Empath (Book 1 of the Empath Trilogy) (42 page)

“Claire!” I heard James shout in anguish through the glass as the woman pushed me in, slid in beside me and slammed the door.  James had made it to the front door as we pulled away from the curb, only to be intercepted by a blur of something rushing across his lawn and colliding with him, knocking him back into the house.  I saw the frustration on his face as he wrestled only for a few seconds with the vampire before casting the limp body into the interior of his house.

My attention was brought back to my immediate danger as the woman next to me hissed, “You’re stronger than you look, human.  I’m going to make you pay for that when he gives you to me.”  My mouth fell open and I watched her lips curl into a cruel smile around her fangs.  The blood had already stopped and she was wiping at her face with her sleeve.  “He promised I don’t have to give you back this time.”

I tried to clear my head, to think things through, except all I could think about was the pain she was clearly excited to inflict upon me.  Death was frightening enough, but she was going to make it hurt and I already had a small taste of her methods.  Being better equipped to physically handle damage gave me no comfort.  I wondered just how much more I could take before it was too much.  I started breathing faster until eventually my mind shut down from the lack of oxygen, and I faded out.

Ch. 52

When I woke, I was once again tied to a chair. I was in a house; I couldn’t hear well enough to tell if it was in the city or country.  My eyes couldn’t make sense of what they were seeing.  I heard the buzzing of nearby voices, fuzzy and difficult to discern.  I was reminded of previous episodes becoming all to frequent.  Fortunately, the confusion was limited to external stimuli, leaving me with internal clarity of mind.  Why was that? 

It had happened the first time at the wedding in a crowd of people I knew; the rest of the times were in Scotland.  All of those times were in crowds of people and the last was with vampires, so I knew type of being didn’t matter.  Thirst!  James was thirsty when I had all of my episodes.  When he was weak, I was weak and when he was strong, I was strong.  That was what Miranda had said.  I couldn’t help but smile as I thought of breaking the brunette’s nose.  That had to be from him, as had been the ability to think clearly even when my life was in danger. 

That was it.  I had to think clearly right now.  James was probably going to need to feed to get his strength up, however, he wouldn’t take the time because he would be looking for me.  I remembered what he’d said about when I’d “called him” in Duluth and I wondered if I could do it again. 

Forgetting everything outside my head, I went into my mind and concentrated only on James.  Not just his appearance or voice, but
him
.  Everyone has an essence or feel to them and James was no different.  I focused my mind completely on who he was and I felt that fuzzy dizziness like before only it was different than the other times because this was controlled.  It felt like the back of my head had expanded, reminding me of a painkiller I was given once for a sprained wrist.  It was trippy and I considered it progress.  Hell, I was trying to exploit a psychic link with a vampire I was bonded with for life.  It didn’t get any trippier than that. 

Digging down deeper, I refocused my energy and concentrated on James until I felt like I could smell him.  I saw him pacing in his living room.  Henry and Troy were standing nearby speaking to Stephen.  They all looked tense and upset, I could almost hear their voices rumbling as they argued.  I thought as hard as I could about eating.  Not like a human thinks of hunger where the belly growls and maybe there’s a side pain or two; I thought of the feeling I had at the wedding, the burning in my throat, the intensity of it.  I combined it with my own human sense of hunger and thirst, hoping it would be enough to convey my message to him.  It was exhausting and the image faded after a while.  Stopping for a few minutes, I brought it up again, faster this time and I continued trying to send the message through my marks. 

I had lost track of time when I heard someone shout from the other room.  An angry reply came, muffled, through the wall to my left.  I glanced up as the doorknob turned and my fear wiped away all of my focus in a flash.  Bradley himself stood looking down at me, flawless in a dark, double-breasted suit complete with handkerchief in the breast pocket.  His short, slicked back blonde hair was perfectly groomed, his neatness contrasted with the haphazard appearance of the well-muscled, hairy individual standing beside him. 

His companion looked to be about five foot nine, stocky and barrel chested with spiky, black hair that came from a bottle.  His black cargo pants were tucked into gouged and worn combat boots, dark chest hair stuck out through his open flannel shirt that had lost its sleeves at some point in its lifetime.  The face looking at me was handsome in a vampire way, but the nose was a bit too bulbous and lips too thick for true beauty.  In his human life, he had most likely been an unattractive bruiser.  Maybe it was my time around soldiers, but I knew without question he was just that by the way he entered the room and automatically scanned it.  I knew this was the one we had been searching for, the one from Chicago who had massacred William’s coven in Milwaukee.  Henry was right; they were here.

“Gaston,” Bradley addressed the bruiser in his clipped, manner of speech.  “Have you met Claire yet?  She belongs to James and Henry.  You remember Henry, don’t you?  He is the bastard you’ve come here to help me kill.”

My blood ran cold and I tried to fight the impulse to scream.  From somewhere in my racing thoughts came the realization that I could focus again.  Had my efforts worked?  Had I gotten through to James?  If I had, that meant I could send them what I could of Bradley’s plan to kill Henry.  I had to get them to talk, to find out what I could before I fled. 

“Why would you want to kill Henry?  He’s not dangerous, he doesn’t even hunt humans.”  Though I no longer saw Henry as the gentle fatherly type, he was far from being lumped into the same level of depravity as Gina or Bradley.  It didn’t make sense that they were so intent upon his destruction.

Bradley snorted at my remark.  “Not dangerous?  How well do you know Henry?  I have known him for over two hundred years.  I have seen your dear Henry, awash in blood, remove a woman’s head from her body while she screamed for mercy.  You should ask him about it sometime; it is a fascinating story.”  The sarcasm dripped from Bradley’s tongue.  James said Bradley blamed Henry for the death of his mate.   Could that be the woman he was talking about?

