Hear Me When the Sun Goes Down (7 page)

“Look at you, flirting with danger.”  His lips twisted into an admiring grin and I slid my hands up his chest, pressing perilously close.

“I thought I was flirting with you.”

“They’re one and the same.”

“Then I guess I’m a danger junkie, because I can’t seem to stay away from you.”  It was like we were magnets, the field around us pushing us together until our bodies collided, our mouths crashing together in a desperate kiss.  Until Rob grabbed my elbows to pull us apart, his chest heaving from the effort it cost him.

“Anja…” he hissed, eyes pressing tightly closed as he fought to regain his self control.

“I’m sorry,” I squeaked.  I knew it was a bad idea, I wasn’t a total moron.  But my self control was practically nil once I got too close to him.  “It’s just hard, you know?”

“Intimately.”  His eyes darted down and I followed them to the bulge in his pants.

“I can help you with that.  It seems only fair seeing as how it’s my fault, right?”

“The things you say…”  His lips covered mine again, matching my hunger.  But when my hand snaked down between us, he caught it deftly, holding me loosely by the wrist.  “We can’t, not here.”

“We’re all alone,” I pouted, craving his touch.  The air crackled between us, the heat of his body making me tingle all the way down to my toes.

“Not… here…” he bit out, holding his breath.  I did the same, trying to adopt his technique to cool off.  It honestly didn’t do a thing for me.  Then again, it wasn’t like I actually needed to breathe, so the physiology probably wasn’t the same. 

“Where then?” I asked when it got a smidge easier to think straight.

“I’ll think of something.” 

“Promise?”

I could see the war within him between safety and desire before the longing won out.  “Yes, I’ll find a way,” he pledged.  “In the meantime, go on with you, off to bed.  It’s been a long night.” 

I let go of him, but didn’t move more than a foot away.  “I hate to lose these few minutes of privacy.”

“Better to be far away from you when he finally comes in.  Best not to give him any reason to suspect you’re looking on me with anything but friendship.”  He crossed the room, holding open my bedroom door expectantly.  With a single nod, I shuffled to the bedroom, stifling a yawn as the day started to catch up with me. 

“Goodnight, miss.” His gravelly voice slid over me as I passed by.  Unable to resist, and leaned up to steal another kiss. 

“Good
night, Rob.  I hope you sleep well.”

“Not bloody likely,” he growled, pulling the door shut behind him.

* * *

I climbed into bed feeling much better about my chances with Rob.  Somehow we’d find a way to make it work.  He was right, it was stupid to get hot and heavy in the suite I shared with Jakob, but soon we’d find a way to have some alone time together, and that would have to be enough. 

Just before I fell into the deep, coma-like sleep that claimed me each day, I felt a light touch at my hair.  Thinking at first it was Rob’s hand, I froze when I realized it wasn’t his scent at all. 

It was Jakob’s. 

Had he changed his mind about me sharing his bed?  Keeping very still, as only a vampire can, I waited to see what he would do.  Jakob didn’t do more than stroke my hair, and once my cheek, right where the new scar was.  It felt like a very long time before he finally left, and only then did I let out the breath I’d been holding the entire time.  The question kept circling round and around in my mind as I slipped off to sleep – how long would Jakob be content with that simple touch?

There was no sign of Jakob in the suite the next morning.  Thankfully, my hormones were in check enough that I could greet Rob with a simple smile instead of tearing off his clothes with my teeth.  Though I did indulge myself for a few moments with that fantasy once it popped into my head.  What did I say about hormones?  It didn’t take much for them to kick into overdrive, and I deliberately tried to keep him at arm’s length, knowing we were both dangerously short on control whenever we were alone and within touching range.

Luckily, I didn’t have time to dwell on it overmuch as my duties reasserted themselves with a vengeance.  Felix called to say he’d lined up a meeting with both Faust and Erlendur later in the night, and Jennike had expressed an interest in touring the west coast sometime in the future.  Cool beans.  Having my gums scraped sounded like more fun than rolling out the red carpet for her, but I instructed Felix to set it up, and delay for as long as possible.  There were still too many unknowns about what was going on back in my neck of the woods.

Speaking of which, I took a call from Marcus, who had less than encouraging news about the erupting violence back home.  It had grown from belligerence to random acts of aggression that started to look not so random.  There were rumors that Byrne was behind them, but it was hard to pin down.  Nobody was talking. 

