A/N:
Released on March 14, 2018

It feels like forever since I updated this book, but it's the same amount of time as usual XD

Enjoy!

Word Count: 2200

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Chapter 16: Control Over the Mind

Walking around in Topeka, Kansas, was much different than walking around the town near Ash's cabin.

We came out of the woods at the edge of the city, a few miles of running going by in a breeze. Slipping onto a busy street from the side streets we traveled on was easy, being able to join a crowd unnoticed.

Ash said he was taking us the fastest way to downtown Topeka, where there will be a bigger population.

Once we were wandering aimlessly together downtown, I began asking about training. "So, what are we supposed to be doing?" I whispered to Zane, acting as natural as possible while avoiding eye contact with others.

"We're going to build up your telepathy by having you use it. Start digging into people's minds as we walk along. But make sure to be extremely careful so they don't notice." Zane advised to begin the first lesson.

I knew it wasn't that easy, that I couldn't act normal while trying to pick out one person at a time from a crowd to briefly read their mind. But I wasn't about to voice my opinion and risk sounding like I was complaining.

The first thoughts I came into contact with were immediately identified as belonging to Ash. I'd know his thoughts anywhere.

"This is dangerous, Zane knows that. He's so arrogant. Why are we here anyways? Is Alicia even doing anything? She's just staring off... I wonder how she can walk and read minds like that without falling..."

I blinked rapidly as I fell away from Ash's thoughts and back into my own mind. Through the transition, I only missed a beat, my foot hesitant when taking my next step.

But Zane was there, smiling and grabbing a hold of my elbow to make sure I kept my balance. "Good job, for your first try. Do it again, and make sure to get out of their head before they pass us."

I nodded my understanding, eager to try again by listening in on a stranger's mind next.

I spotted a woman walking towards us, hand in hand with a child. I jumped into the woman's mind quickly, hearing her most immediate thoughts.

"Hurry up, hurry up! Can't you walk faster?" She thought, pulling her child's hand to make them walk faster.

"Darn it, we're gonna be late. What if they don't have his shoe size? What if we don't make it to lunch with his father today? They'll both be so disappointed." She thought, gazing at her son with sad eyes.

That time when I closed off the foreign thoughts, I didn't falter in my steps or lose my balance. Zane noticed that I was back to my regular self, with only my own thoughts, and smiled at me.

"Seems like you're getting the hang of it. Are you getting tired?" Zane asked me, remembering that using telepathy tired me out quickly when we escaped the building where Storm was keeping us months ago.

"Nope. What're we doing next?" I question ambitiously, ready to move on with the lesson.

"Now that you have a handle on the simple reading minds part, you need to force people to do something. Make sure it doesn't hurt them and it's not super obvious." Zane went on with the lesson like I'd hoped.

I latched onto someone's mind that was coming towards us, only a few feet away. It was two girls who looked to be only a few years older than us. Ash made sure they had plenty of room to go around us, while I commanded one of the girls in her mind.

She grinned at Ash, waving and winking at him flirtatiously as she went by.

Ash turned to me in shock. "Did you just make her do that?" He guessed correctly. I nodded my head in response, successfully stifling a laugh whereas Zane made no such attempt.

My boyfriend thought the act was extremely humorous, considering the amount of time he spent laughing.

Once the excitement died down, Zane told me to try something else. So for the next person that walked by, I made them trip by yelling in their mind briefly, not enough to hurt them. The guy stumbled in surprise, and knowing that was coming, I was able to catch him by the arm.

He thanked me and went on his way while I grinned at Zane to show that I was proud of my work.

"What's next?" I asked once I grew impatient again.

"Are you getting tired yet?" Zane countered, raising an eyebrow at my sudden energy.

"Nope, which is why I asked you what's next." I teased with an eye roll.

"This is when it gets a bit trickier." Zane warned, but I didn't heed it. The training is simple and easy to do, since we were only in the beginning stages.

"I'll pick a person and tell you what you need to make them do, but you have to complete the task as quickly as possible. If you're using telepathy in a fight, you may only have a split second to use your mind while trying to focus on the physical fight." Zane explained, to which I nodded my head eagerly.

"This obviously won't be like using telepathy on a vampire because humans tend to have weaker defenses for their mind, but this will have to do for now." Zane explained, mostly to himself because I wasn't exactly listening to him.

"See that tall guy on the other side of the street?" Zane prompted as he nodded towards the pedestrian. Who's undoubtedly my next victim.

The guy was not only tall, but also clearly muscled. Zane was probably hoping his mind was as tough as his exterior seemed.

"Make him run to the bench over there and sit down." Zane commanded.

"That's it?" I scoffed at the simple task. Zane lifted his eyebrows as if to say it wouldn't be as easy as it sounded.

I turned to do what I was told, locating the man's mind and ordering him to run to the nearby bench.

Instead of obeying, he questioned the command. "Why do I need to run?" He thought to himself, pausing in his walk as he wondered what he was doing.

"Run to the bench. Hurry!" I sent the thought to his mind, acting as urgent as I could.

