Blaize and the Maven: The Energetics Book 1 (28 page)

And the power. Oh, the power.

Watching that other person, terrified, open before you.
 

Their face as you took more and more, and you became more energised, more powerful, while they wilted like a bloom picked days ago.

Indigo’s body reacted to her thoughts, and even as she lay on her hard bed in the bare room on the outskirts of Merrow, she felt a thrill course through her, a pleasure almost sexual igniting her nerve endings. She let out a breath.
 

She longed to leech again. To take energy from an unwilling victim. To see the pride in her Maven’s face as she drained that victim in front of him. It was worth every moment in this shitty town, in this shitty house.

Indigo still needed her Maven’s help, or drugs, to overpower another person for leeching, and her Maven had been stingy with opportunities so far.

So far.

***

The trance had been unpleasant, despite Cuinn’s efforts to make it as easy for Blaize as possible. The two of them had joined Fintan, Tierra and Cara for lunch afterwards, but Blaize only picked at hers, pushing food around her plate.
 

"Do you think it's Indigo?" she asked no-one in particular.

"It could be. But geography means nothing in the dreamscape. Whoever it is could be anyone, anywhere in the world. It's likely, but we can't count on it,” said Cuinn.

“The Rogue is probably an addict if she’s leeching off Blaize. And it explains why she chose you Blaize, if you’re her energetic match. It makes more sense now,” Cara said.

Blaise leaned back in her chair and sipped at a glass of water. “So it might not even be anything to do with the prophecy. If she’s just an individual Rogue who’s addicted to energy and leeching from others to get it.”

“Except that you’re involved in the major prophecy,” Cuinn said, as he put his knife and fork down. “You were in the line up with the other eleven. And if you were hurt, or worse, then it would still stop the prophecy from coming true, even if you were hurt through something else.”

Blaize frowned. “I guess so. So we carry on as before? Especially now we know that I’m the best bait we have for this Rogue?”

Blaize wasn’t sure about the major prophecy. Cuinn had refused to take her out into the wild energy in the dreamscape. He’d been adamant, saying she’d need a lot more training for that. But Blaize believed that the piece of the prophecy where he’d seen her hurt had been fulfilled by the Rogue’s attack in the dreamscape, and she was itching to come up against the Rogue again.
 

Except that this time she’d be prepared.
 

But although Cuinn had agreed to using her as bait, he still wasn’t keen.

“Maybe we should change the plan.” He shoved away from the table and went over to the kitchen, coming back with another full mug of coffee.
 

He sat back down and his foot tapped against the floor under the table. Blaize thought maybe he’d had enough coffee for today. She decided not to comment on either his words or his behaviour, and silently congratulated herself for her unusual tact and diplomacy. She smothered a smile.

Fintan clapped Cuinn on the back. “Let it go. The plan’s fine, and Blaize will kick the Rogue’s ass. Blaize won’t even need to charge herself with as much energy as we’d planned because the Rogue is looking specifically for her.”

“Blaize is already powerful, considering she’s only just started training. Especially as Ajna is her auxiliary, not her dominant energy.” Cuinn took another sip of coffee. “I’ve seen energetics with Ajna as a dominant who were weaker than her.”
 

Cuinn didn’t look at Blaize as he gave her what was probably the first compliment he’d paid her.
Huh.
It boosted her confidence. If he thought she was strong, she had a solid chance of bringing the Rogue down.
 

“We’ll spend the afternoon meditating and charging both your energies, Manipura and Ajna. And we’ll spend the rest of the week practising for your trip outside our Havens on the astral plane. By then you should be almost well enough.” Cuinn held up a hand to forestall Blaize’s inevitable comment that she was already well enough. Blaize just wanted it done. But unfortunately, she wasn’t in charge.

Cuinn was. “Cara gets the final say on when you’re ready.”

Cuinn was in Merrow with Tierra. She’d needed to stock up on supplies for the house, and he hadn’t wanted her to go alone.
 

His cell phone rang, the discordant sound jarring. Very few people had his number. He held the phone up to his ear.

“Yes?”
 

“Mr. Ahern, it’s Detective Davis. I’m sorry to tell you that the woman who attacked your friend came back. She broke into Sugar and Spice after closing and assaulted the owner. We’ve just sent Rosa to the hospital.”

Cuinn grasped the cell tightly. “Rosa? Is she alright?”

“She’ll live. The cafe’s been pretty badly damaged. The assailant set some kind of a fire.”

A wash of adrenalin hit him. One of a very small number of people he cared about had been attacked. He needed to find out what had happened, and see for himself if Rosa was ok. But this could be the break they needed. If they could follow the Rogue’s trail, there would be no need for Blaize to act as bait.
No need for her to put herself into danger.

“I’m in town. I’ll be there in five minutes.” He flicked the phone off and bolted out of the bookshop he’d been browsing in to find Tierra. He strode to the grocery store he’d left her in and stopped in front of her. She looked at him, surprised, a bag of cashew nuts in her hand.

“Rosa’s been attacked by the Rogue. I need you to find out what Rosa can tell us about Indigo while I talk to the police.”

“Whatever you need.” Tierra, her eyes wide, grabbed her coat and followed him outside. “Shall I call Blaize?”

“Let’s find out a bit more first. We can call her then. There’s nothing she can do from home.”

***

Everything was in position. The male and his weak sidekick were in town checking on Indigo's old boss. Indigo hadn't meant to hurt Rosa quite as much as she had. But it had been fun to burn down the cafe where so many patrons had looked down on her. Treated her like nothing.

