A/N: My lovelies I'm back again. I couldn't wait for Thursday to post Part 2, so I decided to post it today. SURPRISE! Again no one has seen this, no beta, no twin, but those two are awesome. Thank you guys for reviewing! I enjoyed reading them and answering some of your questions. I was so nervous about Chapter 11 but I'm happy so many loved it. Remember if you have any questions about the chapters or whatever about Allure, leave it in your review or send me a PM. I promise to answer your questions without giving much away. Disclaimer: True Blood does not belong to me. I own my darling Allura and my other beautiful characters :D

FIRST - I had to research some stuff on the web about Empaths. Wiki and Google are awesome. I threw some of my own ideas in there but I wanted to be true to form with the power of Empathy. The song I mentioned in this chapter is Rosyln by Bon Iver & St. Vincent. If you're like me, you could listen to the song where the part is mentioned, but of course the choice is yours. I thought it added a nice touch to what Allura was feeling. I adore this song and it helped me write the first half of the chapter.

Well hop to it!

Review Replies:

Guest: Lol sorry! Allura was overwhelmed but she's fine, I promise.

belladu57: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it :) Thank you for reviewing.

Chapter 12: Take Apart My Emotions (Demon 101 Pt. 2)

APOV

I knew I was dreaming. Bright colors swirled together moving in harmony. Everything was so bright . . . so warm. I loved the warmth. I wanted to touch it, to embrace it. The bright colors swarmed around me like bees to a hive around me. I could feel a smile spread across my face but it quickly fell. The bright colors turned dark. Murky greens, crimson reds, and black twisted and stabbed together. The warmth I loved dropped to freezing cold making my skin burn from the pricking frost.

I was paralyzed unable to move my eyes from the depressing colors moving about. The colors began to get bigger and as it got bigger, the more the temperature dropped. I felt the familiar chill grip my fingers then travel to my palm. Soon my whole forearm was encased with the stabbing pain of the bitter chill.

"Why can't you go away?" I screamed out and gotten no answer in return.

I scratched at my skin trying to get whatever was on me off of me. The more I scratched at it, the quicker it came up my body. I was tired of this. I was tired of this darkness haunting me! I didn't know what this was but it was sucking the life out of me.

The chill finally was able to reach my neck, strangling me. Air was caught in my throat and my lungs felt like they were being squeezed. I knew at this moment I was going to die. I was dying all over again. Will it finally take me this time? Will it take me like it almost did on that night.

Why? Why did this have to happen to me? Why must I suffer again? I didn't want to go to that place again. Please not again. Please. Please. Please. The last of my layers shattered and every negative and dark memory flooded in, but I fought it back. I fought so hard.

As the frost came to view on my cheek, it startled me breaking my will to hold back my memories. What I thought was frost, was actually spiders. Black spiders were crawling over my body. Something in me snapped. I screamed to high heaven. As I was screaming I swore I heard someone was calling out to me, but I couldn't stop to listen. Everything was drowned out by my desperate cries. I was dying again.

-OOOoooOOoooOOO-

When Allura fainted from the night before, Alastair quickly caught her. He knew that his student was besieged from information of her demon origin, not to mention finding out she was an Empath. The demon guard let the little one rest for the rest of the night.

Through the night Allura slept comfortably in Alastair's lap. The demon couldn't ignore the beauty that was on his lap. He steeled his mind from going elsewhere. He has to be strictly professional. His actions at the vampire bar were only to mess with the Viking . . . at least that was what he told himself. Alastair knew the North Man had taken a liking to his empathic student. So Alastair had no qualms messing with the vampire. It satisfied him greatly getting the leeching creature riled up.

'Disgusting', he thought. 'The audacity of that vampire to think he could have something so pure', Alastair brushed the loose hair from Allura's French twist away from her slumbering face. 'To think he could ever have her.' He jeered at the idea. 'She needs someone take care of her, protect her, love her and I knew for a fact that dark creature couldn't understand those things. She needed someone worthy of her, someone like m -' Alastair shook his thoughts from his mind.

He never let the raven beauty plague his thoughts for the rest of the night. He spent most of his wake making battle plans in his mind. After that he counted to a hundred in every known language he learned. It was six in the morning during his counting he heard the door open then closed. He guessed Allura's brother had left to go to work. He continued his counting.

When he made it to eighty-nine in Slovak the sun was peeking over the trees. A twitch of movement broke Alastair's gaze from the rising sun. Allura was squirming around with her eyes pinched shut as if she was in pain.

Alastair wasted no time to ease his student with his the gentle caress of his hand on her back. As he rubbed her back he noticed Allura's body heat was dropping rapidly. He watched her shiver violently and groan in pain.

Alastair quickly laid Allura on the cushion of the couch and kneeled beside her. He placed both hands on her shoulder but flinched back. The contrast between his heated skin and Allura's sub-zero temperature burned the demon's hands.

Without another thought, flames cloaked over Alastair's hands. He tried again touching Allura's shoulders and triumphed finally able to grasp her without the searing pain on his fingers from before.

Alastair shook her. "Allura, wake up. You're dreaming love. Wake up."

He shook her but she wouldn't wake up. Alastair then turned up the heat on his hands trying to keep Allura warm but was quickly failing. Without warning, Allura screamed out in panic while clawing at nothing but air.

"Allura . . . Allura!" Alastair shook roughly at the beauty lying on the couch. "Wake up. Wake up!" Alastair screamed.

