Tempt Me When the Sun Goes Down (2 page)

“Now there’s a sight for sore eyes!”  Lee’s voice boomed the moment I stepped onto the front walk, his Southern drawl wrapping around me like a welcoming hug.  “Get on in here,
mija
, and let us get a look at ya.”  The cherry glow being crushed out by his boot told me he’d been out on the porch having a smoke, and his long legs unfolded as he sprang to his feet with an easy grace that belied his years.

I stepped into the foyer, feeling awkwardly on display in my own home as they all stared at me.  Neither Maggie nor Gunnar made a move to speak, their faces frozen with polite smiles I knew was mirrored on my own face.  Until Lee caught me up in a big bear hug and the spell was broken.  Then it was hugs all around, our awkward laughter mixing and giving way to genuine pleasure to see each other again. 

Maggie chattered on about how they’d gone back and forth over having a fancy tea party set up for me and a champagne celebration over my return.  Champagne had won out, Gunnar proclaimed proudly, producing two perfectly chilled bottles of the same pink stuff we’d toasted Maggie’s inheritance with. 

They were eager to hear about my work with Carter in Chicago, which I breezed over, not wanting to mention that my compulsion was at the root of its success.  Nobody mentioned Rob, which I appreciated.  Only once did Bridget’s name come up, and I made it crystal clear I didn’t want to talk about her. 

Sure, part of me wondered if she was still with Felix, or if he’d kicked her to the curb, but since I had no idea who did and who didn’t know about what’d happened that night on the yacht, I preferred to remain in the dark on her current circumstances.  If she was happy, I didn’t want to know about it, and if she was miserable – I didn’t want to acknowledge being glad about that either. 

We played Monopoly and Apples to Apples before Gunnar turned on
The Sound of Music
for old time’s sake.  By the time we got to singing along with a few of our favorite things, it felt like I’d never left home. 

Over all, it was a nice way to decompress and connect with my friends again, but I begged off the night early, still on Chicago time.  Lee escorted me down, and I could tell he’d been wanting to talk about something deeper than raindrops on roses for a while.   

“You fixin’ to settle in for a spell or is this a drive by visit?” he asked when we got to the bottom of the stairs. 

I’d been hoping to put off that conversation a while longer.  I hadn’t told any of them about the curse or why I was searching for Rob.  Not that I planned to keep them in the dark indefinitely, but I hadn’t wanted to put a downer on the evening.  Still, I wasn’t about to lie to him.

“As much as I’d like to stay and catch up with everybody, I need to get back on the road again tomorrow night.  I wish it was different.”  I wished a lot of things were different. 

Lee’s mustache covered most of what I assumed to be a frown, but I could hear the disappointment in his voice.  “Sorry to hear that.  We was all hopin’ you’d come back for good.  Especially Maggie, she’s been powerful lonesome without you here these past weeks.”

“I’m sorry.”  I searched for a good excuse, but came up empty.  It’d been selfish, but at the time it’d felt like the right thing to do.  “I thought she had Gunnar and you here with her?”

“I know, darlin’, but it ain’t the same as female company, I expect.  I don’t mean to bring you low about it, it’s just she’s taken it hard.  Not that she’d ever let on to hear her tell it.”

“I just couldn’t…” Even now, I couldn’t talk about it without getting either choked up or so mad, I saw red.

“It’s all water under the bridge,” he nodded, patting my shoulder.  “Where you off to in such a hurry?”

“London, actually.”

Lee nodded, thumbs hitching into his belt loops as he leaned back against the wall.  “You might want to think on taking a spot of company with ya.”

“Bring Maggie with me?”

“Sure, why not?  Unless you’re expectin’ danger.  In which case, I’d better get an invite myself,” he added with a lopsided grin. 

“No, no danger,” I smiled –
except to my calm
.  “That’s not a bad idea though.  Maybe I will talk to Maggie about coming with.  The last time I went to England, she wasn’t so keen on the idea though.”

“It’s always nice to be asked at least.  I’ll leave you to your own thoughts.”  Lee gave me a nod, turning to head back upstairs again, but paused with his hand on the railing.  “You expect you’ll run into Rob over there?”

My easy smile turned brittle at the mention of his name, but there was no avoiding it.  “Yes, I expect so.”

“You see him, tell him I ain’t gonna wait on him forever, y’hear?”

My lips pursed in confusion.  “What are you waiting on?”

“After he pulled up stakes and moved on, he sent me a letter on how he’s fixin’ to become one of them silent partners in our business.  As if he hadn’t already been silent for nigh onto two months now,” he snorted. 

