Trust Me When the Sun Goes Down

Trust Me

When the Sun Goes Down

By

Lisa Olsen

Copyright © 2014 Lisa Olsen, all rights reserved.

Cover Image licensed by Depositphotos.com/Eaniton

This book is sold subject to the conditions that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, copied, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any other format or changed in any way, including the author’s name and title, and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

This is a work of fiction.  Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination, or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.  The use of any real person, company or product names are for literary effect only and used without permission.  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.

Visit the author’s website at
http://www.lisaolsen.net

Acknowledgements

 
Okay, so I know I say this every time, but this book wouldn’t be in your hands so quickly without my editing team who blasted through this one!  Beckie Pimentel of Lady Bex Editing Services, Marilyn Weaver, James Olsen, Randi Pandi and Laveda Kasch.  Thanks to all my Streetbots for spreading the love and to Laveda for organizing the blog tour to help launch this sucker and generally pimping me like I was her favorite bitch.  Thanks to the Captain for being made of awesome, as usual, on the designs and formatting. 

“Anja…” Rob tried again, silencing me with a kiss when I kept right on talking. 

“Yes?” I breathed when he released my mouth.

“I love you and I don’t care much who knows it no more.”  The quiet torture behind his eyes that I’d come to expect was gone, replaced with something I’d glimpsed only a handful of times since I’d known him.  Happiness.  All of a sudden the pain in my arm didn’t seem to matter, nothing mattered because we’d won.  We were finally free.  Not without scars, but all of us had a chance to heal and be happy now with both
Ellri
effectively gone. 

“I could get used to hearing you say that,” I beamed, leaning close to steal another kiss.  No… not steal, because there were no more furtive moments between us any longer.  These kisses were freely taken and given, without the threat of torture or death, and it felt glorious! 

But despite the newfound freedom, I started to think this wasn’t the best place in the world to get too kissy, what with Hanna sobbing in the corner in Lee’s arms and Bishop sitting there on the couch like a lump.  And that’s when it dawned on me, he’d been sitting there for an awfully long time. 

“Bishop, are you alright?”  He made no move to acknowledge me and I let go of Rob to approach him, worry gathering in the pit of my stomach.  “Bishop, is there something wrong?”

He looked up at me, his green eyes haunted.  “I know what Lodinn said, his final taunt to Jakob.”

The worry did a flip-flop and turned into a hard ball of fear.  “What is it?  What’s so awful?”

“She’s still alive.  Carys is still out there alive somewhere.”

Sweet zombie Jesus
, Carys was still alive?  Of all the things he could’ve announced, that was the one guaranteed to make my jaw hit the floor, and it was several seconds before I could muster a reply.  “But how could that be?  Aubrey saw…” 

“Exactly what Lodinn wanted him to see.  He led me to her ashes and I never questioned it, not once.  I never thought…”  Bishop’s words trailed off, deep in thought. 

I traded looks with Rob, neither one of us sure what to say.  The idea of Bishop’s Sire being alive and well after all those years was definitely a game changer for most of the people I knew – if it was even the genuine article.  “Do you think he was telling the truth?” I finally asked as gently as I could.  Lodinn wasn’t exactly the poster boy for honesty.  “I mean, he could’ve been trying to get a rise out of Jakob, one last dig before he bit the big one, you know?”

“I don’t know.”  Bishop slumped there for long moments before he shook himself out of it.  Pushing himself up to his feet, his entire body took on an
I’m outta here
cast. 

“Are you going after her?”

“What?” he blinked, my question drawing him out of whatever mental plan of action he had going.  “No, that part of my life is long past.  I’ll leave it to Jakob to go chasing after old ghosts.”

Was he for real?  I knew what Carys had meant to him, even if most of the memories were more bad than good.  “But she’s your Sire,” I started to say and he cut me off with a wave of the hand.

“And my obligation to her ended hundreds of years ago.  My life is with the Order now.”  His gaze swung up to focus on Rob, whose hand splayed possessively around my waist.  “Especially now.”

I could understand why he didn’t want to stick around and watch my happy ever after with Rob, but how could he ignore the possibility of finding Carys after all this time?  Especially if she was trapped somewhere against her will by Lodinn?  “Come on, Bishop, if anyone can find her, it’s you.”  He had the resources and he had the skills.

