I stood up and started rinsing out my coffee cup.
She raised an eyebrow, “You aren’t even going to ask?”
I raised one back and said, “You mean I need another reason besides staying in your company?”
She blushed. Cool, I made a vampire blush.
I asked with humor in my voice, “So where are you taking me?”
“A witch, her name is Tara White. She owns a small store, new age and witch stuff. She is, unique. But she might be able to help you.”
“Unique?”
She shook her head, “You’ll see when we get there.”
I followed her out to her car and we headed just a few blocks away to get to the store. I had passed it a million times over the last three years and never looked twice. It was a small store, mostly candles and incense though there were other trinkets spread around the store, and a small bookshelf.
Tara was about 5’5”, short red hair and curvy. She had an impish face. When she saw me she smiled and her eyes went wide. My initial instinct was to run, but I needed her help so I walked up to the counter.
“Hi, name is Ben. Diana said you might be able to help me?”
She said, “Of course, come in the back with me,” her voice was smooth and radiated sexuality. If she ever gave up being a witch she could definitely make it as a phone sex operator. She reached out and took my hand. I felt uncomfortable but let her lead me in the back. I turned around and looked at Diana and saw her scowling at the witch, which made me smile. Maybe she is as interested in me as I am in her after all, maybe.
She needed some background on the problem, and I tried to avoid her devouring eyes while I laid things out. She had a voluptuous body and pretty face and was making it clear she wanted to be alone with me. But instead of feeling flattered I felt hunted, the vibe was off somehow. She didn’t want me, she wanted something from me. I didn’t know what, but I dealt with it as I needed the help.
Between Aitheria and Diana being there I felt somewhat safe and I needed to get a handle on things. Of course there was a problem.
Tara’s voice purred, “I can help you with your weaker powers, such as communing with the elementals, and the others that you currently use but probably don’t need help with anyway. Until you gain your memories and unblock your magic it will be unstable and dangerous to try to use.
“So until then I can’t teach you to harvest the energy of air which is pretty much everything else. Mesmerizing, healing, moving the air from a breath to a storm. How to move as fast as the wind and buffer your body with thickened air so it isn’t abused, sort of like a shield to lessen impacts. I am sure you will discover other uses on your own as well in the future.”
I asked, “What about fire?”
Her eyes widened and if possible she made her demeanor even more available, “My, that’s rare. If you have a second weaker element we can work on that too, but if it’s that weak you won’t even be able to use it at all without freeing your magic. I can’t sense it at all, so it must be buried.”
“Okay, so you can only teach me to commune with elementals right now, can we do that?”
She bit her lip and nodded, I had to suppress the need to run again. I felt like I was in the twilight zone, I have had woman come on to me before, but never so flagrantly, it was way past creepy.
Tara’s voice to my relief approached a neutral instructor type, “Normally you can reach out with your connection to your element to… Taste the energy of who you want to commune with. Right now you are going to have to touch the element to get the right feel of it. Elementals are magical beings, their looks and form really don’t matter, it’s their signature feel you need to commune.”
I looked over to Aitheria and she shrugged, flew over and landed on my shoulder. She caressed my cheek with her little blue hands, and I felt the touch but it didn’t feel like flesh to me, it was smooth and felt like the wind brushing my cheek. I could also feel what Tara was talking about. I nodded and Aitheria flew off back on a shelf in the corner. I smiled as she looked at Tara suspiciously.
“So what next, once I have the feel?”
Tara smiled and said, “Once you can feel that signature feel, you will need to focus on that to create a connection to speak to his or her mind. Thinking about what they look like won’t help at all, and might actually distract and prevent it from working. Once you feel the connection just think thoughts and send it through.
I concentrated on how her touch felt, the cool comforting feel of the wind, the feeling of what her hand felt like on my face and I felt something in me reach out and connect to it. “Can you hear me Aitheria?”
“Yes I can.”
I lost my concentration at that point. I hoped it would come easier in the future.
I said, “Thanks, I guess that’s it until I can remember my memories.”
Tara looked disappointed and said, “You can stop by anytime you… Need something Ben.”
I blushed and I saw both Aitheria and Diana scowl.
“Thanks,” I managed to choke out.
I stood up and headed for the exit as fast as I could without being rude about it.
Diana still looked annoyed as we drove away.
I asked, “Can you drop me off at my office?”
She just nodded and headed that way, not talking. My power wasn’t helping so I wasn’t sure what she was mad about, but Tara wasn’t exactly my fault. Was it? Maybe I should drop a hint.
I said with true relief in my voice, “Tara was kind of over the top crazy wasn’t she? I wanted to run out of there a few times, and would have if you weren’t there.”
I thought bingo as her smile came back. I’m still not seeing why but maybe she does have a certain interest in me.
Diana said, “Yeah, I don’t know if you would have made it out if I wasn’t there.” She laughed.
I don’t know why I did it, but I reached out and squeezed her hand. It was the first time I ever felt her skin and it felt warm, soft and smooth. When our skin touched I could feel my skin tingle and the energy of magic mixing. It felt soothing and shocking at the same time.
