Dark Ember

by R. D. Vallier

  The Mirage's water volcano felt as if it spewed magma. My head pounded. The singing glasses followed. I tugged the neckline of my sage tank-top. The humans must be so confused. Last night hailed enough to turn the streets white, but now it was sweltering, hotter than any Ohio summer despite the lack of humidity. Are the faeries doing this? I wondered. Did James revolt against Delano's magic? Did the darklings? I whipped out Delano's iPhone to check the temperature, but the front screen wouldn't unlock. Weird. I tottered toward the Bellagio, stumbling occasionally over smooth pavement.

  Lust peddlers lined the street, their slapping stripper cards a racket in my ears. "They're hiring," one said, and handed me a card featuring a blonde with stars on her nipples. He stepped away when I burst into laughter and tossed the card behind me.

  The sun beat down. The moon hung like a ghost-orb in a cloud-speckled sky. I spotted the Bellagio three lightyears away. I staggered along the sidewalk, tripped when I passed the Forum Shops and nearly sprawled. "Stupid pavement," I mumbled. "It's too smooth." People cast sideways glances as I passed, a common theme among changelings. Except, their stares seemed more intense, as if directed more at me instead of the magic they sensed. Oddly, they didn't give me a wide berth. They peered closer, as if not only sensing something different, but seeing it, too.

  Your imagination is tricking you. It's your insecurities. Ignore them. Think positively.

  My thoughts drifted to last night, and my heart glowed. I had more sex with Delano in those hours than I had during half my marriage, and more intimacy than in my entire life. I never knew sex was possible without having my cervix ground like a mortar and pestle, and I never realized how starved I'd been. Delano's touch acted as fertilizer my body had struggled to survive without, and now I tasted nutrients and salivated for more. Tonight! Tonight! I see Del tonight! Silent giggles fluttered inside my chest. My smile stretched to pounding temples as I recalled him flipping me onto my stomach with a triumph cry and using his belt to—

  Delano flashed in front of me. I squeaked and jumped backward.

  He was gone.

  I shook my head. Impossible. Del's in the darkshine. But he seemed real, as naked as all last night inside me.

  I stopped short. Am I experiencing heatstroke? Am I—?

  "Ma'am?"

  A man and woman in their mid-forties stood beside me. I blinked. Where did they come from? They looked concerned. "Are you okay? You don't look well."

  "Yeah. I'm—"

  James lunged at my face. I gasped and lurched sideways, hitting a low wall and falling to my rear.

  "Oh, Gerald!" the lady exclaimed.

  Delano appeared, and in a flash vanished, as if the light was fog, blocking him from view if he moved too far inside.

  "Light acts like darkness to them," I mumbled. "Darklings can't see the darkshine through the light."

  My heart hammered. Singing glasses whined. Oh, crap. I'm trapped between frequencies. My knees curled to my chest, soles scraping across the pavement. A dirty spork sat on the pavement, the scoop cracked. What harm am I causing to myself? To the magics in general? Sweat slipped down my jaw. A limo stopped near the curb, its windows open. Inside, young women in tiaras giggled over bubbling flutes.

  The man grabbed the cellphone in his pocket. "You need a doctor."

  "No, I'm okay." I hoped I was. "It's the heat."

  The man lifted an eyebrow. "Heat?"

  I then noticed he and his wife wore jackets. I scanned the staring pedestrians. Everyone wore jackets or sweatshirts or rubbed and hugged themselves for warmth. Even the giggling women in the limo, catcalling and jiggling their boobs at a passing band of grinning jocks.

  The man grabbed my arm to help me up. "You're freezing!"

  Weldon blipped into my vision, naked, his left leg missing below the knee. I gasped and forced my stare off his genitals. Delano knelt, saying something to his friend. Weldon looked nettled; Delano looked tense. The two men were not solid, but more real than apparitions the closer they approached. I removed my sunglasses as if the lenses tricked my vision. Delano seemed to inhale sharply. My head jerked back a few inches and they disappeared behind the light.

  The woman recoiled. The man did too when he noticed my face. "Are you injured?" he asked. A stranger stopped and sniggered with her girlfriend. "Your eyes. They look…"

  Like blood moons. My heart pounded. James appeared with a wolf's grin. Delano blipped in, silently screaming, gesticulating he'd kick his ever-loving ass. James sneered and they disappeared behind the light.

