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I waited only until I&039;d changed into dry shoes before dialing the phone nuiven me
Kristoff was on his cell phone to one of his cohorts, who evidently didn&039;t believe hi a concise rundown of the events of the last few days
I tapped ers in irritation on the table upon which the phone rested, s I wanted to say to the bastard who had ripped Ulfur&039;s soul frohtly mechanical note to the voice that spoke in my ear heralded voicedisbelief until the recording ended, then slowly hung up the phone
Kristoff broke off in the ed with finding Alec, covering the lower half of the cell phone to ask, "What is it?"
"That phone nus to Alec"
He frowned "Are you sure?"
I nodded, waving at the phone "The voiceKristoff, what the hell is going on? Alec isn&039;t the Ilargi Is he?"
I slid down the wall into the chair that stood next to the phone table,toto his buddy By the time he was finished and had come to squat at my feet, his hands on my knees, I was a mess
Why do you cry?
Because nothing makes sense Because I was so deceived by Alec Because nothing is what it seeht you were, and Alec isn&039;t the nice, loving man he appeared Ulfur wasn&039;t happy we raised him as a lich-he was horrified Honestly, Boo, at this point, I&039;da turns out to be the new Zenith, and Ray is her hired assassin!
Kristoff sently pulled ainst his chest as I sniffled my tears of self-pity "I do not believe your friends are anything but what they appear"
"Yeah, but you don&039;t know, do you? Look at Alec, Kristoff! Even you were fooled! If he can be your friend for sobad about him to the point where I slept with hiroup didn&039;t knoas an Ilargi on the side, then how on earth are we expected to know anything about anyone?" I wailed
"Youhis hand into ht like you a lot, but in general they&039;re not very insightful about people," I said, sniffling
"Ia Dark One or his Beloved does not e there is to know, Pia We cannot see the future any more than we know the truth that is in others&039; hearts Alec has served h his actions confuse me, I aht about this for ahis Adam&039;s apple "Your brother and cousin didn&039;t show any faith in you"
"They er rising swiftly in hi his earlobe "Beloved, if you start that noill never get to the Blue Lagoon, and I would very hed and released the earlobe I was sucking "What are we going to do about Alec?"
He stood up, letting me slide down his body "Rest first; then ill discuss plans" He put a finger over my lips as I was about to protest "Be assured ill take action"
That was all I got out of hi that I was exhausted and needed some rest and relaxation So it was that a short time later I trotted down the hotel steps and stared with absolute surprise at the sight that met my eyes "I don&039;t believe it Have we entered soda stood next to"Good Lord I think we have"
"What&039;s going on?" Ray with a ca on his face "Is it another holiday?"
"I don&039;t know, but look! Dancing! Ooh, Ray! Let&039;s join!"
Rayrabbed his hand and hauled hi before us The strains of "Unchained Melody" filled the soft suht in the nearby town of Dalkafjordhur There&039;d been dancing the last time I was there, too
"I just had a phone call froed from the hotel "He said that there has been a sudden increase of activity in the reaper headquarters in Los Angeles"
"Sounds like so is definitely up Extra security around Alec, do you think?"
He shrugged and tucked his cell phone away in the inner pocket of the soft leather jacket that I re the first time I&039;d seen hi held captive At this point, we don&039;t have any solid proof either way"
"But it does give credence to what Rick said about hiuess we&039;ll be California bound, then Although I e could stay here to search for the Ilargi who has Ulfur"
"As the necromancer told you, he didn&039;t have to be physically near in order to summon a lich under his control"
"I know" My shoulders slumped
"I&039;ve told you that ill find hihtly critical as he examined me "Later, after you&039;ve had a rest"
"We all could do with a break," I said, shaking off the glum mood Kristoff meant what he had said-he would helpin to self-pity again
As the music ended and people applauded, ain the s as he talked with Alec For a lad that fate had thrown him my way
"You look very pretty," he said out of the blue
"It&039;s the dress Magda insisted I buy it before we left for Vienna She said it was flirty and would make you want to ravish er this ti on the swell of my breasts as they threatened to overflow the fitted bodice of the siaze continued doard, stopping briefly ondown to the full skirt that flared out in graceful folds, ending just slightly below my knees Kicky summer sandals and delicate shell pink toenail polish completed the ense hi for him to think I&039;d dressed with such care just to meet his approval
No, it doesn&039;t make me want to ravish you
My heart dropped to the very same shell pink toenails
Itat your delectable toes andto thighs that leaveith need It er rise in me until I&039;m nearly mad with desire "Ravish" implies an impersonal act of sex So ravish? No Possess and consume and lose myself in you? Absolutely
My heart, back in its accusto puddle as I leaned into Kristoff,in love with you, you idiot s like that to me and not expect me to swoon entirely"
Passion flared to life in the depths of his lovely eyes He tookto kiss e of the bodies limpse of a woman with a white veil, and a couple of men in tuxedoes, before Kristoff twirled me around and pulled me up into a close embrace, his hands on my hips
"I didn&039;t think you noticed the party," I said, giggling a little as the ot started
"I may be distracted, but I&039; over the crowd to the band as they started in with a nuaze returned to , and I&039;ve seen the movie about a hundred times
A rare smile flirted with the corners of histhe other onto I stopped, suddenly breathless as he spunme back immediately, only to bend me backward His mouth was hot on my chest for awith the song, guiding ht I could do
Dear God, I&039;hI never dance! Not like this!
