Кейти Макалистер: Crouching Vampire, Hidden Fang

“But you’re not Kristoff’s enemy, are you?” I said gently, leaning against Kristoff, so happy I thought I might break into song at any moment.

“No,” he said dolefully. “Sometime over the last hundred years the enjoyment has gone out of watching you suffer.”

“You didn’t tell the reapers where to find Kristoff’s girlfriend, did you?” I asked, suddenly wary.

Alec shook his head. “I told her about him. I never thought she’d run straight out into the pack of them. I did my best to save her.” He looked up at Kristoff. “I was truly sorry about that.”

“I know.”

“Before this breaks down into a true Hallmark moment and we all start buying each other Precious Moments figurines, why don’t we get you off the roof?” I said, holding out my hand for Alec. “The sun is moving and it’s going to hit you soon. And although the blistering is gone off your face, you don’t look like you could stand too much more.”

Alec let us help him to his feet, supporting him between us as we got him back to the door. “If I said I was sorry about everything, Kris . . .” He let the sentence trail off, but looked expectantly at Kristoff.

Kristoff nodded and socked Alec on the shoulder in a guy gesture of forgiveness, but Alec was still recovering from that ball of light, and tottered into the wall. Kristoff righted him with a word of apology, dusted him off, then held open the door for him.

“Why did you tell Frederic we were coming to kill him?” I asked.

“I knew by that time that I couldn’t kill you. I figured I’d have them do it for me,” Alec admitted.

“But you couldn’t even do that, could you, you big galoot?” I said, taking Kristoff’s hand. Mattias bounded up the stairs to greet me, refusing to stop kissing my free hand until Kristoff pushed him down half the flight of stairs.

“Kristoff!” he said in a wounded little voice as he picked himself up. Magda and Ray were next to him, looking startled.

Ray snapped a quick picture as we descended to the first floor.

“He’s sorry, Mattias. But no more kissing, OK?”

He sighed. “Magda says we weren’t really married.”

“No, we weren’t, because Kristoff was a sacristan. But don’t worry,” I said, patting his hand. “I’ll find you another Zorya, someone who will like you kissing her all the time, OK?”

“That’s all we need,” Alec murmured under his breath. “Another Zorya.”

“Everything OK?” Magda asked, her eyes round as she looked from Alec to Kristoff.

“Yes. Everything is just fine now. Old wounds healed over, misunderstanding cleared up, forgiveness given. It’s an Oprah kind of moment.”

“I’ll say. So what now?”

“Now we go tell Frederic to stop killing vampires, or else. Oh! Why did the Ilargi give a Dutch necromancer your phone number?” I asked Alec as we headed down the stairs to the main floor.

“I have no idea,” he answered, seeming somewhat startled by the idea.

“Yes, you do. Or at least, you made me think you did last night, when you were rescuing me from the reapers. Remember? I asked you if you were doing undercover work for the Brotherhood, and you said yes.”

“Of course I did. I was lying. I knew nothing about a necromancer and an Ilargi.”

“Great. Now what am I going to do?”

Rowan was waiting for us. His eyebrows rose at the sight of Alec being supported by Kristoff.

“I missed it all, didn’t I?” he asked his cousin.

“Yes. I’m sorry. Next time I’ll wait for you,” Kristoff told him.

“You’d better.” Rowan examined Alec for a moment, then slid his shoulder under Alec’s arm.

“I don’t suppose anyone has any idea where I can find the Ilargi?” I asked mournfully as our little ragtag group made its way down the hall to the boardroom. No one answered. “I didn’t think so. Damn.”

“There’s something-Gah . . . I think the shutter is jammed. . . .” Raymond stopped, fighting with something on his camera.

“The Brotherhoodians aren’t going to go ballistic when they see all of the vampires, are they?” Magda asked as she walked next to me.

“I’m thinking that’s not going to be a big problem,” I said, smiling at the memory of the worried look worn by the governors.

Rowan opened up the door, he and Kristoff helping a still wobbly Alec to a couch. Andreas, who stood with a gun pointed at the small herd of reapers, looked utterly astonished.

“Was it bad?” he asked his brother.

“Very. Pia made me tell her I love her in front of Alec.”

“Ouch.”

I sent a tiny little ball of light to Andreas’s feet.

He grinned at me. “I mean, congratulations.”

“I’m sorry about all this,” I told Frederic as he rose slowly to his feet. “It was really just a big misunderstanding. Alec doesn’t want you to kill us.”

“He doesn’t?” Frederic asked, his face as placid as ever.

“No. Do you, Alec?”

“Not anymore, no. Ouch. I don’t suppose you have a healer handy? I think a couple of my ribs are piercing my lung.”

“Suck it up, buttercup,” I told him. “You have healing powers. Go to it.” I turned back to the reapers. “And just in case you’re still worried, I will repeat that we’re not here to hurt any of you guys.”

All of the reapers looked pointedly at Andreas.

He grinned sheepishly and put away the gun.

“So you see? All’s well. Oh, there is just one thing,” I said, biting my lip.

Boo, would you mind it if I made sure that the Brotherhood doesn’t hurt any more vampires?

Kristoff sighed into my mind . I’m becoming used to the idea that my Beloved could strike me dead with the slightest flick of her fingers. If you think that’s the only way, go ahead.

That’s just one of the many reasons I love you. And it’s two flicks of my fingers.

“What’s that?” the female reaper asked when I didn’t finish.

“Hmm? Oh. I understand you don’t have a Zenith. I’d like the job, please.”