Shadows and Stars

by Becca Fanning

  Zara chortled and hid her face in her hands. “I-I-I’m so so so sorry,” she snorted, slipping back in a laughing fit. She’d probably disagree, but I liked it. She was carefree and loud, and a little obnoxious. But it beat the stiff and awkward from before, even if I had to eat a stinky mouthful of slimey crab to crack her real smile.

  “You’re beautiful when you laugh out loud,” I said, hoping to turn the situation around. If I could flatter her in the same breath as almost throwing up, I should give myself a pat on the back.

  “Stop it,” she sniggered, swatting the air as if that would help her stop laughing.

  “I’m serious, it suits you.” I pushed the platter of food away, hoping it would stop the smell wafting up in my nose, but it didn’t really do anything. Good thing I didn’t have that super sensitive sense of smell most vampires had. The one time that being a halfling came in handy. Although now I would have to find a way to explain to Zara why I almost puked out her favourite meal. Maybe I could claim to be sick? Did dragons even get sick?

  “O-O-Okay, I’m good.” She hid the last snort behind her hand and regained her composure. She mopped up the water and threw another shrimp in her mouth. “So what’s up with your weird voice.”

  I loosened my tie and contemplated lying. But I already did enough of that today. I’d been doing a lot of it throughout my whole life. Vampires weren’t that accepting of halflings, but as long as I didn’t let them get close to me, they would never find out. Only Ayra knew about my secret parentage. I’d told her when we were teenagers. After the humiliating rejection.

  But this girl… Zara? I didn’t know her, she didn’t know me. Maybe it was time to tell someone the truth. When Ayra’s egg was ready to leave their sacred lake nest they wouldn’t need me to housesit any longer. I could go back to my own, vampire life without needing to see her everywhere I went.

  “I’m going to tell you a secret. Come here.” I beckoned her to come closer and she leant in with a conspiring grin.

  “I love secrets. What is it?”

  “I’m not a dragon, not really. I’m a halfling.”

  Zara’s brows furrowed and the smile fell from her face. “Jerk!” she called, tossing the crab guts in my face as she stormed out of the restaurant. The slimy seafood slid down my nice shirt as I ran behind her.

  “Wait!”

  She slammed the restaurant door and ran out into the street. I tripped over my own feet and scrambled up as I practically floored a bypasser. I spilled some of the crab meat on him and feverishly apologised.

  Zara turned the corner and I quickened the pace. Damn, this girl was fast. I hurried behind her and almost yanked her back by her arm, until I remembered what Ayra taught me when I grabbed her without permission. My crotch hadn’t liked that lesson. So instead I cut in front of her and halted her storm.

  “Let me explain.”

  FOUR

  "SO..." Zara tapped her foot as she drew out the words, her annoyance very, very clear to me.

  "I-"

  "Don't toy with me, Marcus. I know what people think of me already, you don't have to make me feel worse by using that word."

  "What? No, I didn't..." I spluttered, not quite able to form the sentence. I didn't even know what I wanted to say. "Wait, what people think of you?" I cocked my head to the side.

  Rage crossed Zara's face, and I instantly regretted my question. She turned away and stormed off in completely the opposite direction.

  "Zara, wait!" I shouted after her, running to catch up.

  Kind of. My version of running was ridiculous, as Ayra had often pointed out while we were growing up. It was more like a kind of lopsided skip. She used to tease me that it was because I'd worn skinny jeans too often when I was a teenager. I always liked to point out that every vampire had to go through an emo phase at some point, and it wasn't my fault it had happened during the time I'd done the most running.

  I skirted in front of her again, but this time, she didn't stop in time and crashed into me. The dilemma of whether to touch her or not resurfaced, but she started to wobble slightly, and I figured the gentlemanly thing to do was to support her.

  Reaching out, I put my hands on her arms, and stopped her from falling. All I got for my troubles is another scowl, and her shaking me off.

  "What word pissed you off? Halfling? Do you hate them so much that you can't stand to look at me?"

  "Look at you?" she echoed, her brow creasing in confusion.

