Zero to Love
Authors: Em Petrova
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Romance, #Paranormal, #Fantasy, #Psychics, #Vampires, #Urban Fantasy
Mindchanger 1:
ZERO TO LOVE
Em Petrova
www.loose-id.com
Mindchanger 1: Zero to Love
Copyright © October 2013 by Em Petrova
All rights reserved. This copy is intended for the original purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this e-book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without prior written permission from Loose Id LLC. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author's rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
eISBN 9781623004262
Editor: Kierstin Cherry
Cover Artist: Fiona Jayde
Published in the United States of America
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This e-book is a work of fiction. While reference might be made to actual historical events or existing locations, the names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Dedication
To Lucy. My little bee. 8-3-00 to 10-1-00
Chapter One
“
Mindchanger
.” The word evoked fear in most, but when Elijah breathed it into Magda’s ear, a thrill hit her belly.
“That’s what he is. See him there in the shadows, his face screwed up as he looks at you? He’s staring right at you, trying to change your mind, the filthy bastard! I should—”
Magda lashed her fingers around her twin’s arm and held him in place. She’d seen Elijah go after more than one of the supernatural species and call them out for trying to do what they lived to do—consume human thoughts.
She peered into the shadows. Her gaze met the piercing stare of the Mindchanger, and she let it drop. Her feet locked to the sidewalk as tendrils of his powers swirled in her mind.
While Elijah continued to pummel her with hissed commands, she stole another look at
him
. Sensual twist of the mouth and pale stubble along a square jaw illuminated by the lights of passing vehicles.
“Hey, freaks, get off our campus!” someone yelled from a car.
“Magda, you’re letting him take your thoughts,” Elijah ranted.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She tore her gaze away. It snapped right back. The man curled his hands into fists and took one hasty step forward.
Elijah jumped in front of her, blocking her sight of the Mindchanger. The sense of him remained with her, though—a warmth in her core, a tickle in the back of her mind.
Her brother snapped his fingers before her face. “He did it, didn’t he? He stole your memories, your thoughts. What’s my birthday?”
“Same as mine, you ass.” She shoved him out of the way and searched the shadows, but the man was gone.
“He got you, didn’t he?”
“No one can change my mind—not even someone with superhuman powers.”
Elijah’s fingers bit into her arm as he towed her away from the lecture hall and through the parking lot. The darkness shimmered as the man sent out his powers. These overlaid her brother’s words, warp on weft. His mind seemed to probe at the edges of hers, lifting a corner.
She spun around and stared right at the man. Tall, leather-clad. Legs locked and hands still fisted. Her stomach plummeted ten stories.
Elijah dragged her across the asphalt to the car. After tearing open the door, he planted a palm on her head and shoved her down into the vehicle. “Get into the car. Don’t let him in your head. I thought you had better sense than to look into the eyes of a Mindchanger,” he growled.
The door shut in her face, but she could still feel him out there, looking at her.
Hungry.
Elijah threw himself into the driver’s seat and twisted the key in the ignition with so much violence she was sure the metal would snap off.
Turning her face to the window, she searched for him. Who was he? She’d never had a Mindchanger take such interest in her. In passing on the subway or walking down the street, she’d experienced a few glances from them, but never like this.
And never before had she felt that dark need. Not with any man.
Elijah stepped on the gas and tore off into the city streets. They left the university behind in seconds, though the city was clogged with traffic.
“Calm down. I’m fine. Nothing happened.” She looked out the window.
I’ll be back.
The city lights created a safeness where light chased away darkness. Elijah drove too fast, and the car was suffocating. The heater blasted in her face. Nausea pounded her like waves on a shore. Each grain of her felt scattered. Left behind with the Mindchanger?
Maybe he did take my thoughts.
She jammed a hand against the slotted vent, flipping it shut. The fashionable scarf she wore felt as itchy as a noose with prickly hemp fibers digging into her throat. She tore it off and tossed it to the floor between her high heels.
Elijah eyed her across the dim space of the tiny car. “What’s your problem?”
“My problem? My problem is that I’m accompanied by a racist idiot who drags me out of the lecture hall before the speaker, whom I’ve been dying to hear for months, is finished. Then he practically carries me to the car when he realizes a Mindchanger is present. Don’t you recall what city you live in? This is their stomping ground. We’re the minority here.”
He shot her a blazing look that meant he wouldn’t be speaking to her civilly anytime soon. “I’m well aware of our locale. But I thought my sister, my
twin
, boasted a bigger brain than the one she displayed tonight. You can’t look into their eyes. They’ll drain you—feed off every thought you’ve ever had.”