“It’s really not my problem, Anja, I’m not her lapdog any more.  Let Jakob scour the ends of the Earth to try to find her, I have to be getting back to Rome,” he muttered, already moving to the door and I rushed after him, uneasy with his whole blasé attitude.  There had to be something deeper going on behind those green eyes of his, the Bishop I knew wasn’t this detached.

“Wait, don’t go like this.  You’ve had a big shock.  It’s understandable if you’re still sorting through how you feel about it.  If you need to talk…”

“Thanks all the same, but I think it’s for the best if I just go.”  Bishop glanced at the ruined mess of Lodinn’s corpse on my parlor floor and my sister Hanna still quietly crying onto Lee’s shoulder.  “Good luck.”

“That’s it, you’re leaving?  Like it’s no big deal?”  How could he be so cold?

He hesitated at the door, a furrow of something that might be pain crumpling his brow but a scant second later it was gone, the light of love I’d come to expect returning to his eyes.  “Goodbye, Anja.  Be safe.”  He leaned down to kiss my forehead in a chaste benediction. 

“Bye,” I whispered, unbearably sad at the defeat I saw in his face after he’d seemed to find a sort of peace not too long ago.  But maybe he was right, I was the last person he should be unburdening himself to about his conflicted feelings for Carys. I only hoped he found a way to deal with it that didn’t leave it to fester and rot inside. 

“Hey, Bishop?” I called to him once he was halfway down the front walk.  “Thanks.  For everything.”

“You know where I am if you need me,” he smiled with a shadow of his old self. 

Rob materialized by my side as I watched Bishop stride away.  “You and me is gonna have words later as to why he was included in this venture and not me.  But for now, I reckon we should do something about this mess, yeah?”  His head jerked to where Lodinn lay inside. 

He
was
making a fairly large stain on my hardwood floor.  “What should we do with him?  Bury him in the back yard?  Cut him up into wafer thin slices and put him down the garbage disposal?”  We couldn’t call the usual cleaner squad, not without inviting a whole lot of questions as to why an
Ellri
lay dead on my parlor floor.  Even with his heart outside of his body, I couldn’t quite relax enough to believe he was completely gone for good.

“How about we light the bastard on fire?” Hanna sniffed, swiping at her wet cheeks with the back of her hand.  Of everyone present, she had the most motivation to see him dead and gone for good.

“That’s not half bad,” Rob considered aloud.  “It’s one way to make sure he don’t come back.”

Never mind the fact that we were in a drought and uncontrolled burning was strictly
verboten
in California, I felt fairly sure I could fudge it if anyone reported me to the officials.  Besides, it wasn’t like we were about to build him a huge pyre and burn him Darth Vader style.  A little lighter fluid and his natural flammability should take care of it with nary a scorch to my back patio. 

“Let’s do it,” I decided.  “Rob, would you mind…?”  I would’ve offered to help, but my broken arm still hurt something fierce.  Not bad enough that I felt the need to lunge for Lee or Hanna, thanks to Jakob’s blood, but enough that I didn’t want to try lifting dead bodies. 

Rob didn’t seem to mind the request and rolled Lodinn up in the ruined rug, toting him out the back door, easy peasey.  I wrapped an arm around Hanna’s shoulders as Lee went off in search of a lighter and by the time we got outside, Rob was already dousing the soiled carpet with lighter fluid.  We watched wordlessly, everyone’s mood somber as he prepared the morbid bonfire.  Without being asked, Rob grabbed a hose and wet down the grass surrounding the courtyard, in case any wandering embers touched down on the neighboring gardens, and then it was time. 

“Anyone feel the need to say any words?” Lee asked, holding the lighter out to me.

“He doesn’t deserve any words,” Hanna growled, her voice low and almost unrecognizable to me as she snatched the lighter out of his hand and bent to set the rug on fire.  The blaze instantly caught with a rush of air, and I dashed in to grab her by the waist and pull her to safety before the flames licked at her clothes or hair.  The rug itself was consumed quickly, fed from within as Lodinn’s combustible body caught fire. 

Thick, black smoke billowed, the lack of a breeze making it linger to burn the eyes and throat.  Luckily, I didn’t have to breathe and neither did Rob, but Lee and Hanna ducked under their arms, starting to cough.  Lee produced a handkerchief, pressing it to his nose and mouth while I started to lead Hanna away to the safety of the house.  Only she pulled free with surprising strength, a light of panic coming into her eyes. 

“No, I need to see him, I need to see him burn.  I need to know it’s really over,” she wailed. 

