by Lisa Olsen
“Well, everybody’s done something at least once in their…” He was twisting things all around! The idea that I was murderer by default because I wanted to find who killed her was laughable and I gave him an incredulous snort. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“This is funny to you? Do you think murder is a big joke?” Face thunderous, his hands clutched the arms of my chair as he demanded my answer.
“No…” I blanched. “Bishop, I…”
“See, it’s easy,” he grinned, easing back into his own chair while I struggled to let go of the bundle of nerves he’d worked me up into.
“You enjoyed that,” I shoved at his shoulder playfully, but his grin only stretched wider.
“You have to grab hold of the little things in life that make you happy,” he sighed. The air between us changed as I saw the grin fade from his lips, replaced by a longing so sharp, I felt my heart twist in sympathy and a touch of awe that he felt so strongly for me. I felt that magnetic pull to him again, and neither of us spoke as we drew closer… closer… until Bishop broke the spell, turning away to log off of the computer.
“There’s another reason I brought you here,” he said, his voice sounding strained. Or was it my patience? It made sense he wouldn’t want to get to close to me there of all places, but that didn’t mean I had to like it.
“Oh?”
“Time to make you legal,” he recovered his grin, rising to open the door for me.
I followed him to another office set next to a lab where a pretty blonde sat hunched over a microscope. Expecting Bishop to introduce me, or say something, I stood there awkwardly while he waited in silence for a hidden cue. Eventually, the blonde finished whatever she was doing and looked up with a surprised smile.
“Who’s this?”
“This… is that problem I was telling you about.” Bishop jerked a thumb in my direction and my brows drew together at that. I was a problem now? What had he told her about me?
“She doesn’t look like a problem to me.”
“Just wait,” Bishop muttered, and she shot him a reproachful frown.
“Hello, I’m Jenessa,” she offered her hand with a warm smile, and I breathed a sigh of relief, half worried she’d be as surly as the pair I’d met at the bar.
“Anja,” I shook her hand, “pleased to meet you, Jenessa.” A beautiful name, she definitely did it justice, with intelligent blue eyes and a peaches and cream complexion. Jenessa looked like the love child of a science nerd and an Icelandic princess. I decided I liked her on the spot.
“Anja’s been remiss in her duties and needs to be chipped,” Bishop said with an undercurrent of censure, and I wished he’d told me he’d planned to take care of it that night. I hated having to lie on my feet, I was terrible at it.
“Yes, well… you know how it is… you keep telling yourself to go in and do it, but something else always seems to come up,” I gave her an uncomfortable smile. Luckily, she accepted it easily enough.
“It’s no trouble, we see all ages here. I expect it hasn’t been of high importance for someone of your venerability to undergo the process yet. Honestly, sometimes I think the Order comes up with new laws just to keep itself busy.” She shot Bishop an amused look.
“It makes complete sense to graduate to this technology. Then you never have to worry about carrying your papers and we can all get on with our lives that much quicker when you’re stopped by the Order.”
Only partially paying attention to their light ribbing, I was much more interested in watching her withdraw a lethal looking metal injector from a glassed in cabinet, setting it on the table. “Will it hurt?”
“No,” Bishop scoffed, but Jenessa nodded slowly.
“It will, but only for a few seconds. It takes longer to upload your information into the chip than it does to insert it. Do you have the file?”
Bishop patted his pockets. “Ah, I’ll be right back.”
Left alone with Jenessa, I wasn’t sure what I should and shouldn’t talk about, so I decided to take a preemptive strike before she asked me anything in casual conversation. “How long have you been with the Order?” I asked politely.
“Officially, I’m not with the Order, I liaise with them. But it’s been quite a few years now.” Quite a few could mean six or sixty, but I didn’t press further.
“Oh, then you don’t have to join up and take the vows and all that stuff to work with them?” Somehow I’d been under the impression they were a lot more secretive than that.
