Empath (Book 1 of The Empath Trilogy)

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  The car ride was unusually quiet. Vampires had no awkward need to fill silence with small talk, a detail that suited my inability to take part in it perfectly. I used the time to practice my shields and calm my mind currently racing faster than the Audi. It didn’t take long to reach the nightclub. We pulled into the warehouse district and parked on the street near a coffee shop so dark inside it was hard to see the people through the windows. It must cater to the goth and artsy crowds so prevalent in this area.

  Upon parking, James was around and to my door before I could unbuckle, as usual. I didn’t mind that he kept in close proximity to me. We walked so close; we were almost touching. We walked just two storefronts down and reached a rough looking brick faced building with a hot pink neon sign that should have read, ”Glamour”, but part of the sign was burned out, making it say only “lamo.” Smiling at the connotation, I looked questioningly at James.

  “We use our Glamour for more than just changing how we look. We can also make a building seem unappealing to your kind. It helps to keep us separated. Sometimes, segregation is good.”

  I let that one roll around in my head for a moment before I felt something cool in my hand and glanced down. He had taken hold of me as he opened the door. When I looked at him again, he was unable to hide all of the tension in his jaw. “Claire it is better if they think that you are mine. Is that alright with you?”

  Scared as I was, I still managed to have a keenly physical reaction to his request. Pretending I was unaware that he could certainly hear and feel it now that we were touching, I gave him a tight lipped smile. “I think I can manage that.” As he turned away from me to walk in, I thought I saw some foreign emotion on his face. He was blocking so I couldn’t feel anything, but I noticed a vagueness to his gaze and wondered what could be distracting him. Sighing, I realized he was concentrating on work, which was what we were here for and I should be doing the same. Subdued, with my heart in my throat, I followed him into the doors.

  Walking in, I was disoriented immediately. There was a loud punk band playing on the raised stage at the far end of the bar. The flashing strobes were seizure inducing and the bodies on the dance floor were not exactly packed sardine tight, though there were far more than I found comfortable. As much as I welcomed an excuse to put my hands on James, I didn’t want to be on that dance floor with all of those vampires crowded so close.

  James pulled me in tight to his body so that I could hear. “I’m sorry, it is crowded on Friday nights but my informant tells me it is a safe crowd.”

  “What do you mean ‘safe’?” Surveying the sheer number of bodies around us I considered the possibility that the word had a different meaning for him than it did for me.

  He lowered his head to speak into my ear. “I have had someone watching this place for the past few nights waiting for a time when the patrons were less than gifted. We want to keep your education under the radar for now.”

 

  It was hard to concentrate on what he was saying beyond the fact that he was once again keeping his oath, a fact I was eternally grateful to the Andrews clan for thinking of. I was currently completely molded to his left side and he smelled incredible. I hoped he would never move. He did though, he swung to the right side nearest the bar and started to maneuver gracefully between the heavily occupied bar and dance floor heading toward the tables in the back, I was guessing, as he pulled me along.

  I was correct. We reached the first table in the row nearest the dancers. It was still loud, but we were able to hear each other due to the fact that we were sitting with our chairs nearly touching and his lips brushing my ear as he spoke. I was glad to be sitting since my knees would have failed me, no doubt as the reality of what we were doing sunk in. “Do you mind?” He asked as he put me to the inside, taking the aisle himself. He put his right arm around my waist. “I can help you block better if I am touching you. That way you can concentrate on what you need to do.”

  “I’m okay,” I breathed at him. Good thing he had supernatural hearing as I was having trouble speaking. Not sure what I should be doing, I waited for direction as I studied the people around me. At first blush, the nightclub goers appeared much like humans, dancing, talking and drinking. However, upon closer inspection it became obvious that they were all better looking than the average human, most, but not all of them, were gorgeous. That was a myth I was secretly pleased to see debunked. And everyone drank what appeared to be red wine regardless of the shape of the glass. I couldn’t be sure, but I didn’t think there were more than a handful of humans here.

  “Is this too much for you?” He leaned in close to my ear and the tips of his lips brushed my ear again, making me shudder. He had to feel that one since we were snuggled up so tight.

  Closing my eyes, I had to focus on my breathing so that I didn’t pass out. “Mm hmm.” Overwhelming was an understatement.

  James noticed I was having trouble, but I hoped he didn’t guess what part he played in that. Again, I wished that I could feel him. I’d never wanted to know what anyone else was feeling, but I would have given anything to know how he felt at this moment about our safety, about his belief in my competence, about me. “What would you like me to start with?” I was finally able to ask. It was best to distract myself.

  “Let’s have you try that red haired woman dancing near the bar, the one with the tall black man in blue leather pants, he’s hard to miss. I will take away my arm and see if you can get anything from her. Try to be specific and focus just on her. I’m right here if you need me.”

  I’d never tried to pinpoint someone before, but was getting stronger with my training. I was as curious as James to see if this would work.

