Forget Me When the Sun Goes Down (Forged Bloodlines Book 11) (19 page)

I looked in on Mason, who sat beside my sister, her lifeless body tucked into a narrow cot, strapped down at the rear of the plane.  Even though she hadn’t moved a muscle for any of the legs of the journey, he’d stuck by her side, holding onto her hand, occasionally talking to her, cracking jokes, trying to get her to smile. 

“How are you holding up?  It must be awful to see her like this.”  I knew she was my sister, but I didn’t feel anything beyond the common concern I’d have for anyone in her situation. 

Mason looked up, his lips lifting slightly.  “I’ve gotta admit, it’s hard.  What I wouldn’t give for one of her smiles, or even one of our epic fights.”

“You fight a lot?  I thought you were getting married.”

“Oh, hell yeah, we fight all the time.  That doesn’t mean we don’t love each other.  Besides, making up’s the best part.”  He waggled his eyebrows at me until I laughed. 

“I wish I could remember her.  Tell me about my sister.”

“Ooh, you should’ve asked me when we got on the first plane, it’ll take way longer than the rest of this flight to tell you how wicked awesome she is,” he grinned.  “But yeah, I’d be happy to give you the highlights.”  Mason stood up and stretched, his shoulders taking up most of the space in the aisle.  “But first I’d better wet my whistle.”

“Nell got us a fully stocked bar up front.”

“I thought you’d never ask.” 

I followed him up to the front of the plane, past where Jakob and Nelleke dozed, and Bishop sat hunched over his laptop.  Mason cracked open two beers, keeping them both for himself when I waved one away. 

“How do I begin to tell you about Hanna?” he sighed, slouching comfortably.  Mason went on to talk for a full forty-five minutes about how much he loved every single thing about her, from her quick wit and sharp mind to the way she looked in a pink bikini.  I was left with a pretty good sense of what she was like as a person, and she sounded like someone I’d be friends with.  More than that, I could see how besotted he was with her – the way his voice changed when he spoke about her, and the light that came into his eyes when he remembered something new to tell me. 

“It’s easy to see how much you love her,” I said after he’d disappeared into a private memory, a loopy smile on his face. 

“Yep, she’s got my balls in her dainty but surprisingly strong hands, alright.”

“I guess that’s why we’re still friends,” I mused aloud, smiling at the confusion on his face.  “I mean, technically you did kill my sister, right?  Shouldn’t I be ticked off that you made her a vampire?”

His face fell.  “I didn’t have a choice, she was dying.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” I said quickly.  “I didn’t meant to bring up an unpleasant memory.”

“It wasn’t one of my top five days, for sure,” he admitted.  “The idea of losing her scared me to death.  And it was so fast, one moment she was sitting next to me, smiling and the next she lay broken and bleeding in my arms.”  He swallowed uncomfortably, taking a long drink of his beer.  “Yeah, that was not my best day.”

“I’m sorry.  What happened?  Was it an accident?  Or... do you not want to talk about it?”

“It’s so weird you not knowing about it.”  Mason shook his head, taking another sip.  “I thought it was an accident at the time, but then we found out later that the fucker who rammed into our car was Volkov... which means nothing to you.  He used to be in charge of the Order until you skewered him with a red hot poker.”

“I did what?”

“To be fair, he had been torturing you, Rob, and Bishop for hours, so you can kind of see why you thought he deserved it.” 

“Why would he ever be torturing us?”

“Oh, that’s because you wouldn’t tell him who your Sire was, to protect Jakob.”

“Why would Jakob need protecting?  Isn’t he an
Ellri
and he can do anything he wants?”

“Yep, only he was hiding out from Lodinn, who was another
Ellri
out for revenge against Jakob for killing his wife a crazy long time ago...  There’s really not an easy way to tell this story out of order.”

So my sister had almost died because I’d been protecting Jakob’s identity.  I wondered again if it was the smartest idea to help fix him.  Maybe I
should
ask Nelleke to restore my memories? 

