Empath (Book 1 of the Empath Trilogy) (43 page)

“Coincidentally, Henry had been in the area spying on my ally and myself, once again trying to convince the Court of our wrongdoing, when he heard about the humans being attacked and he interfered.  He pretended to help at the scene so that he could check for survivors and saw them drag James out of the building, put him on a wagon and take him away.  Apparently, there was still a faint heartbeat and the boy who had been pronounced dead was left unattended on the doctor’s doorstep, while the town fought the fire before it could burn down their village.”  He snorted, putting a hand to his nose as if he were coyly hiding his smirk.  “That would have been a real tragedy.”

My jaw was clenched tight as I fought the urge to kill this crazy monster as he spoke so dismissively of James’ harrowing death.  These were the kind of vampires James meant when he said that they could lose their humanity.  I was instantly glad of our bond if it would keep him from ever being this cruel, though I doubted he had the capacity. 

“No surprise to you,” Bradley continued on, drawing me back, “the boy did not die because your dear Henry found him and turned him.  He fed him a small amount of his own blood, but he was discovered and had to abandon the boy.  He was not there when he rose.  By the time he arrived, young James had already drained the good doctor and his wife.  From there, he had no choice but to guide the boy.  Henry took James away, helping him to elude his pursuers who declared him guilty of all three murders.”

Bradley paced up and down the room, becoming agitated.  “Henry was able to keep James from the humans, but not my associate.  You see, my friend enlisted my help and that of my mate to take care of the boy.  He had taken offense at Henry’s interference and we did not want the fool corrupting a young vampire with his ideals.  When we caught up with them, your dear peaceful Henry killed my friend,” he paused and I saw the blank facade crack for a second, “and my mate.”  His black eyes raised and I saw the tips of fangs beginning to stick out, “And as I said, I believe in an eye for an eye.  Henry has not taken a mate for some time, but I have been waiting patiently and now James finally has.  To my way of thinking, you owe me no less than
two
eyes, one for my associate and one for my mate.”

My stomach flipped over and I tasted the bile at the back of my throat.  I sat there, staring at the loathing in Bradley’s eyes and knew there was nothing I could say or do that might help me.  I had nothing.  Bradley watched the color fade from my face and smiled, calling over his shoulder, “Gina, you may come in now.”

She had been waiting outside the door and her long stride swept her to his side in two steps.  Gina rested her white hand on my shoulder and I looked over and saw purple polish on her short nails.  It matched the color streaks in her hair.  Funny what catches your eye when you know you’re going to die.

Speaking to Gina, Bradley continued to look at me and calmly gave his instruction.  “Do what you want to the rest of her, but I want the eyes.”  Turning to her he asked, “Have they readied the weapon?  We are moving on Minneapolis tonight.  We can take the entire coven as peacefully as we did in Milwaukee.”  He turned to face me and explained with an infuriating smirk.  “It is a wonderful thing to understand one’s political system.  No matter his suspicions, by the laws of our kind he cannot refuse my request to meet.  To sweeten the pot I will tell him I will bring you.  James will be sure to attend as well.  The rest are of no real interest, I’ve been able to deter most of the locals from siding with what are soon to be enemies of the Court.”

Gina’s enthusiastic smile sickened me.  They were talking about wiping out two people whom I cared for like it was nothing.  And my friends would go like lambs to the slaughter with no acceptable means of refusing.  What about the Andrews clan, would they be bound to follow Henry into this trap? 

His business with me finished, Bradley left and closed the door behind him leaving just Gina and I in the room, which now felt infinitely more restrictive.

Thinking fast, I remembered why James said Gina hated humans and tried to reason with her.  “Gina,” I struggled to make my voice soothing like James did.  “I know what it’s like to feel like you’re going crazy; I know what you’re hearing all the time.  It’s a special ability you have, it isn’t madness.  James and Henry can help you to control it.  They can teach you to block people from getting into your head.  They helped me.  If you can help me get to them, we can teach you.  You don’t have to suffer.”  I hoped James had heard my call for help and was coming although I didn’t know how far away I was or even if my call had been successful.

Her eyes were black and eager, fangs out.  Gina didn’t even flinch at the sound of my voice.  “You would say anything to save your skin, humans never speak the truth.  Bradley showed me that.” 

He had poisoned her against my kind.  That explained the direction for the hatred; how many others had he turned and twisted for his own purposes, creating his own band of supporters. 

“Humans don’t have any control over their minds, you’re too simple.  But we can.  Those who have abilities can serve our cause, that is the only way to redeem the evils your kind has done to us in the past.  Like the boy.  He is a weapon, and once enough vampires see what he can do, they will flock to the cause and finally put humans in their place forever.” Her eyes held all the fever of a religious fanatic.

“What boy?”  I felt the fear coiling into a cold ball in my chest. 

Proud to know something and enjoying her power, she gloated.  “Gaston found the boy living on the streets.  He has an ability that works on vampires, but not special ones like me.  He can make vampires do anything we tell him to do.  Did you hear what happened in Milwaukee?  We did that with him.”  She smiled, showing off now.  “He turned them against each other while we just watched.  We didn’t have to do a thing.  He will do the same tonight with your beloved Henry.  Who do you think will win, Henry or your James?  Which one will have the honor of being executed by my Master?”

My head was spinning and I could barely hear over the blood in my ears.  James had an ability, that they knew, but not Henry; at least not one they knew about, or me either for that matter.  The boy wouldn’t affect James but he would be able to manipulate Henry into going after James and, guessing from Henry’s age, I was assuming he was very powerful.  My heart was in my throat. 

