Bryxx

by Tarisa Marie

  “Is that meant to be a statement or are you wondering my age?” he asks with amusement sparkling in his eyes. He doesn’t give me the chance to answer. “I was born in England in 1715, making me over three hundred years old.” He gauges my reaction again, looking weary like this is uncomfortable for him to admit to me.

  “That’s so...old,” I say it before I can stop myself.

  He chuckles. “Yes, from a human’s perspective, that is old.”

  “You don’t have an accent,” I notice.

  Kade takes a drink of his whiskey and then seems to relax a bit when he realizes that I’m not about to become overwhelmed a faint or something. He swishes the liquid around in his mouth before swallowing and saying, “I do, I just do everything in my power to anger my father. He doesn’t like change and if he’d never been offered a position of such high power here in America, we’d never have come here. He very much dislikes this country. When he disowned me, I took every chance I could to piss him right off, including my most recent plot of dropping my accent, learning American slang and pop culture. He loathes it. It seriously infuriates him. I’m an embarrassment to him anyway. I’m basically just stirring the pot.”

  “But...you’re banned from the community now and you’ve chosen to keep it up?” I ask in confusion. I could see how having your father disown you could lead to such behavior but why keep it up if it’s not you? I imagine talking in a foreign accent all the time and can’t imagine how annoying and tough it would be. Conversation should be thoughtless, not a chore.

  “I doubt you’d be able to understand me very well if I didn’t.”

  I cock a brow. “Sure, I will. It’s still English,” I argue. “Try me.”

  He relaxes a bit. “Modern Americans have told me I’m hard to understand. My accent is more than dated.”

  “I guess I’ll just have to learn to understand it. Do you have trouble understanding me?” I wonder.

  He purses his lips. “No, I’ve had a lot of time to get acquainted with the American accent.”

  “Say something,” I push, clasping my hands together and leaning forward in my seat.

  A silent, semi awkward moment passes between us before he grins wickedly. “What would you like me say?”

  “I don’t know, just say something. Like comment on the weather or something.” Why is this so amusing to me?

  “Err...the weather is a bit sunny but there are also a few clouds and it’s a little chilly,” he describes in his thick native accent as he stares out the kitchen window. His gaze seems to catch something and it takes a moment before he pulls himself back into the kitchen.

  I lean back and look up at the roof, pretending I’m deep in thought. “Okay,” I nod finally as if studying his words very carefully. “I can get used to that.”

  This causes him to chuckle. “Can you?”

  I nod a few times while trying not to laugh. “I can.”

  “Do you always make normal situations so awkward?” Kade mutters teasingly and takes the last gulp of his drink before standing and collecting both of our glasses and taking them to the counter. “More wine for the lady?”

  I nod. “Yes, to the wine and also yes to the awkwardness. Sorry.” My halfhearted apology causing his lips to twitch.

  He returns with a full glass of whiskey for himself and a glass of wine for me. “Are you hungry? I could order us something for supper.”

  Shrugging, I recall my gourmet supper. Cereal. “What do you have in mind?”

  “What do you enjoy? Chinese? Pizza? I have no preference.” He leans back in his chair with his arms crossed firmly at his chest.

  I jump up and dig through my purse until I find the takeout pamphlets I keep in the front pocket. I toss them in front of him. “Me neither. Surprise me.”

  As he flips through the menus, I sip my wine and watch him while relaxing back in my chair. It’s nice to be spending my first night in my new apartment with someone else as I’m not yet comfortable here. It doesn’t feel like home. With everything I’ve learnt about supernatural beings existing, living by myself is still not something I am completely comfortable with. Looking at Kade in front of me, a supernatural being himself, I realize how contradictory my two statements are. I don’t want to be here alone because of my discomfort surrounding the existence of supernaturals but I feel safer with one staying with me.

  “So, ghosts are real?” I interrupt his browsing.

  He doesn’t look up from the menu. “Wraiths. Humans who’ve passed from supernatural causes.”

  “And both Harriet and the man who killed my brother before he became Bryxx were wraiths?”

