Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down (19 page)

“Who asked you?” 

“Nobody
,
”
she
admitted cheerfully.
  Bishop
closed his eyes for a minute and I could see that
pinched
look of almost pain coming over his features when things weren’t going down
exactly to plan
.

“Look
,
forget it, I’ll go find a guy on my own…” I turned away to leave.

“Absolutely not.”  His voice was a low and dangerous growl, surprising me as he caught my arm hard enough to hurt which was saying a lot now.

“Wow, someone’s jealous
,
”
Holly
giggled
and he
spared her a scowl before
tugging
at my arm. 

“I’m not even all that hungry.  I already ate tonight, remember?”

“
You’re stalling.”

“I’m sorry!  But we’re here for you to train me so I’ll learn how to do it on my own, right?  And I don’t think I’d ever pick someone like her.  No offense, Holly.”

“None taken,” she replied equably
,
and Bishop let go of me in disgust.

“Fine, who would you choose?”

“Not to be a
prude
, but I think I’d pick a guy.”  Remembering what it felt like when I’d drunk from him, I had a feeling it would get pretty intimate and Holly wasn’t my type.  “Unless you can give me a reason why I shouldn’t feed on a man?”

Bishop’s jaw tightened, throat working while he swallowed back whatever off the cuff reply he’d been planning.  “Go ahead then, knock yourself out.  It sounds like you don’t need me anymore.”

“No wait, don’t leave.” I clutched at his arm.  “Of course I still need you, but I need to learn how to do it my way, right?” 

“Right
.
”
H
is answer was given through clenched teeth.

“So will you help me?”

A long breath was given.  “Go ahead, pick your guy.  I’ll take care of Holly.”

“You’ll be here when I come back?”  I didn’t think I’d be brave enough to try anything without him there.  What if I lost contro
l and ended up killing the guy?

“I’ll be here.” 

I hoped ‘taking care of Holly’ meant putting her in a cab and not the dumpster, but I decided not to ask.  Giving him a smile and a wave good bye to Holly, I left the alley and hoped for the best. 

*
*
*

In a way it was good that I’d pushed back a little.  It gave me the opportunity to see what it would be like to really stalk my prey on my own
,
and trust me, I cringed on the inside when t
hinking about it in those terms
.
  If I couldn’t make it work, I might as well throw in the towel and ask him to stake me
,
because I knew after that night I’d truly be on my own. 

Settling back into my spot at the end of the bar, I let my gaze sweep over the crowd.  Eenie, meenie, miney….
moe
.  I spied a likely candidate
-
blonde haired
,
blue eyed, with a wholesome look about him
, no date in sight
.  For a moment I considered trying to lure him out of the bar on my own merits, no compulsion involved
like Bishop had
, but in the end I wasn’t confident in my ability to do it as quickly as I had in mind.  Putting a little extra sway in my step, I settled onto the empty bar stool beside the guy, smile at the ready.

It was
easier than I’d thought it would be to chat up a complete stranger in a bar.  Maybe knowing I could look into his eyes and
make
him like me if he blew me off lessened that possibility of rejection, making me bold. 
Josh
was an intern at Kramer, Jacobs and Finch, waiting for a tow truck to jump start his car.  It was
easy, oh so easy
,
to get him to forget about his other plans for the night, and it was a heady feeling knowing I could get him to do
anything
for me.  I could have crooked my finger at him and gotten him to give
me everything in his wallet,
the keys to his car, or come into a dark and deserted alley late at night. 

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Bishop watching me from the other end of the bar, and I wondered if he’d come back in because he was worried about me, or if he didn’t think I’d be able to pull it off
.
 
Conscious of
Bishop
’s scrutiny, I leaned closer to
Josh
than I had to, touching him liberally on the arm, the chest, the thigh…  I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye where
Bishop
sat
at that last touch, but I didn’t want to let on that I was trying to get a rise out of him on purpose. 

I wasn’t really sure
why
I
tried
to get a reaction out of
him
, maybe it was a way of trying to get him to regret
pushing me away at every turn
.
  In the end
,
I decided to stop playing with my food and slid off the bar stool, my blonde admirer in tow.  Taking him straight through the parking lot, I beckoned towards the alley, my eyes full of promise.  Taking a page from
Bishop
’s example with
Holly
(I wondered how she was doing?)
,
I pressed him up against the wall, my borrowed heels giving me enough height to reach his neck easily. 

“Why are we in the alley?  I thought we were going to a party?”
h
e asked
nervously
, even as I laid a kiss to the pulse at his neck. 

“This is the party
,
Josh
,
” I smiled, my hands spreading across his chest.  Meeting his eyes again, I exerted another burst of control over him.  “You want this don’t you?”

“Want this…”
h
e nodded, all trace of worry disappearing from his voice.

