SUMMARY: Resentment, depression, and lots of nice happy stuff coming the
resident witches. Plus other stuff.
DISCLAIMER: No, I don't own anybody except Teri, James, and Gavin. Although come to think of it, I wish I really did own some of the characters, but you've got another thing coming if you think I'll tell you who. ;-P
After school, Teri walked along the river with Mr. Burke (he insisted she call him Alex, but it was too weird addressing somebody that old with anything resembling familiarity). It had been nearly an hour since school had ended, yet neither one of them had said a word beyond a few minor pleasantries when they met up. She had caught him trying to get into her mind a few times; his signature was as faint as could be, but nevertheless it was still there. She had thrown him out quite violently, and the alarm he must have felt when she did was palpable. He was supposed to be really strong, so Lord knew what her anger was doing to her mind. Probably turning it into a supernatural pulsar of sorts. Which might attract lots of. demon people with long sharp fangs who would from this moment on constantly be trying to kill her. Not that most of them probably wouldn't wet themselves (figuratively speaking) when they got close. She had seen the way Mr. Karras had gone an odd shade of gray when she walked in the room, and James had taken one look at her during homeroom and positively scampered. Still, Teri shuddered at the thought of a bunch of black eyed, pale skinned vampires ambushing them in the crowded park. Mr. Burke was apparently thinking the same thing. She resolved to somehow spit it out if he asked her anything. He didn't.
After thirty minutes he still hadn't said a word. He seemed to be waiting for her to say something, but there was no way she would give it up without some sort of invitation to do so. Did he know this? Was he deriving some sick pleasure from the emotional hell she was going through? Whatever he was thinking, he wasn't making it any easier for her. Then he coughed, and she had her excuse. Teri seized the opportunity with all the glee of a little child grabbing at a piece of candy. Or more accurately, a small child hell bent on wreaking havoc on the neighborhood aided by the mother of all sugar highs.
"WHY is this happening to me? It's not like I asked for it. It should be something they, I dunno, maybe interview you for the position? Like, 'Hey, would you happen to be interested in killing the undead? You heal super fast, control fire, and as an added bonus you're completely unable to die of natural causes. Nope, no quiet, peaceful goodbye. Instead, you're guaranteed to die while in a good deal of pain after fighting some undead creature to the death.' Do you really think I want this? I don't think so buddy! So don't expect me to not realize what you're telling me, because I understand it perfectly well." Teri felt light headed. It had taken a lot out of her just to say that, but it had been worth it. She could almost feel the tension subside. Mr. Burke looked pleased, the scumbag.
"It's nice to see that you're getting past the apocalyptic fury stage, Teri." He was grinning! That evil, evil man actually had the nerve to grin. Teri made a very rude gesture at him. "Perhaps I was mistaken."
"Oh no, I'm past that all right." He had the good grace to look surprised. "Yep, all the horsemen are rounded up and everything. Now I just need to get rid of the desire to impale you with something, preferably something very blunt. Not that I really want to, of course. Get rid of the thought, I mean, not the actual carrying out of the whole operation part." She waited for him to respond.
"I think this would be a good time to teach you how to control your aura."
"Excuse me?" Her jaw was on the floor, but she managed to pick it back up quickly enough. "Whatever happened to, 'Now, now, Teri dear. You don't really mean that.' Or maybe a little sarcasm, or perhaps some snide comments; you have a real talent for those, you know. Maybe you could even add in a little eyebrow elevation as a bonus? But no, you need to completely change the subject. Trying to run from the truth are we, Mr. Immortal Witchy Guy?"
"Turn around and tell me what you see."
"Eh? Please, the confusion is overpowering."
"Just do it, he'll probably snap out of it any moment." That piqued her curiosity, and Teri looked behind her.
There was somebody not a few yards behind them. A very pale somebody with very dark eyes. But he wasn't moving. He seemed to be frozen in what looked like the middle of a lunge, and his expression of surprise laced with terror was priceless.
"You seem to have given your would-be assassin quite a shock." There was a bit of something resembling pride in Alexander's voice as he said this.