“A silent partner?”  I hadn’t thought about how Rob’s departure must’ve thrown a monkey wrench into their security business.  Maybe the venture was doomed from the start?  It’d been six months since we’d first talked about starting the business up and it didn’t seem to be close to opening its doors anytime soon. 

“Yep, and that’s all well and good, only I’ve got no idea what he had cookin’ at the time he skedaddled.  I need to pick his brains over or I might end up making an even bigger ass of m’self than I have already.”

“I’m sure you’ve done no such thing, but I’ll try and get him to call you when I talk to him.”

“I’d take it as a kindness if you did,” he nodded, cheeks crinkling in a relieved smile.  “Well, g’nite.  Don’t you light out of here without saying goodbye, now, y’hear?”

“I won’t,” I promised, smiling back with more enthusiasm than I felt.  The truth was, I wasn’t at all looking forward to climbing into bed – especially after I’d been sharing it with Rob for months. 

The room looked mostly how I’d left it, only Rob’s stuff was gone, of course.  Not just his clothes from the closet, but there was only one set of towels hanging in the bathroom, and the drawer he’d used in my desk was empty too.  It was as if he’d never moved in with me at all, erased completely from the space. 

I started digging through cupboards and drawers, looking for some shred of evidence of the time we’d shared, coming up short.  I wouldn’t have been surprised to find he’d wiped his fingerprints clear from all of the surfaces – there was literally no trace that he’d ever existed. 

When I caught myself sniffing his old pillow, I knew I needed a distraction, and there was one person I could turn to who’d provide it without a heaping side of drama.

Carter.

It was getting later, but not so bad I didn’t think he’d answer.  The phone rang and rang, and I started to think it’d go to voicemail when the line clicked on.  When he didn’t say hello, I ventured the first greeting.

“Don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten me, it’s been less than twenty-four hours since I left.”

“No, I’m just surprised that you’d call.”  Carter’s voice was even, with no trace of his usual teasing lilt.  “To be honest, I didn’t think I’d hear from you so soon.  Or, you know, ever.”

Without seeing him in front of me, I wasn’t sure if he was kidding or serious.  Had he really thought I’d abandoned him for good?  “So dramatic,” I sighed.  “Come on, you know why I had to leave, it’s not because I care about you and the work we were doing any less.  This is something I have to see to.”

“Please tell me you already saw him and kicked the shit out of him and you’re coming back.”  There was too much eagerness in his voice, as if he was picturing such a confrontation in his mind’s eye.

“No, he’s not here.”

“Great, then you’re off the hook.”

“It’s not that easy and you know it, Carter.”  I shook my head, searching for the right words to explain it to him.  “I have to find Rob and talk things out.  I should’ve done it weeks ago.  There’s no moving forward without cleaning up the past.”

“Where’d you hear that one?  One of those Hallmark movies?” he snorted.

“Nope, this is my own brand of wisdom.”

“Yeah, well, your wisdom sucks.”

I smiled to myself over the petulant tone, he sounded like a spoiled five year old.  “That’s why I called you, Carter.  There’s nothing like an overwhelming vote of support from you when I need it most.  Is there anything else you want to take a shot at while I’m down on the ground?  You don’t like my driving, maybe?” I added dryly, but his reply was unrepentant, almost challenging.

“You can take it.” 

“Yes, I can.” I smiled again, glad I’d made the call.  This was what I’d come to rely on, his ability to jostle me out of my darkest moods.  “It’s too bad you can’t go to London, that’s where I’m headed.”

“That makes sense he’d turn tail and run for home.”

I ignored the dig, Carter would never be Rob’s biggest fan, and I couldn’t blame him for voicing his disapproval for the whole situation.  I wasn’t thrilled about it myself.  “Are you driving right now?”  I changed the subject after what sounded like a large truck bled onto the line. 

“Uh huh, I’m on the road to Boston.”

I checked the time.  He was pushing it awfully close to dawn to be out on the open road.  I’d known he probably wouldn’t stick around Chicago for long on his own, but I hadn’t expected him to move on so quickly.  “That was fast.  What if I’d said I was on my way back?”

“Then I’d turn the car around.  Hell, I’d drive to you if you wanted me to.  Say the word, sunshine, and I’m there.”

I smiled over the absolute conviction behind his light words, knowing he’d do exactly that if I asked him to.  And as much as I loved having him by my side, I knew it wasn’t the right move.  “It’s not safe for you here, remember?  There’s a bounty on your head the size of Texas.  Or do you enjoy getting shot up?”

“Oh, I dunno, the cure wasn’t all that bad the last time,” he quipped.

