A Taste of Silver

by S. B. Roozenboom

  “Ficana? Is that a place or a language?”

  “It’s the main language of the northern faeries. Southern faeries usually speak Jinish Ro. Trust me, this could lead into a one-month conversation about their languages. They’ve got about as many as humans.” He waved a careless hand.

  I was engrossed… and weirded out. “So where do they live? Do they live on Earth or in a separate dimension?”

  “Slow down. One thing at a time.” He turned the next page.

  I stiffened.

  The whole left page was taken up by a painting of—no doubt—Adrian, who didn’t look anything like what I’d seen of him, either. He looked like one of those 3-D Japanese anime people, like something you’d find on Final Fantasy. He was perfect, though the leathery wings stretching around him were freaky. In the shadows he lounged on his throne, eyes shining like a cat. At his feet roamed tons of round, beady-eyed little monsters with clawed limbs. Their ears looked like upside-down duck feet, and they ranged in color from green to brown to black.

  An article took up the opposite page. The heading read: Te Khan de Blanse, and was obviously not written in English.

  I eyed the crown on Adrian’s head. “Wait a second. He’s a royal?”

  “Not just any royal. A king.” Hayden faked enthusiasm. “But can you guess of what court?”

  “Bavellas.” I didn’t even hesitated.

  “Yeah.” Hayden’s fist rested on the side of his jaw. He looked tired as he continued, “He was the king of the branch below the Bavellas court—the Dark Court. Sometimes called the Shadow Court. He was responsible for the outcasts of the faerie world, those who were banned from Whirellas territory and had offended the king of Bavellas. He was sort of like, principle of faerie juvie. Faeries out of line were kept in his court until they’d made peace with one of the high courts. Some have stayed with him forever.”

  “What are the things at his feet?” I pointed at the little monsters.

  “Goblins. His most faithful companions.”

  “Wait. You said was, didn’t you? He was a king? Is he not a king anymore?”

  Another page over revealed sketches of a human skeleton. Wait. No, it couldn’t have been a human. The two side teeth were much too long… and sharp.

  “Adrian was the king of the Dark Court for as long as he can remember. Then apparently one day he decided he was bored and wanted a vacation.” With that last word, Hayden did air quotes. “He’d seen all he wanted of the faerie realm, so he decided to try something new, something that was usually forbidden—dark faeries love forbidden things. They adore the adrenaline rush from bending the rules. And when you have as much power as Adrian does, the courts just turned their eyes the other way, pretending they don’t see or hear you leave Faerie.

  “So he glammed up and crossed the portal, coming to Earth. He blended in with the humans pretty well. Unfortunately, he realized there was something about them that brought on a strange craving. A craving he’d never felt in the faerie realm…”

  “And what was that?” I asked, reluctant. Did I want to know?

  Hayden hesitated. “Blood.”

  I shuddered. Ok, so I shouldn’t have asked. Returning my eyes to the teeth on the sketches, it was a memory of watching Queen of the Damned that made the pieces link together.

  “So he’s not just a faerie king, he’s… he’s a vampire.” Wow, there’s one wordcluster off my list of, Phrases I Thought I’d Never Say Aloud.

  “Not exactly,” Hayden responded. “Adrian comes from a rare species of fey known as, sange lujria. It is the Ficana term meaning blood lust. They were the carnivorous, sometimes cannibalistic faeries of the other world. Because of their dietary habits, Whirellas wiped them out centuries ago, though a few did find their way onto Earth—that’s where this whole vampire thing started, I think. Their gene line, however, was not completely destroyed. Some of Adrian’s ancestors were of this breed.”

  And there was yet another link. The puzzle was starting to shape into a picture now, and I understood why he was so dangerous.

  I’d nearly been Adrian’s next meal this evening.

  “That’s so… yeah, that’s not something I’ve heard of before,” I confessed.

