Soulmate Cravings

Learning to be a Vampire

(A/N: This chapter and the last chapter take place simultaneously, but I wanted to separate the mourning and business of the previous chapter from this more lighthearted chapter of Tine simply learning to be a vampire)

     It had taken Tine a decent amount of time to make peace with everything that had happened. However, coven life, especially with him as second in command, was always there sweeping him up in constant activity. He integrated into the swing of the supernatural. Some of the things he had to get used to were the use of his powers and how everything was so exponentially heightened.

     He originally thought when he'd first awoken that being able to smell emotions was something that was natural for vampires. He also believed that because when Ohm and Phuek cut off his brain off from his powers, he had still been able to smell emotions. Pear was the one to explain that Tine's ability to smell emotions was not a normal thing for vampires. However, she believed that Tine's ability to still smell them even after his senses had been cut off was because it was a physical extrasensory power more than a mental one. Much like Sarawat's immunity was a physical extrasensory power and not a mental one.

     It took Tine time, but eventually he learned how to automatically sift through thoughts so that the only thoughts that registered enough in his mind were the ones that were relevant or that he wanted to hear. The tenure of Sarawat and Air's thoughts was almost constant. His mind automatically heard their voices and concentrated, their tenures being comfort sounds that his brain automatically embraced. He did also believe in privacy, however, and while it was nice to know everything his two favorite people were thinking all the time, he also felt it unfair and an invasive.

     He wasn't so great at being able to tune them out, but Sarawat and Air began to work extensively with Pear and Tine to be able to block their thoughts so they had more control over what thoughts filtered out of their heads. Between the three of them, they put adequate enough barriers in place for Tine not to read everything in their heads all the time. Sarawat had even gotten so strong that sometimes he could block Tine out completely, even when Tine was actively trying to invade his mind and read his thoughts.

      Tine didn't do that often, but there were times when Tine was suspicious that Sarawat was overworking, overtiring, or hiding unpleasant things from him on purpose and he would try to find out what and why if Sarawat was purposely trying to block him out. Even at those times, though, Tine could still smell the emotions and get the tenure of Sarawat's moods and thoughts, even if he didn't have the details.

     No barriers were able to block Tine's thoughts from invading people's minds. People could keep their thoughts from leaking out to where Tine had to strain to hear them, but no one could keep Tine out if he actively projected his thoughts or images into their head. Tine was a little happy about this, because this was also a power that, for the most part, he did not take for granted or use injudiciously.

     The only time he projected is if something was happening or something needed to be said that shouldn't be said in the presence of others. Sometimes it was simply a personal inquiry that would have been rude to ask in a roomful of people, or an unkind observation that didn't need to be heard by anyone other than whoever Tine projected the thought to. Or even trading confidential information that was important to be known by someone, but not by everyone present. Tine was very respectful about who and how he projected into other people.

     Unless they were Sarawat. Sarawat was never spared. Tine had no problem whatsoever in continuing to project inappropriate images and thoughts into Sarawat's head in the most inconvenient moments, just to keep the libido going. Tine loved it because there was always this level of depraved hunger that Sarawat would carve into Tine when he finally got them alone after a day of Tine's images. Tine loved having that power. He loved being able to bring Sarawat down to that level of hunger for him, and he fed him amply for it every time.