Release Me When the Sun Goes Down

by Lisa Olsen

  “I will invite you in, on a few conditions.”

  Jakob darted a quick look over his shoulder. “We should discuss this inside.”

  “No, I’m pretty sure this is non negotiable. The rest of you go inside while Jakob and I finish this discussion in private.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Lee frowned, ignoring the steely gaze he got from Jakob, and I gave him a nod of reassurance.

  “I’ll be fine. Go on inside and shut the door. Both of you.” I looked to Rob.

  “I ain’t leaving,” Rob said, his gaze going to my neck, which probably still had the imprint of Jakob’s fingers on it from the look on his face.

  “I have no objections to Rob staying,” Jakob said, eager to get on with it.

  “Fine,” I agreed. I was only looking to save Jakob’s ego after all, even though half the population of the house could probably hear us through the closed door just fine. When the door was firmly shut, I listed my terms. “In exchange for offering you the sanctuary of my home, I want your word that you will never compel me ever again.”

  Jakob’s face twisted with worry. “I can’t make that promise, älskling. What if your safety demands it?”

  “Then you will have to find another way. I want your word or we’re done here. You will never compel me again for any reason.”

  “Unless you ask me to.”

  “Fine, unless I ask you to,” I agreed. Fat chance of that happening.

  “Very well then, I give you my word,” he said, pressing closer to the door as he caught sight of movement in the darkness. “Now let us continue this inside.”

  I didn’t let his fear get to me, not when I recognized Mason as the one at the end of the path. “Not so fast, that’s not my only condition. I want you to give Mason some of your blood to heal his scars.”

  “Fine,” Jakob agreed without a fight. “Can we go in now?”

  “I don’t want his fucking blood, this whole thing is his fault,” Mason scowled, catching the tail end of the conversation.

  “Have a care, pup,” Jakob bristled, his shoulders swelling in a threatening manner. “You will speak to me with respect.”

  “I guess I’d better go in then. Ma always taught me if you can’t say something nice…” Mason smirked as he skirted around us and disappeared into the house.

  Jakob gave me a look as if to say how come you let Mason in and not me, but I wasn’t about to let him rattle me. “I guess that one’s not on the table anymore. That brings us to item number two. We are no longer dating in public or in private.” I hadn’t meant to be so blunt with him, but that was the mood I was in after dealing with all of his posturing. The stricken expression on his face made me add something in a softer tone. “I agreed to give us another shot and I did, but I think it’s time to call it.”

  “But… you kissed me and gave me your token.” The tail end of the torn fabric peeped out from under the cuff of his coat.

  “I’m sorry, I didn’t want you to have to worry about that when you were about to face Lodinn. But I’ve felt this way for a while, it’s just not working, Jakob. I’m sorry,” I repeated, not knowing what else to say.

  “You should’ve told me you were unhappy with me, petal.”

  Was he kidding? I thought I’d been pretty clear about all the ways he’d ticked me off since essentially taking over my territory on both a public and a private level, but I could see my conditions for inviting him into the house had caught his ego completely off guard. “Come on, Jakob. You know I haven’t been happy for a while now. I’ve told you over and over again how much I don’t like being ordered around or forced to pretend we’re more than we are.”

  Jakob nodded slowly, his gaze set on the window casing behind me. “Are there more demands or is that all?”

  “Just one. Rob doesn’t work for you anymore, he’s mine now.” I left it to him to decide what that meant, but I was Rob’s Sire and that meant something. I wasn’t about to let him order Rob away on a whim anymore. His eyes flicked to Rob, taking in for the first time that he was a vampire.

  “I demand to know what has transpired in my absence,” Jakob said, his voice all growly again, effectively evaporating any pity I’d started to feel for him.

  “You’re not in a position to do much demanding right now,” I retorted. “We’ll talk about it when we get inside, but for now, I want your word. As you can see, Rob is my responsibility now.” I could practically feel the tension coming off of Rob as he stood beside me. Here was the moment of truth. It wasn’t as good as declaring our love, but at least now Jakob understood this connection.