  “I’m not surprised. Just know this, Rose: to be anything out of the ordinary in this world, you have to have faerie blood,” Hayden stated matter-of-factly, then looked back at the binder. “Because he isn’t a full sangre lujria, Adrian’s bloodthirsting side didn’t come out until after visiting Earth. He had never smelled human blood in his life. It’s nothing like fey blood, and it smelled similar to meals he’d been served in the Dark Kingdom. But he never had to kill anyone for it.

  “Picture walking down an alien road and suddenly coming by a group of walking cheeseburgers. You’d get hungry, wouldn’t you?”

  Few knew this about me, but I was a sucker for a good cheeseburger. “Yeah. Probably.”

  “Well, that’s what it was like for him—walking by food on legs. And it overcame his senses.” Hayden hesitated, shifting uncomfortably. “He met a girl in a Florida alleyway one night. She was alone, and he hadn’t touched food for days. He attacked her, and nothing was ever the same.

  “For ten years, he could think of nothing but human blood, and he didn’t go back to the faerie realm. It was like a nonsmoker having their first cigarette and liking it, and with the human blood somehow came human desires. He’d draw girls and young women in, use them as he pleased… then suck them dry. “And I lied earlier this evening, by the way.” He ran his hands over his forehead. “You weren’t the first to escape him.”

  I kept trying to imagine someone as gorgeous as Adrian being so brutal, but whenever I saw his face, that gentle smile he’d given me in the club… it was hard. This told me he must be a terribly good hunter. I bet escape wasn’t easy. “Do you mean—who else then? You?”

  “No, no. Not me.” He gazed out the window, lost in a distant memory. “Uh, her name was… Anita. Adrian saw her one evening while prowling Fresno area of Cali. She was older than you, quieter. Not the kind of woman who rides quads for fun, for example. But one look at her, one sniff and Adrian was hooked, his next target planned. He prepared to draw her in like the others, only to find—for some reason—he couldn’t. He wanted her, but for once it wasn’t just blood that was calling him. It was something else, something he didn’t recognize. He didn’t understand.

  “Frustrated but intrigued, he followed her for days, memorizing everything she did, not sure what to do. Realizing he couldn’t drain her, he decided to meet her. He planned their encounter at an art store one Saturday morning nearly six months after his first sighting. He bumped into her—purposely—and in the end, invited her for coffee.

  “He restrained himself from the blood lust for the first time. Their relationship became more serious, and as he started to realize there was something he wanted more than blood, the lust for it wasn’t as awful. But other cravings came, and one night after dinner they got too close… So close, that the lust for everything came on at one time, and even though he didn’t bite her, he knew he had to stop seeing her after that. It was much too dangerous, and she would get hurt eventually.”

  Something dark lingering behind Hayden’s eyes. He was getting sort of fidgety all of a sudden. “So while he started to distance himself from her, Adrian was completely unaware of the real damage he’d done. And lust would soon be nothing compared to what a couple hours of fooling around did…”

  “So?” I whispered with the conclusion of Adrian’s love life. “What happened? Was she… pregnant?” I didn’t know what else could come of fooling around— unless faeries could transmit STDs, but I didn’t think that was the case here.

  Hayden sunk in the couch cushions, picking at a torn hole in the knee of his jeans. “Yup.”

  “Ok. What happened to their baby?”

  Silence. He stared at me and as I admired his round cheekbones, the curve of his nose, and his silver eyes…

  My h
ands closed over my mouth. “Oh my God,” I breathed. “Oh my God— Hayden!”

  “Remember how I told you he follows me, but for different reasons?” He forced a smile.

  “Oh, Hayden.” I shook my head. “I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I—”

  “Don’t be. There’s nothing you can do and nothing to be changed.” He rubbed his forehead like he had another headache coming on.

  “What happened to her? To your mother?”

  “Bitch took off when I was five. Drake’s parents raised me.”

  The guilt and sorrow expanded inside my chest like a hot air balloon. Sure it was good that he was taken in elsewhere, but to know your mother abandoned you… I couldn’t imagine. “That’s so sad.”

  He didn’t respond.

  “But then Hayden that makes you a prince. No—wait, it makes you a faerie prince! Holy crap, are you… you’re a faerie too, then?”