  The couple now glared as if I was a drug addict, and their compassion retreated. "We'll call an ambulance," the man said gruffly, and pulled his wife away.

  "No. I'm fine. It's a blood disorder." Delano's good and evil spiel replayed in my head. How people wanted to feel like they did good, instead of striving to do good, based on ignorance. And here, I saw people's ignorance harm in another way. I was hurt. I suffered. Yet they felt no compassion for the person they believed I was. And, had our roles been reversed, I couldn't say I'd have behaved differently.

  The couple scurried away. The man dialed his cellphone; the woman nervously glanced back. I forced myself to stand, sagging against the wall until the world stilled. Thida raced past in the svelte, gorgeous skin of a ballerina, lunging for something out of view, then vanished like a wisp of smoke. I staggered toward the Mirage like a wino, tourists stepping away and diverting their eyes. Delano joined my side, hands fisted and muscles rippling. Pedestrians diverted around him without thinking, as if an instinctual warning steered their path. He gritted his teeth the few times someone darted through his shoulder, his body riffling in a fleshy aura. He dry-heaved when a man zipped through his chest.

  Ahead, a middle-aged woman sat on the sidewalk against a low wall, searching for meaning in the clouds. Her flannel shirt and jeans were dusty and frayed at the hems. Her worn sneakers clenched a coffee can containing a few nickels and pennies, the money destined for … what? A hot meal or alcohol? Prescriptions or meth? A family or sex trafficking?

  I staggered, thinking of good and bad, love and hatred, blissful ignorance and merited caution, my conflicted morals whirling in an awkward, internal dance.

  I scoured my pockets as Delano the ghost walked beside me, then dropped all my coins into the woman's can.

  The woman stared at the clouds and gave no notice.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  I ordered an iced coffee and a cheeseburger at a restaurant inside the Mirage, and ate at a corner table. Delano sat beside me, his face two inches from mine. He pointed to me, then his eye, then himself, mouthing the words: Can you see me?

  "Yes," I said. He pointed to his ear, his eyebrows raised. "No. Can you hear me?"

  Delano nodded.

  "I must've drawn too much night magic during—" I stopped, realizing I had no idea how many darklings surrounded. I also noticed a patron eyeing me nervously, as if I was some crazy lady talking to herself. I brought Delano's iPhone from my pocket to my ear. "Right before dawn. I think the sun rose when I was crossing, and I'm stuck." I wiped my forehead. Delano scrutinized me, his lips tight. "I feel hungover and I'm baking alive. I think I should increase my day magic to escape this purgatory."

  I inhaled a sharp breath, realizing purgatory implied the darkshine as hell and darklings as demons. Delano either didn't notice or didn't care. He merely nodded his agreement.

  Weather manipulation increased day magic fastest, but would instantly call attention to nearby faeries, and I couldn't protect myself should a fight occur. Concrete and pavement surrounded me. True wilderness existed outside the city, but I didn't trust my driving ability, and I didn't know how much trouble I'd cause manipulating magics on James's territory off the strip, especially after last night. This left healing work. It would be agonizingly slow, but I couldn't think of another option which didn't risk my safety or create obvious exposure.

  I guzzled my iced coffee. Singing glasses whined. Between the ketchup and th
e sugar stood a white vase with an iris. I hovered my hand above the flower, tugging day magic to repair its browned leaf. Faint, oh so faint, I felt light magic's song.

  Delano bounced in my peripheral. I focused on my task.

  "Come on." I willed the leaf to repair. Daylight sang. Energy flowed around me, but refused to enter the leaf. My heart pounded. Magic was present, but I couldn't wield it.

  Oh, God. I'm stuck. I licked my lower lip, the skin rough from desert air. Is this forever? Will I—

  Delano flapped his hands. I turned to him. He mouthed something I couldn't make out. "Intake?" He shook his head no, and tried slowing his words. "Eat cake? What?" Delano rolled his eyes and shook his head, then dragged out each syllable, pressing his teeth over his bottom lip to emphasis the F.

  It's fake.

  My eyebrows jumped as I studied the plant. The artificial plant. "Shut up." My cheeks burned as Delano silently howled with laughter.

