Forget Me When the Sun Goes Down (Forged Bloodlines Book 11) (18 page)

“Everyone is knowing you turn her.”

“That’s just what we told people so the Order wouldn’t filet my balls for turning her,” Mason explained.  “I’m guessing that little tidbit didn’t come up when you were planning this soiree.”

“No, it did not,” Nelleke acknowledged. 

“I think maybe we’d better restore the rest of our memories before we go any further,” I decided.  “We can’t take a chance that another mistake like this will happen again. The more we know about the whole situation, the better.”

Rob touched my elbow.  “Ah, before you do that, can I bend your ear for a tick?”

“Is it important?”

“Yeah, a bit.”

“Okay, why don’t you guys get started on the ornament thingies, and I’ll be right back.”  Poor Jakob had slumped into the chair by the fireplace, looking like all the energy had drained right out of him.  “Don’t worry, Jakob.  We’ll figure this thing out.  We always do, right?”  Somehow that felt true, as if this wasn’t the first impossible task I’d had to face and come out the victor. 

“I hope so, petal,” he said with a grim smile. 

I led Rob back to the study I’d sat in before, the fire burned down to little more than ash.  “If this is about the whole Laveda thing, I really don’t want to get into it again right now.  Let’s just get through this and we’ll deal with it later, okay?”  Maybe that was avoiding the problem, but to be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure what to do about it.  My instinct told me to kick him to the curb, but we were
married
.  That wasn’t such an easy thing to walk away from.

Rob’s brows nudged closer together.  “No, that ain’t what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“What is it then?  I’d like to get this memory spell over with as soon as possible.”

“That’s just it.  There are some things you are going to remember, it’s likely going to upset you a bit.”

“How do you know what I’m going to remember?”

He drew in a long breath and held it, his words coming out in a rush when he finally spoke them.  “Because I never lost my memory.”

I stared back at him, completely stunned.  “Wh... How is that even possible?”

“Bugger all if I know,” he said with a shrug.  “Perhaps it’s something to do with my unusual family line.  I couldn’t say.”

I didn’t know what he meant by his unusual family, except that he’d mentioned his sister was a witch, but that wasn’t the important part of the revelation.  “So you knew this whole time, and you let me think... that we... and we almost...” I felt like I’d been socked in the gut by one of those giant Q-tip things they fought with in
American Gladiators
.

“I only wanted another chance with you is all,” he pleaded, his face creased with torment.  “When I woke up to you smiling at me... I never thought you’d look at me like that again.  I didn’t think it through, I just went with it and took a chance.”

“You took advantage of me, that’s what you took.”

“I didn’t press you for more than you were willing to give.  I was the one to stop us from getting too hot and heavy, if you’ll recall.  I could’ve taken advantage of that and I didn’t.”

“What do you want, a medal for that?” I snapped, sick to my stomach when I thought of how close we’d come to taking the farce of our relationship to a whole new level.  “Here’s what I don’t get.  You knew my memories were coming back.  How long did you think it could last for?”

“I thought that if you came to love me again, maybe you might give us another chance.”  He looked down at his shoes.  “I can see now that was a stupid plan.”

“You’re
gorram
right it was,” I growled, so many emotions swirling inside me that the first one that popped out was anger, closely followed by a powerful need for understanding.  “If you still loved me, why didn’t you just try talking to me?  I remembered what we had together, maybe we could’ve given it another shot?”

Rob shook his head.  “Wasn’t no coming between the two of you.”

“Me and who?”  Suddenly I knew –
Bishop
.  “You knew I was with Bishop and you kept it from me.  You knew the whole time he didn’t belong with Carys.”

He still hadn’t looked up from his feet.  “I did.”

I plunked down beside the hearth, my head reeling from all the implications.  “And we were never married.”

“I wanted us to be.  So when you made that assumption...”

“You just let me believe it.”  So many mistakes... Good gravy, how could I not have known? 

“And your last name is Evans because?”

“You gave it to me when you turned me.”

That made sense since my sister’s last name was Evans as well.  “And where does Laveda fit into all of this?”

“Laveda knew it wasn’t love between us.  She’ll be fine.”

“But you’ve been with her for how long?”

He shrugged, nudging his toe against the edge of the hearth.  “A few months past.”

“And you dumped her because you thought you had a shot with me?”

“She knows what you mean to me.  She knows it wasn’t nothing but physical between her and me.”

I thought about the pain in her voice and the fire in her eyes.  “She still has feelings.”

“I didn’t mean to step on them, she caught me by surprise when she turned up here.  I told her I’d explain later.”

I stared up at him as if he were a stranger.  “You unbelievable bastard.  Take your stupid ring back.”  I tugged it free and held it out for him, but he waved me off.

