The Second Star (Book Three of the Star Series)

New Abilities

I wake up the next morning and when I go to get up I feel an arm draped over my stomach. I turn and see Kaley laying in my bed fast asleep. We didnt get too physical last night. A few make oir sessions and that's it. But waking up with her next to me feels right. I feel complete. It is a strange feeling.

"Kay, wake up beautiful." I say and brush her hair out of her face. "Do I have to?" She asks sleepily. "Well you dont have to but I would like you to. I was wanting to go out after breakfast and test what I can do since I feel different now." I say and she opens her eyes.

"Well, that might be interesting. I'll meet you down stairs. I need to shower and get ready." She says and I nod and get up from bed. I go to the closet and get dressed quickly and by the time I come out I hear that Kaley is already in my shower. "God the things I would do to see that." I think to myself and I hear her yell. "I heard that." "Why are you listening?" I think again knowing she can hear me. "Sorry it's just habit." She thinks back to me.

I head out of my room and down stairs to grab something to eat. I walk past the Siri and I barely hear her speak. "Why is he in such a rush?" I look around and dont see anybody else. "Who?" I ask her. "Who what?" She asks me confussed. "You asked why he was in a hurry. Who?" I ask her and she is staring at me like I'm crazy.

"How did you do that?" She asks as we start walking towards the kitchen again. "Do what?" I ask confussed now. "Hear me. I have my mind blocked. Mom said nobody who hear my thoughts when I put a wall up. So how did you?" She asked. "I didnt know I was. I was just walking by." I say. "Interesting." She says as we reach the kitchen to see mom and dad already there.

"What's interesting?" Mom asks as she is setting everybody's plates on the table. "Arc read my mind with my block up." Siri says and mom looks up at me. "Is that so?" Siri nods as she sits down and starts eating a piece of bacon. "Try me." Mom says. "Try what?" I ask sitting down. "That is interesting." She says. "What is? I didnt even try yet." I say. "You didnt have to because I didnt speak." She says. I look up at her and I see her glance at dad.

"Is that not normal?" Dad asks. "Not usually. I know a few vampires that could read thoughts that are being blocked. Maybe last night his powers amplified." Mom says and I look at dad as he response. "So we need to test him some how. See what powers he know possess." Mom nods. "That is the plan." But their lips never move. I heard their whole mindlink and I have never been able to hear when somebody would mindlink somebody else. That is definitely weird.

"No need." I respond. "How do I turn it off." I ask and mom realizes that I heard everything her and dad were saying. "Try throwing up your own wall. That's how we block the mindlink." Mom says. And I try to block my mind. "Can you hear me?" Mom thinks. "Yes. It's not working." I say. "Picture yourself building a wall. Imagine the strongest material you can think of and stack it up to visualize a wall around you. Make sure what you picture is impenetrable." He says and as he speaks I visualize a brick wall being stacked around me. "What about now." Mom whispers into my mind.

"Yes but it's a whisper." I say. "Ok throw something else over the wall to block more sound out." Dad says and I imagine steel being wrapped around the brick wall. "Good job honey." Mom says. "For what?" I ask. "You did it. You didnt hear me ask if you could hear me." She says proudly. "Your a quick learner." Dad says. "Now I just need to remember to keep it up. That's all I need is to hear everything." I say as I pick up a piece of bacon.

I am starving. I quickly eat five pieces of bacon and probably a dozen eggs. As soon as I finish my stomach starts to grumble. I start to sweat and I can feel my stomach flop. I run over to the trash and end up vomiting everything I just ate.

"See what happens when you scarf down your food like that?" Mom says looking at me in disappointment. "I'm sorry mom. I'm so hungry." I say and walk to the sink and rinse my mouth out and then take a big gulp of water. And I instantly regret it because that doesnt stay down either.

"Oh your sick. You need to go lay down." Mom says as Kaley and her dad Kayden walk into the room. "Your sick?" Kaley asks with a interested look on her face. I shake my head. "No, I'm not sick. I'm just hungry and thirsty and nothing I eat will stay down. As soon as it hits my stomach it comes back." I say walking to the fridge to grab some milk. I just need something to stay down and suppress my hunger.

"Let me try something." Kayden says walking to the fridge and then pouring something in a glass and handing it to me. "Try this." He says and and I grab the cup from him and gulp it down quickly not even checking what it is. It goes down and easy and stays there. I let out a sigh. "Oh thank goddess. Can I have some more that was the most delicious drink I've ever tasted. What was it?" I ask and Kaley giggles.

"That my boy was proof that your vampire side has fully taken over." Kayden says and smiles. "Wait, did I just drink blood?" I ask realizing what he has said. "Well, looks like we have alot more in common than we though before." Kaley says sitting down. "So, what does this mean?" Dad asks and everybody just shrugs. "Me and Kaley were going to go out and test what I can do. Do you want to come with. Maybe give me some pointers?" I say to Kayden who in turn looks at my mom who nods.

"Sure let's go. Its. ot like we have to wait for breakfast." He jokes slapping me o. the back and heading outside. "Be careful honey." Mom says and I nod and walk out side.

The sun is really bright. I throw my hand up to block my eyes when Kaley pushes it down and slides a pair of sunglasses on my face. "Dont worry. Your not going to turn to ash. We are just more sensitive to the light. Make sure you wear glasses and wear long sleeves so you dont burn." She says handing me a jacket. "You just said I wouldnt turn to ash." I say taking a step back and she laughs. "Sunburn silly." Kayden is standing at the bottom of the stairs laughing at our interaction. "Oh." I say taking the jacket and throwing it on as I head down the stairs.