Allura kicked and screamed as tears leaked rapidly down her russet cheeks. Her neck and back twisted in unnatural positions as she screamed. Alastair held her down but the little demon was strong.

"Allura, wake up! Wake up you silly girl! It's a dream!" Alastair was starting to panic.

Allura then started scratching her arms and face. "Get them off! Get them off! Please help, help please. Get them off!" Tears continued to leak from her eyes as they remained strained tightly closed.

Alastair looked puzzled. There was nothing on her but Allura kept clawing at her skin. For the first time in his three thousand years of living, he felt fear and he didn't like it one bit. He didn't like these unfamiliar emotions swimming around him when he was near Allura.

Allura howl broke him out of his frantic thoughts. As she clawed and pinched at her skin, she accidentally scratched her arm too deeply and the scent of blood filled the air. Alastair's pupils dilated. His nose flared taking a deep breath of Allura's blood. It was sweet and mesmerizing.

Milk and honey, Alastair thought.

Before he did something he would regret, Alastair reined in his sickly urges and grabbed on to Allura's arms so she didn't do anymore damage to herself. He straddled her lap and pinned her down. When he felt he had a tight hold on her, he let out an earth shattering roar. Alastair's fangs slid down whilst his eyes glowed gold and his scales spiked through his skin.

Allura's flailing body ceased and a tremor ran through her spine up to her neck as she heard the roar. The authority entwined with the roar brought Allura out of her spiraling darkness. Her eyes snapped open to be faced with a red scaled demon staring down at her. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat but couldn't manage to do such a simple task. The rise of Allura's breast was the only movement the young demon could manage.

Slowly the elder demon's scales entered back into skin and his fangs sunk back into his gums, but his eyes stayed a golden glow. They commanded the youngling to not move and Allura wouldn't dare disobey a command from her elder.

Alastair radiated authority and his authority would not be challenged by anyone. Over two thousand years being the Demon King's head guard it was expected of him to have such clout. No one questioned him nor would they try to.

Alastair was a skilled warrior and it showed on the battlefield. Enemies had felt his heated blade slicing through their bodies with ease as others felt his claws tear out their hearts. He has led many battles and all the battles he led were victories. He was what his people called him, the Red Rager, and that was exactly what his enemies felt when his blade went through them, his rage.

Alastair was always up for a challenge, which was why he trained younglings coming to age wanting to serve the king's court. He taught them the knowledge of his father and knowledge of the king himself. Allura would be no different.

"When I let you go, you will sit up slowly and place your hands on your lap, understood?" Alastair said lowly.

Allura couldn't speak, so she settled on nodding her head. Alastair nodded then carefully removed himself off of Allura's stomach. In the same careful manner, Allura sat up from her lying position and did as her teacher instructed. She placed her hands on her lap and waited silently for Alastair to talk.

Alastair eyes remained golden but his fangs were out again, but not by choice. He slowly paced the length of the red living room rug as he stared hard at Allura. It was best that he kept his distance and try to calm down. The smell of Allura's blood was swimming in his nose making the demon feel out of sorts with himself. He growled lowly at himself feeling weak. Allura might be young but she was dangerous in her own way, and that was without her powers. He growled again a little louder, starting to get angry with himself.

Allura didn't meet the elder demon's eyes. She tried to stop her trembling from the mighty roar that brought her out of her fit. She couldn't recall what happened while she was sleep. All she felt was the heavy chill weighing on her. It suffocated her until she couldn't breathe. Allura knew there was something in the dream that caught her attention but couldn't remember.

Finally calming himself, Alastair sat down on the cherry wood coffee table across from Allura. "What happened?"

Allura still couldn't meet his eyes but she answered him. "I don't know. There was bright colors and warmth." Allura held back a sob but kept going. "Then the bright colors turned dark and it . . . I started to get cold. I couldn't breathe when it got colder and then . . ." Allura stopped when a tear slid down her cheek.

Alastair wanted to comfort her but he was her teacher at the moment. He could not let any emotion come into play while doing so. It would go against what he learned and how he taught all his students. Allura would be treated the same way how he treats his other pupils. There would not be any special treatments given to her, but it didn't stop Alastair heart from plummeting when a second tear dropped from the youngling's eyes.

"Then what happened?" Alastair said a little too harshly. He didn't mean to but he was trying to keep his emotions in check.

Allura bit her lip and shook her head. "I can't remember. All I remember was the cold and the dark swirling colors . . ." Allura caught sight of a long scratch on her arm with droplets of blood leaking out. She traced the long mark as scattered parts of the dream filled her thoughts.

"It was crawling." She whispered.

"What did you say?" Alastair questioned.

"Something was crawling on me. I felt it. It was on my arms a-and my face." Allura touched her arm then traced her face. Her eyes were faraway trying to figure out what happened next. "They were all over me and I tried to get them off but they kept coming. I-I tried to get them off b-but I couldn't. They were there. They were all there!" Allura voice rose as she spoke.

Allura felt the chill coming again. She tried to hide behind her layers but there weren't any layers to protect her. They were all broken while she was in her dream state. The dark chill brushed against her skin. "Please stop." Allura clutched her hair pulling at the roots. "Please, please."

Alastair grabbed a hold of Allura's hands and spread heat through her. "Calm yourself." He said gently. Allura gripped her teacher's hands and gratefully let the warmth seep into her skin. Her body within minutes felt at ease as she began to warm up, vanquishing the aberrant chill from her. "That's my girl. Calm, be calm little one. Be at rest with yourself." Alastair cooed.

