Find Me When the Sun Goes Down (Forged Bloodlines #3) Read online

  The other passengers hadn’t arrived yet, but we were shown into the impressive Hawker 4000, all smooth, buttery leather and glossy trim, posher than any jet owned by Tony Stark himself.

  “Whose plane are we riding in, by the way? I don’t think you mentioned it before,” I asked Rob as we got settled.

  “Fella by the name of Felix.”

  “Felix must be a rich fella if he’s got his own jet.” I’d been impressed by the Cessna we’d flown to LA on, but the reality of our elegant surroundings took my breath away.

  “You could say that. It’s a perk that comes with the office though.”

  “Ooh Anja, you should totally get a job in that office!” Bridget gushed. “Can you imagine us with our own private jet? We could go to any concert we wanted!”

  I was more interested in the fella we’d be spending the next twelve hours with in the confines of the aircraft. “What office is that?”

  “Warden of the West.”

  “The Warden?” This would be a great opportunity to learn more about the position.

  “And his entourage, yeah. The Elder don’t go nowhere without his entourage.”

  “You never said anything about meeting an Elder.” A pucker of worry appeared on my brow. I hadn’t thought there were that many of the original vampires running around. Hadn’t Bishop said none had set foot in the States as far as he knew? “What if the Ellri can tell I’m not as old as I say I am?”

  “Not Ellri, the Elders are ordinary vampires. Elder is the title they chose so they can feel all important-like. Used to be kings and queens back in the day, but they moved away from the feudal system after the rise of the Houses in the last century.”

  “Like the House of Vetis we’re going to?”

  “Exactly.” Rob helped himself to a beer from the mini-fridge and offered one to Bridget as well. I shook my head when he held one up to me, realizing I had the opportunity to scope out the territory we were headed to before we got there.

  “What can you tell me about the Vetis?”

  “The House covers the United Kingdom pretty much. The man to watch there is Simon Corley, Warden of the House of Vetis. He’s a powerful man. If you can get in his good graces, you can count on being accepted by the lesser nobles and the other Houses for the most part.”

  “Gotcha, win over the Warden,” I nodded, though I had no idea how I’d go about doing such a thing. “I should probably work on winning over our own Warden first, right? What did you tell him about me? He doesn’t know about Jake, does he?”

  “Relax,” Rob took a seat beside me on the couch. “Alls I told him is what you’ve spread around our district. You’ve been removed from society for a spell, that’s why you didn’t declare yourself when you settled in.”

  Bishop didn’t say anything about declaring myself to anyone, what did that even mean? Once more I cursed the bits and pieces he’d left out of my education. “Will I get in trouble for not declaring myself?”

  “Could be a few noses out of joint over it,” Rob gave a careless shrug. “But for someone your age it’s more a matter of courtesy than a requirement.”

  “Oh great, so he’s going to start off thinking I’m rude for not observing the customs, right off the bat.”

  “Take a breath, like I said, someone your age has a lot more leeway. Distance works in your favor as well. If you’d set up shop on the Hollywood Strip it woulda been more of a thumb of your nose at them.”

  “Yeah, chill, An,” Bridget chimed in. “Don’t forget, you’re the cock of the block. They should be kissing your ass instead of the other way around.”

  Somehow I thought she overestimated my position. “Maybe back in San Francisco, but not here. Here I’m a little fish in a big pond. I’m not an Elder, I’m nothing.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short, your lineage is top shelf,” Rob countered. “And Bishop’s your squeeze.”

  “Does that make a difference?” I blinked.

  “It does to some. Stick to your story and you’ll be golden.”

  “Okay, I just… I’m nervous about traveling for so long with an Elder. I’m afraid I won’t know how to act or what to say and I’ll screw things up.”

  Rob’s hand shifted to lightly massage the knots I’d managed to work up between my shoulder blades and I breathed a sigh of comfort. “You’ll do fine,” he said confidently. “I know many and this one’s not such a grand thing. The impressive ones will be the blokes you meet once we get there.”

