Bloodlines Ch.01

"'We talked it through, and then Christa remembered that what your parents were like when they lived, and it sort of clicked. You just don't know what to do, do you?" Her question was delivered with a pointed, though not unkind look as she turned to face him. Backlit by the window, Garth could see the shape of her hips through the thin, flowery fabric of the summer dress she wore. He could not see any lines from her underwear, but with the sun partly in his face it was difficult to tell. Lisa took a step towards him, her fingers twirling a lock of hair almost nervously. "Answer me honestly, Garth. Do you want to fuck me?" His mouth went dry and he croaked. "Yes, very much." With that, she opened her dress and let it drop to the floor, proving that she was indeed not wearing any underwear.

Over the following year, he had fucked all three girls in his group of friends several times. There was never any real romance to it, more a Friends with Benefits-type relationship. Though once, he and Christa had Benefited seven times on a single weekend. Come Monday morning though, the spark was gone and they reverted to being ordinary friends again. No, he was not innocent anymore, but he did realize he had a lot to learn still.

Penny gripped his cock, smiling as she took him into her mouth, hand slowly jerking him. Her tongue did some interesting gymnastics on his cockhead, her hand moving faster and faster. As if by magic, her bra burst open, front clasp apparently, and as she stood and turned towards him he was able to reach a naked breast, hard nipple rolling under his thumb and forefinger. He was not going to last long, he knew; last night's party had not included any sex, even though he had thought Lisa or Christa, or both, would perhaps give him a birthday present.

He released her breast and slid his hand back towards her round, full ass, sliding it up inside her coat. He groped and kneaded it as she worked on his cock, pressure building rapidly in his balls. He pulled at her panties, not quite able to reach any interesting bits until she widened her stance slightly and turned towards him a little. He found the edge of her panties and slid a finger under it, hitting spot on, his finger sliding straight inside her, slick and hot lips parting. As his finger slid past the second knuckle, he exploded into her mouth. Stroking her pussy slowly, he rode the orgasm with a strained gasp, ribs smarting but not enough to make him stop.

She rose, swallowed noisily and clasped her bra again. She slowly buttoned her coat, all business except for the tiny drop of his cum on her upper lip. "There, all better. Looks like we don't have to call the doctor after all, it was probably just a passing ailment. Now you make sure to pull the red chord if it starts swelling again. Nurse Stephenson is on guard duty tonight, and I'll be sure to tell her exactly how to treat it if that happens." She winked. "I will stop by tomorrow morning to give you your sponge bath." Maybe being in hospital was not such a bad thing, Garth mused to himself.

It took three days before he was discharged; Nurse Chambers insisted they needed to investigate his issues with elevated heart rates, even though Doctor Evans was unable to measure anything out of the ordinary when he tried. Garth left the hospital feeling relaxed, yet somehow completely drained.

Garth parked his bike by the fence outside Jeff's house. He owned a small two story house with a tiny garden in a nice part of the city. Not upper class or anything, but it clearly spoke of a comfortable economy. There was no grass or bushes, just some planters full of yellow St. Johnswort. Uncle Jeff had opted for paving stones out front, and Garth could see the edge of an expansive patio in the back garden. He locked his bike and walked up the stairs, noting all the manicured lawns and gardens all around. Definitely a well-to-do area. He pressed the doorbell, hearing a faint 'ding-dong' inside the house.

Jeff opened the door a few moments later, a welcoming smile and kind eyes dominated his face. Where Garth's features were refined slightly by his mother's genes, Jeff had all the rough, masculine traits of his family. He had broad shoulders, a powerful frame and a winning smile, the resemblance to Garth and his father obvious. "Come on in, son, let's sit down in the living room."

"Where should I start?" Jeff asked rhetorically. "There's more to it, of course. A lot more, but let me give you a brief summary of who we are. What we are. The Compact is a very real thing. A thousand years ago, two brothers were leading a rebellion against a tyrant who held the entire continent under his control. The Sorcerers were all but wiped out at the time, only a select few remaining, in hiding. The brothers realized they would not be able to succeed in their venture without some edge, but none dared step forward. The only one who would help was an aging sorcerer, close to death with little to lose. He agreed to bestow certain powers onto the boys if they swore to rid the land of the tyrant, and so The Compact was formed. The sorcerer gave his life in exchange.