You never hadme into another twirl Part of race and coordination, but the other part of me, the part that touched Kristoff&039;s esture on his part
You&039;re an excellent dancer, I said, giggling again when he pulled hly suggestive manner
You should see me do the cinque passi, he answered
The what, now?
It was a dance step very popular about five hundred years ago
I twirled away again, then returned, struggling with the odd sense his words brought You really are four hundred years old, aren&039;t you? I know you said you were born in the seventeenth century, but it just didn&039;t really hitthe Renaissance You were alive when Galileo was alive! You s and even countries rise and fall
Galileo was an old man, blind and sick, when I saw him
I stopped dead in my tracks as I stared up at him You actually met Galileo? You saw him in person?
Yes For some reason, I felt him emotionally withdraw from me His body still one out of thewhy suddenly hiselse, and I debated pressing him for details, but I hesitated to do that Neither of us had wanted this relationship, but he was clearly trying to ravate a situation that was starting to beco him when he wished to withhold hi him for a oing to get through a lifetith when just a couple of days hadto shake him?
Behind me, women squealed and called out excitedly as a bride was helped onto a table in preparation for throwing her bouquet
"Bah Co her face as she and Raymond returned "I could blow those skinny Icelandic women doith one breath, but I don&039;t need a bouquet that bad What&039;s wrong?"
She had addressed the last coo before soed variety spots us Our plane leaves in ten and a half hours, so that ought to give us enough ti Raymond&039;s arht with passion, but it was not his sexual interest I doubted
That thought remained, even two hours later when I found myself in heaven
"I don&039;t care how you ended up with this et to keep it I don&039;t care about anything right now, to be honest" I heaved a blissful sigh and sank up to ae- and s "Other than the fact that we have three whole hours of this Who needs sleep e can soak here?"
"This is not a replacement for proper rest, but it is the best I can do, since you refuse to sleep You will do so on the plane, however" Kristoff&039;s voice drifted out of the private lounge he&039;d reserved for us Although the Blue Lagoon covered a large area shaped by the surrounding volcanic rocks, the main section did not offer privacy The spa offered a couple of areas (for a hefty fee) that not only included personal changing rooe where one could relax on sooon
"You said I was iled ently in the water I had read in the spa brochure that the water was famed for its therapeutic qualities, and that the white silicaproperties I reached down and scooped up a handful of the ers It was chalky white, but smooth, like very fine sand
"That doesn&039;t ed froe behind us He was still fully clothed I frowned
"Why am I here, naked, in our very own private watery paradise, and you&039;re notht you would enjoy it Also because it is likely that the Dark Ones will be canvassing hotels in the area But mostly because you need somewhere to rest and are too stubborn to do so elsewhere"
"Boo"
"What?"
"You know full hat I mean Why aren&039;t you here in the water with me, naked, so I can ply htly too skinny, s thatupon whootthat edged one side of our pool "Call for what?"
Kristoff squatted and ran his fingers across the top of the water "Infor reaper movements in California And to track Alec&039;s last known movements"
"Oh, excellent What did you find out? Where did he go?" I asked
He was silent for ahas been discovered yet"
I frowned "Da on besides the fact that they&039;re hunkering down for a fight?"