I didn’t need to be reminded of the time I’d given him my blood to heal the gunshot damage.  It’d strengthened our bond, but I wasn’t up for a repeat performance anytime soon, so I changed the subject again.  “Why Boston?”

“You marked New York off limits,” he pointed out.  “Boston’s got some heavy hitters in need of curbing.  Besides, there’s no rest for the wicked.” 

I couldn’t argue with that.  “Try and find some rest before too long though.  You won’t do anyone any good if you turn into a crispy critter come the dawn.”

“I’ve been doing this for a long time.  I know exactly how far I can push it.  Besides, the weather’s for shit out here, I’ve got an extra hour of cover, easy,” he replied with confidence.

“Still, don’t push it too late, okay?  Just because I said goodbye doesn’t mean I wanted it to turn permanent.”

“Okay,” he moaned, like I’d asked him to eat a Brussels sprout soufflé, but I could tell he liked my mothering.  “I swear I’ll pull over at the next exit if you promise me one thing in return.”

“If I can.”

“Save his ass if you have to, but don’t take him back.  He doesn’t deserve you.”

How had we come back to Rob again?  “How can I possibly make you that kind of a promise?  I haven’t even seen him yet.”

“All the better.  Make it now before he starts talking all –
love you heaps, yeah?
” Carter said with a flawless cockney accent, to my great surprise.

“Wow, you totally nailed that accent.”

“I’ve seen the original
Get Carter
with Michael Caine a hundred and twelve times.  Lots of years on the road by myself, remember?  Hell, if I’d known that’s all it took to impress you, I’d have talked with a limey accent this whole time.”

I couldn’t help but giggle at that, and he joined in, our laughter mingling until we lapsed into a comfortable silence.  “It’s getting late.  I just wanted to make sure you haven’t gone all Dark Knight on me already.”

“I promise I won’t go all bloody vigilante if you promise me you won’t turn to mush at the first sign of stubble and swagger,” he countered.

“Goodnight, Carter.  I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Later, sunshine.  Be good.”

“Always.”

The next night I was up early, helping myself to a mug of warmed blood before I went to seek out Maggie for a little girl talk.  I found her in my study, arranging a pile of correspondence into neat stacks. 

“Oh, I didn’t think you’d be up so early,” she said, startled when I entered the room, the lilt of her refined, British accent softening her distress.  “I’ll have this mess sorted in a few minutes and then I’ll be out of your hair.”

“No rush,” I assured her, sitting on the window sill to watch her work.  Her long, golden brown hair was bound into a fancy braid that fell over one shoulder.  I counted at least three layers on her to chase away the chill – a product of living in a household of vampires and a werewolf who ran a few degrees hotter than humans.   

“I meant to have this done last night when you first called and said you’d be stopping by.  But then Gunnar wanted to decorate for the party and I couldn’t say no,” she smiled self consciously and I waved her concerns away. 

“It’s not that big of a deal.  You can throw it all into one pile and I’ll dig through it myself once I get on the plane.”

“You’re off already then?”  Maggie wasn’t quite able to keep the note of disappointment from her voice, but her features were schooled into a polite smile. 

“Actually, I thought maybe you might want to come with me,” I ventured, seeing the evidence of Lee’s advice in the way her face lit up at the suggestion. 

“Do you truly mean that?”

“Of course I do,” I answered readily.  “I mean, it’s not going to be a super exciting trip if I can manage it, but I’d be glad to have you along if you don’t mind leaving everything behind at the drop of a hat.”

“No, I don’t mind at all.  In fact, it’ll be lovely to get away for a while.  Where are we going?”

“London.”  My hands came up before she could react to that.  “It’s fine if that makes you change your mind, I know it’s not your favorite place to visit.”

“No, that’d be grand,” she replied, her smile never dimming.  “I’d love to see a few familiar faces again.”  I wanted to ask if she had a certain werewolf in mind, but she flowed right into the next question before I could open my mouth.  “Why are you going there, if you don’t mind me asking?  I was under the impression you were less than thrilled with Aubrey.  Did something change?”

“Something changed alright, but it doesn’t have anything to do with Aubrey.  I have to find Rob and that’s where he’s disappeared to.”

“I wondered about that when you came home so early last night.  So Rob went home to England, did he?”  From Maggie’s tone, I could tell she was tiptoeing around the subject, not sure which way to come down on at the mention of Rob. 

“That’s what Laveda said.  I don’t know where he’s staying, so I’m not sure how long this visit will take.  Hopefully, he’ll be at one of the apartments I already know about, and if not, maybe his sister Leila will help me.”

Maggie was silent, eyes focused on the letters in her hands as she lined them up neatly with the edge of the desk blotter.  “Then you’ve forgiven him?”

