Empath (Book 1 of the Empath Trilogy) (8 page)

A soft, warm chuckle came from the kitchen doorway behind me.  “Those were possibly my favorite years.  The roaring 20’s, indeed.”

Stephen came up beside me and mouthed, “I can help.”  Operating in a fog, I nodded my acceptance and felt the languid comfort of
calm
flow through me.  Right now I was okay with a little help handling this.  He was my friend and I knew that he was trying to help his family and had not done anything wrong with my head, only enough to keep me here to listen so that I could make up my mind with all of the information I needed.  Maybe I was crazy or getting caught up in whatever this whole charade was, but I still trusted him no matter what weirdness I was hearing.  Whatever the reason, he had genuine concerns for his family should he have to make a deal with this other family, making my obligation clear.  Any price associated with this deal would have to be handled by me.  I didn’t have a lot of money but I was honest and I would find a way to make it up.

Immortality
.  The word slid through my mind while I continued to follow the march of the family through the decades.  Well, maybe it was possible.  If ESP and paranormal were real, then why not agelessness?  What made people immortal though?  My heart skipped a beat and I caught my breath.  “Are you,” I squeaked out the word, “vampires or something?” 

“Or something,” Stephen replied softly.  “Troy, I’m not certain how to proceed.  Do you think I should just
show
her?”  Stephen and Troy looked at each other for a minute, Troy gave an almost imperceptible nod and Stephen moved away from me. 

I looked up at him, watching him back away until he gave me a last wink, turned and glided into the kitchen.  From behind the wall, I heard his voice call out, “It’s better that I show you what we are, it’s sort of hard to understand any other way.”  Then I heard a ripping noise, like he was tearing a dishtowel or something in there.  At the same time, I felt a prickling along my skin.  I glanced down at my arm to see the hair standing up, when a movement coming from the kitchen caught my eye.  It was the biggest cat I’d ever seen; it was a mountain lion. 

“Stephen!”  I called in a panic.  Was this the pet I had been hearing in the kitchen earlier?  My mind tried to make sense of it.  Looking at the cat now, my disbelief grew.  Somehow I knew it was him.  I just didn’t believe it, but he felt the same.  This was like one of those late night movies where everyone wore skimpy clothes and the werewolves ate everyone.  I wondered if I was going to be lunch.  Was this why they felt so strange?  I had thought they felt similar to animals but not quite the same, something in between. 

The mountain lion walked over to me, purring deep in his throat.  Maybe he was trying to make me feel more at ease; unfortunately, it wasn’t working so far.  I felt him say
Stephen
in my head.  Fighting my fear, I reached out my hand to him and he padded forward softly on his large paws before he rubbed his cheek on my fingers and looked up at me, still purring.  This was Stephen yet when he touched me I felt nothing more than if I were touching an animal.  My lips curved pleasantly while I regarded his hazel eyes with wonder.

Before I could think whether it might offend him, I asked aloud, “Can I pet you?” 

He rumbled low and came over to rub on my legs as if he was just an ordinary housecat, only this one liked me.  His rippling fur was beautiful under the soft lights in the room.  Golden brown with a chocolate tipped tail, he was the epitome of grace and beauty.  “Do you have the claws and the teeth?  Are you like a
real
mountain lion?”

He raised a front paw in a completely human gesture and spread his digits to show me his extended claws, before moving his face to within inches of my own and smiling at me to show me the largest fangs I had ever seen outside a museum so close they could kill me.  Somehow I couldn’t be afraid though; it could have been the very human hint of amusement I saw in his eyes.  If he was in his human form, I knew he would be smiling and laughing right now. 

Remembering the rest of the family was there with us, I looked up at Tara.  “Can all of you do that?”

“Yes.”  Tara narrowed her eyes suspiciously.  “Are you not afraid of us?”

“Not of Stephen. 
He
wouldn’t touch me.”  I put the emphasis on the ‘he’, not being so sure of the others.  Stephen had said they all had gifts, he wasn’t kidding.

Tonya giggled, a totally girlie giggle and added, “She’s got that right.” 

I shot her a look.  Not everyone could look like her but she didn’t have to be rude.  But then got distracted when I caught sight of the pictures out of the corner of my eye.  “Is that why you guys don’t age?”

Troy spoke up from the couch, still sitting very calmly at his original perch, “We do age, just at a much slower rate than humans.  Our change brings our bodies to physical maturity, and then we slow our aging significantly.  It is not uncommon to live several human lifetimes without significant changes in our appearance.” 

There it was, ‘humans.’  They were not human.  Even though I was looking at real purring proof of that, knowing that my only friend was the biggest cat I’d ever seen outside of a zoo, it was fairly hair-raising to hear him referred to as a non-human. 

“What are you guys?  I know you aren’t werewolves since you aren’t wolves.  What are you called if you turn into cats?”

Their patriarch answered patiently, “We are werecats; there are a number of different kinds of wereanimals.  Werewolves are just the kind Hollywood decided to exploit.”  Troy sounded almost offended, as if
he
wanted to have been in the group made popular.  Odd, I hadn’t pegged him as a glory hound.  Or glory cat?

He must have seen what I was thinking in my expression because he went on to clarify, “The werewolves are fine, but they have gotten progressively more difficult to handle since becoming celebrities.  They were quite proud to have been singled out by the movie and book industries.  Now, they are impossible to work with when the situation demands.”

Funny, I had a picture in my head of a party and the werewolves strutting around, noses in the air, snubbing all of the other groups.  I couldn’t resist a giggle.