"Wait a sec, you mean to say that this guy was after me? And what d'you mean, me giving him a shock?" Teri didn't know what to think. Why was this vampire, somebody who pretty much occupied the top spot on the food chain, staring in her direction like he was going to run away and start retching in a dark alleyway somewhere? Something weird was definitely going on. This beat the telepathy out by a long shot.
Then the vampire regained control of his body. Not that it did much. He stood up, but his eyes were as wide as when he had been frozen. "What the hell are you," he managed to choke out before blinking out of existence. It was oddly satisfying to watch him go.
"I doubt you would ever be able to replicate that little shock wave you just produced without the emotional backing you had at the time, but I am betting you're interested in being able to control that type of reaction." He sounded oddly hopeful.
"First you tell me how you deal with it, and then we'll talk about training."
"Deal with what?"
"Immortality. What keeps you from ending it all, you know, just falling on the knife or whatever poetic terms you could use for suicide?" Teri wasn't just asking out of curiosity. That morning she had woken up before everybody else in the apartment and slit one of her wrists. It had healed in half a minute, maybe less. Half of her depression that day had been coming not from the desire to kill herself, but from the knowledge that it would be hard to do without somebody to help her along. If she could figure out how Mr. Burke worked through it, then she might be able to try.
"What makes you think I don't want to?" Came the curt reply from beside her. Teri looked up at the man standing next to her and saw that his usually smirking face was a mask of sorrow. She had been expecting him to say something about divine duty, maybe even to act a bit patronizing. The last thing she had expected was for this confident man, a person for whom she was already developing a profound attachment, to be so devoid of hope. Alexander walked toward a bench facing the river and sat down. Teri followed suit.
"For the first few years of my training, I was enthusiastic. Desdra, she was my mentor, was more than pleased. When I was strong enough, she took me hunting in the surrounding area. Mostly the vampires there were weak, but some were beyond my grasp physically. Still was nothing compared to my telepathic power. I refused to think about my immortality, because I knew that trusting in my body's ability to heal would weaken me as a fighter.
"After a while I began to gather something of a reputation among the vampires in the area. They thought I had to be punished for being so adept at what I did. Instead of attacking me directly, they decided to prey upon one of my family. And so it came to pass that I returned early from hunting one night to see Ather bent over the limp form of my sister Lynette. I think that was one of the only times that I have ever truly lost my temper. I attacked Ather, but the blade did not hit home and she willed herself away. My sister was alive, so I thought nothing of it. And then Ather came to call, this time bringing Aubrey along. You've read about him, he's probably one of her strongest fledglings, and one of the most disarmingly handsome men in the vampiric world.
"I saw them standing in the doorway and instantly knew what they wanted. They had come for Rachael, but not to kill her, at least not in the sense of finality. They would turn the sister into one of their own, hurting the hunter in a way that nothing else could." Teri didn't know what to say. She had read the story, true. But there was so much raw emotion involved which she hadn't been able to grasp until then. Not knowing what else to do, she held her mentor's hand and gave it a tiny squeeze, just to let him know that she was there. He looked down at her gratefully, and she could see the hint of a tear in his eyes. "If you don't want to go on-" she began, but he cut her off.
"No, I want to tell you this. I think it'll be good for both of us." Teri nodded in assent, and Alexander continued.
"Rachael and I were twins, and close didn't even begin to describe our relationship. She was the only one who knew I could hear people's thoughts. When Lynette was burned, she was the one I confided my fears to. I trusted her that much. Anybody else would probably have turned me in to the minister and had me burned or thrown into the water, but not Rachael. We did everything together, although we had been recently been forced to separate a bit in order to go about our traditional duties. Still, she was the only person had I ever felt any real connection to.
"Aubrey was the perfect gentleman, behaving just as he ought to if he was courting my sister. In a way he was, but for a marriage more binding than a pact with a man before God. No, my sister was to be betrothed to Death, the contract to be sealed with the blood of the damned. Aubrey used all his charm, and Rachael was enchanted. As a parting gift of sorts he gave her a rose. A black rose, the stem all but covered with thorns. He tossed it to her, and she cut herself as she caught it. From that moment her fate was sealed. I could only watch, knowing full well that I might never see my sister again.