  “It’s given.”

  “Alright then,” I nodded, stepping back to the door and holding it open. “Please come in.”

  Jakob swept past me, looking over his shoulder as if he expected some kind of trick. If I’d been smarter I might’ve thought of one, but as it was, I just gave him a tight smile and a reassuring nod to Rob before we followed him inside.

  “It’ll be okay,” I said to Rob softly, though I could tell he didn’t share that belief.

  Hanna’s eyes narrowed dangerously when Jakob stepped in, and I could only imagine what kind of vitriol Lodinn had filled her with about his enemy. “Mason, can you please keep an eye on Hanna while Jakob is our guest? We wouldn’t want any accidents to happen.”

  “Me?” Mason scoffed. “I was about to hand her a pair of pliers and let her go to town.”

  “In that case, Jenessa, can you please keep an eye on Hanna? And Lee, can you keep an eye on Mason?” I smirked, but Hanna wasn’t as amused.

  “Uh, I’m standing right here, there’s no need to talk about me like I’m a toddler. Nobody needs to keep an eye on me, I know how to play nice. Besides, I don’t have to do a thing. When Lodinn comes for me, he’ll take care of everything.” She smiled sweetly which made Jakob look distinctly uncomfortable, but he cleared his throat, eager to reassert his dominance.

  “Tell me now what has happened since we last spoke, and how this came to pass.” He waved at Rob.

  We took turns telling it all, starting with the accident, Rob’s near death at Lodinn’s hand, the search for both Ellri, Marcus luring me to the meeting with Lodinn and his eventual death. Jakob remained somber through the telling, but I swear he got the most upset when he heard about the Café du Nord burning down.

  In return, he described the highlights of the fight with Lodinn. Both Ellri were injured in the fight and Jakob hadn’t felt strong enough to surface until now, and had thought it best not to reveal his location. No, he had no knowledge of any of the grisly deaths that Detective Mathis was tracking, though he didn’t entirely answer my question when I asked him directly if he’d killed anyone else.

  I could tell Hanna was uncomfortable with the entire discussion, being the only one in the room rooting for the other side, and I sent her downstairs to watch TV when she pleaded a headache. It was probably for the best, we had things to discuss and like it or not, I couldn’t trust my own sister.

  “So, here we are then, holed up in the safe house, what’s your plan of attack?” I asked Jakob when I was sure Hanna was tucked safely away.

  “Attack?” he blinked, taken aback.

  “Well sure, you don’t plan on staying here forever, do you?”

  “I hadn’t thought that far ahead,” Jakob admitted. “I came here tonight to spirit you away.”

  “And that didn’t work out too well, did it?” I said as gently as I could manage. “It’s time to come up with a new plan. Lodinn’s not going to wait forever, you know. Once he finds out you’re holed up in here, what’s to stop him from burning the place down with us in it?”

  “The protection spell should keep him from doing that,” Rob volunteered. He’d been awfully quiet since we came into the house, but that wasn’t too unusual when we were around Jakob.

  “But not if he compels one of us to come in and do it from the inside,” Mason pointed out. “We can’t all stay in here forever, at some poin
t we’ll run out of food.”

  Is it bad that I tried to work out the math of how long we’d survive? Technically if Jakob fed on the humans, us vamps could feed from him and not need to feed again for weeks. Then we’d be limited on the food the humans and Lee needed to survive. If we could feed on Lee, that might stretch it slightly too. Could vampires feed on weres? It seemed like a bad time to ask.

  We all settled into a glum silence as no one could think of a good plan of attack. Why had I assumed Jakob would be the one to save the day? Now that we’d found him, my situation seemed more dire than ever. Now I wasn’t even comfortable in my own home.

  “Might I have a word with you alone?” Jakob asked politely, drawing me out of my private pity party.

  “Sure, we can go into my office.” I ignored the twin looks of concern I got from both Rob and Lee. If Jakob decided to try anything, there wasn’t much any of us to could to stop him, we were all relying on his word at this point. Once there I shut the door and then leaned against it, waiting for him to get to the point. I should’ve known he wouldn’t let me go so easily.

