Empath (Book 1 of the Empath Trilogy) (38 page)

“We have time.”  He kissed me gently, “It’s one of my favorite parts of the city.”

“Show me.”  I tugged his arm and began to lead him away.

Laughing he lowered his head so that I could see his eyes behind his sunglasses.  “The marina is the other way, Love.”

I smiled and shrugged my shoulders, letting him redirect me as I clung to his arm.  As long as he was leading, I didn’t care where we went.

Ch. 47

We headed back to the hotel at three so that we could clean up and present ourselves to the Court on time. 

I put my hair up in a bun with chopsticks in keeping with my Chinese theme and put on heavier makeup than usual to make my eyes dramatic.  As I was putting on my lipstick, an understated shade of red, James came into the bathroom.  “What is taking you so long?”  He broke off as he came around to lean on the doorframe and saw me. 

Dubious of the wisdom of the ensemble chosen for me my hand froze, lipstick halted mid swipe.  

“What?  Is it too much?”  His reaction made me question Tonya’s choices. 
She
could pull off exotic, not me.

He was shaking his head, an odd expression on his face.  “It’s so…I’ve just never seen you look so, dramatic.  It’s perfect, they’ll be very impressed.”  Pushing off the doorframe, he came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, lowering his head to my neck.  James rubbed his lips along my neck and down to my collarbone.  My insides fluttered and my breath caught; he chuckled at my reaction and the vibration had me biting my lip. 

I had to swallow a couple of times first, but managed to warn him off.  “If you want me to walk out that door, you are going to need to take two very large steps back.”  Slowly he pulled back and I missed his cool touch as soon as it was gone.  In a blink, I thought of something I hadn’t before.  “James, are we going to have to hold onto each other the whole night?  Are they going to let us stay together?  Or do you think your eating will be enough?”

There was a flash of the dread on his face I knew he’d been attempting to hide from me.  With our connection, I had been feeling more and more from him.  I knew he was nervous about this meeting as much as he tried to deny it.  Our bond also let me in on something he hadn’t vocalized, the fact that he did not fear the Court.  There was someone there he trusted.  Someone he didn’t want to tell me about.  The knowledge hurt and I reminded myself I didn’t want to know about his former lives, or lovers.  “I don’t know what it will be like,” he said carefully.  “I’ve never gone before them with a human.” 

Fighting the trepidation I felt at meeting them was the simple-minded giddiness of what it meant that he had never brought a human to the Court.  I was a first for him and it felt good since he was a first for so many things for me.  “Do we have time to call Henry?  Maybe he has some advice.”  Really I wanted to ask about Stephen and find out if they were okay.  “We need to tell him about the two earlier, don’t we?”

Shaking his head, he looked at his watch.  “No, he’s tied up right now.”

“How do you know what he’s doing?”  I studied him.  “Do you have some sort of psychic link or something?”  Nothing was beyond my belief at this point. 

James patted his pants pocket.  “Cell phone.  We’ve been in regular contact while you and I have been here.  He’s monitoring the situation here as well as stateside.  Sasha has been handled,” he added almost as an afterthought.

Relief coursed through me at the confirmation that my friend and his family were okay.  Then I hesitated.  “When have you had time to call him?  I haven’t heard you make one call.”  Curious, I sought clarification.  “Did they kill her?” 

He gave me a look like I was missing something.  “You
do
sleep, and yes, she and one of her females is dead.  The other ran off.  They will try to find her before they have to come home but if they don’t it doesn’t matter, one young vampire won’t attack a clan of weres.” 

My temporary relief was quashed knowing the clan was still seeking out vampires.  I nodded at him, “Okay.”

He understood my sudden lack of pursuit of the subject and kissed my head.  Stepping away, he rubbed the tops of my arms, whispering quietly.  “We should go.”

Mutely, I nodded again and we walked back into the main bedroom, gathering the last of our things before we left together to face a very scary group of very scary vampires, asking them if I could keep breathing.  I wondered whether it mattered if we asked them to consider helping to stop Bradley from bringing a war before or after we asked for my approval, or if they were more likely to do something to one of us if they were displeased by either request.  My imagination kept feeding me images of James’ head torn from his body or a silver stake being plunged through his heart.
Goose bumps covered my arms as we stepped out our door.

Ch. 48

We sat with our sides touching in the taxi.  He held my hand loosely in his own.  The ride was short and before I knew it, he was helping me out of the car in front of a pub on the George IV Bridge.  When I saw the shingle out front, I gawked in disbelief.

“Really?  The Frankenstein Pub?”

Amused, he grinned.  “Sometimes the best place to hide is in plain sight.  People come here expecting monsters.  They don’t
see
the real ones.  We aren’t flashy enough.”

I stood rooted to the spot when he tried to maneuver me toward the doors. 

“What?” 

“I…I’m afraid they won’t like me.”  Feeling a coward for admitting my fear, I watched him closely for his disapproval.  James had dressed for the occasion, his extra pale skin served to set off his black suit and white shirt.  He had broken his monochromatic appearance with a silk tie perfectly matched to my dress’ green embroidered accents.  He took his necessary daytime eye protection off for just a moment and I saw him wince as his eyes felt the fading sun directly.

Raising my hand to his lips in his act of long dead chivalry, he kissed it.  “No harm will come to you.  I made you a promise.” 

Managing only a weak smile and willing my legs forward I didn’t argue.  We continued to hold hands as we walked into the pub. 

