Ch. 25
The day passed relatively quickly with my upcoming papers for Philosophy and History and work in the evening. Heidi and I talked about her latest dating fiasco with an upper classman, Matt something or another.
Heidi and I still only hung out at work, but we both came in early and stayed late to talk to one another a lot. I hoped that when things calmed down with the scary part of my life I would be able to invite her to coffee. Right now, it probably wasn’t safe for her to be around me as much as she was.
Heidi’s fun personality and animated way of speaking made every recounting of her awful dating adventures hilarious even if they were all kind of sad in a way. Still, it didn’t seem to bother her too much. She seemed determined to repeat the same formula over and again. It didn’t make sense to me, but then again, never having been on the dating scene before, I couldn’t pretend to understand the nuances.
“I don’t get it.” She was still going on about Matt. “I told him I wouldn’t go to his house with him, so what does he do? Drives me there and refuses to take me home. I had to walk. What did he think was going to happen? That I would do whatever he wanted so that he would take me home? I can’t believe I thought he was different.”
I could have told her she had terrible taste. Choosing only the least reputable from, I think, every athletic team Augsburg had. Heidi had run the course with them all. Some lasted for a little while, others were less than twenty-four hour relationships, but all of them inevitably flamed out in fiery train wrecks. And Heidi dealt with them all in the same way; she would change her hair color, sulk for a few days and refuse to unplug from her ipod. Then, poof it was back to the chipper girl we all knew.
“Heidi have you ever thought about being friends with a guy first?” I wondered aloud slipping a book into its designated spot. I stopped myself right there, now I was giving dating advice? Me, of one boyfriend total in a lifetime, what did I know? Sure, James was a nice guy but his enemies could kill me.
She shot me a look like I had grown a second head. “Why? If I am going to date him, why try to be friends first? Otherwise, when it all goes down, I lose a friend and a boyfriend. I’d just as soon get in and get out. Minimum damage.”
I decided on a safer topic. “So, have you chosen a major yet? Registration opens in a few weeks for second semester. Tick, tock.”
She groaned, rolling her large brown eyes, sharply accented with thick black eyeliner. “Don’t remind me. My folks are all over me. I just don’t know. Can’t I keep it general forever?”
“You can, it just isn’t going to play as well when you are interviewing for a job after graduation.” Down the road of majors and school we went. It made it easier for me to pay half a mind to her and the other half to the upcoming events in Scotland. James didn’t want to worry me, but I could tell it was more serious than he let on.
My time with Gina and watching everyone run themselves ragged in the aftermath had given me inspiration on how I could help. I got the idea from Stephen. When he’d first told me about his ability, he had shown me how he could project a directive into someone’s thoughts. I wondered if, with practice, I could do something like that. Could I take the emotions around me and channel them into someone else, or could I take some of my own or those in my memory and project them outward? Even if it only bought us an extra few seconds or provided a distraction it might be worth it.
Several hours later, we had the library put back together despite the students’ best efforts otherwise. The last one in the building, I was in the basement among the religious texts when I felt someone else and reached out to check if it was Stephen. He was supposed to have been here by now, it was almost ten.
My shielding had grown stronger, but sometimes when I was alone I brought it down to give myself a break. It was also an experiment I was trying, to drop it and “sweep” for people and non-people at regular intervals. Like my own built-in security system. My distance testing at home and here during my shifts had proven I could feel someone roughly one floor away from me without much effort. I was hoping to push for more before we left for Europe. I knew everything would be different after that and I wanted to prove myself useful to my “family” come what may.
My skin prickled and I felt a surge of rage from the other party. He was nearer than I first thought, or he was moving. Reaching out again, I felt the rage growing, and then disappear in a flash. I felt the emptiness as strongly as I had felt the anger just a moment before. Uh oh, that was shielding. Whatever he was, he was hiding.
Panicking because I didn’t know how many there were or how long I had, I instantly felt sweat bead up on my upper lip as I flashed back to my time with Gina. My hand was shaking and I dropped the phone back into my pocket twice in a row. The denim finally relinquished it and I was able to get it out and dial.
James answered on the second ring. “Claire?” He sounded worried right away.
Crouching next to the tall shelving that normally brought me such comfort, I whispered. “Someone’s here. I felt him. He’s not human.” Trying again for another sweep, I was disappointed. I wished he would lower his blocks so I could gauge the distance again.
“I’m in the car.” I heard the door shut and the engine turn over. “Stay with me.”
I had never been much for panicking, but that was before I found out monsters were real. Oddly enough, I found some tiny speck of peace in knowing that the vampire chasing me was not Gina. Funny, I’d never thought of myself as an optimist.
I checked the time on my phone and by my count James was at least seven minutes away even if he broke every traffic law known to man. Seven minutes was a really long time to hide from a vampire. A little voice in my head told me the vampire had gotten Stephen and that was why he wasn’t here. Stubbornly I refused to listen. The phone banged my head and I realized how badly I was shaking. I was petrified.