Marcus surprised me by being much more focused on personal concerns.  “I’m thinking maybe I should get Maggie out of town, for a while,” he
suggested.

“It’s
actually that bad?  She’s not a target, is she?  The Order has nothing against her, and I can’t think the rabble rousers would pay her much mind.”

“I’m more worried about her getting hurt in the crossfire.  The last time we met at the Hart there was an altercation on the street outside.”

“What kind of an altercation?”

“The kind where a car bomb tore apart Frost’s SUV.”

“There was a car bombing and you didn’t lead with that story?” I demanded.

“I told you it was getting more dangerous here.  No one was hurt, but I’m afraid the SUV will never be the same again.” 

“Holy smokes, what did the cops say?  I’m thinking this made the evening news, right?”  Why was this the first I was hearing about it?  I vaguely remembered Bishop mentioning something about unrest, but car bombs?  Did Felix know about this?

“Don’t worry, we were able to do some damage control and spin it as regular gang violence, but like I said, they’re getting bolder.”

“Cripes, at this rate I’m not going to have anything to come home to.”  Once the word got out about Jakob’s treatment of the Order it was likely to get worse too.  “Hey, have you heard from Jenessa lately?  Maybe you’d better get word to her about skipping town.  She’d be a more likely target than Maggie, I think.”  The rest of them knew how to take care of themselves, but the pretty doctor didn’t have those survival skills. 

“That’s a good idea, I’ll call her next, but Maggie is my first priority, she’s the most fragile.”

Interesting.  When had he gotten so close to Maggie?  “Do what you think is best, but I honestly think she’ll be safe as long as she stays in the house.  Maybe you should move in there too, at least until I get back home.”

“And when will that be?”

“I’m starting to think sooner than later.  The Gathering is still going and Felix has meetings lined up for me, but it won’t do me any good to set any accords if everything goes all
Mad Max
, will it?”

“You’re the boss.”  There was a note to his voice – he almost sounded as if he was gloating over something.

“You have something to add to that?”

“Not really.  Just
, I’m starting to believe being the Elder isn’t quite the bed of roses I thought it would be.  If I’d known I was going to inherit this kind of disorder my first year out, I never would’ve run for office.  Better you than me, boss.”

“Hey, if it was easy everybody would be doing it.  You’re still on my team though, right?  Or have you reconsidered the position?  I’m betting your corporate duties back in L.A. are looking pretty good right about now, aren’t they?”  I could understand if he wanted to head for the hills, but I hoped like heck he’d stick around.  I needed him.

“No, I made a commitment to you, I’ll see it through.”

“Thank you for that, I appreciate it.”

“So will you be coming home then?”

That was the question of the hour.  “I’ll have to get back to you when I know for sure.  Thanks for keeping me in the loop and thanks for thinking of Maggie.”  That was one less thing for me to worry about.  From the sound of it, Marcus would do his best to keep her safe.  The rest of the territory was my job.

It didn’t take long to get Felix and Bridget up there for a pow-wow, only he didn’t seem all that surprised to hear about the situation.

“You knew about all of this, didn’t you?” I demanded, more irked that he hadn’t bothered to tell me about any of it.

“Yeah, I get reports in from all the magistrates on a regular basis.  It’s not as bad as it sounds.  San Francisco is pretty much the only hotbed of activity right now, the rest of the land is running smooth as silk,” he replied easily.

“What the hell, Felix?  How could you not share this with me?”  What else was he keeping from me?   

“I didn’t want to bother you with it while you’re busy with Gathering stuff.”

“
In the future, will you please share any news that starts with cars exploding on my home turf?  That’s the sort of thing I need to hear about.”

“Sorry, boss, it won’t happen again.”  He looked suitably contrite, and I tried to remember he was used to handling these things on his own under Tommy’s reign, but it still bothered me more than I liked. 

Taking a deep breath, I moved on.  “The bigger issue here is, how bad is this?  It doesn’t seem like it’s going to blow over anytime soon.  If anything, it seems to be spiraling out of control.  It’s only a matter of time before someone gets hurt bad enough to attract the attention of Rome, and trust me, we don’t want to do that.”

Felix gave a careless shrug.  “Rome’s not really a threat right now, they’re too busy with their thumbs up their asses after what you did to Volkov,” he sniggered.

“You don’t think they’re going to replace Volkov?” Rob snapped.  “I can guarantee there’s someone ready to step in and fill that vacuum of power.” 