  “Stop freaking out over nothing or this is gonna be a hella long trip.” Bridget’s eyes focused on Rob’s massaging fingers and I noticed a furrow appear between her brows.

  Uh oh… “I’ll be fine.” I shifted away from his care, rolling my shoulders experimentally. “Thanks, I’m sorry to be such a baby. I’ve never been comfortable lying.”

  “What’s the biggie? I lie all the time,” Bridget snorted. “Oh, hold up… I think they’re here. A limo the size of my apartment just rolled up.”

  I pressed my shoulder to the window to see the stretch black limousine pull onto the well lit tarmac. The uniformed driver opened the rear doors and out stepped a pair of men in their late thirties, both clean shaven with brown hair and eyes. The shorter of the two put me in mind of a nineteen forties style gangster even though the cut of his pin striped suit was modern enough. His eyes looked everywhere at once the moment he stepped out of the car, scouting for possible signs of danger, I guessed.

  The taller man seemed more concerned with getting a piece of carryon luggage out of the trunk of the car, arguing over being able to take it himself or letting the driver hand it to the baggage handlers that appeared. He looked like any corporate businessman I’d seen in the city, nothing special about him apart from the pale tint to his skin that stood out in a land known for the sun.

  The man in the pinstripes was the first to board the plane, his shrewd gaze sizing us up before a wide smile spread across his face. Close up I could see he had dimples, but they seemed hard rather than boyish on him, like they’d been carved out of wood rather than flesh. “You must be Miss Gudrun. I’m Felix Hannover, welcome to seat of the West.”

  “Call me Anja, please.” I accepted his hand, smiling in turn.

  “Thank you, Anja, and you can call me Felix,” he said with a wink, and I resisted the urge to try and give him the secret handshake. I was sure there had to be one, or some kind of password, like when you wanted to enter the speakeasy in the movies.

  “Oh, this is my friend Bridget.”

  “Charmed I’m sure.” His smile took on a hungry cast as he brought her hand up, lips brushing over the bluish vein near her wrist. Bridget gave him a vacant smile, uncharacteristically at a loss for words, but did manage to thrust her boobs out a little out of natural instinct.

  “Bridget, why don’t you go and have a seat?” I suggested, not liking the way he looked at her.

  “I’m good,” she replied, her eyes never leaving his. “Very good.” Her eyebrows flashed higher and it was all I could do to keep from rolling my eyes at the single entendre, but Felix seemed to appreciate it.

  “I’ll bet you are.”

  “Bridget,” I said more sharply, extending my will when she finally looked at me. “Take a seat.” She turned and did as I asked without another word and when I looked back at Felix, his smile was contrite.

  “You sure know how to pick ‘em.”

  I wasn’t sure how to respond to that. It was obvious Felix was taken with Bridget’s charms, but the last thing I wanted to do was get her mixed up with a powerful vampire who might not be at all interested in keeping her in a breathing state. Should I get all territorial and stake my claim on her? Was I supposed to share my human the way he shared his plane?

  Rob came to my rescue, appearing at my elbow with a tight smile for the Warden. “Good to see you, Felix.”

  “Rob, it’s been a while.” The men shook hands; it was nice to see they were on a first name basis.

  “I appreciate
the favor,” Rob added, and Felix shrugged his thanks away.

  “It’s nothing, that’s one less I owe you. We were heading to your side of the pond anyway, am I right? Ah, let me present the one and only Thomas Lyons.” Felix stepped back to accommodate the other man who appeared in the doorway, his expensive carryon bag clutched tightly under one arm.

  “You forgot the drum roll,” Lyons quipped, his eyes widening when he noticed me standing there and Bridget on the couch. “Hello. Wow, such pretty ladies. You honor us with your lovely ah, what’s the word I’m looking for…?” His face scrunched up in thought for a few seconds. “…loveliness,” he beamed.

  “Um, thanks.” Up close it was hard to resist his open smile, the man lacked any trace of guile behind his dark eyes, but he didn’t come across as the smartest guy I’d ever talked to.

