by Olsen, Lisa
“I do.” There was a curve to her lips that made me think she wanted nothing more than another shot at me.
Shiny. “Go ahead then, set it up for tomorrow night. Brody, I want your word she’ll be kept under lock and key or I’ll hold you responsible.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” The werewolf stepped up to take hold of Angel and I released her from the compulsion to sit.
“Go ahead and go with him, enjoy your last night. What’s left of it.”
“If there’s nothing else to discuss?” Corley said with a pointed look right at me, not at all amused by the orders I gave in his house, I’m sure. “Then I move we adjourn for tonight. We’ll have the festivities at midnight tomorrow, will that suit Your Grace?”
“That works for me.”
“Grand.” He left without another word and the rest of the delegates shuffled off, muttering in smaller groups of twos and threes over the events of the night. Bishop followed after Angel and the Weres, probably to make sure Angel didn’t give them any trouble. Felix hung back beside me with barely coiled excitement. When only our group remained, he exploded into a thousand watt smile.
“Jesus Christ, I wish I’d had a camera back there. You were amazing, boss!”
“A bit rash is what I’d call it,” Rob said conservatively. “Going up against the likes of her is no small thing.”
“I’ll be fine. You taught me well and I’m much stronger than she is to boot. I’m more worried about how we’re going to bring Corley down.”
“Are we sure he’s the one? I know I thought it seemed like he was the one to set up Tommy, but maybe I was so crazy over what happened, I read more into that conversation than I should have,” Felix said, sobering a touch. “I never thought she might be trying to protect the Order, but it kind of makes sense.”
“No, Corley’s our man, I’m sure of it.” I just couldn’t explain why without giving away my secret about compelling people.
“Well, I’ve got a zillion things to do before the main event tomorrow night. Wait until the council hears about this. I knew you were the right man for the job,” Felix’s grin reappeared as he pulled open the door. “You two stay with her, I’ll be fine on my own,” he instructed his pair of guards before sailing out, whistling a jaunty tune.
“Anja…” Rob tried again, but I shook my head no. There were too many ears around for the conversation he wanted to have.
“It’ll be fine. For now, I think I should probably head back to the suite. I’d better conserve my strength for tomorrow.
“As you wish,” he nodded curtly, and I could tell he had a lot more to say. “You should have something to eat as well,” he added when we reached the bottom of the stairs.
“No, I’m good. My last meal was more than enough.” I wasn’t the least bit hungry. My wanting to go back to the suite stemmed more from wanting to escape dealing with any more of the delegates rather than a need to rest. Then again, more of Rob’s blood didn’t sound like a bad way to spend my night either. “Unless you know where I can get some more?” I raised a single brow.
“We both know that’s not a good idea,” he said softly.
“Even if it’s my last night on Earth? Don’t I get a last request, or is that just for the prisoner?”
“Not funny,” he growled, his emotions tightly controlled until we reached the suite and left the two bodyguards and Tucker outside. I think we both forgot Bridget would be back at the room and Rob grew more physically agitated when he couldn’t give me an earful over my impulsive decision with another witness present. He paced restlessly while I filled her in on the highlights of the meeting.
“No shit… you’re really gonna have a rumble? That is the coolest thing I’ve ever heard. You’d better kick the shit out of her, Anja. Wait… can you?”
“Of course I can,” I replied with more confidence than I felt.
“Okay, it’s just that I’ve never actually seen you fight.”
“There was that one time I beat Serena at the Hart,” I pointed out. “And I even schooled Rob once,” I boasted, and he shot me a murderous glare.
“Only the one time.”
“That’s because we haven’t sparred much since. You agreed I was the champion of the world.” I knew I shouldn’t tease him, but I wanted him to lose the pinched look around his eyes. “I’ll be fine. I have the element of surprise in my favor.”
“How do you figure?” Bridget asked. “It’s not like it’s a big surprise you’ll be fighting tomorrow night. She has all night to prepare for it.”
“Because she’ll underestimate me, she always does,” I insisted. “It’s exactly the same as what happened with Bishop.” I explained briefly about how I’d brought him down out in the maze, because he didn’t expect me to know how to fight.”
“Unless Bishop told her. Didn’t you say they were shacking up?”
There was that possibility, but I didn’t want to dwell on it. A knock sounded at the door, and Rob went to open it, stiffening when he saw who was on the other side.
“Who is it?”
“Bishop here to see you,” he said formally. “Shall I send him away?”
“No, I’d rather hear what he has to say.” Bishop stepped through the door, ignoring Rob’s barb. “If you’re here to plead for your new girlfriend’s life, you can keep on stepping though,” I added.
“I’m not here for that,” Bishop said, his shoulders stiff, neck perfectly straight. “I wanted a word with you alone. Rob, Bridget, will you excuse us?”
Bridget let out an inelegant snort. “No way, this is better than what passes for TV in this dump. Go on, pretend I’m not here.” She waggled her fingers at us, taking a front row seat on the couch. Rob didn’t do much better, simply leaning against a wall, and shoving his hands in his pockets to wait and hear what Bishop had to say.
