I tried to skirt around him to head back to the house, but he stepped in my path. The guy was monstrous. Looming and thick in the shoulders. Definitely some kind of athlete. Probably football or hockey, by my guess. He reeked of beer and sweat, and his breath was moist as he clumsily leaned his face into mine.
“Where you goin’?” I shoved him away, but it was like trying to move a boulder. His hands gripped my sides, pulling me to him.
I wriggled in his grasp. “Let me go, you idiot!”
“Naw, it’s a party,” he said with a belch. His hand reached around to grab my ass as the other man-handled my wool sweater down to expose my bare shoulder. “You’re supposed to have fun.”
I reached into my bag and frantically rifled through the contents with one hand. Just as he leaned in to press his gross face to mine, I doused him with mace. An agonized scream deepened under his hands as he clasped them over his face.
“You bitch!” he spat and let out another long, tormented groan.
He wiped at his red, watery eyes–already swelling–and lunged for me. I stepped back too late, and his gorilla arm collided with the phone in my hand and sent it to the ground, where it smashed against a paving stone. I’d spent two months’ earnings from my Etsy shop buying that phone outright.
“You asshole!” I yelled, but it only angered him more.
The guy fumbled for me, and I fell to the gravel path beneath me. He made a move to jump on top of me, but someone stepped between us. A tall figure, clad in black. The evening shadows seemed to absorb him but, when he turned to glance down at me from over his shoulder, I had to stifle the gasp that tightened in my throat. He was one of the hottest guys I’d ever seen in my life.
“You alright?” he asked quietly, his white teeth glistening in the bit of moonlight that filtered through the old maple trees. His sharp black eyebrow arched over painfully blue eyes. Eyes that cut through the shadows we stood in and locked on mine. I couldn’t form a response, so I just nodded from the ground, mouth gaping. He turned back to the frat guy. “I suggest you leave.”
“Leave? This is my house.” He was so drunk he could hardly stand, and when his arm swung back, readying for a swing, my savior chuckled.
“You don’t want to do that, boy.”
“Boy?” the guy’s swollen eyes failed to widen, and he rubbed them again. “Who the hell do you think you are?”
“You don’t want to find out,” he replied and casually smoothed the wrinkles from the sleeves of his fitted dark combat jacket.
The frat guy foolishly went to make another swing, but I hopped to my feet and doused him with more mace before a fight could break out. He screamed in agony, his fingertips pressing against his closed eyes as he blindly made his way back to the house. I could hear the faint mumblings of the word bitch and whore, but I didn’t care. He was gone. And I could breathe.
Until my savior turned and faced me wholly.
I couldn’t blink, couldn’t move, or even speak. His striking looks held me prisoner, and I just stared at him like a fool. The silver moonlight reflected off his cerulean eyes, framed by the thickest, darkest lashes I’d ever seen on a guy. Or a girl, for that matter.
“Are you okay?” he asked me again. Concern wrought all over his face.
I blinked away the blur in my mind. “Uh, yeah. I’m fine.” I nodded in the direction the guy ran off to. “Thanks for that.”
He chuckled. A deep, raspy sound tickled my skin. “No thanks necessary. Seems you handled it yourself.”
I stood and watched as he bent with fluid ease and fetched something from the ground. He handed it to me. My phone.
I groaned. The screen was smashed. “Shit.” I reached out and took it from his grasp, noting how blood trickled from my palm and soaked into the sleeve of my favorite sweater. I must have scraped it when I fell. “Ugh, could this night get any worse?” I bent to wipe the blood off on the grass just as I heard someone calling out to me from the deck above.
“Av’!” Julie spotted me and came flying down the steps. “What the hell? Did you mace someone?”
She helped me to my feet, and I glanced around for my savior, but he was gone.
“Yes,” I said with spite. “He wouldn’t get his hands off me! Even pushed me to the ground.” I waggled my smashed device at her. “Broke my phone.”
She clucked her tongue and glanced back at the house. “Asshole.” I tucked the shattered phone in my pocket as she wrapped an arm around my shoulders. “Guess Tess was right about the mace, then.”
