Micah's Calling Read Online Free Page A

every
five to ten years."
    "What happens if his mate isn't around to accommodate
him?"
    He gave her a look as if to suggest she better not be
getting any ideas to run off and play hide-and-seek. "It's agony. Pure
agony. The only thing more dangerous than a mutant is a mated male in his calling without his mate. The mood swings are violent, the agony unbearable. He will do
whatever he has to do to get to his mate when he is in the calling. "
He paused. "You would be wise to take my word on this and not test me on
the matter."
    Duly noted. But what was that other thing he mentioned?
Mutants. Hadn't he mentioned them once before?
    "Remind me. Mutants are…?"
    Micah grinned patiently. "Some vampires are what we
called mixed-bloods. They are not full-blooded vampires. More and more often,
vampires are mating with humans, so we get these cross-breeds, like Trace. He's
a mixed-blood." Micah kept one hand on the wheel as he briefly gestured
with the other, palm up, as if he was holding a hologram of Trace in his palm.
"Anyway, when a human and a vampire mate, their children are born with
unique powers. It's like a genetic mutation takes place and heightens their
abilities in a certain area. Take Trace, for example." Micah quickly
glanced at her as he slowed down to take a turn. "Trace has this
unbelievable power to mass compel. I've never seen anything like it. He can
bring an entire room of people to a standstill and pick through the minds of
multiple people at one. I don't even think I know the extent of his power,
either, which I think he got from his mother, but I'm not sure."
    "Can't you see inside his mind?" Sam frowned with
curiosity.
    Micah shook his head. "Not him. For some reason, his
mind is locked up tighter than Guantanamo Bay. Either he has consciously locked
me and everybody else out, or it's another of his powers and he is a closed
door. I'm not sure. All I know is that I can walk into the room and see
everyone else's thoughts but his."
    "Wow." Sam was beginning to realize that Trace was
a formidable vampire. "And you think he had something to do with how
Apostle and his friends were killed?"
    Micah had told her that Apostle and the other drecks who had
been after her had been found mutilated inside a house in the suburbs. At least
the authorities and enforcers who had gone to the scene thought it was Apostle
and his cronies. There wasn't much left of the bodies to identify them. They
were more-or-less pools of ruptured organs, decimated bones, and flesh. But if
Trace had been responsible for their deaths, he wasn't fessing up.
    "It had to be him." Micah shot her an awed look.
"I can't imagine anyone else having a motive or being capable of that kind
of massacre." Micah paused. "That's why I said I don't even know the
extent of his power. If it was Trace who did that, he's more powerful than I
thought."
    Silence stretched for a second. "Okay, so about
mutants." Sam prompted him to continue.
    Micah nodded. "Yes. So anyway, occasionally one of the
mixed-bloods loses control over his or her power. Their power is caused by a
genetic mutation to begin with, amplifying a segment or multiple segments of
their brains or nervous system, or what-have-you. Imagine this mutation, or you
can just refer to it as power, being more like a parasite. This power feeds off
its host. Most of the time, the power lives in harmony with the host, and other
times it doesn't. As long as it's living in harmony with its carrier, the power
is harmless to him or her. But when the host and the power, or mutation, are
constantly at odds, all hell can break loose and the power consumes the host.
The mutation takes over, and a physiological transformation occurs. The
mixed-blood vampire becomes more or less a monster, or what we call a mutant.
Their strength magnifies, and their venom becomes pure poison. A mutant's bite
is more deadly than anything else."
    Sam had sat in rapt silence as she listened to Micah explain
yet one more aspect about the new