by Lisa Olsen
Winter’s brows twitched together once, but then his forehead smoothed out, his response wooden. “I understand.”
Inwardly breathing a sigh of relief, I continued. “Have you told anyone else about this yet?”
“No.”
“Good. I want you to forget all about analyzing my blood. You didn’t find anything out of the ordinary when you looked into it. There were no strange after effects and no anomalies. You completely accept that I am who I say I am, and you will move on. Is that perfectly clear?”
“Perfectly,” he nodded.
“Great,” I nodded back. “Now, I want you to go back down to your lab. Once you get there, you won’t remember talking to me today at all. You’ll simply move on to another project, okay? One that will make you much happier to work on.”
Winter smiled in response. “Okay.”
“You can go now.”
I didn’t so much as breath until he was long gone, thanking the heavens for the same ability I’d cursed not an hour before. What would I have done without it? At least I had a useful point to share with Bishop when I told him what I could do. Hopefully he could focus on the positive and not too much on the potential problems it created.
Luckily, it didn’t take too long to find Bishop, and he seemed as eager to see me as I was to see him. “Hey, I’m glad you’re back. We need to talk.”
“That’s exactly what I had in mind,” I said, catching hold of his hand. “But let’s go up to our room, okay?”
Not another word was spoken until we reached the swan room, and I could tell he had something weighing heavily on his mind. I opened my mouth to start once the door was shut, but he was the first one out of the starting gate.
“I don’t like you spending the night away from me. Especially not with Rob.”
That captured my attention alright. “I’m sorry, it got late. Why especially not with Rob?”
“You’ve been spending a lot of time with Rob lately.”
“So? Rob’s my friend, and you ordered me to, by the way.”
“Maybe I should have a talk with him about boundaries,” he frowned, checking over something on his phone and tucking it away.
All at once the feelings of guilt and remorse rushed in. Rob wasn’t the one who had problems with boundaries, I did. Poor Rob, who may or may not feel too uncomfortable to protect me anymore, he didn’t deserve a helping of Bishop’s jealousy. “Oh God, please don’t do that. It’s the last thing I need.”
“Why do you say that?” His head came up sharply. “Is there something I should know?”
“No, of course not. We stayed out too late and he let me sleep at his place, that’s all.” But that wasn’t all and my guilty conscience couldn’t leave it alone. “Well, and I had to give him some of my blood.”
“What?” The quiet word tipped me off right away. Bishop was definitely upset at the admission and I backpedaled as quickly as I could.
“I had to, he needs it to survive because of his link with Jakob.”
Bishop swore in languages I didn’t recognize (at least it sounded like swearing). “You agreed not to feed from him.”
Some of my guilt eased. Was that what he thought happened? “I didn’t, he just had some of my blood.”
It didn’t make his expression any less thunderous. “Like that’s any better. How did you give it to him?”
“You know… the usual way…”
“And you thought I’d be okay with that?”
I felt the wind against my face from his vehemence and I shrank back. There was no chance this part of the conversation was private anymore, I was sure we could be heard on the entire floor. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think things through clearly.” I racked my brain for how best to soothe him. “Bishop, nothing happened. It’s not like we were in bed together or anything.”
“Don’t…” His hand came up, his face twisted in disgust. “Do not even say something like that. I can’t believe you let him take advantage of you like this.”
“He didn’t. I offered to when the cup thing didn’t work. He didn’t want me to keep hurting myself to make the blood flow.” If I could just make him understand…
“Rob manipulated you to get what he wanted, Anja. Anyone can tell he’s wanted you for a while now. Can’t you see that?”
“No, you’ve got it all wrong. Rob was a perfect gentleman.” It was all me, but I couldn’t say that out loud, not when he was so angry.
“He’s a hired gun, a mercenary. Rob doesn’t care about you.”
He wasn’t making any sense. “Make up your mind — is he in it for the money or is he trying to steal me away from you? You can’t have it both ways,” I scowled.
Bishop’s hands bunched into fists, tight enough for me to see the bone stretching under the skin. When he spoke, it was calmer. “Do you not remember what it means that I’ve claimed you?”
“Of course I do, I claimed you right back. Nothing happened between Rob and me the way you’re thinking. I gave him some blood, that’s all.” But my face was flaming hot because I remembered wanting it to. It was only a biological thing, but it felt like a betrayal in that moment. I couldn’t blame him for being mad if he’d had to witness it, what bothered me was his thinking it was all Rob’s fault.
“No one is allowed to taste you without my permission.”
All at once I understood what had him so riled up. “Is that why you’re mad?” I blinked. “I thought that was only for vampires. I gave Bridget some of my blood before and you didn’t get all bent out of shape over that.”
“It’s not the same and you know it, Anja.” Bishop turned away from me, as if he couldn’t stand the sight of me anymore and I felt the withdrawal as an almost physical blow. He was right, of course he was right.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal,” I said softly. “I know it was a mistake now, and it’ll never happen again, I swear.” He didn’t say anything, and the tension didn’t drain from his shoulders either. “He’s leaving anyway, so you don’t have to get all worked up over nothing.”
