A Requiem Eternal

Chapter 25 - Hidden Gifts

Daniel felt Tess behind him while he sat reading, going over the translated words of Sara that told him what he was. Why did Tess have to be so different from the others? Why did he feel so comfortable with her? She could see him feed and wasn't afraid of him. And he didn't know why. To be cold to her was the last thing he wanted to do. He needed to know if she could hear him. Daniel turned the triangle of his mind to her.

"We can't be together, in the way you want, Tess," Daniel said to her mind.

"I've told her why Daniel," Kate said with her head down walking to Daniel.

Daniel turned around, his face drained of what little color it had. "Kate, I'm sorry...I thought--"

"--I know, it's okay. We must seem a lot alike being mother and daughter. You might want to look before you...uh, speak from now on," Kate reminded.

"How did she take it?" Daniel asked.

"It's not going to be easy. This is her first time, being in love...It's going to take some time and a lot of willpower from you I would guess." Kate smiled.

Daniel sighed heavily not wanting to deal with the added tension he felt would soon come from Tess. Luckily another question came to his mind to change the subject.

"You both can hear me and see me feed. How is it possible? I have done all I can to keep you both from bonding with my mind."

"I don't know...But I do know where we might be able to find out. Are you ready to learn how to translate the rest of the book?"

"Yes," Daniel said happy to focus his mind on something else.

Kate got out the primer and Sara's grimoire. But when she tried to open it, the book wouldn't budge. Daniel looked at her curiously. She slid the book over to him. After several strong handed attempts, he couldn't open it either. He looked up at her hoping for an explanation.

"Sara it's okay. He's here to help," Kate said to the room.

"Who are you talking to?" Daniel demanded in a whisper.

"The person who led me to the book, the woman who wrote it, Sara O'Duinn," Kate replied.

"You can communicate with spirits?" Daniel asked.

"Not always, just since I moved here. Believe me, I tried to ignore her...but she is more than determined," Kate replied.

"He is different, Sara...like Lorelle. Let us open the book." Kate looked around, talking to the room.

A mist collected at the corner of the ceiling. It plunged into the center of his body. Daniel sensed a warm and calm presence moving to his mind. He let it linger there sifting through his past as long as it wanted. He found it surprisingly pleasurable and he wanted it to know he had nothing to hide.

The grimoire spun around to face Daniel. It opened with an unseen hand turning the pages. The red ribbon bookmark floated down to the page marking the new passages to translate.

"Looks like you're in." Kate smiled stating the obvious. "I think Sara trusted Lorelle. So maybe you should too," Kate reassured him.

"Okay so here is the primer. Just match the sounds made by each symbol to the corresponding letter and you should pick it up in no time," Kate said, moving to the office door with a yawn.

She looked back at Daniel; he was already engrossed and silent with translating. Kate grabbed her laptop, shut the office door silently and went upstairs to her room.

***

Lorelle arched her back inside of Shadow. She knew she could not feed from Daniel again. Though she found it enjoyable, he was becoming too weak. She was just as curious about Kate and Tess as he was. They could hear his mind and see him feed. It only meant one thing. It would be disastrous for Daniel to feed from either or both. She needed to find out for Daniel, how it happened to them both. How pronounced it was.

She convinced Shadow to climb the stairs and go to Kate's bedroom. Once there, Shadow didn't need much more encouragement, jumping up onto the bed. Lorelle saw her, asleep with a thin lit box next to her. Shadow curled up next to Kate purring with contentment. Lorelle glanced at the white lit box and noticed it had words she could read. She read her words from her journey to find Sorin. They cut her again just as if she were reliving it. How stupid she had been in his regard. How could she have been so deceived by time? If anything this human, Kate had a boldness which might serve her. Lorelle closed her eyes and focused on the astral plane. She saw Kate's consciousness in a searing translucent stream of gradual blue to red. She began to feed slowly hoping to hide in the mist of her dreams. She soon began to wish the visions flowing from Kate would evolve from the mental anguish of her early childhood.

A handsome young man with dark hair and smiling eyes knelt down in the driveway to speak to Kate.

"Where are we going Daddy?" Kate asked.

"Let's go have some ice cream," he said looking back at the front door of the house anxiously.

She knew this meant Mommy was sick again. Her mother screamed at no one inside of the house, screams of inexplicable rage. So filled with her irrational hate of the moment they were hardly distinguishable as human speech. She was so involved with her tirade she hadn't noticed Kate and her Dad left the house minutes ago. The handsome man Kate called Daddy swept her up and placed her softly in the car closing the door. She looked back into his big dark brown eyes like hers through the car window with questioning. Would they make it out of there in time? They usually did. Her Dad made sure of it. Kate squirmed in her seat waiting for him to turn on the car. She saw her Mom coming out of the front door of the house. Kate curled up in the smallest ball she could and covered her eyes. She heard the car start and the screech of the tires when they pulled out of the driveway. He had done it again and she loved him for it.

Lorelle was beginning to see why Kate's color ranged from the calmest of blues to a deep blood tinged red seething in anger. She paused for a moment from the hopeless terror and hurt of a child. She didn't often connect so fully with the sorrow of another. Kate's childhood memories were so powerful. They ripped Kate apart and happened in her youth well before she had the tools to cope with them. She saw Kate awoke one morning to find she lost her Father and protector in the space of minutes in an early morning car accident. Kate sat behind a closed casket, her face as white as its pearl finish. Around her, they talked about how he had been taken before his time. All she knew was he left her. She didn't understand why. Was she really as worthless as her mother told her she was every day? He must have finally just given up on her too. She did understand now she would have to live every day without him to help her.

Lorelle broke away from Kate's mind still immersed in her deep resentment of a mother she didn't know was deeply touched but in the constraints of human society was bound to love. Kate's mother was fed upon for many years. She tortured Kate with her resulting madness every day. At a young age, Kate learned to look for patterns, to anticipate and get away from her mother's relentless attacks on her developing sensitive nature. She subconsciously gained the skills of an empath. This protection she passed on to Tess upon her birth.

Lorelle glanced again at the thin lit box with her words and the secrets of the Psyon spilling across it. She searched within herself for a reason to continue. Daniel needed her help and she wasn't ready to die.