  I finished my iced coffee and burger, then headed to the hotel's atrium. People passed me in droves beneath domed glass and towering palm trees. A leaf had been crushed against the walkway's border. I knelt, placing my hand over the injury, and called light's magic to heal. Magic obeyed sluggishly, as if coming from faraway. Normally, I performed something so simple under three-seconds, but it was as if I tugged an anchor through molasses, and two minutes passed until energy channeled and released. White light flashed from my hand. A passerby jumped in surprise.

  My deep breath stretched to my toes. A waterfall babbled behind me. I wasn't stuck. I was safe, in control.

  Okay, pull yourself out of this mess, learn your lesson, and never repeat it.

  But I needed another option. People glared as they dodged around me on the walkway. If I kept flashing lights every two minutes, I'd bring security and complications. Delano reappeared in my vision, crouched beside me. He mimed tearing something and I groaned, knowing what he meant, knowing it was my sole option, and knowing I had a miserable day ahead of me. I ripped off the leaf and placed it in my pocket.

  I found a bench amid the hotel shops, tucked against the wall. I sat, perched my feet on the cushion, hiding the leaf behind my knees. Delano sat beside me. I tore the leaf and healed it, tore the leaf and healed it, minutes passing between. Singing glasses whined. Tourists chattered and shopping bags rustled. I tore the leaf and healed it. Tore the leaf and healed it. Tore the leaf … and healed it. Tore … the leaf …

  I shook my head. My thoughts kept drifting off into nothingness, a kind of awake slumber. I widened my eyes, smacked my cheek. Concentrate!

  I tore the leaf and healed it. Tore the leaf and healed it.

  Seeing Delano in daylight was bizarre. The light didn't seem to touch him. He looked as if he sat in a dim bar, his coloring muted, his moon eyes a dusky pink. He grimaced and squirmed when the occasional tourist sat on him to fuss with a purse or to relax from their day. They never lasted more than a few seconds before griping about the cold, and how they must've been beneath an air-conditioning vent.

  I tore the leaf and healed it. Tore … the …

  A chill brushed my cheek. Something flapped in the corner of my cracked eye. My head jerked as my eyes snapped fully open. "Sorry." I yawned and rubbed my face.

  Healing a rose petal was the first time I had successfully used magic, under Orin's guidance in a faerie lodge disguised as a storage unit. Back then, I'd been proud and elated at my achievement. Now the same magic felt torturous. After an hour, the time decreased a few seconds. By the second hour I reached a minute, and the world felt hot, but no longer sweltering. Approaching hour three, the singing glasses silenced and Delano faded beside me.

  "You're disappearing," I said, happy with my progress and sad to see him leave. "I'm gonna work more, then nap in the car. I'll see you at nightfall."

  Delano glanced nervously to the side. He then mouthed a few words, but he was too faint to make out what was said. I healed the leaf one more time and he disappeared.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  The sun set and jolted me out of my sleep. A second later the car roared into life, April Wine's Bad Side of the Moon blaring through the speakers.

  "We need to flee Vegas. Now." Delano slammed the car into reverse, squalling tires echoing off the garage's concrete walls.

  I lurched as I crawled from the back, clenching the headrest as I stumbled into the front passenger seat. Delano sped out of the parking garage before I clicked my seatbelt. He was naked, not even glancing at his clothes on the dashboard. Weldon and Thida's white F-350 sped to our tailgate as we merged with traffic.

  "What's wrong?" I asked.

  "The darklings are in upheaval," Delano said. "The Progeny believe you seeing the darkshine during daylight is a divine sign, and James believes you want him as your partner."

  "Why the hell would he believe that ridiculousness?"

  "Because you nearly took the darkshine on his territory." Delano spared me a glare. "If the sun didn't rise, you two would have been partnered."

  My face fell. "Oh … Oh my God. I-I didn't mean to! I don't know what I was doing! I didn't think—"

  He squeezed my thigh. "Don't stress. It didn't happen. But now everyone believes you want to partner. The Progeny gave James their support because they believe his rule is ordained. He's the accepted leader, and they believe you're meant to lead with him."

