The ladies sighed again.
"Did you hear what Corky Courrant's been saying about him on Live with the Undead?" Vanda asked.
Maggie scoffed. "I don't listen to such vicious gossip."
"What did Corky say?" Cora Lee sipped from her tea cup.
"She said he goes through women like Kleenex," Vanda said.
"That's not true!" Maggie cried. "He's just looking for the right lady Vamp."
"Then he must be looking in every coffin in America," Vanda grumbled.
"What is Kleenex?" Princess Joanna demanded.
Vanda gritted her teeth. "It's a disposable handkerchief."
The princess sniffed. "I don't believe in disposable things. They are evil."
Vanda snorted. "Right. They're garbage. And Don Orlando treats women like garbage."
"Stop it!" Maggie shouted. "I won't let you talk that way about him."
Darcy was waging an internal battle, debating whether or not to tell Maggie the truth. But poor Maggie looked so hurt. Darcy decided she would wait until later. Maggie needed to know about Don Orlando's affairs with Corky and Tiffany, but she deserved privacy for the dismal news. "Did you pass the screen test?"
"Yes, I did," Maggie announced defensively. "And I'll be a star with Don Orlando, too. Just wait and see."
"What happens next?" Darcy asked.
"I have one more interview before they make their final decision. I have to talk to your boss."
"Sly?" Darcy stifled a groan. She'd have to warn Maggie about him, too.
"I am ready." Maria Consuela entered the parlor.
"Okay." Darcy went to the refrigerator to retrieve two more black orchids. "Let's go."
As they took the elevator to the first floor of the penthouse, Darcy explained the upcoming schedule. "After tonight, we're taking a break for three nights. You can all stay here if you like."
"Where will you go?" Maggie asked.
"I'm going back to Gregori's," Darcy answered. "Tomorrow night, I have to go to DVN to edit the first show. It'll make its debut the next night on Saturday."
"How exciting!" Cora Lee clasped her hand together. "We can watch ourselves on television."
"Yes." The elevator opened onto the kitchen. Darcy led the ladies to the foyer. "The show is scheduled for midnight Wednesdays and Saturdays. I'll be editing the second show this Sunday. You guys will have the day off. Then, we'll start shooting again Monday."
They filed into the foyer. Gregori had the men ready on the staircase in two lines of four. As usual, Darcy looked for Adam first. He was now wearing dry clothes. He didn't look up as the ladies arranged themselves in a line. Was he upset with how things had turned out?
The cameramen got into position. Bernie focused on the women, and Bart on the men.
Gregori began, "Tonight, two men will receive black orchids. If you receive one, you will be expected to leave immediately. The limo is waiting for you outside."
The eight men nodded. Bart panned slowly over their faces.
"One more announcement before we begin," Gregori continued. "The prize money for the winner has risen once again. The Sexiest Man on Earth will now receive three million dollars."
The men looked excited, all except Adam. The lady judges gasped, then smiled at each other.
"Princess Joanna, if you will step forward," Gregori said.
She strode forward and stopped beneath the chandelier. "This orchid is for Ahmed of Cairo."
Ahmed slumped with disappointment and moved down the stairs.
"Santa Maria be praised." Maria Consuela crossed herself.
Darcy winced. She'd have to edit that out.
Ahmed accepted the orchid, then trudged back up the stairs.
Cora Lee joined the princess under the chandelier. She held up her black orchid. "This one is for George from... some place." She giggled. "I forgot."
George Martinez from Houston cursed under his breath as he descended the stairs. After he accepted the orchid, the men dispersed to their rooms.
Darcy and the others went to the portrait room. She removed the flashlight from the wall safe and passed it to Gregori with whispered instructions. The ladies settled on the couches.
"Tonight, you eliminated Ahmed from Cairo." Gregori clicked on the flashlight and aimed it at the Egyptian's portrait. The black light made his fangs magically appear.
"Oh, what a shame," Cora Lee whimpered. "He was a vampire."
