Find Me When the Sun Goes Down (Forged Bloodlines #3) Page 11

  “There are stronger ties than compulsion binding me to him.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve already said too much.” Maggie went to the door and held it open. “Trust me when I say no one can help me.”

  “But…”

  “You should go before he returns and finds you here.”

  “I’m not afraid of him.” The guy was nothing more than a bully, and I couldn’t stand bullies.

  “You should be.”

  I would have argued more with Maggie but I noticed Tucker in the hallway, my luggage in hand. “Oh, you found it! Where was it?”

  “Th-th-the oh-oh-oh…” He stumbled over the words and I winced, watching his face get redder and redder until Maggie laid a hand on his arm.

  “It’s alright, Tucker. Take a breath and start again,” she smiled.

  Tucker blinked, breathing with her, a faint smile of his own emerging. “The Order had it for a s-security check,” he said, more to her than to me. “They’ve finished now.”

  The Order. What the heck did they want with my bags? “Thanks for finding them for me. Listen, I didn’t make things worse for you with that guy Brody, did I?”

  The hair fell into his eyes again as Tucker shook his head. “His ttemper’s always getting the better of him. At least I’ll be spared it w-while you’re here. Are you alright, Miss Maggie?” His hand laid atop hers in the gentlest of touches and I saw a moment pass between them before she pulled it free.

  “I’m fine. I need to wash up though. Goodnight.” Maggie ducked back inside her room before I could give her the borrowed clothes back and Tucker and I stared at the closed door for long seconds.

  “I worry about that girl,” I sighed.

  “S-so do I.” Tucker’s gaze never left the door.

  Chapter Eleven

  I was fully dressed in my own jeans and sweater when Bishop came back to the room, running late, but at least he was there. There were so many things I wanted to ask him about, it made my head spin, but I didn’t get the first word in as he caught me up in a passionate kiss.

  “God, the problems just don’t stop, you know?” he sighed when the kiss drew to a close.

  “I’m sorry. This hunter thing must have you guys scrambling, huh? I’m surprised they don’t have everybody working on it,” I frowned, thinking about Fisher’s boredom.

  “Me too, but I’m not the one running things,” he muttered darkly and I felt bad for him, not being the head honcho anymore.

  “Hey, speaking of stupid Order policies. Any idea why they searched my luggage?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “The Order had my luggage, something about a security search. I got it back not ten minutes ago.”

  “Luggage is usually swept for weapons, but not searched. Maybe they didn’t get around to scanning it with the hunter situation?” His expression darkened. “You didn’t have anything… implicating in there, did you?”

  “You mean like my journal that says Dear Diary, today I got forged documents implanted into my arm by Bishop?” I couldn’t help but smile. “No, nothing like that. Still, it’s creepy to think about someone else going through my stuff.”

  “Try not to read too much into it. I could ask who authorized it, but that would call more attention to it. Are you ready to go out or did you change your mind and want to stay in?”

  “No, I want to go out. But I want to talk to you about something else first.” Okay, so there were a lot of somethings I wanted to talk about, but Maggie’s problem loomed greatest in my mind.

  “I think we should get going first.” He was already tugging on his leather jacket and I caught hold of his shoulders, fixing the collar.

  “Bishop, it’s important…”

  “Anja, I’m not trying to blow you off, but if we don’t leave now, I’m afraid I’m gonna get roped into some other duty. I’m telling you, we should go while we can.”

  “Alright, we can talk in the car,” I agreed just seconds before a knock sounded on the door. Bishop swore in at least three languages that I recognized. “Whoever it is, we’ll just tell them we’re busy,” I suggested. But it was only Bridget who came barging in the moment I pulled the door open, Rob following with an apologetic half smile.

  “Man, you should have seen the place we just came from. The joint was jumping!” she laughed, flopping down on the couch. “I didn’t want to come back so early, but Rob said you’d be worried about us.”

  “He’s right about that, but you could have called instead of cutting your night short.” It was barely seven o’clock. “We’re on our way out now. Do you want to come with?”

