Penny for Your Thoughts
Raven
Once Alexander and I were dressed and ready to start the night, we left the bathroom and headed to the dining room. We could here the twins running around and laughing before we got there, but when we got there…
"Alexander and Alexandria!" Their father exclaimed disapprovingly. I was still too surprised at the sight that I couldn't speak. Yes, they were running around and playing, but what was wrong with the scene was the mess of food and spilled drinks on the table and floor. When Alexander called them they stopped what they were doing and looked over at us. Neither of the two spoke up, and I knew that they knew that I was not happy. "Will somebody explain to me what is going on here?" Alexander asked in an even and calm voice.
Alex looked over at the mess he and his sister created around the dining room, and at his hands that were covered in food as well as Lexy's. Lexy, however, gaped in shock at our arrival and stammered to find words. I stepped forward and opened my mouth to demand an answer when Alexander put his arm out in front of me to keep back. I jerked my head at him with a 'what gives' gesture. A slight tilt of his head told me he wanted to handle it. So I stood beside him and gritted my teeth while I folded an arm around my waist, then used the other hand to pinch the bridge of my nose in frustration. 'Calm your temper, love,' I heard Alexander whisper into my mind. I took deep breaths and tried to focus on my heart rate and relax my eyelids. 'Very good, remember to take even breaths,' he added.
Alexander
While Raven concentrated on her breathing, I concentrated on how to deal with this mess, while being neither too strict nor too lenient. When I was sure of a solution I spoke once again to my son and daughter. "Regardless of who started this mess, you will both work together to clean it up. When you are done, you will meet us in the back. There, we will discuss the importance in respecting our home and everyone in it. You will also deliver an apology to Jameson, for wasting his hard work preparing our meal. When all is taken care of, you will both sit down and tell your mother and I what happened here." I gave them each a measured look before speaking up again. "I suggest you get started."
They were both franticly moving about to pick up what they could from off the floor, moving on autopilot. They remained silent, as they were both nervous about how I would react, how they would be punished, and what will their mother say. I already knew the base of what had happened from the many images of the evening floating around in their heads. I didn't want them to feel the need to have their guard up around me, so I didn't speak of it.
I place my arm around Raven's shoulders and pulled her close to ease some of the tension in her posture. We watched them dispose of most of the food with their bare hands until the ghost of Sara Madison, Raven's mother, came through the wall and hovered next to Alexandria. She looked to me and spoke, "Take her outside to cool off. I'll help my grandbabies in here." I gave her a nod and led Raven into the kitchen where the ghost of Paul Madison hovered, Raven's Father. There comes a time when every life comes to an end, but the reality of the most lively people I knew, who welcomed me into this town, were now dead, still didn't seem real. Not even as their ghostly forms stood in front of me. Perhaps it is because I can see them on a daily bases, now.
"You handled it very well in there, son. I couldn't have done it better myself. Raven was so much worse as a kid. She tried to paint the walls black and poured all sorts of red liquids into her mother's favorite vases. She tried to get us to drink it and ended up grounded with no horror movies," Paul chuckled. I smiled and chuckled myself at what little Raven must have been like. Thank you, Mr. Madison. I hope my children could look up to me the way I know Raven always looked up to you. His hollow eyes began to shimmer with emotion as he faded out.
"Pray tell, what is so funny to you all of a sudden?" Raven asked calmly.
"Your father was telling me about your messes as a kid. I must admit, what the children did in there had me thrown for a minute. But I'd rather deal with something like that, since it's easily fixable, than having to redo my walls and throw out favorable antiques. You were horrible it seems!" I joked. We walked out the back door and down the steps, onto the back yard, and up the gazebo steps.
"Yeah, those were good memories." She laughed lightly.
"So what 'red liquids' did you put into your mom's favorite vases?" I asked her as I sat on the bench and pulled her onto my lap.
"Fruit punch," she said. "… And tomato juice," she added, "I remember a jar of Prego… oh, and I ended up cutting my fingers when I was slicing up watermelons to add." Wow… just, wow. "I really was a horrible mess, huh?" she pondered. I remained without comments. "Oh my goth, I remember using my dad's shoe polish and my markers and crayons to color the walls… wow, I was sooo much worse!" she exclaimed. I couldn't help laugh as I thought about the scene she created as a little kid.
"How old were you? Like 3, or 4?" I asked.
"I was 10." She said deadpan.
I looked at her and slowly shook my head disapprovingly. She rolled her eyes, but smiled brightly at her mischievous and childlike behavior. I had to laugh. "Whatever Mr. Artist," she scoffed, "I'm sure there are many crafty messes you created as a kid!" I smiled and kissed her shoulder.
