Chapter 1 - A Voice to Remember

--Alaric POV--

She came to the world like an unexpected storm. With no warning, she surprised everyone with her voice, enchanting everyone that listened like a siren from the myths. And according to the rumours, her voice wasn't the only enchanting thing about her since she looked like a seductress straight out of a dream.

That woman was both thrust into the media's face and sheltered away from it like a sort of prize. Even amongst celebrities she was a celebrity, one that we could always see but never touch.

And somehow, my existence became intertwined with her intriguing self.

"Cut! Good job everyone, that was the last scene for today!" I stood up, dropping the fake smile off my face as I nodded at my co-worker, shaking her hand before turning to leave the stage.

"Good job, Alaric. You can change out of those wet clothes now, and then go home for the day, we'll see you tomorrow." The director said as my manager came to hand me a towel to dry off, and on my way to my dressing room, I received a handful of other 'Good job's' from people.

My role in this movie wasn't difficult to play; It's a heart-warming story about a cold man scarred by his abusive past growing to become his own person with the help of his friendly boss, a woman who always has a smile on her face, it's a love story between them, with the perfect amount of angst, cuteness, and romance.

The main male, me, was a cold man that always held a stoic expression on his face, he didn't look like someone with a broken past, and apparently, that made me the perfect person for this role, according to the director.

"That's it for today, right?" I asked.

"Yes, other than this shoot and the interview in the morning, there was nothing else on today's schedule so you can go home early for once." Ezra, my manager, explained, following me into the room as I stripped down to change into my own clothes.

"This movie was the main thing on your agenda, but it's almost wrapped up in filming so you should start deciding on your next project, any ideas?" Releasing a tired sigh, I slouched down on the couch as the make-up artist stepped into the room to clean me up.

"I don't know. I'll have to look through the scripts first," I closed my eyes as she ran the cotton pad soaked in micellar water over my face.

"Why not that fantasy movie that'll be directed by Kyle Douglas? You'll play the handsome, young, and talented wizard? Your fans are sure to go wild when they see you with long hair." He suggested, looking to be more excited than any of the said fans.

I'm an actor, having made my debut more than 10 years ago now which has led to many opportunities to test my acting skills; I've played a number of different roles in my career, each role being vastly different from the other, but I've recently come to the realisation that maybe I worked too hard? I've played so many different people that I don't remember my own personality anymore, I've somehow lost myself.

I got into acting thanks to my mother who was a renowned actress herself in her time, but she's retired now, living her lavish life back home in Spain which is fast becoming nothing but a memory for me. And I'm stuck here in the USA, working day-by-day, and earning more money than I know what to do with.

"Hello? Alaric?" Ezra called when I didn't answer his question.

"I'll think about it," I said, having phased out whatever it was that he had said. And as I finished speaking, someone knocked on the dressing room door, waiting for Ezra to reply before opening it up with a smile on their face.

"What is it?" I asked her, Sandra Levine, the female lead of the movie I was currently shooting. She's older than me in both real life and the movie, being 37 in both, while I was 28 in the movie and 30 in real life. Although, she looked to be in her twenties with her blonde hair, tall, hourglass frame and so on and so forth.

"We're going out for drinks, come with?" She grinned.

"No thanks. I'm tired."

"Oh, come on. You're always tired; You're one of the highest-paid A-List actors out there, but you hate hanging out with people. As a successful human, you should have more of a life!" I didn't sign up for this lecture when I woke up this morning, and I'm so tired of replying to the same lecture with the same words every single time.

"You would think that as a successful human, I would have more time to myself. But, clearly not," I grumbled, sitting up as I slipped into my jacket that Ezra so kindly handed to me, and catching a glance at my reflection in the mirror to make sure I was presentable, I slipped a black sunhat on before picking up my sunglasses for extra coverage.

"I'm taking this as a yes?" Sandra grinned up at me.

"One drink. And then I'm out."

"Please, I'm just happy you even said yes." She laughed, leading the way as I went to follow, but paused to quickly turn and look at my manager.

