by Kody Boye
“Hello,” they finally said.
“My name is Mr. DePella, and I’ll be your Language Arts teacher for the duration of this year.”
“Are you really a Supernatural?” a girl near the back of the room asked.
There it was—that question I’d been waiting for since I’d entered the room: the one I’d feared would come sooner rather than later. Their stares—which, until that moment, had softened considerably—once more returned, and this time came with a force that I knew couldn’t be reckoned with.
Remain calm was the mantra I kept repeating in my head. They were just students. They held no real power over me in my own domain—or, at least, I didn’t think they did.
Knowing that having it out in the open now would be more beneficial than revealing my status as a Kaldr later, I said, “Yes. I am.”
“What are you?” a male student inquired.
“I am what the Svell Kaldr, otherwise known as the Ice Cold.”
“Do you have powers?” the same girl who’d initially questioned me asked.
“I do,” I replied, “but I will have you know that I pose no danger to you—any of you—under any circumstance. I am in full control of my abilities. You need not fear anything from me.”
“My mom says you’re like vampires,” the girl said. “That you have to feed on humans in order to survive.”
“Though this is a discussion I would rather not have in the classroom,” I began, “I will let the group of you ask whatever questions you may like, if only to assure you that I—and my gifts—mean you no harm. To answer your question, miss: yes—we do feed off humans, but only their body heat. I have a companion who has designated himself to me as what I call my ‘warm flesh,’ otherwise known as a person who lets me feed off of them.”
“What happens if you don’t feed?” a male student asked.
“I die,” I said. “Simple as that. Like all of you, I require sustenance in order to survive, though unlike you, I do not need to eat or drink. I need simply take the warmth from a human being in order to function as I would on a day-to-day basis.”
“So you are vampires,” the boy said.
“Vampiric,” I replied, then paused, suddenly struck by a chord of anger I hadn’t anticipated feeling at that moment. I balled my hand into a fist to channel my anger away from my voice and then released it a short moment later. “True vampires,” I continued, “are monsters that inhabit the bodies of dead mortals and then use them to their liking. They are neither person nor animal. They are parasites.”
The students continued to stare, their rapt attention more than disconcerting considering that I hadn’t even begun to lay out the course requirements or what I desired from them on their first day of school. This wasn’t supposed to be a Supernatural studies class—though at that moment it might as well may have been. I was meant to teach English, and by God, I would teach it no matter what these kids thought of me.
“All right,” I said, clearing my throat. “I would like all of you to take a piece of paper out and write a little bit about yourselves. Tell me whatever you’d like. Your hobbies. Your aspirations. What you’d like to get out of this class. I can’t guarantee that we’ll have fun all the time, but I plan to do my best to make this year go by as quickly as possible.”
The students bowed their heads and continued to work on their papers while I watched. Though my focus was mostly centered on them, my thoughts kept going back to the Kelda and just what she had said—about how I was meant to take Guy’s place as his rightful partner and, I imagined, lead the Kaldr people to prosperity. I couldn’t imagine what that entailed, but regardless, I couldn’t focus on it in the here and now.
Rather than face the future, I decided to tackle the present and continue on with what I was doing.
My destiny could wait.
As of right now, it was tied up with fourteen-year-old students.
2
The day passed by more swiftly than I could’ve ever imagined, though each hour I was met with scrutiny, each period the divisive looks that could paint me either as a sinner or a saint. Always, though, I remained calm and in control, and combated any question that came to me with grace and elegance I felt would’ve made any true Svell Kaldr proud. I thought, during these short and fractured moments, of the Kelda—and how, after revealing herself from the mists along East 12th Street, she’d determined that my place within the Supernatural world was far from over.
By the time the day ended, I was almost ready to collapse. Though not physically tired, the mental strain from having to live life both as a teacher and a strange and unknown creature was nearly enough to send me to my knees.
I had just settled into Guy’s Lexus and was preparing to pull out of my parking spot when my phone buzzed.
I looked down.
The unknown number and the words, We need to talk were incredibly chilling.
I was just about to chalk it up to a wrong number when the phone began to ring.
A million questions began to run through my mind.
Should I answer it?
Should I not?
It would be the first call not related to schoolwork that I’d received, and given that it was a local number, I figured there’d be no harm in answering what could only be a harmless phone call.
After accepting the call with a flick of my thumb, I brought the phone to my ear and asked, “Hello?”
“Jason,” none other than Elliot Winters said.
“Elliot,” I replied, stiffening in my seat. “I mean, hello. I wasn’t expecting you.”
“We need to talk, Jason. Do you have a moment?”
I considered my surroundings—the parking lot that was so dark and as of now empty—and nodded. “Yeah,” I said. “I have a moment.”
“A private moment?”
I nodded, but didn’t say anything.
As if able to see my nod, Elliot sighed and said, “We need to talk about your position within the Kaldr hierarchy.”
Once again I waited in silence. What more could I say, given that I’d no clue what was going on?
