The Empath : The Alterealm Series Book 3
Chapter Twenty-Two

I sat in the front of the little skiff as we traveled across the water. Lou and the man driving it were behind me. Moving just my eyes, I glanced down to the small tracker I’d hidden in my hand when we got on the boat. The tiny light was on. I planned to drop it on the shore when we reached the island.

I looked in the direction we were going, at this point it could be one of two of the islands, so that was not helpful. Turning, to look back at Lou, I smiled and then held my face up to the sun.

Suddenly, the boat tipped to the left and I had to reach out and grab the side to steady myself. A split second later, I realized I’d just dropped the tracker into the water. I couldn’t very well say ‘stop and go back I dropped my tracking device’. Chase was going to be a very unhappy man.

Snapping out of my internal dialogue, I looked around to see we were not going to either of the islands I had anticipated. With that turn, we could only be heading to the third and furthest away. Meaning, even if the tracker was working, where I’d dropped it wasn’t going to help them figure out which island. If I wasn’t mistaken, it was also the island they hadn’t gotten a good location to transport to.

Taking Lou’s hand, I stepped out onto the dock and then looked around the island. It was much taller than it had appeared on the map, then again, I didn’t read topographical keys on a map well. Smiling at Lou, I walked off the dock to stand on the shore.

Hopefully my back up plan was more successful than the sunken tracker. “Uh.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket as if it had rung. “Sorry, I thought I had it on mute.” I checked and had a full signal. “Do you mind if I answer this? It’s my associate and we’re at a delicate phase in our project.”

“Not at all.” He smiled.

I tapped the screen for the app quickly as if I’d answered a call. Daxx answered. I didn’t wait for her to speak. “I hadn’t expected to hear from you so soon. Is it good news?”

“Tracker is a bust.” She said quickly.

“Oh right.” I sighed. “I figured we were sunk there.” I smiled at Lou again. “So, what options do we have now?”

“The guys are freaking out. Tell me where you are.”

I sighed again. “No. I don’t think plan A is feasible at this time.”

“Got it. Not island A.”

I nodded. “Oh, that sounds much better, let’s go with the last one.”

“Island C it is and are you okay so far?”

I smiled. “Just lovely. I’ll talk to you as soon as I get back, and you can update me with everything you hear in the meantime.”

“Reception is good. Turn off your speaker and Chase says don’t dawdle.”

“Perfect. Talk soon.” I tapped the speaker button on the app and then locked the screen on my phone. Tucking it back into my pocket, I looked to Lou. “Sorry about that.”

He shrugged. “No problem. Is this a lucrative project?” He motioned to the stairs a short way down the beach.

“It’s early to get too excited by it, but I have a feeling if it plays out as I hope it does, many people are going to be quite happy.” I gave him a beaming grin. “Of course, the other side, our competition, won’t be pleased when we beat them at their own game.” I paused as we reached the stairs. “My goodness, are we walking up all these stairs? If I’d known, I would have worn jogging shoes.” I was trying the best I could to explain the lay of the land to the brothers I knew were listening in.

Lou laughed. “No. About a quarter of the way up there’s a small house. Used to be the caretaker’s home. We’ll meet the others there today.”

I looked up to the top again. “Ah, so the top is members only?” I smiled at him.

“Exactly.” He started going up the steps and looked back as I followed. “Not to worry though, there’s a trail, and we use golf carts when you are allowed at the top.”

“My legs will thank you for that I’m sure.” With his robust figure, he was taking the stairs slowly. “I’m positively buzzing here, Lou, to finally know why I’ve be so vigorously pursued to be included in this, and to meet others like I am.”

He stopped and turned. “I’ve only just recently found out why Marcus wanted you, but I’m pleased it is you, Isabell.”

“Oh? That’s intriguing. This Marcus is he still…”

Lou nodded. “Yes, but not for much longer now.”

We started climbing the steps again. “Oh, I thought he’d been detained or something?”

He moved slowly enough that I had no problems keeping up with him allowing the others to hear what he said.

“He is. He’ll be released soon, a few weeks tops.”

I kept my eyes on my feet. “I look forward to meeting the man that is responsible for me discovering I’m not alone.”

Lou huffed out a breath, obviously not happy to be climbing the stairs. “Shortly, you’ll understand so much more.”

I smiled. “I can’t wait.” I paused. “Are we almost there? In a hundred or less steps?” I laughed. “I’m in worse shape than I thought.”

“A minute more.” He said, breathless.

I paused and turned. “Oh, I can’t even see the beach from here.” Turning back, I caught up to him. “I hope your members-only clubhouse is well guarded.” I laughed, “Or any one with nefarious intentions… and in good shape could sneak right up here.”

