Psychic Storm: Ten Dangerously Sexy Tales of Psychic Witches, Vampires, Mediums, Empaths and Seers

by Deanna Chase

  She looked safe there...her light at least. She looked calm.

  She also looked very far away.

  Once Revik felt satisfied she was okay, he knew he should send up a flare to the Adhipan seers spotting him. He contemplated that reluctantly, too, but had little choice. He was lucky to have this duty at all, and he knew it.

  He also knew he had Vash, primarily, to thank for that fact.

  Why the old man continued to protect him was beyond Revik’s ability to comprehend, but he knew he should act significantly more grateful the next time he saw the aged seer.

  Taking another breath, he sent up the flare.

  Immediately, he felt a response.

  Rather than Yumi that time, Balidor himself appeared in Revik’s light.

  Revik knew that wasn’t exactly a sign of confidence in his abilities, either. Bringing the leader of the entire fucking Adhipan to supervise what should have been a routine light assessment gave him some idea of how much they trusted him, too.

  She is the Bridge, Balidor reminded him. Nothing with her is routine, brother.

  Revik didn’t answer that.

  Even so, he acknowledged the other with his light...politely, if noncommittally. Even he couldn’t bring himself to mouth off to the head of the Adhipan.

  Well, not for such a small reason.

  A pulse of humor wafted out from Balidor’s aleimi.

  Take her somewhere she might have fallen asleep, the Adhipan leader advised.

  Revik nodded. Even so, he didn’t move right away. He only stood there instead, nearly holding his breath as he watched her light, coiling it gently into his as he tried to feel how much of her fear remained there.

  He’d really fucking scared her. A lot.

  She won’t remember any of this, Balidor reminded him, his thoughts more gentle. You did well to make it quick. Remember, there was no other way...this cannot be done remotely. Not as thoroughly as we require.

  Revik exhaled, then shook himself out of his own reaction.

  After all, her fear was part of why they had decided to do this now.

  Acknowledging the other seer’s words in the Barrier, less formally that time, he steeled himself for what came next. He knew he couldn’t overreact to this part, either.

  She needed him calm. Cool.

  Professional...for want of a better word.

  He bent down, allowing her to fall gently over his back and shoulder. Arranging her weight briefly, he straightened a few seconds later with her body slung in a fireman’s carry, her arms and legs loose on either side. He went back and forth for a few more seconds in his mind, trying to decide between the couch and the bedroom. Part of him thought the couch might be less conspicuous in terms of any gaps in her mind...especially if he left the main monitor on, tuned to one of her favorite feed stations.

  In the end he went with the bedroom, though.

  She’d been thinking about her bed and a shower as she walked up the stairs.

  Pain slid through him at the thought, there and gone...but dense enough and sharp enough to blank out his mind while it was there.

  Steady, brother... Balidor murmured in his mind.

  Revik still felt no judgment there.

  Even so, his neck and face flushed with warmth.

  Fuck these Adhipan and their ability to see through his shields.

  He shoved that out of his mind, too.

  Entering her bedroom cautiously, he got her down on her bed seconds later, laying her gently on the white bedspread under a ceiling splashed over with virtual galaxy paste.

  The paste glowed like fireflies in the dim light with her shades closed...swirling into star clusters and nebulae in the darker parts of the ceiling, even with the flickers of morning sun filtering through the shades. He glanced up at those fantastical constellations and exhaled again. Bending down, he untied then pulled off her boots, one by one.

  He left her clothes alone, even though she still wore her waitressing uniform, which smelled faintly of grease and coffee from her many hours of work. He placed her hands carefully on her sternum, more to get them out of the way. He slid her pillow all the way under her head after straightening her legs.

  Another bare pause later, and he crawled over her prone form.

  Arranging his long body and legs, he stretched out on top of the bedspread next to her.

  Once he was lying comfortably on his back, his arm touching hers, he pinged them again.

  I am ready, he told Balidor.

  It took hours.

  Revik knew the Adhipan cleared her schedule, so to speak...which included watching her house to make sure no one unexpected approached who might interrupt them.

  Mainly, however, it meant pushing Jon and Cass’s minds to other things and people, and making sure she didn’t get called back in to work. It also meant keeping her mother away from any bars for the night, which probably would have brought Jon here regardless.

  Given how Revik normally monitored those channels and people himself, it felt strange, how quiet it was, at least in those times he wasn’t actively in the Barrier and working.

  He lay there, mostly following instructions and gentle prods as he went through and catalogued markers in her light. They had him officially confirm her ID, which they’d held off on doing until enough of her had “landed” here that they could feel confident on formalizing that with the officials in Seertown. Once that had been completed, they led him through a more detailed mapping of her light, looking at structures far more closely than Revik or anyone else had on her up until now. They had him do it for security purposes, they said, to find her more easily in the Barrier.

  They also did it, Revik suspected––although no one said it aloud––for her eventual training. That would happen when the Council gave the go-ahead to activate her for real. At that point they would remove the shields over her light and bring her back to Asia, which likely wouldn’t happen until her thirtieth year, if not later.

  That was the first Revik heard of that, too.

