“No, I suppose not,” he said with a shrug and Juliana’s face turned an odd grayish color.
“For the love of fairies, Ian, stop scaring her. We are not going to kill you, or any of the other morta… people!” Oops…
“Ah-ha! You were about to say ‘mortal’! I knew it, you’re not human! What are you?”
On second thought, maybe I will kill her.
Ian shot me a look of death before getting up to force Juliana to sit once again.
“You will calm yourself. You will stop insulting, Qadira. It is in deference to her wishes I am willing to change the rules and protect you. However, I will not allow you to endanger her or our fellow clansmen. Understood?”
Juliana nodded in response.
“Good. My name is Ian. I understand that you have questions about who we are and what we do. You may ask what you like, and I will answer those questions I deem appropriate.”
“She,” Juliana began motioning in my direction. I narrowed my eyes at her. “Um, sorry, Qadira—”
“Call me Kadi.”
“Okay, Kadi, tells me that those men who kidnapped me are not vampires, but they act just like them. Although, come to think of it, they never drank our blood. They just seemed to enjoy watching us bleed, seeing us in pain. But they kind of sucked in our breath, not our blood. They were way faster and stronger than humans. You, Ian, have the same type of vibe as they do, and they seemed like vampires… so if you’re not vampires, what are you? And I really want to know what the hell she is. Her vibe is different, not only from humans but also from yours. It’s fascinating and freaky at the same time.”
Well, she lasted about a minute without being rude, I’ll give her that much. I lifted an eyebrow at her but said nothing. How is it I upset her more than the possibility of vampires? And what the hell kind of vibe did I send out? I looked down at myself as though I could see some mystical sign emanating from me. All I saw were my cut-off jean shorts and Pearl Jam t-shirt.
“Vampires do not exist. We are banshee,” Ian said.
“What? Banshees are spirits that wail or something when someone dies, and they’re female. You don’t look like a spirit, and you most certainly don’t look female.”
“I think maybe you read a little too much,” I chimed in with a little laugh. “Banshees can be female or male. That part of the myth stems from the fact that females become crazed while pregnant. The fetus grows about twice as fast as a mortal fetus. This can make the female ravenous, and susceptible to starvation. Starving banshees tend to go insane — literally. So that hunger-craze may explain the screaming banshee myth.”
“Qadira is correct. Let us clarify a few more myths. Banshees do not have an aversion to garlic, sunlight, or silver. We do not turn into bats. We can go to church, though most of us do not see the point. We can eat mortal food, but we do not have to and often do not. We do not feed on blood. With all that said, vampires do not exist — though the Banshee of yore established and encouraged the folklore. They believed that by creating stories of nonexistent creatures, mortals would be less likely to notice those who did exist. Their theory appears to be working well.”
“Silver doesn’t kill a banshee? What does?”
“That is information I will not be sharing with you. Nice try, though. Do you have more questions? Ask now as I will not be holding another one of these sessions for you.”
I wanted to ask my own questions. I wondered why the mind altering hadn’t worked and how she was able to read auras — which must be the ‘vibe’ she kept mentioning. Fey are particularly in tune with their auras. Ours are so active and even interact with other Fey’s auras. It’s as though they are their own beings. Still, as connected as we are to our auras, we cannot read them.
“Everything okay over there, Goldie?” Ian asked.
“What? Oh, yes, all good.”
“Goldie?” Juliana asked. “Oh, because of your eyes. I remember that night in the basement, your eyes had a golden glow about them. Kind of like a cat, but it was more than a reflection of light. And… you had no pupils like the vam— ah, banshees, but still you’re different from them. It’s so weird.”
“Weird? Hmm… I have a question for you, Ms. Vibe-detector, what are you? Why can you sense everyone’s vibe, as you call it? We call it our aura, by the way.”
I swear I heard Ian snicker.
“I am mortal. I am not like you.”
“Bullshit. Hate to break it to you, but to do what you do, you must be a little more than ‘mortal’. So, stop being so judgmental and try learning about the Fey.”
I wasn’t going to let her continue insulting me and stay opposed to “what I am.” Prejudice is evil. I will not allow it.
“Goldie,” Ian cautioned.
“No. No, she’s fine. I have been rude to you both. I am sorry for that. If I am going to be here, I should try to understand what… who you are,” Juliana said to me and I nodded in acknowledgement.
“I am a mortal. I just have an extra sense or something. I’ve always been able to sense a person’s mood by the vibe — aura they give off. You can change your facial expression, or tone of your voice, but your aura gives you away every time. The night they abducted me I had been jogging in a park near my apartment in Coral Gables. I sensed my abductor before I even saw him.” She wrapped her arms around herself. She was shaking.
“I tried to run away, but he was so fast. So fast… He tried that mind-control thing, and it didn’t work. That intrigued him and he knocked me out. I woke up chained to that wall, that’s when I met Gabriel. His aura is so thick with evil, I am surprised it hasn’t solidified around him. He really enjoyed the fact that his mind-control didn’t work on me. Out of all the… uh, banshees that visited that basement Gabriel’s aura was the worst. Still, they shared the same basic structure.”
“You can read auras, which makes you a mortal lie detector?” Ian asked.
“Basically, yes. I’ve never told anyone about this, but I secretly use it to get ahead in my career.”
“Which is?” Ian asked.
“I work for a private detective agency… or at least I did. They transferred me to Coral Gables. They took me before I could even start my new job. Seeing that it’s been about a year since he took me, I figure I don’t have a job anymore. I had so looked forward to moving to Florida. No more freezing winters. Guess I should have stayed in Chicago…. Being a mortal lie detector helps when trying to find out information. I knew who to press and who to leave alone.” She shrugged and smiled at Ian.
“Resourceful,” Ian said, his expression thoughtful. “You remember everything? Are you willing to tell me what you know?”
“Yes, though, I don’t know too much.”
“I am sure whatever you can tell us will be helpful.”
Juliana sat staring at the floor for a few moments before looking back at Ian. She took a deep breath before she began.
“Once a week they washed, dressed, and made us up. Then they blindfolded us before piling us into vans to transport us to the auction location. I don’t know where it is, but I think it was always the same place. We were always in the van for the same length of time, and it felt like we always made the same turns.