  “Actually, I don’t think that’s such a good idea with what I have in mind for tonight.” Bishop nipped that idea in the bud and I admit, I was happy at the thought of some alone time even if Bridget’s enthusiasm was contagious.

  “Oh, you guys can go back out again if you want,” I looked to Rob, but Bridget surprised me by declining.

  “That’s okay, my hours are kinda screwed up anyway. I think I need to rest up before I hit the city again. But tomorrow night we should do the town up big together, okay? Felix said something about a tour of some fancy place that nobody can get into.”

  Speaking of Felix… “Alright, but before I leave, we should go over some ground rules.” I plunged ahead quickly before she could complain. “Don’t talk to anyone unless they talk to you first. Don’t go wandering around unescorted, and for God’s sake, remember I’m Anja Gudrun, not Evans. You belong to me, no matter how icky that makes you feel.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I got this.”

  “I mean it, Bridget. These are some heavy people and no one would bat an eye if a human got hurt or even killed, would they, Bishop?”

  “She’s right, humans disappear all the time,” he agreed. “It’s well within vampire law as long as the body is taken care of.”

  “All I want is a drink and my bed.” She hauled herself to her feet. “Are you coming, Rob?”

  “I thought I’d tag along and see to Anja’s safety, if you don’t mind.” Rob looked to me for permission, but before I could grant it, Bishop replied.

  “I’ve got this, you can take the night off. But if I’m not around, I’ll expect you to watch her. There’s a hunter on the loose.”

  Rob nodded, joining Bridget at the door and I felt bad for him getting stuck with Bridget again. “Thanks, Rob. I’ll see you guys later,” I gave him a smile of thanks.

  “Ready to go?” Bishop’s hand didn’t leave the small of my back until he’d handed me into the seat of his car, and once we were away from the mansion, I relaxed, reaching for his hand.

  “As weird as it sounds, leaving the lap of luxury, it feels good to get away.”

  “You and me both,” Bishop agreed, giving my hand a squeeze.

  “How do you stand it?”

  “It’s not always this tense. At least, I don’t remember it being this tense before. Then again, I didn’t focus on much more than the job, back in the day.”

  “Were you stationed here before, I mean before you came to the States?”

  “Briefly, when I left Rome. I was only here for a few months to help them get started. Other than that, it’s been a few days here and there when Order business led me through the territory.”

  “So, you haven’t spent all that much time here, really?”

  “Not while I was in the Order. But Carys was fond of staying here, so we did visit often before…”

  Before she died and he became Bishop.

  “Maybe we should get a place in town, if you’re going to be stuck here for a while?” It would be a thousand times more comfortable and even if he worked every night, we’d still have more downtime together.

  Bishop slowly shook his head. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea, now that we’re dealing with the hunter.”

  “About that, tell me more about this hunter guy. Why do I get the feeling you say hunter like it’s its own thing?”


  “It depends on what we’re dealing with. Best case scenario, it’s a human who’s found out vampires exist, probably stemming from a personal tragedy, and he’s hell-bent on killing all vampires.”

  “That’s the best case scenario?”

  “I’m afraid so. Worst case, it’s a true hunter, a dangerous breed of human who comes from a long line of hunters. A true hunter has been trained since birth to find and kill vampires, knowing all our weaknesses.”

  That did sound bad. “Which one do you think you have here?”

  “It’s hard to say. I’ve only just started working on it, and Angel keeps sending me off to the ass end of London instead of anywhere I can do any good. My gut instinct… tells me we’re dealing with a true hunter.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “It’s the distinctive way he kills. This hunter wants us to know he’s out there. Kill a vampire by conventional means and what do you get?”

  I thought about the rapidly decaying bodies I’d seen. “A pile of ash?” That would make it hard to nail down cause of death without witnesses.

