Empath (Book 1 of the Empath Trilogy) (18 page)

After a long pause, I saw Bradley’s mouth curve into a smile that failed to reach his eyes.  He had won.  “Well, I appreciate your reason Henry.  It has been a pleasure once again.  Do tell James he needs to keep his pet closer to home next time, preferably on a leash.  Where would you like us to deliver her?”  He rolled his eyes.  “Yes, we will deliver her alive.”

After agreeing to deposit me by the falls in Minnehaha Park, the phone snapped shut and Bradley turned on his heel to leave.  I heard him in the other room speaking to the two waiting there. 

“Don’t do anything too damaging.  We are required to hold up our end of the bargain and I promised she would be alive.  It sounds like James is partial to this one.  Wrap her up, drop her off and meet me at the club later.  We have much to do to prepare for our visitors.  They will be here within a few days.”

I was stuck on his wording.  “
Too damaging
”?  What did that mean?  In answer, Gina came in looking pissed.  She tore off the duct tape I’d been bound with and jerked my arms up severely behind me.  The pain brought tears to my eyes. 

“Why?” I wanted to know what her personal vendetta was with me, but couldn’t articulate any more than one word phrases at that point.

She sneered at me, her fangs glinting in the dim light of the room.  “I hate humans. Especially those who don’t know their place.”  She pushed me out the door and the Asian boy toy was waiting to drop the bag over my head again as she used my sore arms to maneuver me back into the car.  We weren’t in the car for more than a few minutes, so I figured we must be pretty close to the falls.  I didn’t believe it.  They were really going to let me go.  Guilt weighed heavily on my heart.  I had been used to let in the very group I was hoping to help keep out.

After the car stopped, Gina jerked me out and pushed me hard enough to knock me to my knees.  She pulled the bag off my head and I saw the telltale streak of orange sunset bouncing off the clouds at the edge of the horizon, before she hit me again and I blacked out. 

Ch. 18

When I came to, I heard voices but they were so far away I could make out no more than rumbles.  My head was foggy so I lay still while I pieced together what I knew.  I knew I was in a house because I was in a bed.  Blinking in the faint light, I recognized the bedding.  I was in James’ bed.  Safe.  As the thought registered in my pain riddled brain, I felt the tears start to well.  When I didn’t think I was going to come home,
this
was the home I’d feared I would not see again.  Not my dorm room, not my parents’ home but this one.  Now that I was here, relief surged through me.  I wanted to see James right now, to know that this was real, that this wasn’t a dream.

Swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, I sat up.  It was too fast.  The room spun and I felt faint; I held on tight waiting for my head to clear.  I had to see him, I was desperate to make sure this was not a hallucination.  My feet hit the floor and I took two hurried steps to reach the doorway.  The door had been partially closed and I fell against it.  By the time I had the door open, he was there, really there, standing in front of me.  Letting go of the breath I’d been holding and the door holding me up, I collapsed.   

His hands caught me and swept me up faster than I could fall.  Forgetting my shoulders, I tried to bring my arms up around his neck and stifled my cry.  I heard his quick intake of breath.  “Claire are you all right?”

My head was killing me, my vision was blurry, my lip had re-opened and was bleeding, my jaw ached, I couldn’t lift my left arm, and I was here.   I was fine.  There was a bigger issue now and I knew who was responsible for it.  Taking a quick look up at his tight face, I knew I’d failed and had to look away. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t tell them anything but they knew about the club.  She recognized me.  It was dumb of me to get snatched.  I should have let my parents drive me home.”  I knew I was rambling, but I couldn’t stop.  Because of me James and Henry and others like them were in danger of being exposed.  If violent vampires moved in and drew unwanted attention, it would get too risky for them to stay.  James would have to leave.  I couldn’t begin to wrap my mind around the potential human cost of the new regime. 

I chanced a look up at James and saw that his jaw was locked and he looked ready to explode.  My despair reached a new low.  I felt the tears at the back of my eyes and fought them.  I had to get out of here, away from him and his disappointment, and mine.  Wiggling in his arms, I tried to get loose.  “Let me go.”

He was trying to be gentle, but wasn’t going to let me go.  He held me firmly around the waist.  “Claire I am not letting you go anywhere without me again.”  Shocked, I paused in my struggles and waited.  When he spoke again his voice was rough, his expression troubled.  “I almost lost you today.  No one is angry with you for what has happened.  How could anyone have seen it coming?  We had no idea they sensed what you were doing in the club the other night.  That was entirely my fault, I should have checked the place out myself before bringing you in there.  I am the only one to blame in this scenario.”  When he reminded me of the club, I thought of Gina and shuddered.

James gathered me closer to him and I heard the concern in his voice, “We should get you to a doctor, Claire.  You have a concussion, possibly a cracked skull, a dislocated shoulder, which has been fixed but will hurt for a while and you lost a tooth.  That is a lot of damage for a human body to take.” 

“No!”  I shouted, grabbing on to him with my good arm.  “I don’t want to go to the doctor.  I want to stay here.”  There was no releasing the death grip I had on his shirt.  “What if they find me there?”

He didn’t speak to my objections, only called quietly for Henry.  He was up the stairs in seconds, his paternal features mild.  “Bradley is not a forgiving man, Claire.  He would not have easily let you go had he not wanted something from us.  I agree it is best that you not leave just yet, we will care for you here as best we can.” 

