Page 16 of Absolution
“I’m hot, too,” Kelly pointed out. And he was, for a white boy. Blond hair, hazel eyes, pretty, and fit. He was a runner with a total runner body, full of sleek muscles and definition that Abercrombie and Fitch loved. Totally not my type.
“Not my type,” Seiran said.
“Right,” I interrupted and pointed at Gabe. “’Cause the hot blond isn’t your type?”
Seiran blushed. “That’s different.”
Yeah because Gabe was another dimension of attractive. I patted Kelly on the back. “It’s ‘cause Ronnie has a daddy fetish.”
Now Seiran turned red. “I do not!”
“It’s okay, Kelly does too. That’s why the giant muscleman turns him on. He wants someone to spank him when he’s a bad boy.”
Kelly sputtered, his face turning red. I snickered at them both.
Gabe just shook his head. “Focus. If your potential target is strong you may have to keep biting them to control them. But you can do small things without ever having a sip of their blood—like steering them in the right direction or making someone run away.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, there are two of the five Pillars sitting at your kitchen counter. I would categorize that as too strong for anyone.”
Gabe smiled and winked at me, then flicked his eyes in Kelly’s direction. Kelly suddenly slapped his hand to the back of his neck. He looked up, eyes wide and glanced behind him. “Did someone just breathe on me?” He shivered. “Wow, that was so not cool.”
“What was that?” Sei asked, now paying attention to his lover as well.
“Kelly has a sensitive neck,” Gabe said.
“You did that from way over there?” Kelly asked.
“He can do a lot of stuff from across the room,” Sei said and wriggled his eyebrows.
“Wait…” It couldn’t be the same right? All that stuff about feeding people feelings. How could I make someone feel that from a distance? I know feeding on people was a way to keep them compliant. But I never really understood how to get someone who would normally have no interest in me to let me bite them. Gabe and I spent weeks on sex appeal, and I’d come to decide that I just wasn’t cut out to be the sexy night stalker he was. I could read people’s body language, learned their subtle cues, but none of it had worked for me so far. Now he was telling me there was a magic to it? “You’ve been holding out on me.”
“You weren’t ready. All baby vamps start off full-of-themselves and on a power high. And don’t think we aren’t going to talk about your redout issue, but I want to focus on the guys in the alley. You could have scared them away without even touching them. And feeding on them? Don’t you think Luca is a better meal than a couple of punks from Riverside?”
“I’m from Riverside,” I protested.
“Still a punk,” Seiran said.
“Shush, Ronnie.”
“Sure sure, Sammy.”
I growled at him.
“Enough you two. Sit, Sam. Let’s work on this.”
I slid into the chair opposite Sei and Kelly. “You guys okay being my guinea pigs?”
“Not sure you can make me do anything, Sammy.”
“Just don’t make me dance around like a monkey and I’m good,” Kelly threw me a smile then went back to his book. “And no forget stuff. I have a metaphysics test tomorrow.”
“I’ll do my best.” Hopefully Gabe could undo anything I accidentally did, if I could do anything at all.
“We’ll start small,” Gabe said.
I shrugged not thinking for a minute it was going to be that easy. “Is this something that actually happens or are you just making them think it happens?”
“Good observation. It’s an illusion. You may gain some telekinetic powers as you age, but probably not for another fifty or so years. The bigger powers take time to develop for most vampires. Some never gain any at all. This is more of a planted mental suggestion, much like you do when you make someone you bite feel pleasure. Only this is from a distance.” He pulled out his phone and a few seconds later mine buzzed.