“Now that Guy is gone,” Elliot continued, “there’s the matter of the role he’s left behind and the position you would normally be obligated to fulfill as his partner.”
“The jǫfurr,” I replied.
“You know?” Elliot asked.
“I was visited by the Kelda on my way to the school this morning,” I replied. “She damn near made me have a car accident too.”
“What did she tell you?”
“That I was the new prince,” I said. “That I could not escape my destiny.”
“Normally this would be an obligation you couldn’t refuse,” Elliot sighed, “but considering the circumstances, I would understand if you wanted nothing to do with me, my husband or the rest of the Kaldr.”
He was right. A part of me simply wanted to move on—to ignore the parts of the Supernatural world that did not need me and to live as normal a life as possible. However—I understood that, as a Kaldr, and as the rightful heir to Guy’s throne that I could not refuse without first properly examining the situation for what it truly was.
With a sigh, and with all the humility I could bear at that moment, I cleared my throat and said, “Are you free this weekend?”
“I am,” Elliot said.
“I want to come see you—both of you—and talk this out. I don’t think this is a conversation we should be having over the phone.”
“No. It probably isn’t.”
“I’d offer to come tomorrow, but I have classes to teach.”
“Your work comes first, Jason. I understand that.”
“Ok. Cool. I guess the only other question I have is: where are you?”
“We are on land on the outskirts of Austin, attempting to rebuild what was unfortunately lost. I’ll send you the address tomorrow evening. I…” He paused. “I look forward to seeing you again, Jason.”
“You too,” I replied.
The line went dead.
I sighed.
I set my phone into the cup holder at my side and backed out of my parking space.
My destiny was descending—and on swift wings, no less.
Was I to become the next prince of the Kaldr?
I didn’t know—and wouldn’t until this weekend.
For that reason, I decided to simply put the matters out of my head until further notice.
3
I went home and thought long and hard about what I would do come time the weekend rolled around and my meeting with Elliot Winters began. Seated on the living room couch with a glass of wine in my hand and my thoughts in the stars, I casually sipped from my drink while attempting to piece together the puzzle that was quickly becoming my life.
Would I be named the new prince, I wondered, and thus usher in a new rule of the Kaldr, or would I simply meet with Elliot Winters and be told that now was not my time? He hadn’t seemed opposed to me becoming the next prince, but then again, I could never read the senior Winters man. He’d always been an enigma—kind while at the same time harsh, compassionate while also cruel. He’d helped make me the Kaldr I was today, and his partner—hell. Amadeo had given me the tools to become that very person.
“No one ever said that this would be easy,” I mumbled as I sipped once more from my glass.
The doorknob creaked as a key was inserted, then twsited inside it. Shortly thereafter, the door opened to reveal none other than Aerick—who, in his Kinks and Other Essentials T-shirt and a pair of jeans, looked more dashing than ever. “Hey,” he said.
“Hey,” I replied, coughing as the scent of incense wafted into my nose. “How was your day?”
“It was fine,” Aerick replied. “Yours?”
I didn’t know how I would explain to him what had happened, or what would come time the weekend rolled around. Because of that, I gestured him to seat himself on the couch and sighed as he narrowed his eyes at me.
“Something’s wrong,” he said. “I can tell from the way you’re looking at me.”
“Just… sit. I’ll explain.”
He did as I asked, so I did as I offered—first by detailing the account with the Kelda up the road, then by offering what little I’d been able to gleam from my conversation with Elliot Winters. Throughout, Aerick kept a straight yet determined face and watched me intently—rarely moving, never speaking.
“So,” I then said to conclude my statement. “That’s how it happened.”
“Are you planning on going down there?” Aerick asked, the corners of his lips curling into a frown.
“I am. Saturday morning.”
“I’m going with you.”
“I expected you would.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing,” I replied. “It’s just… this…” I sighed, then lifted my hand. “It’s, well—”
“Family matters?”
He couldn’t have read my mind more if he’d tried. “Yeah,” I said after a moment’s hesitation. “How did you—”
“I figured the mating ritual was somewhat like a bonding ceremony,” Aerick replied. “Something akin to marriage. I mean… you expected to live happily ever after with him—or at least as happily ever after as your situation would allow. You couldn’t have anticipated encountering and then killing Missy Sue, thus leading Guy to offer himself up to Pierre in exchange for your safety.”
“I couldn’t have,” I offered in kind. “But, yeah. To answer your question: I did think that I would be Guy’s warm flesh for however long he needed me to be.”
“Which was sort of like marriage,” Aerick said, to which I only responded with a nod. “Question: why haven’t you done that with me?”
“Because I’m pacing things with you. Guy… he was circumstantial. You…”
“Aren’t?”
I shook my head and reached out to set a hand on his knee. “You mean a lot to me,” I said. “And maybe it’s been easier to get close to you because we’re not bound by circumstance. This—” I tightened my hold in his leg “—is different.”
“But you’re still in mourning,” he said.
“I am.”