I nodded, placated for the moment.  “It was the brunette woman I felt instead of the redhead you had suggested.  Gina was her name.  One of the men that was with her that night at the club, the young Asian one, was at the house where they brought me.”  I came back to the point I had brought up when I was rambling before, “She said she knew what I was doing at the club, James.  How did she know?  She just hijacked me and I was powerless to stop her.  I was so stupid I didn’t realize it meant anything or I would have told you.”  I wiped at my eye threatening to leak.  “I didn’t accidentally channel her, she flooded me.”

He and Henry exchanged glances.  James spoke first.  “I didn’t know they had one in their midst.  She must have been well guarded at the club; I didn’t sense her.  I should have done my own sweep.  I will speak to my source.”  He growled the last.

“What are you guys talking about?  What is she?  Who
is
Bradley and why do they hate humans so much?”

Henry filled me in.  “Bradley is a very old vampire and has always preached about a return to the dark days.  He does not agree that humans should live free in our world and has been in the wings many times when humans and vampires clash, fanning the flames of genocide and war as a cover for massive hunts.  But, his club is friendly to all vampires and our ruling Court has made public places neutral ground so that our kind can come together if we so choose.

The woman is one of Bradley’s children.  He changed her not long ago and they refused the assistance of the Court in her transition.  She is still finding her strengths with only his guidance; she must be a Sensitive, like James.  They are sensitive to others’ gifts.  That is why he is able to help in training others.  He feels it when you are using your ability and can help you to shape and control it, much like when you channel.  When someone like this child comes along and she doesn’t have someone help her to shape her ability, it can drive her mad.”

“Mad how?” 

James spoke up his voice was back under control.  “You know how your gift felt to you before you met us and began to control it?”  I nodded.  “You thought that you were crazy and couldn’t control your emotions, constantly being invaded by those of others around you, right?”

He waited for me to remember.  No need, it was all too fresh.  “Combine the sensitivity of being newly changed with the constant barrage of stimulation already bombarding her from all sides.  This woman is quite literally being driven mad by the nonstop ‘noise’.”

I put myself in her shoes and felt pity for her.  “She blames humans for the noise, that’s why she was mad I was in the club.  That’s her quiet place because she can block out a vampire’s ‘stuff’ so much easier.  She wants to kills us because she thinks if we’re dead it will stop the chaos in her head.”  The thought made me cold all the way through and as wrong and terrible as her ideas were, I understood.  I empathized with her.

James did not loosen his grip on me.  “I will never let her hurt you again.  I’ve sworn it.  You’re safe here with us.” 

Ch. 19

A few hours later the doorbell rang while James and I were sitting on the couch.  I was wrapped in my favorite blanket and drinking a cup of tea.  Fortunately, I wasn’t holding the teacup when the bell rang, I startled so badly I would have been wearing it. 

Henry came out of an upstairs room and announced.  “It’s Stephen.  He’s here to get your key, Claire.” 

Alarmed, I swiveled my head from one to the other.  Stephen walked in as I asked him.  “Why do you need my key?”  Only my eyes were visible over the back of the couch but he could hear the warning in my voice.

It was James who answered for him.  “You’re staying here for a while.  I cannot protect you while you stay in the dorms.  Stephen will need your key so that he can get your things.”

Indignant, I tried to stand up and ended up flailing to escape the blanket tangled impossibly around my arms and under his leg.  Giving up, I settled for a stern frown from my spot on the couch.  “There is no way Stephen is digging through my underwear drawer to pack my bag.  No offense Stephen but you don’t know what I need of my books and toiletries.  This has been bad enough without people going through my things.”

Stephen had come around the couch and got a look at my face.  It must have been bad.  I could feel the swelling and had been avoiding mirrors so far.  His features steeled before he could recover his easygoing mask.  I had my first inkling that there was something more behind Stephen’s nonchalant attitude, something I’d been hoping would eventually have peeked out in time.  “I am so sorry, Claire.  Would you like me to beat her up?” 

“As a matter of fact, I would like that very much, Stephen.”  My laugh was cut short by a grimace.  It hurt to smile.

James put his arm around my back again and lowered his voice.  “I can’t let you leave here.  You’re lucky to be alive and we don’t know where these people are, nor do we know when in the next few days the newcomers are crossing into our territory.  We have only days now instead of weeks and you aren’t safe from any of them now that they know you are special to me.”

I wanted to stop at his mention of my being special but there were more pressing matters if I hoped to retain some small portion of my dignity and independence.  “Henry, Bradley said you have watchdogs keeping an eye out for the new group so we know they haven’t come across the borders yet.  Don’t I have another hour before I have to go under lock and key?  Stephen, you could go with me just long enough to pack my own things and come back, couldn’t you?”  I tried to reason with James. “I promise I have no problem staying here but I need to go and explain to the staff that I will be staying with a friend for a while.  It wouldn’t be hard to believe I was mugged and am scared to be alone.” I pointed to my face.  “After I pack I’ll come right back.”

James considered my request for a moment and looked to Henry and Stephen.  “Why don’t you two talk to the sentries at the southern border and find out if there’s been any movement?  It would take them at least a few hours to make it from there.  I can check with some of my contacts in Milwaukee to see if we can get a handle on what time they left while I go with Claire to get her things.  We will meet back here later tonight.”  He turned to me.  “If you’re leaving here, it’s going to be with me.”

Under the circumstances, I didn’t let my independent female spirit be wounded.  No one made me feel safer than James.  It would be fantastic if he would never leave me alone again.

Stephen and Henry both agreed to the plan and James helped untangle me so I could get up.  Henry, holding up a finger to wait, disappeared from the room and returned in a few seconds holding a glass of water and something in his hand.