"For some foolish reason I thought I could protect her. For days I stood watch over her as she worked, hoping that I would be able to stop the attack when it came. I didn't have a prayer. The moment my back was turned, they struck. I heard her cry out and I knew that it was the end. Nevertheless I attacked both Aubrey and Ather at once, lashing out with my mind and my knife. They were faster though, and had thousands of years worth o fighting experience between them. I had only been hunting a few years, and they swatted me away like I was some kind of fly. I could only watch in excruciating pain as they dragged her over my limp, though healing, body. I heard her voice in my mind, painfully clear. *You killed my brother.* I would be able to shake off the injuries, but never those words."
Alexander looked down at the girl who was now leaning against him, staring at a random point in the distance. "You asked me why I don't just end it all. The truth is that I've had a death wish ever since that day. Whenever I go into a fight, a small part of me hopes that this will be the last one, that this time I might finally be able to rest. But I've got a nasty streak of pride, and because of it I refuse to let myself be bested by one of the damned creatures if I know I can win. Unfortunately that seems to be most of the time." He chuckled, but it was hollow and conveyed an almost sickening sense of irony. "That's part of the reason why I teach high school. It certainly isn't the money, Lord knows I have enough of that stored away. It's because the students are about as old as my sister was when she was changed. They might not think it or want to believe it, but they really are full of innocence and idealism. They remind me of what I've lost, and why I'm still hunting. Sort of a check on my suicidal tendencies, you might say. Besides, Prozac would have no affect on me anyway." Teri tried to stifle a small giggle at the last statement. She failed. Looking up at her mentor, she smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Mr. Burke."
"Why do you keep calling me that? You know, you are allowed to call me Alex, seeing as this isn't school. At least not in a formal sense."
"Sorry, but it's kind of a learned behavior for me. I've been taught to show respect to people who have a few more years under their belt than I do, and let's face it, you're easily twenty times my age." Once again with the meek smile. *Great that just had to be said that out loud. Smooth girl, real smooth.*
Alexander didn't mind the slip though. In fact he did something he hadn't done in a long while. He laughed. "What can I say? Sure I'm an old fart, but I've got half the female student body trailing behind me on a leash." He gave Teri a rakish wink, and the girl went a rather violent shade of magenta. This only served to send him into another fit of laughter. Teri couldn't stay embarrassed for long with Alex rolling around next to her in hysterics, and soon enough she too had succumbed to the contagious fit.
"How about I show you how to move between places with your mind? It'll be getting dark in a few hours, and you do have homework to do." Teri grumbled at the teacher who was at the moment looking so innocent and yet had given them an essay to be handed in the next day. This only served to make Alex chuckle once again.
"Sure, you stuck up old man."
"Ah, but you must admit I am a cute old man, no?" Again with the wicked grin.
"Well, are you gonna show me or not?" Teri was trying to keep herself from turning into a talking tomato once again, and it wasn't working.
"Right, but you need to clear your mind when you first start attempting it. Just relax, and breathe slowly. Concentrate on every single breath. Tune out, and focus your energy on the image of a place nearby. Let's try the bridge for starters. Remember, focus on the image. Ready? Go."
Teri closed her eyes and willed herself into the mental image of a familiar bridge. She smiled a deceptively innocent smile. When she opened them, she was on the top of the Brooklyn Bridge. She looked around and gave out something of a war whoop. "HEY EVERYBODY DOWN THERE! LOOKIE HERE!" Suddenly Alex was standing there next to her. He was livid.
"Rule number one: NEVER, EVER do that again. Whenever we are practicing something like this, you must ALWAYS keep me informed of where you are going. I am NOT going to let you injure yourself because of some stupid stunt you decided to pull. This is too important for you to start acting cocky about it. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"
"Yes." Suddenly Teri was feeling small. Very small. The death glare Mr. Burke. make that Alex was giving her had obviously taken decades of practice to perfect, it was that frightening.
"Good. Now this time you will go to the Tribeca bridge by the quickest possible route. That means NO STOPS. Do I make myself clear." Teri nodded, or rather she managed to jerk her head in a gesture that signaled dome sort of confirmation. "Ready? Go." Teri took a deep breath and blinked out of existence. Alex followed a moment later.
A/N: This was a very emotional chapter for me to write, as you can probably tell. It's going to get very interesting soon, so keep tuning in. So for now, cheers and thanks to all my lovely, wonderful reviewers.
