Tempt Me When the Sun Goes Down (Forged Bloodlines Book 9)

by Lisa Olsen

  Bishop laid a hand on my shoulder. “Just promise me you won’t do anything without telling me about it. If you do decide to go through with it, I want to be there.”

  “Fine, as long as you promise to abide by my decision, no matter what it is.”

  “Alright, I will,” he nodded solemnly. From the look on his face I could tell it was a lie, but in that instant, I loved him for it. “But in the meantime, let’s see if we can figure out an alternative.”

  “Actually, I think I already have a plan.”

  * * *

  We decided to call a brief meeting to bring everyone up to speed on the new developments instead of having to re-tell the tale over and over again. Soon Lee, Gunnar, Maggie, Bishop, Tucker, Rob, and I gathered in my sitting room, eager to hear about the possible breaking of the curse and testing out whether or not a vampire could survive having its heart cut out in the first place. Carys was off with Jakob and Nelleke, who we’d purposely left out of the meeting. You could never tell how the Ellri might take the situation, and after getting so close, I couldn’t stand the idea of him spoiling it for us.

  It turned out I didn’t have to take care of the testing. Bishop was completely on board for trying the experiment himself. Well, not himself – as in cutting into his own chest – but for capturing another vampire and cutting out a piece of their heart to see if it could be done. It seemed a gruesome duty to undertake, but Bishop assured me solemnly that he was up to the task. A bigger surprise was the fact that Tucker had volunteered to go with him. Lee offered to go along and make sure everything went alright and for some reason that made me feel a lot better. The three of them hunkered down to come up with a plan of action and from the glint of excitement in their eyes, I half expected the boys to change into commando gear with greasepaint on their faces.

  I could tell it bothered Rob not to be included in the venture, but despite another feeding when we got back to the house, he was already feeling weaker again. He did a good job of not letting it show, but I could tell from the way he moved, he was in considerable pain.

  “Alright, that sounds like a workable plan.” Bishop straightened, rubbing his hands together in satisfaction when they’d hammered out a few details. “We’d better get a move on. I want to have plenty of time to watch how the subject reacts before dawn.”

  “You guys all set then?” I asked, following them to the door. “What’s the plan?”

  Lee and Bishop traded looks. “It’s probably for the best if you don’t know, darlin’,” Lee smiled. “Leave it to us. We’ll be back in no time.”

  “At least tell me where you’re going in case something comes up. Are you going to be taking a vampire down into the lower levels?” It made sense, there was an infirmary and a lab down there, that seemed suitable for such an experiment.

  “No, we’re going into the city to hunt for a likely prospect,” Bishop replied. “I think it’s best if we keep what we’re doing away from prying eyes.”

  I could understand that, but it was likely to prove harder than they’d thought with so many vamps leaving town. “Still, it seems like a perfect excuse to let Aubrey in on what we have planned, don’t you think? He’s been dying to make things up to me since the whole torture debacle,” I joked, and there was a general assent of laughter in the room.

  “Now there’s a likely chap for having his heart carved out,” Rob agreed with a bloodthirsty grin. “I still bear the scars for my last visit to Vetis, thanks in part to him.”

  “I owe him a thing or two over that myself,” Bishop said with a grim smile. “But no, it has to be someone younger, closer to Anja’s age.”

  “Right, but my real age or how old my blood tests?” There were some things I had a much better tolerance to thanks to Jakob being my Sire, but others I responded to like any other younger vamp.

  “Seems to me we’ll have to split the difference the best we can,” Lee shrugged. “It’s either that or try and slice a few different vampers at once, see what kind of results we get.”

  “No, I don’t want you to do that,” I replied, hoping to squelch that idea right from the start. I already felt bad enough about them preying upon an innocent vampire to start with, let alone a few of them. “Let’s see what happens and hopefully, we won’t need a repeat performance tomorrow night.”

  “We’ll keep you posted,” Bishop nodded, and I caught up to him by the door.

