Bloodstone Heart (11 page)

Melanie put her foot down. "No. There's no way you can be comfortable all scrunched up. I'm shorter. I'll take the couch and I won't take ‘NO’ for an answer."
 

Josh raised his eyebrows and knew it was useless to argue.

Rowan interjected, "Well, whoever takes the bedroom will have to put up with Harry."

"Harry? Who's Harry?" Josh asked nervously.

"Harry is Darby's rather large cat. Since she left, he has claimed the whole bed as his own and he takes his claim very seriously. Trust me, you'll know him when you see him.
 
And when I say large, I mean very large, twenty-five pounds plus. When he gets on the bed you’ll know it. In the morning, he'll wake you up by standing on your chest and squeaking, not meowing, like a mouse until you get up and put food in his dish."
 

"Well, that's good to know. Okay then.
 
Let's go get something to eat," Melanie said.

Chapter 8

Paddy's just happened to be the little bar at which Melanie and Josh had asked the bartender for directions.
 
Apparently, it was a local dive, but they had the best burgers for miles. Josh and Melanie felt pretty comfortable since they had already been there earlier.
 
After eating, they sat and talked for hours with Blake, Dean, Rowan, and Sally.
 
Dean and Blake teased each other relentlessly, like brothers.
 
Josh found himself envying the two and their relationship.
 

Blake could tell that Josh was enjoying himself and loosening up a bit, even though he kept pretty quiet. At one point, Blake said to Josh, "I hope you don't mind me saying this, but your telepathy powers are amazing. I’ve never encountered anyone quite as gifted.
 
I'm surprised, though, that you leave your mind open for anyone to see."

Josh was shocked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, usually someone with your abilities doesn't leave themselves open for invasion from others.
 
They are usually taught early on how to block others from meandering around in their minds."

That's when Blake realized Josh didn't have anyone. All the thoughts Josh had of being alone and not being able to turn off the voices, how isolated he had made himself in trying to control the voices on his own, came to Blake in a flash.

"Oh, Josh. I'm so sorry.
 
You didn't have anyone to teach you, did you?
 
That must have been miserable not being able to control the constant murmuring and buzz of people’s thoughts wafting through your mind all the time.
 
If you would allow me, I think I could help teach you how to turn it down a notch or so?
 
It's harder to learn when you are older, but I think you'd catch on quickly with how strong your powers are."

Melanie smiled at Josh from across the table.
 
She knew how much it would mean to him to be able to control his power. Josh smiled at Blake and nodded.
 
"Yeah. I'd like that.
 
But I don't want to put you out, I mean, you are already putting us up in your house."

"It's not a problem. Really. Besides it would be interesting to see if you can link."

"Link? What's that?"

"Those that have very strong telepathic abilities can sometimes link others into their telepathic minds.
 
For example, linking two non-telepathic minds with his own.
 
The one with the telepathic ability serves as a battery for the other two and all three can communicate that way.
 
Some can link a few people, from a close proximity, others from more of a distance. Depending on the energy the telepath can produce, sometimes this can even be done over long distances."

"Huh! I had no idea things like that could be done."

"It's amazing what the mind is capable of.
 
Do you know if the ability runs in your family?"

"I was adopted.
 
I have no idea."

"Well then, who knows, maybe you have werewolf or vampire blood in your family.
 
Many who have telepathic abilities do.
 
Vampires and werewolves are not always born with all the abilities of a vampire or werewolf. There are those born from werewolves that don't ever change, but they have other characteristics that are more pronounced instead. Like in any race, there are always anomalies or mutations, whether it be blue eyes instead of green, or telepathy instead of changing to a wolf, no one person is the same."

"That's amazing. I would like to learn more about that."

"Well, there's the bookstore for starters.
 
Sally could show you some books on whatever you want to know. Right, Sally?"

"Yeah. No problem. Since we have to keep an eye on you anyway, hanging at the bookstore could be a good place for both."

Melanie was glad to see Josh open up and enjoy himself.
 
She knew she had brought him to the right place, even if it had been for protection instead of education.
At least when all the danger is over, maybe he will have found some friends and a new sense of confidence in his abilities.
 

The rest of the evening was full of pleasant conversation and great food.
 
When they went back to the house, and said their 'good nights' to Dean and Sally, Rowan gave some much-needed clothes to Melanie.
 
Melanie got set up on the couch after a nice shower and getting into some jammies. Josh too took advantage of a nice long shower and settled into Darby's bed.
 