“Why is he leaving if nothing happened?” His eyes swung around with an accusatory stare and I wished he’d stayed withdrawn.
“Something came up he has to go take care of.”
“What about his duty to Jakob?”
“I… don’t know, it didn’t come up.” I had to change subjects, to give him something else to be mad at before he decided to go after Rob for the rest of the story. “Listen, I’m sorry I upset you, but that’s actually not what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“What else did you do?”
I flinched at his tone because it was true, though not what I wanted to lead with. “I wanted to talk to you about the hunter investigation.”
Bishop’s shields came up, I could see it in his posture as plainly as the nose on his face. “I’ll catch you up on the details when I come home tonight. Right now, I have a job to do.”
“I can help…”
“I don’t want you sticking your nose into the middle of the investigation. It’s dangerous,” he interrupted, already two steps closer to the door.
I chased after him. “No… see that’s what I want to talk to you about.”
“I’m serious, Anja, stay out of it,” he barked, and I grabbed hold of his arm, forcing him to look at me.
“I’m trying to tell you something important here!”
“And I’m trying to keep from losing it!” Shaking off the light hold I had on him, his arm pistoned out, punching a hole in the wall not six inches from my head. The plaster crumbled around his fist in a cloud of dust revealing the stone within. I froze, too scared to move, and I saw a rapid play of emotions sweep over his face, from anger to regret and even something akin to fear.
“Bishop, I…”
“I’ll talk to you later.”
I could compel him, I could make him listen. I could make him forget all about the hurt behind his eyes over my betrayal. I could do all of tho
se things, but instead I watched him walk away.
*
I needed to eat. As crappy as I felt, and with all the things hanging over my head with Bishop, my body’s need for blood made itself known, adding to my worries. I needed to feed, but I pushed it away, taking the smallest bit of relief in my self deprivation.
I didn’t deserve to eat.
I deserved to suffer.
I deserved to… get over myself and stop being such a whiny little b.i.t.c.h. What good was I doing hiding out in my room? Why had I let Bishop walk out of there without coming clean about everything? Because you’re afraid he’ll close his heart to you and never let you in again. That was the crux of it; I was scared to death of losing Bishop. But wasn’t it better to lay it all on the table? I couldn’t keep secrets from him and hope to hold onto him. They would eat away at me, festering and rotting from within until one day they would burst out like…
“Dude, there you are. I’ve been looking all over for you!” Bridget exploded into the room without knocking, chest heaving as she caught her breath.
“What’s the matter? Did something happen?”
“Didn’t you hear? Thomas is dead!”
“What?” I had to have heard her wrong. “What do you mean he’s dead?”
“As in a pile of ash, dead and gone. He ain’t never coming back kind of dead, not undead.”
“Are you serious?” What else could go wrong?
“Yeah, I saw it with my own two eyes. Felix is freaking out, he’s calling for that hunter’s head on a stick.”
“The hunter…” I felt sick to my stomach. I’d hesitated in telling what I knew to the Order and now Thomas was dead. But to kill Thomas… it didn’t make sense. “How could he do that? Thomas wouldn’t hurt a fly.”
“Well duh, he’s a psycho killer. They tend not to make a whole lot of sense. Look, I have to get back to Felix. I just wanted to tell you in person that we’re staying longer.”
“We?”
“Yeah, didn’t I tell you? Shit, I forgot. Felix asked me to go back with him to LA and… I don’t know if that’s still happening but his trip is sorta up in the air now with Thomas dead.”
“No, you didn’t mention it.” Not that I’d asked either, I’d been too wrapped up in my own stuff. “No, of course, Felix needs you right now. I have to go find Bishop.”
“I’m pretty sure he’s in the middle of the shitstorm right now. Felix tore that Angel chick a new one over the sloppy security. She looks like the type to share it on down the line.”
“He’ll want to talk to me,” I said with more confidence than I felt. Would he? Somehow I’d make Bishop listen to me before anyone else had to die.
“I saw him downstairs when we came in, yelling at people,” Bridget supplied helpfully.
“Okay, thanks. We should talk later though, there’s a lot we have to catch up on.”
“I meant to ask, where did you go last night after we came home? How come you didn’t take me with?”
“It’s a long story and I promise I’ll tell you everything, but I have to go get Bishop before he takes off again.” Barely pausing long enough to catch her confused nod, I tore down the hallway, not giving two snaps about how unladylike I looked careening down the stairs. All I could think about was getting to Bishop in time.
I found him alright, standing in a circle of commandos, pairing them off to go in pursuit.
“Bishop, thank God.” I knocked into the guy at the edge of the circle as I slid to a stop. I think his name was Rush. He looked like he belonged in a rock band instead of in tactical gear. “Sorry,” I flashed him a brief glance.
“Not now, Anja. I’m a little busy.”
“I need to talk to you.” Instead of replying, Bishop continued on as if I hadn’t spoken, and I wormed my way into a position in front of him. “I know you’re mad at me, but this is about Thomas’ death.”
“Which is why we’re a little busy,” he growled, still not looking at me.