In the space between one heartbeat and the next, Mason appeared, plucking her out of my grasp to enfold her in his strong embrace.  “It’s really over.  He’s gone, kitten,” he murmured into her hair, eyes closing in relief as she turned into his chest, the tears coming in earnest again.

I teared up a bit myself, watching them together, and I felt Rob take my hand and give it a gentle squeeze.  All of a sudden it occurred to me –where was Gunnar?  If Lodinn’s hold over Hanna was gone now that he was dead, shouldn’t we be hearing from him soon? 

Shaking my hand free of Rob’s hold, I dug out my cell, awkwardly pulling up his number with one hand.  Rob lost the miffed expression on his face as soon as he spotted the bodyguard’s picture on my display, replaced by a keen interest that was quickly thwarted by Gunnar’s voicemail.  Disappointment surged and I left a brief message, asking for him to call me as soon as he was able. 

Of course, there was one person who might know where Gunnar was.  “Hanna?” I said gently, not wanting to disturb her and Mason, but if Lodinn had Gunnar tied up somewhere, I wanted to go get him.  “Do you know where Gunnar is?”

She shook her head, peeping out from under Mason’s arm.  “I have no idea.  He wasn’t around at all for the last few days.”

I felt the color drain from my face as the worst case scenario shoved its way into the forefront of my thoughts.  “He’s not… Lodinn didn’t…”  It was almost too awful to say.  “He’d have no reason to kill him, right?  I mean, not without making a big show of power to me first.”  Gunnar had to be alive, I couldn’t lose another friend.

“I wish I knew, Anja,” Hanna shrugged.  “One day he just wasn’t there anymore.  I didn’t think to ask where he went.”

“I’m sure we’ll hear from him in no time,” Rob said softly.  “He might not be near a phone is all.”

“That makes sense,” Lee agreed.  “Or he might be stashed away where it’s still daylight out.”

I shot them both a grateful look.  “I hadn’t thought of that.  We know where his house is in Pacifica, I guess we can start off looking there.  Hanna, did he take you anywhere else while you were with him?”

“He took me…” She swallowed, the words getting caught in her throat as memories clawed their way to the surface.  “He um, one time he took me to the Fairmont.  And last night we… he took me and…”  She swallowed again, choking back a sob and Mason rubbed her back in soothing circles. 

“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart, you don’t have to get into it,” he said, sending me a pointed stare.  “We’ll find him on our own.  You should get some rest, you’ve been through a lot these past few weeks.  Why don’t you let me take you home?”

“I don’t… I don’t want to go with you.”  Hanna looked up at him, her eyes clouding with tears.  “I’m sorry,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.  “I can’t…”  Pulling out of his arms, she ran for the safety of the house, those of us with vampire hearing tracking her movements up to the bedroom where she dissolved into racking sobs. 

Mason stared after her, unmoving, the flicker of dying firelight emphasizing the scars on his face, grown fainter, but it would take a long time for them to disappear entirely.  Finally, he heaved a sigh and lumbered away.

“Mason, I’m sure she’ll come around,” I called out after him.  “She just needs time after everything she’s been through.”  I know he heard me, but his footsteps didn’t slow. “This sucks.  There has to be something we can do to help them find their way back to each other.”

“It’s bollocks is what it is,” Rob muttered his assent. “Don’t neither one of them deserve the hand they’ve been dealt. Fucking
Ellri
, always messing in people’s lives.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Lee nodded.  “But we can count ourselves lucky to be rid of them both for now,” he pointed out.  “I reckon I’d better go on in and make some calls, get someone out to take a gander at Lodinn’s house.  And Miss Maggie’ll be chompin’ at the bit to hear we survived the night.”

“Thanks, Lee, I’d appreciate that,” I said with an appreciative smile, unable to go in myself until the last ember was extinguished.  Even then, I intended to scatter his ashes as far as I could.  Rob stood by my side, his fingers laced through mine, offering his own stoic brand of comfort until the last pile of ash stopped smoldering.  Then he simply turned on the hose again and washed the remnants of the
Ellri
into the rain gutter behind the house, down into the sewers where he belonged. 

“What shall we do now?” he asked after tossing the hose aside and I wrapped my good arm around his waist, leading him back to the house. 

“What do you
want
to do now?”  I posed the question, arching a single brow.  It was early yet, the rest of the night stretching before us.  

The hint of a smile played around his lips as he caught onto my meaning.  “Seems a bit crass to talk of celebration after all that’s been lost, but…”