Chapter Five - Prejudice

I sat in the café with my new…family?  We had all finished eating and they were still questioning me about my ‘super’ spicy meal.  I did not know what to say to them except that I did not find it spicy at all.  They laughed at me every time I said that.  I was starting to get on my nerves.
         Rina and Tonic were absorbed in each other; always talking quietly with the occasional giggle.  I could not help but feel a little annoyed by the display of affection.  Terry and Gin would exchange strange glances every so often and I wondered why.  They seemed to be best friends, but all of a sudden they started acting very…tense.
         I wonder, came Gin’s voice in my head, if it’s the spell that makes her unable to read Damien’s mind.
         Should I tell her? It was Terry now.  She has a right to know…but it should be Gin telling her…Ohh, I don’t know what to do!
         “Tell me what?”  I asked Terry.  I was going to leave it alone, but I knew that if I did, it would haunt me forever.  Terry jumped at my voice, obviously nervous.  His ferret ears began to twitch a little before he replied.
         “Um…nothing!  I…uh…I have to go to the washroom now,” and he then quickly stood up and left.
         Gin let out a sigh and looked to Damien and me.
         “Could you let me out?  I think I have to go to.”  I stood up to let him out and was followed by Damien.  Gin seemed to be in a hurry to get to the washroom.  Something had to be going on.  And what was I supposed to be told exactly?
         “I wonder what’s gotten into them,” Damien mused, “they’re acting funny.”
         I just looked over to the washroom entrance and pondered over what they might want to tell me.  It began to make me nervous so I stopped.
         “I think I’ll see what’s going on,” Tonic said as he unhooked himself from a pouting Rina.  And he was off to see Gin and Terry, leaving me with Damien and Rina.
         I noticed Rina was staring at me and looked past her at all the boring people on the other side of the café.  That was when I saw one of the boys looking at me.
         From what I could tell he was average height with sandy-blonde hair.  He wore a red long-sleeved shirt that was so very…average.  He smiled at me and I did not know what to do so I quickly went back to looking at Rina or the table or…anything else.
         “What’s wrong?”  Damien gave me a concerned look and I could feel the blood start to rush to my face.  Why did he have to be so damn nice?
         “Just…that guy over there,” I nodded my head in the boring boy’s direction, “it feels like he’s staring at me.”  I began to fiddle with my hands in my lap and stared down. 
         From the corner of my eye I saw both Damien and Rina look to see what I was talking about.
         “Ugh, it’s Roy,” Rina said.
         Damien let out a low growl of his name.  I guessed they did not like this Roy person.  I looked up to see what was going on and saw that average boy Roy was walking up to us.  I really wished I had not said anything.
         “Hey honey,” boring boy Roy said with a grin, “what’s a cute, human girl like you doing in the demon side of the café?”  He leaned his right hand on the table, showing his full attention was on me.  I thought of something witty to say but all that came out of my mouth was, “Uh…eating?”  Boy, I was smoooooth.
         “Well, why not come and eat with my friends and me?  We can make room for you,”  his smile never faltered even though Damien was giving him a death glare.
         I looked over to Rina for help but she was off in her own, uncaring world.  Probably wondering what was taking Tonic so long in the washroom.  I looked then to Damien, who was not much more help.  He just glared at Roy.
         “You know, I’m fine,” I said, I just wanted him to leave, “really.  I’ll just stay here.”  His eyes widened at my response to stay.
         “But you’re human,” he said as he took his hand off the table and straightened himself.
         “I know,” I began to wonder why he did not bug Rina about being human, “what about her?  She’s human too.”
         “No, she isn’t,” he looked to Rina who was still in her own world, “she’s a magic-user along with those other two you probably think are human.”
         “You’re not human?”  I put my hands on the table and stared at Rina.  She finally looked at me and asked, “You didn’t know?”
         “No I didn’t know!  Why don’t people tell me these things?”  I could feel a headache beginning across my forehead and I wanted nothing more than to leave.
         “Sorry,” Rina said, “I assumed Gin or Tonic would have told you.  They use magic as well after all.”
         I wonder why they didn’t tell her, Rina’s thoughts came into my mind.  My head began to feel worse and worse by the second.  Finally Gin, Tonic and Terry all stepped out of the washroom.  None of them looked very happy.
         “C’mon, Rina,” Tonic said calmly, “let’s get outta here.  I’m a little tired.”  Rina quickly jumped out of her seat and they left without saying goodbye to anyone.  Gin and Terry sat down across from me and Damien, obviously something had happened while they were away.
         Suddenly the center of Roy’s chest began to glow a soft green.  Even through the red shirt.  Roy looked down at the green glow with a confused look.
         “You’ve got spells on you?” He asked, bewildered.
         “Just one,” I replied.
         “Sorry, honey, you’ve got two on you.  And one of em’s on they blood-sucker too.”
         “I only have one,” I said quietly.
         “And I don’t have one on me,” Damien sounded very angry, “so you can just go back to your side, human.”
         “Why don’t you make me, leech?”  I did not like where this conversation was going, and my head felt like there was a war going on inside it.
         “You think you can take me mortal?” Damien snarled.
         “I can take you any day, even without my weapons!”  Suddenly Damien was standing in front of Roy baring his teeth like an animal.  A burst of pain went through my mind and I let out a groan.  My hands were on my head and I did not remember putting them there.  I opened my eyes…when had I closed them?
         I saw that Damien and Roy’s conversation had developed into a full out fist fight.  I thought that Damien would have the upper hand, but Roy was not doing all that bad himself. 
         They entire café was watching the fight, each side cheering for their own kind.  The shouting was not helping my head.
         “Sapphire, are you okay?”  Terry reached his hand across the table and gently touched my elbow.
         “My head,” was all I could manage to get out.
         I looked over to the fight.  Damien had Roy in a choke hold and they were talking to each other.  I would have wished I could hear what they were saying if I did not feel like screaming. 
         Roy then grabbed onto Damien’s arm and flipped him onto the ground.  He was about to come down with a final blow to the stomach but Damien was too fast.  He was up and behind Roy in a matter of seconds, snarling the whole way.
         I closed my eyes, this time aware of it.  When I opened them I was looking at the table.  I found I could not look away from what was sitting there.  Some forks, knives and glasses.  They all began to shake as my head exploded with pain.
         All the objects on the table flew off of it and towards Damien and Roy.  I looked over to see them both trying to dodge the flying cutlery.  Damien was fine at first, but soon a fork hit him in the shoulder.  It went right though and kept going till it hit the wall.
         Roy was not quite as lucky.  The glasses pummelled him.  He got two in his right leg, three in his stomach, but it was the one that hit his head that caused him to finally fall down.
         I saw Damien was on his knee’s, holding his wounded shoulder.  My eyes glided across the counter to find more glasses, cutlery and plates.  They soon began to shake as another bomb went off in my head.  Everything on the counter was in the air, flying in circles.
         “Sapphire!” Gin and Terry were screaming at me over all of the others.  When had they started screaming?  I could not remember.
         I looked at Gin and everything fell to the floor, including me.  I fell over and out of my seat.  My eyes closed and did not seem to want to open again, but I could still hear what was going on.
         “We need Kami!”  I knew it was either Gin or Terry talking, but I could not tell which.
         “Sapphire, it’s gonna be okay…just…it’s…okay…Sapphire…Sapphire…”  And I could not remember hearing anything after that.