Meanwhile, the first vampire withdrew his fangs from the woman's neck and turned toward Austin. "You bloody svoloch." He pulled the girl in front of him for protection. "You think a few silver bullets will stop us?"
Austin cursed silently. He couldn't shoot as long as the vampire used the woman as a shield. He moved slowly to the left, searching for a clean shot.
The wounded vampire rose in the air and landed softly on his feet. Blood trickled from his two wounds, and he bared his teeth with a snarl. "I am stronger than you. You cannot stop me."
"Maybe not, but I can take all the fun out of it." Austin shot him again. He howled in pain and crumpled to the ground.
"Svoloch!" The first vampire strode toward Austin, dragging the woman with him. "You will die!"
Suddenly, he jerked to a stop. An expression of shock, then pain crossed his face. He released the woman who collapsed on the ground. He arched his back, letting out a long moan as his body crumbled into dust.
Emma stood there in his place, still holding the wooden stake that she'd stabbed into his back. She looked down at the pile of dust in front of her black athletic shoes. "I did it," she whispered. "I killed a vampire."
The second vampire scrambled to his feet. "You bitch! You killed Vladimir."
"And now, it's your turn." Emma strode toward the wounded vampire with the stake upraised.
"You won't get away with this. Vladimir will be avenged!" The wounded vampire wavered in the air, then vanished.
"No!" Emma hurled the stake at him, but he had teleported to safety, and the stake simply flew through the air. "No, dammit!"
Austin ran toward the injured girl, whipping out his cell phone. He punched 911, then checked the woman's pulse. "I need an ambulance. Quickly. She's dying." The pulse in her neck was very weak. He gave directions to their location while Emma cleaned up the crime scene. She put away her wooden stake and scattered Vladimir's pile of dust.
"We did it!" She punched the air with a closed fist. "Our first kill! Aren't you glad you came?"
"Yes, I am." If they hadn't come along when they did, this poor woman would have been raped and murdered by those damned vampires. They truly were demons. Once again, his job made sense. The vampires were evil and deserved to die.
And he knew what he had to do. He would warn Sean that his daughter was about to marry a demon.
"What time is it?" Maggie whispered. She fidgeted, trying to find a comfortable position in the hard wooden pew.
"I don't know," Darcy whispered back. "About five minutes past the last time you asked me."
Vanda snorted. "And about ten minutes past disaster!" Her booming voice echoed across the high vaulted ceiling.
"Shh! Not so loud." Maggie glanced across the aisle at the other wedding guests.
When they'd entered the church, Darcy had been appalled how all the guests were sitting on the groom's side. Of course, they were all Vamps from Roman's coven, but still, she'd thought someone needed to make Shanna feel welcome. So, she'd taken a seat on the bride's side. Vanda and Maggie had joined her, but the rest of the ex-harem had refused. They were sitting across the aisle, whispering to each other. It was Saturday night, and everyone was waiting for the wedding to start.
And waiting.
Gregori had finally gone to see what was holding things up.
"You look wonderful, Darcy," Maggie whispered.
"Thanks. So do you." Earlier in the evening, Darcy, Vanda, and Maggie had dashed off to Macy's, searching for fancy, new dresses for the wedding. Darcy's dress was a maroon silk sheath with a matching sparkly jacket. Maggie was wearing a hot pink flapper-style dress with rows of spangles. Vanda's dress was slinky, sexy, and purple to match her hair.
Unfortunately, the other ladies had dressed to the hilt in their Old World finery. Cora Lee's ball gown boasted a hoop skirt with row after row of lace-trimmed flounces that looked like they'd been attacked by an army of silk ribbons and flowers. The whole, huge atrocity was bright daffodil yellow, making her look more like a school bus than a delicate flower.
Princess Joanna's head was covered with a veil, then topped with her finest gold circlet. A white wimple was draped under her chin. Her dark green velvet gown had a long train in the back and her matching cloak was trimmed with embroidery. Her jewel-encrusted girdle hung loosely around her hips.
Even Maria Consuela was sporting her favorite hat - a conical headdress set back on her head and covered with a transparent, gauze veil. The flared sleeves on her woolen gown hung down to her knees, the cuffs trimmed with fur.
The vestry door opened, and Gregori appeared with a worried expression. He strode toward them.
Darcy stood and eased into the aisle. "What's going on?"
The ex-harem leaned toward them to listen.
"I don't know," Gregori spoke softly, but Darcy felt sure the Vamps could hear him with their extra-sensitive hearing. "My mom should have been here twenty minutes ago. I hope she's all right."
"Have you tried calling her?" Darcy was concerned, too. Gregori's mom, Radinka, had only been released from the hospital a few days earlier. She'd been injured during the Malcontents' latest attack on Romatech. She'd also befriended Shanna, so Shanna had asked her to be the matron of honor in the wedding.
"Her cell phone is off," Gregori answered. "I tried calling Angus since he was in charge of bringing Shanna and my mom here, but he's not answering. Something's seriously wrong."
The ex-harem began frantically whispering to each other. The news spread across the pews 'til all the guests were quietly discussing the matter. Darcy wondered if the Malcontents were behind this. They were a group of vampires who hated Roman with a passion. Since they believed in a vampire's sacred right to feed off humans, they had rejected Roman's synthetic blood and periodically did nasty things like bomb Romatech Industries.
Gregori sighed. "No one is answering their damned phones. The priest isn't here. I don't know what to make of it."
"I know what has come to pass!" Princess Joanna raised her hands in triumph. Her jeweled rings sparkled in the candlelight. "The wedding has been cancelled. The master has come to his senses and rejected that hideous mortal."
Maria Consuela's cone-shaped headdress bobbed as she nodded enthusiastically. "He has realized how inferior she is. Santa Maria, my prayers have been answered." She lifted her rosary and kissed the jeweled cross.
"Wait a minute." Gregori scowled at them. "I like Shanna."
"Me, too." Darcy came to the bride's defense.
"Ha!" Princess Joanna sneered at them both. "I would expect you to side with her. You modern types always stick together. You whine about being sensitive to other people's needs, yet you do not give a thought to our suffering. That mortal wench stole our master and our home!"
"I do declare - " Cora Lee flipped open her lacy yellow fan. "I was never so humiliated in all my life."
Lady Pamela Smythe-Worthing removed a handkerchief from her silk reticule and dabbed at her eyes. "It was simply too horrid to bear. If I wasn't blessed with such a miraculous constitution, I would have withered away in utter despair."
Just go ahead and wither, Darcy thought with a groan. She was so tired of these women's endless complaints. It never occurred to them to actually do anything about their fate other than constantly bemoan it.
Maria Consuela clicked through her rosary beads. "The horror was so unexpected. It reminded me of the night I was dragged off to the torture chambers of the Spanish Inquisition."
"Sweet Mary and Joseph." Maggie crossed herself.
Vanda snorted. "No one expects the Spanish Inquisition."
Darcy pulled the wedding invitation from her purse. "This is the right time and place." She showed Gregori the invitation.
He shook his head. "The ceremony should have started ten minutes ago."
"Hallelujah!" Cora Lee jumped to her feet, her hoop skirt billowing to the sides to fill half the pew. Her blond ringlets, gathered in clusters over each ear, bounced in rhythm with her skirt. "The wedding is off! That means we can move back into the master's house."
"Oh, I do hope so." Lady Pamela pressed her handkerchief to her bosom, which was mostly exposed in her Regency-style ball gown of pink watered silk.
"Wait a minute," Gregori warned them. "Hold your horses."