"Can you buy me some food, anything light will do, and then come pick me up from the bar?" He nodded as I quickly thanked him before turning to follow the blonde woman, praying that no drama happens at today's meet-up. After the last situation that I'd been dragged into, Sandra made her way onto my list of people to avoid when drunk.

And this time didn't change anything.

Less than an hour later, and the said woman was on the counter, a drink in one hand as she waved her hips, dancing to a KPOP song that she had requested the bartender to play, and instead of telling her to get off the counter like a responsible person, the other's followed in her footsteps instead.

All I could do was wait for the song to end in hopes that it'll calm all these drunkards down at least a little bit. At the very least, I was mildly grateful that they picked a private bar to come to, so there wasn't the big worry of paparazzi or crazy fans slipping through.

Taking a sip of my scotch, I rubbed my temples, tired from all the noise and wanting to simply go to sleep, but it all felt like nothing but a pipe dream at this moment.

And when the loud party music finally came to an end, I thought I had finally found peace, but the calming song that came on after made me question exactly what peace was.

When the sudden calmness that followed my thoughts swept through the whole bar, I blinked my eyes open, wondering for a split second if I had fallen asleep at the bar and was currently dreaming, but I knew better when I saw Sandra still stood on the counter.

Somehow, she looked calm now, a distinct difference from her wild dancing persona a second ago, and slowly, she got off the counter, coming to sit back down on the bar stool beside me, taking a sip of her drink as she stared into space.

I didn't want to say that a single song had the power to change her mood that quickly, but I somehow knew otherwise.

"What is it?" I curiously asked her dissociated self.

"This song, I've listened to it once before, and the feelings it instils in people still scares me," She mumbled, going to take another sip. "As if it she knows all the thoughts that goes on in my head and she's finding a solution to each and every one of them with her voice." 

I didn't reply for a while, simply tuned in to listen to the song while turning to look at the TV screen hanging on the wall where the music video for the song was playing. It was a simple music video, taken from the point of view of a young woman walking through nature, nothing dramatic, and yet somehow, it made the song so much more emotional.

I wasn't one that listened to much music, and this is a singer whom I'd never had the pleasure of seeing nor hearing. The voice made me curious to know what kind of face could be put on such a sad voice, I couldn't picture it.

"Who is it?" I asked.

Sandra shot her head to look at me, surprised.

"Are you living under a rock?" I glared. Was this singer really that famous for me to have to hear such an insult at not being able to recognise her voice?

"It's Ines Agua. People call her a siren purely based off how emotional her voice is, she's able to enchant anyone with only a few notes of her voice. But she's trouble, apparently."

"Trouble?"

"There's always some sort of rumour linked to her. Dating, mostly, and there's no surprise there, she's so beautiful that no one would dare call her a liar if she were to reveal that she's a siren." I hummed, keeping my thoughts on how that sounded a bit dramatic to myself.

"But still, she's a bit problematic. As a celebrity, we're always fearful of paparazzi crawling around us, but she doesn't seem to care about that, always pictured with a different guy; She's too confident so no one really likes her. If not for her voice, she'd have been abandoned by her company by now, that's for sure,"

I've been in this industry long enough to know to keep my nose out of others' businesses, so I didn't say anything to either agree or disagree with Sandra's words. I admit, this Ines Agua had a unique, almost unreal voice, but whatever she chooses to do with her life hasn't got anything to do with me. So, I simply don't care.

"You've seriously never heard her music before?" She curiously asked.

"No, I don't listen to music much. I don't have time," She was the one humming in disbelief this time, but I didn't say anything back, simply continued to sip on my scotch as the song continued to play in the back.

I've never heard such a clear voice in my life, I didn't think it was possible for a human to sound like that, it somehow makes the siren accusations believable, and it only raised my curiosity of what this woman looked like. It was as though it was her voice that drew the emotions out of people rather than the lyrics of the song itself.

