Empath (Book 1 of the Empath Trilogy) (25 page)

Propped up on an elbow, my hero didn’t fail me.  “If the Court doesn’t approve then we will simply run away together.  They cannot destroy what they cannot find.”  He said it without the faintest hint of jest and I wondered if he was serious, if we could do that.

“James, can I try something?” 

He lay perfectly still and looked into my face, studying it with a mild expression.  “Feel free.” 

Putting my hand out, I laid it very gently on his bicep.  It was hard to concentrate when all I wanted to do was to run my hands over his body.  My addiction to him was powerful and it took all of my focus to bring my thoughts back to my experiment.  Re-focusing myself, I stilled my hand and lowered my shields carefully.  I could feel that he had lowered his enough for me to try this.   Despite his apparent lack of curiosity I knew that he was very aware of everything I was doing and was following my lead.

Like we’d done in our first sessions together my mind reached down only this time I was more specific in what I was looking for.  I knew it as soon as he figured out what I was doing and I felt my access closing off.  Flicking my eyes up to his I pleaded gently, “please.”

Outwardly he said nothing.  Inside I felt the barriers evaporate.  I gasped and jerked my hand off of his arm.  Seeing James’ normally confident face vulnerable moved me almost as much as what I had felt.  He had let me feel his love for me.  It was overwhelming.  Not like it used to be when I touched people without shielding.  It was astonishing in its strength and certainty.  It wasn’t fleeting like all of his other emotions; this one had been stronger and more established.  His love for me did not feel vampire, it felt human. 

“You love me.”

The uncertainty still wavered in his gaze.  “I told you that I did.”

“But, you
really
love me.  Like I love you.”

He wrapped me in his arms then and let me
see
it again.  Lying there with him, I was overcome and felt the tears roll down my face and splash his cooling chest.  His fingers lifted my chin up to look at him and I was ashamed of myself.  “Look what you’ve done to me James.  I don’t cry and here you are making me cry all the time.  I’ve lost track of how often I’ve gone gooey this week.”

Kissing my tears he answered tenderly.  “I won’t tell.”

“James,” not trusting my voice enough to answer louder than a whisper, “I’ve lived my whole life pretending it was okay that I was never going to have anyone.  Even when Stephen got me started the best I hoped for was a little more peace and quiet.  My life was going to be so simple.  Now you’ve ruined all of that for me.  I feel as though if you went away it would tear me apart.”  Hating the raw need I could hear in my voice, I continued, my words spilling forth unchecked.  “Promise me you will stay with me.”

“Forever, Love.”  His eyes were nearly midnight.

“But what if things change for you?  What if I’m not approved?  You can’t really leave your life behind, even for an oath.”  I didn’t want to think of him ruining his life for me if things changed.  Even I knew love couldn’t last forever for a human and a vampire.  Not
his
forever.

He cut me off abruptly.  “You are a stubborn woman Claire.  I love you for you.  Not because of my oath.  However, that does require me to stay
very
close by at all times.”  He nuzzled my neck giving me goose bumps.  “I hope you don’t mind?”  My doubts could not outweigh my need to be close and I let him change the subject.

“Didn’t you have another dress to show me?  Something that will impress the hell out of the Court?”

Sighing, I sat up.  “Are you making me leave this bed?”

He pulled me back down with an impish grin.  “I will
never make
you leave this bed.  We can have someone send food up a few times a day and stay here forever.  But I do like the fashion show.  It is very flattering knowing this is all for me.”

Confidence inspired by his declaration made me reckless.  “James, this,” I waved my arm over my nude body and his eyes followed,  “is all for you.  The dresses are for our respective families.  But it does help that you like them.”

“The Court is not my family.”  He grew somber.  “However it is necessary to gain their approval for our long term courtship or they will not leave us in peace.” 

“Then don’t let it be said I was rejected for poor fashion.”  I declared with false bravado.  Rising from bed I did my best to saunter over to the dress bag hanging over the back of the closet door.  The show was back on for my audience of one and this time I put a little more swing in my hips.

I heard him growl and smiled as I grabbed a bra to put on.  The dress wouldn’t look right without it.  This one I could get on by myself and I did so with my back to him, a gutsy move by me.  It felt good that I heard his breath stop as I turned around to face him. 

Tonya had won.  We went exotic.  She said that it set off my dark features and prominent bone structure.  My cheekbones had always bothered me.  I thought they stuck out but Tara and Tonya had decided that they were elegant and should be shown off.  The dress itself was a black classic Chinese style that ended mid thigh.  The neck had a higher collar with gold knotted buttons in a diagonal line down to the bust.  From there the buttons were internal and not visible leading to an uninterrupted line in the design, allowing it to hug my body in ways that left little to the imagination.

“I’ll have my hair up, maybe in chopsticks.  You know, keeping the theme,” I said holding my hair up for effect.  He was staring at me, body propped on an elbow.  It was bugging me that he still hadn’t said what he thought of it.  I was beginning to feel my nerve waver.  “Well, do you like it?  Do you think
they’ll
like it?”  Holding up a finger I made a short dash for the pile of bags.  “Oh yeah, the shoes.”  Digging them out, I put on the high satin heels and did a small spin with my arms out.  “Well?”  It was killing me he wasn’t talking.  This was nerve wracking.  What I was wearing, where we were going.  I needed some reassurances that we were going to be okay.  That I was going to live to see Christmas.  “Come on James, I’m dying here.  Opinions?”

