Empath (Book 1 of the Empath Trilogy) (26 page)

Settling onto his lap, I snuggled in as he brought his arms up to wrap around me.  I put my head on his chest and listened to his silent heart.  It wasn’t as creepy as I would have anticipated.  His stillness was something that I found comforting now that I was used to it.  Maybe it was because I had never lain with anyone before and had nothing to compare to.  Either way, I didn’t find it odd that his heart didn’t beat or that his breathing was merely habit.  That and the act of bringing air into his system allowed him to appear human to others and to smell scents around him. 

Sitting here with him, it didn’t bother me anymore that Stephen was coming in a few hours for a meeting about something that I could only wonder at, or that we were going to the wedding for a cousin I could barely stand where James would meet my whole family tomorrow, or that in just a few days I would be neck deep in vampires who might not like me.  Being with James made everything bearable because I was here with him.  It struck me again as odd that we were so in love so quickly.  That was on my mind a lot lately.  And again, I tried to justify the strangeness of it on the “quality” of time and how many hours in each day we had spent together.  With him not needing sleep and always being around, we pretty much talked around the clock.  I never
had
slept well, so I was up in the night often enough to talk to him then, and of course during the daytime when we worked together and just went about the business of being.

“James, I should never have opened the door in just your shirt.  I didn’t mean to cause you any trouble at work.  Gossip is never fun.”  I did feel bad, yet at the same time I was happy that they all knew now that he was mine.  He wasn’t the only one who was possessive. 

“Claire, I told you I don’t care that they know I have you in my life.  Did I tell you Beth is a pot stirrer?” 

I noticed he was trying to look more upset than he really was.  One corner of his mouth twitched and I knew he was secretly amused. 

“Sure, she likes to get everyone up in arms so she did a very thorough job of describing you and what you were wearing and how well you distracted me.” 

I flushed.  “How do you know, did she tell you?”

“No, my editor and I have worked together for a few years, and he wanted to know who the hot little number answering the door in my clothes might be.”  His eyes twinkled merrily, he was definitely finding it entertaining to be causing a fuss at the office.

“Oh no!” I groaned.  “You mean she told them I was virtually naked answering your door?”

“Oh yes, you would be happy though.  I guess Beth was honest in her description of you.  She explained how attractive you were and how I couldn’t keep my hands or eyes off of you.  Apparently we barely managed to keep our hands off each other while she was here; we practically ran her off.”

Mortification turned to giggles.  “I can only imagine how the girls in the office feel about that one.  You being off the market has to be causing some tears over there.”

He shrugged offhandedly.  “There can’t be that many.  I was always polite when I declined any offers.”

“Offers?  How frequently do you get propositioned at work?”

He pulled me in close, probably so that I couldn’t see him grinning in the wake of my jealousy.  “They didn’t ask as often as you are imagining.  And don’t worry, I have never been anything but a perfect gentleman with the staff.”

Keeping my eyes to where I was fingering his collar, I asked him under my breath the question I couldn’t manage to get out of my mind, even though I knew I should, “James, everyone keeps telling me how long it has been since you have had a,” what word to use here, “lover.  How long has it been?”

He went still under me and I started to think he wouldn’t answer at all.  “Claire, I told you that I do not take lovers lightly and you were the first in a long time.  I am willing to talk to you about my past, but first you should ask yourself if you really want to know all of what a man has done in a century and a half or if that has any bearing on what you think of him.” 

I didn’t answer him right away, stroking his collar smooth unnecessarily as I contemplated his counterargument.  When I answered I managed to meet his eyes with some degree of certainty.  “I want to know everything about what makes you you, but I guess I don’t know if I want to know
that
.  Let’s hold off on the long list of lovers for now.  Especially since I only have one on my list.  It’s kind of humbling.”

He looked down at me, expression troubled.  “Does it bother you that we are not equally experienced?”

Thinking about it for a moment, I was able to reply honestly, “No, I got lucky and found the right one on my first try.”

He squeezed me against him and kissed my head.  It was hard to hear him as he mumbled into my hair, “My list is not so long as you might think, my love.”  When I tried to look up to see his eyes, he held me tightly to him so that I could not. 

Ch. 32

Five-thirty and still no Stephen.  We were all together in the house, it was fully dark outside and none of the many sets of eyes watching for him had yet to announce his arrival.  Henry had arrived about forty-five minutes ago in anticipation of Stephen’s news.  I was pretty sure the Andrews knew what we would hear tonight, while the vampires and I were very eager to learn what our friend had been up to this past week. 

James and I were at the table having a snack.  I was munching absently on an apple and James was drinking from his travel cup while working on his laptop.  Troy was on the couch reading a National Geographic, Tonya and Tara were upstairs and Henry was on the chair in the living room reading a book that looked very old and brittle.  I had been watching everyone and noted how perfectly human we all looked.  No one would know that we were unusual in any way if they were to happen by at this moment. 

With silent, catlike grace, Tonya and Tara appeared out of nowhere at the bottom of the stairs behind the couch.  Tara spoke up first, “Stephen’s here.”  I couldn’t help jumping and almost dropped my apple, catching it just before it hit the floor.  My reflexes were improving I noticed.  Interesting.  James lifted an eyebrow at me, he had noticed as well. 