“It’s because Bishop values my expertise and knows he can trust me. It’s not an honor conveyed upon a civilian very often. Then again, Bishop makes policy as he pleases out here in the hinterlands, he’s given free reign over the West.”
Impressive. “You’ve known him a long time, huh?”
“Not as long as you have, but long enough to see the change in him since you came to town.”
“You think so?” I could feel the loopy smile on my face and I tamped it down, but not before she noticed it, I think.
“I do,” she gave me a conspiratorial wink. “I think he missed you more than he lets on.”
“Here we go.” Bishop returned with a thumb drive, and I hastened to clear my expression of any sign we’d been talking about him as Jenessa plugged it into the computer. I watched her scan through the data rapidly, hoping everything was in order. It felt strange to think the information she saw would soon be permanently embedded in my body, and I had no idea what was even on it.
“Alright, do you have a preference for arm?” Jenessa loaded the chip into the gun with a loud clack.
“This one I guess,” I handed over my left arm. She didn’t bother with sterilization, I suppose there was little chance of infection for her usual patients. Without warning, she pulled the trigger and I let out a howl as the metal cylinder injected into the inside of my wrist. Blood instantly welled from the wound, but Jenessa whisked it away with a swab of gauze and it had already stopped by the time she pulled away. “Gotta love that healing,” I murmured before Bishop gave me a look. I poked at my arm tenderly, but I couldn’t even feel it inside there. “Is that it?”
“That’s it,” Jenessa smiled. “I’d offer you a lollipop but I’m fresh out.”
“Let’s just make sure it works.” Bishop picked up a scanner, holding it over my arm with an electronic beep. I saw my picture and a slew of information dash across the tiny screen. “Like a charm.”
“When have I ever loaded a dud?” Jenessa narrowed her eyes at him.
“When have I ever left without checking?” he met her gaze evenly. “We’re good to go here, thanks for your time, Jenessa.”
A little surprised by his abrupt dismissal, I gave Jenessa an apologetic smile. “Thanks for your help, it was nice to meet you.”
“Lovely to have met you as well,” she smiled in return. “Drop by again any time.”
I waited until we were back in the elevator again before I said anything. Bishop’s entire body had taken on an ‘I’m outta here’ stance. “Hey, that was pretty rude. I thought you guys were old friends?”
“Old friends don’t need to stand on ceremony. She knows I’m busy.”
“I wasn’t aware you had pressing business elsewhere,” I sighed. He always had an elsewhere to be, it was surprising he’d given me as much time as he had. “We could have done this another night, you know.”
“We have somewhere to go.”
“We do?” I asked, but all he would do was stare straight ahead until we left the building. A sense of excitement built up inside, and I deliberately held back the questions bubbling under the surface as we reached his car. Instead of taking me back towards the city, he pointed the car along Highway One, taking us down the coast. I’d just about reached my limit, about to burst from the need of asking are we there yet, when he pulled into a strip of vista parking spots with a set of stairs leading down to the water.
“You brought me to the beach?” I must have sounded less than thrilled
because his forehead creased with worry as he opened the passenger door for me.
“You don’t like the beach?”
“No, I do, really.” I appreciated the beauty and the romance of it fine, just in light of the dream I’d had the night before, it felt too surreal to actually go down to the water with Bishop. “I just… I had a weird dream about the beach today, actually.”
“Yeah? Tell me about it.”
That wasn’t something I wanted to get into with him, especially not about Jakob, so I skimmed the best I could, emphasizing the burnt friends and less of the kissy bits.
“Huh, that is weird,” he agreed, leading me down the wooden steps to the beach below. “But, I can guarantee no vampires will be harmed in the taking of this stroll tonight. In fact…” he dropped to his knees in front of me as we reached the bottom, carefully tugging off my boots and tossing them aside. “There’s nothing but cool, soft sand awaiting us.” His hands slipped up the cuff of my jeans, delicately probing the backs of my calves. “That reminds me, I wanted to inspect the burns you mentioned earlier.”