He couldn't help but to take one of his hands from hers to brush the hair that fell from her twist out of her tear stained face. Alastair knew this wasn't something a teacher should be doing but he would break his rule just this once for her, for his little nightingale.

Once Allura was calm she took a deep breath and was finally able to look at Alastair in the eyes. She could tell Alastair was deeply concerned for her and it warmed her heart. It wasn't a guessing game like it was for her with Eric. It was a bang-at-your-face look and it made her blush from the intensity.

Allura cleared her throat and turned away from him blushing furiously. "Thank you." She whispered.

Alastair took his hand back and nodded. "Could you tell me what was crawling on you in the dream?"

Allura stiffened but she relaxed. "I don't remember. I only remember something crawling on me and it felt horrible. It was like it was sucking the life right out of me. I was so scared and I didn't think I would wake up."

Alastair pondered what she said. He didn't understand any of it but he knew Allura was frightened. He heard many cries in his long life. A cry of sadness, cry of despair, cry of happiness, even a cry of death but it was clear to him that Allura was crying for her life. She cried out for her life to be saved. Allura wanted someone to hear her loud and clear. Allura knew if she stayed wherever she was, her life would have met its end. Alastair would have paid the ultimate price if the youngling would have died on his watch.

Be careful with her. She is valuable and precious to us all.

Alastair nodded hearing the warning in his head. With something so precious and valuable being out in the open there would be someone or something trying to take it at any cost, even by force. Alastair would not let that happen.

"I think I'm going to go take a shower." A tiny voice broke Alastair from his thoughts.

Allura was standing up looking down at him. Alastair nodded and watched his nightingale walk up the stairs. Once she was out of his sight, he let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in. "What the hell did I sign up for?" he asked himself.

From the corner of his eye he saw something moving. With swiftness Alastair threw his butterfly knife at the intruder.

He stood from the coffee table and walked over to the wall that had his knife embedded in it. His knife was stabbed directly at the head of a black spider. He had a strange feeling about the eight legged creature but Alastair paid it no mind. He had other things to worry about.

-OOOoooOOoooOOO-

APOV

I let the scolding shower water run down my back. Even though the searing heat was on my skin, my insides were cold as ice. I couldn't make the feeling go away. The feeling of fear rattled through my bones slowly deteriorating my insides. Every now and then I could feel something crawling on me but there was nothing. I was acting ridiculous but I couldn't help it.

Sitting on the bath tub floor my backside was starting hurt but I didn't want to stand. If I did, it would mean I was ready to wash, and if I was ready to wash, soon I would have to get out. I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to leave the comfort of the warmth on my skin just yet. I felt safe; if I left, I wouldn't have that feeling of security anymore.

Another reason why I didn't want to leave was because I knew it was waiting for me . . . it always did. It would be waiting for me like on the night I washed the grim and filth from Bill and Liam. It was waiting for me the same night my mother dragged me in the basement and locked me in that damn metal chest. That was where it all began, the fits.

My mother was in one of her crazy tirades screaming at nothing. I was standing by the window watching my mother on her knees crying out to someone. I didn't remember who but I knew she was begging for them to come.

Then she suddenly stopped. Her crying and screaming ended and she wasn't pulling at her beautiful mangled hair. She was quiet doing nothing. With all the courage I could gather I took a step towards her to see if she was alright. On the fifth step my mother looked at me. Her eyes were in a haze. She was looking at me but she wasn't. She was somewhere else, listening for something and I didn't know what.

Without warning, my mother stood up and swept me into her arms. She held me close and told me she loved me and she would never hurt me. I rested my head on her shoulder and held my mother tight. It was what I ever wanted, to be held by my mother. It felt so good and affectionate. My mother never held me. If she did, I didn't remember. I was happy to be in my mother's arms . . . but it didn't last long, it didn't even last for a whole minute.

My mother's grip around me began to get tighter hurting my back. I winced in pain and told her she was hurting me but she never listened. I was about to tell her again but I was interrupted by her screaming. My mother yelled at nothing, backing away from whatever she was seeing in her mind. She told the empty space that they couldn't have me. She ran out the kitchen to the living room to get to the basement.

It was dark when she opened the door and I remember begging my mother not to go down there. I told her I was scared but she didn't listen. She petted my hair and told me that she would not let them get me. I had no clue what or who she was talking about.

She sat me on the floor and began moving stuff around. I was crying calling out to my mother but she disregarded me. When she was done doing what she was doing, she crouched down to me and petted and kissed both my cheeks. She told me that she loved me and she would protect me from the bad people. She told me she was going to hide me until they were gone. I kept asking who but she kept repeating I would be safe.

My mother turned me around and led to my father's large metal chest container. He usually kept all his hunting gear and guns in there but since he left there was nothing in it. My heart slammed to my stomach. My mother, the one that gave me life, the one that said she loved me, was about to lock me in a dark dank metal box.

I shrieked out in horror. That was all I could do. I tried to run back upstairs but she dragged back down and put me in the metal chest. I clawed, bite, and even yanked her hair to break lose and run but she was too strong. When she finally had me in, she shut the lid leaving me in the dark. I heard her put the lock on so I wouldn't get out. The last thing I heard was her footsteps and then finally a door closing.

I remember screaming until my voice became hoarse, even then I kept try to scream. It didn't do anything except damage my vocal chords. Thinking about it now, I wish I would have left with my brothers to stay at my granddad's house that day. They were staying there for the whole weekend and I had to be stuck inside a metal chest until they came back.

