not long ago, I would have told you that this house looks exactly like your personality?”

Niall and Siren stood in Siren’s living room. The old house was very still. There were still multiple things that Siren had left alone when her mother had left the house to her, untouched, unmoved, still remnants of her grandmother even. Siren never thought to change anything about the place that she lived.

All the entire was dark, old-fashioned. It was a gothic, Victorian styled home. It looked exactly out of a horror movie, with all of the dust, velvet drapery and countless old books strewn around the room.

But it was never home. Not really. All these years she had been living in a house. That house had things, her possessions, and it sheltered her. It kept her warm in the winter, dry during storms, and safe from the outside. But it never offered her love, it did not house memories, and it surely wasn’t her home.

“And now?” Siren asked. She was biting her lip, looking at the place. She wanted it to be her home. It was not exactly the place she had grown up. She had lived there in the beginning, bounced around houses when her mother left, and then lived alone when she hit her teens. “What do you think of it?”

“That it is absolutely nothing like you.”

After the battle, Siren had hardly left Niall’s side. Giving him the slight horror that she had been on the other side had left her feeling guilty. It had been a battle tactic- a strange one at that- and maybe it had been a bit of a last minute decision. But now she was staying by him, constantly proving that her place was with him.

“I think I agree.” She sighed, walking over to a dust covered piano. She brushed her hand across the stool, knocking dust motes into the air, sending them spinning. She sat down, lifting the cover, and blowing the dust on the ivory keys. “Did you know that I play?”

“No.” Niall walked over and stood behind her, his middle pressed against her back. She leaned into him slightly, feeling the warmth of his skin through his thin shirt. He was always warm. “I actually didn’t know that. Are you any good?”

Her fingers slowly began playing a tune, mournful in sound but hauntingly beautiful. As she played, she said, “I used to hate Lunar Circle. To me, it stood for everything I hate: oppression, misunderstanding, weakness, and arrogance. At least, the type of arrogance in that the Lunar Circle thought they were too good for us. That my mom thought she was too good for me.”

“And now?” Niall asked her, mimicking their early conversation. “What do you think of it?”

“I think,” she said slowly, still playing. “That a lot of us in Sixth Circle are misguided. I think that somewhere down the line, we all let the differences and beliefs lead us rather than the truth. The truth is that no two mages practice magic the same way. And that Lunar Circle just saw things the way they should be. They don’t hurt or try and gain power… the heal and try to give power.”

“That’s a good conclusion, I think.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhmm.” Niall leaned down and pressed a kiss to the side of her neck. Siren shivered, making Niall laugh. “You play better than I thought you could.”

She dropped her hands, turning in her chair to hit him in the stomach playfully, but the contact shocked her slightly. The tingle went up her arm, making her roll her eyes. “Can you please figure out how to control the sparks?”

“Why?” he smirked. “I love when sparks fly between us.”

“You’re such a tool.”

“Come on. Let’s go to the hardware store and pick out some paint swatches. It looks like Morticia from the Addams family was your interior decorator.”

“What? Why go buy paint and supplies when I can do it by magic?”

“Because,” he insisted. “I’ll be fun. And I’ll help you.”

“Fine.”

Getting up, she shut the piano, grabbing the keys to her car from the kitchen. While she was in there, she heard Niall open the door and walk on the porch. Then he walked back into the house, leaving the door open and walking in to the kitchen.

Turning to ask him why he came back inside, she was instantly cut off by Niall pressing his lips against hers, hard and urgent. She dropped the keys on the ground, hearing the metal clatter against the tile. Instantly her hands were raking his hair, kissing him back.

Spontaneous, kissing Niall was her favorite Niall. Kisses like these were filled with heat and a sense of urgency that only she could taste as it went from his lips to hers. She only liked sharing breath with Niall, and it was when this happened that she got the chance.

When he pulled away, he held her face in his hands. His eyes were a thundering blue, commanding her attention as he looked at her. “I love you.” She blinked. “I love you a lot. And maybe it’s too soon to say I am completely and utterly in love with you, but fuck it. I ‘m saying it- I am in love with you.”

She smiled. “I am irrevocably in love with you too. I don’t care if this relationship crashes and burns a week from now. Right now, I can say, I am in love with you too.”

“Good. That would have been awkward.” He kissed her again, but only briefly this time. “Come on, let’s go pick out paint, love.”

“Can Ev help us paint? I don’t really trust you with a brush…”

“Sure, thing, Siren.”

“Oh, and one more thing!” Niall rolled his eyes but paused. “Call me by my first name, the one my mom gave me. Call me Amelia.”

He smiled at her. “Alright, Amelia.”