Empath (Book 1 of the Empath Trilogy) (34 page)

I woke again with sunlight streaming in around the curtains in our room, the heat pads replaced by his cool body molded along my back, reminding me I was safe.  He felt me move and pulled me tightly to him.  It felt good to have him nuzzle my hair and neck as he breathed his spicy vanilla smell on me.  I was certain I didn’t smell nearly as good.

“Love, are you awake?”  James murmured in my ear.

“Mmm.”

He chuckled, chest rumbling against my back and it felt like this nightmare had never happened.  We were back in bed where nothing could hurt us.  I closed my eyes and pretended it was true for a few minutes longer.

“Love, we need to get you up and moving.  We have a plane waiting.”  Reality came rushing back with a great big slap.  A six o’clock flight to Edinburgh and the vampire Court awaited us.  It was tomorrow.  I rolled over and hid my face under the pillow with a groan. 

His hand reached out and touched my forehead.  “Are you in pain?”

“I don’t want to go.”  It was hard not to sound like a spoiled child.  My whining amused James and he laughed. 

“You sound like you again.” 

I didn’t see how he could be so happy about the same set of circumstances that had me wanting to burrow under the covers and pretend nothing existed outside this room.  My head hurt, my lungs hurt; every muscle hurt.  I was pretty sure my butt and legs were scuffed from the rocks and the last thing I wanted was to go see a bunch of vampires.  Hiding, I threw my arms over my face and closed my eyes.  “Let’s worry about that tomorrow.”

Undeterred, he put his arm around me.  “We can’t wait that long, our flight’s in a few hours.  Are you hungry?  It has been more than a day since you’ve eaten.” 

Had it been a whole day since breakfast with my parents?  “What time is it?”  I grumbled, struggling to make my eyes work.

“It’s two in the afternoon, on Sunday.”  He stroked my hair, which I was sure looked like a rat’s nest.

“Oh no!”  I struggled out of the blankets.

James put his hands on my shoulders to calm me.  “Don’t worry, we have hours before we have to be at the airport this evening.  Since you’re feeling better,” he sniffed, “why don’t you go take a shower and I’ll order room service.  Any requests?”

“Surprise me.”  I heard my stomach growl, “I think I could eat two of everything.” 

I battled my way out of the blanket cocoon to find the floor and worked my way to the bathroom.  After a very long shower, I felt human again and came out to a full spread of food on the small table by the window.  It looked like James had ordered the full menu.  My stomach gave a growl as it woke up all the way. 

When I had eaten my fill of a chicken sandwich and sweet potato fries chased by some wild rice soup, I sat back to breathe and put some order to my thoughts.

“Who were those two who followed me?”  I asked with my eyes closed, digesting.

James leaned back in the chair across from me, his expression troubled.  “I’m not sure; I didn’t recognize their scents.  They could have been sent by the Court to check you out, they have been known to do that before.  Vampires don’t like surprises.”

“No, not unless the Court wants me dead.”  I was shaking my head.  “I read them and that’s what they were there for, not information.  Plus they said their ‘Master’ and mentioned a male.”  I suggested an alternative.  “Bradley or the other coven, do you think?”

James’ white fingers swept a few crumbs off of the table  and tossed them back onto the plate with the rest of my cooling fries.  “It’s possible, maybe we’ve underestimated Bradley’s hatred of us and his focus on you.”

“Why
does
he hate you two so much?”  I couldn’t believe I had never thought to ask him before, or maybe I had never believed he would answer before.

“Bradley blames us for the death of his ‘brother’ and his mate and he’s a sociopath.  He has a great capacity and desire to cause harm to others.  Unfortunately, he has fixated his hatred on Henry, myself and your kind, and, now by association, on you.”

Changing the subject to something less scary, I asked.  “How did you find me?  I get that you “saw” me, but how?”

“That’s the part Henry and I don’t understand.  It seems you called me, psychically.”  He sounded as perplexed as I felt.  “We’re working on it.”

All I could say was, “Huh.”

He wasn’t too concise either, “Huh, is right.”

We got up and packed for the airport.  When we went downstairs to check out, no one made mention of my recent “swim” and I had to ask James how he got me in without anyone noticing. 

His expression was intentionally blank.  “I carried you over the roof and down onto the balcony.” 

Putting my hand on his arm to stop him I looked up into his eyes nearly black from the strain of recent events and spoke softly.  “I’m sorry.  I’m sorry for what I said and for running off like that.  It wasn’t fair.  Thank you for saving me, again.” 

He stopped breathing and ducked his head.  “I’ll be stronger next time, I promise.” 

James’ head came back up and he growled.  “I can’t
not
help you, Claire.”  His black eyes bored into me, barely recognizable as his.  “There is nothing you can say or do that would stop me from coming for you.”

I wondered at the troubled expression he struggled to hide at his statement.  Unwilling to consider it, I pushed away the obvious answer:
compulsion
.

Ch. 42

The long trip to the airport was of course shorter due to the fact that speed limits apparently don’t apply to the immortal.  Per post 9/11 regulations for international flights, we were there over two hours before our flight.  As a matter of fact, we were there with almost three hours to spare, giving us plenty of time to check our bags and stop for a coffee; my choice for dinner considering I had just eaten my day’s rations in one sitting only hours before.

