Kiss Me When the Sun Goes Down (23 page)

“With you,” Bishop answered without hesitation.  “Wherever the world takes us.”

“Wherever the world takes us, that sounds nice,” I smiled into my end of the phone.  I was starting to fade away, my thoughts rapidly losing their cohesion.  “Would you really follow me to the ends of the Earth?”

“Sure, if you wanted me to.  Maybe not all the time,” he added after a moment’s thought.  “Maybe I could follow you around for five years, and then you can follow me for five?  Or a decade, I’m flexible.  There will be times when I’ve got my own responsibilities, but I’ve given over three hundred years in service to the Order, I’d say I have an extended vacation coming my way if you wanted to go exploring.”

He threw around years like they were months, and I had to laugh.  “I do love you, Bishop.”

“I love you too, Anja.  Now get some sleep.  I’ll be there to pick you up when the sun goes down.”

“Why?  Gunnar will... will take me to the, um... the mansion.”  I was quickly losing the power of speech, the dark reaching out to claim me. 

“I want you to invite me into your house.”

“Wha for...?” 

“Because the next time you fall asleep, I want it to be in my arms.”   

And that’s what I dreamt of. 

U
nfortunately, as soon as I woke up the next night, Maggie waited for me with a mug of O positive, and a summons from Bakareh. 

“Aw, poop.  I was hoping to go one night without drama,” I sighed, falling back against the pillow.

“I’m afraid this isn’t the night,” she said with a rueful twist of the lips.  “There’s a car standing by to take you to the mansion.”

“Okay, give me ten minutes to splash some water on my face and change into something more appropriate.”  Something told me he wouldn’t be impressed by toe socks and my R2D2 jammies. 

I sent a quick text to Bishop, telling him not to bother coming over, as I was already on my way to the mansion.  Gunnar had his nose out of joint at not being required to drive me over, and vowed to follow along the limo,
just in case
.  As it was, I was surprised to find a familiar face in the driver’s seat. 

“Kane?  What are you doing playing chauffeur?”

The shifter was dressed casually in a worn t-shirt, faded from many washings, and jeans, more appropriate for doing yard work, rather than driving a limo.  “Beats the shit out of me, ma’am,” he shrugged.  “Lee tells me to drive, I drive.”

“What happened to the driver we got for Bakareh?”

Another shrug.  “I just work here.” 

That didn’t sound so good.  “Anything you can tell me about the state of the house before I walk in there?”

“There’s some sort of fuss about the staff, that’s all I know.”

“The security staff?” I frowned. 

“Naw, something to do with that midget vamp’s staff.”

“Do you mean Bakareh?  He’s not a midget, he was turned at a young age.”

“Whatever, he looks like a little midget Hare Krishna to me.” 

“Maybe don’t say something like that to his face,” I winced, imagining Bakareh might take it as insulting at the very least.

Kane snorted.  “I ain’t afraid of him.”

“Then you’re stupid, because he’s one of the most powerful vamps on the planet.  I’d watch what you say to him.”

Under his breath, he muttered something about vampire politics, but all he said aloud was, “I don’t plan to say
anything
to him.”

“Good.  It’s probably for the best if you keep as far away from him as possible.  Something tells me he’s not in the best mood today.”

I wasn’t wrong, and the reason why became immediately apparent as soon as I got to the mansion.  All of Bakareh’s people had deserted him.  Every last one, from the guy who dressed him, to the two girls whose only purpose that I could figure out was to  follow him everywhere he went, and bow and scrape over his magnificence.  Just like that, with no notice, they’d all walked out some time during the day.  My staff had scrambled to pick up the slack under Lee’s direction, but I could tell that the Child King was already working on his last nerve. 

“This is unacceptable!” Bakareh shrieked as soon as I entered his room, pointing a chubby finger in my direction.  “Never have I been treated thus.  I hold you personally responsible for their desertion.”

“Me?” I gaped, taking an extra moment not to buy into his hysteria.  I took a deep, cleansing breath, searching for a more level tone.  “With all due respect, your staffing issues are hardly my fault.”

“Who else is to blame then?  I should’ve known when Amunet first returned from your infernal lands that all was not as it should be.  Where are you hiding them?”