He gave one brother the power to influence the world around him physically, Kinetisists we call them now. The other was given the power to influence people mentally, what is now called Neuropathy. We do not know why he chose to link the powers to certain plants, but likely it was a control mechanism, to make sure the power could be curbed somewhat. Why the trait became hereditary we do not know either, maybe by accident, maybe by design. The only thing we know for sure is that the trait has followed the bloodlines, fathers to sons. After a thousand years there are several family lines that trace back to one brother or the other, though the trait occurs more and more seldom, now only about five sons per generation. Our organization safeguards the secret of our powers, as well as the families that belong to the lines. They are the ones who organized the attack, to awaken your powers, if you had any." Garth shook his head slowly, trying to absorb it all.

"How come you never told me about this?" Garth asked heatedly.

"I thought your father would, and besides, didn't you ever listen to your aunt's gossip?" "Mom always dragged her away from me, as if I needed sheltering." Garth did not even try to hide the bitterness in his voice. "Whenever she started talking about anything interesting my mother found some excuse to either drag her away from me or me away from her. I guess I kind of always knew there was something different about you, but never any details."

"She was only trying to protect you, I think. I always wondered why your father didn't say anything to her, but I guess they had their reasons. And I'm sure they had the best of intentions on your behalf, never doubt that." "Oh, I don't, I guess. It's just that I wish they would try to listen to me every now and then, not just decide for me. Anyway, that is in the past now." Garth brushed away some moisture from an eye, not really ashamed for his emotion, but not wanting to advertise it either. "I miss them too," Jeff said quietly. "Hardly a day goes by when I don't think of them." They shared a silent moment, both nursing deep thoughts.

"Enough dark thoughts I think," Jeff said, clapping his hands. "Let's explore and see what you can do!" He handed Garth a small glass of clear liquid, herbal scent much stronger than last time. He downed the concoction, the strong liquor burning Garth's throat as it passed down to his stomach. Garth marveled at the dual warmth spreading inside him, part from the spirits, part from the herb. "Go ahead, try it!" Jeff urged. Garth quested inside himself, feeling the unusual, yet perfectly natural reserve of power inside. Not knowing exactly what or how, he tapped the source in his stomach.

An awareness blossomed in his head. He did not know how to react to the strange sensation; it felt as if emotions he did not feel himself were vying for space in his awareness. After a few minutes of exploring the feeling, he was able to sense the source of these emotions; they were coming from Jeff. At first it was all a bunch of feelings he could not sort out, it was all just noise, but after a little while he was able to start picking up on single emotions in the jumble, some were more powerful than others, some so faint they could hardly be noticed.

"Try and see if you can isolate a specific feeling from me." Jeff said. Garth closed his eyes to focus and tried to pick apart the mix of emotions, some intertwining like mating snakes, almost impossible to distinguish from one another. He searched some more, then focused on one emotion in particular; it pulsed strongly, like a single, pure note in the cacophony of an orchestra all tuning their instruments at the same time. He held the emotion in mind somehow, feeling it and trying to identify it. "Pride?" He said hesitantly after a few minutes.

The emotion flared brighter from Jeff, becoming almost scorching in his mind. "Very good. Very good indeed. That was absolutely correct, and for the record I am very proud of you, you are taking to this like a fish to water. You're a natural!"

Garth beamed with a pride of his own, his confidence boosted by the praise. "In time you'll be able to recognize all these feelings at a glance," Jeff said. "And keeping track of those around you will become second nature. Feeling the emotions is but a part of your power, however. Your true strength lies in modulating them to suit your need, whatever that may be at the time. This time, try searching my feelings for a specific one and increasing it, let's say Joy."

Garth concentrated on Jeff's pool of feelings, isolating them one by one and trying to gauge what they were. At first, he only got vague impressions of what they were, but as he isolated more and more, he saw the differences and similarities, making it easier to tell them apart and at the same time tell what they were. After what seemed like forever, he isolated one emotion, a single current in an eddy. It was kind of like trying to focus on one particular wave. It seemed almost sweet, for lack of a better word, and Garth was reasonably sure it was Joy. It pulsed slightly, seeming vibrant, and without knowing how or what he did, Garth fed the emotion, something, from himself. He could not tell what or how, but the emotion pulsed noticeably brighter, becoming thicker in his mind's eye.

