by Lisa Olsen
“Yeah, I know.” Corazon surprised me with the admission.
“Is there something you needed, ma’am?” Bishop asked, all business, and it took me a moment to find my smile again. I would much rather have had Corazon staring me down than hear the utter lack of regard in Bishop’s voice.
“I… no, I guess not. I’ll leave you to it. It was nice meeting you two, maybe I’ll see you around.”
“Never can tell.” Stone touched the brim of his cap in a brief salute and Corazon gave me the slightest nod. I lingered for a few seconds to see if Bishop would say anything else, but he was in love with his phone again, so I left with as much dignity as I could muster.
By the time I got back to the table, Rob had gone and I didn’t feel much like talking to the rest of the group anymore. Still, it would have been rude to bail out, and even more, I didn’t want Bishop to think he’d chased me off so easily. So, I nursed my last zombie of the night and tried to lose myself in inane chatter.
I finally begged my way out of there, politely declining a few invitations to continue the party in a more private venue. No one offered me a ride home, which I might have actually taken them up on, probably because they all assumed I’d have a posh car, me being a powerful, old as dirt vampire and all. I didn’t mind the walk though, especially since I didn’t get tired in the same way anymore. I was worn out on another level, one that had to do more with a certain vampire cop who pissed me off to no end with his rapid mood swings. How were we ever going to be together when I never knew which Bishop I’d find whenever I saw him?
Lost to those thoughts, I got several blocks away before I realized I could hear steps echoing behind me on the deserted residential streets. Out of habit, I crossed the street, chewing on the inside of my lip when the footsteps matched my course change. Was someone following me? What was I so scared about anyway? It was a safe bet I could hold my own against any mugger. Unless I got shot. Even if I’d survive, according to Bishop’s Vampire 101, I still didn’t want to get shot.
Ducking into an alley between two brick buildings, I waited in the shadows to see if the person would follow. I didn’t have to wait long when a tall, dark figure turned into the alley. Operating on pure instinct, my arm shot out to push him against the wall with enough force to crack the mortar. “I’m sorry!” I exclaimed, expecting the guy to crumple to the ground with broken ribs or worse. “But you shouldn’t sneak up on people in the dark. Wait…” my head tilted to one side as my eyes adjusted to the gloom.
“It’s just me,” Bishop groaned, rubbing his chest.
“I’m not sure I know who you are.” Instantly losing the guilt over shoving him, I scowled, steeling myself for another mood swing. This would be the part where he decided to be nice to me again.
“Anja, come on, you know me,” he insisted. “Man, that was a pretty good hit.”
“I thought I did. I also thought we were past this hot and cold thing. Wasn’t that you the other night chasing after me, kissing me? Or did you have second thoughts?”
“Of course it was me, and no, I haven’t had any second thoughts.”
Against my better judgment, I let him move closer, mesmerized by the power of those green eyes. “Are you ashamed of me?” I couldn’t think of another reason why he would utterly ignore me in front of his friends. Worse than ignore me, treat me like he didn’t even know me.
“No.” His brows drew together in puzzlement.
“Then why…?”
Bishop cut off the question with a finger to my lips. “Not everyone will be convinced the two of us is such a good idea.” His finger traced the contours of my mouth and then continued to caress my cheek.
“I don’t care.”
“Well, I do if it means keeping you safe.”
“Safe from who?”
“Your Sire, the Order, Kursik’s men…” he let go of me to tick them off on his fingers and I grabbed hold of his hands.
“Okay, okay, I get the point. But you could have warned me before you decided to treat me like dirt in public.”
“Sorry,” something flashed over his face akin to pain. “I haven’t done this before. I’m not entirely sure how to mix what I do with… this,” he gestured back and forth between us.
“So, there definitely is still a… this?” Hope flared deep in my heart, especially when he leaned close for a lingering kiss, his arms wrapping around me.
“Yeah, there’s definitely a this,” he sighed into my hair, holding me close as the kiss drew to a close.
