Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down (7 page)

“I guess you could put it that way.  I’m sure you’ll prefer that to the alternative.”

“Which is?”

“Unlicensed breeding is punishable by death.”  His lips compressed into a grim
line
. 

“To the breeder or the breedee?”  He didn’t reply, and I had my answer when he couldn’t meet my gaze.  “
Do you think that I could maybe get dressed first?
” I g
ave him a tremulous smile
.

“Of course,” he nodded succinctly, stepping away from the door. 

“I’ll be right back.”  As I squeezed past him in the tight quarters, I prayed he didn’t have
any
vampire mind reading powers, because I had no intention of coming right back.  Once inside the sanctuary of my bedroom, I pulled on the nearest clothes I could lay my hands on, hardly caring if my shoes matched.  All I knew was, if I went with him, I’d end up dead
.  W
ell
,
deader. 

Fully dressed, but without the convenience of my purse or cellphone that sat out on the coffee table, I
painstakingly
eased up my window, not wanting to draw his attention.  The ground below looked impossibly far away, but in theory I should be able to survive falling three stories, right?  Like it or not, I was a vampire now, it was time to start using it to my advantage.  Swinging my legs out over the windowsill, I jumped for my life.

Chapter
Six

Bishop had no idea what he was doing.  It was not a normal thing for him, not by a long shot.  In fact, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone so far off book.  It was supposed to be a routine call.  Check the girl’s papers, fine her Sire for letting her turn up in the morgue pronounced as dead
,
and do what he did best
-
scare the hell out of him to keep him from ever getting sloppy like that again.  So why was he standing in her living room holding her purse while she made herself pretty?

He wasn’t used to letting
a
slip of a girl wind him around her little finger
, b
ut there was something about her…
W
hen
she
first opened the door the night before, she’d knocked hi
m speechless.  For a moment he
almost thought he was seeing
Carys
again after so many years
.
 

She wasn’t, of course.  They had the same long, golden hair, the same heart shaped face and her innocent, blue eyes were close.  But her mouth was wrong
,
the lips too full, her smile too hesitant.  Not that there was anything wrong with the girl’s lips… why was he thinking about her lips again?

The Order always came first.  He’d pledged his life too many years ago to count.  For endless nights he’d upheld the laws, meting out justice as he saw fit.  Bishop was more successful at it than most
,
because while he didn’t have a love of violence, he recognized when it needed to be used without anger
.  He
understood just how much pressure to apply.  So while his first instinct
was
to try and protect Anja, his sense of duty led him to do the right thing.  She had to be taken into custody.  Let one go and you set a dangerous precedent
.  W
asn’t that how he’d been trained?  And if it became necessary to close those pretty, blue eyes forever?  He would deal with it when the time came. 

Speaking of time, he’d been more than generous in allowing her time to change into dry clothing.  It wasn’t as if she could catch a chill now, and where she was going there wasn’t any need for fancy preparations. 

Bishop set down her bag, approaching the bedroom door with a brief knock.  “
Miss Evans?  I don’t mean to be rude, but do you think you could hurry it up?
”  Nothing but silence greeted his ears, and he frowned as he rapped again.  “
Miss Evans?
”

Instead of her meek little voice asking for more time as he half expected, his ears picked up an “oof” from much too far away
.
  Privacy be damned, Bishop shouldered her door open, taking in the deserted room and going immediately to the open window. 
Damn it… if Mason heard about this he’d never hear the end of it.

Dropping to the street below, he watched as she loped off like a gazelle, her newly energized limbs propelling her faster than she had any right to move.  She would have been a blur to human eyes, but Bishop tracked her easily, a little stunned at her speed and grace.  Most newborns didn’t master such speed for quite some time.  He’d spoken too soon, Anja clearly hadn’t learned control as she took a corner too broadly, careening into the side of a building hard enough to send a cloud of dust up at the crumbling mortar. 

“That’s go
t to
hurt,” Bishop winced in sympathy before he took off after her, anticipating an easy chase. 

He was wrong.

There was nothing easy about the chase she led him on.  The girl obviously knew the city well and used it to her advantage.  Despite his superior strength and speed, Bishop had a hard time keeping her in his sights.  If he hadn’t known any better, he would have guessed her to be a much older vampire
,
certainly not a noob on her first run.  But it wasn’t his first rodeo either.  Knowing how to anticipate his quarry’s moves was a skill he’d learned well, and after following her for a while, he figured out how best to trap her. 

Cutting sharply to the left, he abandoned the ch
ase, d
iverting to the path he predicted she would take.  Sure enough, a few seconds later, Anja turned into the alley and Bishop pounced, his momentum sending them both crashing to the ground.  Anja struggled, arms and legs flailing until he pinned her with his body to keep her still.  Even with his hands firmly securing her wrists, she continued to
resist
, her eyes scrunched tightly shut.  She even managed to break one arm free
,
until Bishop slammed it back down against the pavement a little harder than he’d intended
,
and her expressive, blue eyes opened, a soft cry of pain issuing from the back of her throat. 

All at once they both stilled, her body struggling to catch breath it didn’t need
,
out of habit.  “I’m sorry,” she whimpered, and he felt like the worst bully for
causing
her pain.

“No, I’m sorry
.
I didn’t mean to hurt you.”  His eyes swept over her face, relieved when the sting
of pain faded from her features,
the damage fleeting.  The fact that it bothered him in the first place was far more troublesome.   

Anja blinked, eyes shiny with unshed tears.  “Please… let me go.  Nobody has to know about me, do they?” 

“That’s not the point.  This isn’t a minor infraction, you and your Sire need to face the consequences of your actions.”

“But that’s
just it, I didn’t do anything!
I didn’t choose this life, or afterlife, or whatever you want to call it.  If you want to punish someone, punish the guy who did this to me.”

