Chapter 13: Enemies and Allies
I had expected Tuyen hours ago. The time I spent with Dimitry had been much longer then I had anticipated, but then again everything associated with the gift seemed to get messier then I expected. I felt fear begin to gnaw at my gut as I sat on the couch and waited.
I tried to reach out to her note, but when I called to it nothing happened. I began to panic until it dawned on me I may not be able to call a note that is shielded. To test this I tried to call Dimity's note, and found nothing there but silence as well. Though the macabre thought did occur to me that they could both be dead. This I pushed away as something to difficult to even contemplate.
I think it is a common trait of men that when threatened with uncertainty we tend to overreact, and that the overreaction tends toward the melodramatic hero end of the scale of behaviors. I had an hour or two where I was captured by my own fears, and panic. But as I forced myself not to charge out the door with a machinegun ready to storm the hill of my undefined enemy, I began to calm and think things through.
Tuyen was a grown woman, and hopefully not on Dolkoff's radar yet. I had gained a lot of insight from Dimitry's mind on just how arrogant Dolkoff was, and I wondered if he would even think I could free someone's gift as he could. After all, I didn't believe it of myself until I did it.
I called Tuyen's cell and left a message to call me when she got it, and then settled down on the couch to watch "Equilibrium" for the tenth time. Somewhere in the middle I slipped into dreams of Gun Katta and burning books.
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I woke the next morning sprawled on the couch with the TV still on, and a horrible crick in my neck. I must have been more fatigued then I thought to have passed out like that. I stumbled to the kitchen still rubbing my neck to make some coffee. After banging around for 10 minutes with still no coffee to show for my efforts I decided to go to plan b and head down to the grind after a quick shower.
The hot water and soap helped immensely in returning me to some level of consciousness higher then what I had been operating at, which was somewhere close to reptilian. It was only after I was dressed that I remembered Tuyen, and I picked up my phone to hear the distinctive dial tone pulse meaning I had a message. I called my voice mail and Tuyen's voice purred out.
"Hey Mike, sorry if I worried you, I'm fine. Well I'm better then fine, I can't believe this gift. I have some interesting news too, but it will have to wait until I can see you. Anyway, I'll call you later. Take care."
I erased the message with tremendous flood of relief. It suddenly hit all the way home the amount of danger I had just placed Tuyen in, and a wave of guilt washed over me. What right did I have to include her in this mess? I thought on this as I walked down to the grind, the cool morning air bringing me the rest of the way awake.
Tuyen was a friend, a real friend. She knew the risks, and she took them willingly, with full knowledge of what it meant. I knew I couldn't get through this alone, but I was still hated the idea of involving my friends. I hated the idea of seeing any of them hurt.
The Grind was crowded, but Wendy spotted me in back and waved before pointing me to a table still empty in the corner. I felt like a celebrity as about 5 minutes later she brought me my coffee along with her nice smile.
"Hey Mike, here's your bean."
"Thanks Wendy, how are you this morning?" I said looking into her sparkling eyes.
"Crushed! I got to get back there. I'll try to see you later. Maybe I can swing by the store again around lunch." She winked at me and bit her lip as she walked away.
God she was sexy, but I really needed to get a handle on things with her. If I let this go on too long we were both going to get hurt.
I walked the rest of the way to the store, taking my time and enjoying my coffee. It was starting to get cold when I unlocked the place and went in to get things going for the day. The store was comforting in some way, and I found myself falling into the routine of the day easily.
I talked to my boss later in the morning, and apologized for my inconsistency in operating the store lately. He assured me he understood, and that if I need time off to just get some temporary help to help me run the store for the next few weeks to take the pressure off.
I spent the rest of the morning calling people who had worked for me during busy times before, until I found someone willing to work full time and I arranged for them to come in tomrrow. I wanted the freedom to take care of Dolkoff without worrying about the store for a few weeks. Well, that is assuming I could take care of Dolkoff.
As lunch approach I ordered another pizza, and found myself watching the clock wondering if I would have company to finish it again. I had almost given up hope that Wendy was going to make it for lunch when the bell over the door rang. I stood up behind the counter, a smile spreading on my face. In instinct I reached out for her note and found nothing but silence.
Fear raced through me and I slammed the curtains down around my mind, my heart racing. She appeared around the pile of furniture in the center of the store. It was Dimitry's sister. Her black hair hung straight down across her white blouse. She walked slowly, but without fear directly toward me. I found myself drawn to her eyes, for they blazed with such hatred, such pure vengeance that I had to stop myself from taking a step back. It was a strange contrast to see such hatred contained in such a lovely face.
Why did these people hate me so? I had not come into there world and attacked them. I found it hard to comprehend that my mere existence so threatened them that they were willing to destroy their own family in the attempt to destroy me.
She stopped five feet from the counter, her green eyes burning into me. As I opened my mouth to speak her first wave of thought hit me. It was like a tsunami of thought coming off her and breaking against my mind. Wave after wave of sound poured from her and almost through a haze I saw her lips curled back in a snarl of rage.
I fought to regain my equilibrium, and to hold my defenses together. I could feel the emotion in those thoughts even through my defenses. They were pure rage, pain, and loss. My defenses were weakening under her attack. I had not been prepared for the sheer ferocity of her attack.
I reached deep into my reserves then and pulled a tight ball of sound into my mind with the single thought "stop". I poured energy into it barely holding my shield up as I did so. At last I threw it at her with all the force I could muster. It spun across the plane of my mind like a blue ball of singing electricity.
It struck her and punched through her shield like an armor piercing bullet. I saw her stagger in front of me as the thought poured through her. Her assault faltered and stuttered to a stop, and I felt my curtain quickly settle and repair in the sudden silence. Instead of pressing my attack I held up my hands palm out to her.
"Wait, hold on!" I shouted at her.