  “Be safe,” I said softly, putting everything I was feeling into those two words.

  Bishop’s answering smile eased the doubts swirling in my stomach. “Don’t worry, Anja, we’ll take care of it. You can count on us. Right, fellas?”

  “R-right,” Tucker grinned, giving Maggie a half wave as he stepped through the door.

  “Damn straight,” Lee chimed in, settling his hat atop his head. “Don’t you fret none, darlin’. We ain’t none of us gonna fail ya.” A bristly kiss on my cheek and he was off with Tucker, talking about the best way to bag a vamper as if he had personal experience in the matter. Not the smartest conversation to be having in the halls of the Vetis House, but I couldn’t fault his bravery.

  “Try not to worry, we’ll back before you know it,” Bishop said, leaning in to kiss my cheek much as Lee had, only his lips lingered slightly longer – or was that my imagination?

  “Who me, worry?” I waved him off with a smile that lasted until the door shut. “Might as well ask me not to picture a purple hamster.”

  You’re picturing one now, aren’t you? Yep, me too, just like my stomach clenched into a ball of worry the moment they were gone.

  * * *

  “We did it!” Tucker’s voice was triumphant with no sign of a stutter, as they returned much, much later. Gunnar and Maggie had already gone to bed, and Rob and I had settled in on the couch to watch girly movies, as he liked to put it.

  Instantly bounding off the couch, my grin was a mile wide as Bishop came in right on his heels, looking as giddy with success as Tucker did. Lee brought up the rear, looking less jubilant than the pair but happy nonetheless.

  “You actually did it?” Rob’s brows came up in shock as he looked from Tucker to Bishop. “You not only found another vampire, but managed to cut out his heart?”

  “You make it sound like you didn’t have any faith we could pull it off,” Bishop frowned.

  “I didn’t,” Rob retorted, his mood not the best despite the good news. While they’d been gone I’d supervised another feeding for him, but he was definitely moving slower than he should be. “How’d you find a vampire willing to cooperate? I’m assuming you didn’t let on you were looking for someone to play butcher with?”

  The color drained from my face as the logistics of what they’d been up to finally sank in. “Tell me you didn’t kidnap some poor vamp off the street and cut out his heart without telling him what was going on!”

  Tucker and Lee had the good grace to look a little sheepish. “We bribed him,” Bishop replied, unconcerned.

  “Bribed him?” I blinked, not having expected an answer like that. “With what?”

  “You’d be surprised what the almighty dollar still buys,” Lee drawled, settling heavily onto the couch. He looked beat. “Or pound, actually.”

  “Sure but… he was really fine with you cutting into him for money?” Who would agree to such a thing? “How much did you promise him?” My mouth fell open when I heard the figure. “Shut the front door…”

  “What else did you want me to do?” Bishop shrugged. “We had to make sure he survived, right? That means we have to keep him under observation for a while. That means we needed him cooperative. The important thing is, he survived.”

  “He’s still alive then?” Rob looked as incredulous as I was. It seemed almost too good to be true.

  “Y-Yeah, he survived,” Tucker grinned from ear to ear. “Or he was a half hour ago when we left him.”

  “So where is he now?” I asked.

  “He’s in Bishop’s apartment in town, locked up tight,” Lee
volunteered.

  “And he’s honestly alright?” I couldn’t keep the skepticism from my voice and Bishop started to lose his temper.

  “No, we’re lying to you,” he muttered. “Look, we cut out a big chunk of his heart and he didn’t exactly like it, but he’s alive.”

  “Or undead. Whatever you want to call it,” Tucker jumped in and Bishop nodded, already halfway to the bar.

  “I think it’s time for a celebratory drink,” he declared, helping himself. He was right on that point, this was definitely a cause for celebration. I turned to Rob who looked less than thrilled by the news.

  “I want to see it,” Rob demanded.

  “See what?” asked Lee.

  “The heart, I want to see the piece you cut out of him.” A grisly request, but I could understand his need to see it, there was a lot at stake.