Trying to distract Gina and buy time, I tried to throw her a curve.  “What about Henry’s werecats?  Can your boy turn
them
against each other?  They are neither human nor vampire.  Maybe
they
will kill your boy.  Or you.”  I hoped I was doing the right thing mentioning the clan. 

As I had hoped, doubt flowed across Gina’s face casting it in shadows.  She aimed a nasty look at me.  “Bradley has thought of that; he thinks of everything.” 

I wondered what Bradley’s relationship with Gina was.  She was clearly enamored with him.  Even though she professed complete confidence in her idolized leader, I saw the doubt flicker again in her eyes.  Without another word she strode from the room.  I presumed she went to speak to Bradley. That didn’t give me much time.

As soon as she left, I started working my wrists, only they were bound too tight to budge.  I hadn’t been kidding about not being able to feel my hands.  If I could get a hand free, I figured there had to be scissors or something in there I could use.  My legs were tied at the ankles to the chair legs, but I could hop the chair, I bet.  Giving it a test, I hopped a tiny bit and the chair moved, noisily, a few inches toward the desk.  I only had to move it a few feet, and I decided sound was less important than speed, hopping hurriedly over to the desk.  It was less than a minute and I held my tied right hand to the drawer.  I could reach if I balanced on my feet and held the chair cocked with my hips turned.  It was awkward but it allowed me to use my hands at the right level. 

Luck was with me and I found scissors in the top drawer.  Working the blades against the rope, I was concentrating on my task so intently that when she came back in the room and slammed the door behind her, I jumped.  And dropped the scissors. 

I watched her face change when she saw the scissors on the floor.  She crossed the room in less than a second and her hand flew to strike me, as promised, across the nose.  It brought tears to my eyes and I felt a few drops run down my lip, then it stopped.

Judging from the look on her face, Gina wasn’t getting the desired response.  She had been hoping for more of a human reaction.  Maybe she remembered how much I’d bled the last time.  Bradley must not have told her I was marked.  She roared with rage and grabbed the scissors from the floor.  Before I could register what was happening, she stuck them into my left thigh. 

I felt the metal scrape bone and I screamed.  The pain was intense.  I wished I could pass out, although I could feel it wasn’t going to happen.  The blood was pouring out of my leg and I wondered if she’d struck something vital.  Now that she got what she was looking for, her lips pulled back from her fangs, smiling with sick pleasure.  She liked to see blood.  She pulled the scissors out, licking them languidly and I saw her raise them again.  I screamed before they went in my left shoulder. 

My mind didn’t let me pass out until she had stabbed me for the third time; the scissors were still sticking out of the last one, low on my left side.  She had nicked an artery somewhere given the amount of blood pouring out onto the floor.  The last thing I saw before fainting was Gina dragging her fingers across the steady trickle and sucking my blood from her fingers. 

While I was out, I dreamed of James.  He was driving on a country road in the late afternoon, the sun low on the horizon.  I was frustrated that I couldn’t see the blue of his eyes one last time behind his black shades.  I wished I had the strength to send him a warning about Bradley’s trap.  We were both going to die today.  I heard his engine rev higher as I thought of our impending deaths.

I was still dreaming of James when a bone jarring blow struck the back of my neck, sending my chair crashing forward.  My head and left side hit the wood floor hard, knocking my shoulder out of socket again and smearing my face and side in the blood on the floor.  I’d regained consciousness, I noted sadly.  I would rather dream of better things as I bled to death.

Gina pulled my chair up as if it weighed nothing and righted it.  As she reached down and pulled at the scissors again, apparently her weapon of choice today, I heard a commotion outside in the yard.  Gina did as well and glided over to the window to see.  She roared and opened the window to yell out. 

I was lightheaded from pain and blood loss, wondering vaguely what she had seen as I sat in the chair, blood dripping from my body and adding to the growing pool on the floor. 

Their weapon maybe?  I wondered how old he was or if he knew what he was doing when he made vampires kill each other for Bradley’s amusement.  The noise from below floated up through the open window and I listened to it as I faded into unconsciousness. 

There was a fight between two barn cats, I could hear them hissing and growling.  The other sounds weren’t as easily recognized.  Tearing fabric maybe, metal bending and wood breaking.  Once or twice I thought I heard yelling or screaming.  Then, it was quiet. 

All of a sudden my hands were loose and I was floating.  My left arm hung uselessly at my side. I heard myself whimper as I was shifted gently into a seated position.  Hearing an engine, I tried to focus.  Who was moving me and to where?  “Can’t you just let me die in peace?” I grumbled at my captor.  I knew it was going to happen, and then I thought about the family I’d come to love and how I had failed them.  I felt the fight go out of me as I acknowledged my family was going to die.  It made it easier to bear, knowing that I was going to die too.  Faintly, I was aware of a car’s engine revving higher as I mumbled about death and traps and weapons, and somewhere in the car, something growled over the engine. 

I can’t say I was awake during my trip to the hospital, although I never completely passed out.  During the drive, I was aware of cool hands stroking my face as I lay against the seat.  Upon arriving at the hospital, I was picked up again and carried into the building.  The bright lights above me were disorienting, then I saw a flash of the side of James’ face as he carried me.  Trying to speak wasn’t working, but I made enough of a squeak that he looked down at me.  He didn’t look very much like himself though, I wasn’t sure why.  Maybe he was sick.  Could vampires get sick?  That was when I finally faded out.

Ch. 53

I woke up in the hospital, an IV was in my arm, and I could tell they had doped me up because nothing hurt.  I would have to kiss my nurse for that.  I could hear voices outside the room and recognized James’ voice speaking with someone else.  Trying to see out the door, I shifted.