No, this chapter isn't long. If you find it contains irrelevant info let me know. I should also warn of brief, non-sexual nudity.

And thus we have arrived at my wedding day. Okay, it took place hours after arriving at the castle, but part of that old school tradition was to take the woman and stick a veil on her. No engagement photo shoots or bachelorette parties, we just jump right into the wedding. Carmen hadn't returned and I haven't heard from Draven, so I had to trust that fate didn't hold up the rescue team.

So after the seamstress affixed the headpiece onto my head I was blinded by a thick veil. Then they escorted me through hallways and corridors while I occasionally tripped over small steps and floor runners. I was pretty sure Lukasz wanted his bride all in one piece, but he had to put me in the tallest tower in the castle. And no elevators. Once I was escorted to the spot they wanted me to be, the veil was lifted. In the room with me were not only servants but also clan members I wasn't too keen on seeing upon my return.

"So glad you're finally doing this," Elitsa, who I would say was the equivalent of a cousin, said as she handed me a bouquet. "His highness was furious when you disappeared. Had you not returned, he would have killed all of us."

"Okay, seriously, is that you talking or the fear and propaganda put into your head?"

"Come now, don't be difficult."

"Funny, I thought he liked girls who put up a fight." I looked into my bouquet and inside hid a card. I pulled it out and written in it was a message from James. He mentioned that the flowers emit a psychoactive smoke if set on fire and included a simple fire spell as a backup plan. Not a bad last resort but if it ended up that way I'd be high as a kite seeing things too.

Just before the ceremony started I scanned the room and saw Draven hiding behind a curtain. I signalled to the bridesmaids that I was going to pray to calm my nerves, the perfect cover when talking to a ghost. He lifted the curtain a bit so I could see him. "I couldn't find Carmen," he reported.

"That's not good. Did you find anything that would lead you to her?"

"I found the witch. She didn't see either of them but wishes you well. As for the human you wanted ..."

And then it hit me like — ah fuck it! I suck at similes. "They never left the castle, Draven."

"I don't get what you just said, Mistress."

"As ugly as Remi looks and as bad as the treatment he gets from his clan, he's still loyal to them. Once he finds out her blood type she'll be drained. If you can find any of them, preferably Carmen, try to get her out of there, wherever she's kept."

Draven had a worried look. "Mistress, what if I fail you?"

"You're not the only one thinking about the worst outcome. You are thinking about the worst outcome, are you?"

"More like feeding off of your emotions. In a way, I guess I am some sort of vampire."

"Now's not the time for debating that. Go look for her."

The curtain straightened out and Draven disappeared. I returned to my spot in the procession and the ceremony began. Elitsa watched out for my train and her father, considering he took over as clan leader after mom and dad went AWOL with me, grabbed my left arm. I wouldn't consider him a father figure, but apparently it's part of tradition of the patriarch giving away the girl. And by royal decree nearly everyone in the whole fucking kingdom filled the hall. Though they were somewhat hard to find, James, Max, and the stoners were among the guests. Boys from Venus were the musical performers, albeit they weren't performing any of their current hits.

As for the ceremony part, if you ever been to an Orthodox or Catholic mass, it's almost the same line for line except for a few minor differences. I mean, vampires are the one who have a heavy influence on ritual and that John guy was definitely one of us. Turned by the J-man himself. As I was saying, one of the differences between the human adapted religion and our practice is the communion part. Instead of the wafer and the shitty wine we get actual body and blood . . . of a human. In a not so surprising yet heartbreaking twist of events, one of those humans brought in for that part had to be Carmen.

I looked back at the crowd where James and Max stood. James' nostrils were flaring as he struggled to hold himself back. Max had better control over his emotions but he too wanted to jump out and save her. It was as if they were waiting for a signal to attack. I returned my gaze to the front and all of the humans were stripped of their clothes and entranced. At this point in the ceremony I was somewhat attached to Lukasz with beaded rope. Carmen was front and centre and first sip would've gone to the priest. No fucking chance in Hell that was happening! I snapped the rope, snatched the bouquet from Elitsa, raised it high, and yelled out the spell to ignite it. Once it caught on fire, I threw it up in the air and made a mad dash for the altar.

Of course it wasn't that easy to get up there.

While the burning bouquet provided cover, the stench of it even making me somewhat drowsy, it wasn't enough to fill the whole hall. The castle guards, clergy, anyone who wanted this marriage to happen, rallied to stop me, but I wasn't alone in this battle. While Lukasz grabbed me by my headpiece, Homayun and Justin made their move to attack him. But the stoners, James, and Max weren't enough to fight against everyone else.