Sipping on my plastic lidded meal, I watched James, concerned for his well being.  I was too keyed up to sit in the gate area so we wandered.  Normally, the Minneapolis airport is a great airport to have down time in with shops, restaurants, and tons of space to walk.  It is
not
great when you are trying to find a place to talk privately.

So, we walked and tried to talk about what had happened and what we were about to do.  I tried to find out what to expect, thinking it might help settle my nerves.  It sounded like this “Court” was a small group of incredibly old vampires who kept tabs on the solitary natured vampires all over the world through a network of loyalists.  They reinforced the rules necessary for keeping their existence hidden from humankind. 

“What rules?”  I asked, glad to learn more about their society.

“We are not to expose our true nature to a human unless the person proves trustworthy, and even then the bond must be for life.”  I gasped as it hit me how serious it was that he had opened up to me and so quickly.

“Why me?”  I wondered aloud.  “Why did you pick me to bond with?”

He met my brown eyes with his own midnight blues, the strain around his eyes adding an edge to his words.  “When I met you I felt something within you that I had to have.”

I tuned in to him; all of a sudden no one else existed.  “What do you mean ‘had to have’?”

“We are incredibly possessive creatures; you should know that by know.  I met you and felt drawn to you at the very first.  More than just your need for defenses; I felt something else in you, something I couldn’t understand other than the fact that I knew I wanted you for myself.  Stephen recognized it, which is why he forced me to swear an oath that no harm would come to you while you were in my care.”  James snorted shaking his head.  “He’s a lot smarter than he lets people know.”  Serious again, he went on, “It wasn’t until I worked with you that first time that I felt the
need
to possess you.  When you exposed your desire at the club, I was unable to stop myself.  Does that sound strange to you?  To want something terribly, though you don’t fully understand why?”  His eyes were an open window to the vulnerability within. 

My hand touched his lightly.  “I understand.  The first moment I saw you, I couldn’t think straight.  It was like you pulled me to you; it was physical.  I’d never felt that kind of attraction before.  It was like I didn’t have a conscious choice in the matter, I would have gone with you even without the clan’s protection.”  My gaze met his, both of us bewildered. I had never put a lot of thought into fate and destiny but something bigger than us had brought us together; our joining was beyond our control.  What was more, this bond we felt had gone beyond the mere physical, even our thoughts were becoming interconnected.  “Is that what this bond is?  Did it start back then, at the beginning?  Does this kind of thing happen very often?”

He was silent considering the possibility, glancing around us at the fellow travelers coming and going as we walked through the terminals.  When he finally spoke again he had lowered his voice.  I took a step closer to hear, my nose filling with the scent of him and intoxicating my senses.  James wrapped me into a bubble filled with only him and I stood rapt.  “I was the last of five children.  Did you know that?” 

I nodded mutely. 

“When my parents left England, they had nothing but hope for their new lives.  They had no idea what was waiting for them on this side of the Atlantic.”  He looked down at me, the pain in his eyes still there after these many years.  “My mother died of Tuberculosis before I was five.  My father was lost without her.  He tried to do what he could and managed to apprentice us out before we were in our teens.  I was the last to go and watched the grief and drink devour him.  There wasn’t much left of him when he sent me away at twelve years old.  I was apprenticed to a printer miles away where I remained until I was nineteen.  Given the distance, it was impractical to visit and I never saw my father again.  It was during my apprenticeship that I was turned.”  He took a long time to blink.

The memory pained him even now and I wanted to know more.  “James,” I prompted gently.  “How did it happen?”  I wanted to hear it, and I didn’t.

When his eyes opened they were locked in a distant stare far away from here and now.  “The printer I worked for was an older man.  He and his wife never had children and we got on well.  He asked me to stay on after my apprenticeship should have ended and I did.  We had rooms above the print shop and one night I was awakened by a commotion downstairs and the smell of smoke.  When I went down to investigate the shop was on fire.  My master was dead, his head nearly torn from his body and a man stood over him covered in blood.  His face was inhuman and terrifying.  And in a moment of youthful stupidity, I grabbed the metal rod we used to tighten the press, and rushed at him thinking to avenge my slain master and friend.”  His language took on the cadence of that time as he relived it.  “Instead of being frightened, the beast’s face changed to that of a human, and he smiled at me.  It was not unkind and I remember forgetting why I was so angry.  I put down my weapon and he held out a hand to me, inviting me closer.  It was when I drew near that he changed again.  His eyes were black and terrifying to behold, yes, but his teeth were what struck fear into my heart.  They were long, like an animal.  I thought he was the devil himself.  He hissed and rushed at me; his attack was so violent I was nearly decapitated and close to losing my arm.” 

I gasped and he looked at me with a sardonic smile. 

“Don’t worry, I survived.  It was to the arrival of our neighbors, come to put out the fire, that I owe my life.  Their arrival and subsequent raising of the alarm scared off my attacker.  From there I was put on a wagon and brought to the doctor’s house where I was left for dead.”  His voice broke.  “I rose while in his home.  I was crazy with thirst and, I will never forgive myself, I slaughtered the doctor and his wife both.  When they were discovered dead, the people I had lived among for years hunted me down like an animal and I could not blame them.  They did not know what I had become.  They thought that I had gone mad from the death of my master and the pain of my attack.  I had no choice, I had to go into hiding.  Except for Henry as my friend, it has been a lonely existence.  No one has called to me until you.”