Gabriel's Mate by Folsom, Tina (read this if .txt) 📕

Never one to sit around idle, Maya felt restless. She was sure it would take hours until Gabriel was back. “Do you think you could teach me a few things? Gabriel mentioned that you do mentoring.”

“That’s right, I have a new vampire under my wings right now. It’s a very rewarding role.”

“What do you teach him or her?”

“Him,” he answered. “I teach Eddie how to control his urges, how to use his special skills.”

Maya smiled at him. “Gabriel told me you’re the best at teaching mind control.”

Thomas raised an eyebrow. “Starting with the hard stuff – you’re ambitious.”

“I’ve always been an A-student.”

“This is a little different than studying. It’s got more to do with emotions than with knowledge. I think we should wait and work on some more elemental skills, like how to control your strength.”

Maya squared her chest. “No. I want to learn mind control. And I want to learn it now.”

Thomas smirked. “Gabriel is going to have his hands full with you.”

Then he laughed. “Does he know yet?”

“Know what?”

“That you’re headstrong.”

“He’s a smart man, he’ll figure it out soon enough.”

“Okay then. But we need somebody to try mind control on.”

Thomas wrinkled his forehead. “Ever been to a gay bar?”

“Why are we going to a gay bar?”

“Because it’s the least likely place somebody will know you.”

Maya shrugged her shoulders. “If you keep the lesbians away from me, I’m game.”

“Deal. Just don’t keep the cute gay guys away from me.”

“As if I could.” Maya looked Thomas up and down. He was a formidable specimen of the male kind, and the way he filled out his leather pants was distracting to say the least. Thankfully, she had her heart set on Gabriel, otherwise she would be in serious trouble falling for a gay man.

“Thanks. That’s nice of you to say.” Thomas seemed surprised at her comment.

Half an hour later, she and Thomas squeezed through a throng of people to get into the Q Bar in the heart of the Castro. He used his body to drag her behind him through the crowd which miraculously parted to let them through. The bouncer barely looked at them before he waved them in.

p. Maya voiced her suspicion. “Did you use mind control on -“

He cut her off. “Don’t use those words. Call it skill while we’re in public.”

She nodded, doubting anybody had heard her in the crowded bar where the music blared and everybody tried to shout over each other.

“Did you use your skill?” she asked instead.

She knew she didn’t have to shout. Thomas could hear her just fine, as she could him. In fact, she noticed how she was able to tune in and out of conversations at will.

“I didn’t have to. The bouncer knows me. I don’t waste my skill where it’s not needed. It takes energy. If you use it to excess it exhausts you. Only use it when it’s necessary. And never on one of our kind.”

Maya nodded. “Yvette told me already.”

“Good. Then you’re forewarned. Very few of us can avoid a battle and pull their skill back once we are attacked.”

Curiosity overtook her. “Can you?”

Thomas gave her a serious look. “Too personal a question. I’ll pass.”

“Sorry.” She turned toward the bar, not wanting to see his reprimanding look.

With a hand on his shoulder he turned her back to him. “There are things each of us keeps close to his heart – you will understand one day.

We all have things we won’t talk about. Just like you do.”

Maya’s breath hitched. What did he know about her? For a few moments she felt frozen in time.

“Maya, I can’t read your mind, so relax. I have no interest in knowing what you don’t want anybody to know. Someone else might though.” He winked and grinned. “Now let’s start with our little lesson.

Otherwise I might be accused of just using you as an excuse to go out.”

The tenseness in Maya’s shoulders eased and she smiled back at him. “You mean you weren’t?”

“If you tell Gabriel that I was, I swear, I’ll tell him you forced me.”

“You’re a nice guy, you know that, Thomas?”

He tossed a look to his right, then his left. “Don’t say that so loud, woman. If that news spreads, I’ll never get another date around here.”

He frowned in mock-anger. “Nice guys don’t get laid.”

“Okay, then, teach me.” Maya was curious now. If she had to embrace her new life she would make the most out of it. And if this meant she got some superpower, then even better.

“Good. Here’s what you do. See that man nursing his drink in the corner. He’s shy. I want you to make him get up and walk up to that dark haired hunk at the bar, and put his hand on his ass.”

Maya looked at the man Thomas was referring to. He sat in the corner, his lids lowered as if he was ashamed to be here. Every so often he led his beer glass to his lips and sipped. She felt sorry for him. He clearly didn’t feel comfortable. Then her eyes drifted to the dark haired man at the bar. She looked him up and down. “You’ve got to be kidding me, Thomas. He’s got no chance.”

“That’s precisely the point. That’s why you will help him. You’ll plant the confidence in his mind so he can walk up to that guy and ask him out. You will control his mind to think he has a chance.”

Maya shook her head. “How?”

Thomas looked straight into her face. “Look inside yourself.

Concentrate on your heartbeat. Then concentrate on the man in the corner and tell him what to do. Send your thoughts out to him. Try it.”

She took a few deep breaths, then tried to shut out the noise from the bar. She’d done yoga before, so she tried to remember what it felt like to center her body and calm her mind. A pleasant warmth filled her body.

“I feel warm.”

“That’s good,” Thomas praised. “Your body