by Lisa Olsen
“But that’s just it… he is. Rob never would’ve ended up in her clutches if I hadn’t brought him into her life. I’m the reason he’s in there playing hide and go suck. I’m the one she hates, not him. This is my responsibility.”
“Your first responsibility is to yourself, as in not getting yourself killed,” he retorted. “Look, release your compulsion on me keeping me from England and I’ll come take care of it for you. No muss, no fuss.”
“No way, if you came within fifty feet of her she’d compel you against me. I don’t want you going anywhere near her. Unless you’re up for a threesome with Rob.”
Carter made a face. “I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.”
I wound an elastic around the bottom of my braid and folded it under to make less of a handhold, securing it with two intricately carved chopsticks I’d picked up in Chinatown. “Then stay put, I can handle it.”
“Ordinarily, I’d agree with you. I’d be the first one there cheering you on from the sidelines. But you’re not up for this one, sunshine. Carys already hates you, don’t give her an excuse to end you.”
“I’m the one who’s going to end it.” I took a long, deep breath, glad to note my head wasn’t quite as swimmy as it’d been before. There was just enough left of my buzz to lend me confidence, but hopefully not enough to slow me down.
“Anja,” he tried again, leveling me his most sincere look. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
“Relax, I got this.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Prepared for whatever I’d find on the other side of that room, it still churned my gut to see Carys snuggled up against Rob’s chest. “Get dressed,” I barked, slamming the door behind me.
The pair barely acknowledged my presence, Carys didn’t even lift her head. “What on Earth for?”
“Because you and I are about to settle this once and for all.”
“I thought I already had,” she smiled, kissing his chest.
“You made your point, you can compel a guy into wanting you. Big whoopdy do. But I’ve claimed Rob as mine and that gives me certain rights.”
“And I have the privilege to challenge those rights.”
“Maybe so, but I have a right to respond to that challenge.”
Carys waved me away. “You’ve already lost, accept it and move on.”
“No, he might not remember it right this moment, but Rob is under my protection. If you’re so sure of yourself, why not release him from the compulsion and see who he chooses?”
“That doesn’t interest me in the slightest.”
“Fine, then you and I are gonna go, right now.” I wiggled my fingers at her in a come at me gesture. “You and me, mano a mano.”
Her forehead puckered in confusion. “Hand to hand?”
“That’s right. Unless you’re afraid to fight me.”
“Why would I be afraid of you?” she said with an indelicate snort. “I’m your superior in age and skill.”
“Let’s go then, old lady. Fight me.”
“You’ve been drinking,” Rob scoffed, sitting up higher in the bed.
“Yep.”
“Stop this, you foolish bint. I already told you, it’s Carys I love.”
“Only because she compelled you to. Just stay out of it and this will all make sense in the end, I promise.” I thought about sending him a compulsion to keep him safe, but it seemed like a stupid idea to compel him to save him from being compelled.
Carys rose from the bed to pull on a short silk robe from Bishop’s wardrobe, one she’d obviously left behind before. She faced me with absolute confidence. “When I win, you will agree to leave Vetis and never come back.”
“Fine,” I agreed. “But when I win, you’ll agree to release Rob from your compulsion and never do it again.”
“Agreed,” she nodded, an evil glint coming into her eyes. “When I win, I’ll have the skin flayed from your body.”
“Enough of the trash talk,” I said, dropping into a fighting stance. “It’s clobbering time.”
Only I couldn’t hit her. I don’t know if it was my alcohol slowed reflexes or if she was that fast, but I didn’t come close to landing a punch on her. Where the hell was my finesse when I needed it? Probably in the bottom of the bourbon bottle where I’d left it.
I was right about one thing though, Carys had no clue how to go on the offensive. She made a couple of half hearted slaps in my direction and a grasp for my hair, but I was able to avoid those pretty easily. I’d been afraid of this. There was only one way to beat her, and it wasn’t going to be pretty.
