Release Me When the Sun Goes Down (27 page)

“I certainly will.  Now off you go.  Fly, tiny blonde one, be free.”  His fingers waggled at me, shooing me away.  Lee and I got halfway down the flagstone path before the rest of his words reached my ears.  “While you can.”

“Where have you been?” Rob demanded the instant we walked through the door.  So apparently he’d noticed I’d gone out for a while.  I wasn’t trying to avoid the question entirely, but I couldn’t help trying to sidestep some of his anger. 

“Hey, have you been up long?” I smiled, but he wasn’t having any of it. 

“Answer the question, where have you been!”  In one smooth movement, he picked up a vase and hurled it into the wall hard enough to pulverize it, denting the drywall in the process.  I guess I chose the wrong way to diffuse that anger, huh?

Lee stepped up between us, his hands coming up in a supplicating gesture.  “Calm down, amigo,” he said in a soothing drawl, but Rob wouldn’t be calmed.

“This is between me and her,” he said, trying to step around him, and Lee stepped with him, blocking his way.

“No
t when you’re all worked up like this it ain’t.”

Rob’s hands balled into fists, and I swear I could hear his knuckles creak from the stress of clenching them.  Maggie had gone pale as a ghost, her eyes wide with fright.  Things were about to get out of control big time if they both didn’t take a step back.

“It’s okay, Lee,” I said softly.  “He won’t hurt me.”

“Course I won’t hurt you,” Rob spat out in disgust.  “But I got a right to know.  You went to see him again, didn’t you?”  My tongue darted out to moisten my lips, and I nodded slowly.  “
Are you fucking kidding me?”

Lee laid a hand on Rob’s shoulder.  “You better cool down or we’re gonna have to take a walk outside.”

Rob pushed against him, instantly belligerent.  “You think you can cool me, yeah?”

“I think I can,” Lee said with the weary knowledge of someone who had nothing to prove.  Was he
actually that good?  I knew shifters were strong, but Rob wasn’t without skills of his own.  Still, it wasn’t something I wanted to find out with a demonstration. 

“Guys, I’d like to have a word in private with Rob.  It’ll be
fine, Lee, I promise,” I added when he looked like he might argue.

“That ain’t our arrangement, darlin’.  You hired me to protect ya, and that’s what I aim to do, no matter what.”

“Still, you take Maggie out for that walk now.” I sent a burst of compulsion along with it, knowing Rob wouldn’t be able to back down from another challenge and I didn’t want to be the cause of problems between them.  They went, Maggie darting me a last worried look over her shoulder and I did my best to give her a reassuring smile.

“I wouldn’t never hurt you,” Rob said, pleading with me to understand that.

“I know, that’s why I’m not afraid to be here with you now.”

“Don’t mean I ain’t agro enough to spit tacks.  How could you do it?  How could you put me through worry like that?”

“Better you live to worry than don’t live to see another sunset.”

“That should be my choice!” he yelled, his fist slamming onto the table behind the door, sending a small artificial flower arrangement crashing to the floor. 

“Calm down!” I ordered, and to my utter surprise, he did.  The tension went out of his shoulders and the upset still registered in his eyes, but the anger was gone.  Instead of relief, all I felt was a flare of panic. 
Oh no…
had Rob’s transition killed his immunity to compulsion?  “How do you feel right now?” I asked, studying him warily.

“Bloody useless, that’s how I feel,” he replied, but there was no edge to his voice. 

This time I tried to grab hold of his will on purpose, shocked at how easily it was done.  “Rob, I want you to go into the bathroom and sit there.  Don’t argue with me, just do it.”  To my sinking horror he did it, disappearing from the room without a word. 

I went to the bar and poured myself a glass of aquavit, downing it in a single gulp, relishing the burn.  How could this have happened?  I’d been so happy not to have to deal with any of that compulsion worry and guilt like I’d had to with Bishop.  It’d utterly destroyed the trust between us.  Was my relationship with Rob doomed to repeat the same mistakes? 