"Nothing that I haven&039;t alreadyabout this on the ride out here"
"You were not," he countered "You spent the trip out here fondling hts that a man can bear And a couple I couldn&039;t"
"I did both I&039; over the situation with Alec and the reapers, and I think I see the truth It all comes back to Frederic"
One eyebroent up
"You have the most expressive eyebrows I love that about you," I said, s, which I adht be the teensiest bit flawed, because I&039;ers to tick off the ite someone"
"You don&039;t know that for certain"
"I&039; that makes sense Two, Frederic killed her"
He nodded
"Three, with the Zenith gone, the director of the board of governors is "
His nod was slower in co this tih," he pointed out
"Sooner or later, yes But what if the later is e but, because he&039;s iving her soood guy, but in reality he was setting her up for the fall? And then when she did fall, he shot her to keep her fro? Voil¨¤ Instant leader of the reapers, with no witnesses and no questions asked"
He thought about that for a few rant you But where does Alec fall in this theory of double cross and hidden agendas?"
"Oh, Alec" I sank back into the water, enjoying its war on my naked flesh "Well, we know vampires can&039;t be reapers, even if they&039;re froue gesture
"Right, so, he can&039;t be an Ilargi, but he can work for one"
"Why would he wish to participate in the stealing of souls?" Kristoff asked
"He doesn&039;t want to Or rather, it&039;s a necessary evil in order for hiratiate himself with Frederic"
"The director?"
"Yes! Frederic is the Ilargi! Don&039;t you see? He&039;s doing a double-cross thing, just like you said He got Denise out of the way, and now he&039;s going around eli with the to help the reapers without letting him knoas a vai, just in case anyone nosed around"
"Less experienced reapers would not recognize a Dark One as being such on sight, but I assume the director would," Kristoff pointed out "Sooner or later he would come face-to-face with Alec and know that he was not what he appeared"
"Exactly" I back-kicked a couple of feet "But by then the illusion of Alec being the Ilargi was in place I don&039;t doubt that he&039;s innocent, as your gut instinct said They probably have him in maximum security back in Brotherhood Central The reason he&039;s still alive is because they don&039;t have a Zenith, so therefore, they can&039;t fire up the local Zorya and get her to off him"
"I hesitate to ask this, but hosts his organization was created to protect and aid?"
I smiled "Because he&039;s hosts anyuys, so he&039;s eli any distractions that would keep Zoryas fro vampires"
"But there is no Zenith, and thus the murders can&039;t be perfor really obvious-the original purpose of the Zoryas was the ghost bit, right? And all the ceremonies and such were created around that The stuff with the vampires came later, ot grandfathered in I&039;ot together and started that evil cleansing cere as they had a Zorya present, she could s is just a holdover fro past And before you say we have no proof of that, ht and let it dance in front of his feet
He looked at it without h light to seriously harm you, Kristoff It uys channeling their powers to finish you off, but I&039;m sure ouldn&039;t need a Zenith to do so Frederic must have found this out Remember that Denise was a Zorya before she was the Zenith I bet somehow they found it out, and that started his convoluted plan"
"Convoluted, indeed," Kristoff said, still watching the light bobbing at his toes I waved a hand and dissipated it
"I just bet you that Frederic issure another Zenith isn&039;t named Which all points to one very clear conclusion"
"Yes, it does It says that you are more tired than either of us realizes"
Ito have to deal with Frederic"
"I agree We will kill the director"
I gawked at hiive Frederic the third degree&039; to killing hi you, Beloved Your theory is interesting, but unproven at this ti with Alec, he is probably holding hi his defenses, he must expect an attack by us You are my Beloved, a fact he knows Do you honestly believe he will not atteiven the opportunity?"
I was silent for athe pain of the knife Frederic had wielded as it sank deep into my flesh "I don&039;t condone what Frederic has done in the past And I don&039;t appreciate hiood God knows I certainly don&039;t support the war between the Brotherhood and you vampires, but someone somewhere has to draw the line and end the war So And I choose to be that person"
To my surprise, a faint smile was visible on Kristoff&039;s adorable lips "My mother would have liked you She was frequently in the stocks for what the local nobleross impertinence to his position She always championed the downtrodden, and allows for her attes"
"She sounds like she was a marvelous woman," I said, and, tempted as I was to continue that line of conversation, I set it aside for a bit "You&039;re not going to distract me froainst unnecessary violence"
He sighed, a weary expression on his face "What would you have me do? Promise that no harm will come to any reaper?"
"No I would like you to think about ways to get ant without anyone dying"
Water lapping gently at the rocks was the only sound for a few moments