Miss Me When the Sun Goes Down (2 page)

If ever I was having an Empire Strikes Back kind of night, this was it.  All I lacked was the weepy music to drown my sorrows in, but Bishop’s mp3 collection was half a world away in his laptop.  If I turned on the TV I’d get sucked into a Hallmark movie, and then I’d turn into an emotional mess.  Digging through the closet, I remembered he had an old laptop up on the top shelf, so I pulled it down and booted it up, hoping it had something to chase away the silence.  Switching it on, I turned back to the closet to sort through my clothes hanging neatly beside Bishop’s. 

I couldn’t bring myself to pack everything up to take home yet.  Somewhere in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but wonder if I
’d find my home with Bishop again someday.  Maybe that was wishful thinking, but what kind of a life would I be living if I gave up all my wishes?  What I wouldn’t have given to hear from Bishop at that moment…

“Who is this?”

I froze as that familiar voice broke the stillness, my heart clenching in pleasure mingled with pain.  “Bishop?”  My head swiveled around to see his face fill the laptop screen.  Skype must have launched automatically when I turned on the laptop, and of course he’d wondered who had signed on from his old account…

“Anja?  What are you…?”  His eyes dropped as I came into view, almost as if he was afraid to catch my gaze.  Did he really think I might try to compel him across the
Internet?

“I’m sorry, I won’t be here long.  I came to get a few things tonight and I wanted some music.” 

“Music.”

“It’s so quiet here.” 
Without you.
  As much as I loved seeing him again, it all felt wrong, like a mistake.  It killed me to see him looking at me with such mistrust.  “But I’ll have all my things out of here soon, I promise,” I added hurriedly. 

“Right.”  Bishop scratched at the back of his neck absently, looking as miserable as I felt.  “Look, you don’t have to rush things.  If you need a place to stay while I’m away…”

“No, I shouldn’t be here, it’s your place.”

He looked tired and drawn, as if he hadn’t been sleeping well.  “It’s fine, Anja.  I’ll be here for the foreseeable future.”

“No, it’s okay, I’m staying back at my old place again with Maggie and Ellie.”  His jaw tightened at the mention of the illegal vampire, and I hurried to change the subject.  “I’ll probably be getting a bigger place soon though.  I got a new job.  Jarl of the Northwest.” 

Instead of being impressed, his brows drew together into a single dark line.  “Please tell me you’re not serious.”

“Of course I’m serious.  Why would I make up something like that?”

“Anja, you can’t…  Even you can see why this is a bad idea, can’t you?”

“I can handle whatever I decide to take on!” I interrupted, recalling Rob’s vote of confidence.  Ugh, why had I thought he’d be impressed or even supportive?  All Bishop wanted to do was stick me in a corner somewhere I couldn’t make any trouble. 

“You don’t know the first thing about being
a Jarl.”

“I know enough to know it’s time for some changes in my life, and this is the best way to go about it,” I replied,
actually believing it for the first time.  My school career was over.  Following Bishop around as his main squeeze was shelved for the moment as well.  And didn’t I want more for myself anyway?  This was a far better opportunity than working for minimum wage plus tips in an all night diner.  “I thought you of all people would be happy for me.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to be happy for you.  You’ll invite a lot more scrutiny in such a high profile position.  People might start to suspect you’re not who you claim to be.” 

“So let them.  You yourself set up my identity as Anja Gudrun, I’m safe as houses.    I held my own against the bullies over there. I can handle myself on my own home turf just fine.  You’ll see.”

Bishop let out a long breath.  “I hope you’re right.”   An awkward silence stretched between us, neither wanting to break the call, but unable to think of anything to say.

“How are things there?” I ventured.  “Are you alright?”   

“I’m not really at liberty to say…”
He shifted uncomfortably and I realized he was hiding behind protocol rather than getting personal with me again.