“No, I haven’t,” I answered instantly, the core of anger still burning bright whenever I thought about Rob.  “But I need to talk to him about something important.  Something I’m still processing myself, but he needs to know about.”  What was unclear to me was whether or not Rob was still suffering from the curse, or if my anger had spared him its effects.   

“That sounds worrisome,” she frowned, a furrow appearing on her brow. 

“You don’t know the half of it.”  Deciding I might as well fill her in on the particulars, I outlined the basics of the curse Jakob had laid on Carys and me, and how it’d affected Bishop and Rob, respectively.  Maggie’s hazel eyes grew rounder and rounder as she listened, her jaw dropping by the time I finished talking. 

“Then… it wasn’t his fault,” she gasped.  “What he did with…”

I stopped her before she got any further, not willing to let it go so easily.  “Maybe not the impulses he couldn’t control, but he made a conscious choice to keep me in the dark about his weakness and unusual need to feed in the first place.  He’s the one who decided to be so secretive and try to handle it all on his own.  If he’d been open with me about it, he never would’ve even been in that room with Bridget in the first place.”

Maggie blinked, taken aback by the venom in my voice.  “Then you’re not planning on taking him back?”

“I don’t… I don’t know.  I can’t think about that right now.  First and foremost is to find him and tell him about the curse so he understands what’s behind the way he’s been feeling.  Or felt.  For all I know, he’s been fine since I walked away from that boat.”

Her voice was softer when she spoke again, coming around to my side of the desk.  “He made a mistake, it’s true.  But it sounds like there were reasons beyond his control pushing him to act outside of his nature.”  She laid a hand on my arm when I shook my head.  “I can’t stop hoping for the two of you to mend your differences and find your way back to each other again.  You were good together.” 

“Were we?”  I hardly knew.  It seemed like we’d always has something keeping us apart.  First the threat of Jakob’s discovery, then his addiction to stims, and finally the curse putting a wedge between us.  But even beyond those external influences, there was a core of secrecy keeping us apart from the start.  Neither one of us had been blameless in that area.  He’d kept his drug use and symptoms of the curse to himself, and I’d held my actions with Carter apart as well. 

Maggie didn’t appear to share those doubts.  “Whatever he’s done, you know he loves you.  Do you still love him too?”

“I don’t know,” I answered as honestly as I could.  “Part of me thinks I must, or it wouldn’t still hurt this much.  If I was completely over him, it’d feel less devastating to relive every time I think about that cruise.” 

“But it wasn’t all bad,” she insisted.  “That was one terrible night, one choice that spiraled out of control.  Maybe if you tried to remember the good times…”

“I can’t think about those good times, not yet.  It’s still too fresh.”  Maybe it always would be.  Vampires seemed to have a heightened sense of everything.  Dizzying heights of love, but the deepest depths of despair waited as well.  “Maybe someday, but for the moment, I have to focus on setting Rob free of this curse.”

“And Bishop too?”

“Bishop’s another can of worms I can’t really get into at the moment.” 

“Do you believe they’ll find Carys?”

“You know, I didn’t used to think so, but now I do.  I believe she’s out there somewhere, or Bishop would’ve realized she’d compelled him all those years ago when she was supposed to have died.  And I definitely believe Jakob won’t rest until he finds her.” 

Maggie nodded at that.  “I still can’t believe Jakob would curse you like that, after claiming to love you.”

“Jakob doesn’t know what love is,” I scowled, my anger sharpening.  “He’s spent his entire life compelling women to love him.  He wouldn’t know true love if it came in and bit him on the butt.”

“What will you do when you see Jakob again?”

“That all depends on whether or not I need him alive to break this curse,” I muttered.  But that wasn’t something I wanted to circulate.  “First things first.  I need to make arrangements to fly to London, tonight if you can swing it.” 

“That shouldn’t be too difficult to manage,” Maggie replied with confidence.  “Shall I go inform Gunnar and Lee of your plans, or did you want to tell them yourself?”

“Ah, you can tell them if you want.  They’ll probably enjoy having the house to themselves for a while.  Too bad they can’t invite anyone in on their own though, that should cramp their style for any house parties.”

Maggie’s brows drew together in confusion.  “House parties?  I thought you’d be taking them with you.  Along with your standard security detail.”

It was my turn to stare at her in bewilderment.  “Why would I do that?  I figured we’d keep it simple.  I don’t need the big entourage, I’m not the Elder of the West anymore.”

“Yes, you are.”

