Tempt Me When the Sun Goes Down (31 page)

“You can be mad at me all you want,” Lee started to say.  “And I know it ain’t none of my business who you settle your charms on, but…”

I leaned up on my tiptoes and kissed him on the raspy cheek.  “Thanks, Lee.  You’re always looking out for me.”

“You bet, darlin’,” he smiled, relieved.  “You wanna tell me what’s got you so rattled?  I listen pretty good for an old fella.”

“No thanks,” I sighed, not wanting to broadcast my shame over Carys’ behavior or mine.  “I’m just glad you got there when you did before things got too far out of control.  How did you even know I was in the parlor?”

“Bishop came lookin’ for me, said you was upset and shouldn’t be alone.  Wasn’t too hard to track you down after that.”

“Bishop came to find you?” I blinked.  “But he didn’t tell you
why
I was upset, did he?”

“Naw, and I didn’t ask.  Ain’t none of my business unless you want it to be.”

“Thanks, Lee.  I think all I need now is some sleep and a gallon of water to chase this fuzzy head away.”

“I’ll say goodnight then,” he nodded, tipping his hat to me.  “Give me a holler if you change your mind and want to talk.”

I almost took him up on it.  I did want to talk, but somehow it felt weird to be talking about my love life with Lee.  Not that we weren’t close, but it was a different kind of a relationship, almost like the dad I’d always wanted but my own father was too reserved to be.  Maggie would be a good person to talk to, but noting the hour, I didn’t want to bother her.  If she was still up and around, she was sure to be having a good time with Tucker and she deserved that. 

Of course, it was much earlier back in the States.  I fired up the laptop, half expecting Carter to be out hunting, but he took my Skype call a few seconds later.  He looked the same as he always did, and I craved that normalcy, that constant in my life. 

“Hey, I didn’t expect to hear from you tonight.  I thought you had that big ritzy party to go to.  What are you supposed to be dressed as, a wraith?  You look like shit,” he smirked.

“Thanks.”  I couldn’t manage a snappy comeback, my head was still too foggy with alcohol and misery.  His expression changed when I didn’t insult him back though, a deep furrow appearing on his brow.

“Shit, what happened?  Say the word and I’ll come and get you.  I’ll stake that bitch, I don’t even need a reason.” 

“Oh, I have a reason, I have plenty of reasons.”  It all came spilling out, Carys’ compulsion and Rob’s betrayal.  I couldn’t really blame Bishop, he’d been up front with me about choosing to be with Carys after all.  Not that I blamed Rob either, but damn it, I was tired of being the one who wound up with the broken heart for all of these crazy shenanigans beyond his control!

Carter listened to it all without offering advice or commiserating the way a girlfriend would.  Instead, when I was done, he simply said.  “Fuck him.  Just forget all that bullshit and come home where you belong.”

“I know, I will.  I am.  Just not tonight.”

“When then?” he pressed.

“Tomorrow, I’ll leave tomorrow night.”

He was silent for a couple of seconds and then his head cocked to one side, watching me carefully.  “Promise me you won’t go trying to fix this.” 

“I don’t see how I possibly could fix any of this.”

“I know you, Anja.  You’re going to sit there and stew over this and decide it’s not his fault for treating you like shit, and you’re going to try to save him or some crap.  It won’t work.  Just leave it all behind and move on.” 

“It’s not his fault she compelled him,” I allowed, and he blew his top.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Anja!  Would you listen to yourself?  Maybe it’s not his fault, but it’s still a fucked up situation and you need to steer clear of it.  Promise me you will.” 

It might be messed up, but I couldn’t make that promise.  “I can’t just leave Rob to her clutches.  I mean, don’t I have some rights as his Sire?  Or not even as his Sire, but I claimed him.  Doesn’t that count for something?”

“Don’t even think about it.  She’s over seven hundred and fifty years old.  You may be a badass, but you can’t take her on by yourself.”

Maybe so, but she’d never had to fight for a single thing in her life.  Everyone always catered to her wishes, first because of her beauty and status, and later because of her compulsion.  I was willing to bet she’d have no idea what to do in a physical fight and I could use that to my advantage.  A plan started to form in the back of my mind, a slow plan thanks to the bourbon, but a plan nonetheless. 

Pulling my hair up at the temples, I started to braid it back for battle.  “There’s always a use for skill and finesse over age and brawn, isn’t that what you’re always saying?”

