Scooping up a jagged chunk of crushed pew, she grabbed the hair of the nearest vampire, who happened to be trying to sink its teeth into the throat of a hapless novice…
…and was shocked to find herself face-to-face again with Shoshona.
“Oh, right,” Shoshona said, smirking at her and at the pointed chunk of wood Meena held in her fist. “Like you have the guts.”
“Oh,” Meena assured her, “I have the guts.”
There was no way she had the guts.
This was Shoshona. Sure, Meena had never liked her very much. She had told herself, nearly every day for a year, that today was the day she was finally going to warn her coworker that if she didn’t stop working out so much, she was going to die.
Now Meena realized that it was never the gym Shoshona had to fear.
It was Stefan Dominic, the man she’d met in it.
Still, Meena had always had every intention of saving Shoshona’s life.
So was she really going to put a stake through her heart and end it? Here, now?
No. Of course not.
“Yeah.” Shoshona smirked some more. “I knew it. By the way, I took something else from your apartment, besides this bag.”
Shoshona unzipped the top of the red Marc Jacobs bag she still wore slung across her chest and showed Meena a glimpse of something inside.
“Thanks for all the great story ideas,” she said, smirking. “Have a nice time on unemployment.”
Then she turned around to look for the novice, who’d run off, crying.
Meena stared at Shoshona’s slender back.
Her laptop? Shoshona had stolen her laptop?
Meena didn’t have backup files of anything she’d kept on that laptop. Not on her work computer. Not online. Not anywhere.
Meena stalked forward, grabbed the back of Shoshona’s two-hundred-dollar shirt, and spun her around to face her…
…then plunged the broken piece of pew into her chest.
Shoshona turned into a pile of dust before Meena’s eyes.
On top of the dust lay the ruby red jewel-encrusted dragon tote Lucien had given to her, tangled in Shoshona’s clothes. Meena picked it up, dusted it off, and slung it across her own chest.
The weight of her laptop inside it felt reassuring.
When Meena lifted her gaze again, it was to see the last person she’d ever expected: Leisha, carefully holding her belly and picking her way toward Meena through the smoke and rubble.
“Oh, my God,” Meena cried. “Leish?”
All of Meena’s worst nightmares seemed suddenly to be coming true. Her boyfriend was a vampire. She’d just killed her own boss.
And her pregnant best friend was wandering around a live battlefield with no regard for her own safety or that of her unborn child.
Meena rushed to Leisha’s side.
“What are you still doing here?” Meena demanded anxiously. “I thought Mary Lou Antonescu got you out!”
“Oh, was that who that was?” Leisha looked dazed. “Well, yeah, she did. But then after she broke Adam out of those handcuffs and told him what was going on, he decided he wanted to stay to see the end of the play.”
Meena raised her eyebrows. “Play?”
“Yeah,” Leisha said. “I was kind of cool with it at first, but now I don’t know, there’s that thing-”
She pointed over Meena’s shoulder. Meena turned around and there, behind her, was Lucien, his dragon head weaving back and forth as if he were looking for something-or someone-his long serpent’s tongue darting in and out of his mouth. Every once in a while he opened his mouth and let out an eardrum-splitting roar.
“Now see? That just seems like overkill to me,” Leisha said.
Meena’s gaze slid back toward her friend. Leisha, she was pretty certain, had had her mind scrambled by a combination of shock and some kind of Dracul brainwashing. Her normally alert brown eyes looked glazed over.
“I realize it’s all in good fun,” Leisha complained, “but I’m pretty sure the smoke isn’t good for the baby. I’m actually not feeling so hot-”
Meena reached out and grabbed her friend by both arms.
“Leisha, this isn’t a play,” she said, urgently. “You have to get out of here. The baby is coming early. And it’s not a boy. It’s a girl. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I knew, but-”
“What?” Leisha cried, flinging both her hands away. Whatever they had done to Leisha’s memory, it hadn’t affected her concern for her unborn child. “You knew and you didn’t tell me? Meena, what’s wrong with you? How early?”
“Early enough that Adam should have started on that baby room a long time ago,” Meena said. Suddenly spying her brother over Leisha’s shoulder, she cried, “Jon! Jon! Get over here.”
Jon staggered over. Blood was streaming from a cut on his forehead; Gregory Bane had split it open with a fist. Jon was dirty and sweaty and looked like he was having the time of his life.
“What?” he demanded. “Oh, my God. Leisha, what are you still doing here?”
Over in the sanctuary, the dragon let out another roar.
The walls shook.
Outside the church, sirens were wailing. The NYFD and New York City police were on their way. It had only taken a vampire war and a seventy-foot dragon to get some of St. George’s neighbors to call 911.
“Oh, thank God,” Leisha said when she heard the sirens. “Someone needs to shoot that thing.”
“No!” Meena cried. Then, seeing the expressions on the faces of her brother and friend, she said, more calmly, “Jon, I think Leisha is in labor. You need to find Adam and get them both out of here.”
“What?” Leisha and Jon exclaimed together.
“Yes,” Meena said firmly. “Leisha, I think you’re having your baby now. Jon, you’ve got to get her and Adam into the first ambulance you see and get her away from here. Far away from here. Do it now, Jon. I want you to go with them. It’s all your fault they’re even here in the first place.”
“How is it my fault?” Jon demanded indignantly.
“Remember that note I left down at St. Clare’s?” Meena asked. “The one in which I specifically stated that anyone who followed me up here was going to die tonight?”
Jon rolled his eyes. “Oh, right. Yeah, we all saw that. But what were we supposed to do, Meen? Just let you come up here and fight these guys on your own? It looked like you were doing a real terrific job when we got here.”
“You shot my boyfriend,” Meena reminded him. “He was handling it fine, and then you shot him. And now look what’s happening. The police are here, and the fire department, and innocent people are going to get hurt. And by the way, I’m pretty sure it’s you he’s looking for.”
The dragon let out another one of its roars. It sounded much closer than the previous one. Jon jumped and seemed to realize Meena was right: Lucien was coming for him. Those huge, blood-red eyes seemed to be searching the apse for someone…
Jon hastily surrendered his cocked and loaded crossbow to Meena.
“Yeah,” he said guiltily. “I really am sorry about that. I was actually aiming for his brother.” He took Leisha by the arm. “Relax, Leish,” he said to her. “I’ll have you out of here in no time. I’m pretty sure I saw Adam over by the doors. He must have been looking for you.”
Leisha threw a frantic look over her shoulder at Meena as Jon led her away.
“Aren’t you coming with us?” she asked.
Meena smiled and waved at her. “I want to stay to see the end of the play,” she said. “Call me later and let me know where you are.” She held an imaginary cell phone to her face.
Leisha nodded, then looked concerned. “The baby’s really a girl? We never even talked about any girls’ names.”
“I’ve always been partial to the name Joan,” Meena called after her…
…just as a Dracul spotted her standing there and began racing her way. While Jon hurried to get Leisha to safety, Meena spun to face the vampire…