"Let's just say, it's a good thing they haven't learned to fly just yet, and leave it at that." Again she smiled brightly as I knew she thought about what messes I've created as a kid with the ability to fly.
"I'm sooo gonna get details about that later," she promised.
"But not now?" I asked. Why wouldn't she want to hound me for every detail while we were together?
"No, not now. Since we're alone and have time before I go to work there are a few things I wanna try to discuss with you." She spoke seriously, so I sat straighter and she climbed off my lap to sit across from me.
"Is it bad enough for you to move away from me?" I asked. Is it about a certain immortal expected to return today? I wanted to ask.
"No, nothing bad, I hope. I just can't think clearly about it while being on top of you." I relaxed and felt pleased for the affect I had on her.
"Okay then, what do you need to discuss?"
"Well let me list them off for you and you can pick where to start." I nodded my understanding and she counted the topics off her fingers. "Okay, first off: Jagger's offering to make me co-owner of the Crypt. I wouldn't have to be there the whole time, and could also work from home if need be. Second: I've thought about giving Billy the house as a graduation present, so he'll have a place of his own. Third: Sebastian and I patched things up yesterday. He explained some things to me and now I understand that you did what you had to do to protect us as you said. What you had to do is still a mystery to me, but now I know I'd have been in danger and probably on the run if you told me then, which would result in the kids also on the run with me. And I understand you kinda put a mystic bullet to his head so he wouldn't endanger us with his big mouth." I pulled myself together quickly to avoid lashing out at Sebastian for doing exactly what I couldn't have him do; open his big mouth. "Before you ask, he didn't give me any details, but kinda outlined the severity in the secret world you live in. I won't pressure you about it anymore. I trust you to tell me what you can when you think I'm ready to hear it." I admired the maturity and strength emanating from Raven as she spoke of my predicament. "And lastly:" she continued, "I want everybody to get along. Somehow we all connect to one another and have history with each other. These years have damaged many relationships. I'm going to try to fix things with Scarlett and Onyx. I hope things are okay with you and Sebastian and Billy-Man, but I also want you and Luke to at least try to be civil." I sighed heavily and leaned my forearms on my thighs. "I know, Alexander, that it's a lot to ask of you, but… he's my best friend first and had been just my best friend for so long. You and I are together and we've gone through so much to prove we still want to be together. Not to mention, I no longer have Becky around, I've messed things up for Onyx, so whatever civility we could maintain, if we could maintain, will be similar to what's going on between you and Luke. Scarlett might be easier to reconcile with but I don't know unless I try. Shadow is no enemy, and hopefully you two will get along fine. So, I'm asking you to… cease fire, or whatever, with my friend." After a moment of silence, she fumbled with her hands as she spoke again. "So… which topic would you rather talk about?"
I exhaled and looked beyond her to think about everything, knowing she was very serious about it all. So I started the safer way, I suppose, by working my way up to the complications. "Well then, I support your plans to gift the house to Billy. I believe you've done well caring for your brother, and it will help him out to have a place of his own. It's in a fairly secluded area, where he can practice his music freely without disturbing his neighbors. I like it." I cleared my throat before continuing. "Jagger's offer sounds like a good opportunity, however, I believe it will be too soon for you to take on that kind of responsibility. You need to get through this pregnancy without added stress and workloads. And then there's the time you're needed home after you've delivered to care for our young. Jameson and I will be there to help of course, and I don't think Athena would want to be left out. Perhaps then you could rethink this offer clearly to determine if it's something you truly want to do. I have gained co-ownership of the Coffin Club without Jagger knowing it's my alter ego. I know it's a lot of work. Over the years, I've had Claude keeping up Phoenix's appearances and enforcing my decisions. But I was permitted to keep control of my assets and businesses, it was expected. I've dealt with the political issues in the Dungeon where I, as Phoenix, had full control, but also had to keep track of the comings and goings, as well as, the enhancements made to the venture. I believe that you are capable of running a business, but you may want to take time to fully understand what is expected of you, and how you can work a schedule around running a business as well as raise children. It's not just throwing out ideas and having epic parties any time; it's real work. You would need to consider taking business classes." I explained.
"Um, I was there when you got voted to rule the Dungeon and you were still seventeen. You didn't take classes to help run the Coffin Club." She pointed out.
"Actually I did. As far as politics and laws within the vampire community, we are taught everything we need to know before our teen years. Our children have already begun their lessons." I countered. "You, however, know nothing about our people yet because you weren't born into this world, and I wasn't here to teach it to you. That's another thing; as a vampire entering the business world, you will need to learn and understand our laws. Otherwise you risk exposure and endangerment to not only yourself and our family, but also our entire race. I cannot support you taking on something like this, when you haven't been properly educated to do so." What was Jagger thinking in handing off this kind of responsibility to my bride when she's still new to our world, and pregnant nonetheless? I saw my beloved bride look crushed, and felt bad about not being able to fully support her. But my resolve was firm. "I believe in you, Raven, and I know you can accomplish anything you set your heart to." She looked up at me as she sulked. "If you truly want to do this, you have to put in time to prepare yourself before you go all in." And then a thought came to mind, but before I could voice it, our twins ran out of the house to where we were.