He turned his iPod on as he could hear the minds of those nearby and he just wanted to rest. Without having Melanie close to him, he could not block out the voices so casually, but he was looking forward to learning how to do so from Blake. Once in bed, he fell asleep fast. He hadn't realized how the stress of the last few days had tired him so.
 

The house was quiet and Rowan and Blake were in bed snuggled together when Blake said, "So why do you suppose those two aren't together?"

"Melanie and Josh?"

"Yeah."

"I couldn't say about Josh, but I can guess about Melanie. Darby told me a bit about her.
 
She lost her parents in a car crash that all three of them were in.
 
Melanie was the only survivor and was in a coma for quite a while after.
 
When she woke she had the power of psychometry.
 
She was shipped off to her Aunt's where they treated her like a leper because of her powers.
 
That's when she started wearing the gloves all the time. Her aunt insisted, in an attempt to make her more normal.
 
When she went off to college, she never heard from them again.

"She was terribly shy in college. Darby and she met up in one of their classes and Darby kind of took her under her wing. She even got her to socialize a bit. She ended up meeting a guy, named Jack Kaufman, and started dating him.
 

"When all seemed as if things were taking a turn for the better, Melanie had a premonition about Jack.
 
He was in a car at night with another girl Melanie didn't know and the car veered off a bridge and into the water. Jack and the girl were killed.

"Melanie was beside herself and searched high and low for Jack to warn him.
 
She told him about the premonition including the unknown girl in the car.
 
He accused her of being a freak and said that he didn't appreciate her accusing him of infidelity.
 
He demanded she leave his fraternity house.
 

"Later that night, Jack did attend a party across the river, meeting up with a girl he had been dating on the sly for quite some time.
 
After a night of drinking, he lost control of his car on the bridge and Jack and the girl both drowned.

"When Melanie found out she slipped into a catatonic state for a few days from the shock.
 
Darby helped her as much as she could, but she refused to socialize with anyone but Darby after that.
 
It was all Darby could do to keep Melanie in school for another couple of months to graduate.
 
She also helped Melanie find an apartment and get her settled once out of college. She even hooked up Melanie with an art dealer who fell in love with Melanie's paintings and promoted her work all over the United States.
 
Her paintings have become quite well known over the years, but despite Darby's efforts, Melanie still refused to socialize.
 
Darby said that Melanie almost never left that apartment. Any socializing she has done has been via email or website blogs.
 

"So given Melanie's past, I'm amazed she's here. I'm guessing she has very strong feelings for Josh, but is scared to death. I'm guessing Josh knows nothing or very little of her past or he'd know what she's sacrificed for him. Or he just doesn't have any feelings for her at all.”

"Well, that is definitely not the case. It's plain as day in his thoughts that he's head over heels for her, but for some reason he seems to think she thinks of him as just a friend. This is the confusing part, all the flashes I see of him and her in his mind, seem to show signs of her flirting with him, albeit very shyly, but it seems obvious to me."

"Obvious to you, but maybe he doesn't have much experience in love.
 
Maybe he's never been in love.
 
Maybe he doesn't know what he's feeling. And if he's confused about what he's feeling, then maybe he's just as oblivious to her all too subtle attempts at showing him her feelings."

"I hope they figure it out soon.
 
He could really benefit from a solid relationship. From what I can sense, he's really isolated himself from everything. I hope teaching him to control his talents will help. I've never sensed anyone so telepathically strong, not even among vampires I've come across."

"I'm sure your helping him will mean a lot.
 
Must be hard not being around others that have the same powers.
 
I know I feel incredibly thankful to have Dean around to answer questions for me. I'm sure you feel the same about Dominic.”
 
She paused for a moment. "Do you think maybe Melanie's right about Darby and Devon?
 
Have we misread the situation?"

"I don't know.
 
I think our theory certainly makes better sense then Darby's, but given all we've been through this last year with them and Sally and Dean, I don't know? We did what we thought was right and that's all we COULD do at the time.
 
I guess we will know in time. I miss them, though.
 
Devon would have been better at dealing with this situation with Melanie and Josh, I'm sure of it."

"Darby too. I have no doubt, but we are helping and I think given the situation, we are their best hope at getting them through this, at least for now. Did you email Dominic about that Black flower thing?"

"Yeah.
 
If I don't hear back from him by the time we get up in the morning, I'll call him.
 
He's pretty good about checking his emails, though, so as soon as he gets it I'm sure he will start looking into it."

"You're a good man, Blake. You have a loving heart and a caring soul and I love you very much."
 
She kissed him on the neck and held him tighter.

"Well, you're pretty amazing yourself, Rowan. I love you too." He kissed her on her forehead. "Sleep well."

"You too and sweet dreams."