"Vampires!" Magda said, plopping herself down in a chair. "All right, spill. I want to hear everything, right from the start."
I gave her an abridged version of recent happenings while puzzling over the starkness of the Brotherhood Web site. As Magda noted, there was nothing there other than a symbolic moon, the name, a list of major cities, and a somber number.
"You're married to a vampire," she said, looking a bit stunned.
"Yup."
"And the other man, the one you said didn't kill the other Zorya, he is also a vampire."
"So Kristoff says, and I really don't know why he'd lie about Alec."
She thought about that for a few minutes. "You slept with a vampire. Did he... you know... dine?"
I blinked in surprise at the question. "Kristoff says yes, and I suppose he'd know, but I'm not convinced, not absolutely. There was nibbling going on, but I don't recall anything out of the ordinary."
"Wow," she said, looking at me with something akin to awe. "That's just... wow. I really want to meet this Alec. Not that I'll take him from you, because one, you're a friend, and I wouldn't do that to a friend, but mostly because it's clear you guys have some sort of a connection."
I dropped my gaze, unwilling to follow that thread.
"One thousand, one hundred and eighteen," Magda said, her attention returned to the screen. She let out a low whistle. "That's a lot of vampires."
I thought of Kristoff's girlfriend. That, too, was an uncomfortable line of thought. "Yeah. Did you find out anything about the history of the Brotherhood?" I asked the young woman named Dagrun.
"Not much." She tapped a few keys and pulled up a Web page that appeared to focus on mystical societies. There was a brief description of the Brotherhood, with reference to reapers lighting the way of the dead, but nothing specific or even helpful.
"Well, pooh." I gnawed my lip for a few seconds, then sighed and said, "I guess we're going to have to go to the source for information."
"The Brotherhood people you ran away from?" Magda asked, smiling at Ulfur.
Interest sparked in his eyes as he smiled back.
"Yes." I straightened up and realized just how exhausted I was. No food and no sleep were quickly taking their toll.
"But you said that your vampire husband told you that they'd kill you when they find out you married him."
"That's why I'm not going to tell them. All right, everyone, thank you for your hard work. I don't believe we're going to find out anything else here, however. I think it would be best if you all went into low-watt mode and stayed here in the library where you're safe."
"Stay here?" Karl strode toward us, Marta at his side. "Shouldn't we go with you? In case you need us?"
There was an assenting murmur from all the other ghosts.
"No, I think you'll be safer here than with the Brotherhood people, at least until I know what sort of a reception I'll receive."
"But - " Karl looked around at the others. "The Ilargi could find us. He could steal our souls while you're gone."
"You've all managed to hang on to your souls for eighty years or more," I pointed out gently. "I think you can handle one more night on your own."
"I don't know, Pia," Magda said, frowning at the computer screen. She'd taken Dagrun's place and was, I could see, conducting several Web searches. She pointed at a page containing a message forum. "This person here says that the soul eaters are attracted to an area by the light of the Aurora. Didn't you say that's another name for Zorya?"
"Yes," I said slowly. "But that doesn't necessarily mean anything. I only just took the job. I haven't had time to send out whatever cosmic Zorya signals there are."
Magda eyed me for a moment before turning to Ulfur. "When did you first see the soul eater?"
"Three nights ago." Old Agda answered. "He came to our village, sniffing around, but we were hidden in the cave and he didn't find us."
"Three nights," Magda repeated, her gaze back on me. "That's when we landed in Reykjav¨ªk."
"Purest coincidence," I said. "I wasn't Zorya then."