Maria Consuela frowned. "He was a Moor.""And you eliminated George from Houston." Gregori illuminated George's portrait. There was no change.
Cora Lee jumped up. "I did it! I found another one of those rascally mortals."
The women stood and cheered. While Gregori poured glasses of Bubbly Blood, Darcy removed two more portraits from the wall. Now, there were only six men left - two mortals and four Vamps. By a strange turn of events, Adam had survived another round. Even though he hadn't wanted to.
"Congratulations." Gregori raised a glass to toast the judges. "You are one step closer to finding your new master. And your master is one step closer to being a very wealthy man."
"Three million dollars!" Vanda shouted.
The ladies burst into laughter and clinked their glasses together. Darcy set down her glass, unable to drink. When the ladies found their new master, they would all move away. She would lose all of them, just like she had Adam. She slipped out of the room and wandered across the foyer. An endless eternity stretched out before her with no family and very few friends. It was going to be very lonely.
It was four-thirty in the morning when Austin arrived back at his apartment in Greenwich Village. He would have to return to the penthouse in three days, but after he'd learned about their mini-vacation, he'd decided to leave immediately. He needed to get out and clear his head.
He'd watched the celebration in the portrait room via his surveillance camera. Seeing the vampires cheer the removal of another rascally mortal had irked him. Those damned vampires thought they were so superior. And if that wasn't bad enough, he'd seen Darcy's reaction. She hadn't celebrated at all. She'd put down her glass with a forlorn look and wandered off. Dammit, she didn't belong with those vampires. But she couldn't belong with him, either.
He was so pissed off by then, he'd grabbed his bags and hauled ass. Garrett had decided to leave, too, since the other human, George, had been eliminated from the show.
Austin flipped the three deadbolt locks on his door, turned on the alarm system, then collapsed on the couch. Videotapes littered his coffee table. All the videos of Darcy's newscasts. He'd enjoyed them so much when he'd thought she was alive. He slid in the last tape, the one that reported her disappearance. It showed the alley in Greenwich Village, the blood stain on the ground. The reporter explained that the police had discovered a knife with Darcy's blood on it. She was presumed dead.
Dammit, he should have known she was dead. But how could he believe it when he was falling in love with her?
Austin switched the television off. He leaned back and closed his eyes. He'd gone to that alley several times to look it over. The blood stain was gone, washed away by four years of rain and snow. But that must have been where she had died. His beautiful Darcy. Gone.
What was he supposed to do now? He trudged to the kitchen, grabbed a beer from the refrigerator, and wandered back to the couch. The computer disk was still on the coffee table. He inserted it into his laptop. DVN was a joint corporation with several major investors. The president in charge of production was Sylvester Bacchus, Darcy's boss.
Austin's gaze drifted to the legal pad where he was writing his list of vampires. Darcy's friends were on it. Gregori, Maggie, and Vanda. Holy crap, she would hate him forever for turning in her friends. And she could literally hate forever.
With a sigh, he listed the male contestants from the reality show, along with all the information he'd learned about them. Then, he began to list the female vampires. With each name, he felt a twinge in his gut. Dammit. They were vampires. The enemy. Why did he feel like he was betraying them? Because they're Darcy's friends.
He collapsed against the back sofa cushion. How could he do this? Hadn't Darcy suffered enough? She might be one of the undead, but she was also an innocent. He knew that deep down in his bones. Darcy could never hurt anyone.
And her friends? They did believe they were superior to humans, but he couldn't imagine them hurting anyone. They weren't anything like the vampires he and Emma had seen in the park. And they didn't seem to constitute a threat to humanity like Sean insisted. They actually cared about each other. They were capable of love. He'd heard it in Darcy's thoughts. She was in love with Adam. In love with him.
Could Shanna and Roman Draganesti actually be in love?
Dammit, how could such a relationship work? It was impossible. And even if these modern vampires were harmless, they couldn't have always been that way. Darcy's friends were obviously a great deal older than she. They could have been around for hundreds of years before the invention of synthetic blood. They had to have been feeding off humans.