The next time she lunged at me, I let her catch me. Carter was right about something too, Carys was strong. Holy guacamole, did it hurt when her fingers dug into my shoulder, forcing me down to my knees. I felt something snap in my shoulder and knew she could grind my bones into dust in the next few seconds if I didn’t act fast.
She easily deflected my hand from reaching up to shake her grip on me, but that wasn’t my target. Instead, I grabbed one of the pretty chopsticks from my hair and slammed it into her bare foot, not stopping until I felt the tip hit the hardwood floor beneath.
Carys screamed, the wood biting deep enough to cause incredible pain, but far enough away from her heart not to cause torpor. In that instant I was free, and I jammed the other chopstick into her thigh for good measure. Her hand curled impotently around the stick in her leg, in too much pain to pull it free.
“There,” I huffed, catching my breath. “I could’ve stabbed you in the heart, but I didn’t. Do you give up?”
Instead of answering me, she turned to Rob, her eyes wide and tragic. “Rob, help me…” she cried piteously. Even doubly pierced by wood, Carys was still dangerous, especially with someone like Rob to do her bidding.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he sprang from the bed, stalking me with deadly intent. Even a little sauced, I was faster and stronger than him, but he moved with absolutely no uncertainty, whereas I didn’t want to actually hurt him. I evaded a couple of his blows, but pulled my punches, keeping him at bay until I realized that Carys was working on removing the stick in her thigh, despite the searing pain. If she got free, I’d lose any advantage I had.
“Sorry about this,” I winced, delivering a shot to his tender bits and following up with a boot to the head that had him down for the count. Carys had most of the slender stick worked free of her thigh, but a well placed kick buried it deep, so that only about an inch was visible. “Do you give up?” I panted, slapping her hand away from trying to pull it free again.
Instead of answering me, Carys spewed a torrent of words that crossed several languages from the snatches I could recognize. Or I don’t know, maybe she was answering me in her own way, but I couldn’t understand anything beyond her malevolent stare that told me she wasn’t wishing me a happy Halloween.
I grabbed hold of the chopstick embedded in her thigh and gave it a twist. “I feel like you’re not listening to me, so I’m going to repeat myself one more time. Do you give up?”
“Do your worst, I will not yield,” she insisted stubbornly, a sweat breaking out across her forehead.
“Do my worst, huh?” I considered aloud, trying to figure out how close she was to breaking. “You’d be surprised what that worst might be. I’ve spent time in the dungeons here at Vetis, so has Rob. I don’t have a physical scar on me like he does, but it definitely changes a person.”
I pulled the chopstick out of her thigh, letting her catch her breath for a moment before I forced her head up and pressed it to the inside corner of her eye. “Maybe a little torture would change you for the better?”
“Torture?” She froze, trying to break free of my hold, but the wood through her foot kept her weak and pinned in place.
“I mean, it’ll probably grow back, right?” I jabbed harder, the tip of the stick slick with blood. “It could take a while, and I’m betting it won’t be pretty. Hey, I wonder if it’ll be the same color?”
> Her eyes widened until the whites were visible all around. “J-Jakob will be angry if you…”
“Jakob told me to take care of you on my own when I told him about the stunt you pulled,” I interrupted. “I think he said something along the lines of – this being our way, the strong taking what they want from the weak. Actually, maybe you’re right.” I pulled the stick away from her eye before I gagged at the thought of accidentally puncturing it. The only way this would work was if Carys actually believed I would go through with any of it. “Should I show you what Volkov did to me? What he did to Rob? You’ve seen the scar, I’m sure… Yep, there’s a poker right by the fireplace. Should we go see how nice and hot we can get it?”
“I’ve done nothing wrong!” she wailed, fat tears falling as soon as I released her head. Rob groaned from where I’d dropped him, rolling over on his side to watch us through slit eyes. “All I did was take back what you’d stolen from me.”
“I’ve never set out to steal anything from you, but I will protect what’s mine. Release the compulsion on Rob, or you’re going to find out first hand how far I’ll go to do it.”
