Caleb 35 - Maharishi Guptal Pah

"I was up at four this morning," I explained, "training."

After breakfast, I asked Dana if she wanted to use the bathroom to get a shower. She declined, saying she had no clean clothes, and she just wanted to get back. I saw that Louise was about to offer to drive her, but I beat her to the punch.

"Come on then," I said. "I'll drop you off."

She looked from me to Louise and then to Jules.

"I'll come along for the ride," said Jules.

We got into my truck, and I drove her back to the dorms. She got out, and then walked around to the driver's window. I had not gotten out.

"Thanks," she said to me, "for dinner and breakfast."

"Look at you doing the 'walk of shame,'" I said, grinning at her. "I hope it doesn't sully your reputation."

She smiled at me. "If anything, it will improve it," she said. "They all think I'm a stuck-up bitch. I'll see you in class."

She turned and walked into her dorm building.

"She's warming to you," said Jules, looking at me. "I'll bet you anything you like that within the next couple of weeks she'll come out - at least to you."

"What makes you say that?" I asked.

"You really don't see it do you?" she responded. "You have an effect on people. They are drawn to you, and then, when they get there, they want you. Most of them don't even want a relationship. They just want sex, from you.

"The girls have it too," she continued. "I'm guessing it's an aspect of your Empathy. You need to share, and so you draw people in, and make them willing. You think I became a nymphomaniac almost overnight by accident? I get a triple dose on the regular."

I looked at her in horror, but she just smiled at me. "I realized it was happening after my first time with you guys," she said. "I had seen it in action, but it didn't really affect me in my 'switched off' state. But as soon as I was 'switched on,' it hit me like a hammer."

"Jules I..." I began, but she interrupted.

"Don't," she said. "Do not apologize or feel in the slightest bit guilty. People make their own choices. Despite your power, you are NOT irresistible unless you actively Compel someone. You are not forcing yourself on anyone. All you are doing is putting it out there, and letting people come to you. When they do, you are treating them with care and respect, giving them a good time, and sending them on their way feeling really good about themselves and about the whole thing.

"Look at Daisy. When did she come kicking down your door? She had a night with us, thoroughly enjoyed herself, and then went on with her life. I have no doubt she remembers it fondly. If she is not involved the next time you guys meet, maybe she'll want a repeat performance. She has your number. How many calls or texts have you had from her?"

"None," I said quietly.

"Exactly," said Jules. "What about Rachel? She has your number too. Has she called? Texted?"

I shook my head.

"It's not a Compulsion. It's an attraction. Everyone has it in some measure. You just happen to have it a lot. Being around you and the girls triples the effect, but it still isn't taking anyone's free choice away from them. Being around you makes people feel good, Caleb. That translates, in some people's minds, to sexual attraction. It didn't in mine, because I'm ace, but I still felt it, and I feel it more when my sex drive is active."

On the drive home, I mulled over Jules' thesis. The idea that my Empathy created a kind of 'animal magnetism' seemed feasible. The question then became what I should do about it - if I should try to find a way to shut it off. I immediately thought of the jerk that had impregnated Rachel. He hadn't even realized he'd had powers. His Compulsion had been so weak, and his 'orders' so oblique, that I wasn't even sure he'd really forced any of his conquests to do anything. I even wondered if Alan and Anne had fallen under my - or our - spell.

As we pulled into the garage at home, I decided.

"Fuck it," I said out loud.

Jules looked at me, a little surprised.

"If it is, as you say, something I have no control over, then I refuse to take responsibility for it," I told her. "I'm not hiding away on the off chance that people want to have sex with me. If it was some kind of communicable disease, then that would be something else. But I'm not harming anyone, and everyone leaves happy. I'm sick of carrying the guilt for things I didn't consciously do, or can't do anything about Fuck it."

"Fuck it," echoed Jules, smiling. "I think I'll get you a T-shirt made up with that on."