Nothing too bad, she was just usually up to no good when the warnings came, so I just knew a lot more.
I let them know I had a job tonight and needed to leave right after eight. I didn’t want to spring it on them last minute. This was close enough to last minute as it was.
Dinner was still a bit so we sat around and talked. I knew I shouldn’t tell them about what happened to me. For one it was too private, a lot of it came from pain and losing my mother, burying my memories which I still needed to recover. For another I had a feeling my relatively small freak about it was because of what I am, and already knew, deep inside where instincts lay. I don’t think they would take it nearly as well. I belonged to air and instinctively knew it.
I tried to watch Aitheria surreptitiously, see how she acted around my family. I noticed when she looked at my aunt or cousin her dress stayed white, and her eyes clear blue sky. But my uncle, her dress changed, turned grey and her eyes looked like little twin thunderstorms. I wondered if that was emotionally driven, and if it had anything to do with how I felt about my uncle.
Dinner was great, and over all I had a good visit. My uncle may not have wanted me, but he did ok raising me regardless. I really shouldn’t be so hard on him. But lies to me are like nails across a blackboard. Jarring. That tends to wear on me if that’s all I get from someone.
I managed to get my cousin alone, who is more like a little sister to me than a cousin.
I said, “Amy, you have pictures of your friends on your cell?”
She nodded and just handed it to me. I loved that about her, total trust in big brother. I flipped through the pictures until I found the guy and showed it to her.
“Phil?” she asked. “What about him?”
I sighed and said, “That party you are going to Friday night?”
She blushed and nodded.
“Do not drink anything he gives you, the guy is evil.”
She gasped and said, “You mean he…”
I just nodded. I didn’t want to say it, it was embarrassing. Luckily all I saw was him drugging the drink and his intentions. My power does not make me a voyeur which is a very good thing, especially in this case. The boy’s intentions were bad enough.
No gag gifts from my family. They got me a kindle, which will come in handy. I also got another cake, two days in a row was enough cake to last me a while. I wasn’t big on junk food.
The night went fairly quickly after that, I should have thought to come earlier but I was there for less than three hours when I headed back to the Metra line to meet Frank and Aiya back at Jerry’s.
I asked Aitheria all the questions I had saved up. Apparently she does shift color and weather as her emotions turn. Her emotions don’t affect me, she was mad at my uncle for the way he affected me all those years with his presence. Which of course made me feel guilty.
The other wasn’t as bad as I thought. She did miss me, or me seeing her. That’s what all the cathartic crying and laughing was about this morning after all. But she also had a connection to other elementals, and could talk to them whenever she wanted. I was relieved by that, I didn’t want to be the cause of some type of isolation for her.
I got to the bar about ten to nine. I sat at the table and ordered a beer. I knew I would have to nurse it for a long time. I wasn’t here to drink after all, but water or nothing would have been suspicious. That doesn’t seem right to me, one beer on my twenty first birthday. I waited a few more minutes and they walked in, and I was so right about that blue dress.
It was conforming and snaked down her curvy body. Her light complexion and long dark hair were perfectly complemented. She was simply gorgeous. It almost bugged me though, that my admiration was more for a friend that looked great than someone I was interested in for more. I think it was her personality that shifted my thinking, because just going by looks I would be all in.
I just dismissed my vision of her for now. I would figure it out soon enough either way.
Frank and I just nodded to each other and he turned and disappeared into the crowd. She walked over and took a seat.
“Hey Aiya, my birthday feels complete now.”
She laughed and said, “Thanks, but aren’t you supposed to be looking for someone else?”
I sighed like it was a chore to look away and scanned the bar. She ordered a beer and did the same as I and just nursed it. We watched as the bar filtered around, I felt like I was missing important information, the more I thought about it the more I was sure she wasn’t here. But how could I find her, Chicago was a big place, if I went out looking in the adjacent blocks I could easily miss by a hundred feet.
I needed a vision, and the closer ten pm came the more nervous I got, and all I knew about the vision is it happened after ten, which means for all I knew it wouldn’t happen until midnight, or later. I tried to distract myself from it by talking movies and books with Aiya, but that only went so far. I took a deep breath to relax. I needed to be open and confident, not closed off and frantic. I couldn’t help anyone like that.
My anxiousness was not typical. I wanted to save everyone I could of course, but this seemed more critical to me, more personal and that just didn’t make sense. Sometimes my power could be confusing, feeding me partial information the way it did, and tonight was just a feeling of importance, but I still wasn’t getting the vision I actually needed. Not yet anyway.
When 10:30 rolled around it hit me, hard. It was happening in the back alley and it was happening now.
Speaking quickly I said, “Back alley, now!” and then I ran. I was desperate to get there. I could feel the woman’s pain and fear in the vision as the man was killing her. I could feel his evil desire. It felt like I flew, one moment I was telling Aiya where, the next I was outside and running around the building. I was moving much faster than I ever have before and the words like the wind ran through my mind, as I pelted around the next turn. I saw him holding her by the neck against the wall, holding a sharp stake.