“I know who the hunter is,” I blurted out, biting my lip as all eyes swung onto me. “I really need to talk to you,” I whispered.
“Excuse me, I’ll be right back,” Bishop said coolly, grabbing hold of my arm and all but dragging me to our parlor.
“You’re hurting me,” I said softly, and his hold instantly loosened, though his face lost none of the threat. Once the door was shut, he let go altogether, arms crossing expectantly.
“You have my attention now.”
“His name is Carter. Well actually, that’s probably not his real name, he admitted as much. And I don’t know how to find him, but I can tell you what he looks like and what I know. The most important thing being, he’s a vampire too.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Bishop’s arms fell in shock. “How do you know any of this?”
“I met him. I’d seen him a few times before, but I didn’t know he was the hunter, not until he grabbed me off the street.”
His eyes closed, lips moving, though they made no sound, and I couldn’t tell if he was swearing or praying. Or possibly counting. When his eyes opened again, I could see he was exercising his patience. “When did all this happen?”
“Earlier today, before I came back to the mansion.”
“And you didn’t lead with that conversation when you saw me?”
“I tried to, but you ambushed me with your jealousy over Rob.”
“You could have tried harder with something as important as this, don’t you think?” he growled, pacing the length of the room.
“I wanted to, but you were so mad and then you…”
Bishop whirled, confusion warring with anger. “Wait, this is my fault now?”
“Yes… no, I don’t know.” I felt all mixed up inside. “It’s both our faults. I just got scared and…”
Bishop went still. “You were afraid of me?” I nodded, remembering the fury in his eyes when he punched the wall beside me. All at once the anger drained from his posture and he approached me, gently reaching for my arms. “I’m sorry, I never meant to scare you.”
“You’re sorry?” I blinked, stunned by the apology and the shift in his demeanor.
“I know I have a temper but I would never hurt you. You know that, don’t you?”
“You were so mad, I thought you might forget,” I said in a small voice and he tipped my head up by the chin.
“I’m still mad, but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped loving you. I’m sorry if I scared you.”
Those were the first real words of love he’d ever offered and the timing just made it worse. “Please don’t apologize.” I didn’t deserve his kindness, not when there was still so much to tell.
“You’d rather I go back to punching walls?” he grinned, but all I could do was hang my head miserably.
“No… it’s… there’s more of this you still need to hear. I don’t think you’re going to want to apologize to me by the time I’m done.”
“Alright, I’m listening,” he replied equably. “Why don’t you go back to the beginning and tell me everything you know, no matter how small the detail.”
“Back to the beginning, right.” Sucking in a deep breath, I told him about the first time I’d seen Carter at the Bird in Hand, and again at the mansion and at Pandora’s Cross. How I hadn’t thought much of it until I heard the description of Jasper’s killer. Bishop listened patiently, and I could tell he was mentally cataloguing every detail I told him about Carter’s appearance, his actions and his words. That was the easy part, and I felt calmer by the time I got to the end of it.
Now came the hard part.
By the time I got to where I helped Ellie through her transition Bishop was back to pacing again, but he stopped to sink into the closest available chair when I told him how I’d compelled Fisher. I glossed over the parts where I gave Ellie the pointers on hunting and Rob’s involvement, except to explain that’s why I’d been out so late, taking care of Ellie. I wasn’t sure he was listening quite so carefully for th
at part of the story; it was hard to gauge his reaction from his expression.
He got much more intent the second I mentioned Carter’s name again though, listening carefully as I tried to detail our conversation as accurately as I could. To lay everything out on the table, I mentioned my conversation with Winter as well. When I was done, he sat there, staring off into space for long minutes. Processing, I suppose.
“Bishop?” I said his name gently after a few minutes.
“I… there aren’t words to…”
“I know, it’s a lot.”
“It’s more than a lot, Anja. This is… do you know how many laws you’ve broken?” he hissed.
“Just the one as far as I counted.”
“How about harboring a fugitive for starters?”
“I never harbored,” I scowled. “I had no idea Carter was the hunter until this morning. And I was going to tell you about that from the start.”
“No, not Carter, though your involvement with him is bad enough. I’m talking about Ellie. You interfered with Order business, preventing her execution under vampire law, harboring her from the authorities and attempting to obtain false documentation.” Bishop ticked the points off on his fingers.
“All things you’ve done before,” I muttered.
“Don’t even get me started about what you did to Fisher.”
“Is there a law against compelling other vampires?”
I had him there, I could tell. As far as I knew it was unheard of with so few draugen remaining. “That isn’t the point. If this gets out…”
“Does it have to? In a few days she’ll have her papers and then no one will know any better. If you can help me get her chipped, then we can…”
“Absolutely not!” he thundered. “I can’t believe you would even ask me to.”
“Why not? You did it for me,” I said much more softly. “Bishop, it’s the right thing to do. She doesn’t deserve to be killed anymore than I did.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s right or not, it’s the law. It’s…” He looked up, absolutely horrified. “You did it to me, didn’t you? Compelled me right from the start. How long have you been manipulating me to get your way?”
