Trust Me When the Sun Goes Down (2 page)

“But part of you wants to giggle like a little girl with a new pony?”  I smiled, affected by the jumble of emotions as much as he was.  “Yes, I feel it too.  It’s almost too much to take in, the idea that Lodinn’s dead and Jakob’s gone and we’re both here alive – well, technically undead – but free to do whatever we want.” 

“What you are meaning, Jakob is gone?”  On silent feet, Nelleke stepped out of the shadows, and Rob tensed before he realized who it was.  The statuesque blonde was still dressed for battle, her chin length hair braided away from her face. 

“He’s gone, he left as soon as Lodinn was killed.”

“Then it is finished?”

“Yep, nothing left of him but dust.” 

The tension went out of her shoulders and her hands relaxed.  “Maeja will be much pleased of this,” she said with a nod of approval.  “Jakob has proven himself.”

“He had help,” I pointed out, miffed that Jakob was getting all the credit for my master plan, and Rob seemed to share my affront.

“Just a bit,” he muttered. 

“There is being much cause for celebration.  I will give my respects when you honor him.”

“No, Jakob’s
gone
, gone,” I explained, realizing she had no idea of the demands I’d placed on Jakob for healing his wounds with Maeja’s blood.  “He left the West for good.  See, that was part of the terms for
my
saving
his
life.  He agreed to finally leave me alone.”

Several emotions flitted across her face, too fleeting to process before her expression shuttered, her brows pinching together.  “I must go.” 

“Wait,” I called out, blocking her path.  “Nell, is something wrong?”  She’d been acting weird ever since we pulled up to the house and she’d refused to go into battle.  I’d chalked it up to fear at the time, but now I wasn’t so sure.

“Leave me to pass, I must find him.”

“Who, Jakob?  I imagine he’s at home packing.  It shouldn’t be all that hard to find him.  I don’t think he’s running scared, more than likely Jakob’s more concerned with feeding and recharging before he goes anywhere.  In fact, I’ll be surprised if he leaves without another word.”  Or several of them. Jakob did like to make his public appearances.  I only hoped he didn’t stir up too much controversy with the locals before he finally moved on. 

“Still, I can no longer avoid this.  I must not fail.  Where is
Gungnir
?”

“It’s back in the house.  What have you been avoiding?”  All of a sudden it hit me.  “Are you supposed to kill Jakob with it?” I squeaked, eyes wide. 

“No, of course not.” She looked aghast at the suggestion. 

“It’s not just because he’s an
Ellri
, is it?  You want to see what all the fuss is about?”  I supposed I couldn’t blame her, plenty of others seemed to feel the same way. Though growing up with Maeja in her village, I wouldn’t have taken her for an
Ellri
groupie. 

Nelleke’s voice dropped to little more than a whisper.  “He is my father.”

My jaw dropped, and I felt Rob’s sharp intake of breath beside me, just as shocked.  “How is that possible? I thought he was pretty much banned from the vale.”

“It is true, Maeja is forbidding his return since his poor treatment of her.  It is nearly two hundred years since he is come to the village.”

“Then… did he meet your mother out somewhere else in the world?”  I remembered she’d once told me she’d gone to college in Oslo for a few years before returning home. 

“No, my mother never leave the vale since before then,” she said softly.

I was still wrapping my head around that when Rob made the intuitive leap I’d missed.  “Maeja ain’t just your boss-lady.  She’s your mum, ain’t she?” he prompted.

That meant Nelleke had to be at least a couple of hundred years old.  With
Ellri
blood on both sides, that was understandable, but I was too stunned to do more than goggle at her.  With Jakob as my Sire, and her his daughter, what relation did that make us?  It was enough to make my head spin.

“I have this honor, yes,” Nell admitted with a proud tilt of the chin.

“Is that why they fought?  Because he didn’t want to have anything to do with her having a baby?  I could’ve sworn he said he didn’t have any descendents.  Are you sure Maeja told him she was pregnant?”

“I am not knowing what was said between them, I only know she still carries the scars from the loving.”  She shook her head. 

