Hear Me When the Sun Goes Down (6 page)

“Whatever it is, it’s gonna have to wait until I’m out of booze.”

“Are you drunk?”

Bishop could hear the surprise in Mason’s voice, he could count the number of times he’d been blotto in front of his subordinates on one hand.  But Mason was more than that, he was his closest friend.  “Yep.”

“Things are that tough, are they?”

“You have no idea.”  He had no right to share what happened without being debriefed by Rome first, but Bishop told him the whole thing, starting with their arrest by Volkov and ending with Jakob completely eradicating the Order’s presence in Vetis.

“Are you fucking with me right now?”  Mason sounded like he was trying to decide if it was the liquor talking, or an elaborate hoax.

“I wish I was.”

“Jesus, I can’t even comprehend what that means.”  There was a long silence as Mason processed the news, and Bishop tipped the bottle up again.  “So, what are you doing now?  Gonna pack up and head for Rome?”

“I don’t know,” Bishop answered honestly.  “I’m finding it hard to toe the line anymore.  I’ve been doing it for hundreds of years and where has it gotten me?”  So emotionally fucked up he’d pushed away the woman he loved.  “Maybe I should quit altogether.  Go somewhere…”
He let out a long breath, where could he go?  Money wasn’t an issue, but he had no desire to do
anything
.   

“Hey, how about you just come home, man.  This is where you belong.  We’ll figure it out together.”

Part of that sounded good, being on familiar territory, but it also meant he’d have to watch Anja with someone else.  He wasn’t sure he was up for that.  “I don’t know what I’m going to do.” 

“We need you here, buddy.  That’s why I’m calling.  The shit is seriously about to hit the fan.  I swear Frost’s about a hair away from declaring martial law.”

“That bad, is it?”

“You have no idea,” Mason repeated his words.  “It’s like they’ve all been taking crazy pills, attacking us left and right.  It’s all we can do to play clean up and try to keep this shit out of the media, we can’t do our jobs at all.  Things are completely out of control.  Whatever you said to Anja about dialing it down, it didn’t work.”

“She’s not exactly taking my advice these days.”

“Well, can you turn on the charm and convince her to call off her commandos?”

If only it was that easy.  “They’re not
her
commandos.  She seemed to have no idea how bad it is back there when I brought it up.”  Had it only been a few days ago?  It felt like a lifetime. 

“Someone’s pulling their strings.  They’re way too organize
d for it to be vigilantes.”

Bishop sat in commiserating silence for a few seconds, his alcohol soaked brain taking longer to come up with an idea. 
“Maybe you guys should bug out for a while?  Let them have San Francisco, pull a strategic retreat to L.A. or maybe Sacramento until the dust settles?” 

“I don’t think that’s an option anymore.  We’re getting dangerously close to a real crisis here.”

Bishop let out a long breath, pinching the bridge of his nose for a moment to try and clear his head.  “Alright, I’ll talk to Anja then.”

“Thanks, man.  And remember, you’ve always got a home here.  Even if it is fucked up and on the brink of chaos.”

“Thanks, I’ll try to keep that in mind.”

It took him less than five minutes to run cold water over his face and make his way up to her rooms.  The thought of Rob sharing her bed made his fist hesitate before his knuckles rapped on the door, but Rob was still completely dressed when he answered it. 

“Yeah?”

“I’m here to see Anja, I have something to talk to her about.”

Rob’s brows twitched closer together.  “Something like you wanted to talk to me about earlier?  I’m not letting you upset her, bugger off.”  He started to close the door, but Bishop blocked it open with one hand.

“It’s not about that, it’s important.”

Rob sniffed the air in front of him.  “You’re bladdered.”

“Look, I just need a few minutes of her time.”

“She’s gone to bed,” Rob answered, not even pausing to consider the request.

“She’s going to want to see me.  It’s about what’s going on back home.”

“Whatever it is, it’s nothing that can’t keep until tonight, now sod off,” Rob said with a light shove at Bishop’s shoulder.

“You can’t keep her all to yourself, you don’t own her.”