I had time to wonder for a split second what the hell that was about before I tackled the guy. Literally moving the 20 yards in less than a second. The tackle hurt, a lot. I wasn’t any tougher, just seemed to be fast for some reason, and I absorbed all of that momentum as I tackled his middle taking him to the ground. If I had hit a wall or something solid, I had no doubt I would probably have died from impact trauma. I didn’t have long to consider it though.
He growled and lifted me off of him by my neck and stood, I was having trouble breathing. I could see the elongated canines in his mouth as his fist moved impossibly fast at my face. But somehow I dodged my head to the side in time. He growled in frustration and threw me hard against the wall. I think I might have died from the impact, but I felt something soft and cool at the back of my neck as I hit.
My last thought as I lost consciousness from the pain in my back was that Aitheria had saved my life and I hoped she and the woman I had tried to save would be okay.
Chapter 3
Tuesday, July 28th, 2015, 12:30 am
I cringed at the pain in my head while I slowly woke up. I seemed to be lying down in the alley and looking up at Frank, Aiya and the blonde woman I tried to save.
“What happened,” I tried to say, but it came out a barely comprehensible mumble.
Aiya shakes her head and says softly, “I don’t know, you ran so fast. By the time I got back here it was over and she was leaning over you.”
The blonde woman says, “I’m Diana, you saved my life by tackling my attacker. He threw you into the wall and then ran.”
Her name was Diana, and I did save her life. The last part was a lie and it ripped across my aching head and I cried out a little. I understood her lie of course, she couldn’t tell these human police that the guy was a vampire, and so was she. I wanted to live so I didn’t say anything either. I felt guilty keeping it from my best friend, but I knew it was for the best, even half unconscious.
Frank said, “You need to go to the hospital, you have at
least a mild concussion.”
I said, “I’ll be fine, just need to go home. Can’t afford a hospital, plus I’ll be fine in the morning.”
I expected to pay for that with pain, but apparently my power agreed and I detected no lie at all in my statement.
Aiya said sounding concerned but no longer speaking softly, “Damn it. Don’t be so stubborn. You need to get checked out.”
I said again in a conciliatory tone, “Please, just take me home, I’ll be fine I promise.”
Diana said, “You saved my life, I can take you.”
I was already feeling a bit better, my head was jarred, but it didn’t hit anything. Perhaps I was being overly confident but I trusted my power and my feelings. It’s how I made a living after all.
Aiya said, “That’s okay, I will take him.”
I carefully stood up with Aiya and Frank’s help. I didn’t feel uncoordinated or dizzy, that was a plus. Aiya had her car so I gave her the address to my apartment and she drove me home. She still looked annoyed though.
Trying to lighten the mood I said with a smile, “Night was still worth it for that dress.”
She laughed but then frowned. “You sure you will be okay?”
I said, “Absolutely, I have a headache but that’s normal I think for what happened, I’m not showing other signs. If I have a concussion it’s not a bad one.”
She sighed and made sure I made it inside my apartment by walking me up.
“Thanks, I’ll let you know how I’m doing in the morning.”
She surprised me with a quick hug and then walked away. I watched from the window until I saw her drive away. My neighborhood could be questionable late at night. I walked into the kitchen and started some coffee brewing. I should be passing out for the night but I have company coming.
A short time later the doorbell rings. I walked over and opened up the door.
“Come in Diana,” I said softly, “or do I not need to invite you in at all?”
Normally I believe I would have hesitated inviting a vampire inside, a virtual stranger on top of that, but my ability was guiding me. I had already seen her inside.
She giggled and said, “Nope, total lie to make humans feel safe from the evil dead.”
Then she said, “Of course I am not dead, and I’m also not evil. So it works out.”
I offered her a seat on the couch and went and grabbed two cups of coffee, probably not the best thing for me at the moment, but I was drinking one in the vision. Self fulfilled prophecy? Maybe, or maybe I need to be for some reason.
I said, “So you’re the first vampire I ever met, be gentle with me. And please, don’t lie, it hurts my head and it hurts too much already right now. Just don’t answer if you can’t.” I handed her a cup of coffee.
She shook her head, “Sorry about that, I just couldn’t tell them, I won’t have to do that again. First? Really? So what do you think so far?” She raised her brow flirtatiously.
“I wish my head didn’t hurt so much, how can I enjoy talking with a beautiful woman that way? You’ll have to come back.”
She grinned, “And why would I do that?”
We were flirting, and I wasn’t quite sure why as we had just met. But my head hurt too much to analyze why or even enjoy it overly. Maybe we were just blowing off the close call? I could see she was beautiful of course. She had lustrous long light blonde hair and startling blue eyes. Her lips were full and I almost laughed as I thought her skin tone looked sun kissed. She had on skin tight jeans, and a tight shirt that was slightly torn from the fight.
I didn’t know her, but I felt drawn to her. She was important. It was all tied up with my unusual desperation that I had tonight needing a vision to save her. I could feel there was more for us but not what and my aching head wasn’t helping with clarity. I certainly can’t tell her all that though, I had no way to explain it.
“I’ll have to fill you in on that later. So I assume don’t tell anyone, that was obvious when I was half conscious. Why did you follow me?”