  Kade glances up at me. “No. Harriet is a wraith. Wraiths have no physical influence on the living world. They cannot touch or move anything like in movies. The man who killed your brother was something else entirely.”

  Confused, I wait for him to continue but he doesn’t. “What was he then?”

  “I’d prefer you not know everything about my world. Not all supernatural beings are like the Bryxx who generally leave the average human alone for the most part. Some are not so kind. If you think the Bryxx are unfair and cruel, you will definitely not like the beings that the Bryxx build the heavily guarded walls to defend their race from.”

  “The wall and the guards aren’t to protect the Bryxx from human discovery?” I wonder.

  He shakes his head. “Humans are no threat to Bryxx. They’re weak and easily manipulated through influence.”

  I swallow, not sure if I do want to know what could scare the Bryxx.

  “How about this pizza?” he points to the all meat choice and I nod. He calls the number while I contemplate some of the things we’ve talked about so far.

  I get so deep into my thoughts, that I barely hear him when he asks me if I’m alright. Gathering myself, I turn my attention from my spinning mind to the man before me. “Sorry, I was just thinking. I want to know more about the Bryxx. I don’t really know much.”

  “I’m not sure what Daniel told you exactly but Bryxx are far stronger and faster than humans and they have far better hearing and reflexes. They’re immortal. They live in communities throughout the world. They can only be killed three ways. Damage to the heart or the brain. The third option is the venom of one of their enemies that I wish not to go into detail about with you. What else?”

  “I want to know about those enemies,” I blurt. “If I don’t find out, it’ll bother me my entire life.”

  “If you do find out, it will turn your stomach and bother you all your life anyhow, May. Trust me.” He picks up the fidget spinner again and fiddles with it.

  I nibble on my bottom lip. “Tell me,” I decide slowly. “I want to know.” I’m not exactly sure why it is that I want to know. Maybe it’s because I hate the unknown or maybe because I want to know the third way my brother could die for real. They say curiosity killed the cat, and maybe this will kill me somehow down the road.

  Kade mutters something unintelligible. “I suppose that you may be able to see them like your brother could so maybe you do need to know about them. On the other hand, if you can’t already see them, and I give you this information and you believe it, then you will for sure be able to see them, and if you can see them, they can harm you, May. They feed on the weak and the scared.”

  This sends a bone chilling thrill up my spine. They feed on the weak and scared? What kind of beings are these? Maybe I don’t want to know after all. I shudder.

  “That’s what I thought,” Kade says, almost sounding...disappointed?

  We sit there staring at everything except each other until the doorbell rings and both of us jump up to get the pizza. I insist on paying but Kade hands the delivery woman cash before I can even pull out my wallet.

  We both dig into the warm comfort food as if we’re starving animals. I realize that I could’ve grabbed us plates but it’s too late now, Kade doesn’t seem to mind anyhow but he probably thinks I’m a slob the way I’m devouring the pizza. I’ve neve
r really been lady-like.

  I wash down my third piece of pizza with the remainder of my wine, the affects of it starting to creep in. I get up and pour myself one last glass, making mental note that I’m cut off. I don’t want to be drunk while I have a guest. I don’t want him to think I’m a total mess. Then I do the math. Kade has been downing straight hard liquor like water. He’s had far more alcohol than I and he barely seems to be affected.

  “Do you have some sort of super tolerance to alcohol? You’ve drank enough in the past hour to knock an elephant out,” I tease.

  “As an immortal, alcohol has no ill health affects on me and so since I can remember, I’ve drunk a lot of it, something I got from my father and his friends I suppose. I have a high tolerance but I’m not sure it’s because I’m immortal or because I’ve conditioned myself to it over a long time.”

  Fair enough.

  “Enough about me. Tell me about yourself,” he turns the conversation around.

  We spend the next near hour talking about me and my life and I eventually cave in and allow myself a couple more glasses of wine as I find myself becoming more comfortable with him.