“And Volkov didn’t stop with your sister either.  He ambushed you guys at your house the same night, and ended killing Gunnar and Lee.  He even tried to kill Bishop.”  Mason shook his head.  “He wanted to decimate anyone you cared about.”

It was strange to hear him talking about people that’d died because of someone’s revenge against me, people I supposedly cared about, but couldn’t remember at all.  Gunnar and Lee... how had they fit into my life?  “What happened to him?  To Volkov?”

“Oh, you set his ass on fire and toaster-caked him.”

“Good.”  Maybe that made me bloodthirsty, but I didn’t care.  “What about the Lodinn guy?  Did Jakob stop him?”

“Uh huh, after you stabbed his ass with Odin’s spear.”  Mason’s voice grew deeper, his usual smile fading to a grin line.  “I wish I could’ve been there to twist the knife after what he did to Hanna.”

“What did he do to her?” I asked, my heart in my throat. 

He swallowed back a lump of emotion.  “Without going into all of the grisly details, Lodinn compelled her to love him and took advantage of her.  And he killed Marcus, left me for dead, and almost killed Rob while you watched.  That’s how you ended up turning Rob, after Lodinn drained him dry.”

“So much death,” I murmured. 

A fragment of a memory struck, more of a feeling than anything else.  Bishop holding me, comforting me as I cried.  I remembered my thoughts echoing the words I’d just said –
so much death.  And for what?  If only I knew why my loved ones were being targeted, then I might be able to process it all.  There was just an overwhelming sense of misery, too much to think straight.
 

I knew now it’d been these enemies, Volkov or Lodinn, I wasn’t sure which one of them was responsible for that particular bout of misery.  They were both gone now, but my friends – no, my family – was still gone.  And nothing I did or said would ever bring them back.  What else would I remember losing if I did Nell’s memory spell?

Maybe it was better to wait on recovering all of those painful memories until we could focus on them?  Or maybe it would be better to get it all over with, like pulling off a Band-aid?  I just didn’t know.  There were good memories too, I knew there were. 

I glanced up at Bishop, catching him looking at me.  Something that might’ve been embarrassment crossed his features before he turned his attention back to his laptop. 

“He loves you, you know,” Mason said.

I caught another flash of memory, this one far more pleasant.  It wasn’t much, just me lying on a river bank in the grass, looking up at Bishop, with the stars overhead.  Did Bishop still feel the love I saw in that gaze?  Or was that all in the past?

I shook my  head.  “Maybe he did once, it’s hard to know what either of us feel with most of our memories gone.”

“Some things you can’t forget.”

I did feel a pull to Bishop, but how deep it went, I had no idea.  “I wish I could remember.  I mean, we weren’t together this whole time, were we?  How does Rob fit into things if Bishop and I have this grand passion together?  Can you tell me a little about it?”

“I can give you the play by play, sure,” Mason nodded, starting in on his second beer. 

“Go back to the beginning.  Tell me everything.”

“First the Earth cooled, and then the dinosaurs came – no wait, that’s from
Airplane
,” he said with a loopy grin.  “I’ll give you the CliffsNotes version.  Once upon a time, there was a guy who was all about the job, we’ll call him Bishop.  Bishop worked for the Order, upholding vampire law, such as it is.”

“Oh, so he’s not a regular cop?”

“Nah, the Order’s like vampire police, which is way cooler.”

“And you’re one too, aren’t you?”  It explained why Mason and Bishop would be such good friends, and the fact that the guy had at least three weapons on him that I could see.

“Yep.  I’m sort of on sabbatical, but that’s another story.  Anyhoo, Bishop’s whole life was duty and responsibility, because he got royally fucked over by his Sire, a heartless wench who lives for mind games.”

“Let’s call her Carys,” I said, and he nodded his approval.

“You catch on fast, sis,” he grinned.  “Thankfully, the thundercunt takes a dirt nap for about three centuries, leaving Bishop thinking she’s dead and there’s no more love in the world.  All the classic, brooding hero junk.  Enter this hottie onto the scene, a total biscuit who hits him harder than a Mack truck.  I mean bam, one look and he’s a goner, a totally smitten kitten.  Only he’s too uptight to make a move on her, especially since she’s an illegal with no papers and he’s supposed to end her, not bang her.”

