Follow Me When the Sun Goes Down (7 page)

“I don’t think I could call this a business expense,” I snorted. 

“Why not?  Like Rob said, it’s expected for someone of your position.  Not to mention that your personal wealth has increased by at least…”

“I get the point,” I cut her off, not wanting to broadcast the insane amount of money I’d been given access to since taking over the position of Elder; there were always too many people hanging around the house now.  So far I hadn’t touched any of it, in case everything fell through and they decided I wasn’t the right person for the job.  The money I’d made as Jarl was more than enough to take care of my normal living expenses, and I felt like I’d earned it.   

I edged closer to the box, gingerly touching the silky fabric.  “I suppose I could keep one or two.  For special occasions.”

“You’ll need all of these, believe you me,” Maggie chattered excitedly, now that I’d cracked the door open.  “You should try them on to see if any alterations are needed.”

“I doubt it, they’re usually spot on,” Rob replied, a bite of apple tucked into his cheek. 

“Who
are?  Briony and Riona?  I thought you didn’t know them.”

He waited to finish chewing before he answered.  “I don’t, not personally.  But they’re famous for it.”

“They are?  I guess maybe that justifies the price a smidge,” I considered aloud.  “I still don’t see how they managed to finish so many in such a short period of time.” 

“
Maybe they had some dresses already made that needed minor alterations only?” Maggie suggested. 

“Nah, that’s their stock in trade.  Fast as anything, their kind is.”

“What kind?”  Why did I get the feeling I was missing out on something here?

“The faerie folk,” he said patiently.  “Didn’t you never hear of them?  Lightning fast with any stitchery.  Just give them a needle and thread and Bob’s your uncle.”

“Faeries?” My jaw dropped, before I remembered that a sophisticated vampire like myself would probably know all about them.  “No, of course I have, I just didn’t realize
they
were faeries.  I’ve been kind of distracted lately.” 
Lame
.     

Rob’s lips curved into the briefest of smiles at my back peddling, and then he let me off the hook.  “I thought as much.”

“Real fae creations.”  Maggie’s voice took on a dreamy tone as she stroked the fabric reverently.  “They’re lovely.”

“Maybe you can borrow one or two,” I offered.  “You didn’t bring back many of the fancy dresses I saw you in back at Vetis.  I’m guessing there were some bad memories associated, right?”

“You’re not wrong,” she replied, replacing the dress back into the box.

“Well, I need to go out shopping for shoes and accessories to go with this stuff.  Why don’t you come with me?  We can pick you up a couple of things while we’re at it.”  Nothing like a little retail therapy to
pick up a girl’s spirits. 

“I don’t need anything,” she mumbled, the light going out of her eyes.

“You’re all set then?  Have everything you need?”

“Yes, of course.”

I traded a look with Rob, and he gave a short nod.  “I think I’ll go see to some last minute arrangements elsewhere.  Come on then, Gunnar.”

“I want to stay and talk about the shopping,” Gunnar frowned.  “I’m needing a new coat.”  Rob just grabbed Gunnar by the ear, the apple clenched between his teeth as he led him out of the room.

I sidled closer to Maggie, helping her replace the dresses in the boxes.  “You
are
ready for the trip, aren’t you?” I asked gently.

“Of course.  I’ll be ready to go right on schedule.”

She wouldn’t look at me, and I could hear her heart beating much too quickly for the task of folding dresses.  “Maggie, talk to me,” I said, taking the fabric out of her hands and pulling her over to the couch.  “What’s wrong?  Don’t you want to go back to England?”

“I know it’s silly…” she
said, shaking her head.

“No, not if it makes you feel bad.  What is it?  Don’t you want to see you parents again?  You don’t have to.”

“It’s that place.  Every time I imagine myself walking back into the mansion, I feel like I can’t breathe anymore,” she sniffed, blinking back tears.  “It’s foolish with Jasper gone…”

“Come on, stop that.  You went through some pretty terrible stuff there
. I can totally understand why you wouldn’t want to go back.  I wouldn’t have asked you to at all except I had no idea how upset the idea made you.  I thought you’d be looking forward to seeing Tucker again.”

