Trust Me When the Sun Goes Down (23 page)

“Laveda talked to you?” Rob bristled, and I inwardly cursed my glib tongue.  His moods were still far too erratic for teasing, I could see that now.

“Relax, she kept her promise, she didn’t tell me a thing.  Why else do you think I was so full of questions?”  He seemed to accept that and I forged on.  “Now then.  Step one has got to be to stop taking the stims.  You can see that, can’t you?”

“Yes,” he agreed with a long drawn out breath. 

“So where are they?”

Rob reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out two tiny vials of the bitter milky liquid, depositing them in my outstretched hand. 

“Is that all of it?”

“No.”  He bent to slip his hand between the mattress and the box spring, pulling out two more.  Without being prompted, he went to the closet and retrieved another, handing them all over. 

“Thank you,” I said, my hand closing around the glass vials.  “Now, we can start by cutting back to half doses and wean you off of it…”

“No, I don’t want them,” he interrupted, his face resolute.  “Get rid of it all.”

“Are you sure?  It might be bad to quit cold turkey.”  I’d stopped all at once, but I hadn’t taken them for nearly as long as he had. 

“I’ll manage.”

“Alright then.”  I dumped them all out into the bathroom sink and rinsed them for good measure before I tossed them into the trash.  Elsewhere in the house I heard Lee come inside and settle in to his bedroom.  Rob watched me the whole while, not saying a word even after we returned to the bedroom. 

“Don’t worry, we’ll get through this,” I said with an encouraging smile as I sat on the end of the bed.

His hand came up to stroke the bluish marks at my throat from his choking grip, marks I knew would haunt him for far longer than they stayed on my skin. 

“If I ever try to hurt you again…”

“You won’t.”

“But if I do, I want you to promise you’ll stop me, no matter what it takes.”

“I won’t need to.”

“You’ve the strength and skill to put me down if needed.  Promise me if I ever do you wrong like this again, you’ll…”

“I’ll take care of it,” I stopped him, leaving it vague as to what I’d do if I ever found myself in that position again.  As much as I loved Rob, I wouldn’t stay in a relationship that turned abusive.  Anyone might make a mistake and snap under the influence, but if he did it again, he wouldn’t have to be the one telling me to go. 

“It kills me to think I might’ve…”

“Hey, a cup of blood and I’ll be good as new.  It doesn’t even hurt.”  It wasn’t him, I got it.  The sooner he got off the stims, the sooner I’d have my old Rob back and it would all be in the past. 

“Still, I’m so fucking sorry.”

“I know.”  I rose to meet his embrace and we clung to each other, finally finding the peace that’d been missing between us those past weeks. 

Later we lay in bed together, just holding each other.  Without the stims, he fell asleep much earlier than he had been, well before the rise of the sun.  There were duties to see to, and my enhanced hearing could pick out the persistent beep of the voicemail reminder on my cell in the study above, but I stayed there with him until I felt the sun’s drugging rays hit the house.  For the first time in a long while, I felt confident I’d wake to find him lying there by my side and I wouldn’t have had it any other way.  

Not only was Rob by my side when I woke up, he stayed asleep for hours after sunset, only waking to shuffle into the kitchen for a mug of blood and a kiss before going back to bed.  I figured it was to be expected and tried not to worry overmuch.  With as long as he’d been burning the candle at both ends, I figured the rest would do him more good than anything else.  Still, I decided to work from home, wanting to be there in case he needed me.   

Besides, I had other worries to occupy me, as I woke to an anxious voicemail from my mother about Hanna.  It seemed my sister had been ignoring her calls and never seemed to be available at work.  Ordinarily I’d take that as par for the course, Hanna was always better than I was at avoiding those nosy calls.  But seeing as how my own communication with her was hit and miss lately, I decided it couldn’t hurt to reach out to her again. 

The call went straight to voicemail and before I sent her a text, I scrolled down in my contact to send one to Mason instead. 
Have you talked to Hanna lately?

To my surprise, my phone rang instead of chimed with a text, Mason’s silly grin lighting up the display.  “No, not really.  Why?  Is she in trouble?” he fired off right out of the gate before I could even say hello. 

“No, nothing like that.  She’s just been radio silent lately and I wondered if there was anything I should know about.  She’s still not talking to you much either, huh?”  It broke my heart to see them both so heartsick for each other and no reconciliation in sight.

“Nope, it’s still icicle city over here.  Do you think I should do something about it?  Like… show up with a truckload of teddy bears while she’s at work and stick them in all of her cupboards and stuff like that?”

“Hm, I think invading her home turf is probably a bad idea.  Maybe you should start with sending her one teddy bear in the mail?”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.  Thanks for the advice, sis.  I gotta go kill bad guys now.”

“No killing!” I reminded him and he gave a guilty chuckle.

“Right, of course not.  Figure of speech.”

