Empath: The Flawed Series Book One

by Becca J. Campbell

  “Now, you. Logan, was it?”

  Jade knew Logan wasn’t happy about this—like the rest of them—but unlike the rest of them, he had a secret power Ethan didn’t know about. With that knife to Chloe’s throat and Ethan watching them keenly in the darkness, Jade hoped Logan wouldn’t try anything reckless. A small part of her wanted him to try to take Ethan down, but she knew if he did, it would be at the loss of Chloe. And that wasn’t a risk she could take. It sounded insane to believe a psychopath, but Jade trusted Ethan’s ultimatum. She had a good read on him, and right now he wanted to escape. Her body tensed, waiting to see what Logan would do.

  Put the camera down and empty your pockets before you enter,” Ethan said. Logan’s footsteps echoed faintly as he made his way to the wall on the other side of Josh. Jade exhaled silently with relief.

  “Now you. Put the phone down and join the others.” The last of the light faded as Cam set his phone down. “Don’t try anything if you want her alive.”

  Cam was silent as he took his place at the wall.

  After a moment, there was a scuffling sound followed by a grunt that sounded female.

  “Chloe?” Cam said. “Are you all right?”

  “She’s fine,” came Ethan’s smooth voice, followed by another series of grunts by Chloe. “Remember, I’m watching all of you. If any of you move an inch from the wall, I’ll slash her throat before you have any clue what happened.”

  Jade waited for the sounds of his exit, but he was silent. In her head, his emotions intensified as if he were coming closer. That thrill of power and a flash of desire. She clenched her fists to fight it. Kissing him now would do nothing to help them—not after his fury with her earlier.

  Something touched the back of her neck. She bristled. The knife against her skin was cold and sharp, but his passion was white-hot, scalding her from the inside as if she were about to erupt.

  “I would have loved to have you. So beautiful,” he murmured in her ear. She felt his warm breath on her neck. His hand trailed over her hair and down her back.

  “Get away from me.” At her words, fury from somewhere else exploded inside her. She recognized the flavor of Logan’s anger the second it buried Ethan’s emotions, and instantly she knew what Logan was going to do. He was going to attack Ethan.

  “Logan!” she screamed, ducking away from her captor. What was he thinking? He couldn’t see, and Ethan had the knife.

  She felt the wind from someone barreling past her, and heard a grunt and a deep, reverberating thud that shook the rock all around. Jade cowered into the corner of the room, covering her head. Emotions pounded at her from all sides. She got flashes of worry from Cam and Josh, fear from Chloe, and two sets of venomous rage dueling it out inside her. She couldn’t see to help, and if she tried to intervene, she would either end up slashed with Ethan’s knife or pummeled with Logan’s unguided super strength.

  There were more grunts and shuffling noises, and then Logan’s voice. “Where are you? Come here, you sick mother—” A jarring crack shook the walls again, this time farther from Jade—nearer the cell door. And another.

  “Logan!” Jade screamed. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah. Just trying to get my hands on—” A grunt interrupted him. There was the sound of more tussling. Then Ethan yelled a loud, feral cry of pain. Before Jade could feel relief, Logan howled and something sliced through his anger. She could feel it: he’d been hurt!

  Ignoring the logic telling her to stay put, Jade pushed off the wall and flung herself toward Logan’s voice. She heard quick footsteps running out of the cell and away through the cave.

  She bumped into someone on the ground, felt Logan’s hair, and dropped beside him. “Logan! Are you hurt?”

  “I’ll be okay. But he’s getting away. Can you get to the cell phones?”

  Jade worked her way forward until she found the gate. Hands shaking, she felt around on the ground and grabbed the first object she found. She pressed buttons blindly until it lit up and she saw that it was Cam’s phone.

  In the light, she saw Cam pulling the tape off Chloe’s mouth. “The knife,” he said, nodding Jade’s way. Jade grabbed Logan’s pocket knife off the ground and tossed it. Josh caught it and began cutting Chloe’s ties.