"Excellent! Just like that!" Jeff's voice vibrated with enthusiasm. "Most untrained Neuropaths tend to overdo it and force their influence on others. The true power of a skilled neuro is in the ability to modulate subtly and without being detected. All it takes is practice; you'll get the hang of it." Garth stared blankly at Jeff, not fully comprehending what he was talking about. "I see I lost you there, here, let me show you instead. Sit back and relax, don't try to sense my emotions, just feel your own. A good Neuropath must feel the emotion together with the people he is influencing, trying to stay apart makes it harder to create a realistic response. Just relax and observe."

Garth sat back and closed his eyes, examining his feelings, trying to sort them one by one. Pride, for what he had accomplished. Curiosity, naturally. Joy, both at the discovery, his own fledgling mastery and not the least his newfound kinship with his uncle. Sadness, both for the years lost when they could have been more like a family, as well as for his parents, and a jumble of other feelings mixed together.

All of a sudden he felt intense Pride in what he was doing, almost artificially so. He was, after all, just barely getting started. The intensity of that Pride grew and swelled in his chest to the point where he wanted to pound it and bellow his superiority to everyone. And then, just as abruptly, it deflated and became just another background emotion. "Did you feel that?" Jeff asked. "You increased my Pride?" Garth guessed.

"Yes, at the end, I did, and very crudely with a very heavy touch. I imagine you felt like the proverbial king of the world there at the end?" Garth nodded sheepishly. "But before that, did you feel my touch then?" Garth tried to recall, but came up blank, nothing had stood out in his mind as odd or wrong.

"I enhanced your sense of Sadness and Melancholy, making you more prone to recall sad memories. Did you think about your parents?" Garth was dumbstruck, nodding without registering it. He had not sensed anything! All of a sudden his newfound respect for his uncle increased by an order of magnitude. "Keep in mind I've been doing this for nigh on fifteen years, and you've had, what, all of thirty minutes of practice so far?" Jeff smirked at him, letting him know it was all in good humor. "If you keep progressing like you have over this short time, you'll outdo me in a few months, you're a natural at this!"

"Now, it's time for some points and minders before we continue. First, Neuropathy is not mind control, you cannot change a feeling or emotion that is not there; meaning you will have to create the first spark if it's not already there. Then you can fan the flame, so to speak. Or douse it.

Second, many will not see it this way. The ingrained mistrust towards us is strong, and many will always assume ill will if they feel your touch upon their emotions. We have been, and are still, working to stay hidden, but rumors will always circulate. It's always best to be subtle and stay unnoticed; patience is very much a virtue in this game. Slow and steady wins the day. Use a light touch and let things develop naturally."

"Finally, a person with a lot on their mind will be less likely to feel your touch. Same goes for strong emotions; it's very easy to get an angry man to do something stupid he normally would not even consider, if you increase his anger along with whatever other emotion you tweak. It is, however, worth noting that Neuropathy is by no means an exact science; the result you get will rely heavily on the circumstance, which emotions you change, and a whole host of other factors, some of which are outside your control. It's always better to aim for a general response to your manipulation rather than a specific one." Garth's mind reeled slightly at the implications of what Jeff was telling him. What did this mean for him? What could he use it for? Besides sex of course. How should he use it?

Jeff sat silently, watching as Gareth digested this new information. He could all but see the gears and wheels turning and shifting in young Garth's mind. 'I have to be careful with what I show him to begin with, I'll have to ease him into it slowly.' Jeff smiled to himself; this could turn out quite interestingly for the two of them, given that he could get Garth to see past his almost puritan upbringing.

"Tomorrow, I want you to go to the library. In order to better understand our situation, it's important that you learn what the general public knows about us. Or rather, think they know. Then you can compare that to my books and see the difference. But now, I think it's time we go outside," He said to Garth, seeing how he shook himself out of whatever he was digesting. "Outside? What do you mean, outside?" "I think it would be good for you to get a change of scenery, meet some people and try out your abilities a little. I know a place we could go, it's not far."

