This chapter continues my story, although the book is nearly finished. It's the one that puts a different, more unique spin on the age-old vampire myth. But, because uploading chapters is faster than building them, it may take time before the start of the next book makes its way to your desktop, sorry for the delay, the reality of writing, I suppose.
I also want to add that this will be the last installment of this series.
As this is a science fiction tale there are aliens, good ones and bad ones, and yes, the good ones are here to stand against those who would subjugate the more physically fragile human race. They all face challenges.
I hope you enjoy reading this chapter, please leave a comment once you've finished. Good feedback, positive or negative with specifics, is the lifeblood of any writer.
A big shout out goes to my favorite editor, Axelotto, without whom my work would be disastrous, as some of you have pointed out in the past when I've failed to use his services for one reason or another. -Dreamweaver594.
A Blessing, and a Curse
After leaving the tavern, Maura walked back to Vera's cottage. She remembered another day when she was feeling a bit playful. Having just discovered her ability to hear other's thoughts, she wanted to see how much she could embarrass Jason in front of Master Yaol. She began to test her mental skills, peering into his mind and reading his thoughts, leaving little tidbits like a naughty image as a calling card.
At first he was surprised, and a bit excited by her visits. Try as he might to keep a straight face while Master Yaol was talking to him, the images she left were compelling. Soon, he began to look forward to her pranks. Shortly after her first attempt, he realized what she was doing and decided to turn the tables on her. As she stood hearing instructions from Yaol, he placed a naughty image of what he'd like to do to her in her mind. This, of course, distracted her and caused her no end of embarrassment.
Finally, during a training session with Master Yaol the following week, Jason created an especially naughty thought and projected it to Maura, causing her to blush as Yaol continued to instruct her. This made Jason fold over laughing which created even more embarrassment for her. She rushed over and punched him in the arm, which sent him flying across the training yard and into some bushes. He emerged a bit dazed with grass, branches, and leaves sticking out of his hair and clothing. This was much to the mirth of both Yaol and Maura.
"Serves you right for doing that while Master Yaol was talking to me!" Maura barked, standing with her hands on her hips sporting a smirk that quickly became a laugh.
"Serves you right for listening!" Jason shouted back, laughing, as he picked twigs out of his hair.
But I really meant everything the image conveys
, he thought with a grin on his face. Maura's eyes flashed provocatively, but she kept her composure and Master Yaol finished his instructions.
Now she found that what were once silly pranks had turned into a cascade of uninvited voices invading her mind every minute, both day and night, whispering unspoken desires, and becoming an avalanche of uninvited yearnings. A simple stroll across the grounds had turned into a nightmare.
A half-hour later, as she emerged from the forest, Maura found Vera sitting outside of her cottage snapping beans and humming an old tune she'd never heard before. It took her a moment to realize that the tune she was hearing wasn't something coming to her out loud, but inside her head. "Am I in trouble, Vera? I only meant it as a prank."
Don't be alarmed my dear, it was only a matter of time before your gift fully manifested. What you see as a game with Jason will soon become torture for you if you don't learn to control it.
"I'm beginning to understand what you mean."
Hearing people's thoughts,
Vera continued
, without a filter will drive you insane because it never stops. Even in sleep the thoughts will come to you like a landslide. Your mind will never be at peace.
Maura slumped her shoulders as she nodded while standing by Vera's gate. Already the flood of voices entering her mind was concerning her. Even as she walked across the commons area from the Tavern, they came uninvited, growing stronger each day. What before was a simple walk was becoming uncomfortable. She projected her thought to Vera.
Can you help me?
Baby steps, my dear, you're just learning to crawl. Soon you'll be running. Your gift is powerful, even more so than mine. And you'll learn, perhaps faster than anyone, I suspect.
Does Jason have this gift as well?
Maura mentally spoke her thought to Vera.
He's sensitive to the gift but not as adept as you, that's what has helped him make the mind-play such a game. Jason's focus is on becoming a guardian like his father and grandfather. He'll be a truly great leader someday. That is, once he accepts his role in all of this. We have you to thank for that, daughter. You've transformed him. I see the joy in both of your eyes when you look at each other. I watch your auras blend together in radiant splendor when you train as partners. It's pure joy to watch.
