Only Human (20 page)

“I know, Bug. I hated the men who did it to me as well, though I’m not sure I felt grateful for it at the time.” He sighed and added, “If we could find someone to do it who could make it sexual for you, it’d probably be easier. I understand
how
to do it, I’m just not wired for it.”

I wished I could hug him, but I could only say, “You don’t have to apologize, Aery.”

“All seven today,” he said as he stepped to my side, “as well as an overall filling.”

I didn’t have time to argue before his right hand was on my forehead, his left hand at the back of my head, and he pushed energy into my sixth chakra.

My screams filled the room and bounced back at me, but Aaron didn’t let up. I felt the energy both physically and metaphysically, and it felt as if my brain had electricity surging through it, cleaning and Roto-Rootering every nerve pathway in my head.

He didn’t back off for me to breathe, but pushed, and pushed, and pushed. I screamed variations of
no
and
please
, as well as a few dozen cuss words.

And when he stopped, it was only to reposition his hands around the chakra at my Adam’s apple and start again, giving me no more than a three second break.

Most supernaturals have a limited supply of what they term magic, and what I prefer to call metaphysical energy, or just energy, for short. Aaron seems to have an unlimited supply, but he tells me this is because his reserves were stretched at least once a week, for a few hundred years.

We’ve been at it a little less than two years, and I figure I can hold perhaps twice what I could hold when we started. It’s a slow process, but it’s working and I can certainly see the benefits.

I was soaked in sweat by the time he made it to the chakra at my belly button. Humans draw creative energy from our second chakra, though it’s also tied in with sexual reproduction. I tend to draw the strongest from my first two chakras when I’m using my laser, and from the fifth and sixth chakras when I blow people’s heads up. However, I can pull energy from anywhere, it’s just easier if those chakras are sufficiently charged.

As he pushed energy in now, the physical sensations filled my womb and made their way down to the apex of my legs. My clit always felt as if it would explode, and today was no different. I wasn’t sure it was possible to sexualize this much pain, but Aaron was right that it might be easier to take if I were aroused.

I got a break when he finished with my second chakra, as he needed to readjust the ties on my ankles, so instead of holding them tight to the concrete floor directly below me, my legs were spread.

The first chakra is at the groin, facing up instead of going through the body from front to back. The seventh chakra is on the top of the head, also vertical instead of horizontal. Aaron would work on these two chakras at the same time — one hand at my groin and the other on top of my skull.

I kept my eyes closed as he spread my legs and refastened them into rings set into the floor, and I took a deep breath as he stepped to me.

He put his hand on top of my head first, and pushed energy in a few seconds before placing his other hand at my groin, energy already flowing from his palm as it made contact with my first chakra.

Now I felt as if electricity lit me up inside from the base of my spine to the top of my head, filling all seven chakras at once. Aaron pushed energy in faster than I could let it out, and my screams were a thousand times more frantic than when he’d worked on individual chakras.

When he finished, he put one of his homemade cough drops in my mouth to help soothe my throat. He disconnected my ankles first, and then put one arm around me to hold me as he released my wrists. He carried me to the wall, sat on the floor, and cradled me in his lap.

We weren’t finished, but the rest wouldn’t be as bad and I didn’t have to be restrained. He gave me a good five or ten minutes to pull myself together, and then I moved to the floor and we sat facing each other.

I pressed the soles of my feet together, pulled them to my crotch, and relaxed my legs until my knees rested on the ground. I straightened my back, looked at Aaron, and accepted the energy he pushed at me from a distance — filling my entire aura this time, and not just my chakras.

It felt good for a few minutes, warm and cuddly and fulfilling. However, I kept accepting it in, making it mine, even after it hurt to do so.

Physically, this was better described as uncomfortable rather than painful. However, metaphysically, it felt as if Aaron were trying to overfill a basketball while I was inside it.

When I could take no more and broke position to pull my knees to my chest and wrap my arms around them, Aaron stopped pushing the energy. A few seconds later, he said, “Forty-two seconds longer than your best time.”