“Keep it, it ain’t from me.”

“Because of course it’s not,” I muttered, wondering if there was
anything
he’d told me that wasn’t a lie.  “I think you’d better go try to catch Laveda and apologize.”  Partly because I thought she had one coming, and partly because I didn’t want to look at him anymore.

“Anja... I’m telling you, she just got her temper up.  Laveda don’t have true feelings for me.”

“She still deserves an apology for the way you just treated her.  You wanted to leave before, I think you had the right idea.”

“I wanted you to come with me.”

“Fat chance of that happening now,” I murmured under my breath, but he still heard me.

“So that’s it then.”  Rob nodded to himself, resignation settling over his features.  He dipped to kiss my cheek, and I went completely still, trying not to feel the rasp of his skin against mine or the scent of his aftershave for the last time.  “Goodbye, Anja.  I ain’t sorry for what I done.  I regret any pain it caused you, but I ain’t sorry to have had one last night with you in my arms.” 

I couldn’t look at him until he was gone.  Only then did I look to the empty door frame.  “Goodbye, Rob,” I whispered. 

I felt it when he left, the slam of the door rattling the house.  In the other room, they were talking about the spell, Mason interested in the mechanics of it, but skeptical of the results.  Mason and Bishop seemed to be getting along pretty well, like old buddies – and maybe they were.  I realized I’d been sitting there turning the ring over and over in my fingers, falling into a sort of trance. 

For the first time, I noticed the inscription on the inside –
to the stars and back
.  Holy catweasels, wasn’t that what it said in Bishop’s engagement ring?  Had he given me this ring?  Rob had said we were together, but not how close.  And then I remembered Bishop standing with me in the moonlight.

“Back in my day this was called a promise ring.  It doesn’t signify that you belong to me, it means that my heart belongs to you, and you’ll keep it for as long as you keep the ring.”

“Oh.”  Completely taken aback, I picked up the ring, admiring the lines in the moonlight.  It wasn’t a complete circle, each side of the ring cradling the diamond, but not quite touching.  There was something silvery gray set into channels that ran the length of the ring and I couldn’t quite make out what it was.  “What is this here?”

“That’s the best part.  It’s a meteorite.”

“As in from outer space?”

“Yep.  It’s part of the Gibeon meteorite that was found in Namibia in 1836.  They say it’s a remnant of the early solar system, possibly part of an extinct planet or moon.  It’s millions of years old.”

A real meteorite?  How shiny was that?  I hadn’t said anything though, I was too busy studying it, and Bishop’s face fell. 

“It’s disappointing now, isn’t it?  I’m sorry, I should’ve realized you might take it as an engagement ring.” 

“No, this is seriously cool.  This is way shinier than any old engagement ring.  This sucker has been out there in the black, on the raggedy edge of space.  It’s perfect, thank you.”  I threw my arms around his shoulders, hugging him tight. 

“Do you really like it?” he asked, his cheek resting against my head, and I pulled back to look at him. 

“I love it.”

And I’d loved him.  I remembered it clearly, but then, I’d remembered loving Rob too.  And while I felt a pull to Bishop now, it was impossible to pick up right where we’d left off without all of those memories to fill the gaps.  The trouble was, now I wasn’t so sure I wanted all of my memories back at once.  What if I remembered some awful things between Bishop and me too? 

I tucked the ring into my pocket and wandered into the great room, still unsure what the right course of action was.  Bishop looked up at me as I entered with an uneasy smile, as if he wasn’t sure how to interpret Rob’s departure.  All I could manage was a faint smile, and I looked away, not ready to jump into his arms right on the tail of my break-up with Rob.  Because even if we hadn’t actually been together, it’d felt real for the past couple of days, and I still had a lot to process.  It left me doubting my own judgment.  What if I opened my heart to Bishop and he betrayed me too?

Bishop had done his best to ignore the argument in the study, but with super hearing, it’d been impossible to avoid all of it.  He got the gist that Rob had lied about having amnesia, and something to do with him carrying on with the woman who’d come to the house earlier.  Beyond that, he understood that Anja was distraught. 

It made his blood boil to think that Rob could treat her that way, and he had half a mind to go in there and make him pay for upsetting her.  But when he’d caught the utter desolation on Rob’s face as he left, he understood there was nothing he could’ve done to Rob that would make him feel any worse than he did already.   Did it make him a bad person for feeling a ray of happiness in Rob’s exit? 

When Anja came into the room, she wasn’t wearing Rob’s ring on her finger anymore.  Did he have a reason to hope?  Bishop offered her a tentative smile, but she only glanced at him after a weak smile.  All he wanted to do was gather her up in his arms and tell her everything would be okay, but he probably wasn’t the best person to offer her comfort when he was jumping up and down inside that they’d broken up. 