“I’m guessing it has something to do with him being a right wanker,” Rob smirked, but Nelleke didn’t find much to smile about.

“I must go.”

“Wait, Nell, what are you going to do?  Are you going to tell him?” I asked, wondering how Jakob might take the news after such a crazy night.  Would he welcome her with open arms, or brush her off?  He’d seemed wholly uninterested in the idea of any descendents he might have, but that was when we’d been talking about them in the abstract.  Having a flesh and blood daughter standing in front of him, he might react very differently.

“I am thinking this is a big mistake in my coming here.   You are finished with the spear, I am taking it home.”

“But you came all this way.  Do you want me to go with you?  I can make him sit down and listen to you.”

She suddenly looked like she was going to be sick.  “No, please, do not say anything to him of this.  I go back where I belong now.”

I couldn’t imagine coming so far and not even meeting my own father, but I wasn’t going to force her to stay and hash it out with him.  “Fine, we won’t say a word.  But if you’re ever in this neck of the woods again, come and see us.  There’s always a place for you here if you decide you want to be out in the world again.”

“I will remember this,” she said, laying a hand over her chest, her shoulders squaring.  “Luck to you, shieldmaiden of Odin.” 

“Luck to you in your quest, Nelleke,” I replied just as formally before giving her an encouraging smile.  “But give him a chance.  Jakob might be a bastard about some things, but I can guarantee he doesn’t know you exist.  Whatever slights he might’ve delivered to Maeja, it doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

She nodded, offering the briefest of smiles before she stalked off into the house, almost running into Lee as he opened the back door.

“You takin’ off, Nelly?  The party’s just gettin’ started,” Lee grinned.

“Yes, I must take my leave and return home.”

“Well, that’s a cryin’ shame.  Don’t think you’re gettin’ out of here without a hug, darlin’,” the old shifter drawled, pulling her close. The two stayed pressed together longer than I would’ve thought, and Nell looked misty eyed when they pulled apart.  “I’ll walk ya out.”

“Goodbye, Nell.  I hope we meet again,” I called out after her and she turned with a final smile.

“Who can say what the future will bring?”

“You can say that again,” I muttered, giving Rob’s hand a squeeze.

“Let’s get you inside to take care of that arm, yeah?”

My body had already started to heal the break, thanks to the strength of Jakob’s blood, but he was right, I’d need to feed before I regained full use of it.  “A cup or two of bagged blood and I’ll be fine,” I assured him, feeling his concern like a palpable thing. 

“You sure that’s what you need?”  He raised a single brow.  “Don’t seem like it’s enough.”

“I hardly think Lee’s in a giving mood and I’m definitely not asking Hanna,” I snorted. 

“Wasn’t what I had in mind.” 

All of a sudden I understood the extra benefits of
exactly
what Rob offered, and it sent a rush of awareness through me.  The rest of the night stretched out before us, full of possibilities.  Except for I had to remember that the tinge of warmth coming from my hand in his had more to do with his own need to feed than any excitement he might have from the idea of sharing blood.  My eyes narrowed as I fixed him with a penetrating stare.  “You haven’t fed tonight, have you?” 

Rob shrugged, less concerned over that fact.  “Came straight over as soon as I found out what you was up to.” 

“Then the last thing you need to be doing is offering up your blood or anything else until we take care of that.  Come on, let’s go into the kitchen and I’ll get us both fixed up.”

He allowed himself to be tugged along, lack of enthusiasm written all over his face.  “I’ll pass, but you go on ahead.” 

While I didn’t enjoy the gloppy bagged blood all that much either, it was the simplest solution.  But it wasn’t all that late yet, and I wasn’t so hurt I couldn’t go out to eat if he preferred, as long as we took it easy.   

“Do you feel like going out hunting instead?” 

“Let’s get you fixed up first and then we can talk about that,” he said, steering me into the kitchen.  “I don’t want you out and about unless you’re up to strength.  I can wait a bit and get something later.”

There wasn’t any reason not to let him go hunt by himself, only I wasn’t eager to part company with him yet, not after everything we’d been through.  “How about we both have a snack here and then we can decide whether to go out or not?”