  “Uhhh, not exactly. That’s where our next subject comes in. Turn to the back.” He waved at the binder, obviously wanting to be done with the Adrian’smy-father subject.

  I obeyed. He stopped me when I came to some news articles, and I scanned the headlines. Boy grows horns, was the title of the first one. Toddler hovers off kitchen counter, was another that popped out at me.

  “There have been cases, where a faerie and a human have been together. However, the cases are rare. Few faeries are capable of having children—when you live forever, children are more of a desire than a necessity.” He tapped the picture of the little boy with horns. “These children are called multigenics, meaning they carry multiple genes of fey and human. It’s considered to this day one of the most dangerous sets of genes a child could carry.

  “You see, the fey don’t usually want anything to do with humans. The majority see mortals as destructive. Unnatural. They cut down the world’s forests and build big, bulky cities to pollute the Earth and satisfy their needs. They create and use money, they cheat and betray. Fey don’t like them, and they don’t want any bridges between worlds now days… So, a half human, half faerie—”

  “Is a bridge between worlds,” I finished for him, understanding that part. I stared at an article about a little girl with magenta eyes located somewhere in Australia. There was something about her disappearing… this prompted my next question. “So what do they do to these children?”

  He hesitated. “Fey discovered the first few in late 1250 off the coast of what is now Florida. They were taken away to the Invisible World with their faerie parent, never allowed to return. Eventually, the cases became more numerous and widespread as Columbus discovered the Americas and humans began migrating to the western hemisphere, closer to the portal. Fey environment blended with the Indians’, but things were not so well with the new comers. They decided they couldn’t be discovered anymore than they were.

  “Earth was soon banned. Courts moved their faeries out of the mortal world as human encounters and cities increased. If you were caught there and didn’t have any kind of power like Adrian, you were killed. Multigenic children were no longer given a chance to live. It was too risky.”

  “That’s horrible.” My heart tore at the idea of killing children. Even immortal children. How cruel and heartless could one be? “But wait. Hayden, you’re a Multigenic. And you’re still alive.”

  For the first time this evening, he cracked a real smile. “Just because they’re keeping their eyes out for us doesn’t mean they’ve caught us all,” he said. “If we keep a low human profile, it’s not likely they’ll know the difference. We’re safe as long as word doesn’t reach them.”

  “How do they search for you? The world is enormous.”

  He leaned back and kicked his feet up on the coffee table. “Every so often, Bavellas sends out the sevihas. Spies. You won’t see them because you don’t have the Sight, but there are thousands. They stay around anywhere from several days to several weeks before returning to the portal. You never really know for sure when they’re going to show up or leave.”

  “The Sight?” I forgot that in most folktales, the Sight was the only way a mortal could see all fey. “That’s a real thing?”

  He nodded. “Oh, yeah. Humans are blind to immortals unless they choose to show themselves. Only a handful of people out there have The Sight, and it’s only possible if you have faerie blood somewhere in your gene line. The Sight grants you free access to see through all dimensions of the world—including the Invisible World. You don’t need it to see a Multigenic, but you do a full-blood faerie without his or her glamour.”

  Hayden’s arms folded. “It’s also the reason you couldn’t see Adrian’s goblins tonight at the club. I was actually surprised so many were with him.”

  Goblins. I tried to picture those funny little creatures swarming the Viper and Vixen, but it was like trying to imagine a motorcycle gang attending ballet class. Was that what those funny shadows at Adrian’s feet were?

  I flipped through the rest of the news articles. I was still in a little bit of a trance, waiting to wake up from this bizarre dream. “I can’t believe this,” I admitted, tempted to pinch myself and see if I woke up in my bedroom. “It’s a lot to take in.” Hayden nodded. “For you especially. Human.” He

  smirked.

  Closets buried deep in my mind were creaking open. I found myself lost in

  all the fantasies I’d had as a kid, fantasies about having wings and meeting pixies

  and riding Pegasus. I remembered me and Rachel wishing with all our might that

  it was real, spending every birthday wish on dragons and sea folk, knowing we’d

  never get to see anything like it. Knowing it was all in our imaginations… Until now.