“Ah… no, I’m not,” I frowned, unsure where the miscommunication stemmed from.  Maggie, more than most, knew exactly why I’d left and we’d exchanged emails about her mailing my ring of office back to Felix.  “You sent him the ring, right?  Or did he never get it?”

“No, he did, right enough.  We’ve been working together steadily these past weeks since you’ve been gone.”

“Then why…?”

“Felix told everyone you’d gone to Europe to visit some of the other Houses.” 

I gaped at her, at a loss for words at first.  “Why would he do that?”

“I expect he was hoping you’d change your mind.  All of us were.  I didn’t think there was any harm in letting people think so, and we managed the day to day administrative tasks well enough between us.”

That explained my welcome at The Hart, the night before.  “What about what happened with Rob?”  Even if they’d thought I was away on House business, they had to have noticed Rob hadn’t accompanied me. 
Wode tìan
, were they all laughing at me behind my back?

“Nobody knows,” Maggie interjected, pulling me out of my shame spiral.  “Well, Gunnar and Lee have an inkling, though they don’t have the details of it.  There’s speculation that you had a falling out with Rob, but no one knows why.” 

“Not even Felix?”  I couldn’t imagine what Bridget had told him about the trip.  I was willing to bet she hadn’t shared that I’d threatened to kill her if I ever saw her again.

“It’s hard to say.  If he does, he’s certainly never let on.”

“Okay, thanks,” I nodded absently, already deep in thought.  “In that case, maybe you’d better fill the boys in on the upcoming trip, and I think I’d better touch bases with my Warden.”

“Leave everything to me,” Maggie nodded, and once again I was grateful for her narrow, but capable shoulders by my side. 

Felix answered on the second ring, his voice full of good cheer.  “Hey, boss, long time no hear.  How’s life treating you these days?”  He might be in a shiny mood, but I wasn’t about to spend the next five minutes exchanging pleasantries about the weather. 

“How could you not tell the council that I quit?” I demanded right out of the gate.

“Well now, you didn’t, see,” he began, unapologetic.  “Not to me and not to them.  Not formally anyway.”

“But you knew I’d gone and Maggie said you got the ring back.”

“That’s just a piece of jewelry, the real power still resides with you.”

“Okay, but why didn’t you let anyone know I’d gone AWOL?  What’s all this stuff about me visiting other Houses in Europe?”

“I had to tell the council something.”

“You couldn’t tell them the truth?”

“To quote one of my favorite movies, they can’t handle the truth,” Felix snickered, and I waited until he got over the thrill of his own wit.  “I figured I’d give you some breathing room and we’d talk about it when you got back.”

“I’m not back, not like that.” 

“Look, stability’s a pretty big deal for a position like yours.  I didn’t want to rock the boat is all.”

“The boat was already severely listing to port by the time I left.  I wasn’t happy with the way things were going, and I didn’t make a secret of it.  I’m just not cut out for this Elder stuff.”

“The hell you’re not.  You’re doing a bang up job, boss.  Way better than I could’ve hoped for.”

That didn’t sound too promising for his hopes on how I’d perform, and again, I got the sense that he was handling me rather than speaking from the heart.  “Spare me the pep talk, Felix,” I cut him off before he shoveled it any deeper.  “You weren’t happy with how I handled Jakob, and you know my philosophies are at direct odds with most of the vampire population.  Don’t pretend like you think I’m the best man for the job.  I think you’d better tell the council to pick someone else.”

“Don’t be too hasty.  Before we involve the council, give it some time.  Don’t make any sudden decisions you might come to regret.” 

Why was he pushing so hard for this?  “Felix, I can’t make you any guarantees.  My life is a mess right now.  For all I know, I might not make it back to the West for a while.  I can’t ask you to put the government on hold indefinitely.” 

“No, not indefinitely,” he agreed.  “But I can handle the day to day stuff until you figure out where you want to be.  Do what you gotta do, we’ll keep the home fires burning.”

Maybe he was right?  I’d made a snap decision in the heat of the moment.  Maybe there was more good I could accomplish as Elder?  I couldn’t devote my energy to figuring it out at the moment, but if he was that willing to give me some breathing room, the least I could do was take it. 

“Alright, we’ll talk more about it later.”

“You got it, boss.”  I could practically hear the smile on Felix’s face.  “Hey, you want I should get Bridget on the phone?  I know she’s been wanting to talk to you.”

“No,” I answered too quickly, wincing when I realized how harsh that must’ve sounded.  So far Felix hadn’t let on that he knew anything about Bridget’s behavior on the cruise, and as much as I couldn’t stand to be around her, that didn’t mean I wanted to ruin things for her either.  “I mean, I don’t have time.  I’m on my way to London tonight.”