Ch. 41
Upon waking, I thought I was floating before I realized it was the softness of the bedding I was enveloped in. I knew I wasn’t dead. With regret, I remembered the iron hands that had pulled me from the icy waters of the lake. That I had survived the water was a miracle in and of itself, it was too bad I would now die at the hands of a monster.
Trying to pretend I was still sleeping, I peeked around and saw nothing personal to mark the place as a house. I wondered if vampires would bring me to a hotel to kill me. Then, I heard the sweetest sound in the world. “Claire, you’re awake.”
I struggled to find the source of the sound having a hard time finding my way out with all of the blankets and crinkling pillows around me. Why were the pillows crinkling?
“Let me help you, I have hot packing all around you. Your body temperature was so low I had to bring it up with what I could.” Upon closer inspection, I could see the crinkling pillows were actually disposable heat pads that warm when you crack them. They were rolled up and shoved around my body so tightly I couldn’t move. The down comforter covering the whole thing was so heavy I was willing to bet it was more than just one. “I raided housekeeping.”
“James? How did you find me?” Batting the blankets down low enough to see over and spinning my head around, I finally located him and gaped at the sight. He was deathly pale, his eyes shadowed and black with his hair disheveled and all out of place. His clothes looked like he’d slept in them. James stood beside the bed, observing me with an exhausted slump to his shoulders and ran his hand through his hair.
“I was tracking you. It was hard with the wind switching around the buildings and I had to backtrack a couple of times. Then I felt this, I don’t know, something in my head and I knew it was you and that you were in trouble. I even knew it was two vampires. I…I felt them.” He rubbed his eyes. If he were human, I would say he needed sleep. “I’ve called Henry and talked through what I think has been happening with you and I. He agrees with me that you and I are bonded somehow; neither of us can explain it.”
“Oh,” I wasn’t sure I could process what he was saying so soon after coming back from the dead. “It was you who pulled me out of the water? Where were the other two?”
His voice was tight. “Yes, I pulled you out. The others had left you for dead. They should have been right. No human could have survived that long in the water.” James roughed his knuckled against his jaw, agitated. “You were in for almost ten minutes from the time you ‘called me.’”
Mercifully, my mind shut down and I went back under while it all swam through my poor waterlogged brain.
I woke again with sunlight streaming in around the curtains in our room, the heat pads replaced by his cool body molded along my back, reminding me I was safe. He felt me move and pulled me tightly to him. It felt good to have him nuzzle my hair and neck as he breathed his spicy vanilla smell on me. I was certain I didn’t smell nearly as good.
“Love, are you awake?” James murmured in my ear.
“Mmm.”
He chuckled, chest rumbling against my back and it felt like this nightmare had never happened. We were back in bed where nothing could hurt us. I closed my eyes and pretended it was true for a few minutes longer.
“Love, we need to get you up and moving. We have a plane waiting.” Reality came rushing back with a great big slap. A six o’clock flight to Edinburgh and the vampire Court awaited us. It was tomorrow. I rolled over and hid my face under the pillow with a groan.
His hand reached out and touched my forehead. “Are you in pain?”
“I don’t want to go.” It was hard not to sound like a spoiled child. My whining amused James and he laughed.
“You sound like you again.”
I didn’t see how he could be so happy about the same set of circumstances that had me wanting to burrow under the covers and pretend nothing existed outside this room. My head hurt, my lungs hurt; every muscle hurt. I was pretty sure my butt and legs were scuffed from the rocks and the last thing I wanted was to go see a bunch of vampires. Hiding, I threw my arms over my face and closed my eyes. “Let’s worry about that tomorrow.”
Undeterred, he put his arm around me. “We can’t wait that long, our flight’s in a few hours. Are you hungry? It has been more than a day since you’ve eaten.”
Had it been a whole day since breakfast with my parents? “What time is it?” I grumbled, struggling to make my eyes work.
“It’s two in the afternoon, on Sunday.” He stroked my hair, which I was sure looked like a rat’s nest.
“Oh no!” I struggled out of the blankets.
James put his hands on my shoulders to calm me. “Don’t worry, we have hours before we have to be at the airport this evening. Since you’re feeling better,” he sniffed, “why don’t you go take a shower and I’ll order room service. Any requests?”
“Surprise me.” I heard my stomach growl, “I think I could eat two of everything.”
I battled my way out of the blanket cocoon to find the floor and worked my way to the bathroom. After a very long shower, I felt human again and came out to a full spread of food on the small table by the window. It looked like James had ordered the full menu. My stomach gave a growl as it woke up all the way.
When I had eaten my fill of a chicken sandwich and sweet potato fries chased by some wild rice soup, I sat back to breathe and put some order to my thoughts.
“Who were those two who followed me?” I asked with my eyes closed, digesting.
James leaned back in the chair across from me, his expression troubled. “I’m not sure; I didn’t recognize their scents. They could have been sent by the Court to check you out, they have been known to do that before. Vampires don’t like surprises.”
“No, not unless the Court wants me dead.” I was shaking my head. “I read them and that’s what they were there for, not information. Plus they said their ‘Master’ and mentioned a male.” I suggested an alternative. “Bradley or the other coven, do you think?”
James’ white fingers swept a few crumbs off of the table and tossed them back onto the plate with the rest of my cooling fries. “It’s possible, maybe we’ve underestimated Bradley’s hatred of us and his focus on you.”
“Why does he hate you two so much?” I couldn’t believe I had never thought to ask him before, or maybe I had never believed he would answer before.
“Bradley blames us for the death of his ‘brother’ and his mate and he’s a sociopath. He has a great capacity and desire to cause harm to others. Unfortunately, he has fixated his hatred on Henry, myself and your kind, and, now by association, on you.”
Changing the subject to something less scary, I asked. “How did you find me? I get that you “saw” me, but how?”
“That’s the part Henry and I don’t understand. It seems you called me, psychically.” He sounded as perplexed as I felt. “We’re working on it.”
All I could say was, “Huh.”
He wasn’t too concise either, “Huh, is right.”
We got up and packed for the airport. When we went downstairs to check out, no one made mention of my recent “swim” and I had to ask James how he got me in without anyone noticing.
His expression was intentionally blank. “I carried you over the roof and down onto the balcony.”
Putting my hand on his arm to stop him I looked up into his eyes nearly black from the strain of recent events and spoke softly. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I said and for running off like that. It wasn’t fair. Thank you for saving me, again.”
He stopped breathing and ducked his head. “I’ll be stronger next time, I promise.”
James’ head came back up and he growled. “I can’t not help you, Claire.” His black eyes bored into me, barely recognizable as his. “There is nothing you can say or do that would stop me from coming for you.”
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I wondered at the troubled expression he struggled to hide at his statement. Unwilling to consider it, I pushed away the obvious answer: compulsion.