  “This is gonna be such a fun trip now! Normally I end up watching movies ‘cause Felix is such a poop.”

  “Thomas…” Felix began in a warning tone that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

  “Well, you are,” Thomas returned, oblivious to any implied threat. “He is.” His laughter froze as Thomas seemed to notice Rob for the first time. “Are we in danger?” he demanded of Felix in a low voice. “You said this was gonna be a simple trip to see Simon.”

  Felix stretched his hands out. “Calm down, Tommy, everything’s fine.”

  “Then what’s R.O.B. doing here?” he whispered. Did he really think we couldn’t hear him?

  “He’s escorting the ladies, that’s all.”

  “Oh, okay good. Good to see you again, old chap.” Thomas affected a broad English accent, offering his hand to Rob who accepted it without hesitation.

  “Hello, sir.”

  “Alright, who wants to watch Billy Madison? That guy cracks me up every time.” Thomas dissolved into giggles as he knelt in front of a built in cabinet. I looked over to Felix, and his jaw tightened before he offered a tight smile.

  “My brother,” he said by way of explanation. The captain advised us to take our seats then, and I couldn’t wait to get Rob alone to ask him more questions about the pair.

  The takeoff went smooth as silk, and once the go ahead was given to move freely about the cabin, we unstrapped and I joined Rob near the rear of the plane. “Do I need to be worried about Bridget right now?” I leaned close, my lips nearly brushing his ear. Felix had zeroed in on her as soon as the seatbelts came off and was refilling her glass with champagne while his idiot brother frowned over the DVD player.

  “She’ll be alright here, but she won’t want to go wandering down any corridors alone once we get there unless you mark her as yours,” he whispered back, his breath tickling my neck.

  “Mark her? With teeth?”

  “That’s the way it’s usually done, yeah.” His eyes crinkled in amusement.

  “I’ll have to talk to her about that when we get more privacy. In the meantime, do you think you could keep her occupied if I sent her back here?”

  “Sure, I could do that.”

  “Sorry, is that weird of me to ask? I know the two of you aren’t that close anymore.”

  “I’ve had worse jobs.”

  “So you’ve said before,” I chuckled softly, giving his hand a squeeze as I rose to join the others. Bridget was giggling over something Felix said, his head bent close to hers. She seemed to be enjoying his attentions, but I wasn’t sure how much of that was her own attraction to him or if he was compelling her behind my back. Was I supposed to tolerate that?

  A flare of possessiveness came over me as I approached. “Rob’s asking for you,” I interrupted and Bridget didn’t bother to turn and look at me.

  “Let him keep asking.”

  “Bridget…” I tried again.

  “I’m busy.”

  My temper flared, but I kept my voice low. “Now,” I insisted, sending out a burst of compulsion.

  “God, you are such a grouch.” A long suffering sigh was given, but she got up. “Later, Felix.”

  “I sure hope so, doll.” His eyes followed the swish of her hips all the way to the back of the jet.

  “Felix,” I said gently, but I had to repeat his name again before I gained his attention.

  “What was that?”

  “My friend, Bridget? She’s not the onboard meal.”

  “Right.” He gave a lustful sigh and I got the feeling he might have said more on the subject, but Thomas demanded our attention.

  “Felix, I can’t make the movie come on right.”

  “I’ll take a look at it later. In the meantime, you’re ignoring our charming guest.”

  “Oh right, I almost forgot.” Thomas jumped up to his feet, affecting what he must have thought was a charming smile as he sauntered over to the leather couch to join us. “How come we’ve never met before? I would have remembered a knockout lady like you.”

  “I very rarely make it that far south and I’ve been away from things for some time,” I lied glibly, having rehearsed that line in my head a hundred times already.

  “How long is some time?” Felix pressed, and I realized he was staring at me shrewdly.

  Stick to the story, Anja, you got this… “I haven’t involved myself in polite society for a hundred years or more. I prefer to keep to myself.”

  “Why is that?”

  “I… I’m not always very good at thinking one thing and saying another.” Not a lie… “It tends to make for uncomfortable social situations.”