I had to wonder if she caught my increased heartbeat, we never did get around to talking about hearing. I released her hand and I could feel the tension rise between us. I wasn’t good at this, new confidence or not I had almost no experience at it.
I was also worried about the fact we work together, but for that one moment I had just went with the feeling and grabbed her hand, now the car felt oppressive to me because of my unexpected reaction to it. I didn’t know what she was feeling but I was feeling a mix between wanting to touch her again and move on from there, or taking it back because of my other concerns.
There is that awkwardness again. When she pulled up she had a questioning look in her eyes. Had she felt the same shock when our hands met? I am ashamed to say I took the cowardly safe way out.
I said, “Thanks for the ride, see you at 10 or 10:30 tonight? My apartment.”
She just nodded so I got out of the car, my stomach dropping as my feet hit the hot pavement. I knew I was being too hard on myself. At least I had a little confidence these days, a big change from a week ago. Still, not taking the risk of talking to her about what just happened bugged me the rest of the morning.
After I had a deli lunch around the corner Frank showed up at the office. I welcomed the distraction from my roiling thoughts. “What’s up? Did you pick get that girl in Jersey back to her dad yet?”
Frank tilted his head as if I threw him off his thoughts then said, “Yes, that worked out quite well. Although the girl is in trauma counseling, but at eight she should bounce back from this. She wasn’t abused except for being withheld from her real parents. Which granted is horribly bad, but it could have been a lot worse.
“I came though because we have a five year old that’s been kidnapped. The Captain approved the expense, if you want the truth I think it’s because of the FBI, they came in and took the lead on the case and she want
s us to solve it first.” Frank rolled his eyes.
Hey, if it gets me paid I fully support the competition between city and Federal law enforcement.
“Got a picture?”
He shook his head at me, “We can head up to the house. The FBI took all our stuff.”
I said, “Do the parents know a psychic is coming?” This has caused issues in the past. Some people just won’t tolerate the idea of the supernatural at all, and are even violent with the raised feelings of having a child taken. I try to avoid that if possible.
He nodded. “Yes, but the feds don’t,” he said while smirking.
I snorted, just great. We headed out the door and to the victim’s home.
It didn’t take long. I was barely in the door with Frank when a gruff looking guy in a suit walked up to me and said, “I am agent Kilmer in charge of this site. Who the hell are you?”
I said, “PI and psychic. I’m here to look over the boy’s room, see if I can get anything.”
Frank said, “That’s right, the parents agreed.”
Agent Kilmer scowled. “Fine, but I’m coming along.”
The agent followed us back to the room. I walked around until I reached his bed. Then got a vision of where he was. He was in a cabin at the woods, which wasn’t that helpful. What might be though is the license plate I got off the car parked out front. Hopefully they would be able to match the property to the car owner, or maybe there is GPS on the car or something.
I gave Frank the information, the agent was looking at me like I was full of shit. So Frank called it in to get the information run down. That was when I felt something build inside me and I collapsed in a faint on the floor.
I was crawling across the floor giggling, I couldn’t walk yet but I had a hold of the block. Whisper was chasing me around and kept tickling me. I could hear my mother’s bright rich laugh in the background as I played with my guardian, I felt safe, full of innocent joy, and loved.
Someone was shaking me and patting me on the face. I opened my eyes and groaned. I needed to remember everything soon. I couldn’t keep going through this just to see snatches of memories. I almost choked as I remembered my mother’s voice, but I held it back, too many questions as it was with Frank and agent Kilmer there.
I said, my voice rough, “Sorry, don’t know what happened, just got dizzy all the sudden. I feel fine though.”
Agent Kilmer scowled again, he is good at it. He escorted us back to the door and out of there. I don’t even think the kids parents knew we were there, but that was okay with me, I just wanted him found. I asked Frank to drop me off at my apartment. I wasn’t sure how long the night would be so I figured to take a nap. I didn’t want to be nodding off and miss the vampire coming at me if anything went wrong.
Frank said, “You sure you’re okay? I’ve never seen you faint before.”
I shrugged, “I’m fine. I seem to be remembering some of my early childhood. It’s having side effects but nothing to worry about.” I was telling him the truth, sort of, in a misleading way. Still, he can’t know what is really going on with me. When I got home I set up some coffee for 9:30 and went to take a three hour nap.
Chapter 7
Thursday, July 30th, 2015 9:45 pm
I woke up a few hours later remembering my dreams. Not another nightmare, more scenes from my childhood. I felt raw and I wondered if it was any better than the nightmares. To remember her so clearly then have it taken away with consciousness was a bitter feeling.
I showered and went downstairs to just drink a cup of coffee and relax for tonight. The awkwardness from earlier had long faded and I was looking forward to seeing Diana as the time got closer. It was close to 10:30 when the door rang, I could swear I felt her before she knocked. Maybe I would be able to do that once I had my powers sorted out?
I opened the door and as usual she was dressed casually, this time in jeans and a tight black shirt. Nothing special, except my stomach twisted a bit in nervousness as I felt a rush of lust filled attraction. I pushed it down though, now wasn’t the time to deal with my personal issues, we had work to do.
