I'm trying to find a book I read in the 70's about hive minds / psionics

Question

Here's what I remember:

• The main character was a black girl (late teens or early 20's).
• I seem to recall the story takes place in California (maybe the Bay Area).
• The girl is the nexus of some sort of hive mind. She initially connects to six other psychics.
• The psychic powers the characters have include the ability to read/manipulate minds, heal, read psychic imprints from objects and telekinesis.
• The main antagonist is a sort of mental vampire. He feeds of the mind of his victim and takes over the body after he as fed.
• The antagonist bred the psychics because originally they "tasted better".
• The antagonist was originally from Egypt.

• The final conflict was won when the protagonist was able to add the antagonist into the hive mind, then drain him.

  Finally, I remember the cover had a girl's face on it with a triangle overlaying her face.

Answer 1

That's Octavia Butler's Patternist series, probably the first one, Patternmaster.

From Wikipedia:

Patternmaster, the first book to be published but the last in the series' internal chronology, depicts a distant future where the human race has been sharply divided into the dominant Patternists, their enemies the "diseased" and animalistic Clayarks, and the enslaved human mutes. The Patternists, bred for intelligence and psychic abilities, are networked telepaths. They are ruled by the most powerful telepath, known as the Patternmaster. Patternmaster tells the coming-of-age story of Teray, a young Patternist who learns he is a son of the Patternmaster. Teray fights for position within Patternist society and eventually for the role of Patternmaster.