Kiss Me When the Sun Goes Down (38 page)

Disappointment lanced through him.  Not with Anja for going with her gut instinct, but with himself for putting her in a position where she thought she had to sneak off without him to act on it.  He didn’t even think twice about commandeering her laptop, keying into the Order’s system to pull up the program he needed to track her.  Half afraid he’d find her bound for New York, the knot of worry wrapped around his heart eased when he pinged her phone and found it in San Jose.  Now he just had to hope he’d get to her in time before it was too late.

It turned out to be easier to find her than he’d thought, especially when she made it simple by sticking in one place.  Her signal still came through loud and clear at the jetway, and Bishop had to hope she hadn’t accidentally left her cell behind. 

Bishop strode up to the private airport, ignoring the cheery smile of the girl behind the counter as he spotted Anja talking to one of the pilots in the lounge.  Carter was nowhere in sight, which only made his frown all that more prominent.  Didn’t Anja know she made a target out in the open like that?

“Bishop!” she called out, startled.

“Why did you leave?” he demanded, ignoring the pilot, who backed off uncomfortably at his approach. 

Anja blinked rapidly, but he couldn’t tell if it was surprise or fear that flitted across her features.  “How did you find me?”

“I tracked you on your cell.  Why did you leave without telling me where you were going?” he repeated, crossing his arms expectantly.

“You made it clear that you didn’t want to believe your precious Carys was a part of this.”

“She’s not
my
Carys,” he protested, but she blew him off with a roll of the eyes.

“Whatever.  You obviously didn’t want to be involved, so I left to look into it on my own.  I brought Carter with me, he’s around here somewhere talking to the mechanics, I think.”  She craned her head to look around, and Bishop stepped into her field of vision, demanding her attention. 

“Anja, you can’t just take off like that.  We’re going to end up having disagreements, hell, fights even.  That doesn’t mean you can up and leave.”

“I didn’t leave, exactly.  I just... I didn’t think you’d choose me over Carys.”

He hated to see that defeated look on her face, knowing he was the one that put it there, whether it was intentional or not.  Forcing himself to lose the edge of panic and frustration in his voice, he tried again in a gentler tone.  “I meant what I said last night about wanting forever with you.  But we can’t have it if one of us leaves.  You should’ve told me where you were going and given me a chance to come with you.”

“You made your opinions pretty clear.  I know Carys is involved, now more than ever.  I came to settle this once and for all.”

“And I came with you.”  Couldn’t she see he was trying?

“You don’t believe it’s her.”

“I don’t,” he freely admitted.  “But I want to see this through with you.  Anja, I love you, and that means standing by you, no matter what comes at us.”

She turned those beautiful blue eyes up at him, the doubt mingled with hope.  “What if it turns out to be Carys coming at me?”

“If it turns out it was Carys, then I’ll be there by your side.”

“Even if that means killing Carys?”

He took a long breath.  “If she’s really sunk that low, then she deserves killing.”

Anja’s answering smile was worth it.  “Thank you.  Not that I hope it comes to that, but thank you for understanding.  I’m sorry we fought before...”

“I am too,” he admitted without shame, his hands settling on her hips.  “I’m not good at this stuff, I don’t think I ever was.  Carys had a way of smoothing over the bad times, you know?  I’m still trying to figure things out.”

“The chasing after me in the airport bit was a good start,” she said with a lopsided grin, and Bishop’s heart melted, any leftover bad feelings dissolving away. 

“I’m just glad I caught you before you hopped a plane to New York.”

“No, she’s here, Bishop!” Anja replied with a hop of excitement.  “That’s why I had to take off so quickly.  She’s here in San Jose. Carter placed her here, I swear.”

“Okay, fine.  I believe you,” he allowed, his stomach sinking.  If Carys was involved, this was going to be a lot harder than he’d thought.  She held the power to sway his behavior in the palm of her hand.  What if she decided to turn him against Anja?  Forcing those thoughts aside, he offered her a confident smile.  “So we’ll track her down together.” 

“Really?”

“I said I’d be here for as long as you needed me, remember?  You belong to me and I belong to you.  We don’t let anyone or anything get between us ever again.  That’s it – for the rest of time.  I should’ve remembered that before when I let you go.  I might get that tattooed on me so I don’t forget it next time.” 