As this new knowledge filed itself into my consciousness, I had more questions.  “So, since you guys are giant cats, what could you possibly be afraid of from this other family?  Are they werecats too or are they some other animal?”

Troy and Tonya exchanged a glance and Tara suddenly had an urge to straighten the pictures on the wall, taking all of her concentration.  Stephen walked into the kitchen again and I felt the tingle on my skin again as I heard a small popping sound.  I watched the doorway expectantly.  Within about a minute, Stephen came back through the doorway behind Tonya, running his hand through his hair and tugging his shirt down.  Wow, rapid dressing; another one of his talents.  He was the one to answer me.

“The wereanimals are not an issue.  We are ruled by a council, which disallows clans from fighting amongst themselves.  All grievances are brought before the Council which rules on what actions must be taken to resolve the issue in the best interest of the community.”

This just got weirder by the minute.  Wereanimals, snobby werewolves, a Council to handle fighting; it was so civilized.  “You guys have your own little world.”

Tara bristled, “It is not a
little
world, thank you.  We have existed for as long as humans.  And since the inception of the Council a thousand years ago, we have lived a far more civilized existence than you people have managed, I might add.”

“She means no harm,” Troy shot a cautionary glance at Tara on my behalf.  I had one more ally it seemed. 

Trying to placate her, I apologized, “I’m sorry, Tara, I didn’t mean any offense.”

She shrugged, obviously still huffy.  Turning back to Stephen, I asked again, “So who is the problem with, if not weres?”  This was so unreal to be sitting in a normal house, in a normal living room, and to be discussing the social problems of supernatural creatures previously believed to be mythical up until about a half an hour ago.

“Vampires.”  Stephen said it in a dull tone. 

My heart skipped a beat and I shuddered despite myself.   “Vampires?” I whispered.  That was a word that inspired a true sense of fear down to my very core.  Undead, unkillable, blood sucking machines that hated people for some unknown reason.  Strike that, they loved people.  They loved to drink our blood.  I had seen the movies, and now I knew they were real.  In an instant, nighttime got a whole lot scarier.  My arms wrapped around my middle. 

Stephen waved me back to the loveseat.  “Claire, let’s sit.  This is a lot to take in,” his tone changed from gentle to something I hadn’t heard from him yet, defensive.  As we were halfway to the loveseat, Stephen’s whole demeanor had changed.  He lifted his nose, sniffing the air.  “And we aren’t done yet.  They’re right on time.”  

Looking around at the rest of the family, I saw that Troy, Tonya and Tara had come into the middle of the room, gathering together, forming ranks to greet the midnight visitors.  All of this was still registering when I heard the doorbell ring, making it real. 

“Why did you have to invite them here to
my
house?”  Tara hissed, her eyes narrowing.  I could picture her tail switching.  It was so easy to see her as a cat; that would explain the moodiness. 

Troy diplomatically held up his hand to quiet her.  “You know the late hour draws attention on my street.  They have come to discuss matters.  Nothing more.”

I understood then that the other family, the one we had been discussing handling my training, was here now and they were vampires.  There were vampires at the door!  And in my fear, I felt the shock of disbelief, “They use the doorbell?”  How odd that they would do something so absolutely ordinary.

“Claire, you do not have to be afraid here.”  Stephen’s tone was somber.  His was not just a statement meant to reassure, he was making a promise.  For the second time that night, I took a leap and believed my friend.  My hands were like ice as my nerves took hold of my body, I forced my arms to my sides to at least appear less petrified than I was.

Troy walked forward to open the door and I realized I was holding my breath.  He looked back at me just as he was about to open the door.  “You are protected here as a guest of our clan.  You have nothing to fear for your safety.”  He smiled briefly at me as he opened the door to the most frightening thing I could ever conceive to be walking the earth. 

Ch. 10

The door opened and I felt my jaw drop.  There were two beings standing there at the door when it opened.  One of them, I had met before. 

“Henry?” I squeaked.  I had never fainted before, but thought I might now.  Lights danced at the edges of my vision. 

He didn’t show any outward signs that he was surprised to see me.  “Hello Claire,” He turned back to Troy standing by the open door then. 

Completely normal, no Nosferatu claws or long fangs, not even the haunted black eyes.  He was not what I was expecting for my first vampire. 

“Troy, I apologize for the short notice, but this issue is serious. “  He glanced over at the man beside him.  “My associate, James, has come by some information that I felt could not wait for a later meeting.”

Troy must have answered but my eyes were locked on Henry’s pale associate, James as they stepped in and Troy shut the door behind them.  He was about 5’10” with a lean muscular build and in his early twenties.  His wavy, light brown hair was pushed back from his face, brushing his collar as he turned his head, taking in all in attendance.  But what caught and held me completely captivated were his steady, smoky blue eyes.  Was that just the hint of freckles splashed across the tops of his cheeks?  I had never heard of freckles on a vampire.  Granted, maybe Ann Rice missed that part.  

“By all means, Henry,” Troy looked over, “James, good to see you again.  I hadn’t realized you were back in the country.  Please, come in.”  Stepping back to allow them to enter, Troy looked nonplussed to be welcoming the two vampires into the house.  Henry must be a good vampire.  Was there such a thing?  It seemed that the two groups got along well enough to visit each other’s homes.   It struck me that my world was a much different place this evening than it had been just a few hours ago.  And to think, I had been worried that tonight would be complicated by Stephen’s romantic interest in me.  Huh, if only.