  Only then did Jade notice Logan was holding his side. A thick smear of red had soaked his shirt and oozed through his fingers.

  Jade ran to him and slid to her knees. “You’re hurt! He stabbed you?”

  “It doesn’t matter. We have to go after him.” Logan tried to push himself up, but he winced, and Jade put a hand on his shoulder.

  “You can’t—you’re going to make it worse.”

  “Josh and I will go,” Cam said. He glanced at Chloe who was now free of her restraints. “You okay?”

  She nodded. “Yeah. You guys better hurry.”

  Cam and Josh hurried out of the cell, grabbing Josh’s phone on the way out. Out in the tunnel, they halted. “Which way did he go?” Josh asked. “Back to the main cave or this way?”

  “That way.” Cam pointed farther into the tunnel, the opposite direction from where they’d come.

  “How do you know?”

  “Footprints from that small pool of water. They lead that way.”

  “Be careful,” Jade said.

  “We’ll be fine,” Cam said, flashing Logan’s knife. Jade couldn’t help thinking it was a lot smaller than Ethan’s. The two men turned down the passage and disappeared.

  Jade helped Chloe to her feet. “You’re hurt.”

  “Just a few broken fingers and some scratches.”

  “Just? More like gashes. You’re going to need stitches.”

  “I’m okay. What about Logan?”

  Jade turned back to him.

  “It’s not as deep as it looks.”

  “We have to get you both to a hospital.” Then she noticed something black in Logan’s hand. “What’s that?”

  Logan held out his palm and Jade reached toward the furry clump, then jerked her hand back.

  “Is that—his hair?”

  “Pulled out by the roots. Only part of him I could get a hold of. He’s too fast.”

  “But I kept hearing those cracks—I thought you were hitting him.”

  “He ducked out of the way. I got the wall every time.”

  Jade turned Logan’s hand over so she could examine the knuckles. They were scraped and bleeding. “Is your hand broken?”

  “I don’t think so. Just scratched.”

  “Your fists must be a lot tougher than your sides.”

  “I’m not Superman, that’s for sure.”

  “Wait a minute.” With her good hand, Chloe grabbed the cell phone from Jade and aimed it at the wall of the cave. There were several fist-sized holes in the rock where Logan and Ethan had been fighting. She looked back at Logan. “Uh, you want to explain this?”

  Jade caught Logan’s eye. “Guess the cat’s out of the bag.”

  ~

  Cam and Josh hurried through the tunnel, but Cam had a sinking feeling they’d wasted too much time. They could barely see, and that dude was fast.

  The tunnel ended in a wall of crumbling rock, as if a cave-in had caused this pile of boulders. Cam spotted an opening in the rocks near the ceiling wide enough for a man to squeeze through.

  Once through the opening, they arrived outside, where darkness was beginning to fall. What time was it? They must’ve been inside the caverns a lot longer than he thought.

  And where was the kidnapper? Cam searched the uneven, rock-littered landscape, eyeing the sparse, scrubby desert plants and bushes. There was no sign of the man.

  The land was covered with many small craggy hills and dips, though most weren’t large enough to conceal a man. Cam jogged over to a crest of rock where someone might hide. His pulse raced as he pictured the killer lying in wait beneath it. When Cam bounded over the top with his knife brandished, no one was there. Then he saw a shadow in another rock. It looked like a hole. He h
urried to check it out, only to find it empty as well. Scanning the landscape again, he didn’t see any other hiding place close by.

  He wandered a while longer, looking for any clues, any other crevices. He felt the time ticking by, the kidnapper getting farther from them every moment. Hopelessness began to creep into his mind, and his shoulders sagged. He turned back for the tunnel, but it was gone, and he didn’t see Josh either. That was when he realized he was lost. He wasn’t even sure which way he needed to go, and all the rocks looked the same. It was really dark out now, and he’d lost all sense of direction.

  For a moment, Cam panicked. Now was the worst time for him to be lost. There was a killer on the loose and— Something crunched right next to him. He whirled, clutching the knife, ready to attack.

