Page 28 of A Dead End Wedding

When Jack wandered in an hour later, carrying a bakery bag, he looked happy and well-rested, which was annoying.

“How do you look so good when we didn’t get any sleep?”

He walked over, swept me into a one-armed hug, and then kissed me.

“Okay, sure, but what’s up?” I asked when I could think again.

“Guess who in Dead End is good with swords for this leg of the Trials?” He grinned at me and Eleanor.

“You?” she guessed.

“Nope. Not even a little. I usually use claws, or a gun in a pinch,” he said, putting the bag on the counter. “Donuts from Mellie’s.”

“One of the swamp commandos?”

Jack laughed. “Not a lot of swordplay in the Special Forces these days. No, guess closer to home.”

“Carlos!”

“Exactly.”

My neighbor, the vampire, Carlos Gonzalez, was Susan’s brother, so he was thirty-something, not hundreds of years old like some vampires. But he’d had to fight a lot of duels on his way up the ranks in the Vampire Council, so he’d had to learn old-style methods of fighting.

Like swords.

Which was great for us.

“And all these Trials are at midnight, so he doesn’t have to worry about sunshine,” Eleanor said. She hadn’t been thrilled when her son had briefly dated Carlos, but it hadn’t lasted long. Dave had decided he wanted someone more stable in his and his son’s life than a politically inclined vampire, no matter how charming and totally hot Carlos was.

“Do you think he’ll do it?”

“He already said he would,” Jack said. “Susan asked him last night, when he got back to town from his latest business trip.”

“And Mike will play chess?” Eleanor whistled. “They’d better bring their best. Mike could have been a chess grandmaster, if he’d ever agreed to go to those European tournaments.”

“I didn’t know that!” All I knew about Uncle Mike and chess was that he’d tried to teach me when I was a kid, but I’d much preferred riding the tractor and working with the animals. Even changing the oil on our old trucks. Now, I wished I’d paid attention and gotten good, so I could take on this challenge instead of him.

“If anybody hurts him?—”

“I doubt it will be a cutthroat game of chess, Tess,” Jack said dryly. “If anybody is in danger, it’s Carlos. Hand-to-hand means a few broken bones, at most. But swords? That can get real bad, real quick.”

“A few broken bones?” I realized my voice had gone a few octaves into squeaky territory when Jack winced. “Wait. Are you allowed to turn into a tiger?”

Jack bared his teeth in an almost-feral grin. “Nobody said I couldn’t.”

After that, we dealt with an unexpected rush in the shop. Everybody in Dead End suddenly needed to pawn something or shop, it seemed like. It took me a good hour to realize that all these people were just stopping by to offer their support, thanks, and advice.

Well, not all of them.

Some of them were there to offer me their wedding dresses.

The hours until midnight lasted a very, very long time.

12

Tess

Friday: Wedding minus 8 days

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