“We have an invisible security fence, so to speak, but yes, they’d need to get up the stairs first.”

“It’s a brilliant plan, exhaust them with these stairs before they reach you.”

Lou laughed, but made no comment. A few steps later he turned. “Here we go.” He motioned to the path beside the stairs.

I smiled and stepped off the wooden step. “I wouldn’t want to replace this in the dark. I didn’t even see it until you stopped.”

He grinned. “You get used to knowing where to look.”

“It’s so quiet here, I may have to buy an island. This is much better than those musty tunnels, Lou.”

“I agree with that. I hate those tunnels, but they’re necessary for the lower ranks.”

“Well then, if this is something that’s for me, I plan to advance in the ranks very fast to avoid any more tunnel time.” I joked.

“Isabell, we would never put you in the tunnels. None of the women need go down there unless it’s for a meeting or some other task.”

“That’s a relief.” I smiled at him again, all while wondering where the women were, if not in the tunnels with the rest of their army.

We reached an opening in the trees and a small little house was there. “Oh, it’s like a cute little cottage.” I walked beside him.

“We don’t use it much, except for meetings like today.”

I nodded, too busy looking around so I could remember the layout. I spotted the trail and a few golf carts. There were no guards here, so I had to wonder about the invisible security.

When we stepped inside, my heart was in my throat. A thought that I should have considered before ever speaking to Lou that first time popped up. What if someone here was an empath like I was, and they could sense what I felt? Nerves would be normal in situations like this… I hoped.

“I must confess, I’m both nervous and excited all at once.” I said as I followed him into a sitting room.

A sitting room with six other people filling the small space.

“Nervous energy is perfectly normal in a situation like this. In fact, if you weren’t, I’d be a bit cautious about speaking to you.” A woman with long red hair said, from where she leaned against the wall. She motioned to the only empty chair. “Please have a seat.”

I sat down.

She smiled, “I’m Eunice. Very pleased to finally meet you, Isabell.”

“Hello, Eunice. Thank you.” I tried to sound happy to be here, even though I was anything but.

I watched Lou go stand to the side, and knew I had been correct, and he was very low on the totem pole in this group.

A tall man with curly brown hair bowed his head in a polite manner. “Miss…”

“Oh, Isabell is fine.”

“Isabell, I’m Lonnie. I’ll make the introductions.” He motioned to a dark-haired man that could rival Victor’s cold, icy stares. “This is Nelson and his mate Leila.”

The woman with the short, brush cut, blue hair gave me a warm smile.

I returned it.

“I believe you’ve met Davis before.”

I turned to the man from the tunnels. “Hello again.”

Lonnie waited until I looked back to him before he made a grand gesture with his hand to an older looking man, siting in the centre of all of them. He came off as very grandiose and rigid, with the posture he held. “This is Mister Hubert. Willis Hubert, for all intents and purposes, is the true king.”

“A king, oh my.” I smiled politely and made a small scene of bowing my head lower in a respectful manner. I looked around to all of them and decided other than the ‘true king’ and the blue haired one, they all looked like businesspeople, not warriors. “I don’t want to come off as rude, but if Mister Hubert is the true king, I need to ask… king of what?”

Chase wasn’t the only one that wanted this to be my last outing with Lou, so I needed as much information as possible, even as it meant acting like a completely clueless woman to get them to tell me more.

Mister Hubert waved his hand at Nelson when he made a sound of annoyance. “It’s fine, Nelson, she doesn’t know any better. You need to remember she was born to this side with no knowledge or guidance, just as Lonnie and Leila were.”

“This side of the river?” I asked. “No, I wasn’t born in the city I was…”

Leila held up her hand, a patient look on her face. “We’ll get to that, dear.”

“Your eyes seem so familiar.” Nelson said giving me a critical stare. He glanced to Davis. “Where is Levi?”

I held my breath at the mention of my father.

Davis gave him a scowl and shook his head quickly.

“We’ll come back to that.” Mister Hubert motioned to me. “Have you met others like yourself, before today?”

I leaned forward. “How would I know?” I didn’t want to flat out lie in case one of them could sense it, so I decided avoiding the answer would be best. “I mean, is there a way to tell without eyes changing color? Which reminds me, I’ve seen a few different colors since Lou has shown me around. Does the color denote different things?”

Mister Hubert nodded slowly. “Yes. You’re an essence feeder, but there are emotion feeders and a few others.”

“Emotions? That’s…” I waved my hand around. “I don’t know what to say to that.” I shook my head. “It’s all very hard to grasp when you replace out you’re suddenly not the oldest and most unusual being in a room.”