“Could be interesting.  I like your other tattoo,” she considered aloud, and he couldn’t help but kiss her on the temple. 

“Look, the point is, we have to be there for each other.  Even when one of us does something stupid...”

“Like act like a dumbhole?”

“Including acting like a dumbhole,” he nodded, a smile threatening to ruin his speech as he continued.  “You can’t run at the first sign of trouble.  Even I know that rule, and I’m terrible at this.”

“I know,” she sighed.  “The rule, not that you’re terrible at this,” she amended after a second.  “I’m sorry for the things I said too.  You were the one to leave first though.”

“To cool down before I took out my frustration on you,” he clarified. 

“So then, we’re setting ground rules for the next time one of us does something boneheaded.  This is good.  Rule number one, we love each other, blah, blah, blah, so whatever happens, we can get through it together.”

“I wouldn’t quite put it that way, but okay.”

“Rule number two, we agree to a cooling off period the next time we get into an argument, but nobody
leaves
leaves.  We agree to come back and hash things out after we’ve had a chance to gain some perspective.”

“Right.  And rule number three, when in doubt, see rule number one.” 

“I love you too,” she smiled, tilting her lips up to him to be kissed, and he couldn’t refuse such an offer. 

They were still kissing when Carter started making retching noises.  “What’s
he
doing here?” he asked when they broke apart. 

“He came to help.”

Carter’s glare didn’t lessen.  “Can’t he help himself to your cookies some other time?  We have work to do.”

“I came to help you track Carys,” Bishop offered, but Carter seemed less than impressed. 

“No offense, pal, but we don’t need your help.  Tracking’s my game.”

“None taken,” Bishop replied smoothly, trying not to be annoyed by the hunter for Anja’s sake.  “But I know Carys better than anyone else in this world.  I can help you find her.  Unless you already know where she is?”  His brows rose, but from the permascowl on Carter’s face, he had nothing.

“All we know so far is when she arrived, and that the plane she chartered is still here,” Anja reported.  “Where do you think she is?”

“As far as I know, Carys has never been to this area before, so wherever she is, it’s not like she’s holed up in a secret lair.  That means a public hotel.  Carys is incapable of staying any place incognito, wherever she is, it’ll be posh.”

“Great work, Columbo,” Carter snorted.  “That leaves only twenty or so hotels in the city that fit the bill, more if she made her way to San Francisco.  Way to simple that up for us.”

“It’s a starting point,” Bishop bit back between clenched teeth.  “Have you talked to the local taxis who hit this place on the regular?  She wouldn’t have a rental car, she can’t drive.”

“I... am gonna get right on that,” Carter replied, shooting Anja a look that said
oops
.

Bishop smirked as soon as he was gone.  “I can see why you keep him around.”

“Oh, stop.” Anja smacked him on the shoulder.  “I’m sure one of us would’ve thought of it eventually.  But thank you for helping, I appreciate it.”

“Speaking of which, why don’t we go give Carter a hand?  We’ve got a busy night of convincing the local cab companies to check their trip sheets for a pick up here on the night she arrived.”

“Yes, but isn’t it all on computers now?  How hard can it be?”

It turned out to be harder than she thought.  It was difficult to get a company to release that information over the phone, and impossible to compel them unless they met face to face.  That meant a night of driving around, Bishop and Anja paired together and Carter on his own.  Unfortunately, not all of the taxi dispatchers had access to the prior nights’ records, and some would have to be visited during the day. 

“This is going to take forever,” Anja huffed, after they reached the last name on their list without any success.

Bishop stretched, his back cracking.  It’d be light soon, and time for the next level of investigation.  “It’ll be fine,” he assured her.  “It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, I can hit the rest of these after the business office is open.”

“Do you want some company?” she offered.  “It’s not my favorite thing ever, but I could take some stims and stay up with you.”

As much as he would’ve liked the company, from the way her blinks got longer and longer, he could tell she was exhausted.  “No, why don’t you go on home and get some rest?  There’s no reason for us both to stay up so late.”

“Are you sure?”

“Sure, I’m sure.  We could get you a room here for the night if you’re too tired to drive back to the house.”