  “We didn’t bring it with us,” Bishop replied. “But if you’re so hot to see it, you can come back to my place and check it out.”

  “I will. I want to take a look at this fella too, talk to him,” Rob insisted and Bishop shrugged, refilling his glass with scotch.

  “Sure, we can go whenever you want.”

  “Tomorrow, go tomorrow night,” I interrupted, knowing Rob wouldn’t be able to last much longer until he passed out asleep. He was already running on fumes as it was.

  I listened to them chat about how it all went down with half an ear, but mostly I was thinking of bigger picture things. Rob wouldn’t be satisfied until he saw the piece of heart and talked to the guy himself; I knew that as much as I trusted the sun would rise in the morning. But he would see it and touch it with his own hands and then he’d have to admit it could be done. We’d argue and probably scream at each other about even thinking about attempting the spell, and I’d have to cajole him into it of course, but it could be done.

  A smile curved my lips as I watched them rehash the night’s triumph. It was going to hurt like hell and it might take weeks or even months before I was fully healed – but it could be done.

  We were going to break that curse.

  * * *

  “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

  I had to turn the volume down on the laptop when Carter’s voice scraped the max of the speakers. “Ugh, I knew I shouldn’t have told you about this,” I muttered. I should’ve known I wouldn’t have his support in this.

  “Yeah, because you know I’ll call it as I see it, and this is a fucked up plan. Cutting out your heart? Who does that?”

  “I do. Or at least I will the night of the new moon.”

  “That’s it, stay put, I’m hopping on the next red-eye to London to straighten you out.”

  “You can’t, remember? I compelled you to stay out of England.” A good thing too, I didn’t need another person telling me what to do and Carter was a force to be reckoned with.

  Carter made a noise of frustration and I thought he might hurl his laptop across the room for a moment. But then he got a hold of himself, his eyes pleading as he stared into the webcam. “You can’t do this, Anja. It’s straight up suicide.”

  “I don’t have a choice, it’s the only way.”

  “The hell it is. Look, did you patch things up with Rob? Are the two of you together again?”

  “Well, no, but...”

  “Then get Jakob to compel you not to love him anymore and put the poor guy out of his misery. Then you can come home where you belong.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “Yes, it is.” He shook his head, arms crossing in front of his chest. “Damn, I never thought you could be so selfish.”

  “Me selfish?” I blinked in surprise. “I’m willing to cut out a piece of my heart for him…”

  “And crush the rest of ours in the process? Yeah, that’s selfish,” he retorted with a scowl.

  “No, see... it’ll work. We already tested it on another vampire.” I explained to him what Bishop and those guys had already tried, but Carter was unimpressed.

  “Big fucking deal. I say it’s still too risky.”

  “It’ll be fine, Carter. I can do this, I’m tougher than I look.”

  “You’re preaching to the choir, but just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Unless you’ve decided you want to fix things up with Rob and get your H.E.A. Which I don’t believe in, by the way.”

  “Well, I do.”

  “Then that’s what you’re doing? You’ve decided to take his sorry ass back?”

  Was I? I felt like the longer I went on, the more muddled I felt about my feelings toward both men. “I’m keeping my options open.”

  “Sure, I guess there’s no point in sweating the decision too much if you might not even survive the whole thing, right? Smart thinking, sunshine. Top notch.” He made an okay symbol with his fingers and I could’ve cut the sarcasm with a knife, it was so thick.

  “I’m doing what I think is best.”

  “Just once I wish you’d do what’s best for you.”

  “I am. I couldn’t live with myself if Rob died because of me.”

  “It’s not because of you, dummy, it’s because of that prick, Jakob. How about we pay that creep a visit when this is all over, you and me? I’m thinking he might benefit from a flaming arrow or two.”

  “Yeah, maybe,” I smiled over the image of us stalking Jakob together. “Let me get through this ordeal first before you start planning my next death defying stunt, okay?”

