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"Well, that looks"

"Oed from customs at the Vienna International Airport Threeat the end of the hallway for us All three were tall, clad in black or ht blue, and each wore the same identical suspicious expression Tere dark-haired, one blond All three were gorgeous enough that ered on theda whispered to me as alked toward them

"They should The one on the left with the scowl is Andreas, Kristoff&039;s brother The uy on the left is named Sebastian I don&039;t knohat his connection is to everyone else, but he seeda said under her breath

I thought for aback to the plane to de that Julian, the rab me before I took ed to coda in an equally soft voice

"I didn&039;t beg I just had you suggest to your watchdog that if he ponied up tickets for Ray andlight you can summon up And you have to admit he didn&039;t really protest lanced behind us Ray walked alongside theabout with bright, interested eyes, while the latter stared at me in stony silence

"I just e didn&039;t have to involve an innocent bystander in all this You&039;re sure Ray is OK with the whole vada

"He is, rather surprisingly He said he always suspected there wasto adeneral paranoia? To be honest, he&039;s dying to see the Joss Whedon fan He was a bit disappointed when I told hie their appearance at all, but he&039;ll survive"

My gaze moved to our reception corientleda," I said as the three estured to Ray, who stopped on Magda&039;s other side "This is Ray Victor He&039;s a friend of Magda&039;s who has kindly consented to acco out his hand After a ht hesitation, Andreas shook it "Can&039;t tell you how grateful I a fan of Angel ever since the show came out, and it&039;s a real thrill to meet a vampire in person"

The threeback to -although I hadn&039;t parted on the very best of terms with the Dark Ones, eren&039;t enereat trouble to ensure that I was not bla over to the police the person to blame I kne much that had cost him, and was duly appreciative, a fact about which Christian are So as I now getting the icy treatment?

"Hello, Andreas How&039;s your brother?"

Andreas had blue eyes, as did Kristoff, but where the latter had eyes of the purest teal, Andreas&039;s were darker, a htest bit of warh," was all he said before he turned around and started walking out

The two re vampires fell into place behind us as ere escorted out of the airport to a waiting limousine

"Your vampire friends sure kno to travel," Ray said in a hushed voice as we filed in to occupy the backseat of the li us, while Julian and Sebastian took up positions in the front of the car "This is very nice Are we going to the hotel first? I&039;d like to get et some pictures forover Andreas&039;s coen "Is Kristoff here? In Vienna?"

Andreas ignoredto look out of the tinted s

I switched my attention to Rowan "I realize there&039;s no love lost between us, but I would appreciate it if you could overcome your natural aversion to me and answer reen eyes His face was not as angular as his cousin&039;s, and had hints of laugh lines around the mouth and eyes There was no evidence of any form of amusement on his face noever He si, "He is here"

I sat back,wildly all of a sudden Kristoff was here, in Vienna I was going to see hida touched my hand and mouthed, I told you so

I shook my head at that-if Kristoff had suddenly been possessed by a change of heart regarding me, he would have told ri Still, he was in Vienna ThatDidn&039;t it?

To my surprise, eren&039;t taken to a hotel Instead, we stopped at a large pale pink stone house that sat at the end of a row of connected tall, narrow creaes of Josefstadt, a section of don Vienna

"This house belongs to the Moravian Council," Julian said, showing us into a room on the top floor "The administrative offices are below us The top three floors are set aside for residents and guests"

"Nice," I panted as I droppedand tried very hard not to collapse on the floor "Sixth floor Nice view"

"Sweet Mother Mary" Magda gasped as she, too, staggered into the roo a bit frantic as he leaned against the wall "Couldn&039;t you people put in an elevator? Or at least install a bench halfway up?"

"Your room is across the hall," Julian said, a somewhat martyred look on his face as he opened the door in question

Magda shot him a narrow-eyed look, but followed hihtthe clean blue-and-white decor of the room It was rather sparsely furnished, but the bed, bureau, and s desk and chair were all antiques

"Do you wish to change your clothes?" Julian asked as he returned toself-consciously at the collar of my blouse

"That would be nice" It hadn&039;t occurred to ot here, but seeing the coolly elegant vampires ht not be able to do reet the council looking a little less unkeave a short nod "I will tell the council you will be ready to meet with them in a quarter of an hour"

"Can you iven over to her and Ray "I&039;d really like to take a quick shower I had no idea Vienna got this hot in the suhtly "Your presence will not be required"

"Noait a hlike a rureed that we could come with Pia I was there when she talked to you, remember? You said that it would be fine if we acco over at reed to the Zorya&039;s terms because they had no other option, but only she will be perda looked at me "What do you think? We can leave if you&039;re not co the lions by yourself"

"The Zorya already agreed-" Julian started to protest

I raised a hand to stop him "I&039;ll be OK by myself"

"You sure you don&039;t want someone with you when you tell thelance toward Julian

He raised his eyebrows at her

"I don&039;t think you can help ht, but I&039;da&039;s face, norood huave her a little smile "I&039;m still technically a Zorya I think Christian knows the sort of power I can wield if anyone gets out of line"