  “I wanted to give you the opportunity to save face if you should change your mind.”

  “Change my mind about what?”

  “Are you so sure you’re ready to cut all ties to me? There are still many ways in which I can benefit you.” The flash of bedroom eyes made it clear he still hoped for a rekindling of something more intimate between us. It was all I could do not to make a face.

  “I can stand on my own,” I said simply.

  “Alone, or with Rob?”

  Frak. Was he jealous? “Rob’s under my protection now.” Not a lie, but I wanted to downplay the romantic link between us. “I’m his Sire, I’m responsible for him. You should understand what that means.”

  “It’s what I was trying to do for you.”

  “No, you were forcing me to your will, that’s not the same thing at all.”

  “Is it to be Ulrik then? Someone you can compel to do as you please?” His voice dripped with disdain.

  “No, it’s not about compulsion with Bishop, it never was. This isn’t about Bishop or anyone else. This is about me standing on my own without anyone trying to keep me under their wing. You’ve saved my life before, but it turns out it was only in danger because of Lodinn in the first place. Let me go now and we can both get on with our lives. Find someone who makes you happy, Jakob.”

  “I already did.”

  I felt a stab of pity at the pain that twisted his features, but not enough to show him more than courtesy as a good hostess. “Take any of the open bedrooms upstairs. Gunnar’s is the largest, and he’ll be gone until you take care of Lodinn.” Though I was starting to doubt that would happen.

  “I thought we might share.”

  Gorram it, was I talking to a wall? “I’m not sharing anything with you anymore, Jakob. You asked me to give you another shot and I did. It’s over.” I didn’t know how to be more blunt than that.

  “You’re still angry over the compulsion to drink my blood.”

  “I am, but that’s not it. We’re not well suited for each other, we never were. I’m sorry if that hurts you, but there it is. Now please, don’t make me regret inviting you in.”

  He was silent for a moment before drawing himself up stiffly, inclining his head in the barest of nods. “Thank you for welcoming me into your home, I promise to be a considerate houseguest. I find myself fatigued, I would like to take my ease now.”

  “I’ll show you to your room.” It was a silent procession up the stairs that was met by several pairs of solemn eyes along the way. Of course they’d all heard the gist of the conversation, almost all of them had super hearing. I took him straight to Gunnar’s room and then left him in peace before we found anything else distressing to talk about. Besides, I had something else in mind.

  I approached Maggie quietly, after I heard the sounds of Jakob settling in. “Maggie, would you please go down and pack up some of my things? Enough for a few days away. Lee, I’d like you to do the same.”

  “We’re not staying?” Rob asked in a low voice and I gave him a reassuring touch on the shoulder.

  “I promised to give him Sanctuary, I never said I’d babysit him myself.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Rob stared at me as if I had suddenly sprouted tentacles. “You can’t leave here.”

  “I can, and I will.” There was no way I was about to hide out with Jakob and hope the danger would pass.

  “It’s not safe for you out there,” he insisted and Lee nodded in silent approval. I gathered them close, not wanting Jakob to hear.

  “Listen, Lodinn could’ve killed me at any time. That’s not what he wants. I can’t let him know Jakob’s here until I figure out what to do next, do you understand? We’re getting close to the end of his deadline and I can’t take the chance that he’ll contact me here and see Jakob. He offered me a trade for Hanna’s life. Now, she’ll stay here and the house will keep her safe. I’m going to go stay at Jakob’s place and pretend like I’m waiting for him to come home. It’s the most secure place I can think of. We’ll have plenty of warning if Lodinn shows up there at any rate.”

  “I still think this is foolhardy.” Rob frowned, shoving his hands deep into his pockets.

  “I can’t stay here with him, you can see why, can’t you?” Despite my bravado, we all knew Jakob could change his mind at any time, and there was nothing we could do about it. Sharing a roof with him was almost as dangerous as sharing one with Lodinn. “Now, I’ll take Rob and Lee with me, the rest of you stay here and try to go on like everything’s normal.”