“What woman Bradley?”  I asked hoping to keep him talking.

He stared right through me.  “Gaston, would you let the others know it is time to move the weapon?  I won’t be long here.”  The brute nodded and opened the door, turning to leave when Bradley spoke quietly, “Oh, and let Gina know she can have her prize as soon as I am done.” 

My stomach twisted, anticipating what was coming.  I had less than no time left.  I was hoping he would want to gloat or maybe I could delay him with some good information.  Maybe buy freedom.  If the marks had proved effective, I’d like to think I could call for James, though I wasn’t sure.  Because of the fact that my head cleared from my earlier efforts, I was willing to gamble everything I had on it.  “Bradley,” I tried again, “my hands are numb, I wonder if you could come loosen them just a little.”

Bradley didn’t even blink, it was clear that he was ignoring my requests.  Then, when he did turn his attention on me I felt my heart stop.  “What were you doing in Edinburgh, little pet?”  His voice slid over me like a snake, leaving me feeling unclean in its wake.  My tongue felt too thick for my mouth.  I couldn’t have answered him if I wanted to.  “Were you meeting with the Court?  Are those bleeding hearts trying to rally support against me again?”

When Gaston had opened the door to leave, I had a clear view down a long hallway and through a window.  I was in an upper floor room of what had to be an older farmhouse.  Turning to my right, I saw a wooden desk, an older computer on it with a neat stack of papers piled on top. Judging from the sounds I was hearing now, we were out of the city.  There was some machinery running somewhere nearby, men speaking outside the window behind me.  Nothing gave me any indication of location, though.  My eyes desperately searched the window, the walls, anything to tie this house to an address.

Gaston walked out and when he closed the door, a piece of paper fluttered off the desk landing beside it facing me.  Squinting, I noticed my eyesight was much improved.  The address at the top of the letter was legible if I concentrated really hard.  As soon as I memorized it, I snapped my eyes shut and, using my meditation experience, I calmed myself enough to focus and tune Bradley out. 

I pulled up my ability and the marks like they were tangible objects from my mind.  Picturing the house and address, I closed out everything else and projected as clearly as I could.  A nuisance, a sound like a buzzing fly; I heard my name at the periphery of my awareness and ignored it.  The buzzing annoyance continued, growing more insistent and finally grew impatient enough that I felt my eye explode in searing pain and my chair sailed backward. 

“When I speak to you, I expect an answer.”  He looked at his hand and I saw his brow furrow in consternation as he righted my chair and studied my face.  “You should be bleeding.”  Just a few seconds more and I watched it dawn on him.  “He marked you, that bastard.”  A fury I was soon to understand flooded his face and he raised his voice.  “Yet another weak, pathetic human to distract us from our true destiny.  It’s becoming an epidemic.”  He directed his tirade at me.  Once again the master of his demeanor, he ran his hand over his hair to smooth it.  “Do you have any idea what Henry is doing to our society, keeping you humans around?  It’s unconscionable.”

The longer I kept him talking the better my chances of living and finding out more about what he was going to have Gaston do to Henry.  “Henry said you hate humans and you want to start a war to get rid of us.  But you killed other vampires, others of your kind.  Why would you do that if you want to save your kind?”

He smiled and sighed as though he were speaking to a child.  “Humans have caused more damage to mine than you could ever fully understand, Claire.  And sadly, some of our kind are unwilling to see that, they are sympathetic to humans.  If we are to unite, these sympathizers need to be eradicated.  They are as much a barrier to our success as the humans themselves.  Social cleansing is a necessary part of any well conducted coup.”  Shaking his head and putting his hands out as though to encompass the room, he looked out the window behind me.  “What I would like to know is if you understand your
specific
involvement.” 

Deliberately, I shook my head no.  There was no way I was going to mention that I knew Henry had killed Bradley’s mate.  A trickle of doubt entered my head asking
why
Henry had killed his mate.  What if Bradley had a point?  Not that it justified ethnic cleansing, but it would go a long way toward explaining why he hated my family and me.

“Henry is a sympathizer like William.  He has a weakness for your kind; I heard it has something to do with making amends.  I don’t care.  It is a weakness he shares with his associate, James.”  My body stiffened automatically at the mention of his name.  Bradley noticed and smiled coldly.  “Yes, I know you are his pet and that is why you are here, my dear.  You see, where I come from, we believe that turnabout is fair play.”

My instincts were correct.  That cleared up that little piece of the puzzle. 

“Let me share with you something you do
not
know about Henry.  It might change how you feel about his ‘peaceful tendencies’.  Your friend Henry and I have always disagreed about the role of humans in this world.  Time and again, he has gone to the Court about my methods and each time I have been able to argue the merits of my case.  But he has no valid justifications for his requests for censure and he knows it.”  Bradley waved a hand and shrugged, the picture of persecuted innocent.  Again, his mood shifted and hate flowed back into his eyes.  “Where he went beyond the point of no return was when his associate was changed.  Have you heard the story of when your Master became a vampire?” 

I sat frozen, afraid to speak. 

Grinning shrewdly, Bradley gave a small shake of his head.  “Certainly not the whole of it.  James was never supposed to be turned, he was attacked by an associate of mine and my associate got sloppy.  Sometimes that happens to the very old among us.  They go a bit mad; no matter.”  Smiling absently he waved a hand.  “A dead human is not a loss but a victory for our side.  This is war and it has been going on for millennia.” 

I realized then that Bradley was not starting a war, he thought we were already in one and that justified everything he did to destroy humankind.