When I controlled people through their minds before, they didn't question orders because they didn't suspect that the thought was anyone's but their own.

The man ran to the bench and sat down, once again questioning his actions.

"What now?" I asked Zane quickly in his mind, not wanting to say it aloud and risk losing my telepathic link to the man sitting on the bench.

I saw Zane smile out of the corner of my eye as he focused on letting me hear his thoughts, since he used to have telepathy so I couldn't ever access his thoughts without permission. "Good job. You connected with more than one mind at a time. Now keep him sitting there."

I forced my brain to multitask,  while walking and keeping the man in place, but it became harder as time ticked by.

The man kept trying to get up and continue on his way, and we had already turned a corner out of view, so I had to rely fully on my mind.

Even though my telepathic force was channeled through my mind, it helped to use my gaze to channel it as well. I couldn't do that if I couldn't see my target. But I guessed that was the point and the reason Zane had chosen to walk around the corner.

I also didn't see the point in this, besides that it's training. I just didn't see how making someone sit on a bench would help me in the long run, so that made it even harder to focus.

One glance to my left was all it took for me to lose all of my concentration. I instantly felt the link shatter and I vaguely sensed that the man got up from the bench.

My eyes met with a green eyed gaze for only a split second before the man broke eye contact with me to stare at Zane and Ash in alarm. The shock was gone almost as quickly as it had appeared as he walked past me and my friends.

I felt a strange crawling sensation and couldn't help but look over my shoulder at the young man with dark brown hair and a simple haircut.

If it wasn't for those striking green eyes that held a heavy gaze, he would've blended into the crowd perfectly with his simple look.

He lifted his hand up and pressed a finger against his ear. My hearing sharpened so I could pick up a soft clicking noise, letting me know that he had an earpiece that was most likely a Bluetooth calling device.

"Yes?" Someone answered the call he made, offering no sort of greeting.

I could hear someone talking to me, but I ignored them to listen into the phone call.

"Code Blue, Section 2." The young man simply muttered before ending the call with another click.

I turned to Zane and Ash, my blood running colder than usual as a chill ran down my spine. "Guys, listen for a second. Don't look now, but we have a problem." I whispered urgently, continuing to walk casually like nothing was wrong, just in case the man was watching.

I quickly zoned in on the man's thoughts to find out what "Code Blue, Section 2" meant.

"Knew something was wrong... he was right. Backup will be here in a few minutes, don't panic. Just avoid the dark eyed ones. We'll get the girl help, she'll be okay." He thought to himself, remaining calm on the outside while he freaked out on the inside.

"What do you mean?" Ash asked harshly, his gaze darting around in search of danger.

"Stop it. Act natural. Something's going on, and if they're watching, we can't let on that we know." I whispered with as calm an expression as I could muster at the moment.

I honed in on the man's thoughts again to see if I could find out anything more.

"Don't be nervous, don't be nervous. Follow from a distance, within eyesight, just as we learned... they'll be here soon, after tracking my GPS, they'll be here. Those... things don't know I'm following them." He thought with disgust, his mind replaying the memory of looking at Zane and Ash.

I tried sorting my thoughts desperately to figure out what was happening. I didn't have time for an explanation.

"I'll show you the memory." I told Zane and Ash, even though I hadn't ever shared a memory on purpose. I did that once to Lucy by accident, but that might've only been possible because we shared our telepathic link.

I brought up the memories in my own mind and pushed them to my friends in the same way I do with thoughts to communicate silently.

They blink repeatedly until the end of the memory. Ash glanced at me, his eyes darkening from the nearby danger.

"It's the vampire hunters I told you about. I heard a rumor that they were in Topeka, but I didn't know for sure." Ash explained to me and my boyfriend. "They know me and Zane are vampires but they think you're human because your eyes aren't vampire colored."

"They think we're holding you hostage and that guy sent backup to save you." Ash finished telling me in frustration.

"Then what do we do?" I asked in a hushed tone. We were still walking down one of the busy downtown streets, but we were going slower the longer we talked.

I stared at Zane expectantly until his face lit up as something dawned on him. "This is perfect!" He exclaimed quietly, causing Ash and I to glare at him.

"I know it's bad that we're being chased." Zane elaborated while gesturing with his hands excitedly. "But this is exactly what you need for training."

Zane led us down a few side streets, out of downtown and away from bystanders. "What are you doing?" Ash asked sternly. "We should be in a crowd so the hunters are less likely to attack!"

"That's just it, we want them to attack. And they will no matter what we do." Zane established, which astonished both of us.

I stopped walking, unwilling to follow until I knew what was going on. They stopped as well after a few more feet, turning to face me. "Alicia, we don't have time to stop. I know you can do this." Zane proclaimed.

I closed the distance between us and lowered my voice. "You want me to telepathically fight the vampire hunters that are coming to kill us, and you think we'll win?"

"Alicia," Ash said to gain my attention. "If he thinks this is the training you need, then I'll have your back."

"Good, we're finally on the same page." Zane said in relief with a pleased grin. "Now let's get to some place where we can fight."