Crouching Vampire, Hidden Fang(58)

 

Rick and Janice looked at Mattias with obvious surprise, the former turning a bemused glance upon me.

 

“Er . . . he’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 my name in a depressed sigh.

 

“You’ve light-bound him!” Janice declared after giving him a good long look. She turned her fierce gaze upon me. “You dare!”

 

“You bet your butt I dare,” I said, squaring my shoulders and looking like I would be prone to light-binding anyone who annoyed me.

 

She took a step back.

 

“It’s keeping him happy and me sane, so I don’t want to hear one word about that. Kristjana is through the bedroom to your left.” I gestured toward the appropriate door.

 

She marched to it with a glare that probably could have cracked cement. “I shall be sure to tell the director just how you treated our members!”

 

“Oh, I’m sure Frederic has a much worse image of me than as someone who dazzles a couple of troublesome reapers,” I said, following her into the room. I was braced for a scream of outrage, which was forthcoming immediately.

 

“What have you done to her?” Janice yelled. I stood in the doorway and smiled somewhat weakly as Janice fussed around the prone woman lying on the bed. “Goddess above! You’ve killed her!”

 

“No, no, she’s not dead. She’s just sedated. She was a wee bit upset when we got her out of the room she was being kept in, and the doctor thought it would be best if she had a little downtime to recover. I’m not quite sure why, but she was resistant to the light-binding, so we gave up trying to make her happy and just let her go to sleep instead.”

 

“Downtime!” Janice shot me a look of purest venom before she began patting Kristjana’s cheeks in an attempt, I assumed, to bring her around. “You have become one of the monsters you should be destroying.”

 

“She appears to be injured,” Rick said, peering over his wife’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 we were at the bottom of the fire escape, so she didn’t fall very far. The doctor said it looks far worse than it really is. The black eye should fade in no time.”

 

Both of them gave me identical looks of horror.

 

“We had her X-rayed and everything,” I reassured them. “I managed to get her light-bound for the duration of the hospital visit, and she checked out fine, so really, there’s nothing to worry about.”

 

“Do you need me? I’m here if you need licking anywhere,” Mattias called from the doorway, blowing me a kiss as he beamed at Rick and Janice.

 

“His things are all packed and ready,” I told Rick with an urgency that I feared was unmistakable. “I’m afraid we didn’t have time to get Kristjana’s things, but with the town crawling with vampires, we thought it best to sit tight 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 must sit in the chair until you returned. Now I can go 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’t even brought that up.

 

“Kristoff?” Janice said, suspicion tainting the word.

 

“Yes, he’s my . . . er . . .”

 

“Husband,” Kristoff said, appearing in 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, making a little bow.

 

Von Hannelore? I asked, somewhat surprised by his surname. I had been too flustered at our rushed wedding to notice what name was listed for him on the papers, and hadn’t thought to ask him about it since. Isn’t that German? I thought you were Italian.

 

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

 

“But . . . you’re married to the sacristan,” Janice said, frowning.

 

Mattias took my hand and kissed my fingers. “Yes, she is. My Pia. My wife. She needs me. Licks?”