I smiled against his chest, enjoying that simple contact while it lasted. I could see his point in keeping things on the down low, I could even see his point in communication not being his strong suit. Now that we were on the same page, it was much easier to accept his behavior in the bar, and I felt like I finally started to understand Bishop a little better. Though I didn’t want to return to any topic that didn’t have to do with stealing another kiss from him, I did have something I wanted to talk to him about.
“Listen, what am I going to do about everyone thinking I killed Kursik?” I asked, pulling back to look up at him.
“Nothing,” he shrugged, unbothered. “It’s probably a good idea, it’ll help cement your cover and keep people from messing with you.”
“Won’t it make people want to take a shot at me? Try to take down the new big bad in town?” That’s the way it worked in the movies, at least.
He frowned at that, and I saw it hadn’t occurred to him before. “What’s done is done. There was no way I could cover up your involvement in the mess, Kursik’s staff saw your hands covered in blood and a gaping hole where his heart used to be. Without Jakob to take the credit, it falls to you.”
“And I won’t get in trouble for it with the Order?”
“The staff also heard you give him fair warning.” His face darkened and I figured they told him why I’d screamed. Did that really justify murder though? Bishop didn’t seem to have a problem with it. “We don’t get involved with domestic disputes.”
“Then what were you doing there that night?” My lips curved into a speculative smile. “You couldn’t know Jakob would show up to save the day, you didn’t even think he was alive.”
“I was worried about you,” his arms tightened around me again. “If Jakob hadn’t arrived to put that letch down, I would have taken care of it myself.”
“You don’t think that would have raised a few eyebrows?” If he wanted to keep our relationship a secret, that would’ve been the exact opposite thing to do.
“I would never let anyone hurt you when I had the chance to protect you, screw the consequences,” he declared grimly.
Unless it was Jakob, the thought snuck in. Bishop was admittedly powerless against the Ellri. If the elder wanted to hurt me just for laughs, there was little he’d be able to do about it. I didn’t say that though, no sense in making him feel bad about it.
“Hey, speaking of consequences,” I remembered suddenly. “Kursik said something about you getting transferred. Do you know what he meant?”
“Transferred to another location within the Order?” his brows rose. “It was probably just talk. Kursik had a lot of political clout, but that doesn’t mean anything to the Order. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good. Maybe things will settle down now and we can get back to normal.” Whatever normal meant for a pair of vampires, at any rate. “You’re still coming to my concert, right?”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” A touch of regret tinged his smile. “I really do have to get back and attend to business though. Come on, I’ll walk you home.”
“Alright,” I accepted easily enough, fingers itching to hold his hand as we strolled through the darkened streets. Instead, I filled him in on my day, glossing over missing out on the solo spot I’d wanted, and the Professor’s weird behavior. Bishop had a few choice words about the guy’s taste in choosing another over me, and I had to smile at how worked up he got defending my talent. All too soon we got to the end of my block and he came
to a halt.
“I’d better get going. I’ll call you later.”
“Alright,” I nodded, wondering if he’d be bold enough to try and sneak a kiss goodnight. His eyes swept over my lips, and I could tell Bishop was thinking the same thing, but he took a step backwards.
“Goodnight, ma’am,” his lips quirked into a lopsided grin instead.
“Night.” I gave him a sour smile in return, laughing when he waggled his eyebrows at me playfully before disappearing into the night.
Still smiling like a dork as I let myself into the apartment, the smile died on my lips as I caught Rob coming out of my bedroom the moment I stepped into the hallway. “What are you doing in my room?” I demanded, finding my words after a stunned pause.
A faint grimace passed over Rob’s features, but he gave no apologies. “No need to get your knickers in a knot, it ain’t like I’ve been going through your drawers while you were away.”
Only then did I realize he had a gun in his hand and my eyebrows shot up a level. “What’s going on?”
“That’s complicated,” he hedged.