It was then I felt a slight chill stroke my back. At first I thought it was from the coldness from the metal but it wasn't. It was something else and it scared me to bits. It started from my toes then crept up my legs. I screamed for my mother ignoring the pain in my throat. My mother never came. The chill kept covering over me. When it finally made it to my head, I snapped. I kicked. I clawed. I banged. I did everything I could think of to get out. It was the first time I felt hopelessness. I had so of much it, I could choke.

Three days. It was three days until someone found me. By the second night I was tired and hungry. By the third night I lost hope of someone finding me. I heard my brothers entering the house asking my mother where I was. I heard hurried footsteps above me but I knew they wouldn't find me right away. I heard them shouting my name panicking and crying. It was the first time I heard Erin shout at my mother. He was so soft spoken but the venom in his voice when he yelled at my mom made me cringe. He was furious.

I wanted to scream. I wanted to scream so badly to tell them I was in the basement but the chill . . . that depressing dark heavy chill stopped me from doing so. I couldn't speak. I was frozen. I was paralyzed from the top of my head to the soles of my feet. Five years old and I was already experiencing death, or what felt like death. I could feel my life force slipping away. I made up my mind that night that I was going to die in that metal box, but I would be happy. I would be happy because I wouldn't have feel the cringing cold anymore. I wouldn't have to feel the pain anymore. Five years old . . .

It took hours for Chevy and Erin to find me and when they did they stood there looking down at me in complete dismay. My brother Erin was the first to reach for me but shied away when he felt how cold I was. Chevy kept saying I was dead. He kept saying I wasn't breathing but Erin didn't believe it. He refused to accept his little sister was dead, no matter how I looked. I was breathing, but barely. Erin had enough of Chase speaking on my death and told him to get a blanket. When he did, Erin wrapped the warm blanket around me and picked me up out the metal box.

I was a wreck. My hair was damp from sweat, my sleeping gown was soiled, I reeked badly but my brothers didn't care. They held me to them crying on my shoulders apologizing to me and told me they would never leave me alone with mom again. The cold on my skin began seeping through the blanket. I knew they felt it. My brothers pressed their body heat on me as they wrapped their arms around me tighter. I felt safe in there arms. Feeling my brothers warmth made the dark chill go away. My breathing became even and I had movement in my arms. I was safe.

I didn't really remember much after that but I remember seeing my mother sitting at the dinner table staring at nothing like she usually did. She looked up at me when I entered the room and smiled at me warmly like I was her favorite person in the world, but I knew better. She stood from her seat and kneeled in front of me. I felt Erin and Chase's hold on me tighten. They were protecting me from my own mother.

My mother smile widens as she moves my matted hair from my face. The next thing she said to me, I would forever remember and I would forever hate my mother for it.

She kissed my forehead then sighed and looked at me to say, "There's my baby. I was looking all for you. You had mama worried."

I snapped. My last bit of sanity I tried to save vanished when she said that to me. I was fully broken to pieces with nothing to salvage. It took Chase and Erin several days to calm me down. I screamed and screamed and screamed. It was total madness in that house. There was no one that could calm me down, not this time. I finally cracked.

When I was somewhat better, I stayed away from my mother for months. My father was in and out of the house with Hoe-ski Buboeski, so he never knew what happened. We never talked about that night again, it was easier for everyone. But it didn't stop the nightmares from coming, and it surely didn't stop the chill from taunting me.

I didn't know what was in that box with me for three days, but it stayed with me. No matter how much I wanted to get rid of it, it stayed by my side. Sure, I pushed it away and my layers helped but it didn't make it go away completely. It always waited for me. It waited for the perfect time to pounce on me.

My back was on fire from the sprinkling water. I knew my back was raw and red but I didn't care. I needed as much heat on my skin before I leave my cocoon. I slowly was building my layers again. They all fell down when I had the dream, or nightmare I should say. I winced as I felt the cold creeping on my legs. I pulled my legs closer to me so the hot water could take away the biting cold on my legs. Memories from the dream started to push against my building layers again. I needed something to drown them out. I leaned over the tub and turned up the volume and let the music fill my ears.

Tears ran down my face as I listened to the words, hitting every nerve in my body. No matter how many times I heard this song, it always made me cry.

The song was describing my time in the metal chest. The pang in my chest grew, tearing my insides up. My nails dug in my skin as the pain took over me. I was dying all over again. At this point in time my body was shaking from my heavy sobs. I was never the same after that incident. I was damaged, dead . . . always dead inside. My innocence was taken from me. I wasn't the same Allura, just a shell of what I could've been.

Every word was scratching at my chest. Nothing would save me . . . not from this pain, this ongoing suffering. I would have to live with it for the rest of my life. When the pain subsided a little, I was finally able to get myself up from the tub floor but it was so draining. I was tired and weak. I leaned my head on the tile wall as the song finishes its last line. It was then and only then I let my last tear fall.

As the guitar strings faded away, so did my pain. My layers were complete and I was functional again. I took a deep breath and let the heat fill my nose. It was time to put away all the bad memories back where they belong, deep in the crevices of my mind, locked tightly behind my layers. I didn't know how I lasted this long without fully shattering but I had no time to think on it. I had more important things to worry about than my soap opera past.