“Fine,” Bishop’s jaw twitched, but I could see him try to roll with not getting his way again. It was turning out to be a rough day for his ego. “Look, I only came here for one thing, and that’s to get you out of here.”
“What are you talking about?” I shook my head, not tracking. Out of where?
“I can sneak you out of the mansion close to dawn and see to it that you get on your jet and on the way home. Felix can finish up for you at the Gathering, and I’ll get Angel back to Rome to stand for judgment. Nobody will think less of you, I promise.”
“Did you slip and hit your head on the way up here? I’m not going anywhere.” I looked to Rob for his input and he merely shrugged.
“Don’t look at me, I’m with him for once.”
“I can handle it.”
“Not saying you couldn’t, but I still think it’s a bad idea.”
Bishop cleared his throat, drawing my attention back to him. “Angel has decades of training with the Order. Even if you are stronger, she’ll put you down in a heartbeat.”
“We’ll see about that. I got the jump on you, didn’t I?”
“That was a lucky shot. If I was really bent on hurting you I could have, but I knew it was you out there. Angel won’t hesitate for an instant.”
“You’re just mad I challenged you in front of a group of Elders. But the truth is, you’ve never seen me as anything more than poor little Anja who you had to ride to the rescue for over and over again. Why can’t you see I’m more than that?”
“Maybe when I stop having to rescue you,” he retorted, biting the words out slowly.
He had a point, but I had no intention of acknowledging it, or the fact that secretly I had doubts of my own whether I’d bitten off more than I could chew. It didn’t change the fact that I’d issued the challenge, and I wasn’t going to back down.
“It’s not that I don’t appreciate you helping me the other night, I do. I really do. But the fact of the matter is, I am the Elder of the West, and it’s my duty to set this right. You can’t tell me the Order is going to do more than give her a slap on the wrist, are they?”
That gave Bishop a moment o
f pause. At least he didn’t come up with the easy lie, points in his favor for that. “It’s hard to say. I don’t recall there ever being a situation like this.”
“Because everybody knows not to screw with an Elder. I can’t be the one to start a new precedent. I just can’t.”
“And what if she kills you?” he demanded, green eyes blazing in pent up anger. “What kind of a precedent will you be setting then?”
“You really have that little faith in me, huh?” I shook my head. “I’m telling you, I can beat her.”
“I won’t be able to help you out there. You’ll be completely on your own.”
“The hell she will,” Rob growled, pushing himself away from the wall to stand before me. “I won’t let her hurt you. Have your little game, but Angel won’t be walking out of there alive, be sure of that.” Without waiting for a response, he stalked out of the room. I knew he wouldn’t go far, even though his frustration level was through the roof.
The thing was, I knew everything Rob wanted to say to me. All of his arguments about this being a very bad idea were valid, without him having to say a word. But I still felt it was the right thing to do.
“So, you and Rob are…” Bishop swallowed awkwardly, and I blinked at him, not sure what he meant when he didn’t go on.
“What?”
Bishop’s chin jerked up and to the side, either unwilling or unable to say the words. He kept looking at me until I caught on to his meaning.
“That’s none of your business anymore, is it?” I tossed his own words back at him.
“Fair enough.”
“We’re… close. Rob supports me. Can you imagine what that feels like?”
“Well, I can’t, not when you make stupid decisions like this. I’ve got half a mind to stake Angel myself and ship her off to Rome,” he muttered.
“That’s the difference between you and Rob – he has faith in me.”
“Or he doesn’t care about you as much as you think.”
I held up my hand, I didn’t want to hear anymore. He had a lot of nerve questioning Rob’s motives. “Don’t… just don’t, okay?” I didn’t want to hear his passive aggressive way of saying he still cared about me more than Rob did.
“I guess there’s nothing left for me to say about this, is there?” he said stonily.
“Nope. Not unless you have any pointers to offer to give me an edge over Angel,” I grinned, but Bishop just shook his head.
“Try and be careful.” That used to mean I love you in Bishop speak, I wasn’t sure what it meant now.
“Thanks, but I think we’ve got it under control.”
Bishop nodded one last time, barely sparing a glance to Bridget, who I’d almost forgotten was still there before leaving. I lingered by the door, waiting to see if his departure would send Rob back in, but it stayed firmly shut.
“Dun, dun, dun…” Bridget grinned, swinging one leg over the arm of the sofa. “The plot thickens. How long have you and Rob been doing the nasty?”
“There’s nothing nasty going on between me and Rob,” I sighed, plopping into the chair across from her.
“Oh please, it is so on with you two. Why else would you talk to Bishop like that? The last time I saw the two of you together, you looked like you were about this far away from throwing yourself into Bishop’s arms.” She held her thumb and forefinger a centimeter apart. “Something had to have changed.”
“I told you, I’m over Bishop. It’s as simple as that.”
“Because you and Rob are…”
“Are nothing,” I snapped. It wasn’t a matter of trusting Bridget, but Rob’s life was at stake, and possibly mine, if word got out that we were more than friends. While I trusted Bridget with my life, her proximity to Felix made her too much of a liability to gamble with the truth. “I told you before, it’s complicated.”