“I will, I just have to find him.”

“So let’s find him then, I’ll help you,” she nodded earnestly, as if he needed it.

“I don’t need your help.”

“Then how will you do it?”

Her lack of faith was irritating, but Bishop reminded himself that she didn’t know much about him or
t
he Order.  “I’ll start with where you were found, the police should be done with their investigation by now
.  I
t’s time to bring my team in.”

“You know where I was found?” she blinked.

“Give me some
credit
.
I’ve been doing this for a long time.”

“How long?”

“Long enough to recognize when someone is stalling me.  Anja, I have to take you in.”
It surprised the hell out of him to find he wished it could be otherwise.  Conscious of the fact that she felt soft beneath him and it had been far too long since he’d had a woman as appealing in his arms, he shifted uncomfortably.  That just made it worse.  Still, he made no move to get up yet, unable
to
leave the sweet torment.

“Bishop
,
please, don’t make me pay for something he did.  Let me help you find him, and if he has broken your laws… then I’ll pay the consequences.”

How many times had another pair of blue eyes looked up at him in that same way?  And how many times had he found himself lost to their power, as he was now… 

Enough distraction.
  Bishop pulled them both to their feet, keeping careful hold of one of her wrists.  “I will take you with me to the crime scene to see what we can find, that’s it.  If we hit a dead end, I’m taking you in, deal?” 

“Deal,” she nodded instantly, and he couldn’t believe he was even considering this.

“And no more trying to escape.  You saw how easy it was for me to catch you.”  Though it was much harder than it should have been.

“I und
erstand, I promise I’ll be good.
”
S
he brightened immediately, her smile radiant.

“I’d better not regret this.”  Bishop backed Anja up against the wall, looming close to make his point, dwarfing her petite frame.  “Up until now I’ve been fairly considerate of your unusual situation, but you wouldn’t want to make me angry,” he cautioned, wanting to make sure she absolutely understood that th
e
decision to alter his plans didn’t mean he was weak. 

Her eyes widened, but he didn’t think she was afraid of him.  A slim hand pressed against his chest defensively, and he was surprised to find it offered considerably more resistance than he would have thought.  She was a strong little thing, especially against someone as old as he was. 

“I won’t.  Thank you, Bishop.” 

With a nod he eased back, watching her warily as they walked back to his black SUV parked up the block from her apartment. 

*
*
*

The house where she’d been
found
had long been abandoned.  Birds, raccoons and worse made their homes in the structure, and it smelled of mildew and soot.  More than half of the house was in disrepair, including the kitchen which had been gutted by fire.  The bedrooms at the rear of the house were still intact, though empty.   Bishop paused just inside the front door, extending his senses.  Other than a family of squirrels they were alone on the property.  

“How do we know we’re alone
?
” An
j
a whispered, laying a fearful hand on his arm that brought a faint smile to his lips.

“Can’t you tell?”  At her shake of the head, he placed both hands on her shoulders, turning her to face him.  “Close your eyes, block out all distractions but the sound of my voice
.  C
an you do that?”  This time she nodded and he lowered his voice, watching her expressive face as she listened.  “Listen with your whole body
,
in ever widening circles.  Can you hear the drip of water from the rain gutter by the front door?  Now set it aside and find the next layer of sound.  Hear the scratch of the squirrels in the next room…” 

“I hear them,” she breathed, her eyes still closed.  “There are two… no, three of them.”

“Good.  What else do you hear?” he prompted gently. 

“I hear the crickets outside.”

“What else?”

“I hear… wings… there are birds flying overhead.  That way…” she pointed, her face expectant, craving his confirmation. 

This must be what it was like to have a fledgling…
something he’d vowed never to experience.  Overall it seemed like a pain in the ass, but some moments, it didn’t seem so bad.  “Very good.”  Bishop felt the reward of her smile and forced himself to remember they had a job to do.  He wasn’t there to play blind man’s bluff.  “See, we’re completely alone.  Come on, let’s get moving.” 

Bi
shop led An
j
a through the house
to the room he knew she’d been held in from the police report on file.  A crudely stuffed
m
att
ress lay in the center of the room, one corner of it liberally stained with blood. 

“This isn’t what I expected at all,” Anja murmured, staring at the dark stain. 

“No?  This isn’t jogging your memory I take it?”  It had been a long shot anyway.

“No, not at all.  I just thought, wi
th
all the preparations he took with the costume and the jewelry… I don’t know, I thought we’d see something more elaborate than an old
m
att
ress on the floor.”

“Take a closer look.”  Bishop squatted down next to the makeshift bed.  “The
m
att
ress isn’t old, the fabric and stitches are coarse, but new.”  He reached out to touch the end of the
m
att
ress, releasing a waft of fragrant herbs. 
Fennel, thyme
, and apples
-
sparking something from his memory. 

“What are these?”  Anja knelt down beside him, fingers tracing over deep scratches embedded in the hardwood floor surrounding the
m
att
ress. 

“They’re runes, Norse writing.”  Standing up again, he circled the bed, studying the old script with growing apprehension.  Coupled with the garb she’d been found in, Bishop
started
to have serious concerns about who her Sire might be. 

It wa
s crazy
.  If an
Ellri
roamed
the streets of his city, Bishop was confident he would have known it.  Sure
,
anyone could carve a bunch of runes
,
but the way he’d laid her out and the ring… Bishop couldn’t shake the feeling they were dealing with a very old and powerful vampire. 

“So you think there’s an ancient Viking after me?” Anja drew him out of his reverie, her mind starting down the same path, but without the information he had about what that meant.  “Why would he want to turn me into a vampire if I’ve never even met him?”