I blanched. Kaden ran a hand through his hair and sighed with resignation.
"It's not what you think though.' He told me quietly. "Most of us live off of, well brain waves, in a sense. It's like your dreams sustain us. The REM patterns are best." I blinked and Kaden flinched.
"Well, that doesn't actually..." I began
"Guys, what's going on? You woke me uppp" Moaned Brie, then more excitedly "Oh my gosh, you woke me up! Kaden can you do that again? How long can you sustain it? What else can you do?..." Brie shut up as soon as she saw Kaden's hurt expression. Brie smacked me on the arm, hard.
"God Rue-I fall asleep for five minutes and you've already broken him!" Brie complained bitterly.
"Hey!" I protested, but Brie held up a hand to silence me.
"What did you do?" She demanded. "Apologize, now!" I crossed my arms.
"I won't" I objected, glaring at Brie and Kaden. I had a right to know everything I could if I was going to trust this guy. Kaden sighed.
"No, she's right. You should know"
After everybody settled back down with a beverage of their choosing, Kaden ran his hand through his hair and sighed again.
'Ok, so here's the thing. My species, if you will," here he nodded to Brie with a wan smile "uses our particular anesthetic as a way of inducing a deep dream state in our, excuse the term: victim. At that point in time, we are capable of picking up on and absorbing brain waves. But it only works as long as we remain in skin to skin contact. Think of it like charging a battery, in a sense." Kaden grimaced. I had so many questions, and opened my mouth, but he held up a finger to stall me.
"Now, some of us, with time, and experience, are able to hone our skills and can begin picking up on conscious brain patterns as well. And if you really work at it, you can sort of step into a person's thoughts or dreams. With practice, some can manipulate the 'dosage' of anesthetic to achieve different results. Like a doctor giving you a general pain killer, a muscle relaxant or just going for a full out knock out. It's sort of what I did to you on the trip here Rue-I blocked the pain of your headache because I could feel your distress." Kaden was avoiding my gaze, I knew the worst was yet to come.
"And so, it would follow that from there, some of us learn to manipulate brainwaves, to disrupt the pattern, causing a change in dreams or even on some subconscious level, thoughts. Unfortunately, that power causes some to begin to relish their ability to inspire happiness...or fear..and some, even death." The room fell quiet after he finished speaking.
"Some of your kind enjoy KILLING us?" Brie exclaimed.
"Well, so do some of yours." Kaden replied.
"What kind are you?" I asked quietly.
"I do not enjoy people's fears or deaths. I don't cause nightmares or night terrors, nor have I purposefully taken a human life to date." Kaden responded with pride.
"You said you helped with my headache earlier. That means you're more than a little practiced at this...anesthesia thing... That could make you potentially dangerous to us." I stated.
"This is very true, but that also means it might well be within my power to coerce you both into doing what I want, or handing the item over without complaint, but you'll note I have not done either of those things." Kaden explained, and I had to admit he had a point. "However, the Lukoie we are up against... is not like me... He is one that feeds on terror and death. He's very powerful, and is trying to make it back to this plane because there is an abundance of riches here. So many to feast on. And from what I understand, fear and death are highly addictive. This actually leads me to a little of why I'm interested in you Rue. You've seen him before, haven't you? In your dreams? Or should I say nightmares". A rush of images accompanied his words and my head exploded in pain. Somewhere in my subconscious a damn burst and memories of dreams rushed upwards, threatening to pull me under. I went limp and felt my knees hit the floor when I slipped out of my chair. I was holding my head tightly, but still couldn't block out the shouting.
"Rue! Rue!" Brie's voice. Suddenly cool hands gripped teh sides of my head.
"Rue, listen to me... I'm sorry, I didn't know he'd placed a block. I should've realized. Don't fight me now, I can help you." Kaden's voice was urgently calling to me and then slipped away. Within my mind I was sure I heard "Let me in Rue, I can make it stop. I can make the pain stop." But it was so far away.