Jedrek shook his head. "Too predictable." His hand paused on the photo of the black Vamp. "Remember this one?"
"Yes," Stanislav answered. "Phineas, the traitor."
Jedrek arched a brow. "You haven't killed him yet?"
Stanislav gulped. "I will, Master."
"See that you do." Jedrek resumed flipping though the photos. He stopped on the mortal girl with blonde hair. He'd seen her last night after the bombs had gone off. She'd run across the parking lot, screaming MacPhie's name. The ground had been littered with wounded men, but she'd gone straight to MacPhie.
"What do we do next?" Yuri asked.
Jedrek stroked his finger over the photo of the blonde mortal. "I know exactly what to do."
Chapter Nineteen
Tuesday night, Toni walked into a ballroom full of Santas. The dancing had already started, and several Santas whirled around the dance floor, waltzing with their partners. The women's costumes were a bit more varied. A few were dressed like Mrs. Claus with long, full skirts, white aprons, and white frilly bonnets on top of silver wigs. Other women wore outfits reminiscent of the costumes worn by the Rockettes in their Christmas show.
Toni did a double take. The two Rockettes by the reindeer ice sculpture looked male.
She headed toward the table with real food. As far as she knew, only mortals who knew about Vamps had been invited to the ball. The other mortal employees at Romatech had gone to a party for them earlier in the afternoon.
She scanned the room, searching for Ian, but all the Santas looked alike. They even wore padding inside their red velvet coats to give them fake bellies. Under their red hats, they sported bushy white wigs and beards. The only departure from the norm were a few Santas sporting swords--in case the Malcontents showed up uninvited. Even Toni had a few wooden stakes in her belt.
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She noticed one Santa who was different. He was about a foot shorter than the others, and he fidgeted with the black buttons on his jacket. That had to be Laszlo, the scientist who had helped in the operating room and delivered a bag of stuff to the mystery room.
At the mortal table, there was a Mrs. Claus and a little girl who were having a snack of cheese and
fruit. The woman smiled at Toni and extended a hand. "Hi. I'm Heather Echarpe, and this is my daughter, Bethany."
"I'm Toni." She shook hands, then smiled at the little girl. "What a beautiful dress."
"My new daddy made it for me." Bethany's face lit up, and she pointed across the room. "Look, Mama. It's Constantine. Can I go see him?" "Sure, sweetie." Heather gazed fondly at Tino, who was dressed like a miniature Santa without the
beard. Bethany dragged Constantine onto the dance floor while the waltzing adults managed to avoid
running over them. Tino and Bethany reached the middle of the dance floor, where they started jumping and giggling. Toni popped a grape in her mouth. "So you must be the one who married the famous fashion
designer." "Yes." Heather smiled. "Jean-Luc is here somewhere. Lost in a sea of Santas." "Yeah, I can't tell who's who." Heather bit into a strawberry. "It's for the best, I suppose. It would totally confuse any Malcontent
who crashed the party." She stepped closer to Toni. "I hope you don't mind, but Shanna told me about you."
"Oh?" Heather smiled. "Don't worry, it was all good stuff. I just wanted to say that Ian's a great guy, and I hope it works out for you."
"We--we're not going out or anything. I'm a guard, so it's against the rules for us to get
involved." "Since when does love follow the rules?" Heather lowered her voice. "Ian was in Texas when he took the drug to grow older. He was in so much pain, it nearly killed me to watch. I begged him to stop, but you know what he said?"
"What?" Heather's eyes grew moist. "He said all the pain was worth it if he could find true love." Toni's heart squeezed in her chest. "I'm going to look for him. Excuse me." She started across the
ballroom.
The band switched to a modern song, and she noted a disco Santa on the dance floor. Gregori, she thought with a smile. He was back to his normal self. She'd arrived a bit late to the ball because she'd spent too much time in the silver room, fussing
with her hair and makeup. She wanted to look good for Ian.
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She'd had a late night, making sure Sabrina was all right before Ian had teleported her back to Romatech. She'd been so tired, she'd gone straight to bed. Today she'd called the hotel twice. Carlos had told her that Bri was sleeping most of the time, and Teddy was watching television. She hoped to see Bri tomorrow, but for now, she was eager to see Ian.
All day long, her heart had been light with joy. She couldn't wait to see him. It was just a shame
she hadn't been able to dress a bit sexier. Shanna had insisted she wear this specific costume. She wandered toward a group of Santas who were talking to one another. They noticed her and smiled.
She quickly checked their eyes. No Ian. "Excuse me." She backed away. "Bellissima, don't run away." A Vamp Santa with sparkling brown eyes took her hand. "Allow me
to introduce myself. I am Giacomo di Venezia. Please call me Jack, like my other English- speaking friends do." "I'm Toni Davis." He kissed her hand. "Bellissima, you are the guard Connor hired? He didn't tell me you were a
goddess." He turned to the other men. "She is a vision of beauty, no?"
"Ye're embarrassing her, Jack," a second Santa said with a Scottish accent. He extended a hand. "Welcome to MacKay Security and Investigation. I'm Robby MacKay." Toni shook his hand. "You're related to Angus?" "Aye, but he's much, much older than me," Robby said with a grin. "How do you do?" The third Vamp in the group held out his hand. His eyes were almond-shaped,
and his accent was thicker. "I am Zoltan Czakvar from Budapest." "Oh." She shook his hand. "I'm Attila the Hun." The men laughed. "Will you dance with me, Attila?" Zoltan asked. "Perhaps later. I'm...looking for someone right now." "Ah." Jack nodded his head. "Amore. I'm afraid her heart is already taken, Zoltan." Zoltan bowed. "Then we will hope he is worthy of you." "Okay." Toni smiled as she left the three guys. There was something definitely appealing about
Vamp men. She wandered by another group of men, but none of them looked familiar. Then she saw someone
who was easy to recognize. He was the only black Santa in the room. He was drinking blood from a wineglass, along with another Santa. "Phineas." She lifted a hand. "Hey, sweetness." He gave her a high five and a knuckle pound. "What's up?" She recognized the second Santa as Dougal. "Hey, Dougal. Have you seen Ian anywhere? I can't
find him."
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"The last time I saw him," Dougal said, "he was at the refreshment table, having a Bleer."
Phineas eyed Toni's costume. "Girl, what are you supposed to be? You look like the Jolly Green Giant's little ho." Toni gritted her teeth. "I'm an elf." Dougal laughed. "She makes a good elf." "Thanks," Toni muttered. Phineas snorted. "So do you live in a tree and bake cookies? Whatcha got for me in your oven?"
He winked. She swatted his arm. "I'll sic the Jolly Green Giant on you." She marched off, feeling even more ridiculous in her costume. She had a red feather in her silly
green hat, and jingle bells on her green slippers that made noise with every step. If anyone else
made fun of her costume, she might have to stake him into oblivion. She circled the dance floor. The music had changed to a slow, modern dance. She spotted Heather dancing with a Santa, probably her husband, Jean-Luc. And Shanna was dancing with another Santa, probably Roman. As she neared the Vamp refreshment table, she saw the two questionable Rockette ladies talking with another Santa.
One of them pressed a hand against the Santa's chest. Her fingernails were painted a bright red. "Oh my God, look at you! You're all grown up!"
Toni winced. The Rockette's voice was definitely male. "Our sweet little boy," the second male Rockette said. "All grown up and so handsome." He waved a hand in front of his face. "I'm think I'm going to cry."
"Don't you dare, Tootsie," the first Rockette warned. "If you start crying, I'll completely lose it,