Tempest Rising

by Nicole Peeler

Page 14

 

  Ryu introduced himself amicably enough, and Amy seemed to back down a little bit. But they both still had the air of two dogs circling each other. If they started sniffing each other’s butts, I was out.

  “Did you check in with Nell?” she asked, still on guard.

  That crafty little minx, I thought, as I realized what was happening. She’s one of them… she owes me fried cheese for keeping secrets. In my world, fried cheese is the gold standard.

  “Of course. ” Ryu responded. “Nell knows of my presence here. I’m investigating Jakes’s murder. ”

  I looked around, astonished. He’d said that really loud, and Amy’s out-of-character animosity toward him must have attracted attention. But no one in the Trough was paying us any mind; in fact, it was like we weren’t even there at that moment.

  While Amy sized him up, Ryu smiled at me. He’d obviously noticed my shocked expression.

  “No worries, Jane. They won’t pay us any attention if I don’t want them to. And right now, I don’t want them to. ” I was about to ask him more questions when Amy finally finished her assessment.

  “Okay, then. ” Her attitude went back to normal and she was, once again, in surfer-waitress mode. “What’ll you have?”

  I ordered lemonade with my tuna melt, and Ryu ordered a Coke when he was told there was no booze available.

  When he ordered his steak, Amy responded by asking, “Let me guess, you want it very rare? Maybe even bloody?” He grinned at her and she rolled her eyes. “I’ll be right back with your drinks, dudes,” she said, giving me a friendly bop on the head with the menus as she walked away.

  “So,” I said, as soon as Amy was out of earshot. “What do you mean they can’t see you? And what is Amy?” Then I thought for a moment. “Matter of fact, what are you? And how did she recognize you?”

  Ryu leaned back in his chair. He was smiling at me like the cat who’d stolen the cream. I got the feeling he was enjoying his role as tour guide through the world of the supernatural.

  “She recognized me because I’m doing a sort of reverse glamour. I’m here on official business, so I’m broadcasting my presence, my credentials, to the natives. But in a way that only other supernaturals can sense. Otherwise we can’t really recognize each other, although, obviously, some of us stand out. It’s hard to miss a satyr, for example. What with the horns. And the lack of pants. ”

  At Ryu’s joke I gave a very unladylike snort, nearly died of embarrassment, and then somehow managed to knock my napkin-wrapped cutlery off the table. He caught it before it hit the ground.

  “And glamouring answers why people can’t see us when I don’t want them to,” he said, setting my cutlery down a safe distance away from me. “My particular kind live closely with humans. Not all kinds of supes do, and, for some of our various factions, human life is a complete mystery. But I live a significant amount of time as a human. I have a human surname, albeit one that changes every twenty years or so. I own a house; I have a social security number; I pay taxes. Which is probably why you think I appear more normal than someone like Nell, or her kelpie. ” As he said the last bit, his lips curved, just slightly, and I remembered the promise he’d made about proving how different he actually was. My breathing hitched, and he smiled as if he could hear me. “Anyway, the point is that I am used to humans. So throwing up glamours when humans might see something fishy is pretty much reflex. I bet you can feel it, if you pay attention. Shut your eyes. ”

  I did as he asked, and I suddenly did feel something. It was like the slightest of cool winds blowing across my exposed skin, raising the hair on my forearms.

  “Wow,” I breathed, opening my eyes to find Ryu smiling at me.

  “Get ready for a lot of ‘wow’ from here on in, Jane. ”

  I gulped, not sure if I was supposed to be reading anything more into that statement.

  “Amy?” I prompted, nervously changing the subject. Ryu smiled, knowingly, and I cursed my clumsiness.

  “As for Amy, she’s a nahual: a shapeshifter,” he explained. “They’re not like the two-formed; they can shift into anything they wish. But otherwise they have less access to the elements than two-formeds. ”

  “And that translates as…” I prompted him, gently.