And it was his job to protect humans. The vampires had to go. They were already dead, so why should he care? He was letting his emotions get in the way of his job. Refusing to do his duty was tantamount to treason. He couldn't betray his country or all the innocent people who were relying on him to do the right thing. With a growl, he seized a pen and scrawled Darcy Newhart on the bottom of the list. On the top, he wrote Vampires Must Die.
His heart cringed in his chest. The pen dropped from his hand. Oh, God.
He jumped up and paced across the room. How could he do this to Darcy? Darcy is dead, he repeated over and over as he paced the floor. Darcy is dead.
And he was cursed. For he was still alive and didn't know how he could live with himself.
The next evening, Darcy rushed to DVN to begin the editing process. Sly had arranged for an experienced technician to train her. She needed five segments, each lasting ten minutes. The remaining ten minutes of the hour-long show was reserved for commercial breaks. As part of the rental agreement on the penthouse, Roman Draganesti was expecting free commercial time on each show to advertise his Vampire Fusion Cuisine.
Gregori was going to be busy the next three nights in Studio Three making new commercials for Chocolood, Bubbly Blood, and Blood Lite. This had worked out perfectly for Darcy, allowing her to catch a ride with Gregori to DVN. Maggie was also excited about it, because Gregori had offered to let her star in one of the commercials.
By eight-thirty, Darcy was satisfied with the opening segment of the show - a tour of the penthouse and the arrival of the female judges. She looked up, startled, when Sylvester Bacchus barged into the workroom.
"You gotta see this!" He switched the television on to DVN's live broadcast. "I told Corky to do some promotion for the new show." He turned up the volume as Corky came on the screen.
"Welcome to Live with the Undead! I'm Corky Courrant with the hottest celebrity news in the vampire world. Tomorrow night is the night we've all been waiting for! The debut of DVN's first and only reality show, The Sexiest Man on Earth. But first, let's see what's going on with the sexiest man on the soaps."
"Oh, shit," Sly muttered. "Not this again."
A picture of Don Orlando flashed on the right half of the screen. It had been digitally embellished with a pair of goat horns.
"Is Don Orlando really the greatest lover in the vampire world?" Corky asked. "Or does he change partners every two hours because he's unable to satisfy a woman for longer than that?"
Sly shook his head. "He should have never cheated on her. She's going to crucify him."
Corky smiled sweetly. "I'm a fair person, so I'm going to let you, the viewers, decide. Email me at the address on the screen, Corky at DVN.com, and vote for which answer is correct. Is Don Orlando a stinking fraud or merely an odious pig?"
Darcy sighed. She still needed to talk to Maggie.
"And now for the main story," Corky continued with a wide grin. "Everyone is eagerly awaiting the first show of a hot new series that will debut tomorrow night, then air every Wednesday and Saturday. It's the vampire world's first reality show, The Sexiest Man on Earth. It stars the famous former harem of coven master Roman Draganesti and some of the hunkiest, sexiest men in the vampire world!"
An aerial shot of the penthouse roof came on screen. Darcy sat up. Her nerves tensed.
Sly waved a dismissive hand. "Don't worry. I asked Bernie to give her a little advance footage. It's just teaser stuff, great for promotion."
"Here at Live with the Undead, we're going to treat you to an exclusive preview of DVN's hottest new show," Corky continued. "And just how hot is this show going to be?" She laughed. "Hot enough to smoke up your screen, and we'll show you what I mean. Believe me, this guy gets my vote for The Sexiest Man on Earth."
A scene wavered on the screen as if a cameraman was struggling to focus on something in the distance. Slowly, the image grew sharper.
Darcy gasped.
"Yes!" Sly slapped a hand against his thigh.
The picture was a bit hazy since it was recorded at a distance in the dark without sufficient lighting. But it was certainly clear enough to make Darcy want to scream.
"I knew that hot tub was a great idea." Sly grinned. "Look at this. Off comes the dress. Then the guy throws it into the pool."
Darcy sank in her chair. "You've seen this before?"