"Invited In" by Bethan Jones

The stranger was wearing a long black leather jacket over a strangely old fashioned shirt and dark trousers.  He also had a wide leather belt into which was shoved a modern looking pistol and what appeared to be a wooden stake.  He had longish dark brown hair – with just a hint of red in it –which was brushed back rather wildly off his face.  His eyes were a piercing green and there was a faint white scar running along his cheek bone. 

I took all this in within seconds and then I began to notice the more subtle things about him.  The clothes he wore under the jacket were not just old fashioned, they were old and travel worn and the shirt had dark stains in places, stains which I soon realised were blood.  He had high cheek bones and a stern frowning look about his face.  His eyes were piercingly sharp, he had particularly long bony fingers and his teeth were bright white.

It was almost impossible to guess his age.  From a distance I would have said he was in his twenties – his body was lean and muscular in a way that seemed to imply youth.  But his eyes seemed much older and even his face had strong lines that suggested age and experience.

When he spoke his voice was firm and commanding and one moment I though I detected a slight French accent then the next it seemed to be gone.  Indeed he really had an accent all of his own like nothing I had ever heard before.  His tone was proud, slightly patronising and with an underlying current of sarcasm.  I could not decide whether I liked him or not until I took in his words.

“Ah.  You must be Silver’s latest pet human.  Kate, no?”

“No.”  I replied frostily but didn’t elaborate.

  He arched his eyebrows and walked nonchalantly into the room, although he could not quite disguise that he was limping and he pressed his left hand against his side as though it pained him.  He stopped by the sideboard and picked up the bottle of vodka, then said without turning to look at me.

“Would you be here for dinner then?”

He took a long slurp of the vodka and then lowered himself into the nearest chair, hissing with pain as he did so.  He stretched out his legs and regarded me with a look of vague amusement on his face.

I couldn’t help but feel awkward under his gaze.  It was as frosty and intense as Silver’s but without any laughter in it.  Then I noticed that actually his eyes were glazed with pain and his lips were pressed shut.  Professionalism took over.

“Are you hurt?”  I said it sympathetically but at once a defensive look sprang into his eyes and his whole body tensed.

“It’s just a scratch.”  He told me coldly and his voice said not to argue.

“Can I see?”

“What are you a doctor or something?”  He muttered.

“A vet.”  I said honestly and that got a bitter laugh.

“How appropriate!”  He said ironically but he didn’t explain and I was too nervous to press the issue any further. 

We stayed in silence for several minutes, then the stranger – I hadn’t learnt his name – shifted his weight slightly and asked casually.

“Where’s Silver got to then?”

“She said she needed to speak to someone about…” 

I broke off the sentence but he didn’t seem to notice.  He laughed mirthlessly, took another long swig of the vodka and then muttered more to himself than me.

“Another of us bites the dust then.  If she isn’t careful she’ll be out of a job…”

“Will I?”  The voice came from the doorway and I swung round in surprise – I hadn’t heard anyone enter.

Silver was staring at the stranger with an openly cold and disdainful look.  When she had spoken, the words had been dripping with sarcasm and now she fixed her eyes very pointedly on the half empty bottle of vodka.  The stranger looked down at it, then back up at her.

“You were late so I got myself a drink.”

“Late would imply that I was planning to meet you here.”  Silver said in a frosty voice.

“No.”  He told her.  “Late just means you weren’t here when I expected you to be.”

He went to stand up but staggered slightly and hissed in pain.  His coat slipped aside and with a shock I realised that his side was red with blood.  Silver must have noticed but she said nothing, merely waited whilst he limped across to her and placed the bottle of vodka in her hand.

“Since you don’t seem to have warmed up to me I will go elsewhere.”

Silver tilted her head slightly in assent and he turned to leave.  I waited for Silver to call him back but she said nothing.

“Hang on!”  I had spoken before I’d even thought about what to say.  “You can’t just let him…” 

My voice tailed off again into silence but the stranger had stopped and turned back.  There was a wry smile playing on his face and it made him look a little less cruel and intimidating, but his words were as sarcastic as ever.

“The pet human’s got a bite.”

“Hey!”  I snapped.  “I just stood up for you the least you could do is…”

He held up his hand in mocking surrender and shook his head.

“Alright!  Alright!  Don’t bite my head off!  But I won’t stay where I’m not wanted!”

“If only that was true!”  Silver cut in

I turned on her and opened my mouth to speak but the stranger beat me to it.

“Do you ever have a nice word to say about me?” He snapped at her.

“Not often.”  Silver snapped right back.  “I suppose you could say we’re enemies by nature.”  She paused for a moment then added in a cold voice.  “Not that there’s anything natural about it.”

The strangers eyes narrowed for a second, then he shrugged off what had clearly been meant as an insult and wheeled round to leave.

“I thought you’re heart was supposed to be still beating!”  He shot back over his shoulder and I felt a shiver run through me at the strange words.

“Silver…”  I started cautiously. 

She looked at me, at the stranger, then back at me again.  She sighed.

“You better let me have a look at that cut before you go Raven.”  She said reluctantly and the stranger turned back again, a rather smug smile playing on his face.

“If you insist.”