Title: "Lightning Crashes Pt. 1"
Author: Rebecca Bradstreet
Rated: PG-13
Archive: Sure.
Summary: David Morgan comes to teach John magic.
Warning: Violence, language.
Disclaimer/Notes: This is a Profiler/Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Crossover. I don't own John Grant, or any other Profiler character. I don't own Asher, or any other Anitaverse character. I do own Rebecca Belinda "Becca" Drake. After all she is just a dragon version of me. I own various other characters that aren't Profiler or ABVH canon. I use // for thoughts, :: for telepathy, and ** as emphasis. This isn't beta'd so all mistakes are my own. ;)"Lightning Crashes Pt. 1"
Rebecca Bradstreet (c) 2002Atlanta
Coffee Shop
Wednesday March 28, 2001Drake studied the crowd at the coffee shop as she waited to meet the man Elisheba figured could sort out just what Grant was, and what he needed to learn. The old dragon spoke of David Morgan with fondness and respect. Becca wondered if he'd be able to pick her out of the coffee shop crowd. She wondered if she'd be able to pick him out. Becca was waiting to meet him to see if she thought he was worth introducing to John. When he came through the front door she knew it. He wasn't glowing with power so strongly that a null could spot him, but almost.
He looked as Elisheba had described him. David Morgan was tall. 6' according to Elisheba. While Drake would call Grant lean she thought lank was the word for Morgan. He was all long arms, and long legs. David even had a long face, and long nose. Above the long nose he had intelligent green eyes, and above them close cut blond hair. He didn't seem terribly uncertain about whom he was looking for either. Morgan stopped for one moment to scan the interior of the coffee shop before centering his attention squarely on Drake and the table she was sitting at.
David Morgan had walked through the coffee shop door wondering what Elisheba had talked him into. She'd called in a favor to help an old friend, but she'd been fuzzy about who the old friend was, and what that old friend needed him for. David scanned the room for a dragon. He knew that much about the old friend. *She* was a younger dragon. A younger dragon who needed help for a human friend, or that was Elisheba's story anyway. If the dragon was shielding she wouldn't be noticeable to the average psychic or witch, but he wasn't the average psychic or witch.
//Here dragon, dragon, dragon. Where are you? Are you sitting in here with your shields pulled in tight around you so that you read like a null, or are you letting some of that power show -- warning, 'I am a monster stay away.' Hmmm...// David found her sitting at a back table. She had her shields pulled around her tight, and her human form was hardly intimidating. Someone looking for a big scary fire breathing monster would have been highly disappointed. Since that wasn't what he was looking for he was pleased. She had the skill to cloak herself as a null. Her human form with its light brown hair and pale eyes couldn't be more than 5'5" tall.
"Rebecca Drake?" David asked, ready to seat himself or leave.
"Sometimes. David Morgan?" Drake answered him.
Morgan pulled out a chair, and sat, "Sometimes. May I ask where your friend who needs my help is?"
"You can ask," Becca shrugged.
"Where is your friend?" David went ahead and asked.
"Not here. I wanted to meet you alone first. I may be uncertain about some things about my friend, but one thing I'm sure of is his vulnerability. You meet with me. It goes well. You can meet him," she told Morgan trying to sound hard, but showing some of her true feelings in her eyes.
David leaned back in his chair, and stretched out his 6' frame. Looking at the dragon he couldn't help thinking of her as a little dragon. It wasn't just her height, or her age, according to Elisheba Drake was little more than half Elisheba's age. It was the naked vulnerability in Becca's eyes. She had the experience to sit there looking harmless physically and psychically, but she couldn't keep her emotions out of her eyes. Becca cared very deeply for her friend. In fact he suspected *loved* very deeply might be more accurate. Once more he wondered what Elisheba was getting him into. He wondered who Drake's friend was, and how he could help her friend.
"I can't tell you how I may help your friend if I can't meet him," Morgan pointed out to Becca.
"Oh you've been giving me some idea of how you might help him since you stepped in here. You came in radiating power, picked me out of the crowd, and did it all knowing I'd want to see what you're capable of. I'm sure you've been assessing me too," Drake thinned her shields -- let her power flare across them for a moment.