Rob’s fist hammered out, catching Bishop squarely across the nose.  Bishop was too drunk to do more than stare at him stupidly.  It took long seconds to process the hit and for his own fist to cock back.  Rob looked positively giddy at the notion of a good, old fashioned, knock down fight.  But before Bishop could answer the punch with one of his own, he heard a deep, menacing growl as Tucker edged closer in wolf form, his ruff standing on end.  Bishop took a step backwards, cursing inwardly as he almost tripped over his own boot.

“You’re not wanted here.”  Rob’s arms crossed, and Bishop wanted to knock that smug look off his face, but some shred of self preservation had him stumbling down the hall in retreat. 

“Tell her…” 
You’re not wanted here.
  “Ah, fuck it… never mind.  Forget I was here.”  He waved it off, going back to pursue the bottom of the bottle.

I lay in bed, running through my last conversation with Jakob to see if maybe I’d read too much into it, when the sound of angry voices had me up and tugging on my robe.  But by the time I got to the sitting room, all I saw were Rob and Tucker standing by the door. 

“Was someone here to see me?”

Rob’s brows drew together when he spotted me.  “You’re meant to be asleep.”

“I thought I heard Bishop’s voice, was he here?”

“He’s had a bit too much of the sauce.  Whatever he had to say can wait for sundown.  Back to bed with you.”

Bishop was drunk?  That didn’t sound like him at all.  Sure, I’d known him to take a drink when the chips were down but… whatever it was, must’ve been
pretty bad if he’d shown up hammered.  “What if it’s important?”

“Ain’t nothing more important than your rest right now.”

“Do you honestly think I can fall asleep after that?” I snorted.  “Maybe it has something to do with the Order.  Let me see what he wants.”

Rob stepped in front of me to block my way and my brows came up in surprise before they pulled back down to study him more carefully.  Something was definitely up.  His muscles were all tense and bunched up, his hands making fists. 

“Is there some reason why you don’t want me to talk to Bishop right now?”

For a second it looked like he was going to lose it, but instead I watched Rob assert his self control.  His shoulders eased, fists softening and then disappearing altogether, and his voice was utterly calm as he replied.  “No, miss.  I’ll have Tucker fetch him for you straight away.”

Where was this coming from?  If he was trying to diffuse my interest in talking to Bishop, his rapid mood change had the opposite effect.  “No, don’t bother.  I think I can use a short walk before bedtime.”  Rob moved to come with me and this time I was the one to block him from the door.  “I can find him on my own, thanks.”

“You shouldn’t be roaming the halls without protection.”

“I’ll take Tucker with me then.  Unless you feel like telling me what this is all about?”

His eyes darted to the wolf’s back and back up again.  “No, miss.”

Whatever it was he didn’t feel like talking about it with Tucker present, that much was clear.  “I’ll be back soon,” I said in a softer voice, laying a hand on his shoulder before I opened the door.  “Come on, Tucker, help me find where Bishop disappeared to.”

It didn’t take long to track him down, Tucker’s sensitive nose picked up Bishop’s scent right away.  The reek of alcohol hit me as soon as I opened the door and I spotted Bishop kneeling before the fireplace, picking up chunks of broken glass.  Tucker trotted to the far side of the couch, sniffing the floor carefully.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, shutting the door behind me. 

“You mean apart from the obvious?”  There was a trace of amusement in his voice, but not behind his eyes when he looked up from the mess.

“I’m sorry, I know it’s been a rough night.   I just wondered if something new…”

“Turned me into a sloppy drunk?  Ah, shit…”  His sharp intake of breath came an instant before the tang of his blood filled the air, a sliver of glass embedding into the palm of his hand.

“Here, let me.”  I rushed to his side, taking care not to step on any of the glass in my slippered feet.  “Hold still…”

“It’ll be fine.”  Bishop tried to pull away, but I fought to keep his hand in mine.

“Right, it will if you stop being a dumbhole and hold still.” 

“Sorry,” he said with a lopsided grin while I fished the piece of glass out and held the wound together so his body could knit it closed.  In a few seconds there was nothing left but a smear of blood, and he pulled his hand free from mine.  “Thanks.”