That was all I needed to hear, my fangs descending as the sweet siren song of his blood called out to me. 
This was it, the big moment
.  T
here was no turning back now.  I had to trust that Bishop would be there to stop me if I lost control. 
Losing all hesitation
, my instincts kicked in and I practically lunged for the poor
guy
’s throat; the bright blood instantly filling me with a thirst that
had
no end. 

Josh
cried out softly as I bit into his neck, arms enfolding around me as his body responded to the pleasure mingled with pain.  Much as when I drank from
Bishop
, the desire to touch him swept through me, but it was a pale shadow of what I’d felt
earlier that evening
.  Still, my hands traveled over
his body, grasping and stroking,
all the while I drank, reveling in the feeling of power. 

Dimly I
became
aware of the fact that
Bishop had joined us in the alley, but I was much too distracted to notice if he approved of my selection or technique or whatever he was judging me on.
Suddenly he was at my side,
our bodies lightly touching as
he joined me in the feast. 
Josh
didn’t seem to mind the intrusion, in fact
,
it sounded like he was
having a helluva
time from the noises he
made
.
 

The next thing I knew, my hand smoothed up
Bishop
’s body, seeking him out instead of the victim’s. 
Just as I had in his apartment, my body craved his, the blood fueling the desire to touch and be touched.  To my surprise,
Bishop
responded in kind
.  H
is cool hand splayed across the small of my back, dipping inside the waistband of my jeans
… I felt his moan of pleasure, reverberating through
Josh
,
and a sh
iver
of
delight
went through me to the core of my being.
  

I was adrift on a sea of
paradise
, my senses drowning from overstimulation and I never wanted it to end. 
All too soon I felt
Bishop
pulling at my shoulders, urging me away from my
nirvana
.  Stubbornly I resisted,
Josh
’s
heart still beat a mile a minute and there was more blood to be had. 

“
Anja
…”
H
is voice was low but firm at my ear as he wrenched me away.  Frustrated, I fought him
,
so that he had to catch my wrists and hold them tight, pinning me to the wall even as
w
e’d pinned our victim
only
moments before.  “Calm down… take a breath.  It’ll pass in a minute
,
”
h
e soothed. 

Take a breath?  That was his advice? 
What if I didn’t want it to pass?  Trapped against the wall with his body pressed up against mine, I felt a different kind of appetite flare and sharpen into
want
.  I sucked in a ragged breath, trying to reign in my impulse to beg him to… to… I couldn’t even say what I wanted Bishop to
do
,
I just know that I wanted him.  

“I’m sorry,” I breathed, my voice hoarse with need.  I met his eyes in the uncertain light, and I saw the struggle behind them.  Was he tempted to keep feeding too?  I was still marveling over his iron willpower
,
when Bishop’s mouth descended over mine, the taste of
Josh’s
blood mingling between us.  With a soft sound of surprise, I met his kiss with equal fervor, the blood forgotten as a
fresh
hunger swept over me.  On and on the kiss went, with
Josh
’s body
slumped against
the wall be
side
us as we grappled with each other, consumed by
a
new kind of desire. 

Until
Josh
managed to recover from his stupor.  “Um, am I interrupting something?”
h
e asked, puzzled at the position he found himself in.
  Bishop
growled,
his hand shooting out to grab
Josh
’s throat to silence him
, his lips never leaving mine
. 

I tore my mouth away from his
.
“Let him go
.
” I gave him a pointed look.

He dropped his hold on
Josh
instantly, eyes squinching shut as he struggled to regain control of himself. 
I became intimately aware of how closely our bodies were pressed together, and from the feel of him hard against my hip
,
he was aware of it too.  Or was that
because of
the feeding?  
I had no idea how much of
what
passed between us was because of the blood and how much might be something else. 
Swallowing nervously, I dropped my gaze. 

Josh
coughed,
hand going to his throat and I struggled to pull myself together and finish what I’d started.  “You’re not feeling so hot
,
Josh
, you should go on home.  Get some rest, maybe stay home from work tomorrow, but then you’ll start to feel better, okay?”

“Okay.”  His shoulders slumped at the suggestion of feeling ill, but then he slouched off out of the alley.
  Bishop made no move to pull away, but he’d gone completely rigid beside me, his eyes still shut tight.

“That was… that was, wow…”
I said
finally
,
my voice as shaky as
my nerves. 

“It means nothing.”  Bishop put a few feet of distance between us, turning to look down the length of the alley.

“Boy, if that was nothing, I can’t wait to see something,” I quipped, surprised to find my legs were strong enough to support me when he pulled away.  Whatever strength I found disappeared at tightly coiled anger on his face when he whirled to face me. 

“
You seem to think there’s something between us.  Let me make this perfectly clear.  I’m helping you because your ignorance can get you killed and expose us to the humans.  Th
a
t’s all
.”