  “Exactly. But this guy, he wants us to know they’ve all been killed by the same method. There’s always a witness, and they always report the same thing. A wooden crossbow dart to the heart puts the vampire into torpor and then a combustible metal ring near the head of the arrow bursts into flame and they burn from the inside out. By the time anyone figures out what’s going on, the body is completely consumed.”

  I remembered the way Serena had burned, like her body was especially flammable. I really had seen too many dead bodies for someone my age… “A combustible metal ring… that sounds high tech. That’s not something you can pick up at Big 5 Sporting Goods. Isn’t there a way to trace the arrow?”

  “There’s nothing like that on the open market. It’s a cinch it’s something he’s making on his own. That’s what makes him so dangerous. He can strike at any time, anywhere, and we have no way to prevent it. No one’s ever seen him, it’s just a shot in the dark that turns deadly.”

  “Then why…?”

  “Why did I tell those people it was perfectly safe? Because that’s my job. There’s already too much of a buzz out there about vampires bursting into flames. We can’t cause a panic, it makes people do stupid things. Besides, if they stick close to their security, and their people are worth their salt, they’ll pull out the arrow before it catches flame and they’ll be fine.”

  “Then it’s not an instant death strike?” He’d made it sound pretty lethal.

  “No, not if cooler heads prevail. Don’t worry, I meant it when I said I would keep you safe. But that doesn’t mean I want you out in the city unprotected either.”

  That was comforting, but something made me think of Thomas. Would he survive an attack like that? That led to burning question number two. “How is Thomas the Elder, by the way? He can’t be more than a hundred years old, tops.” Not that I was such a good judge of a vampire’s age, but I couldn’t imagine him surviving for much longer without someone putting him down.

  “Elder is more of an honorary title that comes with the position. You’re right, there are older vampires in the West, but they tend to keep to themselves. Lyons’ rise to power was less about being the right man for the job as it was the right man in someone else’s plan.”

  “Whose?”

  “Jennike Vendal. She’s the Elder of the East lands. She’s had her eye on the whole country for as long as I can remember, and installing Lyons in power was the best way for her to accomplish that with the way the treaties are drawn up.”

  “How, by picking a guy dumber than a box of rocks?” The guy was sweet, but I couldn’t see him functioning in such a political climate.

  Bishop let out a chuckle, guiding the car onto the main road. “He’s completely in her pocket. No Elder may rule more than one House, but this way she has control of both. The other Elders look the other way for the most part, but that could all change at the next gathering.”

  “When’s the next gathering?”

  “In January, on Twelfth Night. It’s a meeting of all the Houses and Vetis is hosting this year.”

  “Oh, do they meet every year?”

  “No, we haven’t had one for fifty years.”

  “How come there isn’t an Elder in charge of the Vetis house?”

  “There is. Sylvius is still around, he just doesn’t put in an appearance very often. Corley’s the real power running Vetis, and has been for more than two hundred years. Oh, that reminds me, you might be getting a visit from the doctor.”

  “Ooh, like The Doctor? With the Tardis and his sonic screwdriver and everything?” I smiled so hard my cheeks hurt, but Bishop stared at me blankly. “Sorry, we’re in England, you mentioned The Doctor… I got excited.” He still didn’t get it.

  “This is the doctor who works for the Order. He wants to run some tests on you. If he approaches you, put him off. Let him think you’re tired from the trip or something.”

  “Okay, sure. Why?”

  “I don’t like the idea of them poking and prodding at you.”

  “Where were you when Jenessa came to steal my blood every hour on the hour back home?” I muttered, drawing a smile from him.

  “You’re all better now though, there’s no sense in letting them bother you. If he wants to study what happened to you, let him get the data from Jenessa.”

  “Sounds good to me, needles and me are non-mixy things,” I agreed readily, paying more attention to our surroundings as the lights of the city drew near. I filled him in on some of the conversations I’d had so far, including the flight over and meeting Corley.

  “Oh, do you have a brother, by the way? Corley said something about my having brothers as in plural when I mentioned Carys.”

  “That’s not something I like to talk about.” Bishop’s hand left mine to grip the steering wheel tightly.