“Tucker?” she blinked in confusion.  “He’s a sweet boy, of course, but I chat with him online all the time.  I don’t need to travel all the way back to Vetis to see him.”

If that was enough for her, it was obvious the love connection was all on Tucker’s side.  “I see.  Well, I guess you won’t be going then, it’s as simple as that.”

“Oh, but I don’t want to leave you in the lurch.”

“You won’t.  We can still coordinate things via email and Skype.  I might ask you to shift your hours a bit to accommodate my schedule there, but at least you don’t fall into a coma as soon as the sun rises, do you?” I joked, gratified to see the tiniest smile hovering over her lips. 

“Are you sure?  I know you’re so very busy, I don’t want to create more work for you.”

“It’ll be fine.” I waved her doubts away.  “Marcus is going to take care of a lot of the local stuff for me, and the other magistrates will be pulling their weight, so the only stuff I’ll have to focus on will be the Gathering.  I’ll have Felix to help me and Rob too if I get into a jam.  But I’m pretty sure I can survive for a week or two.  Not that I don’t think you’re a whiz at what you do for me,” I added quickly.

“Well… if you’re sure it’ll be fine.”

“Totally.  I don’t want you to give it another thought.  Actually, this will be good.  You can keep an eye on Marcus for me and make sure he’s on board with the way we do things around here.  He already knows you’re not on the menu, by the way.”

“Thanks for that.”  Her smile was a lot more heartfelt now and some of the tension had drained from her shoulders. 

“Oh, there is something I need you to do for me though.”

“What’s that?”

“I really do need you to come shopping with me.  I’m a terrible judge of what goes with what.  If it was up to me I’d wear the same pair of shoes with everything.”

“Only after you go down and try everything on first,” Maggie replied, a light of excitement coming back into her eyes. 

I was happy to keep it there for the rest of the night, playing dress up for her amusement.  Okay, so I have to admit, I had fun too.  The dresses were beautiful, far more extravagant than anything I’d ever worn before and they fit to perfection.  Plus, it felt nice to have some girly time alone with Maggie.  I’d been far too preoccupied with my own stuff lately; it was great to break that cycle and have some down time.

Armed with a list of accessories to buy as soon as the sun went down the next day, I shooed Maggie out not too long before dawn, my mind already spinning another list of last minute things I’d have to take care of before we left for
England.

“That was a good thing you did letting her stay behind,” Rob said from my doorway, on his way to bed, I expected. 

“Did you know she didn’t want to go?”

He shrugged a single shoulder.  “I suspected as much.”

“You should’ve said something.”

“I figured it was best to keep my nose out of it.  If it didn’t bother her enough to say anything, it couldn’t have been too important an objection.”

I set aside my list to fix him with a look.  “You know Maggie though, she’d walk over hot coals if she thought I wanted her to.  Please, if you notice something like that and I’m too dense to key into it, I wish you’d tell me.”

“As you wish.”

“I don’t want to force anyone to do anything they’re uncomfortable with.”

“I appreciate that.”

I hadn’t meant specific to him, but I guess the blanket statement did include Rob.  “What about you?  Are you looking forward to seeing some of your old friends again?”

“Could be good for a laugh, but I don’t expect I’ll have much time for visiting.”

“You can have a day off anytime you want.  You don’t have to stay glued to my side.  Say the word and you can go wherever on your own.”

“At Vetis?”
He made a sound somewhere between a snort and a laugh.  “That’s a joke.  That’s the last place I’d leave you alone.”

“I won’t be alone.”  I meant I’d have Gunnar and Felix and probably at least a handful of other protectors around me at any given time, but I could tell from the look on his face
that his thoughts immediately ran toward a certain broody vampire cop.

“True enough,”
he said, his gravelly voice tight.  “I’ll leave you to it.” 

“I didn’t mean…”
But he was gone.  “Bishop,” I whispered to the empty room.

Bishop. 