  "That's stupid!" I nearly shouted. "It's obviously a mistake. I mean, I was having sex with you!" Delano stared forward, his lips tight. I blinked. "You didn't tell them?"

  "No. I figured you'd not want the community knowing our personal life. I don't kiss and tell. Regardless, they won't listen. Zealots see what they want to see, and they saw a fae working both frequencies. They saw…"

  Dread hardened my stomach. "Wh-What did they see?"

  He refused to look at me. "You shined."

  "Like, glowed?"

  "Sort of. Normally, light blocks everything in the darkshine, but you broke through. You shined darkness. We could see you a mile away, a dark beacon breaking the light." He swallowed, then whispered: "I've never heard or seen anything like it."

  I thought of Orin's warnings about shoddy magics, and plugging foreign plugs into foreign outlets. I smoothed out my hair. "What does it mean?"

  "It means we've messed with magics we shouldn't mess with, and now a bunch of lunatics are misinterpreting it into something more."

  I stared out the windshield, stiff against the seat.

  Delano stopped at a red light. He put the car in park, then slid on jeans and boots. "How are you feel—?"

  Thida wailed on the F-350's horn. Delano clicked off the radio and rolled down his window, the glass squeaking as she inched the truck beside us. I focused on the seat's tan stitching, too embarrassed to look his friends in the eye. I thought I fixed an innocent, harmless mistake, but instead proved I couldn't manage these magics as Weldon warned, my recklessness almost costing my freedom to an egocentric stranger. How would Delano have handled losing the woman he loved, the moment he got the intimacy he desired? I shuddered, feeling as naive as a nestling fawn waiting for its mother in a wheat field, oblivious to the oncoming combine harvester.

  Weldon leaned out the passenger window, his navy shirt unbuttoned, his bare chest pink with old scars and burns. "Hey! Check your six! We gotta sniffer in a Corvette."

  I whipped around. A red Corvette inched through the traffic, five cars back. The driver's head peered out the window, eyes intent on us. A hound's black head panted out the passenger window.

  "Dammit!" Delano spat, his eyes on the rearview mirror. "How'd the Realm find us?"

  "Gee, I dunno, Del," Weldon said, buttoning his shirt. "Mighta been that massive hail storm ragin' through Las Vegas while the rest of the country's heatin' up."

  Delano glowered. He pulled on his tee—a Pixies band-shirt I'd bought at Hot Topic, knowing he'd appreciate the humor—then put the car into drive. The light turned green.

  "Look out!"

&
nbsp; Delano slammed on the brakes as a Toyota Rav 4 blew the red light on Tropicana. My hands slapped over my mouth as it soared past our bumper and t-boned an oncoming Prius. Shmack! Metal crumpled; glass exploded and tinkled across the blacktop. White puffed from the Toyota's open window as the driver's body rammed the airbag.

  Delano's knuckles strained on the steering wheel. He reached for the door handle, then froze. His eyes darted from the car accident to me to the rearview mirror, blinking repetitively. The Toyota's driver stumbled from his car, shouting at the Prius. The driver leaned against the side window. Red dripped down spider-webbed glass. Pedestrians clustered on the street corner, gawking and pointing, some with recording phones.

  "We-we gotta do something," I stammered.

  Steam hissed from the Toyota's crushed hood. Horns around us blared. Delano and I glanced behind us. The sniffer stepped out of his Corvette and slammed the door. His hunchbacked hound leapt from the window and joined his side.

  "Excalibur valet." Weldon pointed to the hotel, its colorful turrets towering over the street.

  Delano grimaced at the accident, then nodded. Thida snuck the F-350 past us. We tailed tight on their bumper. The sniffer and hound hurried to the Corvette. Its blinker flashed.

  I hung up with 9-1-1 as we pulled into valet. We checked our two vehicles, pocketed our tickets. A Ferrari pulled up as we slipped into the lobby, but I didn't see the Corvette.

  The hotel casino was more like a contemporary keep. Buttresses and faux stained-glass windows overlooked the crowded gambling machines and dealers; flags with arms mingled with security cameras.

  Thida's sea-foam sundress swished as we moved through the casino. "Sniffers won't attack around so many humans," she said. Cheers erupted amid the craps tables. Cigar smoke burned my nose. "We should stay here, prevent him from ambushin' other darklin's."