As I darted forward, Elitsa stepped on my train and I tripped. I was about to rip off that part of my dress but fortunately I had some help. Looking behind me a wolf held the piece of cloth in its mouth. I'd immediately recognized the fur patterns to be one of the wolves from Brendan's pack. With Elitsa and Lukasz occupied this left a clear path to the altar. This had all the clergy and the king crowding over the naked bodies, as if they're too important to lose.

As if all of them were AB.

As I fought to keep my balance, and the stench of whatever flowers James had in that bouquet dissipated, I dashed towards the clergy and altar attendants protecting the humans. Outnumbered? Yes, but I felt I could take down all of them as I ploughed my way towards Carmen. I did rip off a head from an attendant but I had about eight more vampires to plough through. Just as I was about to take down my second one, the haremtourage belonging to Harant dropped in and decapitated half of them. As I danced around the piles of goo, one of the remaining attendants decided to have at me and scratched my right eye. No, it didn't pop out but it took its sweet time to heal. I was about to have at one of his eyes, but before I could land a punch Zenia staked him and he exploded into goo.

"Go after Carmen," she advised. "We've got your six."

And I really wanted to kick some more ass. She was right. Carmen was my top priority. Once I was within range of the priest who fondled her, I took a candlestick and threw it at him. It missed, but it was a timely distraction for Donnie as he and the Boys were fighting the king and the priests. I made a dive to catch Carmen before she hit the floor but someone else moved faster. Besides having an ugly mug Remi was apparently resistant to the effects of the bouquet. He placed a long, black nail against her throat and exclaimed, "I must have a taste! It vas my idea to use her as a sacrifice! I shall no longer be ze last to taste somefink so sweet!" Before he could stick in his bucktoothed fangs into her jugular, some sort of invisible force pushed him away. As he was pushed away, his nail made a tiny incision on her neck.

Right along the jugular.

While my curiosity wanted me to know who had helped, Carmen took priority and that tiny nick brought her out of her entranced state. I applied pressure to the spot hoping that I would keep her alive longer for what I was about to do. But someone had to inform me.

"Sorry, Mistress. I didn't know I can actually do that."

"We can discuss that later. I'm busy Draven. Just make sure no one else bothers me."

Carmen moved her eyes to look at me. "I'm gonna die, aren't I?"

"In a matter of minutes, yes. I thought it was a small nick, but it's not."

She lowered her eyes. "I was hoping to die in a more fashionable way."

"I can save you, you know. In the way I know how. The thing is, I need your consent before doing it."

"Then do it! If it's to get back at this bastard, then I'll go through with it, consequences and all."

And that was all the consent I needed. Before I proceeded to drain the rest of her I gave the good ol' wrist a slit and let my blood drip down her throat. Then I bit her. It was heartbreaking, having to do this to her, change her. Call it a last resort because in the event she survives, I'd have destroyed whatever life she had, even if she was making herself better. If not, I'd end up with another ghost like Draven and I'd have a lot of explaining to do, even to the vampire cops who would offer to help out. While it's a biological drive to make more vampires out there, it becomes psychological when it comes to raising one.

After doing what I had to do, I wiped whatever blood dripped and looked around. The fight was still going on, with some of my clan taking the opportunity to switch sides, and Carmen's ghost finally appeared. For a moment I thought she didn't make it, but the moment she uttered, "I wonder where this leads to," I knew she was going to make it. And I also saw my eye had healed when Lukasz broke away from his fight with the Boys to attack me.

"To powinno być moje!" He raised his axe and before he could let it fall on me, Donnie made a swift block, stepping in between me and him with his shield.

"And I thought I was the one with possession issues." Donnie tossed away the shield, not paying attention that it hit Harant along the way.

Lukasz wanted to fight back, but without a weapon he could not fare against Donnie or the Boys unless they were disarmed. Instead, he did what any spoiled brat would do. "Papo!" he cried. "Papo, przegrywam! Pomóż mi!"

The king, who was in a pickle himself, yelled, "That's enough! I call a truce!"

The fighting stopped. Those who were fighting the king stopped and eventually everyone stopped fighting. The king walked up to Lukasz and said, "After all those hours spent abducting English teachers, you refuse to communicate in it. Even if you're the bad guy in this story you have to speak the language of the audience. Do you want me to pass on the crown to your brother Remirusz? He can speak at least seventeen different languages."

"Nie, papo."

"Say that again," The king commanded.

"No, papa, I am vorzy of zee crown. But vy didn't I get vater pooers?" Pooers, Carmen would have laughed if she heard that. "She vas supposed to give zem to me!"

