Cazi woke slowly from dreams that she couldn't remember. She stretched languidly as she already felt the thirst within. She opened her eyes and looked around the room. There was still a faint light coming in through the closed shutters. She could see it on the wall around the curtains. The glow around the window was faint but bright as the sun itself to her eyes. Oddly enough she was not frightened by the glow and even though it hurt her eyes, dim as it was, she found it beautiful. A wistful sigh escaped her as she knew she would never again see the colors of a sunrise or sunset.
She rose from the bed and walked over to her dressing table, standing in front of it. She looked down into the empty mirror with another soft sigh. "Something else I will have to get used to." She closed her eyes and focused for a moment. When she opened them again, the mirror was no longer blank. She looked at herself in the mirror. Her pale skin seemed to glow in the fading sunlight as it always had. She ran her hand up her flat stomach, smiling as she looked into her eyes. They looked their normal shade of green instead of the glowing brightness they had before.
She turned away and began to dress. As the room darkened fully she realized the sun had set and she threw back the curtains and opened the shutters. She took a deep breath of fresh air before stepping back from the window. She walked to the door of her apartment and picked up the newspaper that had been delivered. She sat down in her chair and looked through the newspaper. She smiled to herself as she saw that Her Majesty, Queen Alexandra had awarded the Italian marathon runner a golden cup since his medal had been taken away from him. There was no mention of the dead Whitechapel woman in the newspaper, not that she expected there to be.
While she was looking at the theatre listings she opened her mind trying to hear nearby thoughts. She smiled as they began to filter into her head just as if she was standing on the street listening to people talking. That is what she was doing when she sensed... something. It was like a sound but she was almost positive that she did not hear it. She set the paper down and rose from her chair. The feeling had come from her bedroom. She walked as quietly as she could towards her room, being careful to take her time. As she stepped through the doorway she relaxed. Aelfric was smiling from his seat beside the window. "Hello, Cazi. I trust you slept well."
Walking over to the seat opposite him she settled down, smiling back at him.
Yes, Aelfric, I slept quite well. And yourself?
She was careful to keep her 'voice' down to a normal 'conversational' level. Aelfric smiled. "You are learning quickly, Cazi. What else have you been practicing?"
"I was just practicing opening my mind to hear other people's thoughts when I... heard... or sensed... something from this direction." She said, still not sure how to describe what she had felt. She remembered her experiment the night before and added excitedly. "Oh! And last night I moved the brush with my mind." She fought to keep her hand from going to her forehead as she remembered how her first attempt had turned out.
Aelfric laughed as she felt a light brushing against the back of her mind, the hairs on the back of her neck sticking up. "Hit yourself in the face did you?" His laughter broke off as he looked at her. "You heard me before I came up here? And you just sensed me reading your thoughts just now. That is amazing." He sat back stroking his beard thoughtfully.
Cazi felt the ghostly touch at the back of her mind fade and shook her head. "That was you? What was it that I... heard? And why is it amazing?" She asked as she leaned forward, resting her arms on the table, looking at Aelfric.
"It is amazing," he said. "Because it took me a decade or two before I had developed the ability to sense when a vampire was using its powers around me. It's just a feeling I get when one of our kind is using certain powers near me. And it only works with certain powers. If a vampire is reading someone else's mind, I cannot sense it. Only if they are reading mine. And with some vampires I cannot sense it even when they are reading mine. Some of our kind are very subtle with it." He smiled and shrugged. "I'm not very subtle."
"So someone might be able to read my thoughts and I would not even know it?" Cazi asked, incredulous.
Aelfric nodded. "Yes, especially as young as you are. As you get older you might be able to sense it more effectively. You will also be able to sense other powers being used."
"Like what? And how will I know?" Cazi interrupted.
"Like when a vampire moves something with its mind. That has a distinctive 'sound' to it." He smiled at her. "I heard your first 'practice' down the street. It was quite loud. Our ability to move faster than humans can see, that has another distinctive 'sound'. It is not a loud one but if you are nearby, you can pick it up."
Cazi frowned thinking about what all he had said. She wondered how many other vampires had heard her practicing. Aelfric's voice shook her out of her thoughts. "What was that, Aelfric?"
"I said, it is also surprising that you were able to move the brush so soon." Aelfric patiently repeated himself. "Can you do it again? I would like very much to see you do it."
Cazi smiled proudly, unconsciously sitting up straighter in her chair. When she heard him ask her to do it again she nodded. "Yes, I think I can." She half-turned towards her dressing table, holding her hand out towards the brush. She slowly built up her will, keeping her concentration on the brush even when she heard Aelfric's voice in her head.
That should be enough Cazi. Too much and it will be loud.
She concentrated on the brush and sent out her will, the brush rattling on the desk before sailing across the room into her hand.
"Very good, Cazi. Very good indeed." He said as she turned to him, holding the brush with a huge smile on her face. "A little bit more practice and you will be hardly making a whisper when you do it." He looked at her closely. "How do you feel, Cazi?"
She set the brush down on the table. "I feel fine. Thirsty, but fine."
"Then come. It is time to begin teaching you the fine art of feeding." He rose, holding his hand out to her.
She took it and rose as well. They exited the apartment and went down the stairs. She opened her mind and gasped as she caught the tail end of one of her neighbors thoughts.
... up in her apartment for the last two days doing God knows what, but I can imagine from the noise she was making the first night.
She looked around trying to pinpoint where the thought came from as she lost it in her surprise and she saw Aelfric smiling. He looked over her head towards the woman sweeping her stoop. A quick glance showed that even though her apartment was in the next building over, it still jutted almost next to where her bedroom wall would be.
"Let it be, Cazi." She heard Aelfric whisper. "They don't know that I left your apartment through the window." She looked away from the woman sweeping with a polite nod of greeting that the woman returned. "So it is natural for them to think that I stayed with you the entire time. That is why I came out the front door this time." She looked back over at him as she heard him chuckle and continue. "And, truth be told, you
were
a little loud that first night."
Cazi gasped again, this time at him. She slapped him lightly on the arm. "That was not my fault and you bloody well know it." She smiled and squeezed his arm. "Some roguish fellow took control of my body and forced me to make all that noise."
Aelfric laughed loudly as they turned to walk down Thames Street. "As you say, Cazi." He tipped his homburg at a lady passing by with her child while his voice spoke in Cazi's mind.
I might speak into your mind, Cazi, but I did not control your body.