“Okay, okay, you don’t have to bite my head off. I take it back. Nobody who’s getting some lovin’ on a regular basis, especially from Rob, would be so crabby.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to jump all over you, it’s just been a weird couple of days. Almost dying and all.”
“Shit, no, I’m sorry, An. I didn’t mean to make it worse. I’m sorry you ended up all alone.”
“Gee, thanks,” I said with a sour look.
“You know what I mean.” She waved me away. “Listen, are you sure you can take this bitch down tomorrow, or should I be trying to talk you into sneaking a ride on Bishop’s railroad out of here?”
Did I? For all the bravado around the guys, there was a great big part of me that thought I was all kinds of stupid for challenging anyone to a death match. But right was right, and Angel deserved to pay for what she’d done to Tommy. I wasn’t the same naïve girl I was a few short months ago, and I figured I had a good shot at pulling it off.
“We’ll find out, won’t we?”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Thank God for vampire comas. I knew for a fact that I wouldn’t have been able to sleep a wink if not for the death-like sleep that descended over me whenever the sun rose high in the sky. Sure, I could put it off for an hour or two, sometimes longer if I took the stims. Eventually though, I always drifted off into the same, deep sleep, regardless of whatever my subconscious churned into dreams.
Whatever dreams I had that day, they slipped out of my head before I could process them fully, fading under the pressing reality of my fight with Angel. Even though I had until midnight to present myself for the match, I hopped right into the shower, wanting to be alert and ready for anything. Dressing in a pair of workout shorts and a tank top, I borrowed some ‘asskicking boots’ from Bridget, the better to stomp with.
I braided my hair back for battle, pinning the ends under tightly with flat clips, not wanting to give Angel anything to hang onto in a fight. Bridget and I joked about the merits of greasing myself up with baby oil to make it that much harder for her to grab onto me, but I decided it would probably throw me off as much, if not more.
Rob knocked softly on the bedroom door while Bridget was going through my jewelry box in the bathroom, looking for anything that could be used as a weapon. That led to my first question once I let him in.
“Hey, can we use weapons in this fight?”
“That would be up to you, but you’d have to both have access to the weapons. It couldn’t be one sided.”
“Obviously,” I nodded. “I don’t know though. We didn’t train with anything other than chopsticks,” I smiled, remembering a silly tussle we once had while unloading the dishwasher. Instead of an answering grin, Rob only looked more pained than ever.
“I still wish you wouldn’t do this.”
“I’ve got this,” I winked, trying to keep things light.
Rob nodded, still somber. “Right then. Remember what I taught you. Keep your movements tight and fast. Don’t overextend. And don’t be afraid to fight dirty.”
“I’ll just knee her in the balls if I get stuck.”
“Anja…” His gaze held mine, deep and soulful.
“I know, I’ll be careful.” Bridget was right in the other room, there wasn’t any way to say more, but we didn’t need to. “Oh, hold onto this for me though, will you?” I handed over the silver locket he’d given me for Christmas.
“You brought this with?”
“Of course I did,” I smiled. “In case something happens to me, get it back to your sister, okay?”
“Not funny.”
“I wasn’t joking. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to it.”
Rob took the necklace, holding it in his hand for a few seconds before he tucked it away into his jacket pocket. “You’ll be fine. Stick to the basics, nothing fancy. Don’t be afraid of brutality, use your strength to your advantage.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“When the time comes, you end her,” he said gravely. “She won’t hesitate if you give her the opening, and you can’t either.”
I nodded, drawing in a shaky breath. “I’ll
see you on the other side for some victory cocoa.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
*
“Give her hell, darlin’.” Mac clapped me on the back as I stepped outside into the designated courtyard. “I got money ridin’ on ya.”
“I’ll do my best,” I smiled back, wondering if other similar bets had been placed. The surrounding gardens were choked with bodies, people eager to see blood shed before the night was through. There was no shortage of supportive greetings as I made my way to the center, but I couldn’t help but think they’d be just as keen to see me go down in the name of entertainment.
There were enough torches burning to cast the entire area in a blaze of flickering light and I wished they’d gone with porch lights instead from the smoky haze that lingered. A square had been drawn on the ancient cobblestones in white chalk, roughly the size of a boxing ring. I always wondered why they called them rings, when the shape was square…
I was about to step inside the chalk line when Rob laid a hand on my shoulder. “Hold a tic, there’s something not right there.”
“What’s the matter?”
“The arena is shielded by magic.”
“Of course it is,” Simon intruded into our conversation, his smile beatific. “The better to keep anyone from interfering with the match.”
“Magic to keep people out and people in,” Rob scowled, his hand raised in the air as if he could feel the invisible power. Maybe he could. He’d said he had some gifts, just not as strong as his sister’s. I hadn’t considered such a thing as an option, but it stood to reason that a man as powerful as Corley would have such magics at his disposal. So much for Rob or anyone else riding to the rescue if things got rough.
“It’ll be fine,” I assured him, stepping boldly across the line. A sliver of cold went through my belly, like when you get a shiver you can’t explain, but it was gone in an instant.