DISCLAIMER: No, I don't own anybody except Teri, James, and Gavin. Although come to think of it, I wish I really did own some of the characters, but you've got another thing coming if you think I'll tell you who. ;-P
After school, Teri walked along the river with Mr. Burke (he insisted she call him Alex, but it was too weird addressing somebody that old with anything resembling familiarity). It had been nearly an hour since school had ended, yet neither one of them had said a word beyond a few minor pleasantries when they met up. She had caught him trying to get into her mind a few times; his signature was as faint as could be, but nevertheless it was still there. She had thrown him out quite violently, and the alarm he must have felt when she did was palpable. He was supposed to be really strong, so Lord knew what her anger was doing to her mind. Probably turning it into a supernatural pulsar of sorts. Which might attract lots of. demon people with long sharp fangs who would from this moment on constantly be trying to kill her. Not that most of them probably wouldn't wet themselves (figuratively speaking) when they got close. She had seen the way Mr. Karras had gone an odd shade of gray when she walked in the room, and James had taken one look at her during homeroom and positively scampered. Still, Teri shuddered at the thought of a bunch of black eyed, pale skinned vampires ambushing them in the crowded park. Mr. Burke was apparently thinking the same thing. She resolved to somehow spit it out if he asked her anything. He didn't.
After thirty minutes he still hadn't said a word. He seemed to be waiting for her to say something, but there was no way she would give it up without some sort of invitation to do so. Did he know this? Was he deriving some sick pleasure from the emotional hell she was going through? Whatever he was thinking, he wasn't making it any easier for her. Then he coughed, and she had her excuse. Teri seized the opportunity with all the glee of a little child grabbing at a piece of candy. Or more accurately, a small child hell bent on wreaking havoc on the neighborhood aided by the mother of all sugar highs.
"WHY is this happening to me? It's not like I asked for it. It should be something they, I dunno, maybe interview you for the position? Like, 'Hey, would you happen to be interested in killing the undead? You heal super fast, control fire, and as an added bonus you're completely unable to die of natural causes. Nope, no quiet, peaceful goodbye. Instead, you're guaranteed to die while in a good deal of pain after fighting some undead creature to the death.' Do you really think I want this? I don't think so buddy! So don't expect me to not realize what you're telling me, because I understand it perfectly well." Teri felt light headed. It had taken a lot out of her just to say that, but it had been worth it. She could almost feel the tension subside. Mr. Burke looked pleased, the scumbag.
"It's nice to see that you're getting past the apocalyptic fury stage, Teri." He was grinning! That evil, evil man actually had the nerve to grin. Teri made a very rude gesture at him. "Perhaps I was mistaken."
"Oh no, I'm past that all right." He had the good grace to look surprised. "Yep, all the horsemen are rounded up and everything. Now I just need to get rid of the desire to impale you with something, preferably something very blunt. Not that I really want to, of course. Get rid of the thought, I mean, not the actual carrying out of the whole operation part." She waited for him to respond.
"I think this would be a good time to teach you how to control your aura."
"Excuse me?" Her jaw was on the floor, but she managed to pick it back up quickly enough. "Whatever happened to, 'Now, now, Teri dear. You don't really mean that.' Or maybe a little sarcasm, or perhaps some snide comments; you have a real talent for those, you know. Maybe you could even add in a little eyebrow elevation as a bonus? But no, you need to completely change the subject. Trying to run from the truth are we, Mr. Immortal Witchy Guy?"
"Turn around and tell me what you see."
"Eh? Please, the confusion is overpowering."
"Just do it, he'll probably snap out of it any moment." That piqued her curiosity, and Teri looked behind her.
There was somebody not a few yards behind them. A very pale somebody with very dark eyes. But he wasn't moving. He seemed to be frozen in what looked like the middle of a lunge, and his expression of surprise laced with terror was priceless.
"You seem to have given your would-be assassin quite a shock." There was a bit of something resembling pride in Alexander's voice as he said this.
"Wait a sec, you mean to say that this guy was after me? And what d'you mean, me giving him a shock?" Teri didn't know what to think. Why was this vampire, somebody who pretty much occupied the top spot on the food chain, staring in her direction like he was going to run away and start retching in a dark alleyway somewhere? Something weird was definitely going on. This beat the telepathy out by a long shot.