“I’ve never seen you like this before.”

“Humpty Dumpty’s got nothing on me.  See, I do know some children’s stories.”  His grin was still loopy like he’d made a joke, but I couldn’t follow it. 

“Huh?” 

Bishop lurched to the couch and flopped down with a heavy sigh.  “A man can only take so much before he breaks.  And stays broken.”

That, I could understand.  He’d lost a lot over the past twenty-four hours.  Sure, we’d both been tortured, but I still had my friends to support me.  He’d lost much more than a job when Jakob sent the Order packing.  I settled beside him, covering his hand with mine.  “You won’t always feel broken.  It’ll get better, I promise.  I’m sorry about your friends.”

He looked down at our joined hands, green eyes glistening before they squ
eezed shut and his head tipped back on the couch.  There was a slight slur to his voice when he spoke, but it didn’t lessen the pain there.  “We lost a lot of good men today.  Men who would sooner cut off their own hand than do what Volkov did to you.”

“I know.”  I didn’t blame the Order for Volkov’s actions, that was Jakob’s deal.  “What do you think the Order will do now that Volkov is dead?  Will they retaliate?”  It couldn’t be a good thing to execute half the team in a fit of anger. 

“I don’t think so, no.  Not since it was Jakob who gave the order to kill them.”

“No one person should have that much power.”

“He’s not a person, he’s an
Ellri
.”

As far as I was concerned my statement stood, but after my talk with Jakob, I was starting to understand how much in the minority my opinion was.  “Did the rest of your friends get away okay?  I didn’t have a chance to say good bye to Fisher.”

His eyes remained closed.  “Fisher will never leave this place.”

“Oh.  I didn’t realize.”  The silence stretched between us.  “I’m sorry.  He was a nice guy.”

A faint smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.  “He liked you, you know.  You should’ve seen how excited he was to hear about your election to Elder.” 

“I’m glad someone here was.”

Bishop’s eyes popped open, his head rolling to one side, the better to see me.  “I was happy for you too, just…”

“Afraid I’d go down in a ball of flames?”

“Afraid you’d end up hurt or worse.  That’s all it ever was.  I never thought you couldn’t do the job.  And it needs you doing it, especially right now with everyone attacking the King’s Men.”

“What king’s men?”  He’d lost me again. 

“The ones that couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.  They’re having the hardest time and soon it’ll be too late.  And the only way to fix it will be with more violence and we’ll lose more good men.”  The slur to his voice grew more pronounced the more convoluted his web of words became. 

“I’m sorry, Bishop, I’m not following you.”

“I’d follow you though.  They all would.  That’s your gift.”  He reached up to touch my face, but overshot the move, almost crashing into me before I caught him by the shoulders and pushed him upright again. 

“What happened to your shirt?”  I noticed for the first time the seams were split in two places.

“Oh, nothing.  A disagreement, nothing serious.  Can’t blame a guy for having a temper.”

“Who?”

“I’m the idiot, you know.”  He thumped his own chest.  “I threw it all away, even when you begged me for even a crumb of understanding.  I didn’t want to see it, I was too afraid.  Too afraid you were like her, but of course you’re not.  You never were, not really.  I should’ve trusted in that more.  I should’ve trusted you.”

“Bishop, you’re not making sense, but
you can trust me with anything. I hope you know that.”

“It doesn’t make any sense to me either, but there it is.   You’re right there, but I can’t have you anymore.”  I started to say something, but he waved me away.  “No, I know, it’s too late.  You’re already spoken for, even if he won’t do the speaking.”

I stared at him dumbly.  Did he mean Rob or Jakob?  “I think you should go to bed now, it’s getting late.”

“Share a drink with me.  Where’d my bottle go?”

“I think you’ve had more than your share.  Probably better to sleep it off.”

“I am a
bit tired,” he said, brow crumpled in confusion as if he couldn’t understand why.

“
The sun will be up soon, and you’ve drunk your weight tonight.  That’ll take a lot out of a guy.  Do you want me to help you down to your room or pass out in here?”

