Empath (Book 1 of the Empath Trilogy) (20 page)

During the meeting, the clan was oddly disjointed.  Stephen was distracted and elusive on what he would be doing, which Tara played off as Stephen being involved with someone new, yet it didn’t seem right.  He wouldn’t answer any questions about where he was going to be and refused to commit to any specific times when he would be available to run area patrols interchangeably with his family.  Stephen was definitely the most cavalier of the clan, but he was being downright irresponsible, a detail I found particularly hurtful since he had been the one concerned enough to bring me into the fold in the first place. 

Maybe it was the painkillers, but I couldn’t quite identify what felt wrong about Stephen’s protests as to why he couldn’t be more help in the grand scheme.  James, disgusted with him entirely, threw up his hands, demanding the rest of the clan make up for Stephen’s unreliability.  Henry made a final ruling that he backed James and that was where it ended.

****

Later that night, lying in bed with my bruised face resting on James’ cool chest, using it as an ice pack, and my head somewhat cleared of drugs, I could finally ask something that didn’t make sense to me. 

“James, it seems like the war and Bradley are a vampire problem, yet the Andrews are putting in a lot of effort to help.  Why is that?”  I strained to see his face, barely able to make out the pale outline of his face against the dark of the sheets.  He had blocked his emotions from me so I couldn’t readily guess.

“Have you heard of witches’ familiars?”  He replied hesitantly.

“You mean like the black cat thing?”

“Right, well some vampires have something like that.  It is referred to as having an animal to call.”

“The mountain lions are Henry’s animal?”

“Yes, specifically, the head of the Andrews clan.  He imprinted on Henry a long time ago.  I am not sure of all of the details, but I know Troy was at one point bound to another vampire.  He was a cruel master and demanded the cats hunt for him.  Henry helped to free them from their bond and it transferred to him.  Now they are bound to each other in a sort of symbiotic relationship.  The Andrews clan now has free will and can live autonomously with one exception.  Just as they cannot refuse Henry’s request for help now, he could not refuse them if they asked.”

“What is your involvement in all of this?  Are you helping because you
want
to or do you
have
to?”  The compulsion Henry had mentioned that James had to help people would explain his cooperation easily enough, though hearing about all of these bonds, I couldn’t help myself from worrying that James was bound to his mentor by more than mere friendship.

James frowned at me.  “Henry was a good friend to me when I had no one.  He helped me when I was having difficulty with some complications after being turned.  I agree with Henry’s efforts on behalf of humans and choose to help him.”  His features softened as he gently kissed my nose.  “It is an alliance that works for us and it has been good to have a friend these many years.”

“What were the complications?” 

“Always the curious one,” he teased.  “Sleep now, we will have plenty of time for that.  Besides, you have school tomorrow, young lady.”

Too tired to disagree, I closed my eyes and drifted off while he kept watch for the boogeymen.

Ch. 22

Monday morning.  I had an escort to my Psychology class and, though I believed the guard was unnecessary, I have to say, I didn’t mind the extra attention from my super sexy escort, looking very mysterious in his ever present shades and dark coat.  James drove me to campus, parked the car and walked hand in hand with me to the door of my classroom.  To all appearances we were just like any other dating couple, except we had the responsibility of trying to prevent a brewing vampire war from erupting so that free human beings wouldn’t be wiped out.  Still, today, life was perfect. 

After class, Stephen picked me up and we walked to work.  He had some studying to do in the library anyway he said, and once I was there, I would be Henry’s charge.  Heidi and Ben had become suspicious of all of Henry’s extra attention.  To placate them, I told them both that I had confessed to Henry my wish to be a librarian so he was putting some extra time into me.  Fortunately, they were very sweet about it.  Ben was going to be a finance guy so he thought my wish to work with books was a waste.  Heidi didn’t know what she wanted, even though she was halfway through her junior year.  She said she was just jealous of my decision-making ability.  I figured it wasn’t a lie on my part since I hadn’t ruled it out as a possibility, although it no longer felt like my only option.

On our way to the library, we had a long walk across campus, which led us through the park.  Augsburg’s campus housed Minneapolis’ oldest park across the street and down a flight of stairs from the main part of the school.  We were halfway through the park when Stephen hopped sideways closing the small gap between us fast until our arms nearly touched.  I barely kept my feet as I looked up expecting him to make a joke. 

But the look on his face was severe.  I had never seen him look dangerous.  He did now.  His changed demeanor had me searching around us for the threat that had to be nearby.  It didn’t take long to find her.  Gina stepped around a large oak tree just to our left and blocked our path on the walkway.  We could easily have stepped around her, which would have left our backs open to her.  We stopped.

“Stephen,” she crooned not taking her hate filled eyes from mine.  “I see you are still doing as you are told like a good kitty.  Does your Master pay you well to babysit?”

A familiar tingle raced up my arm making my hair stand on end.  I recognized the sensation of him changing forms.  “Stephen, no.”  I warned hoping to distract him and unwilling to risk putting a hand on him in such a volatile state.  It wouldn’t help matters if I lost it and just ended up making him twice as mad.  I wasn’t sure of the rules, but I figured it probably wasn’t okay to turn into a mountain lion on a college campus in front of dozens of witnesses in broad daylight. 

Stephen snarled at her.  “
I
have no Master.  Can
you
say the same?”