A few of them chuckled.

“Yes, I suppose it is.” Mister Hubert said quietly.

“I have about a hundred questions, if I’m being honest. I don’t even know where to start.” I gave them all a wide-eyed look.

“We have no problem answering questions.” Eunice told me.

“You may regret saying that.” I told her with a huge smile on my face.

Davis was studying me with a peculiar look on his face. “Before we get too far into this, I must ask if you were given something extra.”

I looked from his to the others and back to him again. “Something extra?”

He nodded. “Some are given additional abilities.”

I opened my mouth and then paused for a moment, trying to appear confused. “Like x-ray vision and leaping buildings in a single bound? I don’t think I have anything like that.” I smirked.

They continued to look at me for a few long, tense moments, at least it was tense on my end.

“I’m going to give you a bit of history which perhaps will clear up some questions.” Mister Hubert said.

“Yes, that would be lovely.”

He spoke so softly, I had to really listen to hear him. I wondered if the phone would pick up what he said.

“Since the beginning of existence there has always been a realm, parallel to this world we’re in…”

I sat there wide-eyed, trying to look both shocked in and interested. Neither were hard, as there was still so much I didn’t understand. “That’s…” I shook my head, “please continue.”

“We’ll get into family trees and thousands of years of detail at another time.”

I nodded.

“Those from our realm cross over to here when allowed. The royal family, who are imposters, like to dictate who can do what, but, sometimes the results of the travel are relationships being formed.”

I held up my hand. “Am I a child from one of those relationships?”

“Yes, dear, you are.” Eunice answered. “For millennia, our kind have left behind children, mostly because they didn’t know they existed.”

“So… all those from this other side are like me?”

“Most are, we do have humans over there as well. Those that didn’t fit into society’s norms dictated for them.”

“Oh.” I blew out a breath. “In all the years, I tried to imagine why I was as I am, I can honestly say this was not one of the possibilities. That being said, it feels… right.” I glanced around. “Is there a gate or portal or something? I mean wouldn’t that be hard to hide from discovery?”

“There’s no gate, not that the eye can see.” Davis answered. “But we have discovered a way to open it so anyone can come and go.”

I gave him a shocked look. “That would be quite the vacation destination. I’m going to another realm for two weeks.” I nodded, a smirk on my face.

“As here would be as well.” Nelson stated.

I sat back. “None of this is close, at all, to why I thought I was the way I am.”

Lonnie chuckled. “It does take some digesting.”

“Yes. So,” I motioned to Lou, “he said there were many for the cause, would that be working to free others or open this for all, yes?”

“That’s exactly it.” Eunice nodded. “There are… complications, but you have the gist of it.”

“Complications?”

“Mmm, yes, the royal family isn’t very receptive to losing their realm of servants.” Mister Hubert said looking very angry.

“Servants?” I looked to the others. “Like housekeepers or are we talking slaves?”

“We’re talking servitude.” Mister Hubert said with a sneer.

I put my hand over my mouth for a moment. “That’s not right.” My mind was going a hundred miles a second. I hadn’t seen much of the Alterealm, but I knew enough that those I’d met or seen were not being held in slavery. If that were the case, the brothers wouldn’t be going into battle personally, they’d be sending others. Even their guards, like Sith, had no problem with their life. I’d think a royal guard would know if things were bad.

I realized they were all watching me. I turned to Lou. “It makes sense now, why you travel in tunnels to stay out of sight.”

He nodded, looking pleased I’d included him in the discussion.

I turned back to Mister Hubert. “I think it’s noble, trying to free the people.” I nodded. “I still don’t understand how I can possibly be important enough to warrant the special attention.”

“At first, we weren’t sure why Marcus thought you important to chase after as we have been,” Lonnie said glancing to their leader and waiting until he nodded before continuing, “aside from being a female born to a human mother, that is.”

My eyes went wide, with real shock. “That’s—that’s important?”

Leila gave me a soft smile. “Those like you and I can have children without being mated.”

“Excuse me?” My heart was now in my throat.

“We don’t force women to have children, Isabell, just encourage it.” Eunice stated like it was something not serious.

“I don’t understand.”

Eunice glanced to the others for a moment. “Those of us born to two parents from the realm cannot have children unless we replace our true mate. As you can imagine, it is a very long and lonely existence.”

I gave a half nod, so many other pieces in my head clicking into place, like why eight brothers, as old as they were, had no families.

“We encourage the half-bloods to meet as many of our warriors as possible, just in case a match is made.” Lonnie said matter of factly.

“Oh. I see.” I answered quietly. “But that isn’t the only reason I’m here?” I shrugged. “I’ve never even considered children, the fact that I could outlive them was heartbreaking.”