“Fine!” she spat out. “I don’t want him anyway, it’s Ulrik I want.”
“Is that why you compelled him too?” I took a stab in the dark, wanting her to confirm what I’d come to suspect. She didn’t reply, but I saw the answer written all over her face. “I’m going to let you go so you can release Rob. If you try anything, I will stab you through the heart without hesitation and ship you to Siberia in your own trunk. Good luck getting anyone to love you when you’re a popsicle. Do you understand?”
“I don’t know what a popsicle is, but yes, I believe I comprehend your meaning.”
“Good.” I pulled the other chopstick from her foot, dropping into a defensive crouch, at the ready, but she merely collapsed with a shudder. After a few deep breaths, she crawled on her hands and knees to Rob and held him by the chin.
“I release you from my compulsion,” Carys said, her voice sounding tired and hollow. Rob lay back, blinking up at the ceiling as he sorted through his recent memories, and it was easy to see she’d done as promised. “There, happy now?” she asked, pushing herself up slowly to her feet, chin coming up as she tried to salvage what was left of her pride.
“I’m not your enemy, Carys,” I said softly. “You know it isn’t real if you have to compel them to love you though, right?”
She turned and limped out of the room without another word.
I immediately rushed to Rob’s side, hoping I hadn’t hurt him worse than I’d thought. “Hey, are you alright? Here, let me help you up,” I offered, but he sat up without my assistance.
“I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? I clocked you in the head pretty good.” Not to mention his jumblies.
Rob stood and plopped down hard on the bed, his hand going to the back of his head. “Yeah, I’m sure,” he said, covering himself up with a sheet as an afterthought. I perched on the other end, wishing for another drink as I had the beginnings of a headache behind my left eye.
“Are you really okay? I mean, not just where I hit you, but with what happened?” I ventured after a few minutes of silence.
“Why didn’t you tell me? I ain’t immune to compulsion no more?” he asked instead.
It was a good question, I wished I had a good answer. “I didn’t know how to. You had so many other issues to deal with. And to be honest, I didn’t want it to change things between us.”
“It wouldn’t have.”
“That’s easy for you to say, but it ripped apart Bishop and me.”
“I’m not Bishop.”
“I know,” I murmured. What would Bishop think about what I’d done? Was Carys off crying to him at that very moment? Was he giving her some of this blood to heal her? What if she sicced him on me? Would I be able to fight him if she compelled him to kill me?
“Thank you for what you done for me,” Rob said, pulling me from my reverie. He still wouldn’t look at me, but I nodded all the same.
“It was the right thing to do. I couldn’t leave you to that, that… No matter how much you seemed to be enjoying yourself.”
His forehead pinched with pain. “About what happened here tonight…”
I held up my hand, cutting him off. “I know it wasn’t your fault. She compelled you, I get that. This isn’t like last time at all, so please don’t feel like you have to beat yourself up about it. I know exactly who’s to blame.” He made a move to draw closer to me and I flinched away, despite my words of acceptance.
“That doesn’t mean I’m comfortable with you touching me with her scent all over you.” The perfume of sex still hung heavy over the bed, and the sheets were stained with blood. Maybe somewhere else I could get the image of them together out of my mind, but not sitting right on top of the scene of the crime.
“Can’t seem to stop hurting you,” he mumbled, slumping to one side, and that’s when I realized how dead tired he was. It was way past his bedtime, no wonder he was so groggy and out of sorts. I thought about helping him to our room, but he was already passed out, and my shoulder wouldn’t be able to support him well without a snack. So I eased him down onto the bed, pulling the sheet up over his chest.
“Get some rest, Rob. Things will look brighter when the sun goes down.” I watched him sleep for a few moments before pulling out my phone to send the promised message to Carter. While I probably should’ve gone back to my room to Skype him, I didn’t want to have to listen to his lecture, so I texted him instead. It’s done, I’m fine. You don’t have to get on a plane to Paris or whatever stupid plan you have cooking.
There was no response.
