“No, they wouldn’t banish him, not with you still here,” Kristoff answered. “Most likely he has closed you from his mind so he can deal with the situation. It is, again, what I would do.”
“Men!” Pia snorted.
“Agreed. What’s the address of the council?”
Reluctantly, he gave it to me, along with the phone number I requested.
“Cora—”
“I know. Let Alec handle it. The only problem is that’s the man I love in there with all those judgmental vampires, and I’m not going to let them touch so much as one hair on his adorable if sometimes far too stubborn head. Thank you for the information and advice. We’ll give you a call when the dust has settled.”
“Dust? What—”
I hung up the phone, dug around in my pockets to see what sort of change I had there, and resigned myself to making another collect call.
A half hour later I retraced my steps to the portal shop where Sally had dumped me, and greeted the first batch of arrivals.
“You’re sure you want to do this?” Jane asked as she pulled out a cell phone. “It’ll be very expensive having the entire union portalled here.”
“Do it. Alec will just have to foot the bill.”
She took one look at the grim expression on my face, and called her lieutenant to instruct the union members to begin the process of transporting them all from France to Vienna.
“And now the time has come for you to do penance for your attempt at killing Alec,” I said a short time later, grabbing the body that plummeted out of nothing to whomp hard on the receiving-end mats. I jerked Eleanor to her feet before she could even suck in her breath, twisting one of her arms up behind her back. “You’re going to be at the front of the group that storms the vampires’ castle.”
Eleanor sputtered something rude. I jerked her arm upward, causing her to squawk. “You’re going to do this, and then you’re going to get the hell out of our lives forever. You got that?”
“You are not the boss of me—”
“No, but Jane, as the head of the union, is. Jane?”
“I’m sorry,” Jane said, spreading her hands and moving out of the way as the union members started arriving with frequency now, one barely rolling out of the way before another appeared to drop onto the mats. “The donation Cora is offering the union is just too great to ignore, so I am forced to issue you with a direct command to obey Cora in all things.”
“I’m not bound to you,” Eleanor protested. “You can’t command me like that!”
“You are not bound to me personally, but you are bound to the union, and as its leader, you are obligated to follow the rules I put into place. This is one of the rules.”
Eleanor argued, as I knew she would, but I didn’t have the time or patience to put up with it. “Either you agree to do this, or I get hold of Sally and have you sent to the Akasha,” I bluffed, holding up my hand to stop her when she would have protested. “And don’t think I can’t do it, because Sally and I see eye to eye, and besides, I think she’s aching to send someone to the Akasha.”
Eleanor’s lips tightened. “Very well,” she finally said. “But I’m only doing this so I can wash my hands of the pair of you forever.”
It took another thirty-five minutes before the entire union, all 112 members, were assembled. We spilled out of the building into the street, and Jane had to resort to the use of a megaphone before she finally got everyone organized in a long line of liches, three abreast, that snaked around the block and across a pedestrian mall. The walk to the Moravian Council house took another half hour, but at last we had the tall, elegant house in our sights.
“Charge!” I yelled, not waiting for Jane to give the command. To my surprise, the liches did exactly as I ordered—they ran forward, streaming into the house once the door was battered down.
I was at the head of the group as it entered the elegantly furnished hall, and leaped onto a couch to scream, “Alec!”
Noise drifted down the stairs as the liches poured into the house. I pushed past them on the stairs, ignoring a scuffle that had broken out between a couple of vampires and the liches on the landing. “This way!” I yelled, urging them up after me as I ran to two double doors that the vampires had obviously been guarding. I flung open the door, dashing inside, the liches swarming behind me.
“Aha!” I yelled, pausing to point a dramatic finger at the scene before me. “I knew it! I knew you people had Alec!”
There were four men at a long table. Facing them, seated in a chair, was Alec, flanked on either side by the messenger and his buddy.
All seven heads swiveled to look at us, identical expressions of surprise on all their faces.
Are you OK? I asked Alec. Did they hurt you? Have they tortured you yet? And just what the hell do you think you’re doing leaving me to go off and be Mr. Brave on your own, huh?
What are you doing here? Alec answered, looking annoyed rather than relieved I’d come to save him from being St. Alec the vampire martyr. And what the hell have you brought all of them for?
“To save you, you idiot man!” I stomped forward, waving at the occupants of the room. “Liches, attack!”
“No!” Alec bellowed, leaping to his feet as the other vamps did likewise. “Stand down!”
“Who is this woman? The rest of you will not take one more step into this room!” commanded one of the vamps at the table, a dark-haired man with a pissed-off expression. To my surprise, the liches seemed to heed him as well as Alec, since all of them came to an awkward halt just inside the doorway. “Is this the Beloved of whom you spoke?”
Cora, you can’t attack the Moravian Council.
Want to bet?
I am in no danger, love. “Yes. This is Corazon, my Beloved, and the one you have to thank for the actions of the day.”
“And just so you know, Mr. Whoever You Are, I’m not going to let you send Alec to the Akasha or anywhere else evil like that,” I said, swaggering toward him, my words dripping with implied threat that I prayed I could actually back up. “I know you guys are conducting some sort of a vendetta against him, but that ends now, do you hear?”
