Clairvoyants 10

CHAPTER 10:

Tsugumi felt Emerald’s gloved hand slide gently along hers as he left her hand to pull out her chair. Tsugumi smiled, the tiny lines around her eyes showed. When had she last been treated to this... this luxury? This happiness? Emerald seated himself gracefully opposite her and smiled, his teeth a flash of white.
"I believe we’re unfortunate to not have the wonderful company of the clairvoyants..." Emerald spoke trying to break the ice.
"I do not mind your intriguing but individual presence at all.... I hope the evening will go well." Tsugumi’s efforts at being informal were failing.
There was the smell of wine and cigarette. He could read it in her mind. She didn’t like it. But was distracted by a vague feeling she didn’t wish to name. He was at least a good couple of inches taller than her, and yet he seemed taller and larger before her. She was so small. Exposed as a human to all species.
Her decision to leave everything and work at that agency full of lies, the sadness she repressed for the loss of Shade. She was so different from her sister and yet so alike....
"Mr. Emerald, the menu...." Tsugumi’s voice tinkled in his head as he looked away from her face. The waiter stood nearby to take the order.

Tsugumi was about to open her mouth to say something when Emerald cut her, "I would like to be seated with this young lady in a non smoking section preferably without the aroma of wine and smoke...."
"Very well Prince Toravia, I’ll see to the best possible arrangement."
Emerald nodded and the waiter was gone.
"Thank you Mr. Emerald." Tsugumi started with her lips pursed at a huge wall painting. Her interest in the pattern was amazing. Emerald tried to delude her to him.
"It was made by a musician whose music died with his wife and art began with his daughter’s interest in colours." A simple sentence. It could profoundly affect her.
Tsugumi raised her head as her smooth straight black hair fell over her shoulders. "How do you know such intimate details about something so old?"
"Well, I’m pretty old myself...."
Tsugumi said looking him in the eye, "Should I be afraid of you? Afraid of the true nature of your being?"
"Are you?"
"Not now...."
"Well, you are one of those few people who won’t be killed just for their knowledge of us.... Oh! What an impolite man I am, how are you finding your life out of the agency?"
Tsugumi said thoughtfully, "To tell you the truth, the horn of cars, the strange looks that people give can in itself be scary, but I’ve my friends so, I guess I’ll manage...."
Emerald asked quickly before the dinner arrived, "So, am I your friend? Are you secure around me?"
The question startled her, made her want to think. But somehow things were not coming to her easily. There were too many emotions. She wished for all of it to stop. She wanted to stop.
Emerald sensed the discomfort and the moment the waiter had gone, laid his hand over hers and closed his eyes.
"I do not wish to control you. But you give me no choice. I don’t want to see you so depressed and hurt. It’s a beautiful evening. We’ll take a long walk by the sea after this. I’m talking through your mind directly because something like this has a very calm effect. See you’re feeling better already... shall we have our dinner?"
"Yes...."
***
The waves were crashing gently against the sand. Emerald walked at an arm’s distance from Tsugumi. The moon showed the silver in his eyes. They didn’t say a word. Just walked along, each with their feelings and troubles to deal with inside them. Emerald knew there wasn’t any danger to Tsugumi so he stayed apart. If the need would arise he could lift her and fly off to wherever she desired. What is wrong with me? She’s a human. Ultimately I might drink her, kill her....

"What is it like being the prince?" Tsugumi asked, a note of nonchalance in her words.
"Nothing much except that you have to work double that of any other calendar or vampire and yes you do need abnormally large amounts of blood to keep those special powers ready...."
Tsugumi nodded and paused to take off her sandals and walk bare foot.
"Did I scare you with the vampire side of me?"
Tsugumi nodded mutely to say she didn’t mind.
"Well you know what Tsugumi," he paused.
She always calls me Mr. Emerald and here I am calling her by the name. He allowed himself to read her mind for a few seconds to catch her reaction. She was wondering at everything he had been doing. Calling her by name, shifting places because it was uncomfortable for her, holding the car door open, pulling out her chair, helping her with the seasoning in her food.... so many things. Simple gestures seemed ventures of feelings for her.
Emerald saw her rubbing her arm.
"Are you cold Tsugumi?"
Once again she felt the same feelings for him when he said her name for the first time.
"No I’m not cold. You can read minds can’t you?"
"Yes...."
"Well then you must be knowing that you are the first person to call me by name. Mostly Clair and Firon call me Doc, but it’s nice to know my name is also of some use...."
Emerald chuckled and smiled when she smiled at him.
What was going on here? This smiling and caring and mellowness?
"Don’t you fear me?" asked Emerald.
"When my sister could fall in love with one of your kind, I can certainly be friends with one, can’t I be?"
Emerald chuckled again as he closed the distance between them, to talk softly, not out of danger but because both of them wanted it....

