Page 10 (1/2)

"Boy, alad you&039;re here" The sentence trailed off as I saho it was knocking at my door "Oh, hello When I called the dial-a-reaper number, I hadn&039;t expected you tould be the ones to ht it would be best if we limited exposure of Brotherhood lory of the light," Janice Mycowski said primly as she pushed past me into the hotel room "You have Kristjana and Mattias here?"

"Yes" I closed the door behind Rick, trying to su sree with you"

"Thank you No!"

Rick looked startled for aat hirabbed the seat and chair-hopped his way towardroo back at the corner where he&039;d been

His face shifted into a pout "But Kristoff is not here You said I had to stay out of his way, but he is gone Smooches!"

Rick and Janice looked at Mattias with obvious surprise, the forlance upon me

"Er he&039;s a bit affectionate," I said, blushing a little as I hissed to Mattias, "I told you there will be no kissing!"

"Piiiia," he said, drawing out ht-bound hi look She turned her fierce gaze uponht-binding anyone who annoyedhim happy and me sane, so I don&039;t want to hear one word about that Kristjana is through the bedrooestured toward the appropriate door

She lare that probably could have cracked cement "I shall be sure to tell the director just how you treated our e of me than as someone who dazzles a couple of troubleso her into the roo immediately

"What have you done to her?" Janice yelled I stood in the doorway and smiled so on the bed "Goddess above! You&039;ve killed her!"

"No, no, she&039;s not dead She&039;s just sedated She was a wee bit upset e got her out of the rooht it would be best if she had a little downtime to recover I&039;ht-binding, so we gave up trying to o to sleep instead"

"Downtian patting Kristjana&039;s cheeks in an atte her around "You have beco"

"She appears to be injured," Rick said, peering over his wife&039;s shoulder

"Not really," I said quickly "Not seriously, anyway There was a little incident on the fire escape when she tried to break free, and Kristoff was slow in grabbing her, so she went over the edge, but ere at the bottom of the fire escape, so she didn&039;t fall very far The doctor said it looks far worse than it really is The black eye should fade in no tiave me identical looks of horror

"We had her X-rayed and everything," I reassured theht-bound for the duration of the hospital visit, and she checked out fine, so really, there&039;s nothing to worry about"

"Do you needanywhere," Mattias called fro s are all packed and ready," I told Rick with an urgency that I feared was unet Kristjana&039;s things, but with the town crawling with vaht and not worry about her clothes and such"

"Kristoff!" Mattias called happily from where he still sat in the doorway, his head turned to the door of the suite "Pia said I o to her She needs me"

Kristoff! I told you the Brotherhood people would be here to pick up Mattias and Kristjana! Go away before they see you!

Dio , he swore I thought they would be gone by now Did you find out where Alec is?

No, I haven&039;t even brought that up

"Kristoff?" Janice said, suspicion tainting the word

"Yes, he&039;sin the doorway He eyed the two Brotherhood folk for a moment I do not know them Where are they from?

Seattle

Then they will not know me, either I have not worked in the United States "Kristoff von Hannelore," he added,a little bow

Von Hannelore? I asked, somewhat surprised by his surna to notice what naht to ask hiht you were Italian

My parents were from a small principality in what is now Germany I lived there in my youth

"But you&039;re

Mattias took ers "Yes, she is My Pia My wife She needs ers offit himself "She was married tohow on earth I could explain Kristoff

"Kristoff isto take his hand

Kristoff growled, I a to be explained

Yeah, well, people who charge in on h out what they find

"You have two husbands?" Rick asked a bit hesitantly "Is that legal?"

"Well technically-"

"Yes," Kristoff said quickly

They don&039;t seelad, but I have to say that it surprises n pointing to us proclai, "Dark One," you know

Yes, but you&039;re their area of specialty Shouldn&039;t they at least sense soht These two appear innocuous

"I like licking," Mattias said, apropos of nothing

"You try and you&039;ll find yourself without a tongue," Kristoff threatened as Mattias grinned at hi to the chair "No licking! No kissing! And stop trying to hold Kristoff&039;s hand"

"Pia, Pia, Pia," was his sad little refrain as he obeyed htly as he clutched the heauze skirt

"What you have done to that poor man-to both of them" Janice said, her face dark with overnors for these cri Kristoff a thorough visual examination, and said finally, a puzzled frown between his brows, "You are not a

"Kristoff is helpingthe oing to be easy at all An Ilargi has taken his soul"

"Ilargi!" Janice gasped "Here? You must stop him!"

"Easier said than done Kristoff is here to help me find Ulfur&039;s reet hii"

"You are a vespillo," Rick said to Kristoff, nodding at my deception "You have a necromancer already?"

I am not a vespillo!

No, but it won&039;t hurt if they think you are I&039;d rather not have the out you&039;re a valanced at my watch "In fact, we have an appointment to meet with her and her er assistant in half an hour, so we really should get down to business"

"What business would that be?" Rick asked politely as Janice gently shook Kristjana

"She&039;s asleep," Mattias said helpfully "She was not nice to Pia, so we put her to sleep She threatened to rip my lips off, too"

"You have fulfilled only part of your bargain," Janice said, giving up on Kristjana "You must also retrieve the spirit left behind and escort him to Ostri Which"-a slow, evil s he is now a phantas to be very difficult"

"But not i that was true

Evidently it was, because her face darkened again, and she turned aith a muttered word

"I&039;m afraid we cannot help with your spirit, if that&039;s what you are asking," Rick said "It would violate the terreement, you see I e could help, but our hands are tied"

"My hands were tied earlier," Mattias piped up He sentlook "Pia tied my hands to my feet and made me lie on the floor while she took a bath I pretended I was her bathto tell people about that," I reminded Mattias with a weak smile at the others "It wasn&039;t like it sounds" Kristoff&039;s look had h about that The business I referred to actually concerns the board of governors You see, there&039;s a vampire I want to find, and I think they can help me"

Janice bristled "You dare to use us in that way?"

"You know, you keep asking s, and I think by noe can take it as read that yes, I dare I dare a lot, actually Why? Because I have to So if we could -out eyes and pointing fingers and whatnot, and stick to the facts, I&039;d be really grateful"

"I love you," Mattias told me, and proceeded to suck on the bit of my skirt hem that he held

Janice&039;s face turned beet red "You dare-" She caught herself in tiovernors would in any way aid someone who so clearly does not follow the precepts of the Brotherhood You think ould turn over to you our database of va that you have one" Did you know that they have a database?