The interior was a gaudy tourist trap heavy on the macabre.  It was probably great fun when one wasn’t afraid for one’s life.  James stowed his shades in his jacket and started scanning the room.  To anyone who didn’t know him he was the picture of calm and cool, but I could see the tension in his face.  He was on high alert. 

I looked around, seeing nothing that screamed vampire.  All of the tourists were busy goggling the staff dressed as various sorts of monsters  The locals were visible in their ready acceptance of the bizarre, some were even playing along. 

I didn’t see anything genuine until my eyes landed on the large, brutish male bartender.  He stood behind the counter about fifteen feet away directly across from us.  He probably weighed in close to three hundred pounds, his curly black hair and deeply tanned Polynesian skin making further details hard to make out in this dim light.  The dark eyes looked black to me, no white in them at all.  I was curious if he was some new non-human creature.  James’ hand tightened around mine and I heard him growl under his breath.  He stepped forward and I jumped a step to keep up with him as we crossed the narrow distance to the bar. 

The bartender spoke to James, his scratchy voice insanely deep.  It rumbled straight out of his barrel chest.  “Anything I can get you?”

James held up his index finger, indicating he would like one.  The bartender nodded his large head slowly.  I guessed that everything he did was slow; it was inherent to his massive size.  James turned to me and raised his eyebrows.  Nodding, I answered for my dry throat, “water.”  Turning back to the bartender, James already had a bill out of his pocket and on the counter.

His drink looked like red wine in a very large goblet, though I knew it was something he would find significantly more palatable.  It didn’t even strike me as twisted that I was pleased he was getting to feed.  It had been too long and he needed it if we were going to have a chance at presenting a strong front to the Court. 

We brought our glasses to a private corner booth with high sides upholstered in black leather and brass buttons.  I was watching James intently and noticed a slight tremor in his hand as he lifted his glass and drained half in one long gulp.  He held his eyes closed for a long moment and when he opened them again, I saw with a sigh of relief that his face was far more relaxed.  It was too dark to see if his color was changing yet.  I sipped at my water, unsure whether my stomach would reject it.  My nerves were stretched tight.

We sat at our table speaking very little and James ordered another glass, drinking this one more leisurely.  Shortly, a stocky redhead came over to our table.  As she came closer, I could tell that she was a vampire.  She was physically older than any I had seen so far.  It appeared that she had been turned in her mid to late forties.  When she spoke, her voice was raspy like an old smoker. 

“Come with me, we have a private room for you.”  As we stood, she motioned to the table, “You can bring your drinks.” 

I looked to James for direction and saw that he grabbed his with his free hand, while keeping his left hand firmly on my waist.  It would appear a casual gesture, but I had the feeling he would be keeping me very close during our visit.  At least now he would be strong since he’d fed.  I didn’t know how much blood he would need because it had been so long; hopefully two glasses were enough for what lay ahead.

Our guide led us to a door to the right side of the long, narrow bar.  We walked through it and down a long hallway.  The bar’s owners must have shared space with the building behind it because I could tell we had walked too far to still be in the same building.  We turned and had to walk down a dimly lit stairwell with ancient looking stone steps, grooves worn into them from feet over who knew how many years.  James’ arm slid off my waist, down my arm and over my hand never breaking contact.  I felt stronger. It had to be coming from him.  There was definitely more there than I’d felt since we’d been in Scotland.  I wanted to talk to him about it but thought it best to do so when we left here. 

At the bottom of the stairs, I could see that we were in a large room about the size of the entire bar above.  The ceiling and walls were all pale limestone and worn smooth.  The floor was constructed of large pavers of the same stone pushed tightly together, no spaces between them.  On the walls were lit torches acting as our only sources of light.  I was guessing they were not for effect, but that there was no electricity down here.  It was, nonetheless, dramatic and more than a little unnerving.  Shivering, I noticed there was also no heat down here.

Our guide held up her hand for us to stop, “Wait here, please.  You will be received shortly.”  Her plain blue dress rustled against her tights as she retreated up the stairs. 

I didn’t know what to do so I just stood there, not speaking.  James looked at me, his features and body gone still and unblinking.  Here, away from human eyes, he was dropping his disguise giving me a clue that our audience with the Court would be more like time with Bradley than Henry.  I swallowed hard, preparing for what was coming.  He drained the rest of his glass and set it down on a step.

We waited several long minutes.  I could see from the set of his unmoving shoulders and jaw that he was as tense as I was.  The unknown was what was most nerve wracking of all.  This room with its plain, monochromatic stone walls, ceiling and floor was bare of furnishings, sound or any other stimulus.  It felt like some sort of gigantic sensory deprivation chamber and was having the same effect on me.  My senses were growing hyperaware, reaching for something to hear or see; anything at all.  I was just about to ask James if he could sense anything when a door in the wall to our right, that had blended so well it escaped my notice, opened smoothly and without sound. 

In through the door stepped a delicate pale woman.  Her skin held no pigment that I could see and her pure white hair hung straight down to her slender waist.  Her rose-colored dress hearkened to a time with knights and kings.  I had seen its likeness in tapestries during my visit to Edinburgh castle.  The sleeves were fitted, a square topped bodice opening low revealed a small amount of delicate cleavage and its plain skirt lay smooth on her legs.  Her matching slippers covered tiny feet, fitting for a woman her size.  She was smaller than me, which was unusual.  She might be five feet in her slippers.  Not many people made me feel big, yet next to this one I felt positively clumsy.