Drink, Slay, Love

Chapter Twenty Seven

At dawn on Saturday, the morning of the prom, Pearl sat on the front steps of the mansion and waited. Earlier in the week a fleet of gardeners had trimmed the shrubs and planted a swath of tulips and daffodils. The petals shimmered as the light danced over them. Yesterday's rain still dotted their leaves, and the earth smelled like moist mulch. Beyond the manicured gardens, the nature preserve glistened with raindrops so that it looked as though a jeweler had spilled diamonds on the grasses, bushes, and wild apple trees. Really, the sky should have stayed gray and damp. It would have been a lot more appropriate for an impending massacre than this cheerful lemony sunrise.

On the plus side, at least she would die in a pretty place.

Out loud, Pearl said, "This will never work."

Evan sat down next to her. He slipped his arm around her waist. On her other side, Bethany sat too and put her arm over Pearl's shoulders.

"Okay, that's really too touchy-feely for the vampire," Pearl said. She shrugged them both off. "I don't need sympathy; I need plans."

Both of them were quiet.

Bethany spoke first. "If you want to quit, no one will blame you."

Pearl snorted. That was just about the most inane thing she'd ever heard. "If I don't show at the ceremony, my Family will kill me."

"Only if they catch you," Bethany said. "You can stay with us after sundown. Evan's family can keep you safe."

"Splendid," Pearl said. "I've always wanted to be a pet." She waved off their objections. "Besides, the Karkadanns won't be so fond of me if I ruin their master plan."

Down the narrow, twisty gravel driveway, Pearl heard the crunch of tires. She grinned as the pickup truck rattled into view. "Enough with the melodrama. Here comes the cavalry." She stood as Zeke parked. Matt plus three friends rode in the bed of the truck, crammed between shovels, wheelbarrows, gas cans, and boxes of metal junk. It looked as if they'd carted their backyards to the mansion.

Zeke climbed out of the cab while Matt and their friends hopped out of the truck bed. Efficiently, they handed out shovels. They had easily twenty more shovels piled in the back.

Bethany skipped over to them. "You came! Ooh, you have a plan?"

Zeke held up a hand to forestall Matt. "Safe to talk here?"

Pearl pointed at the sun, which now hovered above the horizon. "Clearly."

"Always pays to be careful," Zeke said. "You said the vamps plan to torch the place to hide the evidence. So that got our creative juices going, inspired our muse, so to speak. . ."

"Out with it," Pearl said.

"A trench of fire!" Matt said. He waved his arms dramatically in the air.

Zeke nodded. "We dig a trench around the mansion, fill it with wood, disguise it with flowers, drench it with gasoline, and then light it as soon as we all cross to the parking lot. If the vamps notice that we're leaving, this should slow them down." He patted one of the boxes of junk fondly. "Plus we have a few other ideas."

"Remember one of the mission parameters is to limit casualties," Evan said, "including vampires." He laid his hand on Pearl's shoulder.

"Ooh," Matt and Zeke said simultaneously.

Wistfully, Matt asked, "So, no stake crossbows?"

Face filled with sorrow, Zeke shook his head. "You don't comprehend the awesome glory that is a stake crossbow."

Pearl raised both eyebrows in a fair imitation of Mother.

"Okay, okay," Zeke said. "We can adjust. We are masters of flexibility and spontaneity. No plan ever survives contact with the enemy, and all that." He patted another crate. "Good ol' bucket of holy water over the door trick. Rig one over each cellar door in case the barricades fail. Slow down any vamp without causing permanent death and disintegration."