Amunet was gone too?  No wonder he was so upset  “I’m not hiding anyone anywhere.  This is the first I’m hearing of their disappearances.”

“I will not be made to suffer because you can’t properly run a house.”  Bakareh did everything but stamp his foot, and it put me on edge.

“Hey, my staff isn’t the one that pulled a Houdini.  If you’re looking to place the blame on someone, maybe you should ask yourself why they left?”

“My people have been devoted to me since infancy.  It is a great honor to serve in my court.” 

Was he seriously that deluded?  “Is it?  Or do you not give them much of a choice?  I’ve seen your people, you treat them more like slaves than servants.” 

He shrugged a shoulder.  “That is their station in life.  Just as it is mine to rule, as I see fit.” 

“And it’s their right to exercise their free will if they don’t like that station.  Maybe they decided they’d had enough of your rule?”

“In favor of yours?” he scoffed.  “If that fiasco last night is any indication, it’s a wonder you have a kingdom at all.” 

“Oh, because you’re such a genius at ruling others?”  My voice rose, despite my best efforts to keep my temper in check.  “Did you ever stop to think that maybe if you weren’t such a demanding baby all the time, your people wouldn’t have ditched you at their first chance?”

“My people revere me!  I am as a god to them!”

“I know just what you do to exact that so called reverence, Bakareh, and we both know it’s not love that compels them to treat you with deference, don’t we?”

I had a brief thought that he might lunge for my throat at any second, but instead, his high voice managed a low and deadly threat.  “Did you or did you not compel my people to turn on me?”

“I did not,” I shot back, meeting his gaze squarely.  “I have better things to do with my day than play head games with your servants.”

Bakareh was silent, weighing my response carefully, before he decided he believed me.  “I require you to provide me with a new staff,” he said, reclining on his throne of pillows as if he was casually ordering a pizza for delivery.  Evidently one servant was as good as another in his eyes, but it wasn’t all the same to me, especially when I’d seen how he treated them.

“I’m not going to do that, but I will make arrangements to see you safely home.”

“I said I want new attendants!” he wailed, and I forced a slow breath before I replied, of half a mind to call Carter in and borrow his crossbow. 

“Then hire some on your own, but you’re not taking my people.”

“You will do as I say.”

Something inside of me snapped at his imperious tone.  I was done kissing up to Bakareh just because he was dangerous.  This was
my
house and
my
lands, and I was sick and tired of walking on eggshells around him.  “Look, I’ve had about as much as I can take from you.  You clearly don’t like it here, so I see no reason for you to stay one moment longer.  And we both know you can’t compel me to do your bidding, so stop making demands.” 

His eyes stretched wide before they narrowed to dangerous slits.  “I don’t need to compel you, I could easily destroy you if you disobey me.”

“Go ahead,” I called his bluff.  “And then good luck finding a rock to hide under, because Jakob will scour this whole world to break you in half.” 

“Jakob won’t have to bother, because the little runt will never get out of here alive if he makes a move on you,” Carter called out from the doorway, his crossbow leveled at Bakareh’s heart.  Gunnar stood behind him, gun drawn, and Lee to his other side, hands shifted to massively sharp claws.

“I have never been thus treated in my life!”  Bakareh screamed to the rafters, but nobody batted an eye.

“Are you about done?” I asked when he paused to take a breath.  “Go ahead and yell your head off if it makes you feel any better.  I’ll have my people pack your things up to go, and we’ll see you safely to your plane.  After that you’re on your own.”

His eyes widened with a touch of fear, though what he had to be afraid of, I couldn’t imagine.  “I cannot travel on my own.  I require attendants, I require feeders, I require...”

A crossbow dart whizzed past his ear, close enough to make him flinch. 

“I can make your travel time pass a lot quicker,” Carter offered, quickly rearming the crossbow with another shot. 

Bakareh paled, but his voice was lower when he spoke again.  “That won’t be necessary.  Please see that I leave within the hour.”

“I think we can manage that, Your Grace,” I said politely.

“I shan’t be coming here again,” he sniffed before marching into the bathroom, where he slammed the door behind him.

“Pity.  I was starting to like him,” Carter smirked, lowering the crossbow. 