I wanted to say something about Carter and his peoples’ hunt for him, but decided to stay out of it.  Mason knew my feelings where the hunter was concerned, and I knew my wishes didn’t carry that much weight in the Order.  “Okay, thanks for calling.  I’ll let you know how things go with Hanna once I get a hold of her.” 

I sent Hanna a text next. 
You can’t keep avoiding us all.  Call me.

Busying myself with the correspondence Maggie had set on my desk, it took me a while to get to my email.  I hadn’t gotten one from Bishop in a while, but there was one from Jakob mentioning a small transfer to my personal account, along with the login information for a new, separate offshore account he’d set up with the bulk of Lodinn’s estate. 

Checking my own account balance first, I noticed an extra
hundred thousand
dollars in there. 
Holy catweasels…
  That was a small transfer?  With trembling hands I clicked on the other link he’d sent, entering in my new account number and password.  I stared stupidly at the figure I found there, having trouble translating all those zeros into a number that made sense.  It completely boggled my mind.  How could one person have such an obscene amount of money?  I’d thought Maggie’s inheritance was sizable, but this...  I could probably buy my own island and populate it with genetically engineered animal servants if I wanted to. 

Maggie found me an hour later, unmoved from where I’d been staring out the window.

“Is something wrong?” she asked, when I didn’t acknowledge her presence in any way.

“I don’t know.  I mean, no, it’s not
we’re all in terrible danger
wrong, but it’s… it’s still troubling.” 

“What is it?” she asked, settling into the chair across from me.  “Maybe I can help.”

“How did you feel about inheriting Marcus’ money?”

“I felt awkward about it, to say the least.  Like I said, I’d never asked for nor expected him to do such a thing, and I felt I didn’t deserve it.  But then I started to think he’d wanted me to have that freedom, as you said.  I haven’t actually touched most of it yet, but I suppose I feel… comforted by it now.”

I nodded, glad she’d been able to come to embrace it.  “How do you think you’d feel if it was Jasper’s money you’d inherited?  After all the awful things he did to you, would it sour that money for you?”

Her features settled into a determined look.  “No, I’d consider it my due after all he put me through.”

“Really?” I blinked, surprised by her answer.  “It wouldn’t bother you at all?”

“No, I’d enjoy spending every last penny.  Particularly on things I know he’d hate the most.  Why?”  Her pretty featured clouded in confusion.  “That money was from Marcus’ estate, wasn’t it?”

“Oh yes, of course it was.  That’s not why I was asking.  I found out that Jakob transferred practically a googolplex of money to me from Lodinn’s estate.”

“And that’s a bad thing?”

“No, I guess not.  I just feel weird about it.  Part of me doesn’t want to have anything to do with it because every time I use it I’ll think of him.  I don’t want to keep living in the past.”

“But you’d think of defeating him, that has to be a good memory.”

“That’s part of it.  But then I think of how my sister is still suffering because of him and I don’t want to touch it.”

“Perhaps it’s your sister who could benefit from the money if she was wronged the most?” 

“If there was a way for me to pass it along to Hanna, I would.”  But I knew she’d never take it if she suspected it ever belonged to Lodinn.  It set me to thinking though.  “I could try and find a creative way to funnel some of it to Hanna and maybe to Rob.  There has to be a way to put some of it to good use.  Maybe I can establish a fund for his victims?”

“I should doubt there would be many of them left alive,” Maggie observed quietly, falling silent for a few moments.  “Should I be doing that as well?  Trying to use Marcus’ money for good?”

“No, you should be doing anything you want with it.  Don’t let my issues influence what you do now that you’ve made your peace with it.”  We settled into a companionable silence, each lost to our own thoughts.  I started to think of the money as something else – freedom.  Not that I could spend that much in my lifetime (then again, forever was a very long time), but it gave me options to do whatever I wanted to. 

If I wanted to leave all the politics behind and travel the world, I could.  If I wanted to give Rob the money to get their business going free and clear, I could without even denting the bulk of it.  I could probably fund my own private blood bank and run it as a sort of free clinic for hungry vamps to keep them from feeding on the streets.    

“Does this money change where we’re going for our girls’ holiday away?” Maggie ventured a few minutes later, letting me know in which direction her thoughts ran.

All at once I thought that sounded like the best thing since vibranium was discovered.  “You know what?  I think it does.  I think this is the perfect excuse to do something crazy lavish and pamper ourselves.  Forget Modesto, forget Las Vegas even, let’s do something super shiny.  What do you think?  How about a little surf and sand coupled with a healthy amount of consumerism?”

“Hawaii?”

“Hmm, maybe not Hawaii if we’re only going for the weekend, but definitely some place with sand.  What about Acapulco or someplace along the Mexican coast?  Do they make weekend cruises?”  My phone rang and my smile stretched wide when I saw who it was.  “It’s Hanna!”

“I’ll go make some inquiries,” Maggie smiled, bowing out. 