I washed quickly and left my warm cocoon to get dressed. I did all my bathroom routines and was now putting my hair in a messy ponytail. I stared at my reflection and I could see a difference. My face was lighter and clearer. There were no blemishes or pimples in sight. My hair was shiny and soft. I turned my head and watched my ponytail bounce side to side. I guess being a demon has its perks. I looked better than the time I had Creeper Bill's blood. I'd pick demon bonuses over Bill's rancid blood any day. I scrunched my nose recalling his breath. Gross.

I couldn't wait to try some of my demon powers on him and the disco triplets. I hadn't forgotten what they did to my brother and I and I couldn't wait to show them demon Allura. Demon Allura, I kind of like the sound of that. I bared my teeth remembering my sharp teeth. "I wonder . . ."

I closed my eyes and breathed through my nose. I felt the familiar ache in my gums. When I opened my eyes, I smiled. I startled myself letting out a little yelp seeing my reflection in the mirror. I looked like a shark. I smiled again, seeing shiny sharp teeth ready to bite into something. I looked demonic. Yeah, no smiling for me when my fangs are out.

I closed my eyes again and breathed through my nose and felt my sharp teeth retract to my usually blunt teeth. It felt strange but it was awesome all the same.

I opened my eyes and smiled seeing my perfect normal white teeth. I let out a sigh. "Yes a demon you are girlie." I pushed myself away from the sink and went down downstairs where my demon instructor was waiting for me.

As I walked downstairs, I smelled something yummy. I followed the appetizing smell and entered the kitchen. The spectacle that lied before me almost made me fall over in astonishment. In my kitchen I found my demon trainer wearing my brother's 'Stud Magnet' apron cooking breakfast. I couldn't believe my eyes but it was real.

Alastair turned to look at me and smiled. "I thought you'd be hungry. I hope you don't mind me using your cooking apparel."

I shook my head getting over my shock. "No it's okay. You didn't have to cook for me you know. I could have made some cereal."

"You mean this?" He took down the Lucky Charms cereal box from the fridge with aversion. "This thing you call cereal is packed with sugar and other drivel that is not good for your body." He tossed the box of cereal in the trash. Chevy was not going to be happy about that. "No student of mine will put such toxic waste in their body. You are to eat a hearty breakfast every day. You are a demon Allura; you need your strength and protein."

I took a piece of beacon from the basket. "Whatever you say coach." I sat in the chair and waited for Chef Alastair to finish cooking our breakfast.

When Alastair finished cooking, he handed me my plate. I was drooling. Four blueberry pancakes, four strips of bacon, cheese scrambled eggs and two slices of toast. It was a breakfast for a champion. I dug in and was surprised that I was so hungry. I gobbled up everything on my plate and drunken two cups of coffee. My belly was full and warm inside. I was a happy camper.

Alastair smiled and placed our plates in the sink. I noticed there were only two plates. I totally forgot to check on Chevy last night. If he didn't join us for breakfast, he must have gone to work already. I bit my lip. I knew I have to tell Chevy about this demon stuff. Alastair came from the sink and sat across from me. Maybe I should ask for my mentor's opinion.

"Do you think I should tell my brother about what we are?" I asked.

Alastair leaned back in his chair and thought about it for a minute before answering. "Not yet but it will be soon you'll have to tell him. His demon self is close to emerging."

My eyes widen on that. "What? But I thought . . . Aunt Clara said he didn't drink a lot of Creep- I mean Vampire Bill's blood for his dormant demon powers to come. He should be okay."

Alastair shook his head. "I've been around for thousands of years Allura, I know when a youngling is about to hatch."

I sighed deeply. Well this was great. I not only have to worry about my demon crap but I have to worry about Chevy's too. I wonder did Erin find out about his demon trait. Thoughts of my eldest brother filled my head. I missed him terribly. I wish he was here.

"So Allura," Alastair started taking me out of my wandering thoughts. "Are you ready to know about your empathic abilities?"

"Bring it coach."

Alastair smiled at my nickname for him but became serious as he spoke. "The power of empathy is the power to fully interpret and replicate the emotions, moods, and temperaments of others. An Empath can sense, feel, and understand feelings, hopes, dreams, desires, and fear of others. Empaths can also smell a person or supe's emotions, which you already found out." I nodded.

"The user can read and mirror the feelings of others without reading apparent symptoms, allowing them to understand introverts or discover one emotion is actually hiding another. They can also attack someone in a personal and emotional way since they know exactly what emotion is flowing through them and use that knowledge against them. Empaths could also feel emotions in an object or in a certain location. For example, someone dies in an ally unexpectedly. An Empath can feel the person that was killed emotions before they died. They can also feel the attacker emotions as well."

"That's . . . Amazing." I said honestly. So far this empathic stuff sounds cool. "Tell me more." I bounced in my chair excitedly. I should be mortified by my behavior but fudge it, I could let this slide just this once.

Alastair nodded. "You could use your empathy to overpower an enemy and manipulate their emotions. As you grow into your empathic power, you will learn to recognize each emotion and you will be able to feel emotions from extreme distances. To fully put your empathic abilities to use, you have to learn most of the branches and sub branches of being an Empath."

"Like what?" I asked. I leaned in getting excited by this new information by the minute.

"Well let's start with the branches. There is Clairaudience. Some Empaths are able to hear the heightened thoughts that can be sensed with a specific emotion. Emotional and mental cortexes are closely related willing both to work together to your advantage. This is not to be confused with telepathy however. Though you can't hear all their thought like a regular Telepath, you could hear thoughts related to a certain emotions. Next, is Clairempathy. This type of power was the advance power I was talking about before. It's the power to feel emotions from great distances."

