Tempt Me When the Sun Goes Down (25 page)

It was early yet, Rob was still asleep, and Maggie and I were sharing a drink in the Great Hall while Lee was off doing something wolfy with Tucker.  I thought it was sweet how he’d taken the boy under his wing, and Tucker flourished under his gentle guidance instead of Brody’s jerky attitude.  Jakob was tucked away in his suite with Nelleke playing nursemaid to him.  None of us were sure how long he needed to avoid vampire blood in order to meet the terms of the sacrifice for the curse, but he’d had a steady parade of humans to feed from since we returned to Vetis. 

Carys reclined on Aubrey’s throne with Bishop to one side of her and Aubrey on the other.  If it bothered Aubrey to see Bishop wrapped around Carys’ finger again, he gave no sign of it.  Maybe he was used to it, or didn’t want to lose face in public.  I took a page from his book and ignored them the best I could.  Jealousy schmealousy.  For all intents and purposes we were one great big happy family. 

“I have decided I wish to be Elder of Vetis,” Carys declared spreading her skirts out to drape to perfection across her legs.  We all looked up at her and a polite tittering of laughter sounded, but I don’t think any of us honestly thought she was serious.  Who says something like that?

Aubrey was the first to recover.  “Your wit is still sharp as ever I see,” he chuckled.  “You know you’ve never needed to hold office, luv.  You have only to ask, and five and twenty men jump to do your bidding, just like that.”  He snapped his fingers.   

“I’m quite serious,” she insisted, her expression serene.  “I’ve quite a yen to explore the yoke of power in this age.  You don’t have a problem with that, do you?”

He stared at her for long moments as the room got super quiet.  Finally, he forced a polite smile.  “No, Your Grace.  I think you’ll make a fine Elder.”  The death grip he had on the arms of his chair said otherwise though. 

Bishop’s eyes widened and he turned to meet my gaze, but didn’t say anything. 

“Can she do that?” I murmured to Maggie, who stood by my side, just as surprised by the declaration of power.  Was that really all it took? 

“I’ve no idea,” she whispered back. 

“You’ll stay on as my Warden, of course,” Carys continued.  “You seem to be doing a credible job of it thus far.”

“Thank you, Your Grace,” Aubrey nodded, going green around the gills.  I had the sneaking suspicion he’d still be doing all the work while she reaped the benefits of the title.  Bishop still hadn’t said anything, but he looked troubled as he sat by her side. 

“Lovely, it’s all settled then,” she beamed.  “And to prove I’m a benevolent ruler, we’ll have a ball, shall we?  We’ll invite everybody who’s anybody.  I’m dying to see who’s still around, and I’m sure they’re eager to make my acquaintance again.  Won’t that be fun, Bishop?” 
When had she started calling him Bishop?

“A ball?” he considered aloud.  “That’s actually not half bad.  It’ll be a good way for you to establish yourself, and there probably won’t be another Gathering for another fifty years or so.  Are you sure this is what you really want?”

“Of course it is.  You said yourself you can’t be at my beck and call all the time.  You’ve got your interests and so I must have mine.  This way I won’t miss you so terribly when you’re off running your Order and I’ll keep myself out of mischief.”

Ha, I bet. 
I could practically guarantee that Carys + Elder of Vetis would equal all kinds of mischief with a capital M.

“Thanks, I appreciate that,” Bishop smiled, leaning in to kiss her on the lips. 

Seeing as how I didn’t want to stick around to watch them make out, I turned to leave when I heard her call out my name. 

“Anja, you shall be my special guest at the party.”

“Me?”  I had to have heard that wrong. 

Carys held her hands out to me and I felt pretty much forced to approach her seat of power.  “Of course.  You were my inspiration for this venture.  You’re right, there’s no reason why a woman can’t take the same power a man does in this day and age.  I’ll be relying upon you to help introduce me to all the other Elders.”

“I can do that,” Bishop butted in.  “I’m sure Anja has better things to do than to stick around here and show you the ropes.  Between Aubrey and me, I’m sure we can point you in the right direction.”

