Crouching Vampire, Hidden Fang(13)

 

“It’s called life, and it sucks at times.” She looked up as Ray opened the door and stuck his head in, asking if we were almost ready to go. She told him we’d be right there. “Then again, there are times when it really is very nice.” She sighed happily as she watched him through the window.

 

“Christian is holding Mattias prisoner, which means I’m going to have to try to reason with him. You know what that means, don’t you?” I said glumly to my hands. “He’ll make me go talk to their council. And you and I both know what they want to talk about.”

 

“A certain incredibly gorgeous vampire, so handsome he makes your eyes hurt, and we won’t even go into that sexy, sexy Italian accent? Oh, yeah. And I can’t say I blame them. I’d want to talk about him, as well. Mrrowr . I mean that, of course, in the strictest of platonic ways.”

 

“It wouldn’t matter if you didn’t,” I said, sighing heavily before picking up my satchel and purse. “It’s not like Kristoff wants me.”

 

“Bah. You just need to have a little quality time with him.” Amusement was rich in her voice as she walked out the door. “Besides, I’ve never been to Vienna. I bet it’s very pretty this time of year!”

 

I locked the door behind us, giving her a little shake of my head. “You can’t possibly be serious about wanting to go with me.”

 

“Of course I am,” she said, whapping me on the arm. “We’re here to spend two weeks with you, aren’t we? So if you go to Vienna to meet with the vampires, and then pop over to Iceland to pick up Kristjana and Ulfur, we’ll go with you. We’ll be your entourage! It’ll be fun!”

 

Fun. For some reason, that was the last word that came to my mind.

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 3

 

 

 

 

“Well, that looks . . .”

 

“Ominous,” I said, pausing next to Magda as we emerged from customs at the Vienna International Airport. Three men stood waiting at the end of the hallway for us. All three were tall, clad in black or midnight blue, and each wore the same identical suspicious expression. Two were dark-haired, one blond. All three were gorgeous enough that more than one woman’s gaze lingered on them.

 

“They look familiar,” Magda whispered to me as we walked toward them.

 

“They should. The one on the left with the scowl is Andreas, Kristoff’s brother. The middle one is their cousin Rowan. And the guy on the left is named Sebastian. I don’t know what his connection is to everyone else, but he seems just as unflinching as the others.”

 

“Oy,” Magda said under her breath.

 

I thought for a moment of turning and running back to the plane to demand that I be taken back to safety, but I had a feeling that Julian, the messenger, would grab me before I took more than a few steps. “You’re the one who begged to come with me,” I reminded Magda in an equally soft voice.

 

“I didn’t beg. I just had you suggest to your watchdog that if he ponied up tickets for Ray and me, you would be less inclined to smite him with that blinding light you can summon up. And you have to admit he didn’t really protest much once you told him you changed your mind.”

 

I glanced behind us. Ray walked alongside the messenger, the former chattering happily and looking about with bright, interested eyes, while the latter stared at me in stony silence.

 

“I just wish we didn’t have to involve an innocent bystander in all this. You’re sure Ray is OK with the whole vampire thing?” I asked Magda.

 

“He is, rather surprisingly. He said he always suspected there was more going on around him than people were willing to admit, and who am I to poohpooh general paranoia? To be honest, he’s dying to see them, since he’s a big Joss Whedon fan. He was a bit disappointed when I told him they don’t change their appearance at all, but he’ll survive.”

 

My gaze moved to our reception committee. “The question is, will I?”

 

“They do look awfully grim, don’t they?” Magda agreed.

 

“Hello, gentlemen. I expect you remember my friend Magda,” I said as the three men stepped forward to greet us. I gestured to Ray, who stopped on Magda’s other side. “This is Ray Victor. He’s a friend of Magda’s who has kindly consented to accompany us.”

 

“Pleasure to meet you,” Ray said, sticking out his hand. After a moment’s slight hesitation, Andreas shook it. “Can’t tell you how grateful I am you let Mags and me come along. I’ve been a big fan of Angel ever since the show came out, and it’s a real thrill to meet a vampire in person.”