***
Firon sat on the sofa her bare legs dangling by its side. Clair had the phone pressed against one ear.
"Yes... ah... no, make that 2 chicken clear soups. And yes... two plates of fish fried and one egg noodles and one veg noodles...."
He covered the mouth of the phone and motioned for Firon to say if she needed anything else.
"And a brick of strawberry ice cream.... thank you. Umm... can we have a tomato salad also?"
Firon jumped off the sofa and headed towards the coffee maker. Both of them were addicted to coffee. Clair got off the phone in a few minutes and was with her soon.
"Clair, I’ve been getting these... these transmissions from another cause. But... they are extremely weak. As if from a dying cause."
Clair studied her face sincerely and spoke in a grave tone, "ASFC is the only agency for causes. And they don’t allow weak or untrustworthy causes to just leave the main building...."
Firon twisted a strand of her hair in her hand and licked off the milky moustache before continuing again, "But, the signals or messages are definitely there. They want to gain entry into my thoughts. And I won’t understand them unless I allow my head to reap the thoughts from the sender’s head."

Clair feared that her condition could deteriorate. Or that she could even be controlled by someone. No one knew the magnitude of her power. Only that what she had shown was a very small part of what she had acquired. Yet....
"Clair? Shouldn’t we tell this to Tsugumi?"
"Hang on, I’ll see where she is."
Clair closed his eyes and tried to locate Tsugumi’s position. His grim face turned into smile as he whispered, "Sorry, didn’t mean to intrude your private space..." he grinned before opening his eyes. Firon was a bit lost in his eyes and jerked back to his words.
"Emerald has put a shield around her. So if anyone tries to read her mind he comes to know," he chuckled softly and said, "They’re on the beach, walking together discussing their pasts. Good... very good."
Firon understood what he meant and smiled too.
"Then I think it’ll be for the best if Tsugumi is informed of this lost cause as early as possible."
Firon felt gooseflesh rise up her skin, "Clair, I’ve no control over the access I grant in dreams. What if I think that the person asking for access is a part of my dream and grant access? Should I stay up the whole night?"
Clair said as he took her hand and guided her to the dining table, "Don’t worry. I won’t let it happen. And by the way, dinner is on the fourth floor, it’ll be reaching us soon."
Firon nodded and laid the plates while Clair went to get the door.

***
Tsugumi had just returned from the bath and smiled at Emerald. He smiled uncomfortably. She asked him caringly, "What is it Emerald? You alright?"
He nodded; his skin looked like a ghost, his lips a deep violet and his eyes were the same violet.
He said, his voice as cold as ice, "Lock yourself in your room. It’s a hunting night. I don’t want to lust for your blood. Go! Get away from me!"
Tsugumi stood still and retorted, "hmm... that was pretty direct."
She had read how vampires were made and she knew all about their blood lust and appearances and all. It was Emerald as an individual she didn’t understand. If he lusted after her blood, nothing could stop him, certainly not the flimsy door of the bedroom.
"Are you controlling yourself from hunting?"
Emerald avoided her eyes, disgust in his voice, "As if I have another option...."
Tsugumi took a step forwards and heard a low growl rising in his throat, "Why don’t you go out and hunt?"
"I’m controlling myself, would you be so kind as to not break my control? Please Tsugumi, leave me alone."
He couldn’t even read her mind. His thoughts were foggy, targeting only the prey his predatory senses could see.
Tsugumi said softly, "Does it hurt the victim too much?"
He snarled and yelled at her, "I’m not drinking you. Don’t even think of it."
Tsugumi said, "Suite yourself, I’ve volunteered for vampire feeding before at the agency for the guest vampires. It’s a weird and exciting feeling, you know?"
Emerald looked up, the violet in his eyes more pronounced than before, "I told you I need more blood than normal, how about you relax for some time while I go hunt, don’t worry it’ll last almost a fortnight...."
Tsugumi smiled and said, "Whichever species you belong to, the nutrition you take should not be affected because of your circumstances. Never compromise on your food and sleep."
Emerald pulled on a wind- cheater and started towards the door, his hand was on the door lock when he turned behind in a most sensuous manner and spoke using his most hypnotic voice, "as you might be knowing, doctor, royal calendars don’t need sleep."
She smiled silently and shut the door after him shaking her head.