"You mean like different cities or states?"

"Think bigger Allura. Cities, states, even countries are child's play. I'm talking about feeling emotions from different realms and planes, near and far."

Sugar honey ice tea . . . "Tell me more." I asked eagerly.

Alastair laughed at my eagerness. "Well there is Clairvoyance. Again this is not the full power of Clairvoyance like your Aunt Clara. You can only use it through emotions. An Empath connects an emotional connection through a person or Supe that could be in danger and could locate them by their emotional scent." He poked my nose and I giggled.

What the hell was that? I sounded like a pathetic school girl. I was actually disgusted with myself. Thank goodness Alastair didn't notice the mental dialogue going on in my head.

"There is Empathic Healing. This type of branch is very rare. I never have seen an Empath from the Shadow Realm with this type of power. The Empath can emotionally heal someone but can not physically heal them. Both Empathic Mimicry and Empathic Power Absorption are advance branches. It is the ability to valve into someone's power and finding out the exact emotion that triggers that power and using it for yourself.

The Empath has the power to use or copy that ability whenever they choose to. Power absorption however, is a little different from mimicry. If you ever learn to do them both, it is important to know the difference between the two. When an Empath mimic a supe's power, the supe still have the ability to use said power, but absorption takes the ability away from them permanently." Good grief. "There is Empathic Projections, the ability to share sensations or emotions.

Intuitive Empathy is the ability of knowledge to know how to use a supe's ability intuitively. Lie detection, you will be able to tell when someone is lying to you or to others. Psychic Navigation, an ability to sense a person or supe's emotions by the emotional perception they give off, this is the main reason why you have an emotional scent. There is also Psychometry. There are some places that have vast amounts of emotional residue. Some Empaths can tap into the emotions swimming around and experience the emotions of what happened in that location. It is on rare occasions they can see emotional echoes."

"You mean ghosts!" I screeched.

Alastairs smiled. "It's possible but mainly it's images of what happened in that location."

This. Was. Too. AWESOME! I could definitely get use to being an Empath. Allura Gracie, the demon Regular Empath, I love it!

"Lastly, well that I know of anyway, is Telempathy. This is when an Empath can send their emotions into others."

"Isn't that the same thing as emotional projection?" I asked.

"Not quite. Telempathy can let an Empath communicate with someone emotionally and send images to them. For instance, you want to send the emotion of happiness, you send that emotion and an image of what person or object made you happy."

"Wow. That sounds cool."

"It is cool I guess." I chuckled at his uneasiness for the word cool. Baby steps Alastair, baby steps. "There are limitations however. It is important to decipher your emotions from others. Let say you're walking down the street and you pick up on someone's rage. You let the rage mingle with your own emotions, meanwhile another person steps on your shoes. If you act out on that rage it could lead to catastrophic events. You could cause a scene, accidentally hurt someone or worse kill them, all because you accessed someone else's rage."

I gulped at the possibility. I would never forgive myself if I did such a thing.

"Being an Empath might sound fun or adventurous but it is not always what it seems Allura. It is harder than it looks. You might experience headaches from time the time, especially starting out. Then there is dealing with everyone's emotions. If you don't learn how to string one emotion at a time or close yourself from emotions from others, it could damage your mental faculties. No Empath can handle large amounts of emotions all at once. The Empath would grow insane. Most cases would leave to suicide. So you will learn to pace yourself yes?" Alastair asked me seriously.

I nodded to him. I did not want to experience any of those horrible things. A headache was alright but the other stuff scared me too pieces. "What about the sub-powers or sub-branches?" I asked changing the subject.

"Right, Combat Perception is one. You can predict an enemy's movements by reading their emotional pulses. Emotional Manipulation, Emotional Energy Manipulation; manipulation of energy generated or created by emotions of every living thing in existence. Emotional Negation, Empathic Creations; weapons you can create from using your emotions. Ecological Empathy, Plant Empathy, Animal Empathy, Psionic Inundation; a ability to assail the minds of others on a psychic plane causing harm to their brain, such as; overloading a enemy with large amounts of emotion, memory loss, causing pain, lack of consciousness, lobotomy, and death."

I whistled. That was a long list and I had to learn all of that. I went over everything Alastair told me and to be honest with myself, I was scared. How could I handle all this? I knew for fact it wouldn't be easy but after really mulling over everything, being an Empath sounded . . . well emotionally draining. Dealing with my emotions was stressful enough, now I have to learn to access someone else's? Where was the justice in this?

Alastair must have felt my worry because he sent his flame through me. It was like a warm blanket wrapping itself around me. I instantly relaxed. I gave him a thankful smile.

"Calm yourself. You are not going to learn everything at once. We will take our time with learning your empathic powers. Besides, there are some things I can't teach you. Some abilities you have to learn on your own or a seasoned Empath has to teach you."

I furrowed my eye brows. "But you said there is only one Empath left but you don't know where they are."

"True I don't. She was a powerful Empath too."

"The Empath is a woman?"

"Yes. She was highly regarded in the kingdom. Realms far and wide asked for her to use her powers to aid them, sometimes for battle. But no one could have her unless they seek permission from King Kadian. The other three Empaths were valued as well but the fourth was magnificent. She used her powers in the most extraordinary ways. I seen things from her I never seen any Empath, or any supe for that matter to do what she did." Alastair said in awe.

"Wow. She sounds like a supreme being."

"She was . . ." Alastair stared at me for awhile before he began to talk again. "I want you to try something for me Allura."