Was he trying to get rid of me?  What happened to wanting to be friends?  Besides, as much as I wanted to avoid the train wreck that was Carys in office, I’d be obliged to attend the party if everyone else was going.  “Actually, I’d be happy to help introduce you to some of the other Elders,” I said, putting on my best diplomatic smile.  Maybe then I’d have a front row seat when she fell flat on her face. 

“Splendid!”  She clapped her hands together with glee.  “Shall we say tomorrow night?”

“I think that will be a tad soon, Your Grace,” Aubrey recovered his tongue and she shot him an unfriendly stare when he contradicted her.  Boy howdy, I did not envy him the job of Warden to her Elder. 

Bishop stepped in to smooth things over.  “I think what he means to say is, we need to give the others time to make arrangements to come to the party.  I’m sure no one will want to miss it, and some are coming from pretty far away.”  That seemed to mollify her, and I chimed in with my own two cents.   

“And you’ll want time to have a dress made for the ball, right?” I tried, appealing to her love of the spotlight.  “Something one of a kind?  I know the best seamstresses around.  I’m sure they’d be happy to drop everything and create a gown especially for you.”  For a fat paycheck, I was willing to bet.  “They’re quick, but they’d have to get here first.  And you’ll want Jakob to be up and around so you can be seen at his right hand, of course.”

“Ah yes, I hadn’t thought of that.  How clever of you to have,” she smiled her thanks in my direction.  “Indeed, I shall require something splendid.”  Carys tapped at her upper lip with a carefully manicured finger.  “Saturday next then?  Do you think that’s sufficient time?”

“Next Saturday.”  I did a swift mental calculation.  “That’s Halloween.”

“Let’s make it a fancy dress ball then!”

“That means a costume party, right?” I muttered to Maggie, who’d taken a position behind me and to the left.

“Yes,” she whispered back.

“Costumes are cool,” I allowed, though I knew everybody didn’t enjoy dressing up as much as I did.  “I’m not sure if the rest of the Elders will want to dress up or not.”

“Oh, I’m sure they’ll be enchanted with the idea,” she insisted.  “Might I borrow your girl?  She seems very capable and I’m certain Aubrey will make a muck of the preparations if left to his own devices.”

I looked to Maggie in time to see her eyes widen in surprise, and I gave her an inquisitive tilt of the head.  It was up to her if she felt like dealing with Elderzilla or not.  She gave a very small nod, and I turned back to Carys with an incline of the head. 

“Maggie will be happy to work with your staff to get the ball rolling, but I’m sure they’re more than capable of pulling off a fantastic shindig on their own.  The last one I attended was to die for.”  I caught Aubrey’s gaze, who was at once grateful for the plug, and contrite, because he knew as well as I did, I’d ended up shot through the chest.

“That’s one way of putting it,” Bishop snorted. 

Oblivious to the meaning, Carys gave me a dazzling smile.  “I knew I could rely upon you for help, sister dear.  This shall be the grandest ball the world has seen.”

All I could do was smile in return.  Yep, Carys and me, the best of friends. 
Cool beans on toast
. 

Poor Maggie set to taking notes as Carys led her around the hall, throwing out ideas for the party, each more outlandish than the last.  Aubrey trailed behind, trying to be kept in the loop, I suspected, rather than from any actual interest in the planning process.  I didn’t envy Maggie the headache she’d inherited, but I knew she’d be able to pull it off with her organizational skills. 

Bishop stepped up behind me, scrolling through something on his phone.  “I think you’ve created a monster.  You know she’s going to take this costume party theme way over the top, right?”

“Me?  She was a monster way before I met her,” I muttered, earning me a chuckle.  “Can she seriously do that? Declare herself Elder, like that?” I snapped my fingers.

“Pretty much,” he shrugged.  “There’s no council like there is in the West.  Anyone who’s strong enough can take over a territory or one of the Houses.  Most people don’t try because the Elders are usually pretty tough in their own right.  Carys lucked into it because Aubrey’s in power and she knew he’d step aside without any bloodshed.”

