Same Deep Waters

[skeggsismad]

Though a few weeks had passed, Ransom hadn’t forgotten about Brianna and his meeting with the woman. He’d anxiously awaited it and hours before had even thought of not coming. He wasn’t positive what they were going to be doing during this meeting and whether she was going to be carrying big weapons around like last time. They were in a better part of town, so surely that wouldn’t be necessary, right?

It had been Walter who had convinced him to come, his soothing words over the phone and suggestion that he continue to take the sliver of a pocket knife just in case something happened. Now he was here, 5:55pm, pacing around the first floor of the library nervously. He was dressed the same as he always was: dark blue jeans and a raggy t-shirt that made him look more like a teen than an adult.

He hadn’t brought his panting supplies, and as a result, he felt particularly naked. It was strange how having his knapsack strap across his chest could make him feel so much more confident. The young man took out his crappy nokia cellphone that looked like it was from the dinosaur years (it was flip phone. Who had flip phones these day?!), just to  make sure that indeed it was still turned off like he’d confirmed five minutes previous.

Now all he had left was to wait around idly for Brianna, hoping she’d spot him once she arrived rather than him having to scout around the whole library to look for her.

[Idrial]

Brianna had arrived at the library an hour before Ransom had shown up, she was sitting in a comfy lounge chair on the first floor with her head stuck in a random book she had grabbed off the shelf in the weapons section. Big surprise. She was wearing something that was a little more inviting than her last choice of wear. She wore a bright orange top with a dropped shoulder along with dark blue jeans and a pair of orange flats that matched her shirt; her choice of wear seemed cheery but Brianna herself was far from happy. The dirk however she had left because she knew it made Eric very nervous.

Her last few weeks had been absolute hell as she had found out that her long time friend Kerr Galvin was dead. She had found out from Ben that his lover had died through a phone call and she had hung up before she had gone into a grieving state for nearly three days. Rage and guilt ran through her body like blood running through a human; it was a sickening feeling. She needed to focus tonight as the task that was before her would be one that might prove to be difficult as she had no clue how Ransom would react to her being a vampire. She just prayed he wouldn't flip out as she was sure she would have to do more than just say she was a vampire; she would have to show him too.

She peeked over the edge of the book when the door had opened and she was glad too see Eric walk through the door. It was the first smile she had expressed in weeks and she watched him for a bit before she placed the book on the end table. She got up slowly walking towards him and she softly called out his name just enough so he could hear it and low enough not to disturb the other's that were reading. She gave him a small wave as she stood by his side.

"I'm glad you came." She said sweetly. "Follow me." She made her way towards the restricted section, she gave a slight nod the the librarian and she nodded back. She stood at a steel door with the words restricted across the front, she took her library card and swiped it through the card key hole. The light turned green and she opened the door, "After you." She gave  him an encouraging smile, she hoped that he didn't have the silly notion that Brianna was going to harm Eric.   

[skeggsismad]

Brianna didn’t look the same as she had the last time they’d met. From what he remembered, Brianna had been wearing darker clothes that gave off a sort of sinister, spooky feeling. They’d also met in a much less public place, in the subway in the middle of the night, which had given him the creeps. Here in the library, things seemed to have normalized. The woman began to guide him and Ransom followed, giving a mannerly smile in return to her greeting. He couldn’t see any signs of the weapon she had been carrying last time, but maybe the fact that he’d seen it last time had given her incentive to hide it a bit better.

Though he felt uncertain about it, as if he were walking into a trap, Ransom did go ahead of Brianna into the room. As he did, worries flooded into his mind. He could picture Brianna closing the door before entering and locking him there. Then he wouldn’t be able to get out and surely something horrible would be waiting for him in the ‘restricted’ area of the library.

But his fears melted away when none of what he had been fretting about actually occurred. All that had happened was he’d entered a new room that he’d never been in before and Brianna had followed.

“Thanks,” He spoke up, though he wasn’t sure what he was thanking her for. Opening the door, maybe? It just seemed like it was something he should say at the moment, if only because he couldn’t think of anything else he could possibly say.

[Idrial]

Brianna had nodded her head, accepting his thanks with a small grin on her face as she let Eric venture into the room before she followed after him silently. She watched him carefully as he took in his new environment and she quite pleased too see that he was doing quite well, he seemed less nervous than their previous encounter. As the entered the all the room was filled with a soft glow from the lights that kept the darkness away, in the center lay a rug on the hard wood floor. There was an oak wood side table that had elegant old lamps sitting on top; each accompanied by two comfy leather chairs that were a classic black. A long couch that was leather as well remained a little off to the side closer to the light while a small desk with some papers and writing utensils lingered off to the side but with a more modern light that would give you the perfect conditions to set up a book and write some notes.