  “Whoa, there! Watch it, bro. It’s just me.” Josh backed up a few steps, putting up his hands in defense.

  Cam dropped the knife. “Sorry. You find anything?”

  “There’s no sign of him. We’re surrounded by miles of wilderness, and there’s no telling which way he went. You see any sign of the road?”

  “No.”

  “Maybe we should get back to the others,” Josh said. “Chloe and Logan need medical attention.”

  “But we can’t just let him get away!”

  “I think he already has. Let’s get back and we can talk to the police. Maybe they can dig up some clues on who he is.”

  Cam cursed and stomped his foot in the dirt.

  “We need to go. Think of Chloe. Come on, the tunnel’s this way.”

  Cam grunted and followed Josh back to the cave.

  Jade was grateful when Josh and Cam returned unharmed. She was ready to leave the caverns for good. Even with Cam leading the way, his memory of the tunnels still flawless, it took them a while to make it back to the public trails.

  Fortunately, though deserted of tourists, the cave was still lit, so they were able to make it back up to the main building without much difficulty. When they exited the elevator, they met the shocked faces of the few lingering employees, and told them the short and not-quite-complete version of what had happened. While Cam spoke with the police on the phone, one of the women mentioned that the police had already been by, but apparently left, thinking the report about a guy kidnapping victims and keeping them locked in underground cells had been a prank call.

  Later at the hospital, Jade had too many other emotions to deal with to consider the residual effects of her imprisonment and closeness with Ethan. She could barely catch her breath between all the variations of anxiety bouncing off the patients, and this wasn’t even a busy night at the hospital. She managed to grab a few moments alone when she slipped outside for a breather, but even then she couldn’t calm down, as worried as she was about Logan. It wasn’t until he received a good report that she finally relaxed. Ethan’s knife had missed Logan’s vital organs, and he didn’t need surgery—only stitches.

  Chloe’s wounds were cared for and, when she was discharged first, Josh came to tell Jade.

  “Are the police done getting Cam’s report?” she asked. They’d all been questioned, but Cam’s description had been the most helpful, since he was the only one who’d seen the kidnapper. With some trepidation, Jade had decided to mention Ethan’s night-sight ability, leaving out everything about their own special talents. The skeptical expressions of the policemen told her they didn’t entirely believe her.

  “Yeah,” Josh said. “Cam thinks they have a pretty good sketch of the guy, thanks to his… uh…” He glanced around and cleared his throat. “Photographic memory. That plus the DNA from his hair sample should really help.”

  “Good.” Jade didn’t want that creep escaping to hurt more people. “You aren’t driving all the way home tonight, are you?”

  “No. It’s late and we’re all exhausted. We have the motel rooms for another night.”

  Jade nodded, then glanced at Chloe, who sat, covered with bandages, her head draped onto her hand. “Why don’t you guys go ahead without us?”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah. I’m pretty sure Logan will need a driver tonight. Tell Chloe I’ll come to our room when we’re done here.”

  Josh went to relay the news, and the Schuylers left. After several hours of being questioned by the cops and enduring the fickle emotional atmosphere of the small hospital while Logan was patched up, Jade was ready to leave. Her head throbbed, and she was exhausted and famished.

  “Do you want to stop for food?” she asked once they were inside Logan’s truck.

  “Yeah. I’m starving. How about takeout?”

  “Sounds great.”

  Jade picked up some Chinese food while Logan waited in the truck. Back at the motel, he paid for a room. Not wanting to disturb Chloe, Jade went to his room to eat. Logan eased into the single chair, wincing slightly, and she planted herself cross-legged on the foot of the bed.

  “There’s Lo Mein and General Tso’s. Which do you want?”

  “Either. I’m too hungry to care.”

  She handed him a carton of food and some chopsticks. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

  He met her eyes. “I’m glad you’re okay. I just wish we’d gotten him.”

  “Me, too. But the police are on it. I guess we have to let them do their job.”