Julian took an involuntary step backward

"You have a point," Magda agreed, watching hiht, but if you need us, just yell"

It didn&039;t take et cleaned up and presentable I spent a fewto decide between a pair of linen hareauzy peach sundress with a h I knew the va in Iceland-or, ured it couldn&039;t hurt to emphasize the fact that I was a wo chauvinists," Iand tied it beneath e, "then they can&039;t co outside estured toward the stairs I caught hi wrong?" I asked, pausing on the landing

"No Why do you ask?" He looked surprised at my question

"You made a face when I walked by you I&039;m sorry if you don&039;t like my perfume I didn&039;t use much of it because I know so out without a little dab of so"

An oddly eain toward the stairs "It&039;s not that It&039;s er you are a Beloved"

"Technically, yes"

"Has no one told you what thatdown the stairs beside lance he slid ave Kristoff back his soul or so those lines"

"It&039;s a bit more complicated than that," he said slowly I continued down the stairs, grateful ere going down, not up, so I wouldn&039;t arrive before the all-important council sweaty and out of breath "Once Joined, a Dark One can&039;t exist without his Beloved"

"I hate to doubt you, since you must know your people much better than I do, but I&039;m pretty much a contradiction to that stateot his soul back So obviously Dark Ones can get along just fine without their woave a little shake of his head "You will judge for yourself hoell Kristoff has been without you"

I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked at hi wrong with him? Is he sick?"

Julian just waved toward a hallway We were on the second floor, at one end of a long hallway that ran the length of the house "As a Beloved, you must know the mental, physical, and eriwith Kristoff Surely if he had been injured, someone would have told me? "June Cleaver I&039;m not Besides, communication is a tay street, and thus far Kristoff has refused to venture down that particular avenue"

"I find that difficult to believe" Julian paused, his hand on one handle of twin doors "He could not stop hiine why he would want to do so His stateto deceive us I arn you not to speak such obvious lies to the council They take a dim view of people who attempt to mislead them"

"Lie!" I stopped hi so clearly wronged doing ht of seeing Kristoff again "Me? I haven&039;t lied to any of you va anyone I&039;m sorry you don&039;t believe me when I say that Kristoff won&039;t answer me when I try to talk to hio, as a h"

Julian frowned athe was trying to judge whether or not I spoke the truth

"Why would he do that?" he finally asked, evidently realizing I was speaking with absolute honesty

"I have no idea If he&039;s saying I&039; to talk with hi, but I don&039;t think that&039;s very likely He didn&039;t seem like the sort of man who lies"

"He has proven hiopen the twin doors He indicated the roo the last ather my scattered wits, so shaken was I by Julian&039;s statement Kristoff, aabout?

I entered the roons of the htly dreaether, threeas I ca so I could make her comfortable Honest to God, Christian, you may be nine hundred years old, but sometimes you act like a caveet-out, and you&039;re not helping-Oh, hello"

The wohtening Christian Dante turned and limped over to me with a friendly smile and outstretched hands "I&039;m so sorry about this You&039;re Pia, aren&039;t you? I&039;ive hi you in the attic like you were a bundle of old laundry I didn&039;t have a chance to check your room first to make sure you&039;re comfortable up there, but I&039;ll do so just as soon as we&039;re done here"

"There&039;s no need; my room is lovely," I reassured her, momentarily nonplussed by the fact that her eyes were rey, almost white, while the other was an odd sort of estured toward her eyes "They&039;re a bit freaky, aren&039;t they?"

"They are not freaky in the least," Christian corrected, frowning at his wife as he moved over to stand next to her Behind him, the other two men-Sebastian and Rowan-stood silent and watchful "They are char back to ic to the, so I just have to live hat I have Josef! No! We do not bite guests!"

I spun around, looking in surprise at the toddler who had crept up behind reen, the other brown, but the difference was not nearly so pronounced as in the woman I assumed was his mother

Allie scooped up the boy and told hi

He bared his teeth at s

"No!" the boy said, pointing at me "Bad!"

"Not bad, pumpkin She&039;s a Beloved, like Moot his fangs, and we&039;re in the process of weaning him off mortal food and onto a blood diet It makes him a bit fractious sora," Christian said, a warning in his voice as he moved to stand protectively between us, as if I posed some threat

"Oh, stop it! I don&039;t for oneyour hands about," she answered back in a tone that I wouldn&039;t even drearew darker "We are Dark Ones! We do not wring our hands!"

"You knohat I "

Christian ra, your irreverence is out of place here"

Behind hi back at her husband "I&039;es your conscience"

Christian took a deep breath I backed up, not wanting to be near hiuments have already been heard, and your presence is therefore not required at this hearing You may take Josef to the park if the sun has set"

"Oh, don&039;t even think of trying to get rid ofover the boy to a ed wory Can you find soed Rowan snickered Sebastian gave Christian a sylared at his wife, his hands on his hips "I have told you before that you are not to refer tobreach when conducted in front of outsiders!"