I stifled a smile, eager to get things in motion before Bakareh decided to be more difficult.  “Okay, let’s get some people in here to pack him up double time.  I want him out of here in
less
than an hour.” 

“It is my pleasure,” Gunnar smiled, picking up the house phone to make the arrangements. 

“Do we know what happened to Bakareh’s staff?  They’re not...?”

“We didn’t turn up any bodies, if that’s what you’re askin’,” Lee replied, keeping pace with me as I strode briskly down the hall. 

“I guess we can make some discreet inquiries.  I suppose if they’re looking for Sanctuary, the least we can do is help them settle into the West.  Any other catastrophes while I’m here, or are we good?”

“I’m almost afraid to answer that without knockin’ wood,” Lee grinned.  “But I did hear some rumblins that Jennike’s making plans to skedaddle as well.”

“Her staff didn’t disappear too, did they?”

“Nope, they’re all here and accounted for.” 

“Well, let’s hope nothing else goes wrong today.”  I rapped on the doorframe in passing, just in case. 

B
y the time Bishop got to the mansion, both Jennike and Bakareh had packed their bags and left without a single ounce of fanfare.  It was the shortest state visit he’d ever heard of.  Maybe the blood bath hadn’t been such a bad idea after all?

He found Anja in the security office with Carter poring over the video footage, and she looked up with a smile when he walked in. 

“Hey, you’re here.  We figured out how the blood was poisoned.”  She waved him over to the monitors.  “Check it out.” 

An image of the kitchen came onscreen, and one of the human servers, a blonde that he vaguely recognized from the night before, stood in front of the racks of clean cordial glasses as they came out of the massive dishwasher.  Methodically, she worked her way through the entire lot of them, applying something to each and every glass, though it was impossible to tell from the resolution of the image, what it was she put in the glasses. 

“That checks out with what the lab found,” Bishop reported.  “There’s nothing wrong with the blood itself, it was the glasses that were poisoned.”

“That explains why the feeders were fine, and why it didn’t affect people right away.  The glasses weren’t poisoned until after the first batches were served and run through the dishwasher,” Anja mused aloud.  “Did you find out what the poison was?”

Bishop nodded.  “Hyacinthus orientalis, commonly known as hyacinth.”

Anja gasped in surprise.  “A flower did all that?”

“Some of the best poisons come from plants,” Carter chimed in.  “From what I can remember, it’s the bulbs that are poisonous on the hyacinth, causing nausea, vomiting, and convulsions.  Sometimes death, though not for vampires.  The most we’d get is sick, like we saw last night.”

Anja looked between the two men.  “How do you guys know this stuff?  Did I miss the poison chapter in the vampire handbook or something?”

Bishop shrugged.  “You pick things up over the years.  I’m betting you won’t forget about the properties of hyacinth any time soon, will you?”

“You’re not wrong there,” she admitted with a sigh.

“There’s something else too,” Carter pointed out, pulling up another file on the computer.  “I have audio coverage in the bedrooms.  I picked up something right before Bakareh’s staff took off earlier today.” 

Bishop’s brows rose in surprise.  “Bakareh’s staff took off?”

“It’s been a weird evening so far,” Anja nodded.

“Here, listen to this.”

There was a light murmur of voices, and for the life of him, Bishop couldn’t pick out even a single word.  “Am I supposed to be able to recognize what’s being said there?”

“No, and that’s the best I can do with this equipment.  It’s not like on TV where I can adjust a couple of dials and all of a sudden we have crystal clear dialogue.”

“What are we listening for then?” Anja asked. 

“Nothing, exactly.  I just think it’s interesting.  There’s that light murmur and then they all left without packing a single thing.”  Carter turned on another camera sequence from the upstairs hallway that showed them filing out without any hurry and no further conversation.  “Just walked out as happy as you please without a backward glance.” 

Anja watched the footage, her brow furrowing.  “Maybe they had a meeting about leaving and didn’t want Bakareh to hear?” she suggested, and Carter gave her a pointed look.

“How much can you hear when you’re passed out for the night?”

“Bakareh’s much older though, he might be a light sleeper,” Bishop pointed out.  “Whatever was discussed, it was low enough that they were obviously afraid of being overheard.  What’s so strange about that?”