by Lisa Olsen
The notion that each second that ticked by could spell disaster lent an extra thrill to every touch as we did our best to devour each other in the short time we had together. All too soon I could hear the footsteps out in the hall, and it took everything I had to shove him away, deliberately laying my hand on my wounded knee to jolt myself back to reality.
For Rob’s part, he was across the room in the blink of an eye, leaning against the wall by the time Winter’s hand closed around the doorknob. It wasn’t hard to offer a strained smile to the doctor when he came in, more than one kind of pain behind my eyes.
“Evening.” He spared a brief smile for each of us, going right to a cabinet to pull out a series of dangerous looking implements. A distinguished looking gentleman with a touch of gray above his ears, he wore the typical long, white coat I remembered from my last visit. “I understand you’ve a bullet in your knee? Which one is it?”
“This one here,” I pointed, glad he was all business without the small talk. I don’t think I could have managed chit chat yet.
“Right.” Winter turned around with a syringe in hand, big enough to make me scoot back a few inches on the table. “I’ll have to administer a local anesthetic.”
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather skip that part,” I said, unable to take my eyes off the needle.
His face crumpled into a frown. “I don’t understand. You don’t want any anesthesia?”
“That’s right. Just get it over with, I can take it.” I couldn’t trust anything in a syringe, especially from a man who worked for the same organization that Jakob had declared open season on less than an hour ago – an organization that had access to drugs that could kill a vampire in minutes, thanks to my blood.
“You understand the process will be extremely painful. Not only will I have to make an incision, I’ll have to clamp the wound open to keep your body from repairing while I dig the bullet out. This is no quick thing like pulling off a bandage.”
“There’s nothing you can do to me that hasn’t already been done.” That wasn’t strictly true, but I was reasonably sure I could deal with the surgery after the torture I’d endured at Volkov’s hands. I took a long, steadying breath. “Just do it.”
“If you say so.” Winter’s face left no doubt he thought I was all kinds of crazy for even suggesting it, and it left him hesitant where I needed him to be bold. He approached my knee first one way and then another, his hand shaking lightly as he brought the blade closer to my skin.
“Oh, for crying out loud. Give me the scalpel already, I’ll make the cut,” I finally demanded, turning my palm up to him, but it was Rob who snatched the knife away.
“I’ll do it,” he grunted, slashing at my knee with quick precision. The cut hardly hurt at all, but it was all I could to do keep from screaming as he inserted the prong things and pried it apart. I can honestly say I could never have managed it on my own, and in a weird way I was glad it was Rob causing me the pain, since I knew he’d get it over with as quickly as possible. Still, I couldn’t watch the process, and when the tongs scraped against bone I gripped the table and squinched my eyes shut, the familiar mantra springing to mind. It’ll heal… it’ll heal… it’ll heal…
And then it was over, the clang of metal instruments dimly registering, as well as Rob’s great heaving breaths as he clamped a swath of gauze over the wound. The burning sensation gradually faded, and I opened my eyes to see we were all alone again, no sign of Winter anywhere. I also noticed the metal table sported two new sets of indentations on either side of me from where I’d gripped the edges.
“When did Winter leave?” I said softly, drawing in my first unlabored breath since he’d made the incision.
“I dunno, I was a bit distracted.” Rob offered a half smile, dabbing at my knee with another piece of gauze, and I was relieved to see the wound already knitting together for the most part. “You’ll need an ultrasound or an x-ray to see if I’ve gotten all the metal out, but I reckon Jenessa could be the one to handle that if you’d rather. Should be enough to get you home without too much discomfort.”
I extended my leg gingerly at first, with growing confidence, finally laying my hand over the site with gentle pressure. The deep pain was completely gone.
“Where did you learn how to do that?”
“In the trenches,” he replied, dropping down to mop up the worst of the blood from the floor. My clothes weren’t too badly splattered, but his shirt was ruined. “Course none of it went so smooth for them as it did for you. You’ve a lotta bottle, you know that?”
