Free Wake Me When the Sun Goes Down by Lisa Olsen Page B

took the samples they needed instead.
    “ T here’s nothing else then?  Nothing to lead us to him?”
    Bishop didn’t miss the tremor that went through her limbs and he hated being the cause for it.  But what else could he do?  He couldn’t let her go , it went against everything he believed in.  “Come on, let’s get going.”  There was no sense in putting off the inevitable.  Anja nodded, hanging her head in acceptance , and he was glad he w ouldn’t have to chase her down again.
    “Where is it?  This vampire jail you’re taking me to?” she asked after they were in the car. 
    “It’s not a jail exactly , we don’t house criminals the way humans do.  I’m taking you to the holding facilities at the local headquarters.  We rarely keep anyone there longer than a day or two.”
    “There aren’t many vampire criminals?”
    Hardly.  “We have very strict penalties . ” H e gave her a mirthless smile, leaving her to draw her own conclusions from that.  Bishop turned onto 42nd Avenue .  W ithin the space of a few minutes he’d take her in, process her and then wash his hands of the situation for a few days. 
    Strict penalties…   If her Sire showed up to claim her, he’d be called in to interrogate him.  If no one claimed her… the laws were clear.  No unlicensed breeding.  No exceptions, unless you were one of the Ellri , which almost never happened anymore.  The Ellri weren’t subject to laws of any kind , they came and went as they pleased.  But none had been spotted in decades as far as he knew, and none in the new world. 
    Strict penalties…  
    Bishop banished all such thoughts from his mind as he guided the dark SUV through the deserted city streets.  In fact, he pushed any thoughts aside, his body working on autopilot until he stopped the car in the rear parking lot of a hardware store.
    “This is where your headquarters is?” she said dubiously, head leaning against the window to peer up at the building.
    “No,” he answered shortly, gripping the steering wheel tightly.  There was still time to turn the car around and head back to HQ , he hadn’t done anything illegal yet. 
    “But I thought…”
    Bishop shoved the keys in his pocket with short, angry movements, mentally cursing himself in five languages.  “Just come with me before I change my mind.”
     
     

 
     
     
    Chapter Seven
     
    I glanced nervously up at the sky that started to grow noticeably lighter as I stepped out of the car.  Logically I knew I had a n hour or more before it became a problem, but my skin started to feel itchy and crawly and I couldn’t get in there fast enough.   Then again, Bishop had been out and about during daylight hours the day before with only a pair of sunglasses for protection .  M aybe I was getting all itchy for no good reason?  I had a zillion and one questions , but Bishop looked a little agitated .  I decided to leave well enough alone for the moment , and trail along behind him as he led me to a private entrance at the rear of the building.  For whatever reason , he had decided not to take me to jail, and that was good enough for me at the time.
    Following him up a narrow flight of stairs, I waited patiently as he unlocked the heavy metal door at the top, expecting to see a storage or office space.  A place you kept people on ice until you were ready to turn them in, I imagined.  Instead the floor above the retail space had been renovated to a generous , open living space.  The décor was minimalist, almost Spartan .  A cluster of furniture centered around a big, flat screen TV mounted over an electric fireplace in a corner of the room.  The walls were mostly bare, with an occasional splash of color provided by renaissance artwork.  A single bedroom/bathroom combination formed the only room that wasn’t open to the main living space and I got a peek at neat rows of books lining the walls inside.  A small kitchenette lay to the right of the front