But the song ended too soon for me to delve any deeper into my thoughts, and seemingly just in time as I caught sight of Ezra stepping into the bar. Taking my card out, I paid for everyone that I came with before turning to leave, ignoring the chorus of cheers that followed me.

"I got you sushi," He explained as we left the bar, going to sit in the car where I saw the said food waiting in a white bag for me to eat. "And some noodles in case you wanted that instead." He added, putting the car into drive.

"This is fine, thanks," I ate the food on the drive home to my penthouse which felt much longer than it was, and it was only when I began drifting off to sleep that we reached the destination.

"Get some rest. I'll come to pick you up at 7 so be ready by then," Nodding, I half-heartedly waved him goodbye until he eventually drove off, and spinning on my heels, I went to go to my penthouse, pausing in my steps when running feet were heard approaching me from the side.

And before I could turn to see who it was, the small figure of a woman bumped into me.

That was how we first met.

The innocent mermaid that was terrified of this world, and me, the man who hopelessly fell in love with her curious self. It was a relationship bound for disaster. But despite the inevitable threat of the said disaster looming over us, I couldn't let her go.

"Hey, are you alright?" I asked, grabbing her by the shoulders to help her stand upright. She jumped, my voice surprising her as she shot her head up to look at me, wide-eyed. 

And now it was my turn to be surprised.

Those eyes; They weren't human.

Those blue eyes, they were unlike any human one's that I'd ever seen, a royal blue shade that reminded me of the depths of the ocean- No, it wasn't a reminder, it was more like I could both hear and see the very ocean in her eyes, from the crashing waves to the very feeling of drowning, I saw all that in her eyes.

"You..." My breath was lost in my throat, my eyes glazing over the serene beauty that was her face. Even in the darkness of the night, she was unreal. Both the moonlight and the dimly lit streets gave off enough light to illuminate the beauty that was her; She, who looked like the object of every man's desires.

She was short, barely coming up passed my chest, with raven black hair hanging in wild ringlets around her small, round face, a warm ivory skin tone and pink cheeks that gave her breathlessness away; She'd been running...

"Ines!" An angry voice shouted from the distance, confirming my thoughts.

A desperate hand latched onto my arm, a voice begging for help followed a second later.

"Please... Hide me." And her voice confirmed it, giving her away on who she was. Barely an hour ago, I had learnt of her existence for the first time, and I've been graced with her presence right after that.

"Ines!" As the voice grew both closer and angrier, she desperately looked around the area, giving up hope on my help as she turned to run around me, but before she could get too far, I grabbed her arm.

"Let go-" She cut herself off when she saw me raise a finger to place on top of my lips in a sign that told her to hush, and she instantly listened, confusion marring her face as I nudged my head towards the building in front of us.

Moving my hand down her forearm, I held her hand in mine, pulling her along with me as I led us into the building, the automatic doors slowly sliding shut behind us as I caught the elevator a moment too late as the voice raged right behind us.

"Ines! Get your ass here right this second!" She jumped, a scared hiccup escaping her throat as she stepped behind me, grabbing onto the material of my shirt while I quickly pressed the close buttons on the elevator, praying for it to hurry up and shut before the man caught up to us.

From the few seconds I had to look at him, nothing familiar called out to me. Brown hair and beige skin, brown eyes glowering with a rage that didn't faze me in the least, but he was dressed in a designer black suit, giving away that whoever this man was, he may have been important.

But who he was is the least of my problems right now. With the elevator doors finally sliding shut before he even had the chance to properly step into the building, we were riding up to the top floor where my penthouse was located, a place where only me and a select few people whom I allowed were given access, he was not one of those people.

But with the reality of my situation suddenly befalling me, I released a quiet sigh, running a hand down my face as I looked behind me over my shoulder to where the said woman was stood, still tightly clutching onto my shirt, her forehead resting on my back, and eyes squeezed shut in fear.

What an odd situation I've found myself to be in.

Nevertheless, a small smile crept onto my face as I stared at her, somehow knowing that this little coincidental meeting of ours was only the beginning of an entertaining story.

...