My brain slowly started to churn again and I tried to use my knowledge of the building to my advantage. “James, am I better off in the elevator?”
“No, if it is a vampire, he can get in anyway and you limit your means of escape. You’re better off leaving yourself options.”
I extended myself out again, feeling for my hunter. I was extra sensitive in my approach to remain undetected. I felt a tingling on the edges of my periphery. Was that his shield I was feeling? It would be cool seeing how far I had developed my talent if I didn’t think I was moments from a painful death. He felt like he was upstairs, but I wasn’t sure if he was on the first or top floor. The only thing I could think of was to get to the front doors and make a break for the outside. It sounded nuts, but maybe I could find some other people. There was a chance the hunter would not want witnesses. I hated to think I might get someone harmed, but I couldn’t just sit here and wait for him to find me and kill me. Or take me to her, to Gina. That decided it.
Thank goodness for my practical fashion sense. I was wearing jeans, a black sweater and black Converse. Sneaking quickly, but quietly, I whispered to James on the phone.
“I’m going to try to get outside and aim for people. I need to be able to run, I’m hanging up. I know you can find me.” Our connection was stronger than either of us understood and I knew I could trust it right now.
“Claire, please.” I could tell he was desperate, but what could he tell me to do? There was nothing a human could do against a determined vampire, except to buy time while she waited for someone who could.
“I love you.” I closed the phone before he could even answer and put it in my pocket as I started for the back stairs. Maybe the hunter wouldn’t think of this route. Thank goodness I was on carpet and could scoot between racks, keeping to the darkest ones along the right side until the open entryway. Up to a few minutes ago I had never considered the sunny open part of the library as anything other than warm; now it was exposed and I dreaded crossing it. My
shields were still down, searching, but I had lost the tingling. Maybe my own nerves were getting in my way. I’d have to look into that, but not now. Now, I had to run.
Edging along the front windows in a low crouch, I had finally reached the front doors. My hand was on the glass, ready to push when I felt him. He was close. I looked around but saw nothing, the hair on the back of my neck went up anticipating a hand or set of teeth. The thought of teeth did it. I got the nerve to push the glass door open and launch myself out into the night. Out into nothing but a quiet night with no one else in sight.
My feet went as fast as they could travel, slapping the concrete as I ran full out toward the quad. My mind was sifting through my best possibilities for ten o’clock on a school night. The air had turned cold in the evening hours and burned in my lungs as I sucked it in by giant mouthfuls. My best bet was to cut across the quad and over to Riverside Avenue just on the other side of campus. It was about a quarter mile, but it was a busy street and I would be guaranteed to find plenty of traffic, pedestrian and automobile.
Still I ran, putting everything into it that I had. Years of hiking and keeping in decent shape helped, but fear was my strongest motivator. I had just passed the last of the school buildings and was within sight of the bright lights on the hospital on Riverside. That was the direction James would be driving when he came off the freeway. He would see me if he could get there in time. It was so close. I tried to put more speed, doubting it really made a difference. I was pushing my physical stamina past its limits already.
My path brightened as I jumped down the short set of stairs from the quad, skirting the edge of the darker park, and ran across the walking path under the streetlights marking the edge of the open lot bordering the street. It was abandoned, but I saw headlights going back and forth on the street beyond. When I was about halfway across the parking lot I felt a gust of wind from behind and felt someone just about on top of me. The terror rose up my back and I imagined I felt someone touching me from behind, grabbing me, when I saw one of the cars on the street turn.
It turned left toward me, cutting off an oncoming van left swerving and honking angrily behind it. The headlights bounced through the darkness as the car jumped the curb and raced my way. It slid to a stop about five yards in front of me. The door flew open and out jumped a very fast moving vampire hurling himself over the car. He virtually flew toward me and I felt the presence behind me evaporate. And then we collided. When we met, he grabbed me and cradled me against his side, spinning to dissipate the impact as he stared over my shoulder, struggling for a glimpse of the one who was getting away. I could tell that he was torn. He wanted to pursue yet he refused to leave me alone. He remained vigilant for a few blinks more before turning his attention completely to me.
“Are you hurt? Did he touch you?” He pulled back only far enough for his eyes to search my face and body for any signs of trespass.
It was too soon to speak. My body was spent and I was sweating heavily despite the chilly fall air. My lungs burned as I struggled to get enough air into them. All I could manage was a shake of my head. I wasn’t physically harmed, although my nerves were shot. My arms went around him and I pulled myself in as close I could get. It still wasn’t enough to make me feel safe.
James walked back to the car, mostly carrying me since my legs were failing. He put me in the passenger side, buckled my seat belt after my shaking hands dropped it and walked around to his side. Throwing the car in gear and squealing the tires coming out of the lot, he didn’t speak again until we got home.