Bishop cleared his throat, looking for a distraction.  “So, let’s talk about our alternatives for fixing Jakob, now that Rob, Carys, and Aubrey are gone.”

“There is no hope now,” Jakob declared, staring forlornly into the fire.

“We don’t know that, Jakob,” Anja said, laying a comforting hand on his arm.  “There has to be something we can come up with.”

“This is the only spell I am knowing,” Nelleke said, looking as downcast as Jakob, possibly more.  “I am not well versed in magic beyond these.  If there is another way, I am not knowing it.”

“What if we found another witch?” Anja suggested.  “Rob said his sister is one, and okay, so not a lot of what he said was true, but maybe we could ask her?  Or if not, we can at least find another one.”

“His sister’s a witch, sure enough,” Mason said, looking up from where he held Hanna’s head in his lap, lightly sifting his fingers through her hair.  “She’s also batshit crazy.  There’s no telling whether she’ll help him or not.”

“This would be a lot easier to do if we remembered everything,” Bishop muttered.  “How are we coming on that memory spell, Nelleke?”

“I’m not so sure that’s a good idea,” Anja said in a quiet voice.  “Painful memories might be more distracting than anything else.  I don’t think I can stand any more horrible revelations today.”

Shit
.  What else had Rob told her? 

“What do you want to know?  I’ve got you covered,” Mason offered.

“Well... Why Jakob got the way he is would be nice to know,” Bishop replied, but Mason winced.

“Oh, you got me there.  I didn’t even know he was sick.”

Jakob shrugged.  “I do not know.”

“I know why,” Nelleke volunteered.  She told the story of a curse Jakob had set on Carys and Anja, so that if they fell in love with their progeny, their progeny would wither and die.  That Jakob had compelled Carys not to love Bishop, so he had escaped the curse for centuries, but that Rob had suffered from the moment Anja turned him.

“You really did that?” Anja demanded, her anger surging.

Jakob hung his head.  “It sounds like something I would do.”

“Oh yeah, I know this part,” Mason nodded.  “He totally did that curse stuff, it was pretty fucked up.”

“So is that why I stopped loving Rob?  You compelled me not to anymore?”

“No, you refuse his compulsion,” Nell explained.  “Instead, you find a gypsy to break the curse, but she is needing a sacrifice.”

“What kind of a sacrifice?” Anja gasped.

“A piece of your heart.  Only Jakob is stepping in to make the sacrifice.  You cut out some of his heart, and since then, he is slowly diminishing.  This spell is the only thing to save him that I am finding.”

“Then the curse was lifted?”

“Yeah, you guys beat the curse,” Mason said.  “I just had no idea it’d left the big guy so weak in the knees.”

Nell’s head tilted in confusion.  “It is his heart that is being weak.”

Bishop’s hopes sank lower with each new revelation.  It all confirmed that Anja was reconciled with Rob, and explained some of his convoluted past with Carys.  She’d been willing to sacrifice a piece of her heart to save Rob before Jakob had stepped in.  How could he compete with a love like that?  What if things weren’t over between her and Rob after all?

“Why couldn’t you just use Maeja’s blood to fix her up?” Mason asked.

Why did that name sound familiar?  “Who’s Maeja?”

“She is known as the virgin goddess, beloved daughter of Odin.  She is the last remaining
Ellri
who is not corrupting herself with human blood.  And she is also my mother.”

Anja’s brow crumpled in confusion.  “How can she be a virgin and your mom at the same time?”

“Maybe she’s only half a virgin?” Mason snorted.

This was starting to sound like a viable option.  “Would her blood work?”

“It is said her blood is healing all.  But the gypsy say Jakob can not receive a cure of Maeja’s blood, the sacrifice must be made.” 

Anja frowned at that.  “Do you really think it could reverse the curse if we cheat and use Maeja’s blood after all this time?  You said he’s been diminishing for a while, that sounds like plenty of sacrifice to me.”

“Yes, it is more than a year,” Nell nodded.  “I do not know, but there is this risk.  This is why we are seeking the spell.”

“Then if the curse is put back into place when we fix you, couldn’t you compel Carys not to love Bishop?” Anja added, and it warmed Bishop’s heart that her first thought had been for his safety and not Rob’s.  Or was he reading more into that than he should? 

“If she even still loves me,” Bishop pointed out.  “She took off with Aubrey, remember?”  But more importantly, “And do you still love Rob?”

Anja shook her head, her eyes going to the indentation on her hand where the ring used to sit on her hand.  “Even so, I’m not sure I want to take the chance that he might die.”

“I think we have to risk it,” Bishop stated, holding up his hand when she looked up in alarm.  “It’s not an instant death sentence, right?  We’ll have time to deal with it if the curse comes back into effect.”