“Very well,” the spokesman said, inclining his head, his expression now somewhat blank, although I could have sworn I saw his lips twitch once or twice like he was trying to hold back laughter.
Just the thought that he could laugh at something so heinous as Alec’s life freedom being threatened made my blood boil. I would sic the liches on him, first, I swore to myself.
Cora, you’re not listening to me.
“Who are you?” I asked, ignoring Alec as he tried to stop me from marching forward to the vampire. “Are you the head guy?”
“I am Christian Dante,” the man said, giving me a little bow. I had to admit, as bows went, it was a pretty nice one, almost as smooth as Alec’s. “And yes, I do lead the Moravian Council. Now, you will please remove your liches from the building before I have them removed for you.”
Corazon! Alec all but yelled in my brain. Will you stop?
Alec, I know you’re peeved at me for being here, but you’re just going to have to deal with the fact that we’re a couple now. I take that very seriously, and it does not mean that I’m going to expect you to solve all our problems by yourself.
To my utter surprise, he started laughing.
“Oh, they’re not Cora’s servants,” Jane said, rushing forward to stand next to me before Christian. She bobbed a little awkward curtsy, gesturing toward her chest. “We’re a union, you see. Technically the liches are under my control—”
Alec, are you insane?
“Oh, for the love of Pete,” Eleanor said, pushing her way through the mob of slowly retreating liches. She gave Alec a sour look before running her gaze over the remainder of the vampires present.
No, just amused.
“—most of them are under my control, technically, as I said, but we are a cooperative, and under most circumstances function along the lines of a self-p
olicing commune rather than a dictatorship. I’m Jane, by the way.”
Amused because I expect you to give me the respect due to your partner in life? I asked, outraged and ready to punch him in the arm.
No, I’m grateful beyond human understanding for that, mi querida.
Christian made a bow at Jane before turning to give Eleanor his attention. “And you are?”
“She is my Beloved,” Alec said, finally giving in to my glares enough that he stopped laughing, and, taking my hand in his, kissed my fingers.
Christian raised one eyebrow. The other vampires looked vaguely scandalized. “You have two, as well?”
“I do. Eleanor was my first Beloved, the one who was killed by Kristoff’s first wife some five hundred years ago. Corazon is her reincarnation, and thus it is she who is now my true Beloved.”
“You know,” Eleanor said to the vampire nearest her, the one everyone called the messenger, “I’m really getting tired of being referred to as the disposable Beloved.”
The vampire just stared at her.
“I don’t suppose you’d like me for your own?” she asked him.
“Er . . .”
“That’s it,” Eleanor said, shoving the vamp aside. “I’ve had more rejection than is right for any one woman to have. Send me back to the Underworld. Right now. You can all go to hell for all I care—I just want to go back to my adorable little house, and garden, and friend with benefits who never, ever rejects me.”
“Er . . .” I leaned into Alec. Do you know how to send someone to the Underworld?
Yes. You kill them.
My eyes widened as I looked at Eleanor standing angrily in front of us. “Uh . . .” Is there no other way?
Yes.
“Well?” Eleanor asked.
I looked at Alec. He looked back at me. Well? I asked him in turn.
Well, what? Are you trying to imply that you’d like me to take over this matter, rather than let you deal with it as you obviously prefer to do with problems?
I jabbed him in the side with my elbow. “You are so incredibly funny. Get over yourself already, would you? You know full well what I mean.”
He laughed again, wrapped an arm around me, and addressed Christian. “Is your Beloved available for a Release ceremony?”
Christian pursed his lips slightly as he glanced at Eleanor’s angry expression. “I have no doubt she would be happy to do so, although she has not yet conducted such ceremonies on the living. Allegra is nothing if not dedicated, however, and I’m sure she would be delighted to tackle the situation. Madame, if you would please follow August, he will take you to my Beloved.”
The messenger’s companion gestured toward the doorway, still filled with liches who were watching the proceedings with unabashed interest. They parted to allow Eleanor and the vampire through.
“You’re welcome,” I yelled after Eleanor when she turned on her heel and marched off without anything but an annoyed sniff in our direction. “I hope you stay there this time,” I added in a much softer tone.
Alec’s arm tightened around my waist, no doubt in warning to behave myself. That reminded me of just why I was there with Jane’s lich army. I turned back to the four council members, who were now clustered around the messenger, who was gesturing at Alec and me as he spoke in a low tone.
“I am not going to let you send Alec anywhere,” I announced in a firm, no-nonsense voice. “Or me, if that’s what Mr. Nosy there is telling you that you should do. I know you guys are angry at Alec about some mix-up in the past, but that was then, and this is now, and although I may not be a lichmaster like Jane, I think you can see that Alec and I mean business.”
Thank you for including me in that statement.
I told you, we’re a couple now. That means we do important things together. I glanced at him, suddenly worried that he didn’t really want to be part of a team.
He leaned to the side and kissed me, very gently. There is nothing I want more than to be a team with you , Beloved.
I smiled, all warm and fuzzy inside at the emotion behind the words.