Leila nodded. “I felt the same way.” She smiled at Nelson, “but that’s not a problem now.”

Something felt so off, there was a few spikes of emotion to what had otherwise been an emotional void to this point. The women weren’t kept in the tunnels, but children had been. Where were the women? My guts were tied in knots, and intuition told me if a female without having abilities they needed for their cause wouldn’t be given a choice in parenthood. I didn’t know if I was right, but my instincts had kept me safe for decades, so I trusted them.

“Perhaps telling Isabell she is here for more than being a broodmare will help put her more at ease.” Davis suggested.

I gave him a thankful look.

Mister Hubert nodded to Davis who then started to talk. “For now, we’re only in this area, to go further and expand our quest on a larger scale, which will take complex technology we haven’t perfected yet.”

“This opening of the gate?” I clarified.

He nodded. “Yes. We have research labs set up and trials being run, but all of that is time consuming and costly.” Davis glanced to Mister Hubert briefly. “Marcus, said you were the one we needed, to help in that area.”

“I hope you mean raising money, because a science professor I am not.” I said with a smirk.

He smiled. “Yes. It seems your knowledge in that area is far superior then ours.”

An uneasiness filled me. How did they know I was good at investments? That wasn’t something anyone should be able to replace out.

“She’s just started a new project recently.” Lou added.

I turned and smiled at his attempt to be in the conversation. “That one is too soon to know, and unfortunately wouldn’t be a sound investment for your cause at all.” In fact, it will be the end of your insanity, I thought. I turned to see the others were all looking at me. “I could take a look as what you’re doing now and see… I-I suppose.” I frowned. “I’m also going to be going on a short trip to look into some other possible investment opportunities, I have no problem suggesting you as key investors if they’re sound.” It was the only thing I could think of to drop the hint I was not going to be visiting the island every day. Today would be my only visit here, and the last time I would see any of these people, if I had my way.

Everyone watched Mister Hubert for a moment as he considered what I’d said. “Can you work with my people over the phone? The risk of someone discovering our location is too great if we’re escorting you to and fro.”

I nodded. “Or by email is fine too, if I’m out of reception.” Which I planned on being forever, as far as they were concerned.

He nodded slowly. “I need to think about this. I trust Marcus in his assessment, but as he’s not here to clarify his judgement, I do not want to take further risk.” He gave me a brief smile. “No offence to you.”

I nodded. “None taken. A wise business decision. Lou said Marcus would be back soon.”

Davis nodded. “Yes, he will be.”

“Lou knows how to reach me.” I offered.

“I hope you’ll consider meeting with us and the others again, Isabell.” Lonnie gave me a very appraising look, leaning closer to a leer.

I smiled. “I think I would like that.” I waved my hand around, going for overwhelmed in my actions. “I just need to absorb the fact I’m not alone, I think. It’s very… overwhelming.” I nodded. “Perhaps when I return from my trip.”

“You’re leaving soon?” Eunice inquired.

I nodded again. “Yes. I will know more about that when I get back today. I’m not fond of traveling, it always makes my stomach very upset, but I am anxious to get there and speak to my associates.” That was more for the purpose of those listening in. If that didn’t tell them I needed to get out of here soon, I didn’t know what else I could say. “Maybe when I get back we can arrange a meet and greet or something. I’m just… wow, I’m not alone.” I laughed giddily.

Leila laughed with me. “I was where you are now six months ago. You’re going to be so happy when you do absorb it all.”

I sighed. “I can’t wait.”

“Please let us know if you see any others like us.” Lonnie nodding.

“Oh. Oh, that reminds me.” I turned to Lou. “I meant to tell you, then got distracted with a boat ride. That club, where we met. There was a woman there, she was alone and I swear her eyes turned red.” I shook my head. “I know sometimes it’s hard not to, but she may be someone that is as unaware as I am.”

Lou nodded. “Most that go to places like that are alone.” He smirked. “As you know. Give me a description and we’ll watch for her.”

I smiled. “Maybe not chase after her, so she runs the other way.” I laughed. “As I did the first time.”

He chuckled. “Yes, that could have been handled better.”

I nodded.

“Well, my dear, we have to get going, but we will be in touch with you in the next day or so to discuss those investments.” Eunice glanced to Mister Hubert who nodded.

I stood up. “Yes. Absolutely.” I put a hand on my chest and huffed out a breath. “I can’t even tell you how I feel meeting all of you.” It was the complete truth. If I told them it wouldn’t go over well.

“I’ll show you back down to the beach.” Lou motioned to the door.

“Yes.” I looked to the others. “I will see you all soon.” I smiled.