She said, “To properly thank you for one. I work for the council and I was hunting that rogue vampire. He was the one that was kidnapping and draining all those women at that bar. He got the jump on me I’m afraid, but you were all the distraction I needed to kill him. I barely got the body hidden to pick up later before your cop friend rounded the alley.”
Then she warned me, “I also came to make sure you knew the rules. Spilling knowledge of us isn’t a good idea.”
I agreed quickly enough, “Of course, I haven’t told them about me either, they think I am a psychic. Of course I just found out otherwise this morning when I turned twenty one.”
She asked, “Is that how you knew I could drink normal liquids? Thanks for the coffee by the way.”
I nodded, “I saw us drinking coffee and talking, I knew you were coming. Can you tell me anything? I need some kind of help to get a hold of my power I think.”
She nodded slowly. “It’s the least I can do for you after saving my life. Well I can tell you about vampires. It’s true we don’t age, and we drink blood. They pretty much get everything else wrong. Our eyes are highly sensitive, we see perfectly on the darkest night. That’s why vampires didn’t go out in daytime. Of course that was remedied when sunglasses were invented in 1929.
“Even before that though we could wrap our eyes, but that became obvious to people that still believed in the supernatural back then and hunted us. You saw the wood stake, and that does work. But so do bullets if we are hit in the brain or heart. We are much tougher than humans, but not invincible. We also can’t drain a person in one sitting, where would all that blood go? Fiction about vampires is ridiculous that way. It would be like a human drinking 5 pints of water in a few seconds, not going to happen.
“We would have to make an effort over several nights to drain just one human enough to kill, much less those stories of drinking entire villages, pure fantasy. Of course we can simply use violence to end a human’s life. That is why I hunted that one, it is too easy to get your meal without killing and just cause a human to forget. We do have the ability to mesmerize. But then I hear that Sorcerers of Air do as well.”
I do? Damn I have so much to figure out, I really needed to remember. Diana was getting distracting to me despite my headache. A couple of those tears in her shirt were in interesting places. From the looks she kept giving me she felt the attraction as well. We needed to get to know each other, but I was too banged up to follow this conversation for much longer.
“I didn’t know that, most of my powers have been blocked and still seem to be, or at least I don’t understand how to use them. Any help finding someone that could teach me would be appreciated.”
I realized I was pretty much sharing my life story with a vampire I had just met and invited in my house. Power at work again? Perhaps it was foolish, but I felt that I could in fact trust her.
“Can we speak more tomorrow, will you come by? I need to sleep I think, my head is killing me.”
Diana looked concerned for a brief moment, “Yes, go rest then, I will be back tomorrow.”
I showed her out. I was finally alone for the first time with Aitheria since the alley. I had instinctively kept her a secret from everyone, but now I looked up at the diminutive blue woman sitting on a book shelf. “Thanks Aitheria, thanks for saving me,” I said with deep gratitude and affection for my guardian.
She blushed and nodded.
I headed for bed, falling asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Chapter 4
Wednesday, July 29th, 2015, 9:04 am
I stuck my head out my head out of the bedroom door and took a look around. I didn’t see anyone, but I heard another crash downstairs and heard my mom scream. I was scared and shaking. I was only a kid, but my mom had always told me what a good brave boy I was and I didn’t want to disappoint her.
I was worried about my mom so I tip toed down the hall to the top of the stairs. Whisper told me to hide b
ut I ignored her, I needed to check on mom. As I looked down into darkness I wished my father was here so I didn’t have to be the man of the house yet but he was gone before I was born.
I called out nervously, “Mom?”
I heard a panicked cry from down the stairs, “Ben? Run and hide, now. Don’t co.“ My mother’s voice cut off with loud crack and then I heard laughter.
A low whimper escaped my lips as I ran to my mom’s room. Mom showed me what to do in an emergency so I grabbed the phone to dial 911. I crawled under the bed shivering as the phone rang in my ear, desperate for someone to answer.
The phone answered my fear and need with the mechanical voice of a message, “You have reached 911 emergency. Please hold for an operator.”
I heard footsteps coming up the stairs…
I jerked awake, sweat covering my shaking body. I was safe, I was 21. I was no longer under my mother’s bed and five years old. The fear and helplessness lingered for a while, I was actually shaking. I shook my head and jumped up. I took a shower to shake the emotions off and sluice the sweat off my body. I was no longer sure I wanted to remember what happened back then.
That’s when I realized my headache was completely gone. When I finished in the shower I checked my body in the mirror. I had been expecting to see scrapes and bruises on my body. There weren’t any at all, in fact some of my childhood scars were missing, the skin now perfect.
I got dressed in a pair of jeans and a light collar shirt and went downstairs for some coffee.
I lifted my eyebrow in question and amusement to Aitheria, “Whisper?”
She shook with silent laughter that filled my mind, causing a light swirling breeze in my small apartment.
“You were just 2 when you started calling me that, you couldn’t pronounce my name. I guess you decided since I whispered like the wind in your head that was my name.”
Just a Psychic?: Power of Air Book 1 Page 3