Zen and the Art of Vampires

"Not at all. This is my friend Magda. She's on the tour with me."

"Alec Darwin," he said, scooting in on the other side of me.

"I'm sitting in your seat," Magda murmured, about to leave.

"Don't mind me, I'm just here to gaze with admiration upon the fair Pia," he said, shooting me a positively steamy look.

Magda's gaze flickered back and forth between Alec and myself.

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. I took a deep breath. "Alec, there's something I think you should know."

"Another confession?" he asked, giving me a quizzical look before glancing toward Magda. "Are you going to tell me that she is your lover, too?"

"No."

Magda stifled a giggle.

I didn't think it was possible for me to blush any harder, but I'll be damned if my cheeks didn't light up even more. Wearily, I held a glass of water to one side of my face in an attempt to cool it down. "She knows about you and Kristoff. About what you are."

"Ah," he said, eyeing her with a little less happiness. "Does she indeed."

"I do," she answered gravely. "I was with Pia for much of last night, you see. Well, not the part she spent with the other… that is, I was with her while she met with the…" Magda floundered a couple of times, stuck in a verbal dead end in her attempt to not broach the touchy subjects of my time spent with Kristoff or the Brotherhood folk. She gave a feeble smile. "Let's just say I was with her. I helped her get her things out of the hotel room. And I know about Anniki."

"Ah," Alec repeated, leaning back. "The Zorya, I presume you mean."

"How did you know she was a Zorya?" I asked slowly, my head starting to pound. It seemed to me as if the room darkened a smidgen. I glanced at the window, but it appeared to be sunny outside, not clouding over as I surmised. "I didn't know who she was when we… when we went back to my hotel room."

"Didn't you?" He frowned, toying with a glass of water. "I thought you said she was."

"I think what Pia's trying to ask and is too nice to do so is whether or not you killed her," Magda said bluntly.

Alec glanced at her in surprise before turning his lovely green eyes on me. "Is that what you think? That I killed the Zorya?"

"You did leave without saying anything to me," I pointed out. "I didn't know what to think when I woke up to find you gone and a dead woman in my bathroom."

"But I left you a note," he said, frowning, his eyes sincere. "I told you I had to leave unexpectedly to handle some business, but that I'd be in contact later in the day. You didn't get that?"

"No," I answered, shaking my head. "A note?"

"Yes. I left it in the bathroom so you'd be sure to see… Ah. I begin to see it. Whoever murdered that Zorya must have taken my note. My sweet, sweet love. What you must have thought of me!" he said, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me up close to him, his lips whispering along my jaw. "I'm surprised you didn't run screaming from me."

"Or at least stick a stake through your heart," Magda said, watching us with interest.

Alec broke off nibbling on my face to grin at her. "Beheading is the preferred method of execution for Dark Ones. Staking is difficult unless you know exactly where the heart is." His gaze returned to me, rueful and contrite.

"Not that I would blame Pia for thinking the worst of me. Forgive me, my love?"

"I… I…" I stammered a little, not knowing what to say. I was relieved at the thought that he hadn't just up and left me without a word, but at the same time, I was incredibly bothered by the idea that either Kristoff had lied to me, or someone else, a stranger, had marched through my room while I was sleeping. "I didn't think the worst, Alec, so there's nothing to forgive. But it does leave the question of who killed Anniki. And why she was killed in my room."

"I was thinking about that," Magda said, absently pulling a strawberry from my plate and eating it. "You said that you'd run into Anniki earlier in the evening, right? She got the stone from you and told you all about Zorya-ing."

"More or less, yes. But the Brotherhood people were here. She knew that. So there's no reason why she should try to seek me out over them."

Alec's gaze narrowed sightlessly on the glass of water. "Not unless she was afraid of seeking help from them."

I stared at him in surprise. "Why would she be afraid of them?"

He shrugged. "Perhaps she had a change of heart about the reapers. Perhaps she learned something about them that made her hesitate committing herself to them. I think, my love, you've had a very narrow escape, and although I am not pleased with Kristoff's high-handed actions in marrying you himself rather than allowing me to do so, it relieves my mind to know that you are safe from the reapers."

Magda and I exchanged glances.

She was about to speak when the door opened and Ray entered. "And there's my cue to make a graceful exit." She pressed my hand quickly. "Call me later, OK?"

"I'll try," I said, giving her a grateful smile. "You're supposed to go to the glacier today, aren't you? Have fun."