Indigo looked around the clearing, which was about thirty yards across. The corpse of a homeless woman lay like a bundle of rags, propped against a large log. Indigo had burned the foliage a little to enlarge the clearing, so she had a good view on all sides. She was confident no one would be able to sneak up on her.

All Indigo needed to do was to get that bitch here. She got out her cell phone. Her Maven had given her Blaize’s number - he had ways and means far beyond anything Indigo knew how to do. She dialled the number now.

As soon as she had Blaize's mind within reach, she was going to play a little game. She'd soon teach Blaize how little she knew about Ajna. That she couldn't trust her own senses. She was going to make the bitch feel like she'd won—and then bring her world crashing down around her head.

Because no one had ever told Indigo not to play with her food.

***

Blaize was in her cottage, working her way through a pile of combined prophecy books. Each collected the prophecies from farseer energetics in a particular place and time, and included such interesting titles as “1702: British Crown Colonies,” and “1868: The Canadian Confederation.”
 

Despite their boring titles, she’d been surprised to find herself captivated. They were like puzzle pieces. Each book was a collection of prophecies, and came with a handbook that was a commentary containing any thoughts on the individual prophecies other farseers had had. Blaize wasn’t entirely sure what she was looking for, but Cuinn had suggested she use some of her downtime, before it was time for her to play bait, to get used to the feel of prophecies. She could see now that they were rarely clear cut.
 

Each prophecy came to a farseer energetic as a series of pictures. Some had audio, but not all. They might be a static picture or more like a film. It was different for every farseer. The stronger you were energetically, the more likely you would be to use all your senses to receive a prophecy.

And then the farseer had to describe the prophecy. This wasn’t easy. Farseers were trained in observation, in noticing detail. She winced. That wasn’t usually her thing. She was a big-picture person, though after spending the last few days training with Cuinn, she was learning, a little, how to notice more, and how to describe the world around her in richer detail.
 

They drilled the plan with the group at lunchtimes and supper. The work with Cuinn mainly focused on how she could shield her mind from Ajna attacks. But, as Blaize had admitted to Nixie that morning in a video conference call where they’d gossiped and caught up, it didn’t come naturally to Blaize, which was just one more annoying thing about Ajna. Nixie had been more interested in the fact Blaize had had sex with Cuinn, and had teased that Blaize did seem to remember a lot of detail about that.

Blaize flushed a little.

The more detail the farseer noticed and was able to describe in a way others could understand, the more likely the farseer would be able to interpret the prophecy, alone or with others. Many of the Ajna farseers worked together at the Guild in Athens in order to connect prophecies together.
 

Even Cuinn had worked at the Guild, once upon a time. Apparently he even spoke fluent, if archaic, Greek. These days he wasn’t an active farseer for the Guild and the prophecies he saw were almost accidental. He visited the Guild when he needed to, which was why he was away so often at the moment to discuss the prophecy that he believed put them all in danger.

She was deep in late 18
^th
century England when her phone rang, her mind full of the politics of war and revolution, and the prophecies that had tried to guide the energetics through the wars safely, while saving as many humans as possible.

She was jolted out of the book by the cell phone ringtone she used for unknown numbers. She frowned. She rarely received calls. Her family and friends overseas sent texts or emails, and the only people she knew in Canada were the energetics she was living with.

Her heart beat faster. What if there was an emergency at home? If Nix, Fai, or Marius were hurt? She grabbed the phone. “Blaize here.”

Silence. Puzzled, after a few seconds she said, “Hello? Is there someone there?”

“I thought we might dance, you and I.” The woman’s voice had a sharp edge, along with suppressed delight. It was an unpleasant combination and Blaize’s skin crawled as she realised who was speaking. “I have Rosa, your friend from the cafe. She’s not feeling too good. Catch me if you can. You have thirty minutes to get here, or I start burning her. If you bring anyone with you? She’s dead.”

She ended with a map reference, a laugh, and the phone disconnected.

Blaize stared at the phone in shock. The Rogue had called her. How had she gotten Blaize’s number? She needed to go find her, now.

But everyone else was out, and a ways more than thirty minutes from that map reference. Even if she called them, they wouldn’t make it in time.

Fintan and Cara were in Vancouver, he following up a potential lead, and she checking in on an energetic patient. They were a couple of hours away at least.

Tierra and Cuinn were in town. Closer, but not close enough. She’d call them on the way and hope they’d be there in time to help. She seized her jacket and flew out of the front door. She couldn’t waste any time. Indigo was clearly not in her right mind—who knew what she might do to Rosa, the friendly human from the cafe. Plus, this was an excellent opportunity to capture the Rogue. If Blaize waited, then she might miss it.
 

She ran out to the cars, chose an SUV at random, and shot off down the road. She plugged the map reference Indigo had mentioned into the GPS, and gunned the engine. She dialled Cuinn’s phone as she shot onto the lane that led to the highway, juggling the steering wheel and the cell phone as she did so.
 

Voice mail.
Shit.
She left a message, the map reference, and a plea to come urgently. She tried Tierra. The same. Where were they both?
 

She called Fintan, who answered in his usual laconic drawl. "Yeah?"

Blaize filled him in on the call from Indigo. She really wished he was here.
 

"Sparks, under no circumstances go on your own," he ordered.

"What choice do I have? Tierra and Cuinn aren't answering their phones. Plus, I think I can take her now. I've been working on protecting myself from mind control attacks with Cuinn, and that was how she beat me last time."

"We don't know enough about her. Or who she's working with. What if she's not alone?"

Blaize frowned. She hadn't considered that. Why hadn't she considered that? She had a moment of self-doubt, then shook her head. "I don't think she's working with anyone."
 

The SUV purred, swiftly eating up the miles. She was less than five minutes away.