Her eyes narrowed yet she ignored his question.  “Yes, Stephen, do as you’re told.  You know what happens to bad kitties.”  She stood just feet from us, and closed the space in one gliding step.  Gina put her clawlike hand on Stephen’s cheek and stroked it, putting her face to his.  I half expected her to kiss him.  “I heard what happened the last time you misbehaved for your
old
Master.  Maybe we can arrange something like that for you again to serve as a reminder of who is the stronger species.”  Turning on her heel, she sauntered off, calling over her shoulder as she did.  “See you soon, dears.”

From my nearness I could feel him shaking, I wasn’t sure if it was anger or his effort to remain human.  “Damn it, I hate that woman already.”  He was angry, not afraid.

Curious, I asked him. “Stephen, how did your old master punish you?  You’re so strong.” 

His jaw was so tight I was sure I would hear a tooth break soon, but he breathed a few deep breaths and pulled me along.  Resuming our walk to work, Stephen was silent for a while.  Eventually, he answered me.  “Silver.”  I didn’t understand, so I waited patiently for him to continue.  “Silver hurts and temporarily paralyzes supernatural creatures.  The entire time it touches our skin, it burns and will give us scars.  Given enough time it will burn through until it touches blood.  Then it kills.”

“I’ve never seen scars on you.  Where did he touch you with silver?”  We stopped walking and I turned to face him so that I could see his expression.  His eyes were full of remembered pain. 

Without speaking, Stephen grabbed his pants at the knees and lifted his jeans.  He was wearing low socks and I could clearly see the skin at his ankles.  I gasped in horror.  The flesh just above his socks was forever marked by wide bands of melted white skin, so thin in parts they were nearly transparent.

“Oh Stephen, I’m so sorry.”  I shored myself up enough for a short hug.  He squeezed me back. 

His voice was choked as he pulled away roughly and spoke.  “Come on, we’ll be late and I need to let Henry know they’re following us.  At least they can’t do anything to us in public like this.  Even Bradley isn’t that bold.  Yet.”

Ch. 23

When work was over my personal hero picked me up from Henry’s watch and we went home for an early dinner before heading back to campus for my evening Eastern Philosophy class.  Having heard about her visit, James was on high alert, scanning for Gina the entire time we were outside of his house, but she didn’t appear again.

When my day at school was done, I sat studying at the dining room table while James was researching an upcoming trip to Scotland on his laptop.  I was so deep in thought about the psychosocial aspects of human sexuality that I didn’t hear James the first time he said my name. 

“Claire,” he teased. “Oh, Claire.”

“Hmm?  Sorry, interesting topic.”  Folding a piece of notebook paper into a bookmark, I closed my textbook.  “What did you ask me?”

“I asked if you have ever been to Scotland.  My next trip to Edinburgh is scheduled for next week.  I was supposed to leave Sunday.   However, in light of recent events I don’t feel comfortable leaving you here.”   He was rocked back in his chair watching something on his monitor. 

“So you’re telling me you would get in trouble with your editor and blow a piece just because of your girlfriend’s dumb luck?  Not bloody likely.  I think you want to whisk me away to faraway lands and do unspeakable things to me with no one to stop you,” I teased playfully.

His eyebrows rose archly as he took the bait.  “Do you have any objections to that?”

“None in the slightest.  How long were you going to be gone?”

“We would leave Sunday and return Wednesday.  That gives me time to do some travel pictures, write the story up quickly and attend some meetings.”

The dismissive way he mentioned them caught my ear.  “What meetings, James?”

His chair came down.  “Henry has asked me to speak to some of my contacts in Edinburgh about what is happening here with Bradley and his incoming coven.”

“Is it smart for me to go with you if you are doing vampire things?”  In spending more time with my new friends, I had become privy to lots of information previously unknown to me about our world and theirs.  For example, yes, some vampires hated humans and saw us merely as food.  Others, though opposed to our extinction, were not enthralled with the idea of us in their business or knowing about them.  James and Henry were crossing a line by bringing me into the fold.  Granted, it was due to Henry’s animal connection that I had even been introduced.  Still, it was not something the larger vampire population would be taking lightly when they found out. 

I was fairly certain Bradley and his lot were spreading all sorts of propaganda about our family right about now.  It wouldn’t surprise me at all to hear his crowd arguing that I would blab the whole thing and they would all have to go into hiding in the woods somewhere.  If there was one thing I had learned about vampires and weres, it was that they loved the modern conveniences of city living.  There were not many farming vampires or werewolves, so needless to say, they would be pissed off if they had to go into hiding somewhere off the grid.

James didn’t want to answer my question but when he did, he met my gaze unflinchingly.  “If we are to have a future together, we must eventually make our appearance before the members of the Court for approval.  We might as well do so now, it might even afford you some extra protection.”

“What are you talking about?”  Never in any of our conversations about how his society was run had he mentioned such a technicality.  “There’s an approval process?” 

He nodded once, slowly.  “Yes, vampires wishing to consort with humans are left to clean up their own messes when they’re finished.”  I gasped.  He went on calmly, “The few who seek a longer term arrangement must gain approval through the ruling body.  If we are to maintain the necessary secrecy to survive, we can’t be running around telling everyone how vampires make for great lovers.”  His attempt at levity did nothing for the fear in the pit of my stomach.