Zen and the Art of Vampires

"My darling, you know I would move heaven and earth for you," Alec said a bit later. He kissed my hands when he said that, making me more than a little uncomfortable about his unabashed affection for me.

I had to break it to him that things had changed. It was unthinkable to let him believe I returned his feelings when just a few hours before I was engaged in carnal acts with his friend. I blushed just thinking about the manner in which I'd fed Kristoff.

"About that, Alec… I think we need to have a talk." I remembered that I was supposed to be coming up with an excuse to slip away from him so I could use the car that Magda was even now bringing to me, and amended my statement. "We need to talk about a couple of things."

"And so we shall, my precious one, but later. Kristoff is on his way back—he and Andreas have located the reaper who got away—and Kristoff ran into a couple more on their way to the ruins. He is bringing them back here. Christian called to say that he believes the Zenith has slipped past them. Sebastian was nearly run over by someone in a rental car."

"Couldn't that have been merely a tourist with bad driving skills?" I asked, distracted by the idea of a homicidal tourist.

Alec's lips quirked. "Not when the driver picks Sebastian out of the crowd and deliberately tries to run him down."

"Ouch. The Brotherhood guys can recognize vampires that easily?"

"Not generally, no, but all the members of the council are well known to the reapers, as are those of us who are tasked with hunting them. That is how I was recognized in the restaurant earlier. But all is well—Sebastian got the number of the car, and they are in pursuit. Kristoff has the three who attacked us earlier. You may rest assured that if the Zenith comes here, I will protect you, but I suspect that he will head straight for the ruins."

"So everyone is going to converge there?" Damn. How was I going to slip away and get to the ruins myself if all the vamps were descending there?

"Not if we can take them elsewhere. Do not worry, my love, I won't let anyone hurt you." His cell phone rang. He glanced at it. "Ah. That is Andreas checking in. You will excuse me for a moment…"

He wandered off to the hallway. I glanced around the room, saying softly, "Ulfur?"

"He's in the kitchen," Dagrun said from where she reclined on the couch.

I thought hard for a minute. "Do me a favor and round up everyone. I'm going to have to get moving, and I don't feel good about leaving you all behind."

Dagrun sighed heavily, but got up and stomped out of the room. I sidled past the door of the hall and through a small parlor to the kitchen.

A cluster of male ghosts stood marveling at the modern appliances. "What exactly does a Cuisinart do?" Ulfur asked, pointing at the item in question.

"Chops things up. I've sent Dagrun to gather up everyone—we have to get out of here. Now."

Ulfur and the men looked interested. "Where are we going?"

"To Ostri. I'm afraid we can't get your horse in the car, though."

Ulfur blinked for a moment. "We are going to the ruins you mentioned earlier?"

"Yes."

"I will ride there."

"It's almost ten miles," I pointed out. "If the opening to Ostri doesn't last long, I'm not sure if you can get there in time."

"I will not leave Ragnar," Ulfur repeated, a stubborn set to his ghostly jaw.

I gave up, recognizing defeat when I saw it. "Get going now, then. I'll try to delay leaving as long as I can, but I can't let the vampires get to everyone before they complete the ceremony."

Ulfur ran out after getting directions, calling for Ragnar, who appeared out of nothing with his ears twitching excitedly.

I peeked out the door to where Alec stood, still talking on the phone. The ghosts ran down the front stairs, rippling through Alec without him so much as lifting an eyebrow. I wondered again why Kristoff had been able to see them, but Alec didn't.

"The child says we're leaving?" Old Agda asked as she hobbled into the kitchen double time.

"Just as soon as the car gets here. Ulfur went on ahead to meet us. Is that everyone? Where's Karl and Marta?"

"Coming," Marta said, her face alight with happiness as she and her husband hurried into the kitchen. "You've changed your mind? We're really going to Ostri?"

"I'm going to do my best," I said with grim determination. "I'm going to need everyone to get into the car when Magda comes with it. Then we'll drive to the ruins, and we're going to do everything possible to stop the vampires from coming down on the Brotherhood people until they complete the ritual. So save your energy, OK?"

"You want us to help stop Dark Ones?" Hallur asked, looking worried. "We can't do that."

"Of course you can. You stopped the Ilargi."

The ghosts all looked at one another. "That was different," Hallur finally said.

"I don't see how. If anything, the Ilargi was more dangerous because he could suck your soul, and yet you stopped him from taking Karl. Surely if you can all cooperate to stop someone as powerful as that, you can slow down a couple of vampires."