I managed a smile as I discreetly searched around for the guy who’d tried to save me. “Yeah, don’t tell her that, though.”
***
The next evening, I slowly made my way down the old iron steps that led from my apartment to The Chocolate Kettle below. I’d spent the entire day in bed, nursing a hangover from hell. I’d suffered greatly trying to get ready, but I wouldn’t miss my time at the gallery for anything in the world.
Tomas smiled from behind the register as he wiped down the countertop.
“You look like…”
I grimaced. “Absolute garbage?”
He waggled his hand, and I managed a chuckle. “Can I get a large black, please? Oh, and add a shot of espresso?”
He turned and poured me a coffee and topped it with a lid before handing it over to me. I reached for my pocket, but Tomas shook his head.
“Employee perks,” he said with a sweet grin. Tomas was the epitome of the boy next door. Always sweet and kind. Always makes you laugh. I’d only worked a couple of shifts with him, but he had me laughing the entire time.
I dropped the change into the tip jar before he could protest and took a quick sip of my coffee. I’d need it if I were going to stay awake for most of the evening.
“On your way to the gallery?” Tomas asked.
“Wouldn’t get out of bed for anything less,” I replied. My empty stomach suddenly swirled, and I felt what little color I had from my face drain. Tomas fetched a chocolate bran muffin and handed it to me. “How did you know?”
He shrugged under his red Iron Man t-shirt and gestured dramatically to his face. “I’m Korean-Canadian. I was born with a trained eye to know when someone needs food.”
I laughed and picked at the muffin. Letting my hindered taste buds get used to the sensation of food. I swallowed a pinch and waited to see how it’d fair in my stomach.
“Hey, so….” Tomas rubbed the back of his neck. “I was wondering what you were doing tomorrow.” I must have looked alarmed because he quickly added, “You and Julie, I mean.”
Sundays were one of the few days that Julie and I had no commitments, save for the couple of hours Celadine sometimes had me pop into the gallery. But she had mentioned nothing about this week. “Nothing that I know of. Why?” I noted the pink that flushed to his cheeks beneath his lovely brown eyes and batted my lashes jokingly as I leaned against the counter. “You know, you can just ask Julie to hang out. You don’t need me as a buffer.”
Tomas’ cheeks reddened even more, but he grinned, owning his ploy. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.
I played along. “Of course not.”
He loosened a deep breath. “There’s a Shakespeare in the Park thing tomorrow afternoon. Happens every year. The drama students from Dalhousie perform it.” Someone stepped up to the counter, and I moved to the side while Tomas served them. When they wandered off to a table, Tomas turned to me. “It’s usually good fun.” He added with raised brows. “There’ll be food.”
“Oh, well, in that case,” I kidded and took a sip of my coffee. My stomach threatened to rise, but I stomped it down. Damn alcohol. “We’ll be there.” I didn’t dare mention how Julie would be over the moon. I wanted to watch this love story play out naturally.
I said goodbye to Tomas and headed on my way. With some time to spare and a desperate need for a good dose of fresh air, I walked the few blocks to the gallery. The sun was just dipping below the jagged horizon, ca
sting the bustling downtown district in deep orange and purple glow. By the time I reached the gallery parking lot–empty of all but one car–I’d finished my coffee and was buzzing with energy. But my heart sank when I spotted Helen exiting the front doors and locking up.
“Hey,” I said and walked up to her. “Is Celadine not coming in tonight?”
“Didn’t she tell you?” Helen’s face twisted in confusion. “She had to leave town to deal with some urgent business matters.”
My mind lagged as it rifled through the events of the weekend. Celadine had called me at the party, but I couldn’t hear her over the noise before my phone was destroyed.
“She won’t be home for a few days,” Helen added as she began walking to her car. She called over her shoulder, “Enjoy your night off!”
As much as I loved my job, part of me was a bit relieved to have the night off. No amount of coffee was going to make me fit for work, and I was glad Celadine wouldn’t have to see me like this. So, I headed back the way I came, but as I neared the streets that wound around my block, the remnants of espresso still coursed through my veins. I wasn’t ready to go home yet. Music drifted up from the boardwalk a few streets down, the last of the local buskers before the chill of Fall crept in.