“Come on in Diana. You want a drink?” I asked.
I wasn’t sure if she did it on purpose but she glanced at my neck before saying, “Coffee works.”
It wasn’t long before we had the portfolio out in front of us, a picture of Darrick staring back at me mockingly. I was stumped. This had never happened to me before, it always worked. I only had trouble with the Diana in danger vision because I had no picture and nothing really to focus on.
She sighed. “It could be the witch blocking you. A spell of earth would stop you from being able to view or find someone. Let’s try Vivian, maybe we can go at him from the side through her.”
I looked up surprised at this new information and she said patiently explaining, “We have worked with witches before. What takes you two seconds of concentration takes a witch an hour of preparation and about 15 minutes of chanting to build a good scrying spell. The spell accesses air for scrying. They also have a blocking spell that pulls from earth.
“You are more powerful in the short term and in quickness and the ease at which you will be able to manipulate the air. But never underestimate a witch, they have access to all four elements through spells and implements. With enough time and preparation they can be extremely dangerous.”
I nodded soberly. I hadn’t really thought about that. I had thought the witches were at a disadvantage not being able to manipulate air directly, and they were. But then I couldn’t touch all four elements either. I imagine it balances out, or I hoped so anyway.
I took the picture from Diana, and took a long look at it, concentrating on the vicious female vampire. I got nothing again. Not even a whisper.
“Sorry, I am just not getting anything, what about that witch, Tressa?” I asked.
She shrugged and handed the picture over. Before it even left her hand I knew where she was. I thought that strange, she didn’t block herself. I was wondering why that would be but we would find out soon enough.
“She is at a club, called Spirits,” I said.
Diana’s eyebrow rose, “Vampires go there to feed a lot. It’s a very popular place for it. I guess that makes sense if she hires out to us. Got to go where the clients are.”
We got up and headed out. I wasn’t sure if I would be any help and was feeling unsure about my gifts for the first time. I was not used to being blocked. But I wasn’t being paid to hide in my apartment either and although it would probably be her protecting me there was no way I wanted her hunting this group alone. I had already proven a single flying tackle could change things enough to be effective so maybe I would be useful in other ways.
The drive was quiet, each of us thinking our own thoughts. I wondered if like a normal psychic, feeling close to someone would prevent my power from working. I hardly ever saw my family, unless they were in trouble, like my cousin at the party. Or if they lied to me, but that was a different power apparently, truth. Of course I didn’t always get what I went for in a casual interaction either.
Whatever it was I couldn’t really read how Diana felt about me, that made me a little nervous, because slowly but surely I was falling for the beautiful vampire next to me. After what happened in the car this afternoon and at my front door tonight that was painfully obvious to me.
We pulled up and parked about a block away from the club. When we got closer to the club I felt a soft small hand intertwine fingers with mine.
When I looked at her she winked, “I don’t want any other vampires getting the idea you are free to be a snack.”
I wasn’t going to argue, her hand felt great in mine. We walked in right past the bouncer, who was a vampire, and went inside. The music was very loud and fast, I closed my eyes to picture the witch in my mind, as if I was holding the photon. I squeezed Diana’s hand to get her attention and pointed over in the far corner.
She just nodded. Any speech would be totally pointless out her
e. We reached the back and entered a private area. It was still loud but would allow for talking at this point. To my disappointment she released my hand and I led her to the third booth. Tressa was there alone and looked like she was waiting for someone.
Diana said, “Tressa, we are looking for Darrick, we know you did some work for him.”
Tressa shrugged, “I work for many vampires. A spell or two for payment and that’s all. I don’t know where this Darrick is, I do not even remember him.”
My head twinges as the lies scrape across my mind. The first two statements were true, but she does know who and where Darrick is.
Diana sighs, “You don’t want to be caught in the middle of this Tressa. You may be valuable to vampires but if the council learns you’re actively protecting and hiding a rogue…”
Tressa shakes her head, “My dear, I have done no such thing, nor would I!”
I can see out of the corner of my eye Aitheria is glaring at the witch too, she can probably sense the lies just as easily as I.
Diana said, “If you’re sure Tressa.”
Diana led me away then took my hand as we walked out to the car, we didn’t speak until we got inside the car.
She said, “Lying right?”
I nodded, “Oh yeah, she knows exactly who Darrick is and where he is. What now?”
She sighed, “Not sure, this is a lot like most nights are looking for him, we can never find him much less take him down.”
Suddenly there was a little blast of air as Aitheria appeared from nowhere in the back seat. She started to bounce on the balls of her feet.
She sent, “Guess what?”
I concentrated really hard and sent, “What?”
She sent with a malicious grin, “I stayed behind, she called that Darrick person, and I got the number.”
I grinned, she was the best. She gave me the number and I called Frank hoping to ask him to trace a location of the cell phone for me. It might be a little awkward but we needed the information. Problem is there was no answer. So I called Aiya.
Diana looked at me in question and I said, “Just a minute.”
Just a Psychic?: Power of Air Book 1 Page 5