“Of course not,” I nodded sadly.  “Vetis and the West aren’t
completely allies these days.  Say no more.  Well, like I said, I’ll have my stuff out of here in a jiffy.”

“And like I said, there’s no rush.”

Mixed signals.  How was I supposed to figure out what was going on between us when he kept giving me mixed signals?  Not that it mattered, with him on another continent for the foreseeable future.  “It’s good to see you again, Bishop.  I hope things sort out for you over there.  Oh, and ah, watch your back around Angel.”  I remembered suddenly that I’d never had a chance to warn him about his boss and her involvement in Thomas Lyon’s death. 

“What do you mean by that?”

I realized it wasn’t a good idea to discuss it over Skype with him in the House of Vetis.  In fact, I probably shouldn’t have mentioned most of what we’d talked about.  “Just be careful.”

“You too, Anja.  I hope like hell you haven’t bitten off more than you can chew with this Jarl thing.”

Me too.
  “I’ll be fine, Bishop.  We both know why I can take care of myself.” 

“Fair enough.”  He looked away, jaw tightening as if he wanted to say something else, but his self control won out.  “I have to go,” he muttered abruptly, the connection breaking before I could so much as open my mouth to say goodbye. 

For the second time that night, I said goodbye to someone I’d counted on to be by my side.  Was this what being a vampire would be like?  A constant string of goodbyes as those I came to care about passed through? 

“Goodbye, Bishop,” I said to the darkened screen, closing the door to that part of my life as I snapped the laptop shut. 

* * *

I slept like the dead for most of the next day, waking with a lump in my throat the size of Texas when I saw the empty space beside me in bed.  I lolled around on
Bishop’s side of the bed, imagining I could still smell him on the pillow, even though I knew that was completely insane.  As evening painted long shadows against the bedroom walls, I realized I couldn’t lie in bed for the rest of my life.  Sure, I could lay there and feel sorry for myself for a day or thirty, but that wouldn’t change anything.  The only way to move on was to get my sorry behind out of bed and start going through the motions. 

Besides, I had responsibilities.  Back at the apartment, a fragile girl and a baby vamp
waited for me to show them my city, and I was pretty sure my new bodyguards would be camped out downstairs when I went outside.  But before we could do anything together, I needed to feel them out about the turn of events in the past twenty-four hours. 

Sure enough, Gunnar and Isak
waited patiently as can be in a gunmetal gray Mercedes Benz sedan right outside.   The pair wore identical dark suits again, with sunglasses, even though it was pitch black outside.  Their hair was cut in exactly the same fashion and they were similar enough in height, build and facial features to be brothers, with strong jawlines and cheekbones.  We set off after stowing my bags in the trunk, with me feeling more than a little awkward initiating conversation from the back seat. 

Still, I gave it my best shot.  “So, have you guys spent much time in San Francisco before?”

“No.”

I wasn’t sure if it was Gunnar or Isak who replied
.  In that light it was almost impossible to tell them apart.  Maybe I’d have to start having them wear different colored ties or something.  “No?  Well, there are a lot of cool things to check out now that you’re here.  Do you like music?”

“No.”

“No,” I repeated softly.  So far all I’d learned was they weren’t all that big on chit chat.  “What about the movies?  We’ve had a ton of them shot around here.  I could show you some of the famous places.  Do you go to the movies much?”

“No.”

The same one answered each of the times, and I started to wonder if the other one talked at all.  Maybe they had a psychic connection?  There had to be a way to loosen them up.  “Do you guys share a brain or is he a mute?” I joked, only neither of them laughed.  They just traded a look and I started to wonder…  “Oh God…
is
he mute?”  I sucked in a breath.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“I speak,” the other one said, his voice in a higher register that didn’t quite match his imposing form.  Maybe that was why he chose to be the strong silent type? 

“So you do,” I nodded, more relieved than I could say.  “Cool beans, this is progress.  Um, just for my benefit, which one of you is Gunnar and which one is Isak?”

“I am Gunnar, he is Isak,” the more talkative one replied.