I grabbed a foot-long hotdog from a wandering cart and ate it in small, careful bites. Letting the grease soak up the mixture of old liquor and too much caffeine. I meandered about the boardwalk, enjoying the occasional fiddle player or acoustic guitar accompanied by a raw, crooning voice. I dropped what change I could find in my bag into their buckets and open guitar cases, then walked out to an empty pier to look over the harbor. The night sky echoed on the surface as lights of the city glistened in its reflection like colorful stars. I loved this city.
When the air chilled past the point of comfort, I zippered my leather jacket and made my way back toward the upper streets where I lived. As I rounded a corner near the end of the boardwalk, something rustled in the wild rose bush, and I stepped closer to see what it was. Probably a rabbit or a squirrel–a tiny blue light flickered deep within the leaves and thorns. A familiar blue hue, one I’d seen more times than I was comfortable with.
Slowly, I moved aside the outer brambles and narrowed my eyes to see in the darkness. The blue light flickered again and doused like a lantern going out. I kneeled to get a better look, poking my face in further.
Suddenly, something shot out of the bush, grazing my cheek, and fluttered around my head, tangling my hair. I shrieked and blindly swatted at the creature–bird, bat…whatever it was. Only when my hand collided with a tiny, solid object and I heard something smacking against the brick exterior of the building did I open my eyes. But it wasn’t an animal I saw laying there in the mulch of the raised garden bed. I stared breathlessly at the tiny, crumpled body. The abnormally long and bony limbs, the iridescent wings…
It was… a fairy.
I don’t know what possessed me to do it, but I took a few cautious steps closer. Unblinking, my chest heaving with tight breaths. I couldn’t believe what I was staring at. It was no bigger than a small bird. Crumpled and twitching, unconscious. Voices and footsteps were nearing. I had mere seconds to decide.
My stomach rolled, and my head spun as it fought to process the reality of what was happening. But, when the shadows of the incomers stretched across the wooden planks to my left, I quickly scooped up the fairy and clutched it to my chest as I ran home.
Chapter Six
“Julie!” I called as I burst through the door to the apartment. But I was met with silence. “God damn it! Jules?” I checked her bedroom. Empty.
I wasn’t sure why I wanted her to be home. Maybe to prove to myself that I wasn’t crazy. That I truly held a fairy in my hands. I hadn’t given it a second glance as I bolted home, but I could still feel its strange texture in my palms–the moth-like wings, the bony limbs, the leathery skin.
I closed myself in my bedroom and leaned against the wall to wait out the heaving of my breaths. I couldn’t stop the tremble that jittered in my bones. I slowly peeled my shaky hands from my chest and glanced down at the creature in my hold.
The creature stirred, and I dropped it on my bed with a yelp. The tiny blue fairy opened its large black eyes, groggy and confused, and blinked up at me. For a moment, we just stared at one another in utter disbelief.
The fairy gave quick movements as it took in its surroundings, then hunched its shoulders with a hiss. “You captured me?” Any response I had dried up on my tongue. It tried to stretch its wings, but one was bent over, and it winced before hissing at me once more. “You wounded me?” It bared pointed teeth.
My back pressed firmly against the cool wall. “I didn’t mean to.” I managed a tight swallow. “You… you’ve been following me. Haven’t you?” When the creature didn’t respond and a tiny growl built in its chest, I grabbed an empty Amazon box. “Why have you been following me? Answer, or I’ll put you in this box.”
Another low hiss. “No mortal paper cage can contain me.”
I paused as my eyes searched the room. Without a second thought, I grabbed a decorative birdcage I kept flowers in and dumped out the contents before tossing it over the fairy.
Its shriek was like a layered echo. “Iron!”
I dared a step closer. “Now, tell me why you’ve been following me everywhere. I’ve seen your blue light before.” I couldn’t believe I was entertaining this delusion. The fairy fell silent but never blinked as it stared up at me from the cage on the bed. I fetched a stack of books from my nightstand and plopped them on top of the cage. “Fine. But you’re not getting out until I get some answers.”
I turned to leave, reaching for the doorknob when the fairy spoke. “I’m not following you.”