We’d gone from barely more than a minute to nearly seven minutes in almost two years. This had happened in five and eight second increments, interspersed by an occasional backtrack where I actually lost time. I’d never jumped forty seconds before. This was
huge
.

But I wasn’t up for speech yet, so all I could do was nod. Aaron gently pulled me back into his arms, then up into his lap so I wasn’t sitting on the cold concrete floor. I curled into a ball and let him hold me. This was a different kind of aftercare, and one he wasn’t obligated to give, and I was thankful for it.

He was never impatient during this phase, and always held me until I was ready to get up. This interrogation room had an open shower in the corner — basically a showerhead with a drain under it and no extra walls. However, he strung a blanket up to give me privacy, so we could talk as I showered and dressed.

“Why the big jump?” I asked as I peeled out of my sweat soaked yoga pants and t-shirt.

“You accepted it more, didn’t fight it as I forced it in. My question would be what’s changed in you? Are you looking at it another way?”

“I don’t think so. I originally agreed to it, and then agreed to keep doing it after I realized how much it hurt, because I understand the need for it. Things have been crazy, but not too much more than usual.” I remembered Xaephan zapping me, and corrected myself. “Wait. Could my being completely drained so many times have anything to do with it? First I was totally zapped by the demon, and then Mordecai had me totally deplete my reserves and build them back up a few times.”

“Things
are
a lot more intense than normal. Perhaps not in trips to the battlefield, but with everything going on. You’ve met the vampires and are dating the Master Vampire, you’re being trained by someone who was once worshipped as a god, and you killed two of this being’s ancient enforcers. Most people saw those two men step onto their grounds and they quaked in fear, but you killed them.”

“I didn’t know who they were, so I didn’t know to be scared.”

I didn’t wash my hair, and kept it mostly dry as I showered, so I pulled it into a ponytail to keep from having to do anything else with it. When I pulled the makeshift curtain down I was fully dressed, and Aaron was lounging on the floor, his torso leaned against the wall. Some people sit in the floor and look submissive, but Aaron looked as if he owned the place even sprawled across it.

By now our conversation had moved back to discussing my progress and what might have given us the big jump, when Aaron changed the subject.

“Mordecai is rumored to be quite dominant in the bedroom, though he doesn’t have rules about it. You do what he says or else, and you don’t get to dictate what the ‘or else’ might be.”

My insides came to life at his words, as the idea of this had always been a huge turn-on. I knew Aaron would smell my arousal, and I tried to tone it down as I reminded myself the reality of it would likely suck. However, my body continued to like the idea.

“I can’t imagine being intimate with him. He’s larger than life, bigger than…” I shook my head. “Thanks for the information, or warning, or whatever you intended it to be, but I can’t see Mordecai having an interest in me sexually, nor can I imagine being his equal.”

“Oh, you’ll never be his equal. None of us will. However, he’s one of the few people I’d trust to expand your capacity, and it’s possible he could incorporate it into…” He trailed off, shrugged, and held my gaze as he said, “It’s just something to keep in mind.”

I had a little time still before I needed to pick up Lauren, so I logged fifteen minutes in the range — all employees of Drake Security must spend at least thirty minutes in the range per month with their primary carry weapon, and must practice at least twice a month. Some months I’m in there hours and hours, others I get the bare minimum.

I went into the theater to watch the end of rehearsal, and was accosted by Lauren and a friend from school as soon as the director released them. It seemed tonight’s slumber party was off, as the birthday girl had mono. However, her friend had asked her to spend the night, and the girls were busy cooking up plans for their evening.

Lauren and I went out to eat and then went to the grocery store, and when we’d finished putting the groceries away I took a long bath and then let her help me get ready. I didn’t let her see the fancy underthings I put on under my clothes, you know,
just in case
. But I let her help me pick out clothes and figure out how to wear my hair.