“Come on, boss, it’s not that serious.  Anyone taking over the Order’s got bigger things on their plate with the banishment from Vetis than our
tiny problem.  That’s the West’s greatest asset, nobody takes us seriously.”

He made a good point, but I couldn’t gamble on that to keep us out of their notice.  “Bishop says martial law is the next step if we can’t get things under control.  That sounds pretty serious to me.  We need to do something to show we don’t need their intervention.  Anybody got any suggestions?”

“Make an example of that Byrne guy, cut off his balls.  That’ll get their attention,” Bridget suggested with a playful waggle of the eyebrows.  At least I thought she was being playful.  She probably had it in her to be that joyfully bloodthirsty, especially since her association with Felix.

“That’s not half bad,” Rob agreed.  “Shut up the muckraker and the rest of the lot should fall into line.”

“I’m not cutting off anyone’s balls,” I winced, “but I do think it’s a good idea for Byrne and I to sit down for a small chat.”  It would only take a couple of minutes for me to compel him to knock it off and we’d be back on track.

“You bet
, I’ll put the word out.  We’ll round him up,” Felix promised.

“Put the word out to who?  We can’t use the Order, those guys are risking life and limb showing their faces right now.
” 

“I’ll handle it, trust me.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Felix, but I couldn’t help but feel he didn’t think it was as big of a threat as he should.  I almost got the feeling he got a charge out of it every time someone struck out against the Order.  “I’m wondering if we should be thinking about packing up and heading home to take care of this once and for all.”

“Leave now?”  Felix’s brows shot up.  “But we’ve got at least another week to go here, and now that Jakob’s back, it could last even longer.”

“That’s another thing.  I’d rather get this settled before Jakob gets back and decides to take things into his own hands.  We’ve all seen his brand of justice, and I’d rather not see more people executed.”  It was hard enough to watch with people I barely knew, let alone those I considered to be my friends.

Felix nodded slowly.  “It sounds like you’ve already made up your mind.”

“Not quite, but I’m definitely thinking about it.”

“
It’s your call, of course, just let us know what you want to do.  But I think it’d be a shame to waste the opportunities here.  We might not get another Gathering for fifty or sixty years.” 

“Noted,” I nodded at him.  “Bridge, what do you think?”

“I’m good either way.  But it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to go home and get my hands on a real burger again.  The crap that passes for food here makes me want to cry.”

Felix rubbed her back soothingly.  “I can get you a real burger, babycakes,” he offered.

“Aww, sweetie, you can ask for one, but they’re liable to deep fry it or bake it into a pie.”

I covered a smile at the exchange, trying to keep to the topic at hand.  “Rob?  Stay or go?”

“I’m for a return to the home front.  I’ll breathe easier once I’ve got you under the protection of the house spell again, and I can tell friend from foe.” 

That settled it for me.  “
Alright, I’ll try and have a word with Jakob tonight and sound him out.  This whole discussion might be a moot point if he decides not to let me go.  In the meantime, put those feelers out, Felix.  Let’s bring Byrne in and hope that cuts down on the more violent outbursts until we can get there and assess the damage for ourselves.”

“I’m on it, boss.  Don’t forget you got that meet with Faust and Erlendur at midnight.”

There was plenty of time to kill before then and I didn’t protest when Felix and Bridget left to start putting things in motion.  That left me alone with Rob, which suited me fine. 

“Do you think I’m doing the right thing in going home?  I mean, apart from putting me in a safer position, is it a good idea to leave before the Gathering is over?”

Rob’s hands rested on my shoulders, his thumbs offering a reassuring stroke.  “I think you should go with your gut, trust your instincts to know what’s right.  Right for you and right for your people.”

“What if I make the wrong decision?”

“Never happen,” he said with a half smile. 

“I’ve got some time to kill before my next meeting.” 

Right on cue there was a knock at the door.

“Maybe we could go for a walk or something?  Try to find a
spot of privacy?” I leaned close to whisper.

“I had an idea about that.”  His voice rumbled low, by my ear.

“I’m listening.”

“I think you need to go hunting.”

“Like on horseback?”  My brows drew together in confusion.

“Naw, in the city, you silly chit.”

“But… I don’t need to eat.”  I knew from past experience that Jakob’s blood would tide me over for a couple of weeks at least. 

“Course you do.  Wouldn’t raise a single brow for you to go on the prowl after the week you’ve had.” 

I began to see the beauty in his plan.  “And where would we actually be going?”

The knock sounded on the door again.

Rob smiled.  “I know just the place.”