“You’re so smart,” he sighed, already starting to bring his feet up to the couch and I scrambled off to give him some room.  “And kind.  Not like her at all.”

I could guess who he meant by that, and it brought a smile to my lips as I helped him stretch out on the sofa.  “Get some rest, and I’ll talk to you tomorrow.  You should be fine in here with the blinds closed.”  Like most of the house, the windows and doors were equipped with black out shutters and drapes.

“Not like her at all,” he muttered, capturing my hand for a kiss before I moved away.

“Goodnight, Bishop.  Sleep deep.”

“G’nite, Carys.” 

I froze beside the couch.  Was that who his pickled brain thought he was talking to?  Was he regretting his lost chances with Carys? 
Son of a biscuit…

I left the room without another word, running smack dab into Rob standing in the hallway.  My hands fluttered away from his broad chest, worried someone might see us pressed together like that and get the wrong idea. 

“Oh, hey,” I managed to get out, still more rattled than I should be from my conversation with Bishop.  “You didn’t have to wait up for me, I had Tucker with.”

“It’s my job.”

There was something else there though, he’d been worried, I could see it in his eyes.  “Right.” 
Message received.
  “I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry about, miss.  Let’s get you to bed, you look knackered.”

“Actually… Tucker?” I turned my attention to the wolf at my feet.  “Would you mind staying with Bishop, just to make sure he’s safe sleeping up here?  I’d hate for someone to disturb him.”  Not that there was a ton of activity during the day, but there were human servants and werewolves that had the run of the place and Bishop would be vulnerable.

Tucker gave one chuff, slinking back through the door as I held it open.

“Thanks, buddy,” I called out to him softly. 

We ascended the main stairs in silence, and I could feel the sun growing higher in the sky, my steps growing clumsier until I started to feel a
trifle drunk myself. 

“Have a nice talk, did you?” Rob asked as we started down the deserted hall.

“I don’t think nice is the right word for it.  He’s in pretty bad shape.”

“Told you he’s still in love with you.”

So he
had
been listening in on the conversation, I’d wondered about that.  “I thought you promised not to suck so bad at eavesdropping.  Most of what Bishop said was incoherent rambling.”

“Not so much,” Rob said with a half shrug.  “He regrets not trusting you, he regrets losing his chances with you.”

“He was mourning his fallen comrades, that’s why he got so drunk in the first place,” I insisted.

“Then I guess we both took away different things from the conversation.”

I admit, I breathed a sigh of relief when we got to the suite and found Jakob still hadn’t shown up.  For a brief moment I wondered what kind of trouble he was getting himself into, but for now, I was glad to have a few moments alone with Rob. 

Only he didn’t have the same idea I did
as the door clicked shut and I reached for him.  Instead, he took a step backwards, his face schooled into a solemn expression. 

“I think… I think you should give Bishop another shot.”

I had to have heard him wrong.  “You can’t be serious.  Me and Bishop?”

“He can offer you protection I can’t.”

“I don’t see how.”

“Long as you’re spoken for, Jakob won’t press his claim.”

Was that all?  “He won’t press it now.  Not really.  His claiming me, it’s all for show.  He doesn’t expect me to actually be
his
while we’re in private.”

“If you believe that, you’re not half as smart as you think you are.”

I could see his point, but I couldn’t do that to Bishop, it would be the worst kind of cruelty to give him false hope if he did indeed want to get back together and wasn’t pining for Carys.  “If it’s all the same to you I’d rather not hide behind Bishop.  It’s not fair to any of us.”

“Fair don’t enter into it. This is about keeping you safe, pure and simple.”

“There’s nothing simple about using a man’s feelings for my own benefit.  If he even has feelings for me.  At this point I’m half convinced he thought it was Carys in there with him tonight.”

“Best not to listen to a man when he’s in his cups,” he allowed with a half smile.

“
Or
has an ulterior motive.”

“My only motive is to keep you safe.”

“Surely not your
only
motive…” I leaned closer, one ear listening for Jakob’s step in the hall, the other distracted by the beat of his heart.