  He didn’t argue with them, but his mind exploded in a silent protest at the information.

  Thirtieth year? They wouldn’t begin even training her for another eight years?

  They might as well just draw a target on her back right now.

  Even the Bridge would need training. No seer came in who didn’t need it, if only to reawaken and remember what they had known before. To leave her vulnerable until such a late age, without even an awareness of her true race…

  Revik fought to keep his reactions to that information in the background.

  They told Revik they’d chosen to do this now, since he was here, in San Francisco.

  Revik knew they’d also done it partly as a test, to see how he would react after hours immersed in her light. He fought not to let either thought worm too deeply into his mind or light, but he couldn’t entirely suppress his rebellion at the idea that they would wait so long to awaken her, given everything going on in the world.

  Patience, brother Revik… Balidor sent to him, more than once.

  Revik didn’t answer that, either. Not with words, anyway.

  By the end of their work, Revik was surprised to see that it was dark outside the house. A whole day had passed, and while it felt long in some respects, he also couldn’t believe it when they had finished. Balidor declared the mapping complete at one point, after they’d spent what must have been at least an hour looking at a particular configuration of structures in her aleimi that none of them had seen before, or could identify.

  That is enough for now, I think… Balidor sent, pulling his people back from the Barrier as he spoke it. We have enough here, brothers and sisters…for now, at least…

  Revik felt their lights retreat gradually from around his and Allie’s, leaving them more or less alone. He began to extract his own light from the Bridge’s, as well, but Balidor sent him a heated pulse, telling him to wait.

  Confused, Revik complied.

  For a long moment,
he only lay there, watching the other seers leave. When the rest had gone, leaving only him, Alyson and Balidor himself, Revik found himself waiting again, this time for the senior infiltrator to tell him what he wanted. Balidor did so only after the last trace of his seers had evaporated entirely, leaving silence.

  Then he addressed Revik directly.

  You have a decision to make, brother, Balidor began gravely.

  Revik began to shake his head, to tell him that he didn’t, but Balidor sent another pulse, a warning one that time, cutting him off before he could respond.

  Not that, Balidor sent. That is not the kind of decision I meant, brother. The Council has agreed to keep you on as the Bridge’s guardian. The decision was nearly unanimous.

  Revik grunted outside of the Barrier, unable to help himself.

  Nearly? he sent.

  Balidor ignored his sarcasm. That more serious tenor of his light didn’t alter.

  The Council now agrees with you, that this experience was overtly traumatizing for our beloved intermediary, the Bridge… Balidor began.

  Revik felt his confusion turn rapidly to disbelief, then to anger. They needed a fucking map to tell them that?

  Brother, are you going to listen to me? Balidor sent mildly. Or not?

  Revik fell silent. With an effort, he once more opened his light.

  When he did, he felt Balidor sigh. Hell, he could almost hear him clicking to himself from wherever his body resided in the physical world.

  …They agree with you now, Balidor repeated, his voice still patient, if a bit more taut. And further, the results of this trauma are disquieting to some of them. She has taken the approach to distance herself further from humans psychologically…to embrace an identity that posits her as different from them. As not quite human, in a sense…

  Revik again had to stifle a grunt.

  Even so, he kept his light utterly still.

  The Council feels this could be…problematic, Balidor added, his light growing more subtle. For a number of reasons, really, not the least of which being that it substantially increases the risk that she will discover the nature of her true race. Moreover, she is already experimenting with her light in ways that could awaken structures in herself…thus potentially making her more visible to the Rooks and others. Particularly in the form of martial arts she is practicing with her adoptive brother.

  Again, Balidor paused, maybe to give Revik time to absorb his meanings.

  In sum, Balidor continued. They are now more amenable to alternate approaches to managing what occurred between her and this human male, brother Revik. They are leaving the decision to you, since they agree you know her light the best at this point.

  Decision? Revik felt a kind of disbelief take over his light. They would really let me kill that walking piece of excrement?

  Balidor exuded a plume of impatience. Brother. Are you truly asking me that?

  Revik felt his anger deepen. Then what ‘decision’ could you possibly be referring to, Adhipan Balidor? Would they like me to have a talk with cousin Jaden? See if I can convert him to Code, to atone for his sins?

  We are not concerned with the human males at all, brother Revik, Balidor sent, his thoughts an open warning. Our concern lies solely with our Esteemed Bridge. You have the option to try and help her to manage these memories in less dangerous ways, to steer her into seeing herself once again as fully human, or…

  In the space, Balidor shrugged, almost an apology.

  …Or you can take those memories away from her, brother Revik, he sent, quieter. Allow her to proceed as if the incident never occurred.

  Revik thought he’d heard the seer wrong at first.

  Staring up at the ceiling and the virtual galaxies swirling there, he felt his mind go utterly blank for a few seconds.

  Before he could wrap his head around Balidor’s words, or control the anger that once more surfaced and sparked in his light, Balidor interrupted his thoughts again.

