We moved silently from tree to tree, keeping our eyes peeled for any sentries Frederic might have set.
We were just about to emerge from the forest and take up a position behind one of the fallen walls when a noise behind us had me spinning around.
"Dark Ones!" Karl shouted, and my heart dropped at the sight. Emerging from the woods were the other vampires… all but Kristoff. They paused at the sight of Alec and me.
"I thought it would be too much for you," Christian told me with obvious disappointment.
The wind lifted and blew our way, bringing with it the reedy sound of voices chanting. Goose bumps rippled along my arms as I realized what was happening—the Brotherhood people were conducting the ceremony to bless me with the power of the moon. I glanced into the sky. The moon wasn't very visible, if at all, during the months when the sun never completely set, but there was a faint, almost invisible sliver showing over the tops of the trees.
"Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream," I said, the image of Anniki as she pressed the stone into my hand flashing through my mind with unusual clarity.
She died for her belief in justice, and I had promised her I wouldn't fail in pursuit of the same. And so help me, I wouldn't.
"The ritual!" Sebastian shouted, and started forward.
"Stop them!" I yelled, whirling around to race toward the ruins. The ghosts materialized as a solid group and immediately flung themselves on the four vampires, their cries piercing the night. The vamps were taken totally unawares, and went down in a massive tangle of arms and legs.
Alec stood between me and the ruins. His eyes glittered in the twilight. "Go fulfill your destiny," he said after a moment, stepping aside.
"Oh, thank you." I ran forward.
The ruins loomed before us. It was pretty much like any other relic of centuries long past—large tumbled boulders that had been shaped by the weather into unrecognizable blobs of stone, two walls still standing, most of which had crumbled away, leaving only sharp little fingers of rock pointing to the sky.
The bulk of the building had been pulled back into the earth over time, wildflowers and tall grass claiming the remainder of visible stone. Someone had cut the grass in the very center, however, where part of one of the walls had collapsed, leaving three long blocks laid out like pews.
I stumbled to a halt as I realize that on one of the stones, a figure had been stretched out. Around it, spread out in a triangle, three people stood.
A sudden chill spread over me as I thought for a moment they were some sort of inhuman specters floating above the ground, but I realized with a start that they were simply wearing an odd sort of outfit that reminded me of a Renaissance fair I'd visited sometime back. Their long black robes blended into the shadows in a way that made it seem as if they had no legs or heads, their upper halves swathed with silver tabards, the sort Crusaders used to wear, but where the Crusaders bore a bloodred cross, the Brotherhood sported a crimson crescent moon.
I took a hesitant step forward, but at that moment a strange thing happened. The sun, which was moving slowly ever lower on the horizon, dipped to a point where a shaft of light penetrated the obstacles of trees and ruins, unerringly finding me with an impact that I felt to my toes. I stared down at myself, and my mouth opened in surprise when the light bathing me changed from the rich golden amber of the sun to a silvery blue light that seemed to glow along my skin.
The chanting swelled, ending on a high, triumphant note.
"It is done," Alec said in an odd, choked voice.
I glanced up at him, still stunned by the fact that I now glowed like the moonstone lantern. I raised a hand toward him. He flinched and backed up a step.
"I won't hurt you," I said, gazing with amazement at my glowing hand.
A cry from behind Alec had me gasping in horror. The vamps had worked faster than I thought to disperse the ghosts, running toward me only to stop a few feet away.
"So," Christian said, his voice filled with regret. "It is done."
"Yes," I said, suddenly possessed with a strange calm. I eyed him carefully, wondering if my new power would suddenly reveal to me an evil in him that I had not detected, but there was nothing there but what I had first seen. "And as I said before, you have nothing to fear from me."
"Am I late?" a panting voice called out, and Ulfur emerged from the woods, hauling a reluctant Ragnar with him. "Dark Ones! But… Pia, you're glowing."
"The ritual is completed," I told him. "It was as we guessed—the marriage to Kristoff was null. I can take you all to Ostri, assuming the others can gather up their energy."
"We cannot let you proceed," Christian said, and I felt a sense of profound sadness from him. "You are a true Zorya now. You mean death to my people."
He started toward me on the last words, and I threw up my hands, yelling, "No, you don't understand—"
The words trailed off when, to my amazement, a ring of brilliant bluish white light sprang up around the vamps, encircling them.
"Er… did I do that?" I asked Alec, staring in disbelief.
Christian started to step through the light, but yelped and jumped back the second it touched him. "What is this you have done?"
"I don't know," I said, wanting at the same time to yell at him and apologize. "I'm sorry, but I have to go stop Frederic. I have a feeling I know who it is they have, and I will not let them hurt him any more than I'll let them hurt you guys. So just… stay there."
"Pia," Alec started to say, reaching out a hand to touch the ring of light. He jerked his hand back with an oath. "I am not sure—"
"It's all right. None of you will get hurt if you just stay here," I told all of the vampires. "Ulfur, let's go see about saving husband number one."
"Husband… Oh, the Dark One? Is he here, too?"
"I will come with you," Alec said as I turned around and ran toward the ruins.
The vampires confined by the light circle yelled after us, but I didn't listen. I could reason with them later—right now I had a horrible suspicion that Frederic was waiting for me to show up and destroy Kristoff.
"It might be dangerous for you here just now," I said to Alec as we wove our way through the tumbled boulders.
He shot me an odd look. "I trust you."
"Thank you. Ulfur, I think I want you in commando mode."
"Commando?"
"Invisible and quiet until I call for you. Can you do that?"
He smiled and faded into nothing. "I'll be here when you need me."
"I'm counting on it. Holy Mary and all the saints!" I came to a halt as we cleared the last tumbled stone.
The figures in black and silver turned to face us.
Kristoff lay spread-eagle on the nearest stone, his arms and legs tied down to metal hooks that had been driven into the rock. He was covered in blood, and I thought for one horrible moment that they had killed him, but his head turned slowly to me as I stood staring in horror.
"Come to finish me off?" he asked, his lovely voice broken and hoarse. "May your god damn you for all eternity."
Chapter 19
"We're here to save you," I told Kristoff, the strange calmness continuing despite the terrible vision of him covered in his own blood.
"I knew you would come." One of the hooded figures spoke. He pushed back his hood. It was, as I suspected, Frederic. "I knew you would not be able to refuse the light. Seize them."
The two hooded people headed for us, but Alec whipped out a gun. "Touch her, and you die," he warned them.
"It's all right," I started to say, but when I reached out to stop him, a bolt of energy shot down my arm right into him, sending him flying several feet until he smacked into one of the tall fingers of stone.