I glanced over my shoulder. “Then why do you seem to be everywhere I am?”
“I’m… following the shadows.”
My heart thumped hard in my chest as it raced. “W-what shadows?”
I knew exactly which ones.
“The ones that lurk all over the city in search of….” The creature seemed stunned as it struggled to find the end of its sentence.
I turned to fully face it. “In search of what?”
“I-I… don’t know,” it replied and placed a hand of long bony fingers over its forehead. “It hurts to remember.”
I chewed at the inside of my lip. “You’ve hit your head.”
The fairy gripped the bars of the cage, and a searing sound came from the contact. It fell back and nursed its hands before glaring at me with those black, almond-shaped eyes. “I want to leave.”
“You shouldn’t go anywhere with a head injury and a broken wing.” I mulled over the situation in my mind. There was a fairy on my bed. A fairy. My mind struggled to process the information. Regardless, it was hurt, and it was my fault. “You won’t last the night. You–” I loosened a deep sigh, “you should stay here until you’re better.”
Its eyes narrowed but widened as a thin, cloudy film flicked over them. “You invite me into your home?”
I nodded cautiously. “Will… I regret it?”
The fairy waited for a beat. No doubt contemplating how it would escape and pick out my eyeballs in my sleep. Surprisingly, it replied calmly, “No. I accept your offer.”
“Just until you’re feeling better and can fly out of here.” My brows raised. “Okay?”
It nodded slowly, its unnaturally large and black eyes just staring at me. We both stood there in uncomfortable silence. Finally, I had to speak.
“So… what’s your name?” I asked.
The scaly blue skin of its forehead crinkled. “I don’t know.” It let out a tiny, musical sigh and plopped down, defeated. “I can’t remember.”
Guilt fettered in my gut as I realized just how badly I must have hurt the creature. But I said nothing. I just grabbed my pillow and slid the case off. I poked it through the bars of the birdcage. “Here,” I told it. “Get some sleep.”
It accepted t
he cover without thanks, just watched me leerily, and I decided to leave the creature be as I stalked out to the living room. There was no way I’d sleep in a room with that thing. Partially for what I feared it might do, and partly because I feared I was losing my damn mind. I closed the bedroom door behind me and headed for the couch, where I curled up in the fetal position and stared unblinking at the door.
***
I was dreaming again. I knew because of how my feet seemed to float along the grass. I could feel the cool shadow of the trees and the dampness of night between my toes. Behind me, a party raged on. So loud, so bright. I didn’t want to look at it. I wanted to stare at the shadows beyond the edges of the large backyard. Waiting.
Finally, he stepped out from the thick darkness. The unnamed man who’d saved me. Hair so black it seemed to gobble up the moonlight around him. Eyes so blue they put precious gems to shame. They peered at me from across the grass, and I let them suck me in.
His shape mesmerized me; tall with broad shoulders, the contours of his lean muscles evident under his perfectly tailored black combat jacket and dark jeans. He stood–old Converse sneakers on his feet–both his hands stuffed inside his pockets, and yet… he reached for me. His stare, it called to me, beckoned me to follow him. I took a few steps closer, my arm outstretched toward him.
Something grasped my shoulder, shaking me awake, and it sucked me from the dream in a blinding gasp. Immediately, I felt the sweat that covered my skin, how it clung to me under my clothes. The couch beneath me moaned as I pushed myself into a sitting position and found Julie standing over me.
“Too tired to make it to bed?” she asked.
I rubbed the back of my neck. “Yeah, something like that.” My voice was hoarse. “Where have you been?”
Julie grinned. “Tomas asked me to go for coffee.”
“And?” I smiled and fetched an old glass of water from the coffee table.
“And…” she shrugged,” I like him.”
“That’s it? You like him?”
Julie rolled her eyes and headed for the kitchen. “I’m not looking for anything serious right now. I need to… finish growing into myself.” She grabbed two fresh bottles of water from the fridge and tossed one at me as she came back and sat down in the chair across from the couch. “How was the gallery tonight?”
A Kingdom of Iron & Wine : New Adult Fantasy Romance (The Ironworld Series Book 1) Page 8