“Fair enough,” he nodded, fetching two mugs from the cupboard.  I filled both and set them in the microwave to warm up, adding a dash of cinnamon to mask the plasticky taste.  He still made a face when he took the first sip though. 

“Do you want me to put a dash of my blood into it to make it taste better, like you used to do for me?” I teased, quickly downing my cup and warming up another.  Not that I was hungry, but I was eager to regain the full use of my arm. 

“I’d rather have it straight from the source,” he grumbled, tipping his mug up to get the last drips out of it. 

“I can make you another cup if you’re still hungry,” I offered, taking the mug out of his hands and refilling it to heat up with mine. 

“I thought this was meant to be a snack.  Ain’t we going out later?”

“See, I was sort of thinking we might stay in tonight,” I suggested, catching his gaze.  His hazel eyes flashed with heat as he caught onto my meaning.  

“Keep talking.” 

“And I thought that maybe you might want a bit of stamina to help tide you over,” I said, pushing the mug across the counter to him, but he ignored the blood, his eyes dropping to my lips with another kind of hunger. 

“The things you say,” he rumbled, pulling me close for a greedy kiss. There was no hidden danger, no fear of being caught, but it didn’t diminish the thrill one bit.  My mouth met his with equal fervor, a soft sound of need escaping me.  Rob immediately let go of me, his face riddled with guilt. 

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?  How’s your arm?”

“It’s fine, it’s only a tiny bit sore now,” I said, flexing my hand and turning my arm experimentally from one way to the other.  It was amazing how quickly we healed what would be a pretty catastrophic injury to a human.  “You know, I can’t decide if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that humans don’t know about the healing properties of vampire blood.  Well, about vampires at all, I guess.  Can you imagine how many diseases and life threatening injuries could be healed with a few pints of our blood on tap in hospitals?” 

“What you going on about now?” Rob said, his tone full of open skepticism.  “There’s no good to be had in talking that way.  They’d never settle for a few pints, you can be sure of that.  And what would be the benefit to us?  There’s easier ways to make a few bob.”

“Maybe we could work out some kind of a trade?  Hospitals provide us with a steady supply of blood to feed on and we provide them with a source for our healing blood.  We’d both benefit from something like that.”

“It’d never work that way.” Lee popped up to weigh in with his opinion, dropping a handful of empty beer bottles into the recycling bin.  “Take it from someone who knows, it ain’t never the right decision to offer your people up for experimentation.”

“I know, it was wishful thinking.”  I’d seen enough movies on SyFy to know an arrangement like that would end up in a bloodbath for one or both sides.  “I just wish we could give something back for all the blood we take, you know?”

“That’s a sweet thought, darlin’.” Lee smiled indulgently. 

“Did you reach Maggie?”

“Yep.  She’ll be back here tomorrow night.  Jakob’s got her making all manner of arrangements for him back at his place.” 

“I’ll bet.  Ah well, whatever helps him get out on the road, as long as he leaves her here and doesn’t think about taking her with him.”

“If y’all will excuse me, I think I’d better grab some shuteye while things is quiet.”

“Goodnight, Lee.  Thanks for your help tonight, we couldn’t have done it without you.”

“You could’ve, but it’s a pure pleasure to hear, all the same,” he winked, disappearing up the back stairs.

“Now then, where was we?” Rob’s fingers curved into the belt loops of my jeans, pulling me to him. 

“We were about to finish our meal.” 

“I don’t think that’s what I had in mind.” 

“I have something for you.”

“Do tell.”  The barest of smiles curved his lips as he backed me up against the kitchen counter.  “Go on then, give it to me.”

“Oh, it’s something I can’t give you here, it’d have to be downstairs.  In the bedroom,” I answered lightly, enjoying the crackle of energy that snapped between us wherever our bodies touched.  “But I’m pretty sure I’ll need both my arms to give it to you properly.”

“I like the sound of that.  Right then, drink your blood like a good girl.”

I picked up my mug and handed his over as well.  “Cheers.”