While David didn't allow surprise to register on his face he thought, //My! Little perhaps, but strong. You must love your...friend a great deal to be asking for a stranger's help.//
"Elisheba told me very little about you besides your name. *You* maybe an old friend of hers, but *I* don't know you. I came as much to see you as your friend. I am pleased to meet you. I hope I will be able to say the same of your friend," Morgan told her, deciding he liked the fierce little dragon in love with a human that needed his help.
"Elisheba was vague about me? You think it was intentional or just senility?" Becca grinned at him.
"Intentional, telling me all about you would have clouded my first impression of you Miss Drake," David smiled back.
"Becca. She was vague about you too. I wasn't sure what she was sending me," her grin became a mix of reassurance, and embarrassment.
"David. She was sending you the most powerful wizard she knows. I assume from that that your friend is in magical trouble?" Morgan asked.
"*Is* magical trouble is more like it. He...he's got a lot of untrained power. I can't sort out what all he has for power much less train him in its use. He...John needs someone to sort out what he has for power and train him to use it right," Becca told him.
"John...Becca, may I ask you...do you love him?" David questioned gently.
She looked surprised by his guess, but not badly, "Yes, I love John. Am I that transparent?"
"No, you're just that in love," he smiled reassuringly.
Becca nodded, "I wasn't expecting it. Neither was he. But I guess that's how love is, hu?"
"Sometimes, Becca, sometimes. If I can train him I may want you in on his early lessons. If he loves you half as much as you love him that love will make training him easier," David explained.
"Make it easier to train him?" She echoed.
He nodded, "In the beginning no matter how hard he tries to trust me he will not be able to give me the same trust he gives someone he loves. If he trusts you, and you can trust me we can tame John's powers and turn them into true talents."
"If I can trust you. How do we see if I can do that?" Becca asked.
"I think we've already begun that, Becca. The next step might be introducing me to John," David suggested with a smile.
"That might be the next step," she agreed.
Coffee Shop
Friday March 30, 2001"So where is he?" John asked nervously, his hands on the table his eyes on the door.
"He said he'll be here. He'll be here," Becca put a hand over one of his, and gave it a gentle squeeze.
"You're sure?" He questioned, taking his eyes from the door to look at her.
"Yeah, I'm sure," she rested her head against his shoulder, and closed her eyes.
"If you're sure," John sighed, resting his head on hers and closing his eyes.
David Morgan stepped into the coffee shop, and spotted the two of them before he was spotted. David couldn't help smiling at the sight. He hadn't been sure what the man Rebecca Drake loved would look like, but he *had* been sure the man would love her. John and Becca were holding hands, and leaning into and on each other. Grant looked about 6'2". He was dressed casually, but he was wearing a gun, //A man who always wears a gun hmm.//
They weren't asleep only resting for a moment, when the moment was over Drake spotted Morgan. Becca pointed at David, and whispered to John, "There he is."
Grant studied the man Drake had pointed out as he walked toward them. David Morgan might have dressed to look harmless, if he had it hadn't worked. John didn't think the baggy brown jacket was hiding a gun; he also didn't think the tent would slow Morgan down in a fight. David might not play football, but Grant guessed he had a fast 50 yard dash. Morgan grabbed a chair and flopped into it. John sat up in his seat, and straightened his jacket. Becca sat up next to him. She glanced from John to David, and back wondering if the meeting was going to be a success or a disaster. Becca kept one hand firmly in one of John's.
"David Morgan?" Grant asked the new arrival at their table.
"Sometimes," Morgan winked at Drake.
John glanced at Becca when she giggled, and repeated, "Sometimes?"
"Sometimes it's just David," Morgan explained, worried about making Grant tense.
"Oh," John said as Becca gave his hand a quick apologetic squeeze.
"David Morgan John Grant, John Grant David Morgan. John, David is a world class wizard. David, I don't know what John is," she shrugged.
"A world class wizard?" John wanted to shout it. He tried to whisper it. It came out as a croak.
"You don't have to whisper. Nobody in this building has been listening to our conversation -- even looking at this table since I sat down at it," Morgan's pride made him flash Grant a grin with a lot of teeth.