  They ate in silence for a while, and then Logan looked at her. “Jade?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I’m sorry about not keeping control of my emotions in the cave. When I was trying to pummel that guy. I hope you managed okay.”

  “I was fine. Just worried about you. That was a risky move.”

  “Maybe, but I couldn’t let the opportunity go. When I heard you speak to him—when I knew he was right there by you—I had to go for it.”

  Jade glanced at his bloody shirt, thinking of the patch underneath. “It got you hurt. And it could’ve been a lot worse.”

  “Yeah, well. You’re okay now, though, right? Emotionally, or whatever?”

  “Yeah.”

  Jade’s mind drifted from the fight back to her own emotions. Was she okay? She thought she would be, in time. She had faced Ethan’s emotions and had come away from him as herself. And what about this man, here with her, who had more layers than Ethan? As normal, Logan’s emotions were silent, and had been since they had all made it out of the cave. There was no trace of the deep passion she’d sensed from him when he’d found her. Nothing he’d said or done since had even hinted at what had passed between them earlier. Had she imagined it?

  No. She knew what she’d felt in the cave. But she couldn’t connect the Logan from that moment to the Logan here now.

  He spoke again, interrupting the silence and her thoughts. “Well, I guess it worked.”

  “What worked?”

  “Whatever you said to the kidnapper. Maybe he didn’t willingly let you go, but he didn’t hurt you. Chloe wasn’t so lucky.”

  Jade thought back to those crucial moments. “Yeah.”

  “So what did you do?”

  “I decided to go with his feelings instead of fighting them. He kept calling me ‘Kelsey.’ I figured there must be a reason he was so attached to that name. So, I asked him about it, and I was right.”

  Logan arched a brow.

  “There was a Kelsey in his past—I could tell by his feelings. It sounds crazy, but I think he loved her, even if it was in some twisted, possessive way. But things didn’t end well—she hurt him, and that pain was still hiding inside him. I’m not sure he even realized it had been there.”

  Logan shook his head. “I don’t know how you handled all that.”

  “He was so volatile inside. Like with one spark, everything might explode. But when I experienced his feelings, I knew what he wanted, maybe even before he did. And then I—” Jade realized what she was about to confess, and her face went suddenly hot.

  “And then you what?”

  She swallowed, and hesitated.

  “What?”

  She looked down
at her carton of half-eaten noodles. “I kissed him.”

  Logan burst out laughing.

  Jade was stunned at his response, but her mortification didn’t fade as she waited for him to contain himself.

  “That must have been some kiss.” The amusement he held back rang in his voice. She felt his gaze on her but avoided looking him in the eye.

  “Ick.” She grimaced and poked at her food with the chopsticks. “Not for me. I can barely believe I did that. I feel like I need to wash my mouth out, just thinking about it.”

  “It must have worked, though.”

  Her cheeks still hot, she allowed herself a peek at him. The smile was gone, but he was watching her.

  “It made him angry. I think because I got to him and made him lose control. Threw him off his game, so to speak.”

  “That’s amazing. I wonder if you hold more power than you think.”

  Jade wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but she frowned at him. “You’re surprised? But you were the one who convinced me I could do it.”

  “I knew you could handle yourself, but I had no idea you could overpower his desires with a single kiss.” He was smiling at her again, almost beaming now. “I guess all you needed was a little encouragement.”

  Encouragement?

  Was that it? Was it possible that Logan, master of control, could have manufactured those feelings of passion in order to motivate her?

  She thought back to being trapped in the cave. She’d asked him, practically begged him, to give her something—anything—to hold on to emotionally. The realization hit her with a crushing blow. He’d given her exactly what she wanted.

  Jade felt like her insides were caving in. Like all her hopes had been smashed into tiny particles and whisked away with the wind. She felt played, even though it was her own fault. Did she have a right to be mad at him, when she’d asked for it? She was a fool.

  “Are you finished?” he asked.

  “Yeah.” Her appetite was gone. She sat in a daze as he gathered up the remains of the food into a bag and moved it onto the floor. Then, wincing, he scooted his chair closer to her.