  It was kind of adorable.

  "Well, yes. Because I'm a halfling," I repeated, already regretting revealing it to her.

  "You can't be a halfling, I'm the only-" She stopped speaking abruptly, making me wonder what she was about to admit to.

  The cogs turned in my head. Quite literally too. I could almost hear them clicking together as the hints and tidbits she'd thrown me all slotted together.

  "You're a halfling, aren't you?" I asked, confused beyond belief, but kind of relieved all I'd managed to do was accidentally offend her, and not do something actually worth dumping my sorry ass over.

  But also, her being a halfling would be great news! Halflings didn't have mates. Which meant there wouldn't be any pompous ceremonies if she decided to mate with me. All we'd need to do was have nice, hot, sweaty and bitey sex. To our hearts content, obviously.

  I reined myself back in. We were on our first date, even my man-brain knew better than to push for sex straight away. Plus, Zara didn't seem like the kind of woman who'd just give in to a pretty face. I'd have to actually woo her as well as attract her.

  That's where I might end up struggling. My charm, especially around her, appeared to be at absolute zero.

  "What's it to you?" she sniffed, turning her nose up slightly.

  "I'm a halfling too," I pointed out, a little more proudly than normal. And by normal, I meant never. I didn't think I'd ever admitted I was a halfling to anyone. Even my parents didn't speak about it with me. Well, my father and step-mother anyway. Though she was rather accepting of a child that wasn't hers. I wasn't sure I would have been in her position.

  Then again, my father was a wandering bastard. It wouldn't surprise me if he had dozens more halfling children dotted about who didn't even know what they were.

  "You are? I thought I was the only one?" she asked, awe in her voice.

  "The only dragon, maybe," I muttered.

  "Dragon? You're not a dragon?" she squeaked.

  "No. I thought you'd figured that one out. I mean you saw my fangs..." I trailed off, not too sure how to break it to her that I was a vampire. Just like being a halfling, my blood drinking status wasn't something I normally shouted about. People tended to frown upon it as a bit of an eccentricity if they weren't aware of our existence. And I wasn't ever really in the mood to explain myself either. That was far too much effort.

  "So? I have fangs." She bared her mouth, and showed off what indeed could only be described as fangs.

  Excellent. I liked being bitten almost as much as I enjoyed biting. The fact she could do it with me was a definite plus. I hoped to be taking advantage of that very soon.

  No, Marcus, down boy. I ordered myself.

  "Not like mine," I replied, baring my teeth. Mine were a little more permanent than a dragons. I was pretty much stuck with them all the time. Whereas dragons could shift them back and forth. Which led to some interesting questions about how exactly halfling dragons were dragons.

  Could Zara shift into a full sized dragon like Ayra could? If so, it might not be in my best interests to piss her off. And that did seem to be her current attitude towards me. I never was the smartest boy in class. Apparently it was carrying on now.

  "So what are you? An earth dragon? A fire one? Not likely an air one, no one's seen one of those for years."

  "I told you, I'm not a dragon," I repeated softly.

  "Then what are you?" She frowned as she spoke, clearly confused by what was going on.

  "I'm a vampire," I replied. "Well, a half one. So
not really a vampire? I'm not even sure." I shrugged.

  "The drink blood and turn into bats kind?" she asked instantly.

  I laughed lightly. "I can't turn into a bat I'm afraid. Neither can full vampires either. It's one of those urban legends that people just don't seem to have forgotten about."

  "How disappointing."

  "You're telling me! Do you know what it's like being a vampire child and reading all these stories, and then being told one by one that you can't do it? It's a bit of a buzz kill."

  Horror flashed over Zara's face, and I worried about what I'd done to put it there.

  "The crab had garlic on it," she gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

  I chuckled. "Not going to make a difference. I'm still standing, aren't I?"

  She shot me a concerned glance and I decided to make a joke to lighten the mood. “Wait, was it wild garlic or black?”

  A panicked look flashed through her eyes. “Wild, I think? Why?”

