Zen and the Art of Vampires

"Tainted? No. Used, yes. but perhaps that can be to our advantage. She has a knowledge of the one who killed the Zorya. We will use that to find him."

"I will not allow this!" Kristjana declared, anger crackling off her. "I will not allow her to pollute the office of Zorya."

"You have no right to refuse her," Frederic said calmly. "She was chosen by the Zorya. A blood pact was created between them. That must take precedence over the fact that she was soiled by a Dark One."

"Gee, thanks," I said wryly, getting to my feet with Magda's assistance. "You really know how to make a girl feel special."

No one paid any attention to me until my stomach growled so loud it was audible to all.

"My word is final," Frederic said, leveling a stern look at Kristjana. "Unless you wish to challenge it?"

I thought for a moment that she might do just that, but after a few moments of her jaw working tightly, she fisted her hands and jerkily shook her head. "It shall be as you order."

Frederic smiled, and I was amazed at how ordinary he appeared. A few minutes before, he'd held me prisoner against a wall, using nothing but his own personality, and now he looked like a perfectly normal middle-aged accountant. "I would suggest you feed your bride before the ceremony, Mattias. We wouldn't want her fainting away before the vows were complete, would we?"

Chapter 10

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Magda asked an hour later as I hoisted myself onto the windowsill of a large house that sat directly behind the church used by the Brotherhood. "I don't think your husband is going to like you missing your wedding night. Your second husband, that is, not your first."

I grimaced and let myself drop to the ground, oofing as quietly as I could. Magda's feet appeared next to my head. Hurriedly, I moved out of the way so she could climb out. "My husband has nothing to say about it. Either one of them. And as far as the latter one goes, I told him I was too tired to play house tonight, and wanted to sleep."

"He bought that?" she asked in disbelief.

"He had no choice." I gave her a quick smile. "One of the perks of being Zorya is that he pretty much has to do what I say."

"Hrmph."

"I will say that I'm glad the Brotherhood folk were content with their version of a marriage ceremony rather than a civil ceremony, because I really would have hated to explain to them why they couldn't take out a marriage license in my name. You really want to do this? Audrey and Ray must be worried about where you've been all night."

Magda brushed off my concerns and led the way out of the tiny yard to the street, being careful to stick to the shadows. "I called them while you were chatting with your hubby, and told them I'd see them in the morning."

"Can we drop references to Mattias as my husband? It makes me feel… I don't know, uncomfortable somehow. As if I'm doing something underhanded. Which I realize is silly because that's exactly what I am doing."

"Except you're doing it for a good reason," she said, completing my thought. We paused at an intersection, carefully eyeing the streets for signs of police, tour members, Brotherhood people, or incredibly handsome vampires. "So it really doesn't count as a sin, if that's what's worrying you."

We hurried across the street, heading toward the section of town where our hotel was located. Luckily, at that time of night, there wasn't much traffic, either pedestrian or vehicular. "I'm not overly concerned about sinning—I just don't want them to find out the truth and hack off my head or burn me at the stake, or whatever it is they do to people they think have signed on with the enemy. Which is just one more reason why I wanted to get away tonight—if something happens to me, I don't want them coming down on you."

"Pfft," she said dismissively, giving me a friendly little shove. "What's a friend for if not to face almost certain death with, eh?"

"A worthy attitude, but you don't know to what lengths these guys will go," I answered, rubbing my arms. "That little chat I had with Mattias after the ceremony wasn't just to discuss the sleeping arrangements. Did you know that even though Anniki picked me to be her successor, and I have ghostly charges and such, I'm still not officially recognized as Zorya? Evidently they have to conduct some sort of recognition ritual where the Brotherhood people assemble to acknowledge me. Only after that is over will I be able to take the ghosts to their destination."

"A ritual?" she asked. "Like an initiation at fraternities and such?"

"Assumedly without the wild orgies and drunkenness."

She grinned at me. "But that's the best part! Did Mattias say what the initiation is?"