  I felt the chill of him fall away from my back and missed it. I quickly shifted my focus to the red haired woman dancing by the bar just about ten feet in front of me. She was sexy as only a vampire could be. She was grinding on the leg of the tall, elegant black man glued to her front. Then, when I tried to reach out to her, I felt something tingling in the back of my skull. It got stronger when I saw past the redhead to a brunette over her left shoulder and at twice the distance. Her eyes were focused on me, of that I was sure, and once I had seen her I could not stop staring at her. Following the slow, soulful beat of the new track were slight hips sheathed in purple leather and topped by a black studded belt. Her sheer white Ramones t-shirt stretched over her small chest. Though her body was enviable, it was her face that was hard to ignore. Her expression was one of pure unadulterated bliss as she danced with two young men, one white, one Asian. She tossed her head back and forth, swinging her long purple streaked black hair flashing blue when the strobes caught it, her arms up over her head. I didn’t understand my draw to her, but there was no looking away. Fearing failure, I tried forcing myself to think of how the redhead felt, then finding her. Trying to disengage from the brunette, I found that I could not. I started to sweat.

  “Do you need help Claire?” James’ voice was an intrusion and I shook my head to make it stop.

  Then, finally I felt my shields cave and I felt her. She was filled with lust and some new feeling that felt like hunger, but not quite. She meant to make the men fight for her. It turned her on. Suddenly, I felt a mental jolt hit me like a slap. Startled, I looked up and she was staring right at me still, only now her blissful expression was gone, leaving her angelic features twisted with loathing. I tried to pull back when she’d caught me, only she wouldn’t let me and I felt her lust starting to cross over. I felt the beginnings of it creeping into my body. Seeing my discomfort at the intrusion, her mouth twisted into a cruel smirk and she flooded me. That is the best way to describe it. I was instantly awash in her desire, unable to think of anything else. There was no separation between our minds. She’d made her way through my carefully crafted defenses like paper and her sexual push into my head was a full immersion. I had enough time to curse myself for
being a fool not to take James up on his offer to help bolster my defenses before I felt my mind fall far behind and watched as hers took over.

  Mortified, I felt the desire to turn to the man next to me and satisfy the hunger now mixing with my own pent up feelings for him. I put my hands on my knees, fighting to control what was building within me. It wasn’t mine I called from my tiny corner. Not entirely.

  It was odd, I usually had to touch someone to get this strong of a reaction. And she wasn’t like reading James, the feeling she’d shown me was much sharper, or it was due to the fact that her lust was so similarly mirrored in my own thoughts tonight, again I cursed myself for being naive. Or maybe she was sending it straight into me on purpose. I didn’t have time to think about it. All I could do was to try to fight it before I did something foolish.

  He hadn’t seen the brunette, but James saw me struggling, put his arm around my waist again and I felt him project his shield, helping me block out the woman’s desire. I dropped my head to the table then and he put his head next to mine.

  “Are you alright?” His voice was heavy with concern. Neither the sound of his voice nor his words themselves could distract me from the brush of his lips on my ear or his hair tickling my cheek. I wanted to cry with the effort not to touch him and clenched my hands on my knees so hard my fingernails made small indents in my hands.

  “Could you get me something to drink? A water, maybe.” It came out raspy as I tried to get a hold of myself and to put some space between us. The flooding had stopped with James’ touch and I chanced a glance at her. She was doing a great job of pretending none of this had transpired, back to dancing with her men, a little smirk on her face.

  I could tell he didn’t want to leave me and to my regret, he sat up and raised his hand to signal the waitress who came at once. They spoke quietly. Of course, they didn’t need to yell over the noise with their super special hearing. Within a minute, he had a glass of something red that I didn’t want to think about and I had a glass of water sitting in front of me. I took my time sipping at it, pretending I didn’t see my hand shaking.

  Finally I felt him lean in again, sliding his hand up my back while his face came tantalizingly close to my neck as he spoke. I vaguely heard him, concentrating on the cool breeze that was his breath raising goose bumps on my flesh. “Claire are you okay? Did it work?”

  I nodded first, trying to pull away, then, taking another long pause to sip my water. I thought I could finally trust myself. “Yes, I’m okay now. I found one farther away. It wasn’t the redhead, it was the brunette with the two guys over there to the left. She has to be twice the distance.” Starting to feel more myself again, I gave in to the excitement of what had gone right. “I did it! I felt her.”

  He met my shining eyes with his own, dark with something unexpected and smiled slowly flashing a lot more tooth than I was used to seeing. His exuberant embrace was unexpected, and I felt something more than friendship in his hands as he rubbed them across the back of my shirt. His stroking brought back the barely beaten desire I had battled so arduously and did not have the strength to fight again. I felt the familiar tugging of my unexplained connection to him telling me to give in. It was more than I could bear and I threw my arms around his neck and pulled his face to mine needing him more than air.