  “Oh no, that one is the one garlic we can’t eat.” I clutched my chest and made a gurgling sound. “It burnssss,” I hissed dramatically, sinking to my knees.

  “Oh shit, I didn’t know,” she cried, pulling me against her. She wrapped her arms around my chest and pressed against my sternum.

  With the wind knocked out of me, I gasped. “What are you doing? Are you trying to kill me?”

  “I’m Heimlich manoeuvring you!”

  “I’m not choking!” I called back, surprised by how strong she was. I pulled her hands apart and turned around, facing her. The concern in her eyes revealed something she probably didn’t want to admit just yet, but I couldn’t unsee it. Even if I had done pretty much everything wrong, she wasn’t done with me. Not as much as she wanted to be.

  I took her hands in mine and gave her my most disarming smile. “I’m okay, I was joking about the garlic.”

  Her face flushed in embarrassment and she hid against my chest. “I’m sorry, I thought you were—”

  “Dying?” I helped her out, cocking my eyebrow. She nodded and looked up at me, emotions swirling in her eyes.

  “Are you really a vampire?”

  I chuckled. “I was the last time I checked.”

  “I’ve never met a vampire before.” She tilted her head and clearly studied me. “I didn’t even know you really existed.”

  “Neither did I about dragons until…” I faltered, wondering just how much I could reveal about the Tate-Ayra situation. Just because Zara didn’t seem to fit in as well as I believed, didn’t mean it was up to me to spill their secret. “Until I met one.”

  “No shit,” Zara chuckled, the vibrations of her laugh curling through my chest. I suddenly realised I was still holding her and that she was making no attempts to move away from me. Interesting. And rather pleasant as well. As long as she didn’t press too hard into me, I wouldn’t be pressing something hard back.

  Maybe that was a rather dangerous thought. And we were in the middle of the street as well.

  “Oh fuck, we need to go back and pay.”

  Zara waved her hand, finally untangling herself from my embrace. Non-committal, she walked past down the street and I scurried behind her. “No, it’s all good.”

  “What do you mean? Hey, I may be roguishly handsome, I’m not comfortable dining and dashing.”

  “My father owns the place.”

  “Oh…” I caught up to her, who walked surprisingly fast for such for her small stature. “You took me to your father’s restaurant?”

  She shrugged, kicking a little rock on the curb. “It’s one of the only places people don’t look sideways at me.”

  “Because you’re a halfling?” Damn, there I went again, using the word she thoroughly disliked. Congratulations, Marc, you’re an ass. I scolded myself, wishing I used different terms.

  Zara shot me a funny look, but didn’t combust like the first time. She just sighed and nodded. “Yup, that.”

  “Is it the same stigma with dragons as with vampires?”

  “I don’t know, how does it go with you?”

  “I asked first,” I teased, hoping to make her smile. She didn’t, but she didn’t scream either. So that was a win.

  “It’s like going up the stairs, not very proper to make a lady go first,” she retaliated, glaring at me, but the twinkle in her eyes let me to believe she actually enjoyed the banter.

  “Then why do they say ‘ladies first’?” I asked, only half to tease her. The other half was out of curiosity.

  Zara shrugged. “No idea.”

  I tapped the side of my head. “I have an idea, why don’t we play nineteen questions?”

  She chuckled, a smile finally curling up her lips again. She cocked an eyebrow and grinned. “Isn’t it twenty-one questions?”

  “Nah, nobody can stand me long enough for them all,” I half-joked back.

  “You can be rather annoying,” she grinned, but the light tone of her voice was disarming and friendly.

  “I know, it’s one of my gifts.” At a young age, I learned to guard myself with self-mockery. It was less painful to make fun of yourself than be made fun of. Zara shook her head and the soft smile playing around her lips made her infinitely more beautiful. Against the odds, she seemed to be enjoying my company and I would gladly take it. I hadn’t told anyone about my secret nature, and it was nice to voice certain things out loud. There was a certain power in admitting things to the universe.