Alexandria
"Oh my gosh! Mommy's going to be mad at us," I said to my brother. After mommy and daddy left the room.
Grandma came to us and told me how to clean up the mess we made and where Jameson keeps all the smelly cleaning stuff. I felt so bad for starting the food fight with Alexander. We didn't mean to make a big mess; we were just having a little fun with catching small pieces of food in our mouths. I was the one that threw a big piece of blueberry waffles with whipped cream on top to Alexander. I just thought it would be funny to see him get messy.
"That was weird, though," Alex said to himself.
"What was weird," I passed him a rag to help me push the crumbs off the table and into the garbage at the end.
"When mom saw the mess she was really surprised and her anger was quickly rising, but then," he trailed off.
"'But then what?" I probed. Seriously if you're gonna explain something, just do it in one go. Brothers.
"Then nothing. It was like she wasn't even here. I couldn't feel any emotions from her. They were loud, then quieter, and then nothing. Do you think I'm losing my powers?" he seemed really worried about it, so I started thinking about how to help. Then I remembered something, but I don't know if it's correct.
"Remember when we played hide and seek with daddy?" I asked. He nodded. I sprayed the table with the solution to cleanse it properly like grandma said.
'Now, Lexy, sweetie, tell Alex to pull out the chairs and sweep up the mess around and under the table.'
"Grandma said to move the chairs away and sweep under and around the table."
"Ok." As he started pulling the chairs out he continued, "what about it?"
"Oh, right, well, he said when you hide, you had to silence your emotions and practice medicating, right?"
"Meditating, not medicating." Urgggh!
"WHATEVER! I'm trying to help you here, Mr. Know it All," I huffed.
"If I was a 'Mr. Know it All' I wouldn't need your help. So what you mean is maybe mom was meditating to quiet her emotions? That makes sense. Thanks." I smiled at my success in helping my big brother. And we continued to clean with Grandma's orders.
"Do you think she'll still be mad when we go out there?" I asked. Mommy doesn't spank us or anything like that, but she does make us do extra chores or take away some of our things like Alex's games, my dolls, or she doesn't let us watch TV and movies. I hate punishment. Alex does too. Now I feel bad again. "I'm sorry Alex, for getting us in trouble."
"It's not all your fault, I was making messes too when I could have stopped. I think dad took mom outside so she could calm down. We'll just have to see."
"But I'm the one who started it." We were all done cleaning now. So we need to go see mommy and daddy outside and apologize.
Alexander II
Grandma helped Lexy and I to clean the dining hall properly. I know Lexy wasn't going to try and make me do everything by lying about what grandma wants me to do. The last time she did that. She cried for about a week because grandma refused to see her. She didn't come back until Lexy promised never to lie and abuse her power again. I would be sad too if I stopped feeling someone's presence if I loved them. Like today with mom. I was prepared to take the blame for the mess, because I'm the oldest and I was partly responsible. But she started to shut down. I was hoping it was a power failure on my part rather than mom going into shock and brain dead or something.
To be honest, I was also really nervous and scared of what dad would say or do. We never did anything to upset him until now. It wasn't complete anger, but he definitely didn't approve. He was really calm about it, which also kinda scared me because I figured he could snap at any moment. Dad's really good at silencing his emotions, but I'm really good at detecting them. There's a lot going on with him that he doesn't show. It seems unstable sometimes, and other times I can tell when he's recovering from emotional overload. But I also know dad is incredibly strong, especially mentally. No matter how he feels, he controls his emotions instead of letting them control him. I hope I could become as strong as my dad someday.
Lexy and I walked outside to where mom and dad were sitting at the gazebo. I could tell something was bothering them, but I knew it wasn't us because I started getting images with their emotions. Mom was feeling a little sad, but mostly disappointed. I could see an image of her in my mind walking into a building that was really cool with spooky decorations and glow in the dark markings on the walls. She wants to own it, but she has to wait and doesn't want to. As for dad, he was stressed and annoyed. I see an image of him in my mind watching Luke hold Mom with his wings out. Suddenly it flashed to an image of Dad with red eyes and long sharpened fangs. He was standing behind Luke and was ripping Luke's spine from his back with his bare hands.