Then the vampire regained control of his body. Not that it did much. He stood up, but his eyes were as wide as when he had been frozen. "What the hell are you," he managed to choke out before blinking out of existence. It was oddly satisfying to watch him go.
"I doubt you would ever be able to replicate that little shock wave you just produced without the emotional backing you had at the time, but I am betting you're interested in being able to control that type of reaction." He sounded oddly hopeful.
"First you tell me how you deal with it, and then we'll talk about training."
"Deal with what?"
"Immortality. What keeps you from ending it all, you know, just falling on the knife or whatever poetic terms you could use for suicide?" Teri wasn't just asking out of curiosity. That morning she had woken up before everybody else in the apartment and slit one of her wrists. It had healed in half a minute, maybe less. Half of her depression that day had been coming not from the desire to kill herself, but from the knowledge that it would be hard to do without somebody to help her along. If she could figure out how Mr. Burke worked through it, then she might be able to try.
"What makes you think I don't want to?" Came the curt reply from beside her. Teri looked up at the man standing next to her and saw that his usually smirking face was a mask of sorrow. She had been expecting him to say something about divine duty, maybe even to act a bit patronizing. The last thing she had expected was for this confident man, a person for whom she was already developing a profound attachment, to be so devoid of hope. Alexander walked toward a bench facing the river and sat down. Teri followed suit.
"For the first few years of my training, I was enthusiastic. Desdra, she was my mentor, was more than pleased. When I was strong enough, she took me hunting in the surrounding area. Mostly the vampires there were weak, but some were beyond my grasp physically. Still was nothing compared to my telepathic power. I refused to think about my immortality, because I knew that trusting in my body's ability to heal would weaken me as a fighter.
"After a while I began to gather something of a reputation among the vampires in the area. They thought I had to be punished for being so adept at what I did. Instead of attacking me directly, they decided to prey upon one of my family. And so it came to pass that I returned early from hunting one night to see Ather bent over the limp form of my sister Lynette. I think that was one of the only times that I have ever truly lost my temper. I attacked Ather, but the blade did not hit home and she willed herself away. My sister was alive, so I thought nothing of it. And then Ather came to call, this time bringing Aubrey along. You've read about him, he's probably one of her strongest fledglings, and one of the most disarmingly handsome men in the vampiric world.
"I saw them standing in the doorway and instantly knew what they wanted. They had come for Rachael, but not to kill her, at least not in the sense of finality. They would turn the sister into one of their own, hurting the hunter in a way that nothing else could." Teri didn't know what to say. She had read the story, true. But there was so much raw emotion involved which she hadn't been able to grasp until then. Not knowing what else to do, she held her mentor's hand and gave it a tiny squeeze, just to let him know that she was there. He looked down at her gratefully, and she could see the hint of a tear in his eyes. "If you don't want to go on-" she began, but he cut her off.
"No, I want to tell you this. I think it'll be good for both of us." Teri nodded in assent, and Alexander continued.
"Rachael and I were twins, and close didn't even begin to describe our relationship. She was the only one who knew I could hear people's thoughts. When Lynette was burned, she was the one I confided my fears to. I trusted her that much. Anybody else would probably have turned me in to the minister and had me burned or thrown into the water, but not Rachael. We did everything together, although we had been recently been forced to separate a bit in order to go about our traditional duties. Still, she was the only person had I ever felt any real connection to.
"Aubrey was the perfect gentleman, behaving just as he ought to if he was courting my sister. In a way he was, but for a marriage more binding than a pact with a man before God. No, my sister was to be betrothed to Death, the contract to be sealed with the blood of the damned. Aubrey used all his charm, and Rachael was enchanted. As a parting gift of sorts he gave her a rose. A black rose, the stem all but covered with thorns. He tossed it to her, and she cut herself as she caught it. From that moment her fate was sealed. I could only watch, knowing full well that I might never see my sister again.