"Kismet, I suppose." Maura muttered out loud.
Yes, kismet,
thought Vera as she cleared a place on the bench for Maura to sit.
Here, I'll help you with your first step: how to open and close the door.
Grandmother placed a bowl of snap beans in Maura's lap as she sat on the bench. "Simple tasks help you focus better."
Maura smiled as Vera picked up a second bowl filled with beans. "At first the attraction to hearing the thoughts of other's will be intoxicating, but soon it will become a burden, then a nightmare."
"Very true," Maura murmured. "Even now, they've already have become a burden."
"You're a fast learner, as I said. I understand the prankish behavior of teasing Jason. And so, as you've said, the unbridled desires of others, hidden from view and never expressed, have begun to invade your consciousness. As a novice, you simply have no defense against them."
"What can I do?"
"Take it one simple step at a time."
Vera picked up a handful of beans and, after breaking off each of the ends, placed them into a separate bowl at her feet.
Maura joined her. She smiled subtly. She knew she enjoyed teasing Jason but now she desperately needed to find a way to control this. "What do I do to prevent it?"
"It's all a matter of focus, something that as a warrior, you should be very familiar with." Vera finished with the first handful and grabbed another. "First, you should find a place in your mind that is your 'private space'."
Maura turned to Vera, confused. "A private space?"
Vera nodded. "A place where all your thoughts are yours alone, your own, and no thoughts from others can enter unless you invite them in. That's the door I was talking about. It's more a metaphor than an actual thing, but useful in understanding it's purpose."
"Are you telling Jason the same thing?"
Vera smiled as she turned to Maura. "He already knows. Like I said, his gift isn't as powerful as yours, you're a true empath. He's only begun to experience this, mostly because of you."
Maura's face felt warm as she turned her attention back to her bowl of snap beans. "Sorry."
"Never be sorry for gifts, daughter, they are given to you for a reason, and someday you'll understand why. This might be the reason both of you train so diligently as a true team. It's as if you know what the other is planning before its express it in action." She dropped several more beans into the second bowl. "Yaol has sensed this already. He's impressed with your abilities to adapt and learn quickly. He's spoken proudly of your prowess with the sword. Yet he's unaware of your gift as an empath. But, he's fully aware of your warrior talent. You and Jason make a formidable team."
"So, for now," Vera continued, "find that private space I mentioned and decorate in whatever manner suits you. It's your space, where you will dwell privately. You can still hear the words of others, just as long as you stand outside of your private space or invite them in. Ultimately, you can decide to venture out and learn something from someone else, mentally, when you chose to. And, you will do so by your own decision."
Maura nodded to Vera and began to reflect her thoughts inward. As she wandered through the recesses of her mind, she found a space in a vast area filled with a brilliant white light. It didn't seem to have any boundaries. The first thing she selected for her 'private' space was a large round bed, like a great ottoman. The shape made it unique in her mind and that was important.
She covered the ottoman with several plush blankets like she'd seen on her home planet, when visiting wealthy families with her father. Then she covered the floor with soft oriental style carpets like she's seen in some of the picture books in the library. She nodded inwardly; the place was beginning to take on a comfortable appeal. She leapt mentally onto the ottoman and rolled across it, playfully, to settle into a pile of pillows. The freedom and silence that this world offered felt great; her mind was finally quiet, no more uninvited thoughts!
Next, she thought of establishing perimeter walls to define the space, so she would know, for herself, where her private space was and when she stepped out of it to discover something new.
She hung large blank canvases in the air, she didn't understand the mechanics of such a process, but shrugged and did it anyway. On one canvas, she willed a picture of the Ravenswood valley, like it first appeared to her while riding in Jason's magical car. It instantly appeared, and in motion too, as birds and butterflies flit across the scene. Next, she willed a picture of Vera's cottage and it popped into view, looking very much like the first time she saw it. Again, bugs and butterflies flit across the image as birds flew in pursuit. That was enough for now, she thought, perhaps later when new images come to mind, she could add then as well.
