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“I need to get my files to recall what the cases were about. I don’t know off the top of my head,” Elder Michaels insisted. “I didn’t believe I would have to prove my innocence here. Not when I’m an elder.”
“Exactly,” Frederick said. “You believe that you are always above the law and don’t have to prove that anything you do is legitimate. We’ve also brought some others to testify against Elder Michaels and his granddaughter.”
Then a couple got up and the wife pointed at Edith. “She had our son murdered. She’s wicked to the core. We went to the other elders, but no one would listen to our pleas that he wasn’t a rogue.” Then she pointed to Elder Michaels. “No matter how many times we pleaded with him, the man wouldn’t listen to us. He wouldn’t give us any reasons for why he believed our son was a rogue.”
Her husband agreed and told them the same.
Another couple got up and spoke on their son’s behalf, whom Edith had dated and took revenge on by having him terminated. His sister spoke also. “He was the kindest man. Everyone loved him. Edith—and her grandfather—are monsters. My brother never hurt anyone. But when Edith, the spoiled princess—”
Edith bared her teeth at her.
The girl continued, “When she struck him in the head for the last time while Edith was having one of her temper tantrums, he called it quits with her. When that happened, she went straight to Elder Michaels and had my brother put on the list. Like my parents said, they tried to prove by having countless witnesses speak to the elder on my brother’s behalf, but he wouldn’t listen to any of them. He was too busy to be bothered, or he told them they didn’t know the truth. Elder Michaels and Edith should both be terminated.”
Several of his friends spoke on his behalf also, saying what his sister had said. Gareth wasn’t from New York and so the only one he really knew was Edith. And he soon learned what a viper she could be and had called it quits with her.
Gareth’s brothers both spoke, saying they would have terminated Gareth themselves if they’d known he had killed others maliciously.
Jasmine knew now they wouldn’t have, but the vampires here wouldn’t know that.
Brett spoke then, accusing Elder Michaels and his granddaughter of grievous acts of revenge for no good reason. “If anyone was deemed to be a rogue, and since both of them are, I would be ready to hunt them down, as would be my duty. In the deadliest fashion, they are a menace to any vampire who slighted Edith.”
“Because of the overwhelming witness’s testimonies, you, Elder Michaels, and Edith, are found guilty of the serious crime of killing innocent vampires,” one of the other elders said. “You’ll be taken into custody immediately for our disposition.”
“No!” Edith said.
No one had any sympathy for her because she’d had two men murdered and was trying for a third. Jasmine hoped that the evil woman hadn’t had anything to do with others being terminated.
“If none of the elders have anything further to say, the hearing is adjourned,” one of the elders said.
Before Elder Michaels and his granddaughter could be taken into custody, they both went into attack mode. If they were going to be terminated, it appeared they would take down the one who got away. Both of them disappeared and appeared next to Gareth, fangs bared.
It was absolute chaos after that. The other grieving families hurried to go to his aid. Both Gareth’s brothers unsheathed their swords and rushed to help him. Brett did also. But Jasmine and Stasio had been sitting with him so they both jumped into the fray. Jasmine just wished she had her sword. That’s when Brett yelled, “Jasmine!” He tossed his sword to her because he couldn’t reach her quick enough and Edith was trying to take a bite out of her. Yep, Jasmine had been the one to clear Gareth of the charges and take down Edith and her grandfather, so she knew why the woman targeted her.
What Jasmine couldn’t believe was that Edith would pull out a Belgian folding cutlass from underneath her dress, locked it into place, and swung it at Jasmine. Even though Jasmine preferred a regular sword, at a time like this, that would have been a neat trick.
Edith jumped up on a chair to get some height and take advantage of Jasmine, but she gave the chair a swift kick and sent Edith tumbling into a table. The woman flew onto the top of the table and Jasmine joined her, the two of them swinging their swords at each other, fighting to the death while Jasmine heard fighting going on with Elder Michaels. She hoped Stasio and Gareth were okay, but she couldn’t look in their direction or risk getting beheaded.
But then Stasio jumped onto the table behind Edith, and she swung around to protect her back. They bared their teeth at each other, and she thrust her sword at his chest, but Jasmine shoved her sword into the woman’s black heart. First rule as a vampire assassin, never turn your back on an armed rogue vampire. Edith had been fair game. She collapsed on the table and disintegrated into dust, her pink dress, high heels, and sword the only other things left behind.
Jasmine turned to help whoever was fighting Elder Michaels, but she saw Gareth’s brothers had already eliminated him and all that was left on the floor was his burgundy robe and black shoes. The other elders didn’t say a word and left. Jasmine wondered if they had felt any guilt for not listening to the families who had tried to get them to help in their sons’ cases. Maybe they realized they could be subject to a hearing like this if they didn’t change how they did things.
Everyone there cheered the outcome. The other grieving families thanked Gareth, his attorney, the hunters, and Jasmine for bringing Elder Michael’s cruel reign to an end, and his granddaughter’s viciousness also. They finally had some closure in their sons’ deaths. Elder Michael and his granddaughter would never hurt anyone else again.
“Are you staying in New York for a while?” Brett asked Jasmine and her friends.
Jasmine looked at them to see what they wanted to do.
“Yeah, it beats going back on the flight home right away,” Stasio said.
“We’re eager to see your hometown. You’ll be our guides, right?” Cadfael asked Brett and Jasmine.
“Absolutely,” Jasmine said.
“Yeah, sure,” Brett said.
After that, they had a blast in the Big Apple, visiting Central Park, roller skating at Rockefeller Center, seeing the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the American Museum of Natural History. They ate at the Uptown Night Market, and three days later, they were ready to return to their new home in Scotland.
At the airport, Jasmine said to her brother, “You will have to come and see us. The estate we inherited is beautiful and once we learn where to go, we’ll show you the sites there.”
