Some of the tech he financed was only in the developmental stage and looked like something you’d see onStar TrekorStar Wars.I pored over those schematics, fascinated with all of them, but not really understanding much of what I saw. They were interesting to look at, though.
I urged him to find someone that could invent biological matter to matter transport, like the transporters inStar Trek.He laughed quite a bit at that one while I kept a dignified silence. It could happen! And when it did, I promised myself I wouldn’t gloat. Much.
As the weeks went by, I squirreled away all the observations I’d gleaned about Draven.
One, he was a very driven person.
I’d imagined vampires would have a sort of languid energy because they’d been around so long and seen so much, but Draven wasn’t like that at all. He was very focused, intent, and intense.
I thought at first that his intensity would bother me. Being an empath, I was really sensitive to other’s emotions. Intense emotions were especially hard for me to bear. But I found it wasn’t like that with Draven. His emotions weren’t barbed. They didn’t hurt me. In fact, in a very real way, his intensity brought me comfort. He was intense about the things that he cared about. As time went by, I was starting to hope that I would someday be one of the things that Draven was intense about.
Two, he was wicked smart. Like genius level smart.
If someone handed him a schematic, he seemed to instantly be able to tell if it was going to work. He would talk me through why it would work, or why it would fail. I understood little of what he said at first, but he loved to teach, I’d found, and as time went by, I started being able to pick up certain things, and could see for myself what he was talking about for the simplified blueprints.
For those inventors who showed him schematics that were close to being functional, he worked with them until he thought they had a good chance of making it work, and then gave it back over into their hands. So, in that way, he was also a specialized consultant in a field that didn’t really have that. I could actually verify that on the front end, he made little being a consultant. But on the back end, when the inventors finished their product, and sales started rolling in, Draven got a percentage of those sales according to their contract, andthatwas where he made a ton of money. Obscene amounts of money, because over his long lifetime, he’d consulted on hundreds, maybe thousands of products.
Three, he was quiet.
I wasn’t sure if it was because I was new, and he wasn’t really sure about me, or if he was just quiet in general. My impression was that he was more quiet than the average person, but that his mind was constantly active, thinking, ruminating, calculating. Like I said, insanely intelligent. I was beginning to see the downside of intelligence. I don’t think his brain was ever just quiet or at peace. After understanding this, I could completely understand why he didn’t feel the need to fill every silence with words.
* * *
One morning,I was taking my daily walk along the shore. Mesmer was behind us, trying to give me and Rhys privacy. Not that we needed it, but it was still sweet of him. It was fully spring now. The weather in Moonhaven Cove still had a bite to it, but the sun was glorious and warm on my fair skin. Rhys was in board shorts and a tee shirt, and looked like an elf surfer. I imagined Legolas fromLord of the Ringson a surfboard saying,Righteous, dude,and had to bite back a laugh. My imagination sometimes came up with the most random things.
“Has that big block of rock told you what kind of gargoyle he is yet?”
I made a grab for my hair, trying to wrangle it up into a messy bun so that it wouldn’t fly in my face. I tied it with an elastic, hoping for the best. “Nope. I just figure he’ll tell me when he wants to.”
Rhys’s eyebrow shot up. “Hetalksto you? Like, actually talks, with words and everything.”
I smirked, feeling special. Word around town was that Mesmer didn’t like to talk to most people. He spoke to Draven and me, and maybe a few others. I wasn’t sure why. I had an empathic sense it was because Mesmer gave off a brute vibe, and people expected him to be dumb as a rock. But inside, Mesmer was actually really sensitive. People’s words hurt him, maybe more than the average person/supernatural, and he was afraid of getting hurt. It’d amazed me when I’d put that together. Mesmer was so huge he could snap a tree trunk in half with his bare hands. It melted my heart that inside he was so tender and sensitive, and it infuriated me that people could be so cold and cruel to someone that would literally give the shirt off his back for a stranger.
“Of course he talks to me. I’m wonderful.” I batted my lashes at Rhys and he laughed.
He hooked my arm through his. “You are one lucky, lucky girl.”
I nodded. I felt lucky. Blessed in my job, and my new friends. Blessed that I didn’t live in poverty anymore, and that I was in a town where I was starting to feel at home. I looked back at Mesmer, who was continuously scanning our surroundings, keeping me safe.
“I know. He just started talking to me one day in the car.” My eyes went a little glossy. “I think he knew how hard it was for me to get back into a vehicle.” I looked at Rhys. “Whenever I tried, I would nearly hyperventilate. I would get shaky and sick, and for a few weeks I just couldn’t do it. Mesmer worked with me on it. We’d sit in the driveway with the car in park but with the engine running, and he’d just talk to me. He’d talk about inane things, just creating this comforting rumble of noise in the background that calmed me. We did that for a while. He would stop by the office, and we’d go sit in the car, and he’d just talk. After a few weeks, he took me just down the street to get ice cream, and we sat on a park bench eating our ice cream, and enjoyed the peace of the outdoors. I think he wanted to show me that we could make a trip in a car without it ending in a disaster. Little by little, he helped me become less afraid. Now, I can get in the car with only the bad memory, but none of the paralyzing fear.”
That had endeared me to Mesmer, and I felt that through those experiences, we’d become friends. I also think he was aware that Iknew he was a sensitive soul, and because of that, he felt more comfortable around me. I also think he just thought I was cool.
“So, he didn’t say, ‘Stop sniveling, human. You’re embarrassing yourself?’”
I laughed and poked him hard in the ribs. “Of course not! Mesmer is actuallyniceto me!”
Rhys looked insulted. “I’m nice to you!”
I shook my head. “Yeah, no.”
“I took you out to dinner just last week! It was a nice restaurant, too! You are not a cheap date, by the way.”
“And then ditched me because someone called from the club.” I reminded him.
Rhys looked sheepish; his purple eyes glowed. “Yeah, sorry about that.”
“It’s okay. You can make it up to me by taking me to that new tea place, The Tea Hobbit.”