  Eventually we fall on the subject of my mother and her attempted murder on me years ago. I go quiet as I recall the events of that day. What got into her? She’d been fine merely hours earlier and then out of nowhere she tried to kill me. There were absolutely no signs. I wonder if it was wrong of me not to go visit her while she was in the psychiatric ward all those years. Sure, she tried to kill me, but she was still my mom. Should I have really let that one terrible incident affect our relationship so? She had a mental health problem, so can I really blame her? This is something that’s had me torn since the incident.

  “She was ill, and you were young. Don’t beat yourself up over it. It wasn’t your fault nor hers. It was tragic, but no one is to blame,” he attempts to reassure me, but I still feel guilty. She’s gone now, and I’ll never be able to make amends or understand what went through her mind that day.

  I wipe a tear from my cheek quickly before he can notice. “Maybe I was young, but I’m not anymore. Why couldn’t I have gone to visit her four years ago? A year ago? Two months ago? Gone to her funeral?” I wonder if aunt Betty was right. Maybe I should’ve just sucked it up and attended her funeral.

  “Something I’ve learnt in my life is that we can’t dwell on our mistakes, we have to learn from them. If you feel that it was a mistake not going to see her, then you’ve learnt a life lesson. I can’t say for sure whether that was a mistake or not. I never knew her, so I can’t make that assumption only you can decide that. You’re the only one who went through all of that.”

  It’s now that I realize I’ve done exactly what I told myself I wasn’t going to. I drank too much and now here I am tearing up in front of someone I barely know. How embarrassing. He probably thinks I’m a mess.

  Kade stands and checks his phone before finishing the last swallow of his whiskey. He drank an entire bottle of whiskey in a matter of a few hours. Who does that? Alcoholics, but Kade barely seems phased by the alcohol.

  I glance at the clock and realize that it’s only nine in the evening.

  “Do you know my brother very well?” I wonder.

  Kade raises his eyebrows and shrugs as if he’s unsure how to answer. “No. Not really. I was disowned by my father and most of the Bryxx community before he became Bryxx.”

  “Why were you disowned?” I wonder, hoping that I don’t cross a line, but it’s been bugging me since he mentioned as much.

  Kade’s expression becomes blank and he briefly turns his back to me. “I can’t say.”

  “You can’t, or you won’t?” I push, knowing I’m in dangerous territory.

  Kade begins walking towards the entryway and my heart rate quickens. Have I scared him off? What could be so bad that he won’t even tell me?

  “You don’t have to tell me,” I say quickly. “I’m sorry.”

  He stops and runs a tanned hand through his hair before turning back to me. “Some things I wish to keep private,” he says finally, and I nod.

  “Of course. I didn’t realize it was such a touchy subject,” I mutter. “Don’t go. Please. Stay. I am heading to bed anyway. I’m tired,” I lie. I actually just got my second wind.

  He doesn’t respond and so I get up and head to my new bedroom.

  Chapter 6

  I wake up feeling groggy, my head slightly pounding. I glance to the small amount of light seeping in through the blinds. It must be nearly eight in the morning, but I can’t know for sure since my alarm clock has yet to be set up, and I left my phone in the kitchen last night.

  Feeling gross, I jump in the shower in the bathroom adjoined to my room, an extra about my apartment that I love. I shower and brush my teeth before changing into fresh clothes, doing my hair, and applying makeup. I don’t have many plans today besides finishing up a few odds and ends from the move yesterday.

  By the time I exit my bedroom, I’ve nearly forgotten that I have a guest. I find Kade fast asleep on the pull-out bed of my couch without blankets. I forgot to get him blankets. You must be joking, May. Get it together. I suddenly feel bad and race back into the bedroom to grab some. I return with a fresh comforter and drape it over him carefully, so I don’t wake him. I then quietly prepare myself a slice of toast. I drop the bread into the toaster and then slide the lever down slowly until it clicks, and the bread stays put.

  “He couldn’t care less about who you are,” Kade mutters, surprising me.

  I turn to face him but realize that he’s still asleep. He’s talking in his sleep.

  “Tell him to screw off,” Kade continues, sounding downright pissed off.

