(Thirties; tall; powerful; blond hair; light blue eyes) Originally one of the former military “civilian” operatives for Bishop, Reese has specialized in the past in deep-cover assignments, some long-term. Until he was partnered with Hollis. Pilot, military-trained sniper, profiler.
An “open” born telepath, he is able to read a wide range of people. He has a unique double shield, which sometimes contains the unusually high amount of sheer energy he naturally produces. He also possesses something Bishop has dubbed a “primal ability”: He always knows when a gun is pointed at or near him, or if other imminent danger threatens. At least twice, that primal ability has saved the life of his partner.
Appearances: Blood Sins, Blood Ties, Haven, Hostage, Haunted, Wait for Dark, Hold Back the Dark
DALTON DAVENPORT
Born telepath—Alaska (33; just under six feet; wide shoulders and strong bones, but too thin; brown hair; hazel eyes that change color according to his mood and his abilities) Was one of those unlucky souls like Diana Brisco Hayes who was medically diagnosed with mental issues and spent much of his life on medication, institutionalized. He is not at all eager to call attention to himself by using his abilities and most definitely does not want to be part of a team. Any team. In Hold Back the Dark he does not have a choice.
SHERIFF JACKSON ARCHER
Foxx County Sheriff’s Department, based in Prosperity (38; six feet; dark brown hair; level gray eyes) A highly intelligent man and a very good cop, he has been uneasily aware of something unnatural happening in his town. It’s neither definable nor definitive enough for him to call in specialized help, at least in the beginning. And then people begin to die in ways and for reasons that make no sense to him.
VICTORIA STARK
New Orleans (26; medium height; thin but much, much stronger than she looks; silvery hair cut short; very large green eyes) Psychic abilities triggered in childhood; no specific definition for them, but possesses very strong shields. Has not found her “gift” of being able to put people to sleep for “naps” to be of much use in life. (“Great for bad dates and noisy roommates. Otherwise not so much.”) But she has another ability, one Bishop and the SCU had believed was virtually impossible: To a certain extent, and depending on who it is, she can control the thoughts and actions of others. It is an ability she herself considers dangerous in the extreme, and therefore to be used only as a last resort. Both abilities have been growing more powerful since her childhood.
SULLY MAITLAND
Born empath—Montana (32; six-two and powerful; dark hair graying at the temples; intense golden eyes) One of many psychics cursed with headaches and blackouts; for Sully the blackouts are sometimes a blessing. It’s the only real peace he has, since the feelings of every soul within a hundred yards of him wash over him like an extremely painful tide. One oddity is that he also senses the emotions of animals. Not thoughts, he has no ability to communicate with them as such, but he knows what they feel. Not all animals, but most. Including birds, especially crows.
DR. JILL EASTON
Part of the network of doctors in North Carolina trained to act as medical examiners, and familiar to readers of Wait for Dark, she has a new partner, Austin Messina, and both are non-SCU psychics, among the group Bishop is able to call on for help.
PSYCHIC TERMS AND ABILITIES
(As Classified/Defined by Bishop’s Special Crimes Unit and by Haven)
Adept: The general term used to label any functional psychic; the specific ability is much more specialized.
Latent: The term used to describe a person with inactive psychic abilities; these people rarely even know about those dormant extra senses.
Clairvoyance: The ability to know things, to pick up bits of information, seemingly out of thin air. Often requires touching an object, but stronger clairvoyants often simply have the knowledge or information come to them unbidden.
Telepathy (touch and non-touch or open): The ability to pick up thoughts from others. Some telepaths only receive, while others have the ability to send thoughts. A few are capable of both, usually due to an emotional connection with the other person.
Empathy: An empath experiences the emotions of others, with varying degrees of intensity unique to the individual psychic.
Empathic Healer: For some empaths, their emotional connections to others is so powerful that they are able to share physical pain and injuries, and to heal those injuries. Depending on the seriousness of the injury, an empath-healer can endanger his or her own life in healing someone else. A rare empath can feel and share injuries to the mind and soul as well as the body, and is able to heal devastating emotional and psychological trauma so that a victim of violence can move past that.
Absolute Empath: The rarest of all abilities. An absolute empath can literally absorb the pain of another, to the point that the empath physically takes on the same injuries, healing the injured person and then healing themselves. If they have the strength.
Mediumistic: Having the ability to communicate with the dead; some see the dead and some hear the dead. Most mediums in the unit are able to do both, though there are of course differences unique to each psychic.
Medium-Healer: The ability to heal injuries to self or others, often but not always connected to mediumistic or empathic abilities. For medium-healers, the theory is that since they are sensitive to the electromagnetic energy of death, they are also often able to “tune in” the energy of life as well, and manipulate those energies in order to heal themselves and others. It can be extremely dangerous for the healer, depending on the individual’s strength and how serious the pain or injury they attempt to heal, since it always depletes their own life energy.
Precognition: The ability to correctly predict future events. The SCU definitions differentiate between predictions and prophesies: A prediction can sometimes be changed, even avoided, but a prophesy will happen no matter what anyone does to try and change the outcome.
Psychometric: Having the ability to pick up impressions or information from touching objects.
Regenerative: Having the ability to heal one’s own injuries/illnesses, even those considered by medical experts to be lethal or fatal. (A classification unique to one SCU operative and considered separate from an empathic or mediumistic healer’s abilities.)
Telekinesis: The ability to move objects with the mind. A very rare ability.
Telepathic mind control: The ability to influence/control others through mental focus and effort; an extremely rare ability. Though some psychics the SCU has encountered have displayed this ability to some degree, and they’ve seen it between blood siblings, Bishop believes it to be a negative ability (taking away control from others), and highly dangerous because of that.
Dream-projecting: The ability to enter another’s dreams.
Dream-walking: The ability to invite/draw others into one’s own dreams.
Spider sense: The ability to enhance one’s normal senses (sight, hearing, smell, etc.) through concentration and the focusing of one’s own mental and physical energy.
UNNAMED ABILITIES:
The ability to see into time, to view events in the past, present, and future without being or having been there physically while the events transpired. Another rare ability, it seems to be a combination of clairvoyance, precognition, and sometimes mediumistic traits, though the ability is so rare it hasn’t been studied in depth.
The rare ability to cause another person, even another psychic, to sleep.
The rare ability to even momentarily freeze another person so they are unable to move.
The ability to see the aura or another person’s energy field, and to interpret those colors and energies.
White = healing
Blue/lavenders = calm
Red/rich yellows = energy/power
Red alone = almost always reflecting rage
Green = unusual, tends to mix with other colors, peaceful
Metallic along the outside edge of an aura = repelling energy from another source or projecting a protective shield