Veins of Ice Read online

  Somewhat changing the subject, Hadrian stated, “There’s some new people here that are around our age. Either they’re from out of town or family visiting family.”

  “I don’t have much optimism. Everyone always seems to be the same, narcissistic, crazy, or just plain boring.”

  “Maybe it’s because you judge them too fast.”

  “And what about you? You have the same kind of rotten luck as I do when it comes to dating. Why don’t any young women catch your eye?” she asked. Before they entered the ballroom floor, she came to a stop in the wide hallway in order to finish their conversation.

  “Well, I catch their eye.”

  “You do all the time. They probably dream about you. Answer the question.”

  He shifted from foot to foot, and swung his head from one side to the other, and finally looked at her. He shrugged, and said, “For the same reason, Karena, but also for a different one. Everyone wants me, but I want to desire someone first, rather than be pressured into liking them. I want someone hard to get, someone aloof, someone that when I have her, she’ll look nowhere else than to me as her guy. I haven’t found that yet.”

  “You’ll find it.”

  “I lose hope too, given that everyone else seems to be dating and to have someone, but I would rather be like you and hold out for that special someone. I look up to you at times because of the way you are, how you’re willing to wait rather than compromise. You make me feel like I can wait too.”

  She put a hand on his arm. “I know it’s my birthday and all, but you don’t have to put me on a pedestal,” she said.

  “It’s the truth.”

  Karena reconsidered him, and met his green-eyed gaze. She said, “You’ll find that person, or they’ll find you. As will I. Though sooner, rather than later, would be nice.”

  “Tell me about it. Alright, come on, it’s time to greet everyone.”

  Hadrian steered her towards the ballroom. The doors had been thrown wide open and curtains had been hung in the doorway. They automatically parted due to a magical spell that had been placed on them to do that whenever someone approached. Behind the parted curtains, everyone who had come had gathered in a large ring to greet her. When they saw her, they cheered and clapped for her.

  “Happy birthday, Karena!” they all chanted.

  Karena looked at them. They were all masked. Some masks were just a simple, decorated piece of paper around their eyes. Then there were those that fully covered everything except their eyes, mouths, and part of their jaws. Their appearances ranged. Some were artistically designed, wired masks that curved and twisted around their facial features like wispy vines. A couple of masks had butterfly wings that rimmed the eyes, or flower petals that bloomed around the side of their face. There were a few that looked like cat and fox faces. Other masks were like lacework. Quite a few masks were plumed with feathers.

  Karena’s breath rushed a little faster. She couldn’t tell who was who at first glance. It was as though she didn’t know anyone, but at the same time, she did. It excited her.

  The band started to play an animated tune. A man wearing a full mask came up to her. Gold in color, and with a winged design on both sides, his mask completely concealed his identity. He wore a white suit with a gold vest underneath it. He was tall with broad shoulders. His build was muscular and powerful, and the way he carried himself accented that. He offered his hand and his head bowed.

  “May I?” he said. His plush lips barely parted when he said that.

  Her thoughts whirled as she tried to guess who this mystery person was. His mask concealed any distinguishable features, except for his brown hair and eyes, and his physique. Next to her, Hadrian was quiet, and staring at him, no doubt trying to work out who he was too.

  Karena noticed the cluster of men standing nearby, including who she easily recognized as Tristan. This mystery man had been quicker than they in coming up to her in order to ask her for the first dance of the evening.

  “Yes,” she said, and took his hand.

  His fingers closed around hers. His grip was secure but not tight. Though his hand was warm, it wasn’t sweaty.

  In the center of the dance area, they faced each other. She looked at his brown hair again, but even that could be colored, as hers was. She put her hand on his shoulder. It felt taboo to do so, perhaps because of the immature giddiness that had come over her. Her arm tingled, while her hormones raced away from the point of contact. He took her free hand, and placed his other hand on her waist, not too high or too low. Ice glittered on her skin due to her elated emotional state. But he didn’t comment about it. He only smiled in a knowing way.

  They began to dance, and other couples soon joined them on the dance floor. He twirled her, and she separated herself from him by stepping to the side. They circled each other with their hands behind their backs. They rejoined for a minute, and then broke away, only to return to each other. They did this over and over again. Despite not being very fluid, he was at ease on the dance floor. He made her feel like she was a petite, energetic dancer, and that he was the maestro who inspired her footwork on the floor.

  When the music ended, they stood before each other. She curtsied, and he bowed.

  He gestured to her left. “You haven’t seen your presents or cake yet,” he said.

  Karena didn’t bother to look. Her focus was on him. “That can wait. I want to dance again. Another?” she asked.

  “Of course, whatever you want,” he said, demure just for her.

  “What’s your name?”

  “They call me Vince.”

  “I don’t know anyone of that name. You’re from out of town then?” she asked, glancing past him at Hadrian who was still staring at her stranger. A flock of young women had found him, and they were trying to drag him away so that they could fawn over him.

  “Yes.”

  The music started again, which was even faster than the previous one. They changed their dancing to match the tempo.