The image scared me so much that I fell and had to grip my head to get the image out. I felt panic emotions that weren't mine. "Oh no!" Mom exclaimed. "Alex? Alexander, baby, mommy's here! Calm down, honey, you've got to breath and clear your mind." She talked to me softly. My eyes were open but I wasn't seeing anything. I felt my dad kneel down next to me and turn me over to face him. His eyes were red with worry. His emotions were concern and empathy. But then, a flash of the image of him killing Luke made me scream and close my eyes tight. I was scared. Lexy was too. Mom was scared and feeling helpless. Dad was determined and calculating.
"Raven, take Lexy into the gazebo and teach her to silence her emotions. You need to do the same, feeling everybody at once can be hard on him." Dad instructed. He was right. Mom started feeling surprised and then determined. Her emotions started getting quieter as she and Lexy got further away. "Alexander, my son," dad called to me. I still had my eyes shut. I didn't like the way I saw him. Mom said he wouldn't ever hurt anyone. Seeing him hurt Luke surprised me. Seeing the way his face looked doing it scared me. He liked it.
"My son, separate yourself from what is not yours to feel." I thought about it and tried to concentrate. Confusion and fear were wrapped up in one. It called to my soul, Lexy. I mentally focused on her emotions and numbed myself to them. "Very good, keep going." When Lexy's emotions were unknown to me, I picked out determination and worry wrapped together, but it was really faint. Mom. She was meditation to quiet her self but it wasn't enough. I wanted to go to her to tell her not to worry. But when the idea came to me so did Dad's voice saying I had to be strong and concentrate. I relaxed my eyelids more as I numbed myself to Mom's emotions. "That's my boy. But you're not quite done. Keep it up." He encouraged. I felt understanding, protectiveness, and pride. That last part made me want to be deserving of it. So I focused on Dad's emotions and numbed my mind to him. All that was left for me to feel were my own emotions. I was scared.
"Dad," I started to say but stopped. I didn't think I should say what I saw while Mom and Lexy were still near. So I imagined a telephone line from my mind to my dad's. I'm sorry, Dad. I didn't mean to, I wasn't trying to-
'Do not apologize, my son. Not to me. It is important that your powers grow and the process can sometimes seem unbearable. It could drive many into insanity, but not you. You are strong enough to control it, as are you intelligent for recognizing the changes and separating them the way you have. I've been with you the whole time, Alexander, you were not alone. The more you grow, the more powerful you become, the stronger you are. I am proud of you. I promise these emotional attacks will pass when you've mastered learning how to turn your Empathy on and off. After you've accomplished that feat, I will teach you how to pinpoint targets to your empathy, so you do not feel more than you mean to. There are many levels to our powers, my son. You have already become master to a few, and you will continue to master the rest.'
As we spoke telepathically, I leaned into my dad's embrace. I was still shaking and didn't realize I had started to cry. I don't like people seeing me weak. I want to be strong. Dad was strong and I wanted to be like him and make him proud. What do you mean I've become a master to some levels of my powers? I sent to him. We sat in the grass and he wrapped his arms around me blocking my view of Mom and Lexy so they wouldn't see me cry. He rubbed my back and shoulders to stop my shaking. It helped.
'Level one is sensory. You've become a master to sensing the emotions of others. Level two is category and mapping. You can easily pick out the nature of the emotion and locate the individual harboring those emotions. Because of you other powers you've acquired a new set of levels to your empathy. Your Telepathy allows you to see into the minds of others to understand the cause of the emotions you receive from them. Your Necromancy expands the levels of your Empathy you've already mastered for the dead. You are very sensitive to others, Alexander. But do not allow it to make you weak. The knowledge of how others feel and think, dead or alive, can be an advantage to you. Be smart and know what to do with that information. You can help, protect, teach, understand, fight, and strengthen yourself. Are you understanding?'
I understand. Everything dad has told me made me look at my power a bit differently than before. I sat up straight and wiped my face so I could appear as strong as I was starting to feel. What other levels are there for me to learn? I asked.
'I will help you master them one by one, and only teach you the next step as you've completed the current. This way you're not too overwhelmed or overly ambitious to look for shortcuts. The level we must work on now is turning it on and off. You're already able to push everyone out. But you're doing it one by one. What if you're in a crowded room? It would take too long to push everyone out without straining yourself. You have to learn to push every one out at the same time and keeping them out until you want to feel. We'll work on it. As for your telepathy, I believe you should practice using it more often. You reached out to me for this conversation. Try reaching out to your mother. She is worried about you and feels helpless. She's also not doing well in her meditation teaching. Say something to her to ease her worry, I listen to her emotions.'
Okay. I looked over at Mom in the gazebo. Her arms were wrapped around her and her leg was shaking while she spoke to Lexy. I still had her emotions blocked but I could tell she was worried from just looking at her. Just like I did with dad, I imagined a telephone line going from my mind to Mom's. Mom?