“No thanks.  I hate sleeping in hotels if I can help it.”  Her nose wrinkled in distaste.  “I’m always afraid the cleaning lady’s going to come in and mistake me for a corpse, and then I’ll end up in the morgue again.” 

“Why don’t you take my car back and I’ll call you as soon as I know anything?”

“Won’t you need it?”

“I can manage,” he shrugged, being deliberately vague as to where he’d get another. 

“Okay then,” she replied, stifling a yawn behind her hand that had him swallowing back a yawn of his own.  “Good luck, I’ll see you later.  And call me.”

“I will,” he promised, not letting her leave without a goodnight kiss.  He had a couple of hours to kill, but knew from experience, it was better to stay up then seek his bed and try to wake after sunrise. 

Bishop spent some time making the rounds, checking in with the local vampire scene.  Even though it’d been a while since he’d patrolled the streets of San Jose, not much had changed.  Everywhere he went, he was still met with the same fear and discomfort that being in the Order commanded. 

It didn’t bother him, he was used to it.  In fact, he’d spent centuries cultivating that exact response from the average vamp on the street.  But for the first time, he wondered what it would be like to stroll into a vampire bar and not have all eyes on him.  What would it be like to share a quiet drink and shoot the breeze without it feeling like an interrogation? 

Bishop shouldered those thoughts aside.  Like it or not, this was his life, and most of the time, he liked it.  One thing he didn’t like though, was the sting of the sun, even with the cloud cover, and he slipped on his sunglasses, glad that the leather jacket he wore offered him decent protection from the harmful rays.  Keeping to the shadows as much as possible, he started through the circuit of cab companies again, not wasting much time on the niceties, trusting his compulsion to get the information he needed.

On the third stop, he struck paydirt, finding a record of a pick up on the night in question, around the time Carys’ flight got in.  On his way out to the parking lot, he came upon Carter coming up the stairs, hoodie pulled up and sunglasses on. 

“I guess we had the same thought,” the hunter said, slowing his steps.  “Any luck?”

“Yeah, I’ve got one.”  Bishop waved a slip of paper in the air.  “They picked up a fare from the jetway that night and dropped off at the Embassy Suites on Calaveras. The times add up.  I think it’s the break we’ve been looking for.” 

“Great, I’ll drive.”  Carter snatched the piece of paper out of his hand and Bishop snatched it right back. 

“Wait.  Before we go there, let’s make sure it’s her.  That’s the cabbie’s name and address, let’s go talk to him.”

“Fine.  Like I said, I’ll drive.”

They rode in silence, and Bishop didn’t bother to ask Carter if he knew how to find the address, trusting him to figure it out.  The younger vampire shifted higher in his seat, pulling the sun visor down as low as it could go as he sat in rush hour traffic, the sun starting to peek through the clouds.  Even with the sunglasses, his eyes streamed from the glare, but his hands were steady, without the telltale jitter from stims.

“You okay?” Bishop asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“It’s not often I see someone of your age able to stay up so late.”

“It’s not the first time I’ve had to pull an all-nighter to get the job done.  I’ll be fine, you worry about yourself.”

“Fine,” Bishop breathed, perfectly content to sit in silence. 

The freeway at a standstill, even the surface streets were clogged with traffic, and they didn’t make much progress.  “You don’t like me much, do you?”  Carter said after a while, his natural inclination toward chatter kicking in as boredom set in. 

“Let me ask you a question before I answer that.”

“Shoot, I’m an open book.”

“You have a thing for her, don’t you?”

Instead of the denial Bishop expected, Carter snorted and then cracked a smile.  “Don’t worry, Dumbo, I’m not poaching on your territory.”

“But you do have feelings for her that cross the boundaries of friendship.”

Carter shrugged.  “Who doesn’t?”

Bishop liked the fact that he was up front about it when confronted, but had to make sure the guy fully grasped where things stood.  “She told me she loves you like a brother.”

“Which in my family doesn’t exactly exclude a little something on the side,” he quipped.  “But like I said, you don’t have to worry.  I’m not that guy.”

“You’ll excuse me if I find it hard to accept that.”

“Accept it or don’t, makes no difference to me,” Carter shrugged.  “I have no illusions where Anja is concerned.”