Zen and the Art of Vampires

The three people in the room all watched me, clearly expecting me to provide the answer.

"They're the vampires I told you about earlier," I said, picking my words carefully. "They have a long history of animosity with the Brotherhood people."

"Animosity?" Kristjana snorted, jabbing her pen into the paper. "That is a deceptively mild term. It is our goal to cleanse the world of the evil the Dark Ones possess."

"Oh, those vampires," Magda said thoughtfully. She nodded after a few moments' reflection. "The ones you do the Buffy number on, right?"

"Buffy number?" Frederic looked confused for a moment.

"It is a reference to an American television show," Kristjana explained.

"Ah. Buffy! Yes, I remember that now. It is not quite the same thing, mademoiselle. In reality, Dark Ones are merciless, soulless monsters intent on corrupting our world until no light at all exists."

I sat silent, thinking of Alec. He wasn't evil. Kristoff certainly had a harder edge, but even he wasn't a monster. He could have killed me easily, but opted not to.

"I had no idea," Magda said, shaking her head at her folly. "Well. That's certainly an eye-opener, but what has that to do with Pia? You don't suspect her of being a vampire, surely."

"No, of course not," Frederic said quickly, making a vague gesture. "We would know if she was, but there is the fact that the only people who would desire a Zorya dead are Dark Ones. Thus it must be one of them who killed Anniki. And it is entirely within the bounds of reality, as you so charmingly put it, that your friend here was used by one."

"You think she slept with a vampire?" Magda asked, with obvious incredulity.

I arranged my face to look surprised at such an idea. "I think that's stretching things a little, don't you?"

"Perhaps," Frederic said, moving quickly to my side. Before I could object, he swept back my hair and examined the side of my neck. "But not so unlikely as you might imagine. You are aware of the mark you bear here, Zorya Pia?"

"A mark? She bears a mark?" Kristjana said, half standing.

"It's just a hickey," I protested, pushing Frederic back and getting to my feet. "A love bite, if you will. Not a vampire bite."

"She does! She bears the mark," Kristjana said, throwing down her pen and starting toward me.

Suddenly worried, I backed up, holding out my hands as if to ward them off. "You people are blowing a little bite way out of proportion—"

"Pia Thomason," Frederic said, cutting across my protest as the three of them closed in around me. There was something in his voice, some indefinable note that held a compulsion with it. Despite my desire, I found myself meeting his gaze, my eyes locked to his as he stalked toward me. "You will answer my questions truthfully."

"I… I…" I reached out behind me, part of my mind screaming for me to run, the other part calmly agreeing that whatever Frederic wanted was for the best.

The three people stopped in a semicircle around me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Magda beyond them, her face pinched with worry.

"You will answer my questions," Frederic repeated, his gaze pinning me back like a bug on a board.

The hairs on my arms stood on end as I fought the compulsion that washed over me like waves of pounding intention.

"Yes," I said against my will.

"The man you were with last night, he was a Dark One, was he not?"

"Yes," I heard myself answer, as if from some great distance. I wanted desperately to get away, to run from the suddenly scary man, but he held me prisoner with just the force of his will.

Magda gasped.

"You knew he was a Dark One and you provided him access to the Zorya Anniki," Frederic said, more a statement than a question.

"No." I shook my head. "I didn't know until this morning about him being a vampire."

"Why did Anniki come to your room?" Frederic asked.

"I don't know. I really don't know. Maybe because I was the only one she'd talked to last night?"

Frederic was silent for a moment. I was aware of the others, but couldn't seem to drag my eyes from his to look at them. "Where is the Dark One now?"

"I don't know. He left just like I told you—sometime in the night."

His gaze bored into me with a sensation of stripping away all my thoughts and revealing my innermost self. I wanted to squirm away, to stop the examination, but was powerless against his will.

Suddenly he turned away, evidently satisfied with what he'd seen. I slumped against the wall, sliding to the floor in a boneless heap as he returned to the desk, absently picking up one of the sheets upon which Kristjana had been writing. "I believe that will be enough. We will hold the marriage ceremony immediately, so as not to delay your initiation."

Magda rushed to my side and squatted next to me, her face filled with concern. "Are you all right?"

I nodded, my arms and legs feeling shaky in the aftermath of Frederic's display of power.

"You will allow this to go forward?" Kristjana asked, storming over to the desk and slamming her hands down on it. "She is tainted by a Dark One!"