Now that I was practically on his doorstep, the anticipation of seeing him again swelled higher than the political scrambling I’d surrounded myself with since becoming Elder.  I could only imagine what he must think about the way I’d landed the position.  What would he say to me?  Would he be cold and distant, or read me the riot act?  Had he moved on, or was he as miserable as Jenessa would lead me to believe? 

In the end I decided it didn’t much matter.  We were on two different paths that kept leading farther and farther away from each other.  The paths might intersect sometimes, but they were far too twisted and windy to ever merge or even run parallel.  Still, for the first time in a while, it was Bishop’s face I saw in my dreams as I drifted off to sleep. 

It didn’t add up.  No matter how Bishop looked at the reports, they didn’t match the numbers on the census.  Not that he was supposed to even have access to the sensitive information until the formal count was released, but what Corley didn’t know, couldn’t hurt him.  Keeping an eye on the Warden of Vetis was more important to Bishop than observing political niceties.   

It didn’t make sense.  The swelling vampire population weren’t transplants or even transients, their papers all marked them as locals.  But there were way more vamps than there should be according to the Order’s records. 
Bishop wondered what the hell Corley was up to, because he had no doubt in his mind that the Warden was behind it, whatever was going on. 

Sylvius barely roused himself these days, keeping mostly to his suite of rooms.  A sighting of the reclusive Elder was becoming rarer than a blood moon. 

Corley had to know the Order would notice eventually.  Or was there simply a rise on forged documents?  If they were forgeries, they were good ones, close enough to fool the Order unless you knew what to look for.  Angel hadn’t mentioned it if she’d noticed an increase in vampire numbers lately, but he hadn’t wanted to go to above her head with anything until he was absolutely sure what was going on.  Bishop was good at spotting patterns in the chaos, but for the moment he was still collating data.       

A sharp rap sounded on the door to his room and Bishop barely looked away from the report.  “Come in,” he called out absently. 

Fisher hovered near the door, uncertainty cloaking his features.  Dressed in a Navy watch sweater and dark cargo pants, his blue eyes held less of their usual twinkle.  In fact, he looked downright skittish.  Bishop didn’t have time for games, and basically ignored the younger man until he spit out what he’d come for.

“I’ve got the updated guest list for the Gatherin’,” Fisher said at long length.

“You could’ve emailed it to me.  Go ahead and set it on the desk, thanks.”

Fisher reached up to scratch the back of his head.  His brown hair was high and tight on the sides, but long bangs fell over his brow, obscuring his eyes.  “I think ya should have a gander at this.”

“Why, is there a problem?”

“No a problem exactly…” he hedged, and Bishop swiveled around in his chair to face the man. 

“What is it?”

“Have a look at who the new Elder is for the West.” 

Bishop accepted the print out, his brows rising in surprise.  “They picked a new Elder?”  It made sense they’d want to have someone in place before the Gathering.  “Is it Marcus or did Holt decide he’d had enough of the council for a change?”

“Neither.”

Bishop waited, but that was all he’d say.  Letting out a long breath, he scanned the list himself until he found the party from the West, his eyes sticking over one name.  Anja Gudrun.  So Anja would be coming, would she?  He should have anticipated it, she’d made friends with Felix and…

“Anja is the new Elder?” he blinked, catching sight of her title only moments later.  “How the hell did that happen?”

“Beats the stuffin’ outta me,” Fisher shrugged.  “I thought ya should know is all.  I take it she dinnae call and tell ya herself?”

“No,” he said shortly.  He hadn’t spoken with her since the time she’d called him from his own apartment.  Since then he’d gathered in a roundabout way that she’d moved out and found her own place with Maggie and Ellie and a pair of bodyguards since accepting the Jarl position, but that was the last he’d heard about her. 

“Well, that’s quality news, ain’t it?” the younger vampire beamed.  “Could no have happened to a nicer lass.  It’ll be pure magic to see her again.”