"How has the last few weeks been for you?" She didn't sit down right away letting Eric have first pick of his seat assuming that he wouldn't be going through the mountains of books that remained in this room. All of them would be authors that Eric wouldn't know and on subjects that might peek his interest for this was a collection that few mortals would ever have the privilege too see. Brianna's head swiveled back and forth as she gazed upon the rows of books; it had been so long since she had the chance to return. She spent many hours in this place when she was working for the Oligarchy and that seemed like a very long time ago. Tonight she would be at working with Eric and it gave her a feeling that even though the past had been an era of unfortunate events it didn't mean that the future would follow the same path.       

[skeggsismad]

Ransom gave a good glance around at the room. He wasn’t much of an avid reader but the exclusive vibe he got from the room made him feel strange. It was like he was walking into the VIP section of a club; he suddenly felt important and inclusive when that had never been the case before in his life. He noted the different places to sit and stood there, waiting for Brianna to make the decision on where they were going to sit. When she didn’t sit down right away he felt awkward, realizing that it was probably his move to figure out where they would settle. He found the two black leather seats the most approachable, sitting down on one hesitantly and presuming Brianna would sit on the other.

The question from earlier rung in his head. It was supposed to be a simple question: how had your week been? But reflecting, Ransom realized he didn’t really want to talk about the weeks that had come between their meetings. He hadn’t had much of a pleasant time.

That one night that had started at Pompeii rung in his head; how he’d let complete strangers give him a ride and walk into his home, only to discover a dead body on the couch. That whole thing had spiraled out of control and he certainly didn’t want to tell Brianna about that. He knew the therapeutic thing to do would be not to lie, but then, bigger things were at stake here. He could go to prison for a crime he hadn’t even committed. He definitely couldn’t tell Brianna, especially since Walter had told him to keep a lid on it.

“Uhm…they were alright, I guess. I just painted and stuff.” He shrugged his shoulders, trying to be casual about his response but his anxiety showed through. Then again…didn’t he always seem anxious?

“What about you?” He asked. It had always been a tactic of his to ask questions of others so that while they were talking about themselves they would be distracted and too self-involved to ever ask about him. It was a bonus in multiple ways: he didn’t have to tell any personal details and people tended to like him because they felt he was interested in them. In reality, he was only trying to shift the subject of attention.

[Idrial]

She sat down in the black leather chair beside Eric, she was glad to hear that things had gone well for him. His body language although told a different story as if he was hiding something from Brianna but she wouldn't press the matter with Eric at the moment. In fact she was more worried about how he would react to the news that she was a vampire; the thought alone made her very nervous. She wasn't sure how Eric would react or how much convincing she would had to do to make Eric believe that the supernatural was real.

"It's been okay the last few week thank you for asking." Her voice was sincere but it was edged with sadness."Things have been plaguing my mind and I found out that a dear friend of mine had died." She started to play with her ring that adorned her finger as she thought about Kerr's death; it had been tragic incident indeed.

"Least we aren't in a creepy subway," it was her attempt to make a joke. She had a small smile on her face, "You're much more calm than last time. Now I must ask have you thought about where you want our session to go ?" She wanted him to talk for a bit because he was in for a huge surprise and she wanted to ease him into telling Eric that there was a world beyond his own mortal world.



 

[skeggsismad]

Ransom smiled politely at the joke, but he didn’t appear to think it was very amusing. It wasn’t the fact that  the joke had been unfunny, really, but more so the overlapping news of someone dying. Although he’d never had anyone personally close to him die, Ransom had had a dozen of close calls with death, each one more traumatic than the other. He didn’t know what he should say to Brianna about it. He needed to say something, he knew, but he wasn’t sure what. They weren’t close, so what was the polite thing to say about someone’s death that was hitting someone else pretty hard?

“I’m sorry for your loss.” He whispered. Afterwards he thought that whispering it was a bad idea; it made it sound like he didn’t care or something.

The notion of where he wanted this session to go, though, that was a question that was hard to answer aloud. Internally, he had a lot of reasons. He was different, strange. He reacted in ways to things that he knew he shouldn’t. He had thoughts that bothered him at night and terrible things just happened to him, one or another. He wanted this session to lead where he wanted everything to lead- for him to become a normal person. But he didn’t know if that’s really something Brianna could deliver in one session. He’d been working on it for years, after all, and had never succeeded himself.

“I just….I want to try.”

He’d try at this session to do what Brianna wanted and maybe if he did, that would cure him.

“I’ll do better than last time.”

That sounded like a doable goal. 

[Idrial]

Brianna was pleased with his answer but let's see if he could put it into action, she shifted in her chair uncomfortably as this was always difficult to do with someone who hadn't been exposed to her kind. She had touched his mind and he would feel a slight tingle but he would have no notion of why his mind had tickled for a few seconds, she needed to know what his thoughts were before he put them into action.

"Shane sent you to me because I can do things no other mortal can offer. I have studied the mind for all my life and what I can do requires years of dedicated practice." Telepathy was a useful tool when it came to the mind and she could use it in ways others only imagined. Dominance was a close second but she would never imagine using it on Eric.

