"Dust? What - "
I hung up the phone, dug around in my pockets to see what sort of change I had there, and resigned myself to making another collect call.
A half hour later I retraced my steps to the portal shop where Sally had dumped me, and greeted the first batch of arrivals.
"You're sure you want to do this?" Jane asked as she pulled out a cell phone. "It'll be very expensive having the entire union portalled here."
"Do it. Alec will just have to foot the bill."
She took one look at the grim expression on my face, and called her lieutenant to instruct the union members to begin the process of transporting them all from France to Vienna.
"And now the time has come for you to do penance for your attempt at killing Alec," I said a short time later, grabbing the body that plummeted out of nothing to whomp hard on the receiving-end mats. I jerked Eleanor to her feet before she could even suck in her breath, twisting one of her arms up behind her back. "You're going to be at the front of the group that storms the vampires' castle."
Eleanor sputtered something rude. I jerked her arm upward, causing her to squawk. "You're going to do this, and then you're going to get the hell out of our lives forever. You got that?"
"You are not the boss of me - "
"No, but Jane, as the head of the union, is. Jane?"
"I'm sorry," Jane said, spreading her hands and moving out of the way as the union members started arriving with frequency now, one barely rolling out of the way before another appeared to drop onto the mats. "The donation Cora is offering the union is just too great to ignore, so I am forced to issue you with a direct command to obey Cora in all things."
"I'm not bound to you," Eleanor protested. "You can't command me like that!"
"You are not bound to me personally, but you are bound to the union, and as its leader, you are obligated to follow the rules I put into place. This is one of the rules."
Eleanor argued, as I knew she would, but I didn't have the time or patience to put up with it. "Either you agree to do this, or I get hold of Sally and have you sent to the Akasha," I bluffed, holding up my hand to stop her when she would have protested. "And don't think I can't do it, because Sally and I see eye to eye, and besides, I think she's aching to send someone to the Akasha."
Eleanor's lips tightened. "Very well," she finally said. "But I'm only doing this so I can wash my hands of the pair of you forever."
It took another thirty-five minutes before the entire union, all 112 members, were assembled. We spilled out of the building into the street, and Jane had to resort to the use of a megaphone before she finally got everyone organized in a long line of liches, three abreast, that snaked around the block and across a pedestrian mall. The walk to the Moravian Council house took another half hour, but at last we had the tall, elegant house in our sights.
"Charge!" I yelled, not waiting for Jane to give the command. To my surprise, the liches did exactly as I ordered - they ran forward, streaming into the house once the door was battered down.
I was at the head of the group as it entered the elegantly furnished hall, and leaped onto a couch to scream, "Alec!"
Noise drifted down the stairs as the liches poured into the house. I pushed past them on the stairs, ignoring a scuffle that had broken out between a couple of vampires and the liches on the landing. "This way!" I yelled, urging them up after me as I ran to two double doors that the vampires had obviously been guarding. I flung open the door, dashing inside, the liches swarming behind me.
"Aha!" I yelled, pausing to point a dramatic finger at the scene before me. "I knew it! I knew you people had Alec!"
There were four men at a long table. Facing them, seated in a chair, was Alec, flanked on either side by the messenger and his buddy.
All seven heads swiveled to look at us, identical expressions of surprise on all their faces.
Are you OK? I asked Alec. Did they hurt you? Have they tortured you yet? And just what the hell do you think you're doing leaving me to go off and be Mr. Brave on your own, huh?
What are you doing here? Alec answered, looking annoyed rather than relieved I'd come to save him from being St. Alec the vampire martyr. And what the hell have you brought all of them for?
"To save you, you idiot man!" I stomped forward, waving at the occupants of the room. "Liches, attack!"
"No!" Alec bellowed, leaping to his feet as the other vamps did likewise. "Stand down!"
"Who is this woman? The rest of you will not take one more step into this room!" commanded one of the vamps at the table, a dark-haired man with a pissed-off expression. To my surprise, the liches seemed to heed him as well as Alec, since all of them came to an awkward halt just inside the doorway. "Is this the Beloved of whom you spoke?"
Cora, you can't attack the Moravian Council.
Want to bet?
I am in no danger, love. "Yes. This is Corazon, my Beloved, and the one you have to thank for the actions of the day."