  “A bit more serious now, how was it growing up as a half-vampire?” The smile disappeared, but there was a new tenderness in her voice that hadn’t been there before. She stared at me expectantly and I scratched my jaw. I’d have to recall a hidden part of my memories, something I’d been trying to forget. The taunts I endured as a kid and the stares I got. My mother had done her best to shield me from the rumours and bullies for the first years of my life, but I hadn’t escaped all the whispering and glaring. It wasn’t until she passed and Father took me into his home, that I learned why all the villagers stared and pointed and why none of the other kids wanted to be my friends. I was a vampire, or at least… Half. It’d made me a very easy target for ridicule on both sides. I belonged nowhere and they’d be damned if they ever let me forget that.

  I grimaced at the memory. “It wasn’t fun. Father is a vampire, just like my step-mother and my siblings. But my mother was human. As a child, I was avoided like the plague by human children and I never knew why. I always knew I was different, but I didn’t realise just how much. Mother never told me.”

  Zara’s eyes softened and she touched my arm. “What happened then?”

  “She passed away. The villagers said it was an illness, but I think she was just heartbroken. Father only ever visited her once a year and there wasn’t a day I showed up without a black eye or something of the sort. In the end, I think she just had enough.”

  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,” she whispered. The genuine compassion threw me off guard and encouraged me to go on. To tell her a story I hadn’t told anyone before.

  “It’s okay, you didn’t know. After Mother passed, I moved in with Father. My step-mother was apprehensive about it in the beginning, and I can’t blame her. I was a living reminder that Father cheated on her. That he loved someone else.” Bitterly, I kicked a trash can and cursed. Why did I do that?

  "Even so, that can't have been easy," she said softly, placing a soothing hand on my arm. Damn, this girl was going to end up getting to me far more than I wanted her to.

  "Anyway, your turn," I chirped, with a complete sense of falseness. I wasn't happy in the slightest about it all, but I wasn't going to ruin our date by being a miserable git. That wasn't fair to Zara. "What was it like as a half dragon?"

  "Tiring. Kind of. It was fine when I was a child. I didn't even know I was different until I was seven. I'd never shifted in front of anyone but my parents until then. In hindsight, it was weird, but I didn't realise that then."

  "Hindsight is a wonderful thing."
/>   "Or a curse," she replied. Clearly hurt by the past.

  Taking a chance, I put my arm around her and pulled her close. She didn't protest, and I felt a bit braver, dropping a kiss onto the top of her head.

  A giddy boy in a sweet shop giving free samples couldn't have outdone me for how excited I was when she didn't pull away. Maybe next time, I'd feel brave enough to kiss her on the lips.

  Maybe she'd bite me if I did that. Maybe I'd like it. Only one way to find out.

  "When I was seven, a bully was having a go at my best friend. And I snapped. I got angry, and shifted. Which was when I discovered..." she trailed off.

  "Discovered?" I prompted after a few moments silence.

  What on earth could she say? Was she secretly pink with bright orange sparkles? Or maybe her fire was so hot it'd melt concrete. I was dying to know, at the same time as not wanting to push her further than she was ready to go. If I had my way, then I'd be spending a lot more time with her. Time where we could discover all of each other's secrets.

  I shouldn't ever say that out loud. It made me sound really creepy. Like stalker level creepy. Maybe not the best way for me to make friends.

  "I discovered I was different from the other dragons. They weren't kind about it."

  "I'm sorry," I said, at a loss for what to say. Children could be cruel. I knew that better than most. And I hated that she did too.

  "No need. I'm over it."

  Yeah. Right. I could hear the haunted note in her voice. She was definitely not over it. In fact, if she was, then I would flap my non-existent wings and fly to Africa.

  I'd bring Zara back a present. Obviously. And one for Ayra and the baby. It wouldn't be fair of me to leave them out.

  "Doesn't matter if you're over it," I responded. "If you decide you're not, then I'm here for you."

  She was silent for a moment, almost making me regret my words. They'd sounded so serious, even to me.

  "Next question," I muttered.

  "What's your favourite kind of sandwich?"