  “I understand.” Actually I didn’t, but that wasn’t the point. “But he’s supposed to be my brother too, remember? Shouldn’t I know the least little bit about him?”

  Bishop was silent for long seconds before he answered. “His name is Aubrey, Aubrey Cantrell. Carys turned him about ten years after she turned me, here in England. I haven’t seen him in years, and I have no idea if he’s dead or alive. Okay?”

  It wasn’t okay, that much was obvious, but I nodded. It would give me something to go on at least. “Why did Corley say he understood why I’d stayed away from my brothers for so long when he found out Carys was my Sire?”

  “Because it’s our fault that she died.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “You can’t leave me hanging like that,” I prompted when he didn’t say more.

  “I wasn’t there for her when I should have been, that’s all.”

  There wasn’t anything I could say or do to get Bishop to go into more detail about Carys’ death, and he clammed up to any further attempts at conversation to boot. We rode in silence for the rest of the drive and I wasn’t in the best of moods when he pulled into an underground parking garage beneath the city streets.

  “What is this place?”

  “I thought you might be hungry.”

  Hunting was the last thing I was in the mood for. I wanted to see what the city had to offer, but I knew he was right. If I left it for too long I ran the risk of losing control when I did feed. “Okay, but then can we be normal and play tourist for a while? Maybe it’s not exciting for you, but I’ve never been here before.”

  “Sure we can,” Bishop promised, opening the car door for me. “But I think you’ll like this place, we don’t have anything like it in the West. I keep telling Felix it’s a good idea, but he’s worried about security for it.”

  Now he had me curious, and I put a little hurry in my step as we crossed the dank parking garage to the elevator doors. “Are we going up or down?”

  “Down.”

  I should have known. The elevator opened to a poorly lit hallway, the wa
lls painted a deep red, the floor naked stone. Pulsing techno music seeped out from under the low, metal door at the end of the corridor.

  “Are we going dancing?” My face lit up in excitement, but a pinched look came over Bishop.

  “That wasn’t what I had in mind. This is a feeder club.”

  “Like Smoke and Mirrors?” What was so special about that?

  “No, it’s nothing like Smoke and Mirrors,” he chuckled, his knuckles ringing loudly on the metal door. A narrow slot opened up in the center of the door and Bishop stuck his hand through. There was a red flash from the opening, and then his hand was released and the door opened with a wrench of metal hinges.

  A short, fat man rushed up to the door, brushing aside the burly doorman to face Bishop himself. “It’s plenty quiet tonight, ain’t no need to trouble yourself at all,” he rattled off nervously, swabbing at his forehead with a grubby handkerchief.

  “Relax, Lees,” Bishop said with patience as the guy continued to block our way with his girth. “I’m not here on Order business tonight.”

  “Oh?” Lees finally noticed me standing beside Bishop, and he found his smile. “Why are you holding these fine customers up, Felipe?” he scolded the doorman, whose face remained impassive. “Welcome to the Bird in Hand. The Order drinks for free, as usual,” Lees smiled expansively.

  The doorman held up a small device and Bishop picked up my left arm to hold it up for him. With a pulse of red light, the scanner read my chip with a beep, and he nodded once, letting us through. Lees scurried off towards the bar, caught up in some new urgent business.

  “What happens if you’re not chipped?” I whispered by Bishop’s ear as he guided me down the short hallway.

  “You don’t get in. Security’s tight, you’ll see why in a minute.”

  There was dancing alright, but not from the clientele. I don’t want to say he took me to a strip club, because all the dancers were clothed (barely). It was more like I imagined a gentleman’s club from the sixties to be, with go-go dancers in cages and everything. In addition to the women (and some men too) who danced in suspended cages, there were dancers behind Plexiglass windows lining the walls on three sides, softly lit from behind with muted colors. Some of the windows were frosted over, but you could clearly see the outlines of couples inside, bodies pressed together. The customers were exclusively vampires, and there were no humans present apart from the staff.