“Yeah, over the common vamp on the street, even some of the big bads.  But going up against her is suicide.  He’s not worth it.” 

“But that’s just it… he is.  Rob never would’ve ended up in her clutches if I hadn’t brought him into her life.  I’m the reason he’s in there playing hide and go suck.  I’m the one she hates, not him.  This is my responsibility.”

“Your first responsibility is to yourself, as in not getting yourself killed,” he retorted.  “Look, release your compulsion on me keeping me from England and I’ll come take care of it for you.  No muss, no fuss.”

“No way, if you came within fifty feet of her she’d compel you against me.  I don’t want you going anywhere near her.  Unless you’re up for a threesome with Rob.”

Carter made a face.  “I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.” 

I wound an elastic around the bottom of my braid and folded it under to make less of a handhold, securing it with two intricately carved chopsticks I’d picked up in Chinatown.  “Then stay put, I can handle it.”

“Ordinarily, I’d agree with you.  I’d be the first one there cheering you on from the sidelines.  But you’re not up for this one, sunshine.  Carys already hates you, don’t give her an excuse to end you.”

“I’m the one who’s going to end it.”  I took a long, deep breath, glad to note my head wasn’t quite as swimmy as it’d been before.  There was just enough left of my buzz to lend me confidence, but hopefully not enough to slow me down.

“Anja,” he tried again, leveling me his most sincere look.  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Relax, I got this.”

Prepared for whatever I’d find on the other side of that room, it still churned my gut to see Carys snuggled up against Rob’s chest.  “Get dressed,” I barked, slamming the door behind me. 

The pair barely acknowledged my presence, Carys didn’t even lift her head.  “What on Earth for?”

“Because you and I are about to settle this once and for all.”

“I thought I already had,” she smiled, kissing his chest. 

“You made your point, you can compel a guy into wanting you.  Big whoopdy do.  But I’ve claimed Rob as mine and that gives me certain rights.”

“And I have the privilege to challenge those rights.”

“Maybe so, but I have a right to respond to that challenge.”

Carys waved me away.  “You’ve already lost, accept it and move on.”

“No, he might not remember it right this moment, but Rob is under my protection.  If you’re so sure of yourself, why not release him from the compulsion and see who he chooses?”

“That doesn’t interest me in the slightest.”

“Fine, then you and I are gonna go, right now.”  I wiggled my fingers at her in a
come at me
gesture.  “You and me,
mano a mano.
”

Her forehead puckered in confusion.  “Hand to hand?”

“That’s right.  Unless you’re afraid to fight me.”

“Why would I be afraid of you?” she said with an indelicate snort.  “I’m your superior in age and skill.”

“Let’s go then, old lady.  Fight me.”

“You’ve been drinking,” Rob scoffed, sitting up higher in the bed. 

“Yep.”

“Stop this, you foolish bint.  I already told you, it’s Carys I love.”

“Only because she compelled you to.  Just stay out of it and this will all make sense in the end, I promise.”  I thought about sending him a compulsion to keep him safe, but it seemed like a stupid idea to compel him to save him from being compelled. 

Carys rose from the bed to pull on a short silk robe from Bishop’s wardrobe, one she’d obviously left behind before.  She faced me with absolute confidence.  “When I win, you will agree to leave Vetis and never come back.”

“Fine,” I agreed.  “But when
I
win, you’ll agree to release Rob from your compulsion and never do it again.”

“Agreed,” she nodded, an evil glint coming into her eyes.  “When I win, I’ll have the skin flayed from your body.”

“Enough of the trash talk,” I said, dropping into a fighting stance.  “It’s clobbering time.”

Only I couldn’t hit her.  I don’t know if it was my alcohol slowed reflexes or if she was
that
fast, but I didn’t come close to landing a punch on her.  Where the hell was my finesse when I needed it?  Probably in the bottom of the bourbon bottle where I’d left it. 

I was right about one thing though, Carys had no clue how to go on the offensive.  She made a couple of half hearted slaps in my direction and a grasp for my hair, but I was able to avoid those pretty easily.  I’d been afraid of this.  There was only one way to beat her, and it wasn’t going to be pretty. 

The next time she lunged at me, I let her catch me.  Carter was right about something too, Carys was
strong
.  Holy guacamole, did it hurt when her fingers dug into my shoulder, forcing me down to my knees.  I felt something snap in my shoulder and knew she could grind my bones into dust in the next few seconds if I didn’t act fast.