“Huh?” My head tilted to one side, he’d lost me on that one.
“You’re one brave lady,” he clarified, tossing the mess into the garbage.
“I don’t think bravery has anything to do with it. It’s not like my knee healed up on account of any particular virtue of mine, it’s just one of the vampire perks.”
“But it was brave of you to sit through it without so much as a peep, so learn to take a compliment, yeah?” Rob offered me his hand, and I jumped down, wary at first, but my knee cooperated fine. “You should have more blood, you’ve been through a lot.”
For a split second, I thought he was offering, but we both knew what a bad idea that would be. Besides, physically I was in pretty good shape, and after spending just this small amount of time alone with him, my psyche was well on the way to recharging as well.
“I could say the same thing for you,” I pointed out. “You’re the one who doesn’t have supernatural healing. Are you sure you’re completely recovered from… what happened?” I still couldn’t bring myself to spell out his actual injuries.
“I’m alright, Jakob’s blood fixed me up good. Just another scar to add to the mix.”
My fingers found the pucker of flesh under his shirt. I wanted to see how bad it was, but it would probably look kind of strange if anyone happened to walk in. “Is there anything I can do to help that?”
Rob was silent for long moments as my fingers undid one of the buttons and slid across the skin over his heart. There were people moving around outside in the hall, shouts in the distance, the sounds of activity all around us. Our haven was definitely compromised. “Nah, it’s fine,” Rob shrugged it off, taking a step backwards to refasten the button, his face shuttering as we heard voices outside the door, probably Winter coming to check up on me.
But it was Bishop who gave a single knock and poked his head in, not the doctor. “Everything okay in here?” He’d managed a change of clothes, looking more like his old self in dark jeans and a slim fitting shirt.
“Yep, all better, thanks. Remind me never to get shot again. It’s definitely not on my top ten list of fun things to do while visiting England.”
“I’ve been there,” Bishop returned with a rueful grin, looking up at Rob, noticing the smears of dried blood all over his hands and the spattered shirt. “You okay, Rob?”
“I’d better go wash up. Keep an eye on her for me, and yell if everything starts to go pear shaped again, yeah?”
“She’s in good hands with me,” Bishop promised, and I could practically see Rob trying to work out if Bishop meant anything by it.
“I’m safe enough here, Jakob saw to that,” I reminded them both. If anything, it was Jakob’s hands Rob should be worried about, not Bishop’s. I was still slightly fuzzy on what Jakob expected in return for his assistance.
“How are you? Are you okay?” I asked Bishop once Rob slipped out.
“It wasn’t the best couple of days, but I’ve had worse.”
My jaw dropped. “Please tell me you’re kidding. You’ve been through something like that before?”
“I’ve spent most of my life going from one crisis to the next in service to the Order,” he shrugged. “It’s been a long time since I’ve found myself in quite that position though. Jakob showed up in the nick of time.”
“I’m sorry you got put into such an awful situation because of me.”
“You didn’t make
me do anything I didn’t want to, and I know you never wanted to hurt me.”
He sounded so certain of that. Where was all the doubt that I’d compelled him into helping me in the first place? “I’m still sorry you had to go through it, and I’m sorry about the people you lost. How many did Jakob um…?”
“More than half,” Bishop replied morosely, his expression darkening. “There were some out in the field, but too many of us were here when the summons came. Too many died for no reason other than the fact that Volkov tweaked his temper.”
“I’m sorry. You should’ve sent for me sooner.”
“I honestly didn’t think you could get him to change his mind. I’ve seen him like this before… Usually he doesn’t stop until there’s no more blood left to spill.”
I thought about the members of the Order I’d met on my visits to Vetis – they’d been nothing but nice to me, apart from the couple that did a number on Rob at Volkov’s bidding. “What’s going to happen to the rest of you guys? What happens now that Volkov’s out of the picture?” I realized I had no idea if he’d been killed or taken away with that poker still sticking out of his chest as I’d ordered. I decided it didn’t matter, I’d already avenged the pain he’d caused us.
