Empath (Book 1 of the Empath Trilogy) (13 page)

Whew, my head was spinning, heart racing.  I saw him duck his head hiding a smile.  Was that some sort of joke of his?  With a momentary stroke of horror, I worried he could sense my physical reactions.  I had better get myself under some form of control before I humiliated myself for the millionth time in front of him. 

Standing, I tried to sound calm and sure of myself.  “Okay, back to your way?  You touch and I stand still?”

He recovered himself, all business again.  “Yes.  Be still, I’ll block completely to start and let you in slowly.”

We went back to our positions and he slowly laid his hand on top of mine.  Again, I felt no emotional energy coming from him and although I choked up, I kept control.  He looked at me, silently questioning.  I couldn’t speak but nodded that I was all right.  He allowed the first taste of emotion leak through.  It was again, like something wrapped in cotton and he’d slowed it way down.  I had to really concentrate to “grab” it and examine it, feeling it with my mind.  I reached out tentatively and got through the shield wrapped around it to find an emotional memory of James driving.  He loved his car.  I felt it coming off the memory quite strongly.  I had to laugh.  I saw him smile as well.  He could tell what I was looking at, interesting.  I admired his control, he obviously was able to choose what he shared with me.  Fascinating.

We broke off our contact after he showed me how he felt about the feel of rain on his skin, reading his favorite books and building his house though that one had been a long time ago.  He loved them all.  They were all safe and uncomplicated memories.  Though I was excited by the progress we had made tonight, I realized that he had not shown me anything that gave me any indication of who he really was. 

I yawned then and James looked at the clock on the dining room wall.  “You’ll need to get back.  Do you have class tomorrow?”

Noticing that it was getting late, I agreed that I should go even though I would rather stay here.  I looked around for my coat, but he must have hung it up when I wasn’t looking.  “What day is tomorrow?  Thursday?  No, but I meet with my Psychology study group at ten so nothing too early.”

He brought the tea tray back to the kitchen and returned by way of the wall behind the couch.  It was where the stairway went up.  I hadn’t noticed the closet there, built into the wall.  His hands disappeared into the closet and returned with my coat, which he held out expectantly.  Again, I didn’t mind when he did it, so I walked over and let him help me with my coat.

James’ voice was warm and low.  “Let’s go then,” and he surprised me by putting his arm around my shoulders.

I looked at him puzzled and he started to drop his arm.  “Does this bother you?  I thought I would help you to the car.  You’re unsteady and your color has faded.”  His gaze wavered uncertainly.

Smiling groggily up at him, I realized how close he was and my senses were filled with him.  “That’s nice of you.”  Not that I minded his arm there, even if I wasn’t tired.  “Thanks.”

Sure again, he let his arm resume its position, only shifting slightly behind me as we walked through the front door.  We drove very fast again after he put me in the car and helped me buckle in.  I was looking at the library doors within minutes of leaving his house.

Stopped in front of the building, he seemed to change his mind.  “Which dorm do you live in?  That would be better given the time of night.  It is easier to keep you safe if I’m with you.”  His tone had grown more comfortable and less formal around me through the course of the evening and I didn’t mention it for fear he would change back if he realized it.

It felt good to have him worry, even if it was just his oath to Stephen and his family to keep me safe.  That was one more person who would notice if I was gone.  “I’m over on the other side of campus, overlooking the freeway.  You know, the big one with the ‘A’ on the side.”  It was the tallest building on campus and the school used it to advertise.

He nodded, wove through the campus streets and had me to my front door in about a minute and a half.  My exhaustion was getting harder to hide even from someone not as observant as a vampire, and I was glad to be close to bed.  “Thank you, James.  It was a good night.”  I paused, “For me, anyway, I hope you were pleased with the progress.”  It sounded like a question to me, though I hadn’t meant it to be. 

He looked away from the windshield, resting his calm blue gaze on me.  “I had a better night than anticipated.  It was very educational for me as well.  Would you like me to pick you up here tomorrow at the same time?”

My heart fluttered at the promise of another night with him; I hadn’t botched it.  “That would be fine.  I don’t have anything in the evening.  Thank Henry for me, would you?  He is a great one to have in my corner.” 

He smiled warmly, showing me his brilliantly white teeth and bid me good night.  “I’ll see you tomorrow, James,” I mumbled back sleepily, shaking off the hallucination my lack of sleep had granted, that James’ smile held a glimpse of overly long canines.

I floated in to the building and up to my bed where I slept like the dead until after eight.

Ch. 13

That gave me enough time to go for a long walk, something that always helped to clear my head, before showering and heading off to Psych Group in the morning. I had known the group meetings would be among my hardest, but they weren’t bad now that I was building my new skill set.  It wasn’t because of unholy mental torture that I couldn’t wait for it to end; it was because I was in no mood to talk about Freud and Skinner’s theories on behavior with anyone.  There was only one thing I wanted to do and it was hours away; it would be a long wait until after dinner tonight when I would see him again. 

I worked at the library this afternoon and was actually more eager to get there than normal.  Of course I wanted to see Heidi who I was scheduled to work with today, but I was most eager to see Henry.  I hadn’t seen him at work since learning about his real identity and now that I knew what he was, I wanted to watch how he worked.  It was the most interesting thing to me to see how these creatures performed ordinary tasks in the real world.  I wanted to work out what was real and what was myth. 

But first there was another surprise waiting for me as I walked out of my building after lunch.  “Stephen!” I surprised myself with my eager greeting.  I was changing so much, so quickly, it shocked even me. 