“They’re fine.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.” Carefully, he rolled the cuff up on each leg until they came to just below my knees, perfect for wading and perfect access for his gentle touch. His cool fingers brushed across my sensitive skin, careful in case I was more injured than I let on, but he caused no pain, only the sweet torture of wanting more. Instead of continuing his exploration, Bishop stood and kicked off his shoes. Grabbing my hand, he led me to the water.
“Won’t it be…” My words fell away as the low waves rushed over my bare feet. It wasn’t cold at all. I mean, it was cold in the literal sense, but it didn’t feel uncomfortably cold the way I’d associated with temperature as a human. It felt blissfully cool and calming, the water frothing around my ankles, and I threaded my fingers through his with a happy smile.
“Are you sure this is alright? Us holding hands in public?” Semi-public at any rate. Now I began to understand the reason for the drive away from town.
“You know this isn’t how I want it.” His fingers tightened around mine.
“I know you think this is for the best, but is that because of what vampire society thinks or what you do?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re the only one I see putting these limits on our relationship. No one else cares as near as I can tell. Not your Order, I haven’t heard a peep from Kursik’s people, and I can’t imagine anyone in the bar caring.”
“I told you, it’s safer for you this way.”
“Isn’t pretty much everyone on the planet afraid of the Order and you in particular in the West?” He didn’t say anything and I plunged on. “Wouldn’t I be safer if they knew you had a special interest in keeping me safe?”
“You know I can’t claim you, not with Jakob…”
I cut him off before he worked up too much steam over the whole ‘claiming’ thing. “I’m not asking you to tattoo my name across your chest, but you have to ask yourself - is this really how you want to spend the rest of our lives? Sneaking around, keeping our feelings a secret? Or is this all you’re capable of giving me at the moment?” I held a hand up to his chest when he opened his mouth to object. “I’m not saying I wouldn’t understand if it was, I realize you’ve been emotionally unavailable for a while. I don’t expect you to quit cold turkey, I just want to understand what I have to work with.” I’d already learned the hard way it was two steps forward one step back with Bishop, but I was willing to keep at the dance if he could be open and honest with me about it.
“Okay.”
“Okay, what?” There were so many things I’d said, I wasn’t sure what he was or wasn’t agreeing to.
“Okay, let’s do this.”
“Do what?”
“Date. In public.” He came to a stop, wrapping his arms around my waist.
“Are you sure?” It was such an abrupt change, I didn’t want him to cave under pressure and then regret it later.
Bishop leaned down, close enough for me to feel his breath when he spoke. “Yeah, I want this, I want you.”
“I want you too,” I whispered against his lips.
Despite Bridget’s teasing digs, I was by no means a virginal prude without desires just because I didn’t play hopping bed partners like she did. There wasn’t anything wrong with my libido and it kicked into overdrive as Bishop pulled me close for a deep, yearning kiss. How long we stood together in the moonlight, the sea rushing at our feet I don’t know; the romantic setting took a back seat to the way he made me feel.
Alive.
My body felt more tingly and electric under his touch than I’d ever felt as a human. I wish I could say we fell to the sand and re-enacted a scene from the movies in the surf, but instead, Bishop pulled back with a regretful glance at the lightening sky.
“It’s getting late and I should take you home to get some rest.”
“I’m not in for the day,” I shook my head. “I can’t skip school, I’ve been missing too much lately as it is.”
“Fair enough. I’d really like it if you’d crash at my place after your classes. At least until I can figure out how to make your place more secure.”
“Alright, I can do that.” The prospect of staying at his place sounded better and better, though I wasn’t ready to give up my apartment altogether yet. We strolled back to the stairs and picked up our shoes, moving lazily despite the ever lightening sky. In a pleasant state of drowsiness, I almost hated to take more of the stims, but I knew if I fell asleep on the way back, there’d be no waking me until nightfall. Within seconds of taking the bitter liquid, the lethargy was replaced by the nervous thrum of energy, making my toes tap against the interior of the car well before he pulled up to my street.