“That’s crazy.  What kind of basis for government is that?”

“Vampire law has always been based on survival of the fittest.”

“Which means you could end up with a total tyrant jerkwad that nobody can kill off.”

“It’s been known to happen.  The legend behind Vlad the Impaler wasn’t all Victorian romance, you know.  But that’s not the sole domain of vampires, all sorts of human dickweeds have risen to power over the years.” 

“That’s true, I guess,” I allowed.  “So anyone could kill Aubrey and take over as Elder?”

“Not anymore, they’d have to take Carys down, which means they’d have to come through me first to get her,” he grinned.  Jeez Louise, it almost looked like he’d welcome the chance to defend her honor or whatever, and I hoped like anything her big mouth didn’t land him in more hot water than he could handle.  Maybe he noticed my less than favorable reaction to that, or maybe he was still trying to get rid of me when he asked, “Are you sure you want to stick around for the party?  You don’t have to come just because she asked you to, you know.” 

“Oh, I know.  Of all the people in the world, I’m one of the few she can’t make do her bidding.”  Something made me want to stick around a while longer though, at least through the party.  While Vetis was a powerful house, it’d be good for her to see how she fit into the rest of the world.  “I don’t mind, I think I’d rather be there when she meets the other biggies in vampire society.  If I can help prevent World War III, so much the better, you know?” 

I expected him to laugh, but he considered my words.  “Actually, I think she’ll be pretty well suited for this.  She’s used to rubbing elbows with the big wigs, the intrigues of court, all that stuff.  Carys was always pretty cutthroat at that world.”

“I’ll bet she was.  Things have changed though, and it might be good for her to have a modern perspective on things.  Not that I’m a big expert at it by any means though.”

“You seem to do just fine,” he smiled.  “I just thought I’d give you an out in case you didn’t want to stick around.  I know she’s not your favorite person.” 

“I can tough it out.” 

“And I know better than most how unpleasant she can be when she singles someone out,” he added, lowering his voice.  “I wouldn’t overlook the possibility that she’s looking for a way to trip you up in public.  An easy way to cement her position in society is to tumble you from yours.”

“And this is the person you love?”  I hadn’t meant to criticize his choice, but he was the one who started talking smack about her, not me.  I couldn’t understand how he could love someone like her and someone like me.

I expected him to get all defensive, but instead his brow crumpled in confusion, as if trying to come up with an answer to the question.  “She’s not all bad,” he mumbled.

It was hard to suppress the snort at that measly recommendation.  Was that the best he could come up with?  “Wow, don’t get all gushy with the lovefest.” 

“I only meant that I know first hand that she can be… difficult sometimes,” he said, a touch stronger.  “But she has many other fine qualities.”

“Yeah, she’s a real peach,” I smiled tightly, changing the subject to keep him from listing her supposed fine qualities.  “Did you put it into her head to take up a hobby so you could go back to work?”

“Nope, she came up with it all on her own.  She’s trying, Anja.  It’d be nice if you gave her the benefit of the doubt.”

I held up my hands.  “Hey, I’m all kinds of benefitty, you’re the one who said she might be setting me up for a knife in the back.”

“I know,” he frowned.  “I wanted to make sure you weren’t walking into anything blind.  Your track record for parties here isn’t the greatest.”  His frown turned into a smirk and I smiled back at him.

“I’ll have to keep that in mind.  Maybe I can find a costume that comes with full body armor.”

“I can lend you all the body armor you want, courtesy of the Order.”

“Hmm, somehow I think me dressing up as a member of the Order after I helped get them banned from Vetis might be in poor taste.” 

“You can rest easier about that.  I’m working on deploying a permanent team here as we speak.”

“Ah, well then, I’d better let you get to it while Carys is distracted by her new project.  Hey, what are you going to dress up as, by the way?”

“I have no idea.  I’ll figure it out, I guess,” he shrugged.

“I’m thinking Carys might have a few ideas in mind if you don’t give it some thought,” I ventured.  I didn’t want him getting blindsided by her either.  Bishop must’ve come to the same conclusion as I did, as he blanched.