"Ok first things first. Speed." Kayden says as Kaley sits on the ground to watch us. "I want you to run to the tree line and back as quickly as you can. Go," He says and I take off. And I am moving so fast that everything turns into a blur. And the next thing I know I'm stopped when I run snack into a tree. "Shit." I say shaking my head and I look around. I am in the middle of the woods and honestly I'm not quite sure exactly where I am. I take a step back and notice the tree that I ran into know has a big me sized dent in it.

I place my hand on the dent amazed that I caused this when I hear footsteps pounding towards me. On instinct I spin around and get into an attack position when I'm tackled to the ground from my left. "You were only suppose to go to the tree line." I hear Kaleys sweet voice laughing. I sit up and she is standing up next to me.

"That was amazing." I said as Kayden walks up in front of me and reaches a hand out to help me up. "It was like everything was a blur and it was just me running with nothing to worry about." I say and Kayden looks at the tree I hit. "Well, it looks like there should have been one thing to worry about." He says and Kaley starts laughing again and I cant help but join in.

"This is amazing. I've always been fast but not this fast. Where are we anyways? How far did I go?"

"We are about half a mile over the border." Kayden says. "What? I was only running for about a minute." I say suprised. "Yeah our kind us very fast. Faster than any other. If you dont count how the witches can just teleport to wherever they want. That's bit the same." Kayden says. "So, what else can I do?" I ask wanting to know more.

"Well I assume you can tell by the look of that tree that you are also strong. You didnt get injured when you hit it did you?" He asks and I shake my head no. "Good. So let's see how strong you are then." He says pointing to a small tree about six inches in diameter. "Punch that tree." He says and I shrug and do what he says and to my suprise my hand goes straight through the tree to the other side and it topples over. "Awesome." I say and Kayden is now pointing at a thicker tree.

This one is about a foot in diameter. and I walk up to it and punch. And the same thing happens. And I cant help but be excited that I'm the one doing this. "Ok, so why dont we go for something bigger. The tree you ran into, go punch that." He says and I look at that tree. It is huge. Half the size of a redwood. I walk up to it and with all my strength I punch. And my arm goes into the tree all the way up to my elbow. I pull my arm out and look into the hole I made. "That's good. You are pretty strong. And with training you'll be even stronger." Kayden says.

"So what else can we do?" I ask. "I mean that none of the others can." He looks at me thoughtfully. "Arc, this is a great gift bestowed upon you. Besides the strength and the speed you are almost indestructible. Vampires are immortal. None of the other supernaturals are. You are going to be around for a long time." He says and I take in this information. "So I'm never gonna die? That is great." I say.

"Well, I never said that you couldnt die. Vampires can die. But the only way somebody can kill us is by beheading us. And that is very hard to do once we have been trained." He says. "And there are some down sides that you need to know and remember." I look up at him.

"First of all, that hunger you felt this morning was the thirst. It is only quenched with blood. And honestly anything else you eat or drink will make you sick. So you will need to learn to hunt. We can start on that tomorrow. But you must know that even if there is an urge to drink from somebody you mustn't do it. When the thirst takes over sometimes it takes all you have to be able to not take the life of somebody else. it you must resist. Once you take a life it changes you. You will become feral and violent. And you will be exterminated." He says.

"Exterminated? Like a bug?" I ask. "Yes. Hundreds of years ago our kind would drink from everybody and anybody. But that has changed. We only hunt animals and we do have some blood banks that we own so that no human is injured. There is only one person you will ever be able to drink from and that will be your mate." He says and I speak up. "So once I find my mate we can drink from each other and not go feral?" "Yes but that is only done on two instances. When you mate for the first time you will drink each others blood to seal the bond. And if one of you is severely injured. Drinking your mates blood will heal you quicker." He says and I nod.

"So how do I know who my mate is?" I ask sneaking a glance at Kaley and unfortunately I think her father caught me. "On your sixteenth birthday you will know. Trust me." He says and pats me on the back. "And honestly I hope what your thinking is true. You my boy would make an excellent king." He whispers in my ear. And I see a smile spread across Kaleys face. "We also have excellent hearing." She says and gives me a wink.

"Ok. Now the other thing that is not good about being a vampire. I want you to know all the negatives and what you are in store for." He says and I nod for him to continue. Since you are immortal you will deal with alot of loss. That is why most vampires join a coven. We tend to associate ourselves with others of our kind so that we dont ha e to bear the loss of loved ones as often. Do you understand what I'm saying?" He asks and I slowly nod. "Your saying my family is going to die but I wont." I say and the realization that I'm going to be alone hits me and honestly it makes me sad.

"Can we go home for the day. I'm not in the mood anymore." I say and Kayden nods. "I understand. But I wanted you to be aware early so that you can prepare yourself. You know that right?" He asks and I nod in return as I start to slowly walk towards home. "Tomorrow we will teach you to hunt. Until then when you feel thirty just drink from the black bottles in the fridge." Kayden says and I nod in response. "Kaleywe have stuff to do let's leave hin for now." He says and Kaley kisses my cheek then rushes off after her father. I smile slightly and continue off towards home. I have alot to learn.