“Where are you guys from originally?”

“We are from Copenhagen.”

“Oh, Denmark?”  Consider the ice broken!  We were onto multiple word responses! 

“Yes, you know this place?” 

“Well, no, not really.”  All I knew about the country was the capital city, but I resolved to Google it as soon as I had the chance.  “Maybe you could tell me about it?”

“There is little to tell.  To know a place
, you must first go there.”

Fair enough.  “How long have you guys been vampires?”  They traded looks again, and I wondered if I’d asked something incredibly gauche. 

“Long enough to serve you well, have no fear in that,” Gunnar replied grimly. 

“Oh, I wasn’t doubting your skills,” I was quick to interject.  They still weren’t really getting the spirit of the questions.  As we pulled up to the apartment, I resolved to try again.  “Listen, I want you guys to come up for a while
, okay?” 

Short nods were given, and they escorted me up the three flights of stairs
with my bags in hand.  Ellie practically tackled me the instant I stepped through the door and quick like a jackrabbit, Gunnar pried her off me, holding her at arm’s length. 

“Lay off!” Ellie tugged her arm free, scowling at the bodyguard, her Irish brogue sharp.  “Don’t be twistin’ hay with me, I’m not afraid of the likes of you!”  Her auburn hair hung loose around her shoulders, the streaks of pink pinned back with sparkly clips shaped like stars. 
She wore an oversized purple sweater that nearly dwarfed her petite frame, along with a pair of tattered black leggings with lime green tights peeking through.  Heavy workboots completed the picture, the tongues flopping as she regained her balance.

“Whoa, settle down,” I interjected before she worked herself up into a lather.  “What’s wrong?”

“Thank God you’re here. I’d started to think you’d abandoned us.”  It was clear that Ellie wouldn’t be robbed of her dramatics, and I waved her on to try and get to the root of it.  “I’m starving and Maggie’s being difficult.”

“Difficult?”

“Yeah, alls I wanted was a taste.”

Maggie appeared at the bedroom door, her hazel eyes wide and tragic, as if she expected me to punish her for not w
anting to be fed from.  Her golden brown hair offered dubious protection, but she drew it around herself like a cloak, trying her best to blend into the wall.  “I… wasn’t… I didn’t know if…” she stammered miserably, and I crossed the room in an instant, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulder.  At least she didn’t flinch away from my touch. 

“It’s fine, I don’t expect you to have to feed anyone,” I whispered softly.  Not after what she’d endured as Jasper’s feeder.  “Ellie, Maggie is a friend, not food,” I added sternly.  At least she hadn’t resorted to compulsion to override Maggie’s objections,
and that was a step in the right direction. 

“But you’ve fed from her before,” Ellie protested, eyes on the girl’s swan-like neck. 

Uh oh…
I’d have to nip that in the bud before there was a problem between the two of them.  “That was different.  Maggie’s not here as my feeder.  She’s here as a friend, like I said.  In fact, I want us all to get to know each other better.” 

“Sounds grand, but can we do it after we eat?” she begged, shifting her weight back and forth from one foot to the other, like a toddler who has to pee but
wouldn’t admit it. 

“How about this?  We’ll send out for pizza so Maggie can have something to eat and then you can have a little something too, as long as you’re careful, okay?”  It was either that or go knock on Mr. Ramirez’s door across the hall, and someone anonymous sounded safer.  “What about you guys, do you need to feed?”  I asked the
men, who stood flanking the front door.  They both shook their heads, and I assumed they’d take care of it on their own time.  The less I knew about it, the better.

“But I want to go out!”  Ellie flounced into the easy chair, spinning around and around.  “Alls I’ve seen of this city is from the flicks.  Can’t we see the sights?”

“Yes, we can, but not tonight.  Tonight I have something special planned.”

“Yeah?”  Ellie perked up
at that, and Maggie left her perch by the doorframe to venture deeper into the living room.