Kiss Me When the Sun Goes Down (8 page)

“Sounds shiny.  Shoot me a text with your new number and I’ll give you the deets later.  I’d better run, there’s a set of percentile dice calling my name.”

“Okay, later Kyle.  It was great seeing you again,” I said with genuine warmth as he made his way back to the gaming tables.  “I think you made a friend for life,” I added in a softer voice, once we were alone.

“He seems like a nice guy.”

“You know, he’d blow a gasket if he found out what you are.”

“What we both are,” Bishop countered, and I conceded that point. 

“True.  But especially you.  A member of a secret vampire Order?  He’d probably pee his pants if you showed him one of your guns.”

“I’ll be sure to avoid that then,” he chuckled as we wandered through the tall racks of comic books on display. 

“You don’t have to do the LARP thing if you don’t want to, you know.  It was never really my thing, I was too self conscious about dressing up in public.”

“Really?  You seemed kind of into it, and you had that costume before.”

“I know, I love cosplay. I just always felt weird running around town in it outside of Halloween.  That was the old Anja though.” 

“And now you’re not self conscious anymore?”

“It’s kind of hard to be self conscious about something like that after having an entire vampire nation looking to me to guide them into the future for the past year.” 

“I can see how that would be a confidence booster,” he agreed.  “I’m willing to give it a shot, but I can’t guarantee it’ll be my cup of tea.” 

“I think it could be fun every once in a while.  But it’s hard to commit to a once a week thing, you know?  It seems like I end up jetting off to England at the drop of a hat.” 

“Hopefully those days are past us.  I’m not needed in Rome, and you’re not responsible for anyone but yourself anymore.”

He meant Rob.  “Not personally, but I am responsible for all of the West, and that takes precedence over fighting off Cylons in Dolores Park.”  Even if I did think he’d look amazing dressed up like a colonial warrior.  Plus, besides his duties with the Order, there was something else to consider.  “And you never know if Carys...”

Bishop cut me off before I could even complete the thought.  “I haven’t spoken to her in almost two months.  I’m done jumping through her hoops.”

I wanted to believe that in the worst way!  “Still, maybe it’s not the best time to be planning an ongoing campaign together.”

“Right, we’re taking it slow,” he nodded slowly, and I could tell I’d hurt him with my doubts.  But I wasn’t ready to sweep them under the table and pretend like they didn’t exist. 

“Look, our future is incredibly up in the air right now, and that’s okay.  We’ll just take this one step at a time.”

“One step at a time,” he agreed, picking up my hand and pressing a kiss to the back of it.  “As long as I’m stepping there beside you, I’m good with that.  But for now... maybe you’d better shake a leg if you want to look around.  We’ll have to leave pretty soon.”

“Oh right, for our secret mission.”  I hoped he’d elaborate, but he did a good job of keeping mum while I browsed at the store.  There were a few things I wouldn’t have minded picking up, but I felt weird carrying them along on our date.  So, I made a mental note to come back on my own time, especially if I wanted to reconnect with Kyle and those guys. 

We played twenty questions while I tried to guess where we were headed, but I didn’t have a clue until we strolled up to the Clay Theater for their Midnight Movie Series.  The window by the ticket booth showed a poster for a midnight showing of
Wrath of Khan
.

“Okay, now I know you’re pandering to my interests,” I laughed as we stood in line. 

“What?  I enjoyed
Wrath of Khan
,” Bishop protested.  “But I think I’d enjoy it a lot more if I got to watch it with you.”

It’d been on the list of movies I’d given him last summer, and we’d spent plenty of time debating the entire
Star Trek
movie collection through emails and letters.  He was right though, it would be more fun watching it together.  Still, I had to wonder – was any of this geeky stuff truly to his tastes?  I knew he wanted to make things up to me, but I didn’t want him to suffer through things he found boring to make me happy. 

“It’s cheesy though.  Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Maybe I like cheesy.”

I leaned up on my toes and kissed his scruffy cheek for that, hoping like anything it was true.  “Let’s go then, I want to get good seats.”