“Yeah.”  Magic with a side of misery.  As much as a part of him yearned to see Anja – just to be near her instead of a half a world away – the smarter side of him knew it was a disaster waiting to happen.  She couldn’t possibly hope to pull this off and he wondered if Felix had put her up to it
, or if it was her own harebrained scheme. 

“Shall I see that arrangements are made to put her in the Swan room again?”

Memories of waking up next to her in that great big bed snuck in past his defenses, remembering her long hair fanned across the pillow in a golden halo.  The taste of her lips, the luscious scent of cloves and the softness of her skin…

“Sir?”

“What?”

“The
Swan room?”

Bishop cut off that train of thought with a jolt, forcing it back into the lockbox of hurt he kept deep inside.  “That’s not your job anymore, we’re done being Corley’s lackeys.  I’m sure they’ll put her in the appropriate accommodations.” 

“Right ya are,” Fisher nodded, hovering.

“Was there something else?”

“Nae… it’s just… I thought you’d be chuffed as anything to hear she’s coming back, if ya doona mind me saying so.”

“It doesn’t have anything to do with me one way or the other,” Bishop said grimly.  He couldn’t let it mean more than any other delegate coming to the Gathering.  Nothing had changed between them, they had no hope of a future together.  Spending time mooning over her would be nothing more than an exercise in futility.   

“I, for one, am glad to see her faring so well.  Makes me almost wish we’d some part in the security again.  I wouldnae mind spendin’ the time with her.” 

He wasn’t sure why, but Fisher’s sunny optimism started to really get on Bishop’s last nerve.  “You can always resign and go work for Brody then, if you’d rather.  Otherwise, I have a task for you that’s more in keeping with our charter, if you don’t mind?”

“Och, ya know I’d never do that, Bishop.  I’ll be pleased to see the lady is all.  What have ya got for me?  I can’t think we’re having more trouble on the east side again, are we?”

“No, this is something else.”  Bishop hesitated for a moment, but he needed to bring
another person in on this, and he trusted Fisher.  “I want you to go to town and start doing some random checks of papers.  Any vampire you spot, get their data.”

If Fisher thought it an odd request, he gave no sign of it.  “Should I have them
queue up at the usual haunts then?”

“No, let’s keep it more subtle than that.  Don’t approach anyone inside the hangouts, but out in the parking lot or on the street is fair game.”

“Is there any reason I should give for stopping them in particular?”

“No, you’re with the Order, you don’t owe them an explanation.  You have a right to see their documentation at any time.  Get as many chips scanned as possible, but if you come across paper documents, I’ll want a pic as well.” 

“What am I looking for?”

“I’m not sure.  Common threads… names that appear too often for probability’s sake.  There should be a fair mix of names involved with granting petitions for progeny over the years across our population.”   

“You think there are forgeries afoot?”

“I’m not sure, but I’m hoping if we get a good cross-section of scans it’ll give me a clearer answer of what I’m looking for.  Just send me the raw data at the end of the week, and I’ll do my best to assemble it into something usable.” 

“I think I can handle that,” Fisher agreed with out hesitation.  “Should I bring Pitch and Rush in on it as well?  We’ll be able to cover a lot more ground that way.” 

Bishop considered it for a moment, but rejected the idea.  “
No, let’s keep this between you and me for now.  If there is something to it then we’ll bring in more people.”  The right people.  Just as soon as he figured out who they were. 

* * *

It was hours later when he made it back to the mansion, throwing himself into his work with a renewed passion.  He’d done it before, living his life only for the job in the belief that he served a purpose.  It was simpler that way.  Down time meant too many opportunities to think about things that could never change.  It was the same after Carys died, he…
What was he doing thinking about her?
 

Bishop changed his course, veering away from the blocky cells they called personal quarters to the gym for an added workout.  Only once he was drenched in sweat, his muscles literally shaking with the effort to continue
, did he slow down.  It wasn’t enough though. 

It was never enough.