My eyes tracked James, following his swiveling scans, as he came around to my side and helped me out. Sweeping me up, he had the front door open, us inside and the door locked behind us before I could have even closed the car door by myself. Once inside, I heard and felt the warm bodies of the Andrews’s clan and Henry. They were all speaking at once. James and Henry spoke too quickly for me to hear most of it but I caught a few words. “Gina’s friend” was all I needed to hear to feel sick. I struggled to get down, but James didn’t want to let go. I finally had to say, “I’m going to be sick.” He half carried me to the bathroom off the kitchen and set me down barely in time for me to empty my stomach into the toilet. I threw up over and again until I had nothing left.
Sitting down on the tile floor I put my head in my hands, the shaking became uncontrollable. My teeth started to chatter and I hugged my knees to my chest. I felt a cold washcloth against my forehead and looked up. His blue eyes were black with heat. “I will kill him for this.” With everything in me I knew he meant it, but it didn’t make me feel any better.
The front door jiggled and I screamed. James spun so that he was in front of me, crouching defensively. Troy and Henry flanked the door and Tonya stood at the ready beside her brother. The doorknob turned and we heard the lock pop. The clan members relaxed just as the door opened and in walked Stephen. He looked around at everyone in surprise. At least he had the good sense not to make any jokes. I could see his eyes searching the room, not seeing who he was looking for. His appearance was disheveled and his skin flushed. Stephen’s huge eyes landed on me and the panicked edge slid from his face as he heaved a huge sigh of relief. It was not to last.
In the half of a second it took for Stephen to enter the house and find me, I had only enough time to hear the growl next to me explode and I felt James launch himself at Stephen. It happened too fast to register in my head until I saw the couch jump sideways as the two bodies crashed into the backside of it.
It was hard to tell if Stephen was as surprised by James’s attack as I was. By the time I had scrambled my way to them Troy and Henry had pulled James off and were trying to restrain him while Stephen held his face in his hands.
“Where the hell were you? He almost had her.” James spat at Stephen. I could see the wild violence in his black eyes and his lips were pushed out unnaturally from his gums. I gasped as I saw his fangs fully extended. I had never seen this side of James before, the vampire in him. He wasn’t himself, he was unrecognizable as the man I loved. Shocked, I gasped and my hands flew to cover my mouth in horror. His head whipped around at my noise and grasped what I was seeing. James went still under their hands and closed his mouth and eyes. The mouth regained its normal shape and when he opened his eyes again they were blue, dark but blue. Gone was the monster as suddenly as it had appeared. I would have doubted what I’d seen if it wasn’t for the evidence I could see leaking through Stephen’s fingers.
With James subdued, Troy and Henry relinquished their holds and Stephen took a seat next to the back of the newly relocated couch. His hands were covered in blood. When Troy moved his hand aside to assess the damage, I saw with a shock that pieces of his cheek hung in ribbons under his eye. His perpetually twinkling eyes were flat with pain.
Stephen spoke, his voice tortured. “I got there at ten till, like we agreed. As soon as I walked in I smelled him. I ran as fast as I could, following their scents. I caught up to where they crossed in the parking lot.” He broke off, putting his head back into his hands. “God, I thought he got her and I couldn’t track him. He just disappeared and I thought you were gone. I didn’t pick up James’ scent until my second pass and I came straight away; I wasn’t sure what I’d find.”
Stephen looked over at me and I wanted to cry from the pained expression I saw there on his mangled face. He was bleeding and there he was, worrying about me. “Claire, I was there. I swear it.”
I got up from my seat on the floor and walked over to him. Sitting down next to him, I put my arm around him and he laid his unmarred cheek on my forehead. “I’m so glad he got to you in time.” Rubbing his shoulder, I sniffed, letting several fat tears roll down my face.
Seeing James as not yet ready to listen to reason, I peeked over at Henry. “Please, it isn’t his fault. They knew our schedule and how to get around it. I thin
k we should figure out how to best defend ourselves from here. For now.”
Henry grunted. “Claire, I agree that for the time being you will stay here. There is a reason Bradley wants you so badly and I don’t think that we want him to succeed. I would have to assume he’s gotten wind of your upcoming trip and does not want you to go, which means it is imperative that you do. With him acting so recklessly, we have a good chance to bring the justice of our Court down on him. They cannot possibly ignore our request this time.”
“Stephen, I must apologize. The strain of this constant threat to Claire and to all of us is maddening. I have acted poorly.” James had regained some amount of control.
After a tense moment, Stephen nodded at him. Tonya went to Stephen then saying, “If I don’t get that stitched up soon it’s going to heal crooked and your boyfriends won’t think you’re so pretty anymore.”
Henry saw my confusion. “Weres heal quickly and timely wound care is essential to prevent any long term deformity.”
Quick healing. My hand traced the line of my jaw now almost completely healed; only a few days what should have taken weeks. My eyes traveled from Stephen to James. Could I be like them from being around them or did it have to be something more physical. James caught me staring at him and gave me an odd shrug. I gave him a tired smile and shook off my concerns. There were other things to worry about for now.