Empath (Book 1 of the Empath Trilogy) (14 page)

Sure enough, Henry was standing at his rolling cart full of books, looking intently at the spine of some forgettable new bestseller. 

Henry didn’t look up until I entered the aisle he was working in, though I was sure he knew I was there.  From my limited experience with James I knew vampires had heightened senses, I just wasn’t sure how much more aware they were because he blocked quite a bit.  I had felt that too.

“Hello Claire, how was your evening?”  Even though his voice didn’t call to me as did James’, it was still captivating and he drew me in without having to try.

I had looked around on the way up for any sets of ears, but checked again just in case.  There were none within our immediate vicinity.  “It was probably the most bizarre evening of my life.”  Was it more so than the night before that with the Andrews?  “Okay, at least in the top two.” 

Henry’s eyes lit for a second, briefly amused.  “Yes, I suppose you have had quite a week so far.”  He grew more serious, “Is it something you would be willing to continue at or if it is too much, do you wish to stop?”

“Continue?  Of course I want to continue!”  My voice sounded shrill.  “I’m doing well, James thought so too.”  I hated how childish I sounded.

My breathing became difficult.  My reactions seemed out of proportion when it came to James.  It must have been the strangeness of my situation.  But the thought of not seeing, or touching James made my heart nearly stop mid beat.

Hand up to stop me, Henry’s voice slid over me.  “I spoke to James about your progress this morning.”

Henry paused before he went on, he seemed like he was sniffing too.  Shaking it off as my paranoia, it seemed more likely there was a biological reason for his pause.  I was betting that he could sense my physical response and he was letting me calm down before continuing.  “James confirmed that you have made excellent progress and he feels you have tremendous potential.  There is nothing to be concerned about.  We merely wanted to make certain you had not changed your mind.”

Sighing in relief, I relaxed.  I hadn’t realized how desperately I’d wanted Henry to remain oblivious to my freakout last night.  “Actually, it’s quite the opposite.  Now that I’ve worked with James, I think I can be more than ready in the next few weeks and even help you out with your situation.”  Did that come off as cocky as it sounded?  “If you’ll have me.”

“Don’t be too eager.  This is a dangerous situation that you will be walking into if you participate.  James will be with you, as well as my clan, but this is a strong coven moving into our territory; they pose a danger even to us.  That is not something to be taken lightly.  We are working on finding some more allies willing to help if it comes to a fight but it will be difficult given our solitary natures.  However, we cannot let this group onto our lands, the consequences are too great.”

Henry seemed so concerned for his coven that I made up my mind; I was helping them no matter what.  They were a good group who believed in something and I could get behind that.

“I understand James will be picking you up again tonight?”  Henry broke into my thoughts.

It was beyond my control to stop myself from grinning like a mindless boob when I thought of another night with James.  “Yes, he’s a great teacher.”

“Interesting,” was all Henry said.  He was staring rather intently at my face when my focus came back to him.  He appeared thoughtful but I couldn’t understand why, unless it had something to do with my obvious preoccupation with James while I was supposed to be concentrating on how to help them with a life or death situation.

I stuttered and blushed my response, overall making it ten times worse as I tried in vain to explain away my eagerness.  “I am just so happy to finally be working on my abilities.  Maybe things will be better for me now.”  Wow, did that sound dumb.  I was so not nearly smooth enough to hang out with these guys.  I felt so inadequate it was painful.

Henry tipped his head, meeting my eyes, and looked right through my babbling; I was sure he was seeing directly into my thoughts.  What he told me astonished me.  “I have known James for some time, since he was very young.  It has been a long time since he has had someone of interest in his life.  Has he told you anything about his past?”  I shook my head, afraid to interrupt.  “It is not my place to share all of it.  However, I think that you should know something about him.  James grew up in a different time and has different priorities than you might be able to understand.  Through no fault of his own, he lost most everyone who was important to him.  He tried to go on despite those setbacks, and was achieving some amount of success as a young man until he was changed,” he dropped his voice, “into one of us.  James did not choose to change and his was a horrific experience, but it solidified some things for him, such as his desire to help others.  It has become a compulsion, that is why he does what he does.  It helps him as much as it does you.”

“Thank you Henry.  I appreciate your candor.  This is all so new to me, it’s a lot to take in but the more I can learn, the better I can handle everything.”  My affection for Henry was growing rapidly.  He exuded paternal kindness and compassion, but I pictured that cool customer the other night on Troy’s doorstep and reminded myself there was another side to the man even if it was hard to fathom.

He looked abruptly at the ceiling over my shoulder, “I can hear Heidi coming.  She’s worried about you, you know.  She is scared that you’re going to be fired.”

“Yes, she was on me the second I walked in today.”

“Right then, back to work.  And good luck tonight.  We are pleased to have you on our side.”  Henry smiled at me and put his book down on the rolling rack.

Watching him, I knew what he was going to say and wanted to avoid it.  Turning on my heel, I started to walk away, “I’ll go see about Heidi.”

“Why don’t you stay here and take over the fiction section for me.  When Heidi gets here in a moment, she can help you.” 

Damn, I knew it.  Oh well.  “Thanks Henry.” 

