Fear

Really pretty girl. In my apartment. Wanted to be my roommate. Reality-warping supernatural powers.

This was just . . .

I could feel my chest tightening. Every noise in the apartment, from the refrigerator hum to the drip of the bathroom faucet to the quiet whirring of the Xbox I hadn't powered down the last time I'd use it, suddenly seemed especially loud and alarming. My vision actually narrowed a bit as I looked at El standing there, and the backlighting from the balcony doors seemed far too bright.

. . . just too much.

My voice actually squeaked when I said, "Listen, El. You seem really cool, but--"

"You're terrified half out of your mind right now," she interrupted.

"Yeah! Um, sorry. But. Could you please go?"

My visitor's expression went through several emotions in quick succession, including annoyed, sad, and finally calculating. She gave me a wide berth as she made her way back to her purse on the floor by the couch. As she moved, I turned on my seat to follow her every move, every nerve in my body on high alert.

Rather than picking her purse up, though, she reached inside of it. When she turned back to me, she was holding something in her hand. She started walking towards me. In my panicked state, I tried very, very hard to get up and do . . . something. Run away? Attack? Something! But I couldn't move a muscle. I was frozen in place on the loveseat while El walked quickly towards me.

"Just try to relax, Dean," she suggested. "I've temporarily paralyzed you so you can't hurt yourself. Just give me a second, and I'm sure you'll feel much better about all of this."

Not as if I had a choice! I could do nothing but watch as El reached down, lifted my right hand, and slipped a slender, black ring onto the pinky finger. It wasn't much thicker than a rubber O-ring one might buy to repair that leaking sink faucet in the bathroom. As she pushed the ring onto my finger and it slid into place, I felt a shock run all through me.

She sat next to me on the loveseat, continuing to hold my right hand in both of ours. My gaze shifted to her face and I suddenly felt very calm. My chest loosened. The noises and lights in the apartment lost their unwanted amplification.

She said, "There. That's better, isn't it?" I nodded. It was better. She continued, "Almost all my gifts have to do with physical changes and control, but one of my sisters is especially gifted in dealing with emotions. She made this ring for me before I came to the city. It allows me to use my power on the person wearing it, in order to control their emotions. I wasn't sure what I'd need it for, but now I'm glad I had it on me."

She was using magic to control my emotions? Well, that explained why I wasn't feeling terrified any longer.

"Dean, listen to me." Oh, I was listening. Even without the fear, she was definitely the most interesting thing in the room. "You're not afraid of me any more. You're feeling very calm, in fact. Right?" I nodded, still unable to speak. Or did I just not need to? El could read my mind, after all.

"Dean, you like me. You trust me implicitly. You're completely comfortable around me. Even if we were sitting here naked, you'd still be comfortable with it. You think of me as a best friend, even though we've just met. You like spending time with me. You enjoy talking with me. You can't wait for me to move in. You have absolutely no sexual interest in me. When I use my magic, you just think it's cool.

"Tell me, Dean: how do you feel right now?"

I gave her my biggest smile and exclaimed, "It's been so great to get to know you, El! I mean, I feel like I've already known you forever. I think we're going to have a blast as roommates." And I meant every word of it. If my favorite porn star had turned out to be a huge game nerd and invited me to live with her in a mansion, I wouldn't have been any happier than I was right then.

I couldn't feel any other way.

El smiled and responded, "Excellent! When can I move in?"