  “What is it, Rose?” Hayden cocked his head.

  I was frowning. I could feel depression settling in with thoughts of Rachel,

  my throat trying to close up. “Nothing,” I lied. “I’m just… thinking.” “Of what? That you’re sitting in a house with a couple of psychos who’ve seen

  goblins and faeries and sirens?” He smiled, eyeing my sailor girl outfit again. I managed a small laugh before shaking my head. “No, I was thinking about…

  my sister. We were real into the fantasy thing as kids.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “You have a sister?”

  “Had,” I confessed, braving the storm of memories. “She died when we were

  seven.”

  “You were,”—he calculated, evaluating my choice of words— “twins, then?” “Yeah. We were.” The waterworks were threatening. I quickly looked downward, my hair forming a curtain as it fell over my shoulder. “She ran out in the

  road to retrieve a ball. There was this corner at our old house that you couldn’t

  ever see around, and people drove really fast like dick heads…”

  Knowing he could work out the rest himself, I quieted. Bringing the backs of

  my hands to my eyes, I promised myself no tears. Not here. I could at least hold

  the waterworks in until returning home. It took a minute, but I regained control.

  Dropping my hands back to my lap, I looked up.

  Hayden was suddenly on the floor in front of me, sitting with his arms around

  one knee, fingers locked together. The way he held eye contact and was so utterly

  quiet, it felt like he was trying to hear my thoughts.

  My heart gave a strange little flap as I stared back. His dreadlocks were pouring over his muscular shoulders, eyes settled at a soft color between blue and grey.

  In the moonlight, I could see Adrian’s beauty in him. How had I not realized their

  connection sooner? Stomach flooding with butterflies, I looked away. “I think you hide a lot of misery behind that tough exterior,” he observed

  aloud in his favored matter-of-fact tone. “You do a good job of trying to cover up

  though. The first day I met you, you held exceptionally well to how nasty I was.” “Why did you snap at me anyway? I still
don’t understand what was so bad

  about wondering why you weren’t talking.” That memory seemed so old. It was funny—I couldn’t remember what it was like to be dead-scared of him now. Fearful, yes, but not the, I’m-going-to-wet-myself, scared.

  He twirled his dreads around one finger, pursing his lips.

  “What?” I prompted.

  “Nothing. It wasn’t you. I guess I was just having a bad day.”

  “You guess?” I scuffed. “That’s such a lie.”

  “That’s… It’s not something you need to be concerned about.” The blood rushed to his cheeks, hints of—was it?—black showing through his skin. “Anyway, it’s probably about time I take you home. I bet your dad’s wondering where the heck you are.”

  “I’m at my mom’s place,” I corrected. “And no. I doubt she cares. She’s out on a date tonight and I told her I was going out for a while too.” I went back to the binder, coming to a diagram of a planet. “Hey, is this the faerie w—”

  A warm hand fell over the top of mine. I couldn’t move as an instant, sensational rush that I’d never felt before coursed through my body from head to toe.

  “I think you’ve learned enough for tonight,” he whispered.

  My heart was back to beating overtime as we stared. Why was it beating so hard?

  He let go, leaving my fingers all tingly. Gently, he tugged the binder away, locked it, and replaced it atop the fireplace. “Come on,” he said, grabbing a brown, fleece-lined hoodie off a kitchen stool. “I’ll drive you to your mom’s.”

  15) Feelings

  I

  was silent on the ride home, except for when Hayden asked for directions to mom’s apartment. The Silverado had just turned onto Lighters Lane, the so-not-my-taste skyscraper in view, when I realized I had one last question before we parted. “Hayden?”

  “Huh?”

  “Since Adrian’s technically your dad,”—I still couldn’t quite picture that since Adrian looked only a couple years older than him— “You didn’t tell me about your faerie traits.”

  He stared on at the street like I hadn’t spoken.