  When they finished their dance, it finally struck her that she hadn’t yet seen what Rachel had done with the ballroom. With Vince at her side, she left the dance floor to survey the ballroom and its decorations. A bubbly fountain of sparkling water was like a tower in the corner. Garlands hung on the walls, and sheets of pretty drapery connected them. Potted, white trees had been adorned with clear beads and strings of little lights. Red roses huddled together in huge bouquets and had been placed on stands to showcase them.

  Rachel trotted over to her. Her blue and green dress shimmered. Peacock feathers draped off of her shoulders like a wrap.

  “What do you think?” she squeaked, and waved her arms.

  “It’s beautiful. You did an amazing job. I like the color scheme a lot.”

  “I tried to make the red look as natural and pinkish as possible. You know how people from the Earth and Water districts feel about red.”

  “I know all too well, but after a while, I get tired of the same old purple and blue.”

  Rachel nodded, and her eyes strayed to Vince standing next to her. “And who do we have here? You found someone I don’t recognize, and I know everyone,” Rachel said.

  Vince introduced himself. Rachel blushed, and whisked out her fan. She fluttered it as fast as a hummingbird’s wings to get air onto her face.

  “My, my, this is your special day for sure. I’m going to get some water,” Rachel said. “Make sure to get a look at the cake.”

  “Come on, you, you’re not going anywhere,” Karena said to her now captive person.

  “I wasn’t thinking about escaping. I’ll go wherever you want me to go,” Vince asked. “Why did you want red?”

  He plucked a red rose from a bouquet and smelled its heavenly fragrance. He offered it to her and held it so that she could do the same. She enjoyed its scent, but not as much as his.

  Feeling a little self-conscious, she said, “I wanted something different. It’s always blue and purple, or green and brown. Sometimes silver. No o
ne likes the colors of a Fire or Air. People accept black and white well enough if in moderation, but not yellow or red. But I think red, pink, and white are permissible if they’re grouped together.”

  “I see. I take it that you’re different from the rest then,” Vince murmured, but it was a statement, not a question.

  Karena headed to the tables lining the walls, where there was food, her table of presents, and her cake. On their way over, people stopped her to say hello and offer their best wishes for her birthday.

  They came to her cake, which was a tiered mountain of white frosting, pink medallions, and a cascade of red roses mixed with the occasional pink and white rose that flowed layer to layer to its base.

  “That’s a big cake. Why not twenty-two layers for your birthday?”

  “Ha! Wouldn’t that be epic.”

  “You can have anything you want, so why not that?”

  “I would feel bad for the baker.”

  “A challenge couldn’t hurt. What if the layers were small?”

  Karena smiled and shook her head. “So where are you from?” she abruptly asked because the questions piling up in her head were sadistically toying with her.

  “No, no, no. Tell me about yourself. I want to know more about you, what you like, what you like to do. Let’s forget all the trivial nonsense about where I’m from and how I grew up, and focus on what we have in common.”

  They sat down on one of the luxurious couches to talk. Occasionally, they were interrupted by those wishing her a happy birthday, or asking for a dance, which she denied. Sometimes, a young woman would come up, like a timid deer, and somehow muster up the courage to ask Vince to dance without fainting. But he likewise turned everyone down. From the other side of the ballroom, Karena caught a glimpse of Tristan glaring at Vince, or Hadrian, who flashed her a goofy face every so often.

  As they chatted, the sexual tension between them intensified. She noticed every movement Vince made, every twitch to his lips, or curl to his fingers, and how he leaned closer to hear her better. She mapped him, wondering what was underneath that mask and jacket of his. She ached to know what kind of beast he was. He gave her his undivided attention, fetching her snacks and drinks when she would let him, and telling her his own stories of mishap and success in-between hers.

  “What’s the scariest moment you’ve had?” he asked as they watched people dance to a fast beat.

  Karena searched her memory. “When I was a teenager, I went to summer camp like everyone else my age did. I was probably thirteen years old. The adults told us to not go into one part of the woods because it was under investigation for cryptid activity. There were rumors that it was some kind of dog-like creature, possibly a rougarou or a pack of them,” she said.

  “That’s concerning. Dogmen are level eight cryptids. They’re apex predators,” he said. Dogmen and rougarous were used interchangeably.

  “Well, no one knew for sure. And that part of the woods was far away. So my friends and I began to dare each other to venture to the edge of those woods. Everything went fine until the woods became silent. Howling broke out, and it wasn’t like a wolf’s howl, it was louder and with more bass to it where it shook my heart. We ran, and we could hear things crashing through the brush behind us as we fled.

  ‘The camp’s alarm sirens went off due to something breaching the perimeter. We sprinted into our bunkhouse. I locked the door, and the door handle began to jiggle up and down. I looked through the door’s window, and there it was, this rougarou, staring at me. It had the coldest look on its face. I still remember its grey fur, its eyes focusing and unfocusing as it stared at me and past me into the bunk house, and the blood around its snout. It jumped back, and started to ram the door with its body. I iced the door, but it wouldn’t stop ramming it. Everything rattled in the bunkhouse.

