Bliss of Reentry: Part V

  “Damn it, Tobias,” Aeryn said to herself. She wiped the moisture from her eyes on the arm of her jacket and hoped that her face wasn’t too telling of the tears she had shed. Cautious to appear normal, she knocked on the door. 

 

 “Aeryn, my love,” Salem said, opening the door and embracing her old friend. “It’s so good to see you.”

  “Ditto,” Aeryn said, returning the hug.  As she did she could feel walls going up around her aura. Aeryn was what was known in the psychic world as a channeler.  She had no clearly defined abilities of her own, outside of a basic empathic sense of her own aura and the auras of those around her. However, she could adopt the telepathic abilities of those in her vicinity, if they had any, as long as she had some sense of their psyche. 

Salem, was a latent.  Latents, unlike psychics, had no awareness of their own aura or the auras of those around them. Their mental facilities did not generally extend beyond those of a normal human. What made these individuals notable is that they possessed at least one preternatural enhancement on their psyche, although they usually had little to no control over it.

 

Salem was born with a natural, unbelievably strong barrier against any and all extrasensory waves. Although she could not control or feel it, the mental block was up constantly, and it protected her from intrusions and manipulations on her aura by other psychics.  Her emotions and actions could not be tampered with, her thoughts could not be read, and most importantly the life energy contained in her aura could not be drained. In her presence, Aeryn piggy-backed on this incredibly valuable immunity and protected her own psyche from invasion.

 “Oh my goodness, I’ve missed you.” Salem stood back and examined her old friend.  “I’m so glad you were able to find us.  I was sure Tobias couldn’t decipher my messages,” she said, referring to Tobias’s ability. Tobias was also a latent, like Salem, but he could pick up on extrasensory wavelengths, sometimes being able to perceive thoughts of nearby psychics, or messages passed telepathically from one psychic to another.  He couldn’t control what passed through his psyche, but he had learned how to hone in or dim the intensity of certain messages. “It’s so hard nowadays to find someone trustworthy to send out waves for me, especially with the capabilities to encode them.  Hadrian used to do it so well.”

Aeryn balked a little at the mention of her brother, but Salem shooed her into the apartment before she could tense up.  “Well don’t stand in my doorway all night, come in,” Salem said tugging Aeryn’s arm. “We can sit and chat in a minute just let me put this fish in the stove.  Are you hungry?”

 “No, no,” Aeryn answered. “Toby and I grabbed something on the way here.”

“Ah, Toby.  The forever fiancé,” Salem sighed, walking towards the counter were a chopping board full of salmon awaited her.

 

 “Hey, a three year engagement is completely normal, especially now that we’ve stopped wearing our engagement rings,” Aeryn said, sarcastically.  She sat down on a bar stool in front of Salem and examined her bare ring finger. “And now he’s downstairs guarding the parking lot, pissing me off.”

“Hmmm, I thought you looked… moist… but I figured I’d keep it to myself.”

 “Eh,” Aeryn replied. “He’s an asshole.”

“Oh, cut it out.  The way things are now… well, this is just no time for a wedding.” Salem said, patting the salmon.

Aeryn huffed in annoyance. “I’m not talking about that, Salem. He wouldn’t come upstairs with me. He still refuses to come anywhere near Roux.”

“Well, Tobias had been with The Calling in the beginning, when it was still a good thing. You know, before all that… stuff. He’s just stuck in their old mentality and trying to reconcile it with what’s happening now.” Salem coughed self-consciously.”And then after what happened with you and Hadrian… I mean, you almost… It’s just that no one thought that you’d survive…”

Aeryn sighed, trying, without success, to keep her memory from returning to that fateful night where in trying to save her brother’s life, she nearly lost her own. “Well, I didn’t die, Salem,” she said. “And if what happened to me that night is anyone’s fault, it’s mine.”

“No one was at fault, it’s just that… you just can’t blame him for feeling the way that he does, Aeryn.”

“Oh, I think I can.” Aeryn replied stubbornly.  

“Well, don’t,” Salem said. She tossed the salmon into a pan and turned to put in in the oven.

Aeryn shrugged and smiled up at her friend. She had missed her. But her smile was short-lived.

“Any word on Hadrian?” Salem asked.

 

“No. I haven’t sensed him, heard from him, or seen him in almost 6 months.  And since then no one else has been able to trace him. He’s perfected his mental shield. Even Toby can’t hear anything,” Aeryn answered. Lately, he had been on constant alert, searching the network for anything involving Aeryn’s brother.

 

“Too bad.” Salem said adjusting the pan in the stove. “And have there been any reports of, you know, like, deaths?” 

 

“You mean have there been any reports of deaths linked to Hadrian,” Aeryn corrected, furrowing her eyebrows.

“Don’t you sit there and get yourself pissed,” Salem said, closing the oven and righting herself. “You know what I’m trying to say.”

 “Hadrian has never killed anyone, and he never will.” Areyn said, crossly. “He only takes what he absolutely needs, when he absolutely has too. And he’s never taken more from an aura than what could be replenished.”

 

“You can’t say never,” Salem replied.

 

“Well, as you can see, I’m fine. And it was an isolated incident that happened more than a year ago,” Aeryn sulked. “Stop bringing it up.”