"For some foolish reason I thought I could protect her. For days I stood watch over her as she worked, hoping that I would be able to stop the attack when it came. I didn't have a prayer. The moment my back was turned, they struck. I heard her cry out and I knew that it was the end. Nevertheless I attacked both Aubrey and Ather at once, lashing out with my mind and my knife. They were faster though, and had thousands of years worth o fighting experience between them. I had only been hunting a few years, and they swatted me away like I was some kind of fly. I could only watch in excruciating pain as they dragged her over my limp, though healing, body. I heard her voice in my mind, painfully clear. *You killed my brother.* I would be able to shake off the injuries, but never those words."
Alexander looked down at the girl who was now leaning against him, staring at a random point in the distance. "You asked me why I don't just end it all. The truth is that I've had a death wish ever since that day. Whenever I go into a fight, a small part of me hopes that this will be the last one, that this time I might finally be able to rest. But I've got a nasty streak of pride, and because of it I refuse to let myself be bested by one of the damned creatures if I know I can win. Unfortunately that seems to be most of the time." He chuckled, but it was hollow and conveyed an almost sickening sense of irony. "That's part of the reason why I teach high school. It certainly isn't the money, Lord knows I have enough of that stored away. It's because the students are about as old as my sister was when she was changed. They might not think it or want to believe it, but they really are full of innocence and idealism. They remind me of what I've lost, and why I'm still hunting. Sort of a check on my suicidal tendencies, you might say. Besides, Prozac would have no affect on me anyway." Teri tried to stifle a small giggle at the last statement. She failed. Looking up at her mentor, she smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Mr. Burke."
"Why do you keep calling me that? You know, you are allowed to call me Alex, seeing as this isn't school. At least not in a formal sense."
"Sorry, but it's kind of a learned behavior for me. I've been taught to show respect to people who have a few more years under their belt than I do, and let's face it, you're easily twenty times my age." Once again with the meek smile. *Great that just had to be said that out loud. Smooth girl, real smooth.*
Alexander didn't mind the slip though. In fact he did something he hadn't done in a long while. He laughed. "What can I say? Sure I'm an old fart, but I've got half the female student body trailing behind me on a leash." He gave Teri a rakish wink, and the girl went a rather violent shade of magenta. This only served to send him into another fit of laughter. Teri couldn't stay embarrassed for long with Alex rolling around next to her in hysterics, and soon enough she too had succumbed to the contagious fit.
"How about I show you how to move between places with your mind? It'll be getting dark in a few hours, and you do have homework to do." Teri grumbled at the teacher who was at the moment looking so innocent and yet had given them an essay to be handed in the next day. This only served to make Alex chuckle once again.
"Sure, you stuck up old man."
"Ah, but you must admit I am a cute old man, no?" Again with the wicked grin.
"Well, are you gonna show me or not?" Teri was trying to keep herself from turning into a talking tomato once again, and it wasn't working.
"Right, but you need to clear your mind when you first start attempting it. Just relax, and breathe slowly. Concentrate on every single breath. Tune out, and focus your energy on the image of a place nearby. Let's try the bridge for starters. Remember, focus on the image. Ready? Go."
Teri closed her eyes and willed herself into the mental image of a familiar bridge. She smiled a deceptively innocent smile. When she opened them, she was on the top of the Brooklyn Bridge. She looked around and gave out something of a war whoop. "HEY EVERYBODY DOWN THERE! LOOKIE HERE!" Suddenly Alex was standing there next to her. He was livid.
"Rule number one: NEVER, EVER do that again. Whenever we are practicing something like this, you must ALWAYS keep me informed of where you are going. I am NOT going to let you injure yourself because of some stupid stunt you decided to pull. This is too important for you to start acting cocky about it. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?"
"Yes." Suddenly Teri was feeling small. Very small. The death glare Mr. Burke. make that Alex was giving her had obviously taken decades of practice to perfect, it was that frightening.
"Good. Now this time you will go to the Tribeca bridge by the quickest possible route. That means NO STOPS. Do I make myself clear." Teri nodded, or rather she managed to jerk her head in a gesture that signaled dome sort of confirmation. "Ready? Go." Teri took a deep breath and blinked out of existence. Alex followed a moment later.
A/N: This was a very emotional chapter for me to write, as you can probably tell. It's going to get very interesting soon, so keep tuning in. So for now, cheers and thanks to all my lovely, wonderful reviewers.