I’d always felt like I could trust Rob. Okay, so I get how stupid that sounds now, I knew virtually nothing about him except he wasn’t entirely human; not the best recommendation for a guy. “Bridget?” I called out, wondering if she knew why Rob felt the need to be armed and in my bedroom.
Bridget came out of the kitchen with a ‘who me?’ expression on her face. Pretty in a tough way, her usual rocker girl style normally had her in short skirts and torn t-shirts. At the moment she wore an oversized rugby shirt and nothing else, her thick, dark hair spilling loose over her shoulders. “What?”
“Have you guys been hanging out in my room?”
“Yeah, we got bored doing it in my room so we decided to take a walk on the vanilla side and see what it’d be like to try virgin sheets,” she snorted. “No, Rob just got here, we haven’t been in your room.” Her eyes went to Rob who still blocked my doorway. “Um, if you’ve got a fetish for granny panties we can pick some up, there’s no need to raid Anja’s stash.”
Rob pushed against the door and it swung wide open with a slight creak, a grave expression on his face. “You’d better take a look at this.”
Expecting the worst, I stepped inside, afraid of what I might find. After all, the apartment had seen its share of violence considering I’d been kidnapped out of it before. What would I find now? “Son of a biscuit…” fell from my lips. There was carnage in there alright, but not of the bloody variety. While I’d been away, someone tossed the contents of my closet and dresser drawers all over the room.
“Holy shit…” Bridget sucked in a breath, stumbling in after me. The bedclothes were all rumpled and the mattress showed its stuffing in more than a few places. It reminded me of those movies where the bad guys cut up all the furniture and toss the place because they’re looking for a secret microfilm or computer thingy hidden in the hero’s home. Only I had nothing to hide, what were they looking for?
“Who could have done this?” I sank down on the edge of the ruined bed, feeling sapped of energy for the moment and more than a little violated at the thought of someone pawing through my personal things. It would take forever to get the place cleaned up enough before I could even begin to figure out if anything had been taken.
“Whoever did it, wasn’t a professional. I found where they came in. The window’s busted,” Rob reported, touching the broken latch. “They’re long gone though,” he looked down to the empty street below.
I picked up a pretty blue sundress pooled on the ground by my feet, dismayed to several large slashes in the fabric, as though someone had taken a pair of scissors to it. With growing dismay, I picked up piece after piece of clothing from the floor, shocked to find each one ruined. With Bridget and Rob helping, I soon found every stitch of clothing I owned destroyed in some way, either ripped apart or cut up.
It was the face of that total destruction that brought the tears to my eyes. Not so much because I’d lost my clothes and couldn’t afford an entire new wardrobe, but because there seemed to be no doubt it wasn’t a case of someone tossing my room by mistake. Whoever had done that… it’d been deeply personal with me as the target.
“Hey now… don’t take on so…” Rob looked distinctly uncomfortable with the appearance of tears.
“Yeah, it’ll be okay.” Bridget sat beside me on the bed, patting my shoulder awkwardly, but the tears still came.
“Can you guys just… give me a minute?” I sniffed, trying for a brave smile when all I wanted to do was break down and sob. Damn those heightened emotions anyway!
“Yeah, we’ll be in the kitchen. I think you need a little ice cream therapy, I’ll make you up a monster sundae. Come on, Rob.” All too happy to escape the room, Rob trailed along behind her with a last frown at the window.
Could I even still eat ice cream? The thought that I couldn’t enjoy simple comfort food anymore brought on a fresh bout of tears until I was all cried out. Feeling marginally better after letting it all out, I pulled out my phone and took comprehensive pictures of the damage. Not that I planned to call the cops to report it, what could they do? Even Bishop’s investigation would be limited without involving his team, and the less the Order knew about me, the better. Rob was right, whoever had done it was long gone, and I didn’t want to invite close scrutiny from either law enforcement agency into my life.
