The next morning found Sonata thumbing through Abacus Cinch’s copy of How to Win Friends and Influence People. She wasn’t sure why she cared. Surely it didn’t take an entire book to say “be stronger than them.”
Maybe that wouldn’t actually get her friends, but why did she need those? She wasn’t a changeling that needed love, for fuck’s sake.
She was experiencing a few unusual biological effects from a steady diet of blood. For one, she was always thirsty. Blood was salty. Aside from that, her body seemed to have adapted quite well. A human wouldn't have fared so well.
Sonata smiled to herself. Once she took over the planet, then what? She'd have to get a hobby or something. Maybe she should start a collection. She already had Cinch’s book and the park ranger’s gun. Though taking their lives had been a lot more productive.
Sonata cocked her head. She thought she heard a quiet conversation from somewhere else in the house. She got up off her bed and went downstairs.
Adagio and Aria were sitting at the kitchen table. Aria’s hands shook as she smoked. Sonata was pleased to see that Adagio’s face took on a wary expression when she entered the room.
“So, how does it feel to be back at the top of the food chain?” Sonata asked. She couldn’t help adding, “Well, almost at my level.”
“We can’t do something like that again,” said Adagio.
“Did you wake up on the moron side of the bed?” demanded Sonata. “Don’t you like this?”
“Murdering people and drinking their blood?” said Aria.
“Yes!”
Adagio glanced at Aria before turning back to Sonata. She looked like she was going to say something that Sonata would make her regret, but softened her tone, to Sonata’s disappointment. “We’ve never done anything like this before. It wouldn’t be a good idea to just rush into it. Like last night. Somebody is going to notice that guy’s car where he left it. Maybe they’ll even remember that he left with us. Being careful never hurt anyone.”
“With this much power, why does it matter?” said Sonata.
“What part of seven billion of them, three of us don’t you understand?” said Adagio. Seeing a flash of fire in Sonata’s eyes, she quickly backpedaled. “I’m just saying, we’ve been waiting for so many years it won’t hurt to take a little while and make sure we do this right. We can be the strongest on the planet, and if we plan carefully, we can take over before anyone realizes what we’re doing.”
Sonata crossed her arms. “How.”
“Sustainability,” said Aria. When Sonata stared at her, she quickly added, “I-I know that sounds like some sort of recycling buzzword, but it’s just not sustainable to kill people in the street. If we keep doing that, someone will eventually notice.”
“What, are we supposed to keep them penned up like the livestock they are?” Sonata said. She put her hand to her chin. “You know, that could actually work pretty well. We grab someone and then keep them locked up, slowly bleeding them dry over a couple of days so we can make the most of it.”
“Uh-” Aria and Adagio traded glances.
“We’re going to need a holding facility,” said Sonata. “We can use the garage. We’ll chain them up, get some containers to store the blood. We’ll also have to come up with advanced techniques for inflicting fear and negative emotions. Oh! If we grabbed two at once, we could play them off each other like that movie Saw. Maybe if we had some psychoactive drugs, that could heighten the emotions. We could work them up slowly, like basting a turkey.”
Her mouth watered at the thought, and not the turkey. Fear turkey, though.
“Are we really doing this?” said Aria quietly.
“Do you have a better idea that gets us our power back?” Sonata challenged. She put her hands on her hips and stared at both of them. Neither met her eyes.
“Right,” said Sonata. “We’ll need to do a few things first. Dagi...be a dear and go bury what’s left over from last night.”
“Why me?” Adagio protested.
“Because Ari-” Sonata swung her gaze to Aria “-is going to help me plan a ‘sustainable’ harvesting operation.”
“Harvesting? Operation?” Aria asked.
“I can call it murder and exsanguination if you want,” Sonata offered.
Adagio abruptly got up and left the room. Sonata heard her pause for breath in the garage before heading out of the house. They didn’t own a shovel, and Sonata smirked at the thought of Adagio on her knees, burying the scraps of a human being with her hands.
She turned to Aria, who was looking at the table. “So, who’s our next target?”
Aria swallowed. “Uh… We’ll have to be careful. We can’t just take anyone out of a crowd.”
“No shit,” Sonata spat.
Aria flinched. “But maybe we can use that to our advantage. There are lots of people at, say, the mall. But there are also lots of places behind the scenes we can use.”
“Like a hidden utility hallway,” said Sonata, considering it. “The two of you could herd a meal behind the door and we’ll grab them. Maybe pick somebody who knows us, so they would be scared and try to get away and go through the door all by themselves.”
Adagio returned and Aria quietly told her the plan. Sonata was flipping through her music and trying to find something perfect for the moment.
She didn’t notice when Adagio went to shower the dirt off, and a flash of anger crossed her face. We were going to the mall! Then again, smelling like death would probably attract unwanted attention.
Sonata was in the bathroom when Adagio stepped out of the shower, though.
“Criminy! Can’t you wait?!” Adagio demanded.
Sonata thrust a hoodie into her hands, a little harder than necessary. “No. You wait on me. Get dressed, we’re going now. And make it snappy.”
A few minutes later, Sonata met the other two in her car. All of them were dressed down, hoods and nondescript colors. Sonata plugged in her phone. Courtesy Call by Thousand Foot Krutch began to play. It fit, she decided. She and her sisters were going to go let the world know just who they were and what they could do.