“Tell me you’re not doing mom’s dirty work for her now?” Hanna said as soon as I picked up the call. 

“Psh, no…” I replied, crossing my fingers behind my back despite the fact that there was no way she could see me.  Have I mentioned before that I’m a terrible liar?

“Good, ’cause this sisters thing only works if we stick together.”

Never mind the fact that she’d ratted me out and given my address to my parents strictly against my wishes, I wanted to keep things light.  “That’s totally not why I called.”  And then it hit me, I had the perfect excuse to not only bug her, but find out how she was holding up.  “Hey, you never got back to me about where you want to go for our girls’ weekend trip.”

The pause on the line didn’t fill me with confidence, neither did her tone of voice.  “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.  I need to concentrate on finding another job before I’m out on the street.”

“What?  When did you lose your job?  Or did you quit?”  No wonder she was ducking mom’s calls.

“No, they definitely fired me.”

“But why?  Didn’t you get that monster raise a couple of months ago?”

“That was almost a year ago, An.  A lot can change in a year.” 

She didn’t have to tell me, there wasn’t a single facet of my life that hadn’t changed except for my abiding love for all things Joss Whedon.  “Yes, but what happened?”

“It’s not their fault, it’s all on me, believe me.  I would’ve fired me too.”

“I can’t believe you’d do something bad enough to get fired for.  What did you do, wrap your boss’ desk in aluminum foil?”

“No, they quit paying me when I stopped showing up.  They’re funny like that.”

“Why would you stop going?  I thought you loved your job.”

“I know, I just…  I went through a rough patch there for a while.  I’m doing better now.”

She didn’t sound like she was all that better yet.  “Well, then this is a perfect time for you to get away.  Heck, we can turn this into a real vacation now that you don’t have a job to go back to.”

“I can’t afford to.”

“Don’t you worry about that, this is my treat.  And if you need some money to help tide you over with rent and stuff, I’ve got you covered, no problem.”

“I’ll be fine, thanks.”

“I’m just saying, I’d be happy to help you out.  It’s the least I can do.  I make more money than God at this Elder thing.”  Not to mention all the ducats I’d come into, but I didn’t want to bring up Lodinn’s name.

“So do I, genius. God doesn’t make any money,” she retorted dryly.

“Tell that to televangelists.”

Hanna let out a long breath.  “Anja, I don’t need your handouts. I have money set aside, I’ll be fine.  I just can’t go on indefinitely without finding a new job.”

“We’re not going on vacation
indefinitely
, only for a few days.  Come on, Hanna, it sounds like you need this.  I’m thinking Mexico for some fun in the sun for you daywalkers and long strolls in the moonlight for us night people.”

“I don’t know, this isn’t really my thing.”

“It’s more your thing than it is mine, you love the beach.  Remember Spring Break?  Dad just about frothed at the mouth when you accidentally sent him those pictures of you doing that handstand kegger thing.”

“That was a very long time ago, my kegstand days are over.”

“Relaxing in the sun then.  Plus, shopping, I know you can’t say no to that.”

The pause was longer this time as Hanna hesitated.  “I think I’ll sit this one out.”

I knew that pause meant she was conflicted though, and I intended to exploit it.  “Too bad, you’re coming,” I insisted.  “I’ll have Maggie make all the arrangements.  You don’t even have to pack, I’ll take care of everything.  I’ll be there an hour after sunset tomorrow night to pick you up.  And you know I’m stronger than you, so I’ll throw you over my shoulder if I have to.”

“Ugh, fine.  But don’t expect me to have any fun.”

I didn’t bother to suppress my squeal of victory.  “Don’t worry, Bridget will be having enough fun for all of us.”

“Swell, can’t wait,” she deadpanned.

“Me neither, I’ll see you tomorrow tonight.”

The next hour I spent going over arrangements with Maggie and making sure Bridget was good to go the next night.  Maggie started to get more and more excited as we settled on a destination and she actually booked the reservations.  The conversation I had with Gunnar and Lee was less enthusiastic, but they understood about it being a girls only weekend (with the exception of Rob).  And with the bonuses I gave them, they were keen on taking their own vacations. 

I worried that Rob wouldn’t be up for traveling so soon, but he woke up about halfway through the night and assured me he’d be fine as long as he could sleep on the flight.  He did seem much better and I took him at his word, not wanting to borrow trouble.  If he spent most of the trip asleep while his body readjusted his time clock, that was fine with me, it was supposed to be a girls’ vacation anyway.  I didn’t anticipate any serious danger on the trip, and I could handle any local violence with one hand tied behind my back.   

Right before dawn, Maggie came to me with a particularly extravagant addition to the itinerary, and I gave my wholehearted agreement.  If I was going to kidnap my sister and force her to cut loose and have some fun, I might as well go whole hog.  Plus, I couldn’t wait to see Bridget’s response when she stepped on board.

Maybe there could be some joy gotten from Lodinn’s money after all?