Deciding I had to get out of the room before I depressed myself into dehydration, I shuffled into the kitchen to see if I could muster up some enthusiasm for Chocolate Explosion. It was weird seeing Bridget playing Susie Homemaker, going all out on ginormous ice cream sundaes, but even more surreal was finding Rob cleaning his gun, the pieces laid out on a soft cloth on the kitchen table. I sat down to watch him work, never having seen the inner workings of a pistol before. “What happens if you don’t remember how to put it back together again?”
“I could do this in my sleep. It’s not so hard to remember, I could show you if you like,” he offered, looking up briefly.
I wasn’t sure that was a skill set I wanted to develop, more likely I’d end up shooting myself or worse. “Thanks all the same, I’m good,” I shook my head after a moment. “What would you do right now if someone came to attack with your gun all in pieces though?”
Quick as lightning Rob produced another gun without looking up, so fast I wasn’t able to track where he’d been keeping it. His lips curved into a little smirk, though he kept his eyes on his task.
“Geez, you must have been a boy scout,” I breathed, impressed.
“Not hardly.” The smirk deepened for a moment and then vanished, almost as if it hadn’t ever existed.
“I don’t understand how this could have happened. You were home all night, right Bridget?”
“Yeah,” she replied without turning around. If she thought it weird Rob was so heavily armed, she didn’t show it.
“You might want to think about calling your boy to come and do a sweep of the room before it goes stale,” Rob suggested, slapping the magazine into the gun with a satisfying smack.
“I told you, he’s not my…” The protest died on my lips at catching his look and I let out a long sigh. “Alright, I’ll call him.”
Chapter Four
“Bishop.”
I could tell Bishop wasn’t alone from that single word, and couched my speech carefully, not wanting to mess things up for him in case someone listened in. “It’s Anja Gudrun. I sort of have a little problem I could really use your help with.”
“What kind of problem?”
“Oh, the kind where someone breaks into my house and destroys everything I own kind of problem.”
“When?” I could hear the concern in his voice, even if he still offered only monosyllabic responses.
“Sometime tonight, though I’m not sure when exactly. Bridget was home but didn’t hear or see anything.”
“You make it sound like I’m useless,” Bridget wh
ined, and I waved her off.
“Do you think you could come over and check it out? There might be evidence of whodunit.” There was a brief murmuring on his end, but I couldn’t tell what was being said.
“I’ll be right there, sit tight.”
“Thanks, Bishop, I appreciate it.”
“No problem, ma’am.”
That time I smiled when he said ma’am, picturing the way he’d looked the last time he said it to me on the street corner. It was almost worth it to have someone break in if it meant another excuse to see him again. Almost.
“Ah, Earth to Anja, your ice cream is melting,” Bridget waved her hand in front of my face, and I wondered how long I’d been sitting there mooning over Bishop.
“Right, sorry. Thanks for this, it looks great,” I gave them a sheepish grin, regaining some of my enthusiasm when I found I did still enjoy eating ice cream despite my liquid diet. It’s funny how the little things in life make you happy, right?
Rob barely took two bites of his ice cream before he pushed himself up to his feet.
“You’re taking off?” I heard the surprise in Bridget’s voice, but her natural inclination to act like nothing mattered kept her from asking him to stay. “That’s cool, whatever. More ice cream for me.”
“Something’s come up, I’d best be on my way.”
Bridget and I traded looks. Rob hadn’t gotten any calls or texts, how had something suddenly come up?
I followed him to the door, my curiosity getting the better of me. “Did you get a psychic premonition or something?”
“Something like that,” his lips quirked into an almost smile. “Take care now, miss. I reckon you’ll have more trouble before it’s over.”
“Before what’s over? Rob…” He was already through the door, meeting Bishop in the hallway, they nodded to each other in passing. “Bishop, hey,” I automatically shifted gears, vowing to corner Rob later.
“What was he doing here?” Bishop’s brows drew together into a single dark line as he watched Rob take the stairs at a fast clip. If I didn’t know better, I might have thought he was jealous. It wasn’t in me to make him sweat over it though.