I couldn’t keep the frown from spreading.  “I don’t think I like this story.”  I didn’t want to hear about Bishop banging any hot chicks.  “When are we going to get to the part about Bishop and me?”

“That’s you, dummy, the hot biscuit.”

“Oh.”  He thought I was hot?  Kind of a weird thing for my sister’s fiancée to say, but whatever.  “Go on,” I prompted.

“So he’s kind of a tool for a while, but eventually you wear him down and you get together.  Jakob comes between the two of you for a while, but you tell him to go jump, and he lets the two of you be together.”

“Jakob
let
us?  Why should he have a say who I’m with?”

“Oh, only because he’s an
Ellri
, and he can do whatever the fuck he wants, and we’re all supposed to sit around and kiss his ass.”

First the curse and now this?  The more I learned about my Sire, the less I liked him.  “Well, I’m not kissing any ass,
Ellri
or not.”

“Atta girl.  That’s pretty much what you told him at the time, and weirdly enough, he stepped aside.”

“Then Bishop and I were together.”

“Yep, until he fucked it up.  In his defense, the guy hadn’t had a relationship for over three hundred years, and that one was with Carys.  So you can see how it was only a matter of time before he blew it.”

“What did he do?”

“He pushed you away, and Rob was waiting with open arms.”  Mason took another long drink.  “Rob’s a good guy and all, but I never did get the two of you.  Not a lot in common, and sexual chemistry will only take you so far.”

It’d seemed that way to me too.  Not that we’d had a whole lot of time to get to know each other, but beyond an attraction (because who
wouldn’t
have been attracted to Rob), he’d seemed a little too violent for my tastes.  “And I have a lot in common with Bishop?”

“Oh yeah, fuckloads.  Music, art, travel, movies, books, music...”

“You said music twice.”

“It’s a big thing for you guys.”

“He’s a Browncoat,” I murmured, remembering that kinship I’d felt with him in the kitchen over something small, but relatable. 

“Huh?”

“Nothing, just something else in common I recalled.  But I remember loving Rob too, even if we didn’t get married.  Why did he and I break up?”

“Marry him?  Hell no,” Mason laughed.  “As to why you broke up, you walked in on him neck deep in your best friend, Bridget.  You sorta forgave him after that over the whole curse thing, but then there was that threesome with Carys and...”

“Rob had a threesome with Carys and who?” I blurted out too loudly.  Horrified, I caught Bishop’s gaze across the plane.  He froze, stricken, and then his eyes closed in silent self-recrimination, and I knew.  “Oh...” I murmured, my cheeks flaming bright red.

“It wasn’t their fault tho, see, cause Carys’...”

“It doesn’t matter.  I’m guessing that had something to do with why I stabbed her with a pair of chopsticks.”

Mason snorted.  “No doubt.  So then...”

Bishop was suddenly there in the aisle beside us.  “What are you doing?”  he demanded.

“Telling Anja your greatest hits.  You know, sort of helping fill in the gaps.

“Stop helping,” Bishop ordered, his voice low.

“I was just getting to the good part.  You know, all the gooshy love stuff.  In fact, Bishop was about to pop...” 

Bishop’s hand shot out, catching Mason around the throat, cutting off his air supply.  “Stop.  Helping,” he bit out. 

Mason’s eyes bulged in surprise and alarm, and he nodded as best he could with Bishop’s hand clamped around his throat.  Bishop let go, and he sucked in a quick breath.  “I think maybe I’d better go check on Hanna,” he mumbled.

“Do that.”

“Later, sis,” Mason said with a half smile for me, before he squeezed past Bishop on his way to the back of the plane. 

I didn’t know what to say to Bishop, what he had or hadn’t heard about our conversation, or what he felt about any of it for that matter.  Still, I didn’t want him to blame Mason for the resulting awkwardness.  “He was only doing what I asked him to,” I pointed out.