  “Right. That translates as: nahuals are shape-shifters but that’s pretty much all they can do. Obviously, they’re stronger and faster healing than humans, and they live longer. But they can’t do much of what humans would call magic. Selkies and other two-formeds can shift only into the one alternative shape, but they have more power. Like you do when you swim, they can manipulate the elements. ”

  What he said knocked me for six. It should have been obvious, but it wasn’t until he’d said it.

  “So, you’re telling me that when I swim, I’m manipulating the ocean?” He nodded.

  Ryu’s casually telling me I used some kind of magic when I swam was completely crazy at the same time that it struck me as completely logical. It answered so many of my questions. Why I didn’t drown, or freeze. Why I was so strong in the water. My brain went deeper. Why I needed to swim. I flashed back to Nell telling me to go “recharge my batteries. ” Then my brain went too deep. “The bodies,” I whispered. “The Sow didn’t just let them go, did she?”

  “No,” he answered, calmly sipping his Coke. Amy must have brought us our drinks while I was in my little trance. I stared down at my lemonade, unseeing.

  “That’s how we knew something was up the night you found Jakes. Your release of power was loud; almost as loud as the night with your… friend. ” Here, Ryu finally looked uncomfortable. “Nell knew something had happened, but she felt you go back to normal swimming so she assumed you were okay. When she bothered to investigate, it was already too late and Jakes was in the hands of the humans. ”

  I blinked back tears, trying to steady myself. This wasn’t the time or the place.

  “So,” I changed subjects, helped along by Amy bringing us our dinners. Ryu’s steak looked almost raw it was so rare. “If Amy here is a nahual,” Amy gave me a little smile and bobbed her head, “then what are you?” Amy snorted with amusement as she walked away, shooting Ryu a look that said, “Have fun. ”

  Ryu thought about that one, taking the time to cut off a piece of bloody steak and pop it into his mouth. He chewed slowly before swallowing. “Well,” he said. “How should I put this…” He appeared to be at a loss. “You’ve been told how we are the origins for many different myths and legends, yes?” I nodded, and he continued. “Well, some myths hold more truth than others. For those of us who live most intimately with humans, there has been a tendency to understand us less… accurately. ”

  I swirled a French fry in some ketchup, rather enjoying his discomfiture. It’s about time you had a turn feeling out of your depth, I thought smugly as I raised the fry to my mouth.

  “I’m what is known to my people as a baobhan sith,” Ryu said, pronouncing it baa’-van shee. “Like I said, we live closely with humans, so we’re pretty famous. We’ve inspired tons of humans myths. Like strigoi, nosferatu…” I stopped chewing as my eyes widened in alarm. Holy shit, I thought. He’s a goddamned—

  “In short, you would probably call me a vampire. ”

  I nearly choked, bits of fried potato going down the wrong pipe. I was coughing like crazy, my eyes watering while Ryu whacked me on the back, urging me to drink my lemonade.

  I could feel the whirl of Ryu’s power around us, so no one else in the diner noticed my near-death experience. Except for Amy, who shot me a sympathetic look as she disappeared into the kitchen.

  When my coughing fit subsided, and I was able to breathe normally again, Ryu returned to his chair. He looked both concerned and amused, and I wanted to kick his shins under the table. I sat and sipped my lemonade until I could talk again.

  “So,” I finally managed to get out, “you’re a vampire. ”

 
“Yes, and no. ” He smiled. “As you know, I can move about during the day, although it is true that our strengths are diminished in the daytime. And we are certainly not dead humans. We are very much alive and very much inhuman. ”

  “It’s great that you’re alive and all, but what about the bloodsucking? And the killing? And the fangs?”

  He ran one hand through his brown hair, giving his head a good scratch. His hair was so thick that if it weren’t short it might look like a toupee. It glistened like melted milk chocolate in the diner’s bright lights. Then I realized he was watching me stare at him. He smiled as I looked down, hastily. “It’s true we drink blood, but not for food. Food we get like you do. ” He gestured at his plate with a little flourish. “From blood we get what we call essence, which is to the elements what energy is to matter in your human science. Basically, we feed off human emotions. The most potent emotions are love and hate, but it’s nearly impossible to stimulate such powerful emotions quickly. So mostly we feed off fear or lust. Sometimes a little of both. ”