His face lit up in a huge, boyish grin, equally pleased to see me.  “I wasn’t sure what I was going to get back this morning.”   As I got within arms reach, he held a palm out gesturing in front of him and raised his eyebrows.  “Walk with me?”

“Sure, I’m heading to work.”  It dawned on me then, “Hey, how did you know where I was?”  I pulled away to see his face.

He was still smirking like the cat that got the canary. “You didn’t think we would let you out of our sight now that you are part of the family now did you?”

Strange how warm that made me feel, that my new family knew who I was and still wanted me.  Granted, they were none too normal either, but I was still flattered nonetheless.

Noticing a sudden tension in his body, I caught a glimpse of his face and leaned back, scowling at him.  “Are you sniffing me?”

Immediately he stopped what he was doing.  It was so fast, I couldn’t be sure of what I saw, but it sure seemed like he was sniffing around my head.  I barely heard him mumble.  “You must have changed your shampoo.  You smell different.”  Then, before I could say anything, he changed gears on me, drawing me into the thing I really did want to talk about.  “How was it last night?”  His body thrummed with his excitement.  Boy was I glad he was blocking.  My shields weren’t strong enough for this intensity of emotion yet and I bet he would positively overrun me with his enthusiasm right now.

My stomach somersaulted at the thought of James and I hoped Stephen didn’t catch it.  “I think we did okay.  His,” I felt silly but found myself looking around furtively for witnesses,  “kind is
different
.”

His face was close enough to feel his breath on my face. “How does
your
kind see them?”

“Well, they are less intense than ours.  It makes it easier to pick apart; like slow motion.  I’m thinking eventually I’ll be able to take what I know and put it to use on my kind.”  Turning back to face front, I mumbled, “That’s what I hope, anyway.”

Stephen was quiet, his excitement dimmed by his thoughtfulness the rest of the way.  He appeared to be mulling something over.  Once in a while he would shoot me a vacant smile, just to remind me he was there, I guess. 

We arrived at the front doors and, turning to him, I felt a surge of affection and stepped forward to hug him quickly, “Stephen, thanks for everything.  I’ve never had a friend like you before.”  He colored and his shaggy hair fell into his eyes as he tipped his chin down for a minute.  When I touched him, his shields were fully operational so there was not a repeat of the other night.  Impulsively, I quipped, “I’ve never had a cat before.” 

Stephen’s eyes widened until he saw my playful smile.  He growled back and I gasped.  “You’ll pay for that one.”  He gave my upper arm a gentle squeeze and moved off toward the interior cluster of campus buildings.

Funny, I had never noticed how feline his movements were even as a human.  He glided even now as he walked away, his shoulders moved in a sensual rhythm with his hips, reminiscent of the big cats on nature shows when they are stalking prey.  My glance wandered to where he was headed and I saw why.  There was a handsome young man walking toward Stephen.  He must be on the prowl, indeed.  I let myself wonder briefly if he had ever used his talents on his “prospects” in order to capture them in his snare, even though he had told me the other night he wouldn’t do something unethical like that.  I hoped not, I liked the uncomplicated Stephen who was fast becoming a big part of my life.  Seeing him close in for the kill, I spun and dashed the last few steps into the glass entry so I wouldn’t be late.

The jubilant bubble I was floating on today expanded yet again as I saw my coworkers.  “Hey Heidi.  Hey Ben.”  It made my shifts go so much faster when I worked with those two.  Ben and I didn’t talk much, but we got along well enough that I enjoyed working with him, although Heidi was my favorite and now it was going to be even better. 

Heidi came out from behind the front desk as I walked up to drop my bag and coat in the cubby behind the counter.  She dropped her voice so it wouldn’t carry in the open room.  “Henry is looking for you.  What did you do?  He never asks for anyone.”  Her eyebrows were pinched up with concern and her face awash with worry.

I tried to appear nonchalant despite my heart’s sudden acceleration.  “Well, I can’t think of anything.  Maybe he just has news about a specialty book I ordered.”

Heidi was a book lover at heart, which was why we got along so well.  “What book did you order?  Would I be interested?”  It worked.  I had distracted her for the moment.

Uh oh, think of something obscure but mainstream enough not to draw attention.  “It is a rare translation of the Aeneid I heard some students in Philosophy talking about.  They said this one was a hard one to find but worth it.” 

Score, I thought with a sense of relief.  She didn’t care for either the Greek or Trojan side of the war.  The whole thing bothered her since she thought Helen of Troy was an irresponsible, flighty trollop.  Personally, I liked the story.  Call me a romantic, but I thought it was a wonderful tragic love story with a hell of a lot of adventure, to boot.

“Do you mind if I go find him?”  I asked now that her concern was put aside.  My lying skills were terrible and I didn’t want my story to fall apart with further questioning.

She turned to head back to the counter with Ben, now seeming unconcerned.  “Go ahead, I think I saw him in the upper level stacks.” 

Up I went, unease replacing my previous desire to see Henry.  I wanted to talk to him and ask questions, fill in some blanks that I had from last night.  Hopefully he wasn’t calling me in to say that it was not working, or that now James had a better idea of what I could do, he didn’t want to teach me after all.  It was worse than waiting for test results on an exam.  I could never find school as much of a draw as my sessions with James.

No.  I stopped myself.  James had seemed genuinely enthused about my abilities last night and even I had felt the progress.  Maybe I wouldn’t be awesome by Thanksgiving, but I would be able to try to help them.  Plus, I wanted to contribute something to my new family.  I felt that I owed them.  We certainly didn’t want crazed, bloodthirsty vampires killing all over the city.  If we could encourage them to pass us by, count me in.