'Not far', turned out to be almost twenty minutes of walking. Jeff kept talking about different aspects of Neuropathy, what kinds of emotions that were easy to influence and which were harder. Simply put, the purer the emotion, the easier to get a predictable response, though there were many pitfalls. As they grew closer to their intended destination, Jeff drew Garth to the side of the pavement. "Tonight, I just want you to observe. Try to isolate a single individual in the crowd and read his or her emotions. I will at some point indicate someone and tell you to watch their emotions, then, afterwards, you'll tell me which emotion I manipulated. Let's make a game of it. If you guess correctly, I'll buy the next round, if not, you buy. Deal?" Garth grinned a yes in response.

One of his first acts of rebellion against his parents and their strict rules had been to sneak out to drink beer with his friends on the weekends. Garth suspected his parents knew, but now he wondered if not his father had stood up for his right to independence. In any case, he had been circumspect and tried to always stop drinking before he got too drunk.

The bar entrance was little more than a door and a set of stairs going down to a basement. Garth could hear a thumping bass rhythm shaking the whole building, the screech of electric guitars creating an overtone to the noise. The bar was obviously one that served a clientele that preferred the new style of underground music popularly called 'Heavy Metal'. Garth was not a huge fan, but judging from Jeff's enthusiastic tapping to the beat with his fingers, he was a big fan. As they entered the bar proper, one and a half story below ground, Garth quickly revised his opinion of the music.

Or rather, the music was still loud and chaotic with guitar riffs sounding like cats being strangled, but the people; they were a whole different story. There was leather and latex all over, and what was not bare skin already was so form fitting it might as well have been. Garth thought his eyes were going to bulge out of his head as he saw tits, hips, legs and asses more or less on display all over. At least half the people were women in their twenties or late teens. There were skirts that ended just below where ass became thigh, cleavages that defied gravity and outfits that were so sheer they may as well have been clear plastic for all they left to the imagination.

Jeff punched him in the arm to get his attention and mouthed 'Over there', pointing to a table in a far corner. They meandered through a sea of dancing, writhing bodies on the dance floor, pushing their way to the indicated table. "I'll go get us some drinks, just wait here." Jeff said and turned towards the bar. Garth looked around the room, his gaze drifting across undulating hips and jiggling breasts barely contained in what was almost uniformly black and formfitting, hiding flesh but leaving little to his imagination. There was an almost hypnotic quality to the coordinated movements of the crowd, shifting steadily to the deep thud of the bass drums from the music.

Garth started swaying in sync with the crowd, almost like a cobra enthralled by the snake charmer's flute. Jeff sat their glasses down with a loud clank, shaking Garth from his almost trance-like state. "Quite the sight, eh? You looked like you got lost in your thoughts there for a second, and from the looks some of those girls shot your way, they noticed you staring. Not that they seemed to mind, though." Jeff winked at him, a salacious grin on his face. Garth felt his cheeks redden. He had not meant to stare exactly, but some of those girls had been shaking their hips in just the right way, almost but not quite showing what was beneath their skirts. He felt his cock lurch slightly in his pants at the thought of what he might see. If only he could get just the right angle at the right moment. Adjusting himself, Garth broke out of the reverie and looked at the drinks his uncle had bought, two frothy pints of dark amber ale and two smaller shot glasses of a dark brown liquid. He smelled the liquor, confirming it was indeed a peaty whisky, single malt unless he missed his guess.

Jeff drew forth a small box from an inner pocket, handing Garth one of the white capsules inside. "This is powdered St. Johnswort, slower release but longer lasting. One capsule is good for around four hours. Bottoms up!" Jeff said, as he raised his glass in salute, downing his own capsule. Garth was still feeling the power from his previous shot, guessing this one would last the night. "You hang onto this," Jeff said as he pushed the box across the table to Garth. "A neuro should never be without his herb. I have plenty at home anyway. So, let us begin, shall we? For tonight, I want you to only feel the emotions of the room, don't try to influence anyone, you're not ready for that just yet, I think. Just reach out and get a feel for the room, don't try to single anyone out yet, just let the crowd show you their state of mind."