He was right, no shock there.  Heidi was just seconds away from turning the corner and Henry waved a quick good-bye to us as he glided smoothly off to some other task.  The two of us settled in to an afternoon muddling through murder, mayhem and smut.  Good times.

Ch. 14

I was eagerly waiting at the front doors of my dorm ten minutes early.  It was hard not to feel like a school kid waiting for the bus, except that I had never been this excited for the bus.

“Hot date?”  Came the mildly interested comment from the tall blonde girl working at the front desk. 

“Sort of,” I mumbled back distractedly, not wanting to discuss my social life with the snide door monitor.  My thoughts were elsewhere.

James and I had been working together for a week and each night I waited just as eagerly as I had the first.  He’d been an encouraging teacher, although, at times he would withdraw and I would worry that I had said or done something to offend him.  Inevitably, he would excuse himself to the kitchen to return renewed and ready to resume our lessons.  He had promised something special tonight and I was beside myself with anticipation.  The difficult part was keeping my overactive imagination in check. 

A flash of black caught my eye and I turned back to look out the door.  He was stepping out of the Audi and actually coming to the front door.  I watched him approach while I felt around on the chair next to me for my coat and purse.  I heard the blonde’s breathing change as she noticed my “date.”  He was arresting in his faded blue jeans and dark blue shirt.  To her credit, I was as breathless as the door monitor when James stepped inside. 

“Ready?”  His grin lit up his entire face.  He looked sincerely happy to see me and my knees felt weak.  I enjoyed his act for the blonde and easily played along

I smiled back.  “Absolutely.”  This was going to be the best few weeks ever.

****

It was several hours later, we had been working diligently and I’d called for a break.  James had put the kettle on and we were idling in the kitchen, waiting for the water to boil.  It felt domestic and homey, my ease around him had become second nature since that first awkward night. 

His smooth voice broke the silence, “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, anything.”  I didn’t have any secrets.  I was pretty sure he even knew what I wished he didn’t.  He probably also knew that I was all sorts of nuts about him, he’d been pushing my boundaries on blocking hard tonight.

“Anything?”  He raised an eyebrow archly at me.  I wondered if he knew the effect that he had on me as my heart started hammering its staccato beat.

Awkwardly I nodded, “Yeah, I don’t really have some secret life or anything.”

He gave me a dubious look.  “Don’t you?”

“Yeah, I guess I do now.  But you know all that,” I admitted with a sigh.

“I would like to know if you feel comfortable enough to take a field trip with me.”

“A field trip?  Where?”  I tried to imagine where we would go on a field trip and felt a quiver in my core.  It didn’t matter, as long as I had him with me I knew I’d enjoy it.

He turned the heat off the whistling teakettle and answered without turning around.  “I would like to take you downtown.  There is a nightclub frequented by my kind.  It would give us a chance to test your distance, something we have been unable to do up until now.”  He turned to catch my eyes, “If you’re willing.”

My heart skipped a beat then started to pound.  We were going to a vampire hangout with me smelling like a snack? 

“Claire, I won’t let anything happen to you.”  His smoky eyes were sincere; it was impossible not to believe him.  I wondered for a fleeting moment if he was using any of his vampire tricks on me to get me to agree.

Feeling oddly assured and eager to prove myself, my mind moved to more practical concerns.  “Am I dressed for it?”  We were both wearing blue jeans and I was wearing a light green sweater that I hoped, for his benefit, would be flattering.  He outshone me of course, but when wouldn’t that be the case.

James stood up and, putting his hand on his chin, made a show of giving me a once over.  I was not successful keeping the heat out of my face.  Giving a grim nod, he replied, “It’ll have to do.”

I could feel my self-esteem take the hit.  Of course someone so beautiful would see me as completely ordinary, I knew that already.  But before I could berate myself any further, I heard him laugh warmly as he shook his head.  “Why do you doubt your appearance?  You look incredible.”  My disbelief must have leaked out.  “No, really.  You are a stunning woman.  I find it hard to believe that you have no suitors.”  He hesitated and I thought I saw a flash of darkness flash across his features, jealousy?  No, that had to be wishful thinking.  “Do you, Claire?”  The dark edge to his words tickled up my back.

I laughed dismissively at his question.  “No, I have never had a boyfriend.”

James feigned surprise like he hadn’t had access to all of this in my head for the last week.  “Never?”

Crossing my arms, I looked severely at him, done joking.  Pushing this way to make me discuss a painful subject with someone whom I particularly did not want to discuss it with was cruel and I didn’t appreciate it.  “If I can’t shake hands with someone without losing control, how could I have had a relationship?  Think about it.  You’re the first person that has even had his hands on me for more than five seconds, aside from a few unfortunate incidents here and there.”  My strong stand had ended with a fizzle as I thought about what I was saying.  It was kind of sad really but between Stephen messing with me about dating all the time now, his favorite pastime I was learning, and now James picking up the torch, I wanted to let him know it was an off limits subject.

“How lonely you must have been.”  He didn’t say it condescendingly so it was not
as
horrible as it could have been, but it still hurt to have him look at me like that with something akin to pity in his eyes. 

“It will soon be your choice whether you want to share your life with someone or not.  I promise you that.”