“You know Shirl, the female crystal telepath who saved Chartail from the vampires in the Nightshade universe?” For a man who had stalked her for days, he did not appear to know a great deal about her friends. She seemed to have captivated him, he sat next to her.
“I grew up with Shirl and Candy in Ginkgo Terra. We were daughters of dissidents from this world. They are my closest friends in this or any parallel dimension. I can have Shirl take you to see Chartail.”
The man seemed to consider what she dangled in front of him. JoAnna was his only avenue to see Chartail, if that was what he desired. She could only hope he wanted to reunite with her cousin, more than he wanted to harm her.
“I need to think,” he said and left her, as he locked the door behind him.
JoAnna lay there, not having any other options. She had won round two of their little war. Now, she needed to come up with other arguments she could use to bait him to buy herself more time.
“JoAnna?” she heard Koel communicate through the soul mate channel.
Koel had finally connected with JoAnna, thank the Supreme Being. “Can you describe where you are?”
“I am in a windowless room, with a cement floor, and numerous drains. It may have been a laundry at one point?” It was wonderful hearing her voice through their soul mate link. Koel had been terrified he would never connect with her again. Now, he needed to find her so they would be physically reunited.
He communicated what JoAnna had shared through the warrior channel. Solfa, Tarsea, Starc, and Shirl were physically with him in Solfa’s office. Candy was with the other CT Guards who investigated all the leads reported through the communal pathways.
“Drains could also mean an abandoned slaughterhouse, hydroponic gardens, dye manufactures, just to name a few,” Tarsea added.
“Ask JoAnna what he looks like,” Solfa suggested. “If we can identify who he is, we may be able to find her through where he works.”
“JoAnna, try to transmit to me what he looks like. We are soul mates, if I can see through your mind, we may be able to identify the son of a bitch.” Koel knew they had untapped telepathic abilities they now needed to leverage if he had any hopes of rescuing her.
He closed his eyes and concentrated on his soul mate. Koel had been able to transmit his consciousness to JoAnna when they were in the same room, now he needed to do it through the soul mate link. She was a fifth-generation mind control telepath, capable of unknown power. He needed to believe all the stories he had heard were true.
Flashes of a face came through the channel, not unlike what they had originally seen when they entered Traves’s mind. “Concentrate, JoAnna. Relax and only think about what he looks like. Pretend you are painting a picture.”
JoAnna did not respond, but the images she sent were becoming clearer. He was able to make out a face of someone in his mid-twenties. The man had a broad nose and forehead. His eyes were set wide apart, with bushy eyebrows. Dull blue eyes and nondescript brown hair came to light as the picture continued to clear.
“Check with Tarsea, Koel,” JoAnna communicated through the link, ending the pictorial transmission. “He was involved in Chartail’s conspiracy, the one who turned them in.”
Koel had an ability to sketch. He quickly drew the image he had pulled from JoAnna’s mind. As soon as he was done, he handed it to Tarsea. If anyone could identify one of the men who hung around Chartail, it would be her former boyfriend at the time of the plot.
Tarsea looked at the drawing and Koel knew immediately he recognized the man he depicted. “That is Harewood Danvers. He worked at a meat packer operation on the outskirts of town. Everything fits, based on the little JoAnna was able to share.”
“We will take it from here,” Solfa informed them. “This abduction is too public to have our little group take down Danvers. He was also initially involved in the assassination attempt on Jeryl Jarlyn. The man has eluded us since we took down his accomplices.”
Koel knew it was futile to argue with Solfa on this point. “Not a problem, but I am going with you. I am part of your intelligence network after all, as well as Tarsea. However, Candy needs to be present. Her foresight may come in useful.”
Solfa nodded her consent. They quickly exited her office and started toward the abandoned warehouse Tarsea had mentioned. Coded communication was sent through the communal channels to alert the palace and CT guards of their destination.
“Hold on a little longer, JoAnna,” Koel shared with her through the soul mate channel. “We have identified your kidnapper and have a good idea where you are. You promised me a little red naughty outfit tonight and I plan to collect.”
JoAnna’s eyes were glued to the door Harewood Danvers had entered earlier. She prayed the door would open and Koel would walk through the entry, not Harewood. Her stomach was in knots waiting for a rescue, which might come too late.
The communal pathways were still active with discussions related to the attack, but no mention of any operation to rescue her. She had not expected public conversations on that topic, it would spell her immediate death if Danvers was anywhere nearby. The warrior channel, however, was active with Koel, Tarsea, and Candy communicating. She figured Shirl and Starc were nearby, but not actively involved in the planning of her rescue, so they did not communicate through the pathway.
How many episodes of television dramas had she seen where the police thought they had the right location, only to come up short? The victim had been moved or they were wrong in their assessment. Why didn’t the Troyk universe have squad cars they could leverage just for such an occasion? The small amount of pollution they would emit could not possibly cause the general population harm.
The door opened and JoAnna’s heart sank when she saw Harewood Danvers. “Koel, he’s back, hurry!” JoAnna had to lure him into conversation long enough to give the authorities time to get to her. “So, did you decide to let me take you to see Chartail? Shirl will do whatever I ask of her.”
