Zen and the Art of Vampires (36 page)

He smiled and faded into nothing. “I'll be here when you need me.”

“I'm counting on it. Holy Mary and all the saints!” I came to a halt as we cleared the last tumbled stone.

The figures in black and silver turned to face us.

Kristoff lay spread-eagle on the nearest stone, his arms and legs tied down to metal hooks that had been driven into the rock. He was covered in blood, and I thought for one horrible moment that they had killed him, but his head turned slowly to me as I stood staring in horror.

“Come to finish me off?” he asked, his lovely voice broken and hoarse. “May your god damn you for all eternity.”

“We're here to save you,” I told Kristoff, the strange calmness continuing despite the terrible vision of him covered in his own blood.

“I knew you would come.” One of the hooded figures spoke. He pushed back his hood. It was, as I suspected, Frederic. “I knew you would not be able to refuse the light. Seize them.”

The two hooded people headed for us, but Alec whipped out a gun. “Touch her, and you die,” he warned them.

“It's all right,” I started to say, but when I reached out to stop him, a bolt of energy shot down my arm right into him, sending him flying several feet until he smacked into one of the tall fingers of stone.

“Holy Jehoshaphat,” I cried, and would have run to him, but one of the hooded people grabbed me. I struggled, knocking the hood off the person, revealing the rather square face of a blond woman. She was built like a wrestler, though, and quickly twisted one of my arms up behind my back, using her other hand to press down on my throat in a manner that could easily disrupt airflow.

The other person, a man, reached Alec.

“If you hurt him, you'll be more than sorry,” I swore, making a futile effort to get free.

“There is no sense in struggling, Zorya Pia. Greta is a member of the Norwegian military.” Frederic strolled over to where Alec lay prone. He poked him with his foot, rolling Alec over onto his back.

I gasped in horror. The side of Alec's face and neck was a bloody pulp, as if the flesh had been melted away. “Dear god—did I do that?”

“It is the cleansing power of the light,” Frederic answered, sauntering over to where I was held by Greta.

“Should I bring him to the altar?” the other Brotherhood guy asked, glancing from Alec to Frederic.

“Not yet. We will attend to this one first, then deal with him. My dear, you do us proud.” Frederic stopped in front of me, giving me a benevolent smile. “Only made a Zorya for a few minutes, and you've already begun to wield the light. We are pleased.”

I blinked back tears as I dragged my gaze from where Alec lay in a bloody heap to the monster who'd so misled me. Could Mattias have been right after all? Was I going to be nothing but a tool to destroy innocent people?

I closed my eyes for a moment, too sickened by what I had done to be able to face anyone, but I knew I couldn't hide from the truth. “Let justice roll down like waters.”

Frederic raised his eyebrows. “How very apt, although I believe we will let it flow as light.” He stepped back, indicating Kristoff. “And here is your first opportunity to see that justice done. We will begin the cleansing ceremony.”

Kristoff turned his head slightly. His face was in shadow, but his eyes glowed with an intensity that burned. The accusation in them stung, but I couldn't blame him for thinking the worst of me, not when he'd seen me come close to destroying his friend.

I looked from Kristoff to the man who stood waiting in front of me. “No,” I said simply, knowing to the very depths of my soul that I would rather die than allow myself to be used to harm anyone. “I won't cleanse anyone. Kristoff doesn't deserve that, nor does Alec.”

Kristoff looked stunned for a couple of seconds.

“You really should have more faith in me,” I told him.

His jaw worked for a moment, but he said nothing.

“Doesn't deserve it?” For a moment, the mild, pleasant expression on Frederic's face cracked, and rage unlike anything I'd ever seen showed through. I would have taken a step back, but Greta held me immobile.

Frederic leaned his face into mine and hissed, “He killed one of your own people. He killed one of your brothers in the light, apparently before your very eyes. How can you say he doesn't deserve justice for that?”

“He killed in self-defense, and in defense of me,” I answered. “I am sorry that one of your people died, but perhaps he shouldn't have been so quick to try to kill us.”

“Do you blame him for mistaking you for one sympathetic to this . . . this monster?” Frederic asked, waving at Kristoff.

“I blame you for a lot of things, but most of all for intolerance. I won't do it,” I repeated, shaking my head. “I will not kill for you.”

Frederic held out his hand. “Mikael?”

The other man gave him Alec's gun.

Frederic pointed it directly at me.

“That won't do any good,” I said with a brave little laugh that I didn't feel in the least. “What are you going to do, shoot your own Zorya? I'm willing to bet there are some sort of rules prohibiting that.”

“There are, as a matter of fact,” Frederic said, a sour look on his face. “There is nothing that says we cannot hurt you, however. So long as we don't actually kill you, we would not be in violation of the laws that govern us.”

“What's a little torture between friends, eh?” I said with forced lightness. “Well, try this on for size—there is nothing you can do that will change my mind. I would rather die than harm anyone else.”

He must have seen the truth in my eyes, must have heard the absolute conviction in my voice . . . or perhaps it was the cloaked and tabarded figure who emerged from behind him who caused him to lower the gun.

“Difficulties?” the figure asked, the hood muffling the word slightly.

I lifted my head, something chiming a little bell of warning in my head.

“Zenith,” Frederic said, bowing. I was momentarily startled—the voice that spoke was definitely feminine.

The warning bell in my head got a whole lot louder.

“We are honored by your presence. Light bless you.”