"Do you remember when I asked you on the subway what you thought of vampire's?" Brianna was waiting to read his thoughts and quite frankly she was scared of Eric's reactions.
 

[skeggsismad]

Mortal?

That was a weird word. It sounded like something out of a science fiction book or something. Already Ransom was feeling discomfort creep back into his psyche, though for reasons completely unrelated to what was on Brianna’s mind. Already he felt like he didn’t know what was going on. Already, Ransom Clarke felt stupid.

He focused carefully on Brianna’s next words. If he looked like he was listening maybe he could convince her he knew what was going on even if he didn’t, even if he was just a poor uneducated fool who got thrown off by unfamiliar words.  He nodded his head to her statements. He thought that made sense. Brianna was supposed to be a ‘different’ kind of therapy so it made sense that she had to know a lot about the brain and stuff.

But wait, vampires- what? Now things were getting confusing again. What did it matter what he thought about vampires? Did Brianna think he was crazy and believed in things like that? He was sure that was probably a mental disorder in itself. He didn’t remember mentioning anything to Shane that would make that disorder a possibility, though. Maybe Brianna wasn’t as good at her job as she thought she was.

“Yeah. I remember.”

Maybe the question had nothing to do with vampires at all. It could have been a memory test. They had talked about a lot of things on that night and maybe Brianna wanted to test if he remembered the little details.

[Idrial]

She could hear and feel every thought that was going on inside Eric's head, his discomfort had come creeping back and she could feel it flowing into her own mind. Although he had these feelings Brianna was calm like a cucumber and maybe he would be one of the few mortals that didn't have a total freak. His confusion was acceptable as he really wouldn't have a clue as to what was going on at them moment, it would seem he was having all the usual emotions that would come with explaining a difficult situation like this to Eric.

"That is good that you remember." For the first time Eric would clearly see her lovely fangs, she had hidden them behind her lips during their last encounter. "Then you know vampires are portrayed as violent blood suckers who see humans as nothing but a source of food." This wasn't the case with most vampires like Brianna but some vampires gave the others a bad name.

She took a small vial out of her pocket, in the vial contained mercury and it was a very easy material to handle when using telekinesis. She set it on the table for the moment before returning her attention to Eric, "What if I told you that vampires were real and that you're sitting with one right now." She awaited for Eric's thoughts and this time she wasn't about to hold back for in order for Brianna to help him he needed to know the truth.       

[skeggsismad]

There. It’d been a memory test. Ransom could feel himself relax in the chair; that was, until, he saw the fangs. They might have been easier to ignore, easier to miss, if the topic of conversation had been anything else. He was certain he’d sworn others had teeth that were similar, but teeth had all shapes and sizes, didn’t they? They were just teeth, not fangs. This whole conversation it had to be some sort of psychological test he had to pass. This whole thing, it wasn’t happening- it couldn’t be.

He flinched when Brianna moved; he still didn’t trust her. He was certain she was about to pull out a weapon, but instead it was a tiny glass container full of…well, he didn’t know. Of course he felt the need to run. But here they were at a public library, and somehow they still weren’t very public right now. Brianna had moved him into the ‘secret’ area that required a card to get in. If he screamed right now, would anyone be able to hear him? He was trapped.

“Uhm…I don’t know.”

It was the cheater’s answer out, but he didn’t know what he was supposed to say. He didn’t want Brianna to think he was crazy, and right now, it was her that seemed like the crazy one. How was he supposed to feel, though, when someone told him that ‘vampires’ were dangerous and then suggested he imagined he was sitting with one right now? He’d be scared, terrified. He was terrified.

[Idrial]

Brianna could feel Eric's very thoughts that whirl about in his head and she found it mildly amusing that Eric was thinking she was crazy. His feelings of mistrust with her wasn't a surprise and she could feel his 'flight response' starting too creep into his brain. He wouldn't have anywhere to run and of course no one would here him scream but he really didn't need to know that stunning truth. Soon he would know that she wasn't crazy  if he just calmed down a bit and realized she was here to help.

She slowly grabbed the vial that lay on the desk her eye's boring into his own with an intense heat, holding the vial high into the air using her thumb to release the cork. Tilting the glass the silver liquid poured out but it didn't reach the ground it remained suspended as one solid line in the air. Brianna's gaze broke with Eric's as she shaped and molded the material into one solid ball; this was only a small portion of her power.

"You wanted help but I cannot help you if you remain with the ignorant." She never once looked Eric as she only focused on the mercury ball that remained as still as water. "I think you know what I am getting at Eric with all this vampire talk," she got up from her chair and as she did the ball moved with her floating a few feet away from her body as she gave him some distance.

No normal person can help you. I can because I'm not among the norm. Her voice rang in his head but her lips didn't move, her method may have been harsh at this point but he needed to face things head on that was evident from their first visit. He needed to be pushed and Brianna was ready to deal with the response.