She easily deflected my hand from reaching up to shake her grip on me, but that wasn’t my target.  Instead, I grabbed one of the pretty chopsticks from my hair and slammed it into her bare foot, not stopping until I felt the tip hit the hardwood floor beneath.   

Carys screamed, the wood biting deep enough to cause incredible pain, but far enough away from her heart not to cause torpor.  In that instant I was free, and I jammed the other chopstick into her thigh for good measure.  Her hand curled impotently around the stick in her leg, in too much pain to pull it free. 

“There,” I huffed, catching my breath.  “I could’ve stabbed you in the heart, but I didn’t.  Do you give up?”

Instead of answering me, she turned to Rob, her eyes wide and tragic.  “Rob, help me…” she cried piteously.  Even doubly pierced by wood, Carys was still dangerous, especially with someone like Rob to do her bidding. 

Without a moment’s hesitation, he sprang from the bed, stalking me with deadly intent.  Even a little sauced, I was faster and stronger than him, but he moved with absolutely no uncertainty, whereas I didn’t want to actually hurt him.  I evaded a couple of his blows, but pulled my punches, keeping him at bay until I realized that Carys was working on removing the stick in her thigh, despite the searing pain.  If she got free, I’d lose any advantage I had. 

“Sorry about this,” I winced, delivering a shot to his tender bits and following up with a boot to the head that had him down for the count.  Carys had most of the slender stick worked free of her thigh, but a well placed kick buried it deep, so that only about an inch was visible.  “Do you give up?” I panted, slapping her hand away from trying to pull it free again.

Instead of answering me, Carys spewed a torrent of words that crossed several languages from the snatches I could recognize.  Or I don’t know, maybe she was answering me in her own way, but I couldn’t understand anything beyond her malevolent stare that told me she wasn’t wishing me a happy Halloween. 

I grabbed hold of the chopstick embedded in her thigh and gave it a twist.  “I feel like you’re not listening to me, so I’m going to repeat myself one more time.  Do you give up?”

“Do your worst, I will not yield,” she insisted stubbornly, a sweat breaking out across her forehead.   

“Do my worst, huh?” I considered aloud, trying to figure out how close she was to breaking.  “You’d be surprised what that worst might be.  I’ve spent time in the dungeons here at Vetis, so has Rob.  I don’t have a physical scar on me like he does, but it definitely changes a person.”

I pulled the chopstick out of her thigh, letting her catch her breath for a moment before I forced her head up and pressed it to the inside corner of her eye.  “Maybe a little torture would change you for the better?”

“Torture?”  She froze, trying to break free of my hold, but the wood through her foot kept her weak and pinned in place.   

“I mean, it’ll probably grow back, right?”  I jabbed harder, the tip of the stick slick with blood.  “It could take a while, and I’m betting it won’t be pretty.  Hey, I wonder if it’ll be the same color?”

Her eyes widened until the whites were visible all around.  “J-Jakob will be angry if you…”

“Jakob told me to take care of you on my own when I told him about the stunt you pulled,” I interrupted.  “I think he said something along the lines of – this being our way, the strong taking what they want from the weak.  Actually, maybe you’re right.”  I pulled the stick away from her eye before I gagged at the thought of accidentally puncturing it.  The only way this would work was if Carys actually believed I would go through with any of it.  “Should I show you what Volkov did to me?  What he did to Rob?  You’ve seen the scar, I’m sure…  Yep, there’s a poker right by the fireplace.  Should we go see how nice and hot we can get it?”

“I’ve done nothing wrong!” she wailed, fat tears falling as soon as I released her head.  Rob groaned from where I’d dropped him, rolling over on his side to watch us through slit eyes.  “All I did was take back what you’d stolen from me.”

“I’ve never set out to steal anything from you, but I will protect what’s mine.  Release the compulsion on Rob, or you’re going to find out first hand how far I’ll go to do it.”

“Fine!” she spat out.  “I don’t want him anyway, it’s Ulrik I want.”

“Is that why you compelled him too?”  I took a stab in the dark, wanting her to confirm what I’d come to suspect.  She didn’t reply, but I saw the answer written all over her face.  “I’m going to let you go so you can release Rob.  If you try anything, I will stab you through the heart without hesitation and ship you to Siberia in your own trunk.  Good luck getting anyone to love you when you’re a popsicle.  Do you understand?”