“I guess I can’t say I’m happy with what’s happened either,” Aerick sighed, leaning back in his seat. “God, that man. He was something, wasn’t he?”
He was, I wanted to say, but only nodded in response.
Aerick leaned forward, plucked the glass of wine from my hand, and downed it in a few short swigs. “Sorry,” he said, palming the alcohol from his mouth. “I guess nerves got the best of me.”
“Yeah,” I mumbled, turning my attention toward the nearby windows.
Though covered in blinds, they offered slivers of fading light that, to me, resembled glimpses of hope that radiated throughout the passages of time.
What would happen come time we made our way down to the newly-acquired Winters ranch?
Only fate would tell.
4
Friday passed with a blur akin to a falling star whose presence was seen only briefly within the Heavens outside the Earth. With Elliot Winters’ address in hand and our sights set on traveling to south Austin, we loaded ourselves into Guy’s Lexus Saturday morning and prepared for our short jaunt first by stopping at a gas station to fill up, then by getting hamburgers on the way out.
“God,” Aerick moaned around his burger. “Food.”
“You act like you were starving,” I replied with a laugh.
“I was,” he said, then pouted his lips as if he were a child. “Seriously, J. Have you seen how I eat?”
“Yeah. Like a fucking cow.”
He slugged my shoulder, prompting even more laughter out of me, and stuck a fry into his mouth as if it were some lifesaving elixir given to him by the Gods Themselves. I, meanwhile, continued to drive, fighting both happiness over the fact that I was spending time with the man I’d barely seen throughout the past two days and dread over what was likely to come.
At this hour of the morning, traffic was minimal, the roads mostly clear, the businesses—like the fast food joint—only minimally crowded. It didn’t take us long to clear the short distance up Airport Boulevard and to the turnoff that led to the frontage road.
By the time the first fifteen minutes of our trip had passed, we were on our way to the newly-resurrected Winters family ranch.
“Hey,” Aerick said after finishing his meal, during which time he washed it down with a swig of cola. “You think everything’s gonna be ok when we get there?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you know… Guy being dead and all. Us going because you’re, well… the next jǫfurr.”
“There’s nothing set in stone.”
“Tradition says it is.”
“Tradition can eat my ass.”
“Hey! That’s my job,” Aerick said, then slugged my shoulder and laughed as he leaned back in his seat. “But seriously. Are you worried?”
“I’d be lying if I said I weren’t,” I replied, rolling my shoulders as I tightened my hold on the steering wheel. “I mean, it will be the first time I’ve seen them since the funeral.”
“Not very good with parental figures, are you?”
“How’d you know?”
“I just had a hunch,” Aerick said.
That hunch was more than true. Given my falling out with my family over my sexuality and my determination to live and go to school in Austin, it was any wonder I’d had contact with them for as long as I did. But Elliot—he was something else: a father figure whom, crowned in stone, could crush me with one simple look. I knew his compassion toward me had only been because of his son, but now?
I shook my head.
In the end, it will all come down to what happened in the next hour.
5
The soil was fertile. Tilled to perfection, worked hard by men Kaldr and not, it bore within its depths a distinguished shine that could have only come from being properly fertilized and prosper
ed in that it held a natural order—ordained by man and crafted by nature. As we rolled along the long road, during which time I marveled over the men and women in the fields and the work they did, I began to consider what things would be like now that Guy was gone—and how, ultimately, my future would be shaped by his passing.
“There they are,” Aerick said, pointing.
Elliot and Amadeo could be seen making their way down the road from a farmhouse that was probably as old as it looked. Rustic in nature, two-storied, and flanked by multiple trailers on both sides, the place appeared very much the dump as it was—for now.
For now.
“Don’t say anything about the state of their home,” I said as I pulled the car to a stop alongside the dirt lot where several other vehicles were parked. “We don’t want to offend them.”
“By what? Saying this looks like shit?”
I growled under my breath as I killed the engine and opened the door just in time for Elliot to catch the handle. “Jason,” he said.
“Mr. Winters,” I replied.
We exchanged gazes—two Kaldr bound only by the magical lines that fathered us—and watched each other for several long moments before I crawled out of the vehicle and stepped onto the dry soil. Aerick crawled out shortly thereafter, and when he came to stand before Elliot Winters and Amadeo Castellano, stood ramrod straight.
“Amadeo,” I said, nodding as he stepped forward and set a hand on my shoulder. “I hope you’ve been well.”
“As well as I can be considering the circumstance,” the Spaniard replied. “How about you? Are you well, Jason?”
“I’m doing all right,” I replied. “Still adjusting to him being gone.”
“As we all are,” Elliot said, then turned toward the farmhouse. “But that is not why you’re here. Come. We have much to discuss.”
The pair of us followed the elder couple up the road and through the front door, into a house that was as quaint as it could possibly be considering its age. In the midst of refurnishing, it was gutted and appeared ready for the slaughter, with drywall hanging soundly and boxes arranged every which way but loose. We were directed, after a moment of impolite gawking, into the living room—which, for the most part, had been set up for visitation.