Part of me wanted to talk to him about it, but in the end I completely chickened out.  Instead I found him in the bathroom, leaning patiently against the counter.  Catching hold of his will again, I did my best to erase the entire incident from his mind.  “Forget I asked you to go into the bathroom.  Forget I asked you to calm down. I want you to walk back into the living room with me and feel whatever you were feeling before I ordered you to do anything.”

Rob left the bathroom, that same blank look in his eye until we reached the living room and his brows bunched together in anger.  “There ain’t going to be much trust between us, you keep leaving me behind like that,” he scowled. 

There we were, back in the middle of the argument, but I couldn’t muster the same indignation I’d been running on before.  It was all I could do not to reach for his mind and smooth things over if it meant never having to see that betrayal in his eyes again.  But I couldn’t take that anger from him, he had a right to feel it, just like I had a right to try and explain my motivation for what I’d done. 

“Look, I’m sorry you’re upset, but
I’m not sorry I left you behind. I won’t put you in danger like that again.”

“
Do you think I could live if something happened to you and I wasn’t there to stop it?”

“
Do you think I could live if I brought you to see him and he killed you in front of me to make a point?  I already had to watch him do that once, I can’t do it again.”  My voice broke as the memories of watching him bleed out onto the pavement slipped in.  The blank stare, the slowing of his heartbeat, the desperate race to give him my blood.  I couldn’t do it again, I just couldn’t.  The tears spilled freely down my cheeks and this time Rob’s anger dissolved all on its own.

“There now, don’t take on so.  I’m here, ain’t I?”  He gathered me into his arms
, hands moving in slow, comforting circles over my back.

“Do you know how close I came to losing you forever?  I refuse to put you in the same danger again while Lodinn’s here all up in our business.  You can be mad at me all you want, but I’d rather have you hate me and be alive than watch you die.”

“I’d never hate you, Anja,” he soothed into my hair, his arms wrapping tighter around me.  “I understand you gotta do what you gotta do, just don’t expect me to be happy about it.”

“I know,” I sniffed.  “Please don’t be mad at Lee though, he was
only following orders.”

Rob shook his head.  “That’s as may be, but if he tries getting in my way again, him and me is gonna have words.”  The glower quickly dissipated, replaced by one of his usual half smiles.  “Though I might have to end up protecting you from him if he ever finds out you compelled him like you just done.”

If he only knew…  “Right.  I can see how that would be a hard pill to swallow.”

“Especially for him, not knowing he can even be compelled by our kind.” 

Good gravy, had he said a mouthful.  “Yeah.  I imagine that would be upsetting to learn,” I murmured, holding tight to his chest.  “Rob, did you ever wonder if you…”

The intercom by the door beeped long and steadily, jarring us from the conversation.  I let go of Rob, assuming it was security on the other end.  “Yes?”

“There’s a visitor to see you.”

“Who is it?”

There was a pause.  “Amunet of the Desert lands.”

“This should be interesting,” I murmured.  “Send her on up.”

The sultry brunette approached, every movement a study in elegant grace, a practiced smile on her deeply stained lips.  She wore a gown of peacock blue that matched the exotic makeup at her eyes and the wink of jewels at her throat.  Polished and poised, I was surprised to find her two young servants nowhere in sight.  Instead Chad stood at her side, looking positively dapper in a posh suit.  Didn’t he clean up well? 

“Welcome, Amunet.  What brings you here?”  I’d thought she’d already left town.

“I thought to pay my respects to Jakob before I took my leave of his city.”

“He’s not here and technically it’s my city, but that’s neither here nor there
.” I waved the distinction away.  “Are you going back home or off to tour the rest of the country?  You probably should check out Disneyland if you have time, it’s pretty cool.”

“I am bound for my homeland, there is much to experience there as well,” she smiled up at
Chad, a hunger in her eyes as she wrapped her arm though his.  Chad smiled back at her, if a tad vacantly.  I felt a stab of worry for him.  More than likely, there was a level of compulsion built into his decision to accompany her.  Then again, there were worse things that could happen to a guy than to be whisked off to the exotic Middle East on the arm of a beautiful woman.