Sitting in the middle of a theater surrounded by fellow nerds saying the words along to the movie (like I did at home), with Shatner up on the big screen overacting his heart out, was a fun experience, and one I wished I’d tried before.  How had I never gone to one of these before?  Bishop seemed to be having a good time too, laughing in all the right places, and sobering when Spock made the ultimate sacrifice.  Say what you will about cheesy eighties movies, they provide good entertainment. 

We walked out of the theater hand in hand, and I felt more like a regular girl than I had in a year or more – and I liked it.  No political pressure, no life and death situations demanding my attention, not even the lure of pulses all around us.  The idea that I could have a semi-normal (albeit nocturnal) lifestyle was bewitching, and maybe it made me a silly girl – but part of me wanted that life again.  Part of me missed hanging out with my gamer friends and going to school.  I missed dates and movies and holding hands, and I loved Bishop for giving me that.

I tugged him aside, pulling him close for a kiss.  Bishop went with it without missing a beat, his hands settling on my hips as we made out in public, like any other couple after a movie. 

“What was that for?” he asked when the kiss drew to a close. 

“For knowing a part of me I’d almost forgotten.  For knowing what I wanted even better than I did.” 

“As long as I’m included in that
what you want
part somewhere,” he said with a lazy smile, and I nodded up at him.

“You definitely are.”  My attention was drawn to the poster in the window behind him.  “Oh... they’re doing the
Big Trouble in Little China
later this month!”

“Is that one we need to see?”

“Jack Burton and Gracie Law?  Oh yeah, we can’t miss it!”

“It’s a date then,” he smiled, taking my hand again as we strolled back in the general direction of where he’d left his car.  “Are you hungry?”

“No, I’m good, thanks.”  As good a time as I was having, I didn’t want to bring hunting into it, not yet.  That was a level of intimacy I wasn’t ready to jump into.  Besides, I’d made sure to snack before I left the house to remove the temptation of feeding beside him.  Unbidden, the memory of sharing blood with him slipped in, and my fangs slid down a fraction, whether I was hungry or not. 

Somehow, he sensed the change in me, his brow arching comically high.  “Are you sure?”

“Sorry, my imagination ran away with me for a sec there.”

“Nothing wrong with that.  Why not run with it?”

“Because you and me in an alley somewhere with hot blood in the mix sounds like a fifth date kind of thing to me.”

“Fifth, huh?”  He pretended to consider for a moment.  “I can work with that.  I have to come out and admit, I’m out of planned activities for the night.  We can go hang out at the Hart for a while, find a club somewhere that plays cool jazz, or keep strolling.”

I noticed he didn’t mention taking me home as one of the options, but I didn’t mind.  I didn’t want the night to be over either.  “If you don’t mind, I’ve got the key for a place Maggie wanted me to check out.”

“What kind of place?”

“Felix has been bugging me to get a bigger house so I can entertain more.  You know, sort of like Vetis.”

“Here in the city?  That’s a tall order.” 

“His guy Leo found a place. I don’t think it’s quite on the scale of the Vetis house, but it should work out for our purposes.  I can check it out later though, if you don’t want to take a look.”

“No, I don’t mind, lead the way.”

The house – or I should say mansion, because that’s what a twenty thousand square foot place is, a mansion – was in the middle of the Presidio Heights neighborhood, with fourteen bedrooms, eleven bathrooms, and enough property to hold a garden party for every vamp in the territory.  Three stories high, the 1904 gray stoned structure definitely put me in mind of the Vetis house, with marble sheathed columns and intricate details along every surface, including the high ceilings.  It almost felt like a palace with its gilt ballroom and massive, carved fireplaces, and despite my indifference to temperature, it felt cold and hard to my tastes. 

Bishop followed me though the house, snapping on lights until the entire place blazed with light.  “Wow, this place just goes on and on,” he murmured, as we crested the third floor and strolled out onto the terrace to look at the view of the city lights below.

“It sure does.”  I’d probably have to hire a full time staff to take care of it.  “It’s kind of hard to imagine the place full of music and life, isn’t it?  I mean, I can’t see myself living in a house like this, can you?”

“Honestly?”  He paused to lean against the low cement railing.  “No, it doesn’t seem like your style.  But I think you could make it work if you wanted to.”

“What about you?  Could you see yourself living here?”

“It’s not my style either, but it all depends on who’s doing the asking,” he replied with a touch of a smile behind his eyes, and just like that, we’d ventured into dangerous territory. 