The plan came together surprisingly well once they got to the mall. Sonata parked her car near the loading dock and waited while her sisters went inside to find someone. In only a few minutes, a girl burst through the nondescript door from the public area of the mall and slammed it behind her.
“Hi,” said Sonata.
The girl froze, turning slowly. Sonata recognized her as Diamond Tiara, a younger Canterlot High student. Kind of a bitch, too.
Adagio and Aria came through the door and closed it, trapping Diamond between the three of them.
“We’re going to go for a little drive,” said Sonata.
“No!” Diamond shouted.
“Well, I tried.” Sonata cocked her fist back. “You know, I didn’t want to have to do this.”
Sonata rolled her eyes. “Oh wait, yes I did.” She slugged Diamond across the face. There was a crack as the punch connected.
Diamond fell and Sonata inspected her fist. Nothing was broken. Had she broken Diamond’s face? It couldn’t have happened to a better candidate. She bent down and grabbed Diamond’s ankles.
Sonata looked up. “Are you going to stand there or are you going to move your worthless asses and help me?”
She could have carried Diamond slung under one arm without breaking a sweat, but it was the principle of it. Adagio and Aria quickly moved to grab Diamond’s arms.
They got her out to the car and stuffed her in the trunk. Diamond’s face was swelling now, under her eye where Sonata had hit her.
After a quick trip back home, they strung Diamond up in the garage, tieing her arms up towards the rafters with bed sheets.
Sonata splashed some water on her face and Diamond started to come around, moaning in pain. Her eye where Sonata had hit her didn’t seem to be working correctly. It almost looked sunken in her skull. Sonata realized she must have broken Diamond’s cheekbone and eye socket, letting the eye fall out of place.
“What…” Diamond said, voice small.
“You’ve just been taken by us three sirens,” said Sonata. “And we’re going to torture you and drink your blood as you bleed to death because it’s more fun than just eating you.”
“I have money,” said Diamond.
Sonata indicated her sisters. “We’re a triple-income household with a thousand years’ interest on long term investments. Fuck your money.”
“My dad-”
“Fuck your dad. And his money.”
“No, you don’t understand. It’s millions!”
“Oh. Oh! Why didn’t you say so?” Sonata waved her hands around. “Well then, let me just go get my computer and we’ll make this transaction, huh?”
She retrieved her laptop. “So what was the account number?”
Diamond gave it to her. Sonata punched it in on one of the dark web sites. “Hmm. Look at that. It’s a pretty big number for a little lady like you. But you know what?”
Sonata put down the computer carefully and then screamed in Diamond’s face, “I DON’T FUCKING CARE! You are worthless! You are a piece of meat! You cannot do anything to buy, bargain, or plead your way out of this!”
“I’m pregnant,” Diamond whispered. She kept crying, her one eye that still worked staring at the floor. “Dad, he’s helping me keep it a secret. But I’m seventeen, I...my boyfriend, he…” She started bawling.
Aria walked quickly out of the garage and into the house. Adagio glanced at Sonata and hurried after her.
Sonata went after them. She found both in the kitchen. Aria stood with her arms clenched around her, looked like she was pulled so tight another pound of tension would rip her apart. Adagio’s face spelled out her worry, though it wasn’t clear who she was most concerned about.
Sonata spread her hands. “What’s with you?”
“We can’t kill a kid,” said Aria.
“Hello? We’re a thousand years old. Everyone is a kid.”
“And the baby. It’s not the same, but…” Adagio folded her arms across her stomach.
Sonata shook her head. “Okay, last night we killed and ate a man. Tonight, it just happens to be a teenage girl. That you two picked out, remember. What’s the issue? Sexism is the stupidest problem we could have.”
Adagio and Aria both made small noises that could have meant anything.
Sonata reached into the silverware drawer and pulled out the biggest knife that was inside. She turned and walked back out into the garage.
Diamond saw her come in, reacting to the knife by trying to jerk away as far as her restraints allowed. “Please…” she whimpered.
“Okay,” said Sonata. She pulled up Diamond’s shirt and sliced it off with the knife. Next, she did the same to Diamond’s skirt and panties. Then, Sonata started cutting Diamond’s flesh.
Diamond began screaming immediately and didn’t stop. The erratic expansion of her lungs was making it difficult for Sonata to get the knife where she wanted it to go.
She started at the lips of Diamond’s vagina, made a little quirk around the clitoris, and sliced upward across her belly, trying to gauge what was deep enough and what was too deep. As it turned out, Sonata got it perfect on the first try, spilling blood and amniotic fluid over Diamond’s front and the floor.
Sonata reached inside, rummaged around until she found what she was looking for, and yanked. Diamond certainly wasn’t very far along. The fetus was the size of a rat. It didn’t move or respond, being clenched in Sonata’s bloody fist. She looked at it briefly before ripping the umbilical cord free and tossing it over her shoulder.
Diamond, still screaming and still bleeding, sagged in her restraints. Sonata was surprised that she was still conscious. And the pain and fear wafting off her was incredible.
Looking at the cut she had made, a thought struck Sonata. Here was an avenue she had never explored. She crouched and ran her tongue over the incision, bottom to top. Diamond’s eyes were squeezed shut, but she felt it and pulled even harder to get away.
Sonata kept pressing, deeper and deeper. She reached forward and parted the skin with her fingers, probing inside Diamond’s torn uterus. She had her head inside before realizing it.
Sonata mentally shrugged and started chewing. Delicious!