Dark Ridge - Walking In The Day

Walking In The Day - Pt 13

WitD

Peyton and her father drove the half mile to their house in silence, they pulled into the dirt driveway and Peyton said softly, "Did my being gay kill mom?"

Jonathan turned the car off, leaning back in the leather seat, turning slightly to look at Peyton.

"No. Your mother had... problems before you were born, Peyton. When you came along, things got better, for the both of us. Then, you got older, and you didn't need her as much and she started to drink again," admitted Jonathan.

"Sometimes mom would get weird and I always thought that it was my fault after I told her, it wasn't, was it?" asked Peyton.

The realization that there were other people on the earth like her, different, but human had made Peyton wonder if her mother had a gift as well. Keeping secrets could drive someone crazy, it was why the suicide rate was so high amongst gay teenagers, it wasn't always about coming out, it was about having to stay in the closet.

"Come inside the house," said Jonathan. "You're old enough to know the truth now."

Truth?

Peyton scrambled out of the car after a moment of being stunned, scurrying after her father who walked with long purposeful strides. Heading right for his bedroom, he moved to the cedar chest that was at the end of the bed.

"Your mother wasn't crazy, ok?" he began.

"Ok," said Peyton.

"When I met her, I was working for a group of people who ran Houses all over the country," he began.

"Houses?"

"Yes, they were, are, called The Kindred. She had a gift. She read minds."

WitD

"Sex...," muttered Sarah pacing the living room while Kameron ate her supper.

"Uh huh," said Kameron, needing food or she would go out and find the biggest deer she could feast on.

"Uh huh? Kameron!"

"Please sit, I'm on edge already, and you are driving me nuts," said Kameron taking her glasses off.

"What happened...?"

"I know, they are a different color," sighed Kameron sadly.

"Purple, and they are glowing more than normal, this is what sex does to you? Oh great..."

"No, not sex...," began Kameron no embarrassed. Other teenagers didn't have to deal with stuff like this. They had sex, there was a blow up, but her, oh no! It couldn't be simple, had to be complicated, why had she drank Peyton's blood? Would having normal sex have killed her? More than likely not.

"Not..... sex....," said Sarah slowly, digesting the words. "Oh. My. GOD!"

"Don't yell," pleaded Kameron.

"You - You, you didn't? You did? Oh..."

"Please stop saying that!"

Sarah knelt in front of Kameron, cupping her face. "You fed from her?"

"Just a little bit, not a lot, like an ounce, I swear," said Kameron. "It was like - like a drug, a high, but I could stop," admitted Kameron.

"Contacts," whispered Sarah needing to change the subject. "The glasses won't work anymore; we'll have to get you contacts..."

Kameron saw that Sarah was shocked. "Sarah, please don't be mad at me. There is something intoxicating about her, I can't read her mind, at all, and I think that's the best part. She surprises me, all the time, I have no clue what she'll say or do..."

"You shouldn't be feeding from humans...," began Sarah.

"I didn't kill her! Don't you see? I'm not some inhuman monster that has to kill, I can take what I want, when I want and not hurt anyone," exploded Kameron. Moving from her chair, anger ebbed from her. "Sarah, I can't not want her, do you understand? I need her."

Sarah sat in the chair that Kameron had just vacated, her whole body deflated. "I realize that you've been thrown - that this mutual attract - oh never mind, I give up," said Sarah. "I can't tell you what to do, I only know that I want you safe. You told your secret to her."

"And she told me hers," said Kameron. "She's like me."

"A vampire? I highly doubt...," began Sarah.

"No, I mean - she can do things," said Kameron her tone more sultry than she wanted it to be.

"I do not need to know!" groaned Sarah.

Kameron's laughter cut through the room. "I mean - you have a dirty mind - she can move things. With her mind."

"I'll be damned...," muttered Sarah.

WitD

"She what?" asked Peyton her mind moving faster than her father could speak.

"Sit down," said Jonathan patting a spot next to him on the cedar chest. He'd show her the contents of the chest later.

Peyton sat, her dark features taking on a mask of fear and curiosity.

"I met her when she was doing research at the facility I was interning at," began Jonathan.

"You met at a dance," reminded Peyton.

"No, she was in a room, with six other people, telling them all what they were thinking. One by one, she got everything single thought as clearly as crystal. She was remarkable. And sick," said Jonathan. "She had very little control over the 'sounds' in her head so she would drink to block out the 'noise'. I was there to evaluate her, to see if she was still fit for field duty, according to Kindred standards," said Jonathan.

"So, this Kindred thing, you're a part of it?" asked Peyton.

"Not directly, I was involved in something in college, experiments having to do with the paranormal and I became friends with several Kindred members. They called on me for outside advice from time to time," said Jonathan.

"When I walked into the room with your mother, she was stunned, she didn't know what to make of me. You see, she couldn't read my mind, I was a blank slate, completely oblivious to even her strongest attempts to breach my mind. I think she might have fallen in love with me right at that moment," admitted Jonathan.

Peyton smiled despite the seriousness of the conversation.

"The rest is history, we got married shortly afterwards and we had you. She wasn't able to read anything from you either, you'd inherited that trait from me also."

"I guess that's why I can't read minds," whispered Peyton.

"No, you can't. I think I'd have noticed you finishing other people's sentences before now. Then the drinking started again, she tried to commit suicide when you were four, frustrated that she didn't know what you or I were thinking. It was her power, and she enjoyed using it, it was like another variety of drug. That's why when you lost all reason..."

"That's a nice way of saying I went on a bender," said Peyton dark eyes smoldering.

Jonathan smiled. "When you went on a bender..."

"Better," said Peyton.

"I was sure that something manifested itself. But I watched you, there was nothing of that, no indication that you could read minds. I resigned myself to the fact that you were a teenager acting out. Then the offer from Dark Ridge came, somewhere away from the stress, the memories...."

"I liked the memories, even if they weren't all good, Dad," said Peyton. "I might not have mom's ability..."

"Thank god," said Jonathan. "You have to realize the curse it was. Hearing every single thought of every person within a certain radius, it was taxing and..."

"Dad," said Peyton.

"Peyton?"

"Look up," said Peyton.

Jonathan looked up with trepidation, his nose a mere two inches from the ceiling.

"I can move stuff," said Peyton.

"I'll be damned."