  Please think of her in this, Dehgoies, Balidor sent, expanding a pulsing tendril of warmth over Revik’s chest. Please. Whatever your anger at the Council for letting this thing happen… For the first time, a true edge crept into his voice. …An anger that not all of us feel is displaced, by the way, brother…you must think of her now. Only her. And her higher self, not simply the young seer down here. You must help us decide what will be better for her at this time…what will allow her to best fulfill her purpose here on Earth.

  Her purpose? Revik sent, not hiding his anger.

  It is why she is here, Balidor sent back mildly. Do you respect her so little, brother, that you would deliberately get in the way of what she herself has decided to put herself through to accomplish this? Do you imagine our Bridge to be some fragile flower, who cannot withstand the dangers and darknesses of this world…or anything the humans can throw at her?

  Something in the seer’s words made Revik pause again.

  He didn’t answer, though, and felt Balidor sigh.

  I know you are a religious man, Dehgoies…

  Religion has fuck-all to do with this, Revik snapped.

  The hell it doesn’t! Balidor sent back, just as sharply. If you believe she is here for the reasons the Council does, then you cannot simply treat her as a regular seer, Dehgoies. Young though she is, you cannot treat her suffering the same, either…or even her rights to a ‘happy life,’ as the humans put it. She would not thank you for coddling her in this…I promise you!

  Revik fell silent at that, too.

  It irritated him more than he could express that he felt the truth in the other’s words. Somehow, it took another infiltrator to explain this to him, not a Council monk. He needed to see this as a warrior did, whatever their persuasion.

  Once he had, he found himself thinking, turning over what Balidor had said.

  He tried to do as Balidor asked, too…to try and see it from Allie’s point of view, meaning that higher part of her, the one that would not want her light to become bitter against the human race. He could not identify with the mind of an intermediary, of course. He knew his own light would be far too unsophisticated for that, but he could try to understand it from the perspective of one down here…someone on a mission that they would not want interrupted, not for anything that could be controlled. He tried to think past his anger at the violation itself to how he would feel, if he were on such a mission.

  A mission that could be jeopardized by one bad day.

  In doing so, he didn’t really try to understand what Allie herself might actually want in this…meaning the person he knew down here. He strongly suspected he already knew what she would say, anyway. She would fucking hate the idea of being erased. She would want to remember what Jaden had done to her. She would want to know about it, if nothing else, so it would never happen again. She would hate the idea of anyone giving her some kind of clean slate if it meant lying to her about the reality of her own life.

  Moreover, she would want to power through it. She would be angry at all of them for thinking that she couldn’t handle it without being “damaged” in some way.

  Revik then wondered, if it had happened to him, if he could ever not hold a grudge against the kind of people who would do such a thing.

  Could he confine his anger to Jaden alone? Decide that Jaden and Mickey were nothing more than anomalies, aberrations in the otherwise good intentions and deeds of the wider human race, regardless of all evidence to the contrary? Would he be able to stop himself from seeing the patterns of human abuse across the world? Could he separate that from the Jadens and Mickeys and others who made up the mundane and depressingly consistent details?

  He decided he could not.

  Moreover, if he found out he wasn’t one of them, it would be a profound relief. He would do everything he could to distance himself from their kind.

  To eradicate any and all similarities between himself and them.

  Fine, he sent. His thoughts turned hard. If you truly wish our Esteemed Bridge to conti
nue her love and over-identification with our human cousins… Sarcasm leaked into his words, he couldn’t help it. …Then I think we should erase her. Make her forget.

  There was a silence.

  Revik felt Balidor nodding then, not reacting to his sarcasm, but perhaps looking at the meaning of Revik’s words behind it.

  You are sure? he said only.

  Thinking about it again, Revik sighed, clicking sharply under his breath.

  That time, his words came out subdued.

  Defeated, perhaps.

  I am sure, he sent. Erase it. All of it.

  13

  ALL APOLOGIES

  He looked familiar somehow, but I couldn’t place his face.

  Shocking blue eyes, so light they almost looked clear in the direct sunlight. Black hair. Tall. A quirk on his lips that suggested a smile, but wasn’t quite one.

  He had tech hipster written all over him.

  That didn’t turn me off, exactly, but it wasn’t exactly points in his favor, either. Then again, he had a sticker of my favorite seer band on the back of his laptop, so bonus points for that. The laptop itself looked friggin’ ancient. Like it might not even have any kind of real folding tech. He hammered away at it with his fingers like an old pro, though, so maybe it didn’t matter to him.

  Kind of like eccentrics who wrote with typewriters.

  When he looked at me again, I smiled. I spoke before I knew I meant to.

  “What’re you writing?” I said.

  He shrugged, tossing his head to get long, black bangs out of those blue eyes.

  They looked darker to me now, I noticed.

  Why had I thought they were almost clear before?

  A trick of the light, maybe.

  “A story,” he said, as if embarrassed by the admission.

  I laughed, walking closer, still holding the coffee pot. “You said that like it was something dirty. Is it dirty?” I quirked an eyebrow at him when he looked up.

  This was pretty unlike me, actually. I wasn’t much of a flirt, not usually.

  That was Cass’s department.

  Seeing my expression, he shook his head and grinned. “Maybe not dirty enough…maybe that’s the problem. Know anyone who writes porn?”