  “I’ll come with you. It makes sense I’d go where you go,” Maggie offered, but I shook my head.

  “I can’t guarantee your safety out there.”

  “The house didn’t offer much protection to Marcus, did it?” she pointed out. “As you said, he can get to any of us and I refuse to become a shut in.”

  “Wait, shouldn’t I maybe come too then?” Jenessa chimed in and I had to wonder if she was only offering to come with because that’s where all the eye candy would be.

  “No, the whole point of you moving in was for the house protection. I’d think if you were ready to leave it, you’d go to your own home. But you don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to.”

  “Maybe I will go on home,” Jenessa sighed. “Chances are I’m not on his radar anyway.”

  “What about Hanna?” Mason asked.

  “She stays here, that’s non negotiable.” I was willing to risk my own hide, but not hers, not when Lodinn seemed to take so much glee in debasing my sister.

  “Then I guess I’m moving back in,” he decided. “I’m not leaving her here with Jakob alone.”

  “Thanks, Mason. I know she doesn’t appreciate it right now, but I’m counting on a future when she will.”

  “Me too, sis.”

  It was quickly settled. Rob, Lee and Maggie would come with me and Mason and Hanna would stay at the house with Jakob. Jenessa waffled back and forth before confirming she would go back to her own apartment.

  Rob was quiet as we packed up our few belongings and hustled out to the car. Lee was tired, usually asleep at that hour, but Maggie seemed almost excited to be leaving the house. She chattered along in the back seat next to me, speculating on what kind of accommodations we’d find at Jakob’s place. Since I’d never seen more than his living room I wasn’t sure what we’d find, but knowing him, the place was bound to be fully furnished in opulent splendor.

  The two guards at the security station were easily bypassed. They recognized me and Rob on sight and accepted my story that I was there to wait for Jakob since he hadn’t been back there since the night of the crash. I was just glad I didn’t have to compel them to get to the elevators. Maggie immediately disappeared in search of a room, and I heard her exclaim happily as she took her pick. Lee dropped his pack into the first empty bedroom he found and collapsed on the bed.

 
; I found Jakob’s master suite easily enough, the massive bed and black satin sheets gave it away. Apart from a longing look to the giant bathtub set right in the bedroom itself in front of the huge window, I turned my back on it. I didn’t care where I ended up sleeping for the night as long as it wasn’t in his bed.

  “We should take these two here,” Rob said quietly, waving me down to a pair of rooms at the end of the long hall. “They’re the only two that are next to each other so’s I can… do nothing if you get into trouble,” he frowned, tossing his duffel onto the bed with a scowl.

  “Hey, we’re not going to get into trouble. This is a secure building, remember?” I tried to soothe him but he pulled away from my touch.

  “Fat lot of good the security did, they let us breeze on through without batting an eye.”

  “Only because of who I am. I seriously doubt they’d let any old vamp in.” We both knew Lodinn could easily bypass that, but neither one of us said it out loud. There was something else bothering him though, I could see it in the set of his jaw. “What’s the matter? You don’t honestly think we should’ve stayed behind at the house with Jakob in it, do you?”

  “No, I reckon you’re right. Better the devil out there than the devil we know in this instance,” he said with a shake of the head.

  “What is it then? Are you mad that I invited him inside in the first place? What else could I do?”

  “What else could you do?” His eyes met mine and I shrank away from the anguish I saw there. “You had no business stepping foot on that porch and confronting him like that. Do you realize what you could’ve lost? What you risked on Jakob’s whims? You practically goaded him into compelling you to do as he wanted.”

  “But he didn’t.”

  “You didn’t see his eyes. When he wrapped his hands ‘round your throat…”

  I reached for his cheek, disappointed when he turned away from my touch. “But he didn’t, Rob, and I had to make him see how futile it was to threaten me with compulsion once and for all. He’s not all bad, you know.” Just because I found Jakob insufferable most of the time didn’t make him evil.