  “I get uncomfortable in society all the time,” Thomas admitted readily. “I just tell myself it doesn’t matter what other people think of me, because I know I’m a good person. Right, Felix?”

  “Yeah, you’re good people, Tommy,” Felix nodded encouragingly and I couldn’t help but smile at the expression on the harder man’s face. It was clear he cared a great deal for his brother. That earned him points in my book.

  “So, if you wanted to come and visit sometime, that’d be okay,” Thomas continued. “You could even stay with us, if you want.”

  “That’s very generous of you, Mr. Lyons.”

  “Pretty ladies can call me Tommy,” he grinned.

  “Thanks, Tommy,” I smiled back. “Maybe I’ll do that sometime.”

  “I figured out where I know your name from.” Felix snapped his fingers suddenly. “You’re the one that offed Kursik!”

  “It was a complicated set of circumstances…” I hedged, not knowing if he considered Kursik an ally or a threat.

  “Kursik,” Thomas made a face. “I met him once. Scary,” he shivered.

  “I’d like to drink a toast in your honor.” There was respect in Felix’s voice as he grabbed a champagne flute from the rack over the sink in the small kitchenette. Once we all had champagne in hand, he lifted his glass to mine. “Thanks for taking care of Kursik for us. We appreciate you keeping the territory clear of that shark. You got a set of balls on you, lady.”

  “To ladies with balls.” Thomas touched his glass to ours with a ready smile.

  “How did you manage it, if I may ask?” Felix asked, setting his drink aside. “His security team is top notch.”

  “He got cocky, sent them away. Once his man Booth went down the rest of them folded like a cheap suit.” God, now I was talking like a dime store paperback too…

  “What did he do to tick you off?”

  “He made the mistake of forgetting the way a lady should be treated.”

  His eyes flicked to where Bridget sat with Rob, and Felix swallowed nervously.

  “It’s okay, she’s a beautiful girl. I can see why you’d be attracted to her,” I said softly. “And if she’s interested, I won’t say a word about it.”

  “Really…” He brightened, an avaricious gleam coming back into his eyes.

  “But um, Felix?” I waited until I was sure I had his full attention, figuring now was as good a time as any to cash in on my reputation. “If you hurt her in any way, no matter how small, then you and I are going to have a
problem.” I leveled my most menacing stare at him, emulating the look in Bishop’s eyes when his temper simmered to the surface as best I could before smiling sweetly. “We’re not going to have a problem, are we?”

  *

  Vampire endurance or not, it was a long flight. Luckily, Felix didn’t take offense at my thinly veiled threat, and once we had that settled, I invited Bridget to join us again. I even fixed Tommy’s technical malfunction and we watched silly movies until we landed in New York. Rob held back at the far end of the plane, even though I waved him over more than once. Maybe he didn’t like watching Bridget practically put herself in Felix’s lap, or maybe he didn’t enjoy Adam Sandler movies. He tipped his seat back, eyes half lidded for the bulk of the flight.

  When we stopped in New York to take on more fuel, I made my way back to talk to him while the others stretched their legs.

  “You’re not going to get off the plane?”

  “Only if you are.” He sat higher. “Are you going with them?”

  “No, I’m fine,” I replied, not wanting to make him get up just for me. “You’ve been sitting back here all alone for a while.”

  “Catching up on a bit of rest before we get there is all.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Should I leave you alone then?” I started to turn away and his fingers brushed over my arm lightly before he thought better of it and let go.

  “No need to run off just yet, I could do with a spot of company.”

  “You could have come to join us any time if you wanted conversation.”

  “All things being equal, I’m a bit choosy in the company I keep, I expect.”

  I smiled at the compliment, taking a seat beside him. “I like hanging out with you too, Rob. I’m glad we’re not fighting anymore.”

  “Me as well,” he muttered, shifting in his chair. “I heard how you handled Felix. Well done, that.”

  “Thanks. I wasn’t sure if it was too much. Is it weird to have to watch Bridget and another guy?”