“Yes, we can see that you mean business,” Christian said, taking his own sweet time to finish his conversation before turning back to us. He made a dismissive gesture. “You’re free to go.”
I gawked at him for a minute. “Both of us?” I asked, just to make sure I was understanding him correctly.
“Both of you.” He gave a pointed look toward the mass of people at the door. “I’d be appreciative if you took your lich army with you.”
“We’re not really an army,” Jane said quickly. “We’re fully unionized, so that each member can feel he or she is an important part of our family.”
“Wait. . . . You’re letting us go?” Alec laughed again as I shook my head. “You’re really that worried about the liches?”
“On the contrary, with all due respect to the lich union, they are nothing more than an annoyance.”
I thought for a moment. “Is it because Sally is helping us? Did she threaten you guys?”
“Sally?” Christian frowned. “Do I know of a Sally?”
“I mentioned her earlier,” the messenger said with a dark look toward me.
“Ah, her.” Christian’s eyes widened for a moment. “No, it is not the threat of the—” He bit off the word with a look toward the liches. “It is not due to her that we have released Alec.”
I looked at the love of my life. “Did they just come to their senses?”
“Something like that,” he said, kissing me again.
“I didn’t need to rouse the liches?”
“No. If you’d stayed put, I would have been back there by now, and it all would have been taken care of.”
I smacked him on the chest. “Dammit, I hate being left out of things. What did you do to get them to let up on you?”
“He helped rid the mortal world of Bael,” Christian answered. “That, along with continued petitions by Kristoff and Pia, have been deemed as suitable punishment for the acts of the past.”
“But . . . I thought you guys didn’t mind Bael? I mean, wasn’t there some sort of a pact you had with him?”
“One he honored only when he felt like it,” Christian said with a wry twist to his lips. “Bael was a danger to us, as well as mortals.”
“Oh. So we really can go?”
“Yes.” This time he did smile. “Although Allegra would like to meet you. She enjoys meeting other Beloveds. If you decide to stay in Vienna, I would be happy to introduce you to her, perhaps over dinner.”
I looked from him to Alec. “The man who put you in the Akasha to die wants to do dinner.”
“We would be delighted,” Alec said politely, pinching my behind as I tried to wrap my brain around this sudden change in the situation.
Dammit, Alec, I was all prepared to fight for you!
I know you were, and I appreciate that. But there is no need. I had a feeling that once the council realized that you were instrumental in ridding the mortal and immortal worlds of Bael, they would look kindly upon my case, since they could not damn you to any punishment they wished to mete out upon me.
If you thought that, I said as Alec bowed his good-byes and gently herded me toward the doorway full of liches, then why did you not take me with you?
Ah, he said, somewhat abashed, there was the issue of you having the messenger removed from Abaddon. I simply wished to ensure that they weren’t going to make a case out of that before I brought you here.
“From now on, we tackle trouble together, OK?” I told him as we stopped in front of the mass of liches. “It’s what couples do.”
“So long as it doesn’t endanger you, yes,” he said as Jane shooed her liches out the door ahead of her. We followed behind her.
“Not acceptable. Oh, by the way, we owe Jane a whole ton of money for portalling everyone here to save your butt.”
“You portalled all the liches? ” he asked, looking horrified as his eyes roamed over the stream of bo
dies moving their way down the stairs and out of the house.
“You said you were rich, and I had to do something to save you,” I muttered to him.
“Comfortable, mi corazón. I’m comfortable, not rich.”
I shot him a look.
“All right, I’m relatively wealthy. But still, you couldn’t have had them take the train?”
“A lich army doesn’t ride a train,” I scoffed, my heart singing a song of lightness and happiness, one that would be suitable for the end of a Disney movie, the kind where birds sing, squirrels dance with chipmunks, and the hero and heroine gaze swooningly at each other.
The squirrels and chipmunks have gone to bed, Alec said, his eyes alight with a familiar glint. But I will tell you how much I love you if it makes you look swoonily at me.
I would, but there’s still that one concern. That de Marco guy—why did he want Ulfur to lock you away? Do you think he had some evil plans for you?
Possibly.
And what about Brother Ailwin? He seemed pretty pissed at us. I wouldn’t put it past him to try to get revenge for the fact that I’m no longer a Tool. Man, I have got to stop saying that!
He laughed into my brain and, as we reached the street, pulled me up tight against his body, his breath mingling with mine just as our souls seemed to do. My love, my heart, all will be well. Let go of those concerns, and give yourself up to your happy ending with your prince.
“You are so not a prince,” I said, punching him in the shoulder as he scooped me up and carried me down the street to where one of those horse-drawn carriages that drove tourists around Vienna was slowly making its way. He yelled something in German at the driver, who obligingly stopped. “You’re an annoyingly arrogant bloodsucker who thinks he’s going to get his way in everything, and you’re dead wrong there, Alec. I mean it. Stop thinking that you’re going to let me believe I can have my way but you’ll secretly have yours anyway. Alec! You just did it again! Oooh, with the silk rope? Really? That sounds . . . oooh! All right, maybe you can have your way about that, although the feathers and leg restraints are just downright kinky. . . .”
Much Ado About Vampires: A Dark Ones Novel Page 27