She turned to the black window and let her angry breath fog the glass. Bouncing one knee did nothing to release the energy and fury roiling inside her. If he hadn’t stopped her…
What?
Would she have gone right into the Mindchanger’s arms and let him drink until she was a vegetable? No, very few of the species glutted themselves until the human was an empty vessel. They simply took a thought here and there. She couldn’t let her brother’s racist attitudes influence her.
“Mags…”
She made a small noise in her throat to stop him from continuing. As she stared at her distorted reflection in the dark glass, her thoughts fixed on the pavement stretching between her and the Mindchanger, how it had undulated with his power. Why hadn’t he fed from her?
Her mind had been abuzz with new ideas after the lecture, which would probably feed a Mindchanger for a whole day. The Mindchanger in the parking lot would have had plenty of food from her if he’d wanted it—plenty of emotion, which she’d heard they preferred. Yet he’d stood frozen, sending those rippling waves into the night.
“There’s Nick.” Elijah guided the car to the side of the street and rolled down the passenger window. “Nick!”
Fine arts professor Nicholas Hart climbed out of the compact car, long, spidery legs unfolding to the wet pavement. Magda had been assisting him since graduating six months ago with her master degree of fine arts. As of yet she hadn’t taught any students—just cleaned paintbrushes.
His smile was all for Magda.
She lost a bit of her anger. He reached through the open window and slipped his hand around her nape. The cool touch sent a chill through her, and her nipples pebbled.
“Hey, darlin’, where ya headed?”
“Home,” she returned, shooting her brother a warning glance to keep his mouth shut.
Elijah stroked her free hand—his way of assuring her he wouldn’t reveal her
“stupid fumble of the week.”
That was how he referred to her mistakes, in the style of a sports broadcaster. He’d ramble on in an annoying nasal voice, giving a blow-by-blow of her latest boyfriend disaster or argument with a professor. She was well-known on campus for her hot head and support of whatever minority group crossed her path.
Nicholas darted his head in and gave her a quick peck. “I’ll follow you home.”
She studied that full, sexy mouth he loved to torment her with and the dark hair flopping into one liquid eye. He liked spending the night with her, but at times she believed she was merely a toy—an ego boost to a thirty-eight-year-old divorcé.
She forced back a sigh. He was not
the one.
“No,” she cooed, stroking the hair out of his eye. “Not tonight. It’s late, and we have class tomorrow.”
He blinked at her like an owl. Finally he nodded. “Call me if you want me to come over.”
She gave Nicholas a smile as he backed away from the car. Elijah pulled away from the curb.
“What the hell was that?” her brother snapped.
She threw a look at him. How could she and her twin be polar opposites? He was tall, she petite. He was dark with olive skin, and she pale as milk and red-haired. But their differences went much deeper than that. Elijah was all business, calendars, and schedules, while she flew by the seat of her lace panties and spent her days smudged in oil paint.
He hated Mindchangers, and she thought they deserved a place in the world.
“What was that thing with Nick?” he went on. He made a sharp right that would take them home to their suburban neighborhood.
“Am I not allowed to kiss him in front of you now? Professor Hart and I are both of age, and I’m no longer a university student.” She skimmed her lips with her fingertips, still feeling Nick’s kiss there. She had to admit he could stir her blood. However, if he told her it was over tomorrow, she wouldn’t be heartbroken.
But if someone told her she’d never see that Mindchanger again?
She raked her fingers through her hair. What would happen if she waited for Elijah to fall asleep, then went back to the university?
He’s probably long gone, full of some other girl’s thoughts.
She shook herself.
“I’m not talking about the kiss, Mags. You can’t keep turning him down, holding him at arm’s length. Sooner or later he’ll set his sights on a pretty young coed. Then you’ll be out of a boyfriend and a job.”
Silence stretched between them as she processed his words.
After a heartbeat she found her wit lying sharp and bright on her tongue. Time to mess with her brother and really rile him up with her teasing. “You mean I work for him? Who is he, by the way? It was curious that he kissed me.”
Elijah’s gaze narrowed; a bracket of tension formed around his mouth. “You find those creatures sucking human memories from our brains humorous?”
“That’s what the Mindchanger did to me. Ooooooh.” She wiggled her fingers as if sending out those feelers—the powers she could still feel reaching deep into her psyche.
Elijah shook his head. “Not funny, Mags.”
“Why are you always stuffing your nose in my business?”