“Jakob’s declared the Order banished from Vetis lands. The rest of us are packing up as we speak.”
“Holy cow, can he do that?” I gaped at him.
“He’s an Ellri, he can pretty much do whatever he wants.”
“Does that mean you’re going too?”
“I’m not completely sure what it means for me, right now,” Bishop admitted. “Maybe this is a good time to go back to San Francisco and make a fresh start.”
He didn’t mean with me, did he? He’d said something about another chance at starting over before Aubrey interrupted us and brought Volkov down on our heads. Was that what he’d come to talk to me about? I chickened out of bringing any of that up though, going with a generically supportive stance. “You said before that’s where you really wanted to be, working back on your home turf again.”
“It’s part of what I wanted,” he said softly. “Listen, Anja… before all of this craziness happened, I was trying to talk to you.”
Holy schnikes, he did want to talk about starting something up between the two of us again. I had to get out of there before I ended up giving something away. “You know we should probably save that for later. I’d better get upstairs and face the music, see what people have to say about my lies. My knee is already feeling tons better, I shouldn’t keep hiding out down here.”
His brows drew together into a single dark line. “No one will think you’re hiding out. I’m pretty sure you’re entitled to a little R and R after what we’ve been through.”
“Unfortunately, that’s not what being the Elder of the West is about. They’ll take it as a sign of weakness, trust me. No, for good or ill, Jakob’s stepped forth to claim me, and now every relationship I’ve forged since I got here will be called into question until I can go and schmooze with them all. Not to mention Jakob himself. I’d better go find out what being claimed by an Ellri entitles him to.”
The furrow between his brows deepened. “I don’t like the sound of that.”
“Neither do I, but I don’t have a whole heck of a lot of choice, do I?” I flashed him the briefest of smiles. “At least it’ll get Aubrey off my back. Not much he can do to me now, is there?”
“That wasn’t all about you, you know. Part of it is his history with me. He wanted to make me suffer, and lashing out at you was the easiest way to make that happen.”
“Do you think so? Because it felt like he was plenty hurt when I turned him down.”
“I’m sure that was part of it,” Bishop smiled, picking up my hand in his. “I happen to know what it feels like to push away the woman you care about because of your own pigheadedness.”
“Everything all right here?” Rob asked, popping his head in the doorway. His eyes flicked to our joined hands, but his face gave nothing away.
“It’s all good. I’m feeling much better, thanks to you.” I breathed an internal sigh of relief, pulling my hand free. “Time to go see what trouble Jakob’s gotten himself into.”
Chapter Four
“Feeling better, beloved?” Jakob asked as soon as I tracked him down in the meeting hall. Brody and his werewolves were in attendance, with no sign of any Order members beyond those scurrying to clear out of the lower levels. Brody stepped aside without a word as Rob and I entered, shutting the door behind us. If he found anything demeaning about being relegated to doorman status, no sign of it showed on his face. I had a fleeting thought to wonder where Tucker had disappeared to since he was cleared by Jakob’s arrival, but I didn’t ask.
“Yes, thank you,” I replied in all honesty, leaving out the part where I owed that more to Rob than Winter. “We need to talk, don’t you think?” I gave Jakob a pointed look, head jotting to the werewolf guards, hoping he got the hint I wanted to talk to him alone.
“Not now, petal.” Jakob motioned me forward. “Come and sit by my side.”
“Well, which is it? Do you not have time to talk to me, or do you want me to sit beside you?” I hung in place, not sure which way to move.
“Both,” he grinned. “Send the delegates in.” He waved to Brody as I took a seat at his right hand.
“You called a meeting for now? Don’t you think maybe we should get our stories straight first,” I said, leaning close for his ears only.