  What kind of dream is the man having? It doesn’t sound so pleasant.

  My toast pops. I grab it and slather some butter on it. A rustle behind me causes me to turn in the sound’s direction. I look at the couch. It’s empty. What the hell?

  “Good morning,” a masculine voice mutters in my ear, startling me so bad that I drop my toast onto the floor and gasp. Kade stands right beside me, mere inches away.

  His expression switches from content to apologetic. “I’m not used to being around humans. My apologies, May. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

  I reach down to get my toast but before I can reach it, it’s no longer on the floor. I glimpse up at Kade who tosses it into the trash. He then appears very guilty.

  “I’m sorry...again. I’m not used to being around humans. Last night I was more with it I guess I’ve just become too comfortable around you,” he only jokes but it makes me smile.

  I want him to be himself around me. It’s only fair. “No, it’s okay. You just surprised me is all. I’m not used to being around immortals.”

  “Let me make you some new toast,” he offers and makes sure his movements are slow on my scale as he grabs the bread.

  “What are you doing for fun today?” I ask him and grab the broom to sweep up some of the crumbs.

  Kade stares intently at the toaster. He is either studying himself in the reflection or he’s deep in thought. The former is confirmed when I watch him fix his hair. I hold back a giggle.

  “I’m not sure yet. I’m not used to having nothing to do to be honest. What are you doing today?”

  “I was going to finish a few things around here and then I’m not sure,” I admit. “I don’t have anything planned.”

  “I was hoping I could find a hotel nearby here. I like this part of town,” he tells me. “Do you have any suggestions? I don’t know the area.”

  My toasts pop and I quickly pluck it from the toaster and drop it on the counter before it can burn me. Then I slather it in butter and take a bite before answering him. “What’s your budget?”

  He shrugs. “Whatever. I have the means.”

  “You really can stay here. I’d like it if you did. I’d like to hear about Daniel. I know you said you’re not really friends but you probably at least know a little about him,
don’t you?” The hope in my voice is very apparent.

  “Fine. One more night, but then I’m out of your hair,” he resigns quickly and puts the butter back in the fridge for me.

  Kade heads out to run some errands a few minutes later. Apparently, the community kicked him out without giving him time to collect any of his belongings, so he needs to get some essential things.

  While he’s out, I finish a few things around the house and put the finishing touches on the new place, personalizing it a bit with things like pictures and decor. When I’m done, I decide to take a walk of the building. It’s nothing too crazy, just a cheap little building downtown, but there are a few amenities that I’d like to check out, including the gym in the basement.

  I skip down the stairs two at a time in a fairly joyous mood all things considered and scan my keycard by the door. It clicks open and I enter the empty work out room. Treadmills line one wall and weights line another. Simple, small, but perfect. I hop onto one of the machines and fiddle with it until it turns on. Before I know it, I’m at a steady jog. It’s been a while since I’ve ran so I take it slow. I always used to run when I needed to think about something, it isn’t until now that I realize how much I’ve missed it.

  I crank the speed up a tad and fiddle with the incline. When I look back up from the screen, my heart plunges into a tub of ice water. In the mirrored wall in front of me I see myself on the treadmill, but I also see someone standing directly behind me. A man about in his thirties with a bald head and squinty brown eyes. I didn’t hear him come in and now he’s watching my backside as I sprint.

  I reach for the stop button on the treadmill but before I can hit it, I stumble and the speed of the treadmill sends me flying backwards and landing harshly onto my back on the ground, knocking the wind right out of me. Although I’m in pain, I force myself to flip over and scan the room as soon as I get my breath back. It’s nearly knocked out from me a second time when I see the man standing over me with a devilish smile, a creepy, inhuman smile. I don’t know what it is, but something in me screams that this man isn’t human. I know he isn’t. My suspicion is confirmed when he leans over me, his close-lipped smile changes to a toothy grin, or should I say fangy. He has actual fangs. Like a vampire would have. A vampire. Could they be real? I swallow hard as my heart rate increases rapidly.