Mordecai walked Aaron and I through the kitchen and out the back door, down a garden path to the edge of a bluff, and said, "We will levitate down about twenty feet to a shelf on the face of the bluff. There are some trees on the ledge so we have a space to work where we won't be seen by anyone on the river below."
Aaron took my hand, but I told him, "Hopefully I can do this without help. I'd like to try, if it's okay?"
Aaron let go of my hand. "Of course."
I was certain they both smelled my fear as I went over the edge, but I was too scared to even try to hide it. I'm pretty good at levitating up, but it's always a bit scary when I step off a cliff, and I'm still getting the hang of it.
When I go up I know where the ground is, and I navigate up and down from that, but when I go over an edge I have to find the ground before I can keep myself lifted. In the split second it takes me to find it, nothing is holding me up and I'm in freefall. I'm not sure how to explain what I do when I levitate, but I think I'm playing around with gravity in some way. If you imagine the gravity field is similar to a magnetic field, then I'm reversing polarity so I'm repelled instead of attracted. Sort of.
Once we reached the area Mordecai had picked out, I tried to get comfortable on it. The shelf was probably eight yards deep at the biggest spot, and twenty yards wide before it became too narrow to use. Mordecai had me use my blue laser to cut his baby finger off between the two middle joints, and I watched in horrified fascination as he breathed deeply about five times like he was in a great deal of pain, and then held his hand up with his fingers straight and breathed another ten or so full breaths as his finger slowly regrew. I didn't time it, but it was easily less than two minutes.
Amazing.
Mordecai asked all kinds of questions about how I draw energy in, and how I go about using it. He asked where in my body I store it, and we talked about chakras a good bit. He had me completely deplete my energy, and then timed me to see how long it took me to rapidly fill up as far as was comfortable, and then he timed me again as he asked me to empty it. Then he had me fill up and use the red laser until I was depleted, then fill back up and use the blue laser until I was depleted. He had me use the blue laser to cut plate sized slices off a log, and he made me keep at it until I could do it evenly. He annoyed me — almost pissed me off a few times — but I managed to hold my tongue and not snap at him. He was trying to teach me, after all, and apparently he hadn't offered to teach anyone anything for as long as anyone could remember.
And the people around me had very long memories.
He waited until I was exhausted to try to teach me something new, and I had to concentrate to focus on his words as he explained how to put a flame on the tip of my finger. It would be like having a lighter handy all of the time, and would be incredibly cool, but I couldn't make it work. The heat was there, but no flame. He said it was homework, and we made plans to meet at nine thirty Sunday night for another thirty minute session.
I was exhausted, and reached for Aaron's hand to let him help me levitate back up. Mordecai said he'd rather I do it without help, so I let go of Aaron, took a few deep breaths to smooth my energy, and levitated up. It was hard, I was so tired, but I managed it.
Abbott was sitting at the island in the kitchen with Gavin, Fawne and a few others when we returned. I told them I needed to get home, and Abbott stood as he said he'd walk me out to my car.
I wanted to fall into his arms, but didn't, as I was afraid it would make me appear weak.
I said goodbye to Mordecai, who apparently was going to sit at the island and talk to the vampires, and I walked out with Abbott and Aaron.
Aaron got into his SUV and left, and I walked over to my car, flicking the remote to unlock it as I neared. Abbott opened my door and then reached for me and turned my world upside down with another of those kisses that made me melt around him.
Somewhere, I found enough energy to kiss him back. My arms wrapped themselves around him, and my right leg wanted to lift and wrap around him as well, but I managed to keep both feet on the ground. His hand went to my head and he deftly slid my ponytail holder out so he could run his hands through my hair and then hold my head as he kissed me. The world faded and it was just Abbott and me, his arms, his lips, his tongue.
I finally settled a hand on his chest and gently pushed away from the kiss, though every cell in my body protested at the loss of him.
I had no idea where things were going with Abbott, though common sense told me the smart move would be to keep him at a distance. Was this why he was going all out with our date? Because he knew I was dipping my toes in with the idea of running, and not with the idea of dipping the rest of my foot?
If he were human, the fact he was being patient might have meant more, but I had a feeling ancient vampires were masters at patience. What's a few weeks or months, when you have forever?
I told him I looked forward to seeing him tomorrow night, and I got in my car and left. Thank goodness I only had to drive three or four miles on back roads to get home. I was drained.
Aaron called me as I parked in my driveway. "You okay?" he asked.
"You looked pretty wiped."
"I'm okay, but you're right about my being tired. Is this like exercise?
The more I do it the less drained I'll feel, eventually?"
"For supernaturals, yes, but you're human so I don't think anyone knows for sure. I wanted to say how impressed I am that you managed to hold your tongue and didn't smart off to Mordecai, but I know it won't last and it might be better for him to get the real you sooner rather than later."
"You're telling me I should exercise my smart-assed wit?" I smiled into the phone. "Wait, I thought I was talking to Aaron, who is this?"
"I'm just saying the longer you make him think you're all docile and submissive, the harder it's going to be for him to get used to you not being so."
"Docile and submissive? That's how you thought I was being? And what makes you think those two terms go together? Even when I'm being submissive, I'm rarely docile."
He chuckled. "Why does this not surprise me? You did good tonight, but I think the two of you need to work one-on-one without me there as support, so I'm not coming Sunday night. I'll sit in on some sessions in the future, but the two of you need some time without me around."
He was right, but it didn't mean I had to like it. No sense arguing, though. "Okay, can I come spar with someone tomorrow? Lauren has to be at the theater from noon to three. Can I drop her off and then come by the Drake offices to see if I can find a sparring partner?"
"Just make sure it's someone you've sparred with before, no first timers unless Nathan or I are there to supervise."
"Yeah Yeah. Goodnight, Aery. Thanks for taking care of me. Oh! That reminds me — apparently the word is out that I'm under your protection?
What does that mean, exactly?"
"It means if anyone messes with you they know I'll come after them."
"Right, but is there any obligation on my part? Or, does this put me in a specified designation? Is there more to it than I realize?"
He sighed. "Yes, there is, but I'm not going to take you out from under my protection so you'll just have to live with it. Goodnight, Bug."
And he was gone. I hated when he did that, but it served a purpose now because it reminded me how much older Aaron is than Abbott.
Seeing Denny had reminded me how easily he was able to take advantage of me, and he was only ten years older than me. At nineteen and twenty-nine, though, ten years is a huge deal. I couldn't see it at the time, but looking back, it's obvious.
Were Aaron and Abbott able to take advantage of me in the same way, but I couldn't see it because I had no idea of the experiences they'd had?
Deep down, I'd known Denny wasn't good for me, but he was fun and I convinced myself I loved him, so I ignored my inner voice.
Now, my inner voice was fine with Aaron, but was warning me against Abbott. It wasn't telling me to run and not look back, but it seemed to be warning against getting in too deep.
I sighed and got out of my car. I was going out on a date with Abbott tomorrow, and we'd see what happened from there.