“The better to address these few petty things aside and be on our way,” he replied, taking advantage of my proximity to kiss the side of my neck. A tiny squeak emerged from my lips at the unexpected contact, and I jerked back upright, much to his amusement.
Rob stood behind us as the delegates filed in, and I wished I could see his face without having to be completely obvious about it and turning halfway around in my seat. For the moment I focused on the delegates themselves, trying to gauge how they received me in their midst now that my secret was out. To my disappointment, Felix wasn’t among them, and neither was Macallister James, the rep from Texas.
“Now then,” Jakob began when they were all seated. “As you can plainly see, I have decided to re-enter society, such as it is these days,” he said loftily. “I admit, I have little interest in your dealings, but I will offer my counsel as is my duty. Not all of you are known to me, and as such, I will endeavor to sit in on your sessions whenever my schedule permits. You have one week to submit any petitions, then I will be returning to the West with my Anja.”
I had a thing or two to say about that, but I held my tongue, smiling blandly. And I’d thought him domineering before… Jeez, Louise, that was barely the tip of the iceberg.
“You may proceed,” Jakob waved them on. “Pretend I’m not here.” His fingers stroked at a lock of my hair, and I swatted at him absently, not enjoying being pawed at when I was supposed to be representing my House.
Aubrey slouched at the opposite end of the massive conference table, Jakob having appropriated the Elder’s usual chair. “Right then, first order of business…” he began, but I cut him off before he got any farther.
“Wait,” I objected. “We should include Macallister James, don’t you think? If we’re going to have a true meeting of all the Houses, he deserves to be here. He’s the leader of his people same as we are. It’s time we acknowledged him as such.”
It didn’t hurt that I had Jakob by my side as I made the declaration, and not a peep was made to the contrary, not even by Jennike, though the look in her eyes could hardly be described as soft and fluffy.
“Very well,” Aubrey said when no one spoke to the contrary, and in a few minutes time, Mac strolled in, his grin a mile wide as he took a seat at the big boy’s table. At least he had the common sense not to gloat beyond the smile.
“Right then, if we may continue on to business. I believe we should address the elephant in the room,” Aubrey forged on, gesturing to me and I froze, no
t expecting him to call me out like that. Sure, I expected to be the topic of the day, but not at the official meeting.
I sat very still, my back straight as I waited for the disapproval, the recriminations, but the first thing any one said was, “Yes, we need to address this attack on one of our own.” I had Rein Faust to thank for that, but the conversation that followed made one thing abundantly clear.
They weren’t mad at me at all.
They were far more outraged at how I’d been treated. If there were any noses bent out of shape over my lies, it didn’t make it to the table. The topic was broader than my ordeal though, the main concern seemed to be what it could mean for all of them.
“The Order has too much power, that’s clear. It’s time to talk about limiting it,” Faust added, with mixed results.
“But how can we go against the Order?” Felippo asked, looking like he’d rather jump into a pit of poisonous snakes. “The laws are clear.”
“And who writes the laws?” I posed, warming to the subject. “Who decides what the penalties are for breaking the laws?” My questions were met with a stunned silence, as though they’d never once thought about it. “Come on, guys, it’s the twenty-first century. Isn’t it time for a little change?”
Erik Erlendur’s meaty fist pounded on the table, his eyes as wild as his unkempt hair. “I say we hunt the Order down and eradicate them!” That brought a new wave of murmurs to the crowd.
“Go up against the Order?” Khalid scowled. “That’s madness!”
“Madness is thinking you stand a chance against them,” the delegate from Thyssa muttered.
“No one said it had to be a frontal assault,” Jennike’s lips curved into a speculative smile. “There are other ways to take down one’s enemies.”
“I never said they were the enemy.” I jumped back into the conversation before it descended into further thoughts of bloodshed. How had this steamrollered out of control so quickly?
Faust raised his hands in a calming gesture. “No one’s talking about attacking the Order, we’re talking about being strong enough to bring them under our control, as it should be.”