Still in my robe, I sat at my vanity and she brushed my hair out and then I fixed it. She sat and watched me put on my makeup, commenting on color and whether I needed more or less. She thought it was “way cool” that he was flying me to Chicago to see a play, but was also worried about me. I promised to text her when we landed in Chicago, and again when we landed back in Chattanooga, and she promised to text me when she reached her friend’s house. She hasn’t been driving solo long, and I worry.

I was still conflicted about Abbott going overboard with a flight to Chicago for our date, but while working out earlier it occurred to me perhaps there was a special play he wanted us to see, and maybe this was about finding a live performance of it more than where it was. This made me a little less uptight about the trip, so I was going with it.

Xiaolan was home by this time and she came in to watch the final preparations as well. I don’t really primp anymore, but they were getting into it so I humored them. In the end I wore one of my slinky little-black-dresses. This one came to just above my knees but was practically backless, with a high neck in front and a diamond shape cut out of the chest to show cleavage. Not that I have a ton of cleavage, but the built-in-bra had underwires that let me make adjustments so it gave the illusion of more. I
loved
this dress.

Most of my hair was on top of my head in a loose bun with curls spilling out, and I topped the outfit off with black heels. It was an elegant look, especially with my full length black overcoat, which was too much for this time of year in Chattanooga, but Chicago is cold and windy.

Lauren planned to drive to her friend’s house after Abbott picked me up, but Xiaolan needed to leave now in order to meet her friends. We said goodbye to Xiaolan, and Lauren and I sat in the living room to wait.

I’d timed it well, so we only had around ten minutes until he should arrive, and we easily filled the time with conversation. The doorbell caught both of us off guard, and we laughed as I did one more twirl on the way to open the door.

Chapter Sixteen

Abbott always looked good, but tonight he was downright
yummy
. He wore dark charcoal slacks, a lighter charcoal turtleneck, and a very cool black trench coat that hung to the back of his knees. It almost looked like a vampire cape, and I wondered if it was intentional.

I did the formal introduction thing, and Abbott held his hand out to shake Lauren’s hand. She put her hand in his and went as still as a statue. Abbott realized something was wrong and looked at me. I reached my arm around Lauren and she pulled her hand away from him and sank into me, whispering, “Mom, he’s a m-m-monster. He’s, he’s... there were teeth... and... his eyes and... “

Oh,
shit
. I’d known she could pick up things about people, I’d even done my best to encourage her to listen to that inner voice. Where my parents had effectively squashed any metaphysical abilities I’d been born with, I was trying to help her trust whatever instincts she might have. However, this was bigger than anything I’d seen from her before, and I quickly made the decision it was a good chance to remind her to look into people’s hearts, too.

I pulled her into a hug and said, “What’s truly important is who people are on the inside, right? Remember our discussions about not judging people by how they look, but by what’s in their heart? Can you tell me what’s in his heart? Is he a good monster, or a bad monster?”

I projected towards him,
Please just be still and quiet a moment. Trust me to handle it in a way that won’t threaten anyone. Please?

He didn’t respond, but he stayed frozen, which I hoped was a good sign. I’d promised to keep his secrets, but I wasn’t going to mislead or lie to my daughter about the things she sensed. It was important she learned to trust her inner voice and inner sight.

Lauren was quiet a moment, her head buried in my neck as she sensed into his heart.

“He’s done some very bad things,” she said, “but he’s not bad. He wants to be good, and most of the time he is.”

“Very good, I’m proud of you for having the courage to look again. Now, I want you to open your eyes and look at him when you aren’t touching him. I’m holding you, you’re safe.” She turned and looked at him, and I kept my voice low and even. “Do you see a monster now, or just a man?”

She looked back at me. “He looks normal, but I know the truth.”

I could feel the tension in the room, and I measured each word. I’d promised I would tell no one their secrets, but I was only walking her through what she’d sensed herself. I didn’t want Abbott to blood bond her, and I didn’t even know if he could. He hadn’t tried with me because whatever Aaron did politically took away Abbott’s authority to even try, but I figured he’d want to bind a child to take away her option of telling.