  

“Okay, okay,” Salem said, conceding.  “But listen. I’m not saying that the Hadrian we know and love would ever willingly kill someone. What I am saying is that someone does needs to get a hold of him, because if he keeps it up, eventually he’ll… you know… cease being the Hadrian that we know and love. The fact that he’s had to resort to aura draining is bad enough.  Even if he is careful not to cause irreparable damage.” 

 “He won’t turn, Salem. Yes, he has vampiric tendencies, but he isn’t… I know him. He wouldn’t allow it to happen to himself. He’d find me, or Tobias, or you, or… I don’t know.  But I know he’ll get help.” Aeryn frowned, hoping that Hadrian would overcome his stubbornness and find her if he needed her.

“I know he will too, sweetie.” Salem said supportively. “What about you’re connection to him? If anyone could find him, it’d be you.”

 

  “No. I’m completely cut off. He wants me out of his head.  Occasionally, I’ll think that I sense something but, it’s always gone before I can get a clear connection.”

 

Aeryn shook her head as if to shake off thoughts about her brother.

 

“Hmmm,” Salem hummed thoughtfully. “Okay, enough of this. Come sit on the couch with me.”

 

“Gladly,” Aeryn said, relieved to finally be able to change the subject from herself and her sibling. “This is a really nice place, Salem.” Aeryn got up and looked around, following Salem to the living area.

 

“Yeah, I like it too. I hope that we can actually live in it for a little while. It seems we’ve been having to up and move every other day lately.”

 

  

“Yeah,” Aeryn nodded. “How’s Roux, Salem?”

 

 

“Roux? Oh, she’s uh, she’s angsty. Disgustingly, morbidly angsty. Hormonal. Belligerent. Head-strong.  Annoying as all hell. Basically everything else you’d expect from a 15 year old.”

 

“She’s also a 15-year-old with a huge amount on her plate.”

 

“Tell me about it.” Salem leaned back on the couch and sighed heavily. “I just feel so bad for her.  We can barely go out in public.  She can’t go to school. She has to move from place to place so that Rowanne and her harem of psychotic loony toons don’t do God knows what to her. She’s confined to a life of inflexible self control. Her life sucks, Aeryn.”  

Aeryn nodded in commiseration as they settled onto the sofas, but she couldn’t help but wonder exactly how all of this was affecting Salem.  It was 10 years ago that a small, blond, physically fragile, but psychically indomitable 5 year old was thrown into Salem’s arms in one last attempt to save the tiny thing’s life. Since that day, Salem had made it her purpose to keep the girl alive, no matter the cost. And the cost was very high. Salem’s entire life dissolved into an isolated stream of running and hiding, false names and shady motels, raising a child that wasn’t her own. 

 

“Well, you guys have to keep a low profile.” Aeryn said, worriedly examining her friend.

 

“It’s not just that.” Salem replied, scooting around on her couch. “Her urges to draw energy from outside sources are becoming stronger. It’s hard for her even to live in this apartment building.  She can sense our downstairs neighbors. The temptation is so enormous.”

 

“How is she taking to the serums?” Aeryn asked, worried, hoping that Roux had not already developed a tolerance.  Once the serums stopped working for Hadrian, things had fallen apart.

 

“They work really well. We’ve been really fortunate with that, but it’s clear that at some point, we are going to have to step up to a stronger dose. Or start looking into alternatives. She’s had to start taking them more often. The strain is there.”

 

“Maybe she could start meditating?” Aeryn suggested. “Hypnosis works sometimes, too.”

 

 “Yeah, we’ll see.” Salem looked thoughtful. “I just wish there was more that I could do, you know?”

 

“Just being there for her is a huge help,” Aeryn said sympathetically.

“Yeah, but even the idea that I’m one of the few people who can be there for her is a pain to her. There is no risk of her getting to my aura,” Salem said, tapping her head, “and because of that, I’m safe. And you, well you can basically hide behind me. It’s a constant reminder to her.  You know? 

Salem rubbed her chin.  “ You know what’s weird? I kind of really wish that Hadrian was here so that he could talk to her.”

 

 “Talk to who? Roux? Hadrian, talk to Roux? For what?”

 

 “Well, you know, he went through all this. The isolation, the urges, the serums.”

 

 “I guess he did.” Aeryn nodded thoughtfully. “Yeah.”

 

 “I think that maybe he could give her some advice.”

 

 “Terrible idea,” Aeryn said, switching from nodding to shaking her head no. “Nah.”

 

 Salem chuckled. “Yeah, I suppose Hadrian is the last person to be allowed to give Roux advice. Oh man, what would he tell her?”

 

 “Cut and run.”

 

 “Run and hide.”

 

 “Shoot and run.”

 

 “Duck…while running.”

 

 “Just run.”

 

Aeryn let out a soft laughed, watching Salem scoot around on the couch looking for a comfortable position. “So where is she now?” she asked.

“Upstairs in her room being socially evil. Probably reading philosophical rants about the pains of false imprisonment.” Salem nodded to herself. “That’s her latest hobby.”

“You think she’ll mind if I check up on her abilities?” 

“Of course she’ll mind,” Salem replied with a wry smile. “But do it anyway.”

“Plan to,” Aeryn said as she pushed herself off the couch and made her way toward the spiral stair case. 

 “First door on the left,” Salem called after her. “Oh, and while you’re up there can you tell her that she still needs to vaccuum. Oh! And to come down and help with the dishes.

 “Will do.”