Chapter 179 - Irrational

"So you agree, JJ." A smile bloomed on my face and I rose to kiss him on that baby-smooth cheek of his. "I knew you would. You are the most adaptable person I know. To skip a century and then still act like everything is normal, or mostly normal—that requires some mad skills."

"You flatter me," JJ smiled back at me. Then his expression sobered. JJ's cool hands that held me lifted me up from his lap like I weighted less than a feather and seated me next to him. He looked into my eyes. "But before we go to meet these people, I have to talk with you about something important."

I tensed, feeling unsettled, both from the sudden distance JJ put between us and from the uncharacteristic seriousness in his stare. A panicky part of my mind immediately jumped to the worst possible assumption. Could it be that JJ realised how smitten I was with him and decided to cut the romantic relationship between us?

In all honesty, it was harder for me to imagine that she didn't notice it yet. I wasn't even hiding it that much. It wasn't in my habit to pretend anything in front of people I considered friends, outside of formal or informal negotiations, and JJ certainly was a perceptive person. Hell, he must've left quite a trail of broken hearts behind him in the past! Gently broken, because I couldn't imagine him being anything less than that about something like that, but nevertheless broken.

I steeled myself, preparing to keep it together and not give up on him. Not give up! There would be a way.

"I promised to explain to you more about a certain aspect of my abilities," JJ began, only to pause when a loud breath of relief left me. "Ma chèrie?"

I fought not to blush. God, I was glad I didn't say anything before JJ did. Now that'd be something stupid enough to fit in any trashy romance novel… "Go on. Ah, I remember—do you mean about that hypnotising with a whisper thing?"

JJ smiled a little, and I felt much better about this entire situation. "Yes. It was something I found myself able to do as I honed my hypnosis. I found, after some experimentation, that I could apply the same forces to my voice as I can to my gaze, and use it to reach into the minds of people. It was something unique to me, as I found no other vampire able to do the same, even Christina. While she inherited my talent for such basic vampire powers as hypnosis and glamour, her own speciality was completely different."

I knew what he was talking about. "That harpy form. Well, that's cool, JJ. Really, you are like..," I recalled Ghost's words said in passing once, "taking the basic things and polishing them until they transcend. But what's so gravely important about this?"

"The words of praise fall from your lips in an unending stream today." JJ grinned at me. "I wonder what made you so eloquent."

"Hey, you made me all curious now. Don't digress!"

"As you wish. But I will still have to explain some other things before going there. So, you heard by now the other name for witches—Bearers of True Vision, for their ability to see through illusions. As a side-effect, or another boon, it makes them immune to hypnosis. Again, because it's bound to eyes, to vision." JJ tapped on his temple for emphasis. "But what if hypnosis didn't include sight? Could it possibly work then?"

I tensed, as the implications of the answer he hinted at reached my mind. My eyes narrowed. "Could it?"

JJ shrugged. "In all honesty, I am clueless. As I mentioned before, I didn't have a lot of interactions with witches before meeting you… And coincidentally, a lot of uses for this particular power. Now—"

"Wait, wait, wait," I interrupted him, raising to my feet in agitation, "So you are saying that all this time, despite what you said, you COULD actually hypnotise me, JJ?"

"It's only a theory, Diana. I never tried it out in practice on a witch." He raised his hands in a soothing gesture. "And even if I could, I'd never do this to you. Why would I? What could I gain from it? Please, think about it. Be rational."

"Rational, dammit!" I jabbed a finger at him. Rational did nothing to the absolutely irrational hurt I felt from knowing all he said. It wasn't even about the possibility that he hypnotised me into one thing or another. On some level, deep in my soul, I knew he wouldn't, just because I trusted him. "Rational!"

But I also trusted him to say the important stuff before it would get important, and this was pretty important ever since I let him out of the coffin, in my opinion. Then again, I should've known better, too. He only said details about Christina after she tried to make a well-done steak out of him.

Huffing, I turned away and crossed my arms over my chest, fighting between scowling and pouting. In the end, I scowled, because pouting was just childish.

Behind my back, I heard a rustle of clothing and a soft creak of leather that told me that JJ stood up, too.

"Diana…" He started, only to pause with a sigh. Then, to my surprise, I heard him chuckling—a quiet, hollow sound. "If you truly don't trust me this much, why do you turn your back on me?"

I forced myself not to look back at him out of spite. "Because I'm angry with you, JJ. This is important! Why do you only tell me now? Why you only tell me important stuff after it drops into my pants and prepares to bite me in the ass?" I swivelled on my heels now, and found myself face to face with JJ, much closer than expected him to be, but just at the right distance to meet him eye to eye. "What else, how much else, do you hide?"