Her eyes settled on Rob for the first time, and I knew she’d picked up on his change.  “Rob… look at you, more handsome than ever.  The afterlife suits you.  Though I will miss some of your more human charms,” she said with a sultry smile.

“Thank you, highness,” Rob said politely and I resisted the urge to tear her perfect hair out strand by strand for the thoughts that were running through her mind.  Instead, I thought I might turn her chance visit into something I could use.

“He
y, since you’re here, I wonder if I might ask for your help on something.” 

“If I can be of service I am happy to help,” she agreed graciously.

“Great.  How familiar are you with the spear of Odin,
Gungnir
?”

I felt Rob’s interest beside me, but he remained silent as Amunet smiled.  “I have never seen it, but I am familiar with the legend of course.  The spear of Odin is said to be especially dangerous to our kind.  A single cut from the blade will never heal, no matter the treatment, so you need only strike once to render your enemy helpless.  It’s guarded by Maeja
, the virgin goddess.” 

So that was why Lodinn wanted to get his mitts on it.  It would certainly give him an edge in fighting Jakob.  “Why do they call her that?”

“I assume because she is chaste,” she said with a delicate shrug.  “Why do you wish to know about this?  The spear has not been seen in an age and none know its resting place.” 

“I wondered the same thing,” Rob chimed in.  “This seems an odd time for a history lesson.”

“Because Lodinn asked me to retrieve it for him when I went to see him tonight,” I explained as gently as I could.

“Lodinn is here?”  Amunet’s dark eyes widened in fear like a doe caught in the hunter’s snare.  She looked around the apartment fearfully, as if he might jump out from behind the couch at any moment.

“In town, yes.  Why, do you know him?”

“
I must be on my way now.”  She made a beeline for the door, towing poor Chad in her wake, and I chased after her.   

“Amunet, wait…
Why are you so worried?”

She was already to the elevators.  “Please, give my regards to Jakob.” 

“Wait, is there anything else you can tell me about Maeja or the spear?” 

“Ask your Sire, he’ll be able to tell you far more than I will.”  The doors slid open and she stepped inside. 

“That’s it?  That’s all you’ve got for me?  Ask Jakob?”

“I have only this to say.   Lodinn does not believe in letting power lay fallow.  If it’s the spear that Lodinn desires, you can be
lieve he will wield it.  I beg of you, do not retrieve it for him.  For all of our sakes.” 

“She’s right, we can’t give him a weapon of such power,” Rob agreed as we walked back down the hall.  “There would be nothing to stop him from cutting a bloody swath through the entire vampire world.”

“Yeah… um, newsflash, there’s not much keeping him from doing that now,” I bit back.  “Lodinn could be out there crushing spines willy nilly for all Jakob’s doing to stop him in his own territory – my territory, I mean.  Am I the only person who sees this task as a good thing?” 

“How could this possibly be a good thing?”

He didn’t get it, but Lodinn’s quest for revenge opened up the perfect opportunity we needed to end him.  “He wants us to retrieve the one weapon that can kill him?  Great.  Shiny.  Sign me up.  Now we have a chance of defeating him, don’t you see?”

“That’s your plan then?  Pop over to pick up this trinket, show up to hand it over and then shove it between his ribs?  You’ll never get close enough.  He’ll snap your neck and use the spear to slice your throat when he gets the slightest whiff of treachery.”

“Fine, then we let Jakob do it.  It’d give Jakob the same edge it would for Lodinn, wouldn’t it?  Heck, we could even ask Jakob to go get it himself.  He must know where this hidden valley is if he grew up there, right?”

“
Hey, that’s not half bad,” Rob admitted.  “But why hasn’t he gotten it before then, eh?  You’d think a weapon that powerful would’ve been his first stop once Lodinn started targeting him.”