  “Okay,” he agreed, letting out a long pent up breath. “You’re not gonna get my blessing on this one. You know that, right?”

  “I know.”

  “Keep me posted then, huh?”

  “I’ll text you once we’re out of the woods.”

  “No chance you’ll let me tag along?”

  “No, it’s for the best if you sit this one out. It’ll be fine, I promise.”

  “Keep telling yourself that, sunshine. If you don’t survive this, I’ll…”

  “You’ll what?”

  “Nothing.” He clammed up fast and I recognized that look. It was the look he gave when he was about to do something he knew I wouldn’t approve of, so he tried to keep me in the dark so I wouldn’t compel him not to. Not that I could compel him through the internet connection anyway. “Good luck, Anja. I’ll see you on the flip side.”

  “You can count on it,” I promised, giving him what I hoped was an assured smile. “Bye.”

  “He’s right you know.” I’d thought Rob was already fast asleep on the sofa, but he propped himself up against my bedroom doorframe where he’d obviously been listening in. “You shouldn’t be doing this.”

  “We’ve already been over this. You saw the vamp and talked to him yourself, he survived it.”

  “Yeah, but he won’t be right for a while. Who knows how long you’ll be weakened by this, if you even survive it at all?”

  “That’s a risk I’m willing to take.”

  “I’m not. I’ve decided, I won’t do it.” With that, he turned and stumbled back to the couch, falling back on it heavily.

  “Oh, no you don’t,” I muttered stalking after him. “Yes, you are,” I threw back at him along with a good dose of compulsion. Maybe I was more like Carys than I liked to think. “You’ll go along with this because you know deep down it’s the right thing to do, right?”

  “Right,” he parroted back to me and I tried not to think about whether he meant it or not.

  I’d said it before and I meant it more than ever. I was going to break that curse if it was the last thing I ever did.

  Chapter Twenty

  Bishop waited outside Anja’s door, listening for a moment before he knocked, not wanting to interrupt anything too intimate. It wasn’t too difficult to pick out the low murmur of conversation that sounded innocent enough, and he rapped softly on the door, smiling when Anja came to answer it herself.

  “Hey, I’m going out for a while and I wanted to make sure nothing had changed since we last talked,” he said, resisting
the urge to reach out and touch her.

  Her head tilted to one side in confusion. “Did you expect it would?”

  “Well… you never know. Sometimes you’re not the most forthcoming person when you think you know what’s best.”

  “I could say the same for you,” she fired right back at him and he could only smile.

  “You know me well. But I also know you’d be the first one to jump into a live volcano if you thought you’d be saving us all by doing it.”

  Anja got an odd look on her face that made him think that he’d hit the nail right on the head. That wasn’t a surprise and it was part of why he’d decided to stop by, to see if she’d concocted some other crazy scheme to break the curse. So far the sacrifice seemed to be the plan of the moment and he was drawing a complete blank on how to talk her out of it. He had an idea that all he had to do was tell Jakob about the plan and he’d keep it from happening. But would she ever forgive him for bringing the Ellri into it and ruining her chances to save Rob? It was a risk he wasn’t willing to take, not yet.

  Whatever martyr inspired thoughts were swirling around behind those pretty blue eyes, all she said was, “That’s not on the agenda for tonight, but thanks for stopping by.”

  “What is on the agenda for tonight?”

  “Not a whole lot. Rob’s not…” Her voice lowered. “He’s getting weaker every day. We’ll probably stick around here until he needs to feed again.”

  “You’re not going to… do you…?” He couldn’t say it, the idea of her feeding him distasteful to his tongue, but she shook her head, easing his discomfort.

  “Not unless I don’t have another choice. While I don’t normally like to use the room service here, we’ll probably take advantage of it while we can.”

  “Good.” The idea of her sharing her blood with Rob made his boil, even though he knew he had no claim to her. It was his own fault, he’d been stupid enough to let her go. “If there’s anything else I can do to help…”