“This will get you into my place. When you get inside, be sure to lock up and hit command two on the alarm keypad and it’ll set the security system.” He handed over a key which I accepted with a happy smile.
“I don’t have anything to give you.”
“I can think of something.” Bishop leaned in to steal a kiss, and I forgot about the coming dawn or classes, instead wondering if we could survive the sun in the back of the SUV with his tinted windows. He was the one to draw the kiss to a close again, fingers tracing a path over my cheek as though memorizing my features. “I’ll see you later then?”
“I’ll be there,” I promised. “Not that I’ll be able to do more than drool on your pillow until nightfall.” Still, the thought of waking up with him beside me definitely had possibilities.
“Then I’ll see you when the sun goes down.”
Chapter Nine
Bishop woke like clockwork well over an hour before dusk to find Anja pressed up against him, her cheek resting on his shoulder. For long minutes he watched her sleep, dead to the world for all intents and purposes, her face soft and innocent.
Mine.
Hardly daring to speak the word aloud, he tried it out in the stillness of his mind. Could he really hope to call her his? So far there’d been no sign of Jakob since that night in Kursik’s room. Whatever the Ellri’s game, he played it close to the vest. Knowing time moved very differently for someone so old, it was conceivable Jakob might not even press his suit for a decade or more. It might end up destroying him in the end, but Bishop couldn’t cause Anja pain by his affected ambivalence nor deny the feelings he’d been suppressing since meeting her.
Pressing a soft kiss to her forehead, Bishop carefully extracted himself from the bed, intending to go see to some business while she slept. Almost as an afterthought, he left a hastily scribbled note on the fridge, knowing his curious little houseguest would likely drown herself in questions if she woke to find him gone. Smiling over the picture of her waking in his bed, he left for HQ, hoping to return quick enough not to miss it.
Jenessa pounced on him almost the moment he got to the lower levels, as if she’d been waiting for him to show. “Is there something you
’re not telling me, Bishop?” she demanded, arms folded across her chest as she leaned against the door to his office.
“There are lots of things I don’t tell you, Jenessa, you’ll have to be more specific,” Bishop replied, unwilling to lose his good mood for once.
“I meant about Anja.” She leveled a serious look that brought him up short. “I found anomalies in her blood sample.”
“What blood sample?”
“The one you asked me to take to trace the markers for her line.”
“That was before, when I wasn’t sure of her heritage, I didn’t need you to test her anymore.” When had she even taken a sample?
“But you are now?”
“Absolutely,” he replied with conviction. The last thing he wanted to do was prove her ties to Jakob when he’d just falsified her documents as Anja Gudrun.
“You’re completely certain she is who she says she is?” Jenessa pressed and Bishop’s brows drew together into a single dark line.
“Why do you ask?”
“I told you, I found anomalies in her blood sample that cast a shadow of doubt on the data I imprinted on her chip.”
“What kind of anomalies?”
“Antibodies present that wouldn’t have been around when she was turned four hundred years ago.”
“So? Maybe she picked them up more recently from feeding on someone with those antibodies?” Bishop shrugged, but Jenessa shook her head.
“It doesn’t work that way. Anything we pick up from those we feed on is transitory, these markers were a part of her before she was made. I’m picking up indicators she’s been inoculated for MMR, DATP, the standard immunizations for children born in the last century.”
“Maybe she had to get inoculated to pass for human while traveling?” It sounded weak to him even as he said it, but it was all he could come up with. Jenessa just looked at him, but he couldn’t bring her in on Anja’s secret. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Jenessa, but the more people that knew, the more danger Anja would be in. Besides, it wasn’t his secret to tell. “I don’t know,” he shrugged. “I’ll ask her about it sometime.”