“Ah, from what I understand, it fucked you up pretty bad, buddy,” Mason chimed in.  “Rob was more like a slowly weakening thing, but since you’d been cursed so long ago, it was pretty much instant agony.  At least, that’s what you told me.”

Bishop kept forgetting that this man was one of his closest friends, and apparently knew more about his past than he did.  Beyond that one flash of memory, he didn’t remember Mason at all.

“No deal then.”  Anja shook her head.  “We can’t risk it without Carys close by.  She’ll need to be there for Jakob to compel if needed.  And I’d need to have Rob nearby too to see how he’s feeling when it happens.”

“Something tells me neither one of them is in the mood to help out with this right now.”

“Can’t you make Carys, Rob, and Aubrey go through with the original spell?” Mason asked Jakob, but it was Nell who replied. 

“No, Jakob is so weak, his compulsion is not working all the time now.”

“Well then, I say we risk it,” Bishop decided, rising to his feet.  “Worst case scenario, you can stake me and put me into torpor until you hunt down Carys and compel her not to care for me, and you can compel Anja right away if Rob starts feeling the least bit sick.”

“But...” Anja started to say, but Bishop faced her down. 

“It’s the only option we have right now.  It’ll be okay,” he added softly, hope flaring at the concern he saw in her eyes. 

“What about Hanna?” Mason asked.  “Do you think Maeja’s blood will do the trick for her too?”

“It couldn’t hurt to try it,” Anja shrugged.  “You’re definitely welcome to come with, or we can bring back some of her blood if you don’t think we should move her.  Do you think Maeja will help us, Nell?”

Nelleke hesitated long enough to make Bishop’s scalp prick with apprehension.  “I am not so sure this will work.  Maeja is not liking Jakob.”

“Why not?”

“Because she banish him from the vale for the past two hundred years.  They are parting not so well after a brief, but boiling love affair.”

“Boiling?”  Anja snapped her fingers.  “Oh... I get it.  Maeja is your mother and Jakob is your father.  And it did not end well.”

“That’s what you get for being a deadbeat dad,” Mason smirked.  “Even if she still hates Jakob, she could want to help Hanna though, right?”

“Yes, I think she would be willing to help in this,” Nelleke nodded.

“What about Jakob?” Anja asked.  “What are we going to do if Maeja is still holding onto that grudge and refuses to help him?”

“We could steal some of her blood while we’re there,” Bishop suggested.  “Even if she’s an
Ellri
, we might be able to overpower her.”  Especially if they had surprise on their side, provided Nell could be counted on to hold her tongue.  He’d already started working on a strategy when Anja shook her head in disapproval.

“We can’t do that.  We don’t know how much blood we’ll need.  Plus, stealing wouldn’t be right.  There’s only one way to do this.  You’ll have to apologize to her, Jakob.”

Jakob’s shoulders came up as she leveled her gaze at him.  “How can I apologize for something I have no memory of?”

“It is possible Maeja will be pleased if you prostrate yourself before her.  Beg for your life,” Nell considered aloud. 

“That’s it then, time to grovel, big man,” Mason grinned.  “Beg if you have to.  Flowers, candy, expensive jewelry, the whole shebang.  Chicks dig that.”

“We’re doing this then?”  There was a note of fear to Anja’s voice, and Bishop gave her what he hoped was a reassuring look.

“I think it’s our best option for now, don’t you?”

“I guess so.  It’ll be worth it for Hanna at the very least.”

“What about your memories?” Mason asked.  “Are you going to do the spell to restore them before we go?”

The tension ratcheted up several notches in Anja’s shoulders at the suggestion.  And even though he wanted to remember everything he’d missed with her in the worst way, it couldn’t hurt to let it go for a while longer if she needed the time to process what’d happened with Rob. 

“One thing at a time,” Bishop said, and Mason’s brow crumpled in confusion. 

“But...”

“We’re vampires, right?” Bishop cut him off, his gaze still riveted to Anja.  “We have a long time to figure things out.”

The pinched look around Anja’s eyes softened.  “That’s true, I guess we do,” she smiled faintly, and he knew he’d made the right decision. 

“Spoiler alert – you two end up together,” Mason added in a stage whisper that made them both smile, before Anja looked away. 

Bishop rubbed at the back of his neck.  “Right, well, we can talk about that more later.  It’s still early, I don’t see why we can’t leave tonight.”

“I will make the arrangements,” Nell volunteered.  “The jet is preparing very quickly.”

“Where are we going?” Mason asked.

“Oslo.”

“As in Norway?” he gaped.

“Cool beans.”  Anja stood up, rubbing her hands together.  “Good thing I packed my fuzzy socks.”