Standing up completely nude, he walked over.  It was my turn to sigh.  I was sure he could hear my heart thumping with both fear and excitement.  He was always in tune to my reactions.  It made me self-conscious that everyone in this house had super senses and knew when I was feeling anything of any importance. 

“This has me worried.”  His eyes were dark, hooded beneath his lowered lids.

My stomach knotted.  “What?  Do you think I should return it?”

He grabbed me and folded me into his arms.  “No, I am worried someone will want you for his own and I will have to defend my claim.  It could get ugly.”

It didn’t matter whether he was just saying that to make me feel better, I liked hearing him say it.

Ch. 30

We all spent the next day around the house.  Tomorrow was the wedding and we had a lot to do before James and I would be indisposed for the evening.  The Andrews were in and out all day, still ranging far and wide to learn what they could.

So far neither James nor Henry had been able to get any information from Milwaukee.  It was as if William, the leader of the coven out there, had just vanished.  There had been a suspicious fire at his office, but no other information could be found.  No witnesses, no nothing.  Henry said that there had been times in the past when William had taken his coven and “gone underground” for safety.

Another one we had not been able to find was Stephen.  No one had seen him since the night of the attack at the library and we all felt his absence.  His clan tried to cover for him.  It seemed to me they knew something we didn’t, since they didn’t complain about it.  Tara wasn’t the type to let him slack in his duties unless something was up.  They just agreed that he was uncharacteristically absent of late.  I needed to see him before I went to Europe. 

I called his cell phone and he answered on the third ring.  There was a tremendous amount of noise in the background.  I had to concentrate on his voice, but still had a hard time differentiating the sounds around him.  It sounded like he was near a train yard or train tracks. 

“Claire,” he panted out of breath.  “I was going to call.  Can you get everyone together at the house later?” 

“Sure, Stephen,” I thought it was awfully easy to get him to agree to meetings, hopefully this one worked out better than the last.  “We’re all around today so it shouldn’t be a problem.  What time are you thinking?”

“I should be back around five.  Can you get them together then?”

“No problem, Stephen.”  His wording struck me strangely, “Back from where, Stephen?”

“I’ll explain when I get there.  See you at five.”  The line went dead.

Perplexed, I was lost in my own head when Troy came into the living room where I was lounging on the couch.  Even though he spoke softly I started, nearly dropping the phone still in my hands.  “Who was that, Claire?”

“Stephen.  He said he wants a meeting with everyone at five tonight when he gets back.  Gets back from where?”  I hoped for a hint. 

“I’m sure he’ll explain when he gets here.”

“Troy, what’s going on here?”  I worried he was in trouble and needed help or maybe he had been sent away.  My instincts said his family knew what was going on although I didn’t think Henry or James knew any more than I did. 

Troy couldn’t be motivated to give up anything.  “I’ll let Stephen explain himself.”

“You know this whole ‘I’ll live for a super long time so I have all the patience in the world’ thing gets really old.  My time is limited and I hate to wait.”

Troy chuckled and left the room.  I failed to see the humor. 

Ch. 31

I had tons of homework since I was gone the better part of the week on a “medical leave,” while I healed.  Most of it remained unfinished, staring up at me from where I spread it out around me on the couch.  My mind was a mess and it made the day creep slowly by.  My previous suspicions were confirmed when, with my shopping errand complete, James was no longer willing to concede daytime as safe.  He had declared me housebound and was himself unwilling to leave me for any reason.  As a result, he was spending a lot of time on the phone and confined to his upstairs office.  He was checking with people from all over the midwest trying to find out anything he could on the incoming coven and how they fit with Bradley. 

Eventually, I could stare at my books no more and tucked them all away in a pile next to the couch and followed the hum of James’ voice up to his office.  His office was in the first upstairs bedroom on the right.  The wooden furnishings were minimal and masculine, in keeping with the rest of the house.  In my mind’s eye I could see him sitting at his desk staring at his laptop with his back to the bed and night table.  The small bookshelf filled with travel books he occasionally referenced acted as a table at the foot of the bed.  Since no one had been sleeping in there this afternoon, he had virtually locked himself in since breakfast. 

Before I was halfway up the stairs I knew he was speaking to a human, most likely someone at the paper because I could hear parts of actual words.  It was always lower and deeper, harder to distinguish when he spoke to other vampires or the cats.  I would assume it’s because they’d grown accustomed to hiding their voices that they always talked to each other like that.  Though I was sure he could hear my approach, I tried to sneak anyway.  He seemed to be losing patience with whomever he was talking to; at least, it sounded that way from the one side of the conversation I could hear.

“It doesn’t matter to me what they think.  Yes, I want to stay there.  Because last time I went I was barely in my room, if you must know, and I doubt that will be the case this time.  No, you’re right, I don’t have to share any more than that and I don’t intend to.  I don’t care what he has budgeted, he isn’t the one paying for her.”  He paused while the other party responded at length.  Sighing, he reached the end of his tether.  “I don’t care what they’re gossiping about in the office.  The point is that I am required, by contract, to write an article and I will write one.  The fact that I choose to bring a companion and,” his voice raised as he spoke over some objection from the other party, “and my companion is a woman whom I happen to be involved with is not the office staff’s concern.”  My pulse went up when he flicked an eye my way.  He had noticed me, of course, though I wasn’t sure if what he was saying now on the phone was for my benefit or the other party’s.  “We have our travel plans made.  Whether I pay or you do is not my concern.”  Hanging up, James closed his eyes and rolled his chair back from his desk, waving me over to join him.