“I didn’t mean... I think it’s a bit soon for us to talk about living together, don’t you?”

“Probably, but it is something I think about,” he said, looking down at his hands.  “Don’t you, when you’re lying in bed waiting for the sun to go down?”

I could tell it wasn’t a line.  He’d made no secret of the fact that he’d wanted to get back together with me for months, and it was easy to picture him lying there alone, thinking about the two of us together.  “Sometimes,” I admitted.  “But I don’t see us waking up together in this house, do you?”

“Where do you see us waking up together?”  His voice was nonchalant, as he turned to look out at the skyline, but I could tell he really wanted to know.

“I’m not sure.  I guess when I’m fantasizing about our future, I tend to see us at your place because that’s where we were before, but that’s not very realistic.”

“It could be.” 

Was he inviting me to come and live with him?  He still hadn’t turned to look my way, his gaze trained on the trees below.  Taking it slow or not, it was nice to talk about the future, or at least the possibility of one.  “Or you could end up staying with me.  My place is bigger.  Unless you’d feel weird about that.”

Now his head did swivel in my direction.  “Why would I feel weird about it?”

“Because I lived there with Rob.”

“Oh, that.”  It was easy to see that hadn’t occurred to him before, but from the furrow on his brow, I wondered if it bothered him now.  “I guess we’ll have to see how it goes.  You haven’t even invited me inside yet.”

“True,” I nodded.  “But I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves.  We’re supposed to be talking about this place.”  It was a stunningly beautiful house, but hardly one I’d ever consider moving into myself.  In fact, the more I walked around, the more of a waste of money it seemed.  “I don’t know, it seems like such an ostentatious thing to buy.  What do you think?”

“It’s not for you though, is it?  You’re a world leader, Anja.  You’re expected to have a certain lifestyle.”

“Even if I don’t want it?  How can I justify buying a place I’ll only use a few times a year?”

“It’s not your money though, is it?  The next Elder can always sell it off, you know.”

“That’s true.”  It wasn’t like I’d be stuck with it forever.  “Then you think I should buy it?”

“If it keeps you from inviting the riff raff into your home, then yes,” he grinned, and I shook my head. 

“I wouldn’t invite riff raff into my house anyway.  Like you said, I haven’t even invited you in yet.”

“Yeah, about that...”

“I think that’s more of a third date kind of thing, don’t you?”

“Okay,” he agreed, pushing away from the railing to stalk closer to me.  “How about we officially call this date over and start the next one?  Then you can invite me in and we can...”  I fixed him with a look, and his shoulders slumped in defeat.  “Right.  Third date it is.”

“And now that we have those ground rules, I think it’s probably time I headed home.  As much as I hate to say it, I have a ton of work to get to before the sun comes up.”

“Same.  I’m still sorting through the mess that Frost left behind.  The guy’s lucky Volkov’s not in charge any more, he would’ve ended him for sure.”

“I meant to ask you, who is running things in Rome now, by the way?” I asked as we headed back downstairs.

“The lady who used to be Volkov’s second in command, Prudence.” 

“I don’t think I’ve ever met her.”

“You’ll like her.  Pru’s got a good head on her shoulders and she’s not likely to make any waves, she’s aptly named.” 

Cool beans
.  “I’m always glad to see a woman in a position of power.  Maybe we’ll have to invite her over for a visit after the holidays, let her see what a good job you’re doing restoring order to the West?”

“Or better yet, maybe we can finally take that trip and I can show you my Italy?”

“Oh, I like your plan better, it’s way shinier than mine,” I agreed with enthusiasm as we chatted about some of his favorite spots to visit.  “We’ll come back to this,” I promised as I locked the place up. 

O
n the way back to the car, Bishop got a call he had to take, so I took the opportunity to make a quick call to Maggie.

“Don’t tell me the date ended badly and you need a ride,” she asked right off the bat. 

“No, nothing like that,” I laughed.  “I’m calling to tell you to go ahead on the house.”

“Really?  I knew you’d love it,” she gushed with more enthusiasm than I’d thought.  Maybe
she
was the one who loved it.  “I’ll call Leo right away and get the paperwork going.”