"I'm literally half a metre away from you and you talk as if I'm not here!" I stood up and pushed Donnie aside. "Just because you're fucking royalty doesn't mean you're fucking entitled to everything. 'Oh look there's a good-looking human, I think I'll turn her into one of us. This guy is my cousin and because I don't want to dirty the bloodline, I'll force my daughter to marry him. I don't like falafels so I'll make sure no one sells the food in the Kingdom'. It's fucking stupid! Had you listened to your coach for the underworld test maybe you'd be able to complete the ferryman's task as asked."

Lukasz clenched his fists and teeth upon hearing that. Whether he listened to the whole thing or not, he wasn't a fan of being talked down to by someone female. Not even mom would knock some sense into him if she were in the picture. What shocked him is the girl he'd expected to follow his every command out of fear of her whole clan being slaughter grew a pair. "Ileana, I can make the world a better place for you–"

"You want to make my world a better place? How about I leave yours, and you leave mine? Fair enough?"

Lukasz looked to the king again. "Papa, she's not honouring ze agreement."

"Well, in that case, we'll just have to kill all of them." The king raised his sword.

Donnie's quick thinking, and possibly being the second oldest vampire in the room, pushed me aside. "Wait a second. You kill her, you're looking at starting a war."

"Says who?"

"She's not very public about it, and may Lamashtu forgive me for saying this, but she's our queen." He looked at the rest of the Boys and they agreed.

I was surprised by this revelation. Me? Queen? I didn't even own any territory.

"She's a queen? Of what?" The king wasn't buying that information as per tradition only males could inherit or claim the throne in the Kingdom. But for us territory is quite a loose term.

"What does it matter that she has a physical, territorial place to claim her throne? Her subjects recognize her as their queen. I am one of them and so is my band."

"And me!" Draven chimed in, pinning Remi in a telekinetic hold.

"You can count on us," Gerald said on behalf of the stoners.

"And she doesn't discriminate on race," Zenia said on behalf of the wolves.

"And sees the potential in others," James pitched in.

"She is our queen!" Elitsa, who did a one eighty and now supported me, cried out. Then others from the clan joined her. Loud enough that Max had to cover his ears and try to outyell them.

Clan Zemlich and those allied with them huddled in close, making sure their king and prince were well protected. The king and Lukasz weren't comfortable with their loyal subjects smothering them yet they were okay with Draven slowly crushing Remi to death. He did eventually release the cretin due to not being able to control his newfound, combative powers, and it was a good thing. Remi went up to the crowd, who wouldn't allow him to pass, and said to his dad, "Just let fem go. Vee can't deal vif vem now and it vill take at least anozer season to figure out ze vest vey to get vack at vem."

The king knew Remi was right and called off the mob. The chanting died down and he approached me. "Since you are a queen, it is your choice whether you want to marry my son or not. Do you wish to join in union?"

I smirked. "Fuck no — I mean I decline the offer. Also, I recently turned someone so I can't really commit to anything."

The king lowered his head and reluctantly acknowledged my decision. "Is there anything we can offer you, Queen Ileana?"

Queen Ileana, that was going to take time getting used to. And I knew exactly what I want. "I'd like a can of Coke. Most importantly, I'd like safe passage back home to the Metropolis. And I'd like a guarantee that Clan Darvov is not the target of anything, whether it's marrying off any girls or killed because they offered honest criticism. And also—"

Before I could add on any more, Carmen made some stirring noises. As she shifted about she grabbed the cloth from the altar and used it as a blanket. She made through alright, but the change sapped a lot of her strength. "Why do I feel like I just drank a three-litre bottle of vodka?" she groaned.

"Maybe some clothes for her would be nice. I'm not too demanding, am I?"

"If it's anything to keep us on good terms, then I'll accept. I may not be this generous the next time."

So we stayed a few more days recovering from the disaster that was supposed to be my wedding, but ended up the birth of my, rozhba, who happens to be Carmen. And just to prove my, erm, loyal subjects are kind, they helped out in the cleanup of the chapel. As for Lukasz, he still wished that he'd gotten the water crossing immunity from me but tried not to press that issue. The Boys left early as they had a tour to finish and Harant and Jedward's team left after them. It was pretty much down to James and Max who stayed with Draven and me until Carmen had fully woken up. We left together but sadly I didn't get my Coke. Yep, our next battle will be because I didn't receive my can of Coke.

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Tell me, did you predict this would happen? There's still one more part left after this.

Fun translation notes (translations again provided by the same person who translated Polish for this chapter):

To powinno być moje! --> that power should be mine

Papo, przegrywam! Pomóż mi! --> Papa, help me! I'm losing

Of course you know the drill, vote, leave a comment, tell me if this is long

Song featured: "Amen and Attack" by Powerwolf