Becca felt John tense, and whispered softly to him, "It's all right. This place is a watering hole for psychics, and witches. He hasn't bespelled anyone. It's just courtesy to a very powerful magic user."
Morgan would have given Drake a hurt look, but he could tell it was important she give Grant the explanation. He added to it, "They would treat Becca with the same courtesy if only she would let more of her power show."
She shook her head, "I'm use to trying to keep a low profile. Showing more of my power might not scream dragon, but it would scream power. That can be trouble all by itself."
"Going around shouting 'power here' can certainly be dangerous," David agreed.
"You don't have to call out for trouble to find you," John spoke from experience.
"Even a whisper may speak volumes," Morgan said, focusing his eyes on Grant.
"Volumes," John echoed, meeting David's eyes.
Becca had said one thing she was sure of was John's vulnerability, Morgan found himself wondering how she was sure of it. She started to say, "David, how do you start..."
Grant finished for her, "...to figure out how big a danger I am to myself and others?"
John gave Becca's hand an apologetic squeeze. Their eyes locked for a long moment, and Morgan was struck by the intensity of the feelings between them.
"A reading would be the place to start," David answered.
"A reading?" Grant asked.
"A quick surface scan won't tell me much. To really get a look at you I need to do a deeper reading, and to do a deeper reading I need your permission and some time. If I'm really going to figure out...what you are I need to do a full reading. May I, Grant?" Morgan asked.
John's eyes shifted to Becca's again. She raised their joined hands between them, and nodded. Grant told David, "I'm ready, and it's John."
Morgan reached out towards Grant's free hand. He didn't touch it just held his hands over it. Becca was glad that they were in a back booth. David wasn't using a lot of magic, but he was using a lot of concentration. If they'd picked a spot where he was more likely to be disturbed...
When David was finished he struggled not to slide his chair away from the table violently. He wanted to -- he wanted to get up and pace. David settled for rubbing his temples, //Becca is right about John needing training. Someone else decided a long time ago that he was magical trouble. Binding spells can only hold in so much, and they tended to wear out, but that didn't stop someone from putting a binding spell on John's power. He has access to his psychic abilities because the binding is centered on his magic. Hell, he even has access to some of his magical abilities. But there's more he can't control, and might not even be aware of. I have to help.//
"John, you have a lot of power. I think you might be a wizard yourself. What were your parents?" David asked wondering who might have set the bindings on Grant's powers.
John didn't have to wince at the question. Becca did it for him. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze, "My father is Patrick O'Doyle. My mother was Noreen Grant. As far as I know, my father doesn't have any preternatural gifts. My mother might have."
Becca added, "His grandfather may have had magical abilities too. He left John land that's definitely had magics worked on it."
David nodded, "I don't suppose I could visit this land?"
Grant looked at Becca. She shrugged, "It's your decision. You don't have to."
John swallowed, and said, "It's a drive from here. Maybe tomorrow?"
"That'd be all right. I don't think anything will be hurt by it being tomorrow rather than today. Would you like to know what I can already tell? I can tell you you're psychic, probably a bit prescient, and empathic. You have strong magical abilities I'm not as clear about yet. I think whether or not you're a wizard they're primal. People tend to think of, and talk about preternatural abilities as making one a psychic or a witch. A psychic can use their powers without ritual," Grant cut into Morgan's lecture with the observation, "Sam likes to go over a scene. Rachel doesn't like any ritual. She insists it just comes to her."
David scowled at John for interrupting him, and made Becca laugh. Grant tried to look apologetic, but he had to bump Drake to get her to stop giggling before she got him started, "They're psychics I work with...well have worked with in Sam's case."
Morgan cleared his throat, and continued, "It's good to know you can work with psychics as you are. I was trying to say psychics can use their powers without ritual. A lot of people will tell you witches can't use their powers without ritual. It isn't true. Magical power is different from psionic power. It *does* work better with ritual, but it doesn't *need* it. I've known witches with little magical power, but completely capable of using their magic without ritual. Some kinds of magic users need more ritual -- sorcerers say -- lucky for all of us. Other kinds -- wizards like myself say -- need far less. Now where you fall...that is the question."
"That is the question," John and Becca agreed in unison. They started to laugh, and David shook his head smiling.