How many nights had he punished his body the same way, trying to find that elusive state of being where Anja eluded his thoughts?  Maybe he should have asked her to compel him to forget about her because he for damned sure couldn’t get her out of his head.  Even now, when all he wanted to do was roll onto his bed and chase oblivion, she wormed her way back into his thoughts.  As he lay on the hard bunk, his thoughts went back to those first days.  The way she’d felt, all cold and broken, trembling with exhaustion that first night after he’d guided her through her transition.  The way she’d first looked at him with new eyes.  The way she’d made him feel like there was more to this life than duty to the Order.

Maybe he was being an idiot.  Maybe he shouldn’t care if it was all an illusion
.  Was it any less real if he felt those things deep in his heart and soul?  Because it was the happiest he’d ever been, even with Carys.  Maybe he should… suck it up and stop obsessing over a woman.  That couldn’t be healthy. 

Somehow his cell phone had wound up in his hand, Anja’s picture smiling up at him.  Jesus Christ, he didn’t even remember pulling it up.  For long seconds, he allowed himself to stare at the picture, imagining what she might say if he called out of the blue.  He could call to congratulate her on her new position, there was nothing out of the ordinary about that. 

Instead he called Mason, his only lifeline to the world he’d left behind. 

Mason answered on the second ring.  “Hey, brother, long time no hear.  How’s things in the future?”

“They’re good,” Bishop replied, losing his nerve at the last minute.  Instead of asking about Anja, he kept it all business.  “Listen, I wanted to ask you, have you noticed any increased numbers lately?”

“Don’t get me started,” Mason snorted.

“You too?” Bishop sat up to lean against the wall.  He hadn’t been expecting that at all.  “I thought it was just here in Vetis.”

“Wait… she’s messing with your population too?”

“Who is?”

“Anja.  Isn’t that who we’re talking about?” Mason asked, much to Bishop’s confusion.

“Ah… I didn’t think so.  I’m talking about a swell in the vampire population here.  As in way above and beyond the usual increase we’d see since the last census.  What would that have to do with Anja?”

“Oh.”  The line went silent as Mason paused.  “Nothing, I guess.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about your girlfriend.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Bishop growled.

“Sorry, I know she’s moved on and that’s gotta blow.  I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“How do you know she’s moved on?”  Was Anja seeing someone else? 

“It’s not like we’re best buddies anymore, or even talking much these days, but I hear things from Hanna.”

Bishop knew he shouldn’t ask, it was none of his business, but he couldn’t help it.  “Things like what?”

“Like she hooked up with Jakob pretty
fast after the two of you called it quits.”

He’d always known she’d go back to him, he just thought it might take a little longer. 

“But that’s over and done with,” Mason continued.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that.  The ties with a Sire… those don’t just go away.”

“Riiight.  Hey, Bishop…” Mason said slowly, as if searching for the right words.  “Not that I don’t enjoy playing gossip girl with you, but I’ve gotta get out there.  We’re spread pretty thin out here these days.  Frost has most of us up in San Francisco to handle the unrest since Anja took over.”

Bishop’s brows drew together.  “There’s unrest about her becoming Elder?  I thought the locals accepted her as one of their own.”

“Are you kidding me?  They fucking love her.”

“Then what…?”

“It’s the Order that’s taking it in the seat.  Every vampire on the street is suddenly filled with righteous indignation if we so much as question them.  I’m half afraid if I show my face up there alone on a street corner, I’ll be jumped by a bunch of goddamn vigilantes.” 

“People are turning against the Order?”  Bishop’s jaw went slack.  What the hell was going on down there?

“Let’s just say it’s a good time to keep my secret Order tattoo under my tighty whities and leave it at that.  I’m glad I’m beating the streets in the Silicon Valley.  Things are way more casual down here.”

“I don’t get it.”  Bishop couldn’t help but scratch his head.  “The general population always feared us, but there was respect.  What happened to that?”

“It’s a whole new ball of wax now, buddy.  Your… um, Anja encouraged people to speak out against injustice, as she calls it, and now every Tom, Dick, and Harry thinks they have the right to a voice.  If this keeps up, we won’t be able to keep order around here, there are only so many of us to go around.”