"Shoot coach." My back straightens waiting for his instructions. I was anxious on what he was going to ask me. Was I going to start practicing my powers now?

"Close your eyes." I knew it! "Now imagine you're in Alaska. There's a blizzard and you are standing in the middle of it." I poked one of my eye opened to see if he was serious. "Ah! No peeking." I closed my eye biting back a smile. "Do you have the picture in your head?" I nodded. "Good, now imagine the cold."

I snapped my eyes open. I shook my head vehemently. "I can't do that."

"Why? You are only . . . Oh." He finally understood.

Imagining the cold would bring back the chill and the nightmare I had. I felt something crawling on my arm but I turned to see nothing. I rubbed my arm slightly. "I can't do it. Please don't make me." I whimpered. Everything was going so well. I was excited and now I feel . . .

"Allura," I looked up at Alastair. His warm maroon eyes gazed into my brown ones with determination and care. "I would never let anything or anyone hurt you. You are safe with me."

I shook my head not believing him. My mother said the same thing and I was locked in a box.

"Allura . . . Please," he begged. It pulled on my heart strings when he sounded like that. It was like he was in physical pain. "Please . . . Trust me. As long as I live I will never let anyone touch you or hurt you again."
He sounded so soft and reassuring . . . but so did my mother.

I cringed at the bitter thought. A single tear slid down my cheek but I roughly wiped it away before it hit my chin. I could do this. I could trust him. I closed my eyes and imagined I was in the blizzard. I imagined the cold. The dense chill brushed against my skin causing me to wince. "Alastair I can't do this." I said with my eyes closed.

I felt a warm hand intertwine with mine. It was then I noticed he was sitting in the chair next to me. Alastair squeezed my hand and I squeezed back.

"Trust me." He whispered. I could feel the warmth of his breath fanning my cheek. "I am your mentor, you are my student. I signed a contract in my own blood that I would protect you along with teaching you our ways. I need you to put your faith and trust in me Allura. If you don't, there will never be any unity between us."

My eyes were closed as I listened to the softness of his voice. I knew he was right. Everything he said made sense, but I couldn't help the fear welling me. I felt my face being moved. I opened my eyes and seen Alastair's face planted near mine with his nose of brushing my cheek. His eyes were closed letting his thick auburn lashes settled on his cheeks. Warmth radiated from him and it made me become calm. I could feel my fear slowly disappearing and the chill steering its ugly head away in the other direction.

He opened his eyes and instead of the maroon eyes I was expecting, there was his golden demon eyes. "Do you trust me?" He asked with his face still close to mine.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I nodded to him. "Yes."

"Good." He leaned away and I felt myself become sad that his warmth left me. He kept his hand in mine though and I was glad. I needed all the support I could get. "Now, close your eyes." I did once again. "Imagine the blizzard." I did. "Now, imagine you feel the cold from the blizzard."

My body tensed feeling the leaden chill come again on me. I bit my lip trying to keep from crying out. Alastair's hand gripped my fingers silently letting me know he was there.

"Separate the feeling Allura. The cold you felt was dark and evil. Separate that feeling from your mind." I did as he said and slowly the heavy chill on my skin disappeared. "Excellent Allura, you are doing so well." Alastair praised me. "Now, imagine the emotions you would feel if you were in that blizzard. What it would feel like?"

I pictured me in the blizzard storm. I imagined the snow flurries hitting my face and the crisp cold wind whipping in my face. I could feel myself getting colder but it wasn't the damp cold I was scared of. It was the cold of winter and it was freezing.

"Amazing . . ." Alastair whispered.

"What's amazing?" I asked but said nothing. "Alastair?" I opened my eyes to find Alastair looking at me with wide eyes. I pinched my eye brows together clearly confused. "Alastair, what," Whatever I was about to say left my mind as I watched white mist flow from my mouth. What. The. Flip. I couldn't have . . .

I puckered my lips and blew another breath and once again seeing vapor leave from my mouth. I was speechless. Did I do that? I made that happened? A slight shiver came upon me as I began to feel the winter cold on my skin. I laughed and laughed harder when I see the condensation in the air. I was filled with joy.

"Allura," I turned to Alastair. "Look by the window."

I turned to the window and couldn't believe what I was seeing. From the corner of the window, tiny frosts were forming and moving to coat the glass. I stood from my seat to get a closer look. With my new sight, I could see the little designs the ice crystals made as it frost my window.

A crackling sound took my gaze away from the beautiful crystals sparkling on my window. I looked down to find ice being formed below me.

"No way. . ." I muttered.

Ice was materializing around my bare feet and spreading across my kitchen floor. The whole floor was now carpeted in glimmering white ice and ice crystals were emerging on the walls. "Alastair . . ." This was getting too out of hand.

"Calm down, you're doing fine. Keep a steady hold on your emotions. If you become frantic you'll freeze the whole house." Alastair warned but I hear the hilarity in his voice. I should be mad at him for actually thinking this was funny but I was too wired up to care.

The frost and ice covered the walls making it even colder than before. I really felt like I was in Alaska freezing my butt off. All we needed now was an Eskimo and an igloo.

"Now Allura, I want you to melt the ice."

I looked towards Alastair skeptically. "Melt the ice? How the heck am I supposed to that? It's not like I can buy a giant hair dryer from Wal-Mart." I said sarcastically.