Carter? I sent, not sure my first message had gone through. Jeez, he’d better not actually be on a plane, I thought to myself. Resolving to go try him on the computer if he didn’t reply in the next two minutes, I got his text moments later.
That wasn’t cool.
He was more upset than I’d thought. I know. You still love me though, right?
You owe me a new TV.
I wasn’t expecting that either. How do you figure?
I broke this one.
And that’s my fault why?
Because you make me crazy insane.
Ah. And his poor TV had paid the price. Understandable, I supposed. Okay fine, I’ll buy you a new TV.
60”. A good one too.
Okay.
None of that Daewoo garbage, I want a Sony.
Fine.
A smart one that does all the extra streaming stuff too.
I smiled over that demand, I could just picture his face. Okay, I get it. A spiffy new TV with all the bells and whistles. Anything else?
If you ever do anything like that again I’ll kill you myself.
I love you too.
Chapter Thirty-Six
I was still smiling when I tucked the phone away, until I looked down at Rob lying there, and I felt so… I don’t even know. Is there a word for it when you feel love and dread at the same time? Like, I didn’t know how we were going to move forward when so much stuff kept getting in the way. What I had to do was get him back to San Francisco, away from the crazy Houses and Elders, back to familiar ground, then we’d sort things out. Maybe if I got back to where I could catch my breath and find my balance again, then I could carve out some time to decipher my heart.
The door opened, and I tensed, half expecting Carys to come charging in with semi-automatic weapons, but it was Bishop who stopped once inside the doorway. “Anja? What are you doing in here? Ah… this is my room, isn’t it?” He turned to look around for confirmation. He still had his costume on, minus the suspenders and gun belt.
“Yeah, sorry about that. We ran into a few technical difficulties, courtesy of the coming dawn. If you can give me a hand with him, we’ll get out of your hair.” I figured he wouldn’t mind Rob being naked, after all, they’d gotten way more intimate than that. And there was a mental image I didn’t need
rattling around in my brain anymore.
“Sure,” he agreed, starting toward the bed, but he was distracted by the smears of blood on the floor. “What happened here?”
“Oh… Carys and I had it out. Sorry about the mess.”
“Are you okay?” His eyes swept over me and I realized he thought that was my blood spilled all over.
“Me? Sure. That’s her blood, not mine.”
“You went up against Carys?” His brows climbed skyward.
“I couldn’t let her do that to Rob. Not only because of what I wanted, but because it was the right thing to do.”
Something changed in his expression, but I couldn’t interpret it. “Are you sure she didn’t hurt you?” His hands skimmed over my hips, my arms, checking for himself despite my denial. When he touched my shoulder I winced, but pulled away.
“It’s nothing. I’m fine.” Or at least I would be with some bagged blood. Bishop was close enough that I could smell the scotch on his breath, but his eyes were clear and his speech wasn’t impaired. After a few moments’ hesitation, he nodded.
“Here, I’ll take him. You get the door.” He carried Rob, with the sheet still wrapped around him, to my suite, and dropped him onto my bed when I guided him there.
“You got her to release him from the compulsion then?”
“Only after I threatened to gouge out her eyeball and torture her with a fireplace poker.” He blanched, and I quickly added, “I only threatened it, I didn’t do it. I’m no monster.”
“So she did deliberately compel him then,” he said softly, looking down at Rob while he slept.
“I told you, I wasn’t making it up.”
“No, I know you weren’t,” he sighed. “She wasn’t always like this, you know. I remember a time, when I was human, that she wanted nothing more than to be with me and only me.
“I’m not so sure this is a story that I want to hear right now,” I frowned, walking away from the bed and Bishop followed me out.
“I’m just saying, whatever she’s become, it’s because Jakob made her this way. Reading that diary was a real eye opener for me. Seeing the kind of girl she was, how her life was stolen, just as yours was. Only she didn’t have the gumption to stand up for herself the way you did. The way she acts now, it’s about maintaining some kind of control over her life.”