“I figure I can get Shirl to take me to see Chartail, I do not need you to be involved. Your worthless brain will make a much louder statement.” JoAnna for the first time noticed he was grasping a thick pipe.
Her rescuers were not going to get here in time. JoAnna needed to rescue herself. She looked Harewood in the eyes and concentrated on shutting down his ability to walk. Movement was a function of the brain as it communicated to the rest of the body. In anatomy class she remembered it was the primary motor cortex which controlled movement. She would focus on that part of the brain.
To her amazement Harewood stumbled. She needed to continue to concentrate on stopping the motor cortex from firing neurons. Regardless of the struggle Harewood was experiencing, JoAnna could not let up.
“What are you doing?” Danvers cried, his speech somewhat slurred. Her continued attack on his brain had caused him to have a small stroke.
“Two more minutes, JoAnna,” Koel communicated, “hold him back two more minutes. We are almost there.”
JoAnna intensified her attack on Harewood Danvers’s mind. She did not care if she left him a vegetable, which was what he had planned to do to her. There was a kind of poetic justice to all this. He fell to his feet and had a seizure.
It was less than the two minutes Koel had projected when the first of the palace guards rushed into the room. Her soul mate was the fifth man to enter, but the first to come directly to her. Koel took her into his arms, as Tarsea cut the ropes that restrained her movement.
A med-tech entered and went immediately to Danvers, who was still seizing. “He does not get medical attention until his victim is seen to,” Solfa instructed. “I do not want any other med-techs to enter the crime scene.” Alex’s cousin may have just driven the last nail in Harewood’s coffin.
“The contusion on her head is nasty, but I can take care of it,” the med-tech reported.
JoAnna relaxed as the small machine healed her head wound from the inside out. In a matter of minutes, the gash was no longer a factor. The med-tech examined the rest of her body and identified the damage Harewood’s punches caused. “There is some internal bleeding, which we will see to next. The bruises on the surface of the skin will go away in time. There is nothing I can do about that.”
“Thank you,” JoAnna said. The headache she had earlier was no longer a factor. She had ignored the pain and concentrated on what she needed to do to survive and stop Harewood Danvers.
The med-tech did not seem anxious to finish with her and attend to the fallen man. “One of the people he killed today was a friend of mine. My duty is to heal, but I also take orders from the government. I will stay here and monitor your progress until I am ordered to see to the prisoner. There is always the possibility I may have missed something in my tentative examination of your injuries.”
JoAnna smiled. “He did punch me a number of times.” She did not miss Koel swear under his breath. He squeezed her hand a little harder. “I was a bit out of it, you may want to examine my whole body one more time. Take it nice and slow, we do not want you to miss anything.”
“The Prime Ruler wants the prisoner brought to The Palace for a public trial tomorrow morning,” Solfa reported. “He wants immediate justice for the people who violently died today at the hands of Harewood Danvers. Jeryl Jarlyn has advised medical attention can be given to the prisoner once he is incarcerated.”
“You should be able to stand now,” the med-tech advised.
Koel helped her to her feet. Considering what had been done to her by Harewood Danvers, JoAnna felt great. There was only one thing she wanted now and no one was going to stand in her way of obtaining it, not even the Prime Ruler.
Chapter 24
Koel held his soul mate as if his life depended on it. After everything she had been through today, JoAnna was bursting with energy. He could feel the extreme power through their link; it fueled his own mentally exhausted psyche. Throughout her kidnapping, he ran on pure adrenaline. Normally when he ran in that manner, he quickly crashed. Not this time. His body craved hers, and not just for fuel. Once more he needed to consider her state, rather than his own needs. She needed to rest mentally, come to terms with everything that had happened.
“Let’s get out of here, head to your apartment.” JoAnna used their closed channel, not wanting to advertise their plans. Her need for him appeared to be as powerful as his. “The thought of being with you got me through this. When I thought all was lost, the memory of your embrace lifted my spirits. All I need is you to be inside me.”
Any thoughts of needing to let her rest were nullified with JoAnna’s request. They both desperately needed to forget the emotional stress they had just been through and let the sexual physical release cleanse their souls. Everything except what they had together did not exist.
Koel took her hand, and they left the dank prison she had been held in. He wanted to get home as quickly as possible, but he took the long way through the park. The purple blooming flowers and shrubs always renewed him and he hoped they would do the same for her. She tightened her grip on his hand and brought herself closer to his body as they walked through nature’s balm. He heard her breathe deeper, inhaling the healing floral aroma.
When they arrived at his apartment, he opened the door and turned on the lights. Although he had lived here for two years, the space was bare of any decorations or personal items. “I guess you can make this place your own. Nothing ever seemed right on the walls. Maybe I was just waiting for you to make it a home.”
“How much money do you earn, Koel? It’s going to take a lot of work.” He could hear the laughter in her voice.
“That will not be a problem. Although it appears I never work, I am quite good at choosing what commodities to buy. If you would like, you can bring some of your favorite things from Ginkgo Terra.”