  ‘A different rougarou smashed one of the windows and tried to squeeze through it. Everyone was screaming and crying. I could hear something walking on the roof, and claws raking the side of the bunk house. I was so scared that I could barely move. Just as one of them began to climb through the open window, a cryptid hunter arrived. It was a centaur. The rougarous were driven back, but in the distance I could hear their howls. I just knew that they were plotting revenge.”

  “Is that when you decided that you wanted to become a cryptid hunter?”

  “Yes. Because I felt such helplessness, where I thought I was going to die, I realized how vulnerable and defenseless people are when it comes to some of these cryptids. And I’m an elemental. Just think about nonmagical folks, and how they are even more at risk of dying from such monsters than someone like myself. So I made the decision that I wanted to help protect the city against these cryptids, and to do my part in making the Sundarin Nation safer in my own way.”

  “Don’t you find it interesting how something good can come from a situation or experience that was negative in some way?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Are you still scared of them?” he asked, referring to the pack of rougarous.

  Karena looked away, and bit her lip, not wanting to admit it, but finally said, “I am. After what happened, I can’t get over my fear. They scare me the most out of all the cryptids.”

  “After that incident, it would be a normal response. You and your friends could’ve lost your lives. There are things that will scare us more than others. Sometimes, just the thought of a cryptid or monster we’ve never met creates our irrational fear.”

  “I agree,” Karena said. “So what about you? What’s the scariest moment you can recall?”

  Through his mask, his eyes saddened and fixated on the floor as he remembered. “It doesn’t have to do with anything magical or with cryptids,” he said.

  “That’s fine. It doesn’t have to.”

  Vince set his glass down on the table next to the couch they were sitting on. He leaned forward and clasped his hands together.

  With a heavy voice, he said, “There was this girl I had a crush on when I was sixteen years old. I’m twenty-four right now, so it’s been awhile, but it still haunts me. I really liked her, fell in love with her, and wanted to marry her as soon as we turned eighteen. I thought she was madly in love with me too. She went to a different school than me, so we saw each other on the weekends.”

  When Vince’s quietness stretched on to the point she worried he might not continue, she tried to think of something to nudge him along. She asked, “Something happened?”

  He nodded and said, “It’s the most horrifying and devastating moment in your life when you realize that the person you loved and thought loved you back, never did. It didn’t matter to her how caring I was with the gifts, the love, and attention I gave her, because her hatred for me didn’t lessen, and all because of the feud, and who I was in regards to it, according to her.”

  “Was she an Air or a Fire? I’m betting a Fire; they’re ill-tempered.”

  “It’s inconsequential. I remember how she took me to the river where there was a swing that she liked to sit on. She turned to me and told me how much she hated me, and that an elemental such as myself should never be allowed to live. She drew out a knife. I didn’t understand what was going on because I trusted her so much and was in shock over her admission. It was as though I was frozen in place. She slashed me across my chest, and raised it up to strike me in the heart. I ran, and she chased after me. I was soaked in my own blood, crying, and wondering why this had happened to me. For the longest of time afterwards, I was hurt and angry.”

  Karena rubbed his back. It was one thing to be almost killed by a non-feeling cryptid, and another to be almost killed by a loved one.

  “I’m sorry that happened,” she said. “I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like, and that’s scary to think that the entire time you were together with her, she was planning to hurt you.”

  His back shuddered under her palm when he took a few shaky breaths.

  “You didn’t mention you were an elemental. What kind are you
?” Karena said.

  Vince shrugged. He said, “It’s just a label. After what happened, I’ve always wondered if I’ll make the same mistake again.”

  “I don’t know much about love, except that you have to be willing to take risks and open up your heart to it. If you remain closed, you’ll never experience it, or if it does find you, then it won’t be as wonderful as it should be.”

  “I’m working on it. Some things take more time than others.”

  “What affinity do you have with your powers?”

  Just then, a bell rang. It was time to sing happy birthday to her and wish her well for her twenty-second year of her life. Karena dutifully stood up, and Vince held out his arm for her to take. She did, and let him lead her to the cake. Everyone sang together.

  The cake was carved into, and she received the first piece. She dipped her fork into the spongy layer of vanilla cake and some of the frosting. She slid it into her mouth. Her eyes closed for a second. The cake tasted as marvelous as it had looked.

  Tristan pushed his way over to where she was standing.

  “I haven’t had a second to talk to you, Karena,” he complained. Tense and red in the face, he snapped at Vince, “And who are you? You’re a stranger here in a full mask. I want to know who you are.”

  Vince’s gaze bore down on Tristan, and Tristan winced under it, but held firm on his demand without backing away.

  “His name is Vince,” Karena said, and introduced Vince to Tristan.

  “I want a last name,” Tristan said.

  “Relax, Tristan. Get some cake,” Karena said, “so that you can join us.”

  Tempted by this invitation, Tristan took a small step towards the table, and then committed himself to getting a piece.

  To put as much distance between Tristan and herself, Karena walked over to where Hadrian was laughing with a gaggle of young women. She sat down across from Hadrian on the circular couch, and everyone scooted to allow Vince to sit next to her. The young women’s eyes went from Hadrian to Vince.

  Too soon for her liking, Tristan returned. Only Larissa moved over so that he could sit down with them.