***
Firon slept soundly as Clair fought to prevent the lost cause from catching a hold on Firon’s brain. He was trying very badly to enter her brain and would have invaded it completely had Clair not caught Firon’s brain waves in time.
Firon turned and twisted in her sleep and Clair tried to calm her down. She knew Clair had created barriers in her head to prevent invasion by the sender but she wanted all her guard down. This lost cause was not a danger. He didn’t have much time, whoever it was. And the messages he sent were important. Only now were they talking shape....

Whoever it was, had been standing closest to the fence of the cafeteria of their college. Almost a year back, where it had all began. The scene was vivid and very realistic.
Whoever this cause was, was trying to send as powerful messages as possible. And that must be using lots of his power.
Firon saw herself standing still, calm, confused but very still. Clair was yelling at her to run away. All of a sudden someone fired their gun and Clair leapt in front of her. But it was too late. She was already falling down like a puppet whose strings had been cut. She watched Clair being shot again and again even as he tried to drag himself towards her. But then they shot him again and again and again and he stopped his feeble attempts. She saw both of them lying there like dumped dolls.
The person who was sending her these transmissions was then asked to check if they were alive or not. He bent down. There were tears in his eyes. He didn’t want to do that. In his heart he went on saying sorry and incoherent apologies for being a part of this treachery. He turned Clair’s head towards the left as he searched for a pulse in his neck, alive. Then she saw him move over to her body, not yet dead.
The people laid the two bodies on the stretchers and shoved them inside a van. It was an ASFC van.

The sender sat in the van with the bodies, helping the medicos in keeping the two bodies alive. Tubes and wires went in and out of the bodies. The sender controlled his feelings. He was sorry. Very sorry.
The scene changed, it was a huge lab, and Clair was being kept there. He was lying strapped on a gurney there. But he looked different. His skin was pale. He looked very weak. A white suited person was moving around the place with a short but well built man. The white suited person said in his hoarse voice, "It would have been better to get the samples from the human girl... can’t we just exchange Inferno for that girl?"
A very familiar voice pierced Firon’s ears, a voice too familiar. But it was very cold. She knew to whom it belonged, someone at the facility... someone she met quite often....
The same voice came from the short man, "No, we can’t do that. You finish off with him. He exchanged his life for hers...."
Firon would break if she took the transmissions any more. But the short man... who was he... a little more strength to keep the vision going....
The white suited man said with a grin on his face, "So what are your plans for her Baker?"
Firon didn’t know anyone of that name but the voice....
"Nothing much, I’ll use her to make Clair sign the papers you need for your experiments.... meanwhile you start arranging for the money I’m supposed to be getting from you for this."
The person turned towards the sender who was standing guard at the door, to a glass room beyond him. The sender also turned to see the glass room. Firon saw herself lying peacefully there. She looked like she was in a coma or something.
The sender was also gazing at her body in the glass. And when he turned, he was facing the short built man, the one with the familiar voice.
Firon’s capacity reached its limit as she awoke from the dream like state sweating.
She groped around for Clair. He was there with her, telepathically soothing her mind. She caught his arms and whispered urgently, "Your friend, Pete... Baker something...."
Clair’s face contorted in worry as he said, "Yeah Pete Baker what about him?"
Firon said in a low scared voice before burying her face in his shoulders, "Pete sold us to someone for experimenting on us.... take it, read it all in my mind Clair.... it’s all there."
Firon’s arm fell of his as she lay exhausted in his arms. After a few minutes she started sleeping normally. Clair decreased the temperature of the room and invaded her mind completely. Whatever trace of the lost cause was left in her mind had decreased to a soft harmless presence.
It was three in the morning when Clair relieved himself of the vision in Firon’s head. His heart was burning with anger, a fire for revenge.
He saw Firon turn towards him in her sleep. He put an arm around her and lay awake thinking....
"Pete... why?"