“I don’t know what a popsicle is, but yes, I believe I comprehend your meaning.”

“Good.”  I pulled the other chopstick from her foot, dropping into a defensive crouch, at the ready, but she merely collapsed with a shudder.  After a few deep breaths, she crawled on her hands and knees to Rob and held him by the chin.

“I release you from my compulsion,” Carys said, her voice sounding tired and hollow.  Rob lay back, blinking up at the ceiling as he sorted through his recent memories, and it was easy to see she’d done as promised.  “There, happy now?” she asked, pushing herself up slowly to her feet, chin coming up as she tried to salvage what was left of her pride.   

“I’m not your enemy, Carys,” I said softly.  “You know it isn’t real if you have to compel them to love you though, right?”

She turned and limped out of the room without another word. 

I immediately rushed to Rob’s side, hoping I hadn’t hurt him worse than I’d thought.  “Hey, are you alright?  Here, let me help you up,” I offered, but he sat up without my assistance. 

“I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?  I clocked you in the head pretty good.”  Not to mention his jumblies. 

Rob stood and plopped down hard on the bed, his hand going to the back of his head.  “Yeah, I’m sure,” he said, covering himself up with a sheet as an afterthought.  I perched on the other end, wishing for another drink as I had the beginnings of a headache behind my left eye. 

“Are you really okay?  I mean, not just where I hit you, but with what happened?” I ventured after a few minutes of silence. 

“Why didn’t you tell me? I ain’t immune to compulsion no more?” he asked instead.   

It was a good question, I wished I had a good answer.  “I didn’t know how to.  You had so many other issues to deal with.  And to be honest, I didn’t want it to change things between us.”

“It wouldn’t have.”

“That’s easy for you to say, but it ripped apart Bishop and me.”

“I’m not Bishop.”

“I know,” I murmured.  What would Bishop think about what I’d done?  Was Carys off crying to him at that very moment?  Was he giving her some of this blood to heal her?  What if she sicced him on me?  Would I be able to fight him if she compelled him to kill me?

“Thank you for what you done for me,” Rob said, pulling me from my reverie.  He still wouldn’t look at me, but I nodded all the same. 

“It was the right thing to do.  I couldn’t leave you to that, that…  No matter how much you seemed to be enjoying yourself.”

His forehead pinched with pain.  “About what happened here tonight…”

I held up my hand, cutting him off.  “I know it wasn’t your fault.  She compelled you, I get that.  This isn’t like last time at all, so please don’t feel like you have to beat yourself up about it.  I know exactly who’s to blame.”  He made a move to draw closer to me and I flinched away, despite my words of acceptance. 

“That doesn’t mean I’m comfortable with you touching me with her scent all over you.”  The perfume of sex still hung heavy over the bed, and the sheets were stained with blood.  Maybe somewhere else I could get the image of them together out of my mind, but not sitting right on top of the scene of the crime. 

“Can’t seem to stop hurting you,” he mumbled, slumping to one side, and that’s when I realized how dead tired he was.  It was way past his bedtime, no wonder he was so groggy and out of sorts.  I thought about helping him to our room, but he was already passed out, and my shoulder wouldn’t be able to support him well without a snack.  So I eased him down onto the bed, pulling the sheet up over his chest. 

“Get some rest, Rob.  Things will look brighter when the sun goes down.”  I watched him sleep for a few moments before pulling out my phone to send the promised message to Carter.  While I probably should’ve gone back to my room to Skype him, I didn’t want to have to listen to his lecture, so I texted him instead. 
It’s done, I’m fine.  You don’t have to get on a plane to Paris or whatever stupid plan you have cooking.

There was no response.

Carter?
I sent, not sure my first message had gone through.  Jeez, he’d better not actually be on a plane, I thought to myself.  Resolving to go try him on the computer if he didn’t reply in the next two minutes, I got his text moments later. 

That wasn’t cool.

He was more upset than I’d thought. 
I know.  You still love me though, right?

You owe me a new TV.

I wasn’t expecting that either. 
How do you figure?

I broke this one.

And that’s my fault why?

Because you make me crazy insane.

Ah.  And his poor TV had paid the price.  Understandable, I supposed. 
Okay fine, I’ll buy you a new TV.

60”.  A good one too. 

Okay.

None of that Daewoo garbage, I want a Sony.

Fine.

A smart one that does all the extra streaming stuff too.