“And you, brother.” The woman stood next to one of the spikes of stone that marked where a wall had once stood. “I see the ritual is completed.”

“It is. But the Zorya is reluctant to assume her duties,” Frederic said, his voice filled with gentle chastisement.

Gentle, my ass. If anyone here was a monster, it was him.

“Oh, I don't think she'll give us any trouble.” The woman's hand rose and swept back the hood. A malicious, amused gaze challenged mine. “Not holier-than-thou Pia. Not when her friend's life is at stake.”

“Denise,” I said, both surprised and, at the same time, oddly
not
surprised to see her. “Somehow, it seems almost fitting that you should be head honcho in a group of self-righteous, intolerant wack jobs.”

She smiled and moved out from behind the rock a few feet. I was about to continue when I saw that she, too, held a gun . . . and it was pointed directly at a woman she pulled out with her.

“Hello,” Magda said, giving me a weak grin. “Guess who I ran into on the way over here.”

I stared at her in dumb horror.

“I'm sorry,” she continued, glancing sideways at Denise. “You were right. I should have stayed out of it.”

“It's too late for apologies,” Denise said, yanking Magda in front of her. “I should have gotten rid of you two thorns in my side at the beginning.”

Frederic, who had been frowning, looked from Magda and Denise to me. “You know the Zenith?”

“I thought I did. She's a member of my tour group.”

He rounded on Denise. “You have been in Dalkafjordhur and you did not alert us?”

“Be quiet! You forget to whom you speak!” Denise snapped.

Frederic took a step toward her, gesturing with the gun, clearly baffled. “But you are the Zenith. You should have notified us that you were coming early. It would have changed everything had we known you were here—”

“It would have changed nothing,” she snarled. “I do not have to explain my plans to you. You are here to see that they are carried out, nothing more. Do you understand,
brother
?”

The emphasis she placed on the word was stark, and left me smiling to myself. Frederic was a self-aggrandized man, and he wouldn't take well to being chewed out in front of others.

“As the Zenith commands,” he said stiffly, bowing his head in a jerky concession of submission, but I caught a glimpse of his face—he was furious.

Now, how could I use that to get us out of this horrible situation?

“Just so you understand the situation, Pia—if you do not, in the next thirty seconds, begin the ritual of cleansing on this repulsive specimen, Frederic will begin cutting off parts of your friend. Perhaps after witnessing her torment you'll rethink your foolish stand. If you still refuse after we've hacked her to pieces, I'll kill you.”

“You can't kill me; I'm the Zorya,” I said, my blood chilling despite my bravado. I truly believed she would torture Magda. She seemed so cold, so heartless . . . and with that thought, a door in my mind opened, flooding me with an absolute knowledge that left me shaking.

“And
I'm
the Zenith. I can do anything I want.”

“Including killing the previous Zorya? It was you, wasn't it? You killed Anniki.”

Her expression never changed, but surprise flashed in Frederic's eyes.

“You killed our Zorya?” he asked.

She made an abrupt gesture. “She was a fool, an ignorant fool, and impure to boot. She deceived us with a facade of piety, and we were all taken in. But I sensed something was wrong, and it was—she was ready to betray us, betray the entire Brotherhood by helping the Dark Ones. Once I found out the truth, I knew what had to be done.”

I was silent, remembering the light of truth that had shown in Anniki's face the night we spoke together in the café. Her absolute conviction was not an act, as Denise would have me believe. Which meant that Denise was lying . . .

“But to kill her without letting us know first?” Frederic's eyes stood out against the pallor of his skin. “We deserved to know.”

“Do not even think of telling me how to do my job,” Denise snapped at him. “It is my responsibility to ensure the order is protected against those who would drag us down. Your duty—every member's duty—is to protect the order at all costs.”

Frederic's jaw tightened. He didn't like what he was hearing, and I didn't blame him.

“I don't believe you,” I said, shaking my head, tears burning my eyes as I remembered Anniki's shining face. “She wasn't like that. She believed in what she was doing. She was happy and excited about being a Zorya, about doing what she clearly thought was some way to better the world. She was not a traitor to your cause, however wrong it is.”

“You are just like her,” Denise pronounced, sending me a look of pure, venomous hatred. “Only you do not hide your taint behind pretended piety. But we know what you are now, and we will take steps to cleanse the darkness out of you as we will your friends.”

“Friends into whose arms you pushed me,” I said slowly, remembering the stupid bet she'd forced me to accept. “You knew they were vampires then, didn't you?”

“I recognized them.” That nasty smile of hers curled her lips again. “I thought of letting them have that little bint Anniki, but it was much easier to just silence her myself . . . especially since it would implicate you in her death.”

“You didn't have to kill her—”

“Silence!” Denise raged, jerking Magda forward a few feet. “You exist solely at my whim, Pia, a fact you should not forget. Anniki was nothing, not worth the time it took to get rid of her, but I did it so that the order would be stronger.”

“You're absolutely insane,” I said, my skin crawling with horror at the woman who stood in front of me, but even as I recognized the madness in her, I realized there was something wrong, something that didn't quite ring true. “You killed a sweet, innocent woman for no reason. You are the one who is tainting your precious group.”

Her eyes narrowed on me. “The Brotherhood is all that matters.
In tua luce videmus lucem
—in thy light we see light.”

My stomach heaved. Poor, poor Anniki, caught between a madwoman and her delusions of piety.

“Enough of this.” Denise nodded toward Frederic. “Start the ritual. I don't have time to waste.”