"I don't even know what a Wal-Mart is and I don't care. I also don't care for your dramatics. It is not becoming." He sat back in his original seat. "It is the same way how you did this Allura." He gestured to my ice box kitchen. "But instead imagining the cold, imagine heat. How does the sun make you feel? When you take hot showers what emotions do you feel?"

I nodded my head and turned back to the icicled window. I placed my palm on the frosty window as I closed my eyes. I imagined I was standing under sun with the warm air brushing against my skin. I could smell the heat. I felt the safeness, the security, the happiness I felt when I was taking a hot shower or when my brothers hugged me.

"Open your eyes Allura." Alastair whispered.

I opened my eyes seeing the once frosted window was now fogged up. The glass was scolding hot but it didn't bother me. Laughter bubbled in me as I stepped away from the window. I looked down on the floor to see water surrounding my bare feet. Well this was fabulous.

I walked over to the corner where the broom and mop stood and grabbed the mop. I stood in the middle of the kitchen and began cleaning my mess.

"Allura what are you doing?" Alastair asked with a perplexed look on his face. It was almost comical.

I raised my brow looking at him like he was stupid. "I'm mopping the floor. The water is not going to clean itself up. It's too much water on the floor to let it dry up by its self." I continued to stare at him weirdly.

"Stop looking at me like I'm daft and put the mop down." he snapped at me.

Okay now I was confused. "What?"

"Put the mop down." He said again.

"But -"

"Put it down."

"Ala -"

"The mop,"

"But I have to -"

"Let it go." He finished for me.

I was starting to get irritated. "But I -"

"Put the damn mop down." Alastair said sternly but I didn't budge. "That was not a request." He hissed.

"Fine, I'll put it down." I tossed it to the side. "Happy?"

"Quite but next time when I tell you to do something, do it. I don't want to hear your trap open unless it's 'Yes or no Alastair' or 'Yes or no sir'. Are we on the same page?"

I could tell he wasn't angry, irritated yes, but not a trace of anger. "Yes Alastair."

"Good! Now shut up and listen."

I bit my tongue pushing down my word vomit. Calm down Allura, he is your trainer; you have to listen to him . . . Even if he was a prick.I think he was worst than Eric.

"Do you know what happened here?" He asked finally.

I was tempted to say something spiteful but I willed it down, so I simply said no.

"You love -" I rolled my eyes. "- projected your emotions outward by using an image from your mind. By you imagining yourself in a blizzard, certain emotions bubbled inside you and it connected to the imagery in your mind. You took the image and emotion and pushed it externally creating, the image; the blizzard and the emotion; feeling cold, in this room." Alastair smiled like he ate the canary. "Hence why your kitchen turned to a big ice cave. It was the same thing with the heat. You imagined yourself under the sun, brought the emotions you felt when you are feeling the sun and protrude the image; the sun and the emotion; feeling heat. When you touched the ice, it instantly melted away."

"So what does this mean?" I asked while sitting down on the chair opposite from him. "I mean couldn't the other Empaths do this too?"

"It mean young one, you are a very powerful Empath. No other Empath could have done what you did except for the fourth Empath."

Holy schnikes! "What? You're joking right?"

"Why would I joke about something like this?" Oh god. "Allura you are exceptionally powerful for a young one. Even the fourth struggled with it from time to time but you . . . You did it with ease and preciseness. I wouldn't have believed if I didn't see it with my own eyes. You are more powerful than the fourth Empath. Even now I can feel your energy pulsing inside you. Before I couldn't see it. Usually I can sense energy waves, but with you it's different." Alastair said in wonder.

"Why am I different?" What was wrong with me?

"I can't really describe it except to say it's a veil. Your power was hidden from me but when you tapped into your power, I could see it clearly."

"Can you see it now?" I asked.

Alastair took a minute to assess me. Soon his face changed from concentration to frustration in a matter of minutes. "I can't see it anymore. It hidden again."

"I-I'm sorry. I really don't know how I'm doing it. I don't mean- "

"Allura it's fine. I'm a little piqued that's all. I never experienced anything like this. Though it is frustrating not to be able to monitor your energy, it is a very good thing." Alastair said with a small smile.

"Why is it a good thing?"

"Allua how many demons, vampires, fairies, or whatever supe do you think can also read your energy waves like me?" I gulped at the prospect. "Many, yes?" I nodded glumly understanding what he was saying. "Anyone could read you and use it to their advantage to kill you and I say kill you because they wouldn't want to just hurt you with the power you have inside you. Once they see how much power you have, they will kill you without a second thought." Alastair said gravely.

Wow. I didn't know what to say to that. To know I had so much power in a way made me feel good but it made me uneasy at the same time. With so much power I could really hurt someone. Shucks, I could hurt myself. I definitely need to be careful. I almost burst in fits of laughter when thinking of what Uncle Ben said to Peter Parker, 'With great power, comes great responsibility'. I guess Alastair was my Uncle Ben.

I snorted but covered it with a cough. "So this famous fourth Empath . . . Who was she?" I said with difficulty trying not to laugh.

Alastair smiled gently at me but there was sadness in his eyes. "It is your mother."

I swallowed the chuckle that was about to come. I knew this wasn't a joke. "Excuse me? Did you say m-my mother was the fourth Empath?" Alastair nodded slowly.

All laughter and playfulness drained from me as Alastair words sunk in. When it finally settled, the next thing that came out from my mouth I didn't mean to say it, but this was too much to contain.

"Holy shit!" I yelled. Chevy would be so proud.

So Allura's mother is the all powerful fourth Empath. What does this mean for the little Empathic Demon Regular?