“Put Tess back on the line, you diabolical monster.”
I hear sniffles and know Tess is holding the phone, listening, and most likely also cradling her pig.
“Tess, the wedding is this morning, I need to attend for a whole bunch of reasons.”
“Of course, you do,” she says, as though a wedding would naturally be more important than her life.
“No,” I sigh, “you don’t understand. Look, this wedding has the potential to get rid of Solomon for good. You’d like to know we had our revenge before you off yourself, wouldn’t you?”
“You think I’m joking,” she whispers.
“No, that’s just it, I know you’re not,” I say firmly, angrily, “and I am going to kick your fucking ass all over your farm when I get home for even considering doing this. But in the meantime, Valerie is going to watch you, and I know she can hear everything I say, so both of you listen well: Valerie, you cannot harm the pig, Tess, you cannot harm yourself. But Tess, if you make any move,any move, to kill yourself, Valerie has permission to eviscerate Orson and then make her way through every pet you own. Do I make myself clear?”
“You are not my friend,” Tess whispers.
“Quite right,” I smile into the line, “I’m your sister.”
I hang up and dial Charlotte to fill her in and offer myself as her maid of honour.
17
I walk slowly behind Charlotte, Tristan leading her down the aisle, Serena behind me, as the choir sings and the organ resonates through the church.
It seems like anyone who is anyone is here, hence the paparazzi outside, and I recognise some of the faces in the pews as being celebrities, and others as business associates of Christopher’s and Tristan’s. Many others, most of the hundreds of others present, I don’t recognise. But mostly, I don’t recognise Solomon, and my heart begins to sink at the thought he did not come, because Tess is not here, and he wants us all together.
But just as I think this, I see him standing right in the front row, staring at Nick and his best man, Christopher, with a hatred so intense it could melt gold. Either side of him, at least three rows deep, are vampires, there must be sixty at least, and my breath catches in my throat. We have underestimated his strength, his brazen ways, to have replaced so many guests with minions. He must have slaughtered the length and breadth of the continent to have seized so many invitations, and I hope those who relinquished their lives were not anyone special to the bride or groom.
Then again, the seats were at the front, so they very likely were.
My eyes turn sideways to Charlotte, who nods but continues to keep her gaze on Nick who is scanning the crowd, frowning, as though he can’t see someone he expected to see. Serena is behind me, but I know she would have noticed Solomon too, probably as soon as we entered the church. I don’t know what to do. Should we turn and pelt out of the church as fast as we can? Or have we gone so far down this road now, we must continue?
‘We are fucked, we are fucked, we are so fucked.’
Fear grips me and almost makes me stumble, as the rest of the party makes its way to the altar, and Solomon’s gaze sears each and every one of us, one after the other. As his eyes fall lastly on Serena, I see her grin at him, a full-ganged ‘fuck you’ grin, and I think I see a tiny glimmer of fear in him. But it is gone as quickly as it had appeared.
When Serena turns her eyes to me, they are full of warmth and love, and relief floods through me. I know I am finally forgiven.
Tristan casts me a quick concerned glance as he turns when I mount the stairs to stand in my allotted place beside the happy couple, and I try to convey to him in my stare that Solomon is here, although I’m sure my pale face says it all.
Finally, we are all in place and the priest clears his throat and looks up at the now-silent crowd just as the world erupts in a hail of bullets and blood, chips of masonry and bits of pew, and screaming replaces the voices of the choir, as we all fall down.
The machine-gun fire, for that is what I recognise straight away, rakes across our party like hail, and tiny holes appear in our clothes where we are pierced, just before the blood begins to bubble through.
I gasp from where I have fallen, trapped beneath the priest, and look to the pews where I see the guests too, have been targeted, as more men enter the church and begin firing at those trying to flee.
In an instant, I see our assailants are human, and register just as quickly, that this is no vampire massacre, it is mafia. They are sending a message to Tristan, through Nick and Christopher’s supposed deaths, that the Americans are not welcome in Italy. A very public message.
But they miscalculated. Because not all the guests are human, and not all will stay down, even though they have fallen.
I throw the dead priest off me as Serena grips my arm and hurls me off the altar and down to the front row of pews. She takes my hand, and our training and long history kick in as I see where she is leading me.
Solomon has also been shot multiple times, and surrounded by his loyal minions, many badly wounded, is trying to make his way out of the church. But he’s being prevented by the wall of panicked humans clogging the doorway and the mafia beyond, shooting everyone as they try to leave. I imagine he must be furious that his plans to capture us have been derailed by petty human rivalries, and murderous in his plans for those who would dare harm him.
In his rage over being trapped, he is killing his own in equal measure to the humans, forcing everyone out of his path.
And he has his back to us.
Serena releases my hand as we approach, Christopher suddenly by her side, bleeding heavily but a deadly look of zeal in his eyes, and I turn to my right, to see Nick and Charlotte, also bloodied but determined. Without hesitation, we rush the group surrounding Solomon and deal such death and destruction that even the angels would weep if they cared for vampires, but of course, they don’t, especially not vampires like Solomon.