Troy eyed Tara expectantly.  She shook her head the tiniest bit and sounded disappointed.  “He’s alone.”

Now I was sure they knew what he had been doing.  Who was the other person he was supposed to have with him?  I hopped up from the table so fast I banged my knee on the underside of the table. 
Yes, still human
, I growled at myself.  Tonya glanced over at the sound and snorted.  I thought I heard a derisive comment about humans from one of the cats. 

The doorknob turned and he was there.  My heart leapt into my throat as I watched my friend walk into the living room.  Tonya shut the door behind him.  Stephen looked like a soldier returning from war.  He had bags under his eyes, his shaggy hair was dirty and greasy, dried blood crusted over one ear and what I could readily see of his face and arms was covered in partially healed scratches and gouges.  Most alarming was the fact that he was almost as pale as Henry and James when they were hungry.  Because he was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, I couldn’t see any more physical evidence of the price of his week away, but I ventured to guess that he was probably damaged under his clothing as well.  The left cheek James had almost torn off a few days ago was still swollen and yellowed, even though it should have been healed by now.  It was almost hidden under a large, fresh, purple bruise distorting the side of his nose.

“Stephen!”  I rushed to him. 

He saw me coming and put an exhausted smile on his face making him look more like my reckless young friend.  When I threw my arms around his neck, he rocked back and winced, groaning with the impact.  Cursing myself for my thoughtlessness, I pulled back and looked into his hazel eyes seeing fatigue and torment.  “I’m sorry.  You’re hurt, what was I thinking?  Come sit, can I get you something?”  I asked as I led him by the hand to the couch.  Troy had moved over to make room on the end closest to the door.

Stephen followed and sat with me taking a spot next to him.  Henry remained in his chair, James stood behind him and the Andrews sisters took up seats on the floor in front of the couch, graceful as always. 

Troy locked the door and prodded him to speak.  “Stephen, I’m happy to see you back with us.  I think it might be best to catch everyone up before you tell us what you have learned.”

Stephen sat up straighter with visible effort.  “Our local search for information on the incoming force was not fruitful, as you know, so we decided I should sneak out to do some investigating in Milwaukee.”

It occurred to me that because of his youthful countenance, I underestimated him.  He was clearly much more capable than I gave him credit for.  Maybe that was a common phenomenon and was why he was chosen as the spy.

He went on.  “We weren’t sure what their business had been in Milwaukee, but knowing they were friendly to Bradley and he isn’t friendly to us, we thought it best to act the part of a defector.”

“We?”  I aimed my suspicious glare at Troy. 

Troy explained the reasoning, undaunted, “Vampires are infamous liars and we couldn’t begin to know which ones to trust other than those here in this room.  To avoid detection through any means known or unknown we thought it best that only our clan know the details of Stephen’s mission.”

The thought that there were more unfriendly vampires beyond Bradley’s private army, possibly even within Henry’s own coven, gave me pause.  I sought James’ eyes and saw that he was not surprised by Troy’s words. A brief survey of the faces seated around me revealed that
only
I had been oblivious to the dangers lurking beyond the one known threat.

Henry regarded Stephen with clear respect.  “Please Stephen, go on.”

“When I got to Milwaukee it was a mess.  The leadership there has been massacred.  I’m sorry Henry, I know you and William were allies.”

Henry and James stared at Stephen in shock while the Andrews’ took the news in stride.  They had heard this before. 

Weary, Stephen lay back on the cushions behind him.  He was whipped.  “No information was getting out because the coven we’ve been waiting for and their leader, Gaston, were very thorough.  There were no surviving witnesses.  The most I could gather was that Gaston and his coven came through Chicago from out of nowhere a few weeks ago.  He runs his coven like a military outfit.  He has four others with him, three men and one woman and they all have experience with ‘wet work.  I’m sure you’re familiar with the term.  They came up, and in typical vampire formality, requested an audience with William.  I got there too late to help,” he told the vampires apologetically. 

Henry’s face was impassive, anything he was feeling was well hidden away.  He gave a simple nod; they must have been close.  Henry was having a lot of trouble with Stephen’s news if he was locking himself down like this; I could see the stillness in him as he tried to carefully maintain his composure.  James stared at Stephen, eyes and lips very tight waiting for him to go on.

“William and his coven weren’t a big one, but I would assume strong enough to hold their own.  I couldn’t get a solid number from anyone there, though.  Do you two know how many were loyal to him?”

James replied coldly.  “There were thirteen in his coven.”

“Well, William’s coven accepted the request to pay their respects last weekend.  The little I could get was that Gaston told William they wanted to join his coven, and since that would upset his patron Bradley, they needed to keep it just between the two of them.  Because William honored his request for secrecy, no one but the members of the coven were present when Gaston and his crew showed for their requested ‘private’ meeting.  The last anyone saw of William’s coven was when Gaston walked into the downtown office and they locked up Sunday night.  Whatever happened is gone with the evidence.  The building was burned to the ground along with the adjoining two buildings.  There are no signs of what might have gone on.”

Five vampires had taken down thirteen.  I marveled at the power they must have, while at the same time feeling the loss of at least thirteen more we could have counted on as friends, should we find ourselves at war.