Koel went to the bar and pulled out two glasses. He figured they could both use a drink to help them wind down. JoAnna had other ideas, as she launched herself on top of him. She kissed him, as if starving for his taste.
JoAnna released his lips. “That is just a sample. Where is your bedroom?” Koel tilted his head slightly to the right, answering her inquiry. “Give me time to shower and prepare myself.”
What a fool he was! He should have known the first thing she would want to do was clean up and remove the clothing drenched in her late guard’s blood. Koel figured he would throw those garments away and have one of the girls bring her a change of clothes before they headed to Harewood’s trial tomorrow morning.
He was a little ripe himself. Koel did not want to join his pristine soul mate in this condition. While she showered in the master bath, he cleaned-up in the guest washroom.
After he showered, he knocked on his bedroom door. “Come in,” JoAnna replied, using their channel. He shook his head and chuckled. At least she no longer shouted through closed doors.
When he saw JoAnna, he stopped in his tracks. She wore a deep red cami and barely there panties. The outfit emphasized her full breasts and small waist. His mouth started to water, yearning to take her nipples into his mouth.
Koel never brought women here; he knew she had not found the outfit in one of his dresser drawers. “How?”
“It is very convenient having a crystal telepath as a friend. She generally does not portal travel between locations within the Troyk universe, but she made an exception this time. You wanted red lingerie.”
JoAnna had been stunning in the black lingerie she wore the first time they were together, but red was definitely her color. He was so hard, it was painful. It was doubtful he would have any control or finesse this evening.
He saw the bruises on her delicate face and body. “Do they hurt?” he asked, as he lightly brushed his fingers along her black and blue discolored skin. Momentarily, Koel stepped back to give her space in case his touch caused her discomfort. He wanted to strangle the life out of the bastard with his bare hands.
“No,” JoAnna answered. “The med-tech healed me, the broken blood vessels are not very pretty, but they are not painful.”
Her gaze was stirring a fire already blazing. “I hope that beautiful outfit was not expensive, because I am going to tear it to shreds.”
JoAnna did not give him the opportunity to come to her, as she once again launched herself toward him. He caught her as she made contact with his upper body. She wrapped her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and plastered her lips on his.
True to his statement, Koel grabbed the back of her sheer top and easily ripped it from her body. JoAnna let out a little cry of surprise, but continued to kiss him. The panties she wore required a little tug and they were history.
Fortunately, when he was done with his shower, Koel only put on a pair of boxers. Their skin on skin contact was incredible. The heat they were generating was causing each of them to sweat. He was surprised the moisture on their bodies did not sizzle.
Koel brought JoAnna down on the mattress and took one of her breasts into his mouth. Her heels attempted to push down his underwear. He released her waist and removed the barrier she wanted gone. As he sucked her nipple a little harder, JoAnna let a moan escape, which was music to his ears.
Impatient, JoAnna grabbed his rod and directed him to the entry of her moistened folds. Not wanting to disappoint, he entered her with one massive thrust.
She cried out as he drove deeply inside her. “Deeper,” she screamed, JoAnna adjusted her legs, allowing him to do as she requested. He drew out of her and thrust again. She met his rhythm as he continued to drive and withdraw. Friction and tension continued to build to a pitch he had never experienced.
As he continued to drive into her, Koel could feel JoAnna’s presence in his mind. She was not controlling him, but experiencing his enjoyment
of the act, as well as her own. Koel concentrated on entering her mind, as his body continued to work toward nirvana.
JoAnna lost herself in Koel, body and soul, forgetting everything that had occurred. If only for several perfect moments, the events of today no longer plagued her. She felt the utter enjoyment he was feeling within his mind, while she felt him trying to enter hers, to share the same type of experience. Nothing compared to being of one mind and body. Just as he connected with her brain, their bodies fractured. It was beyond anything words could describe.
Koel rolled onto his side, taking her with him. He had not exited her body or her mind. They lay together as one, both too exhausted to let go. Once they had found the right spots to occupy within each other, it was hard to break the connection. No place was as safe or as comforting as what they found together. Her friends were not mind control telepaths, they would never experience what she had with Koel.
“I am not moving again, they can bring us food.” Koel did not communicate through their link, but mind to mind while he was situated in hers. It was as if it were her thought, but she knew it had come from Koel.
She wasn’t used to this much intimacy, it frightened her. She had lost both birth parents and her adoptive mother, plus her father was in another dimension. After what she experienced with Koel, she did not know if she would survive losing him too.
“Release your hold,” she asked. He immediately complied.
Koel looked into her eyes and then placed his forehead against hers. He knew what she had been feeling and respected her decision without argument or condemnation. There was a peace in knowing Koel would know everything, not requiring her to explain.
“We have some things to get used to,” Koel commented. “There is no instruction manual on how to be mind control soul mates. If I pick up something you do not want to discuss when you allow me into your mind, just tell me. I will do my best to respect your privacy. There is not a whole lot you can hide from me when we are one.”
The Mind Control Telepath Page 21