"Bloody hell," he whispered. "Is it bad?" She snatched her bra off the floor. "Aye. It's downright painful. I'm rock hard and about to explode." He belted on his sword. She paused with her bra half on. "I was referring to the attack." He glanced at the window overlooking the parking lot. It was still snowing, so visibility was bad.
"I can hear them outside. Phineas must have been making the rounds." He put on his beard, wig, and hat. "Stay here. I'll be back as soon as possible." "But I should help. It's my job." She pulled on her red T-shirt.
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"Stay here," he repeated. "There are plenty of Vamps to take care of the matter."
"You don't think I'm strong enough to fight a Malcontent, do you?"
"Honestly, I'd rather no' find out." He teleported to the parking lot and saw the tracks in the snow where other Vamps had crossed the pavement to the woods. He heard the clash of swords in the distance. Drawing his own sword, he zoomed toward the noise.
As he entered the woods, the snowfall became lighter as snowflakes were caught by the canopy overhead. He spotted a dozen red Santa suits in a clearing. They were standing still, so each had a slight dusting of snow on his hat and shoulders. Most of the Santas had formed a loop around a pair engaged in a duel. Phineas and a Malcontent, dressed in black. They circled each other slowly.
Two more Santas had a second Malcontent pinned against a tree with their swords poised to strike his heart.
Ian joined the circle of Santas. "What happened?" he whispered to the man on his right.
"Phineas was making his rounds in the woods here," the Santa answered, and Ian recognized Robby MacKay's voice. "Two Malcontents jumped him, and he called for help. We sounded the alarm and came running."
Swords rang out as the Malcontent lunged at Phineas. He parried the attack and forced the Malcontent to retreat.
"We captured that one." Robby nodded toward the second Malcontent pinned against the tree. "The other one challenged Phineas to a duel, and he accepted."
Ian watched the duel carefully, gauging each one's skill. They appeared evenly matched, though he detected more desperation from the Russian.
"Let's go, Stanislav!" the captured Malcontent yelled. "Let's get the hell out of here!"
"The second I see your body start to teleport, I'll stab you through the heart," one of his captors warned. Ian recognized his French accent. Jean-Luc Echarpe.
"The devil take it," the second captor grumbled. It was Angus. "Let's just skewer the bastard and get it over with."
"I'm unarmed!" the captive shouted.
"Ye were armed two minutes ago before ye threw yer sword down," Angus argued. "Look, Yuri. Aye, no need to look surprised. I know who ye are. 'Tis a simple matter of being time-efficient. If we doona kill ye now, ye'll just come back, and we'll have to do it later. So I say we slaughter you now. 'Twill save us all a lot of time."
Jean-Luc chuckled. "You expect him to agree with you?"
"If you're as good and noble as you claim to be," Yuri said, "then you'll never kill an unarmed man."
"Och, I hate it when they say that," Angus growled.
Jean-Luc pressed the point of his sword against Yuri's throat. "Don't be a coward, Yuri. Pick up your weapon, and we'll settle this like men."
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"Now ye've scared him," Angus said. "I think he's wet his pants." "I did not!" Yuri protested. "Stanislav, I'll leave without you." Stanislav was busy with Phineas. Both men eased slowly to their right, their legs bent, their
swords ready.
"Stan the man, you're going down," Phineas spoke softly. "Why are you doing this? I always thought you were pretty decent. You were the only Russian I could stand to talk to." "You double-crossed me, you bastard." Stanislav slipped in the snow and quickly righted himself.
"You tricked me into telling you where Katya was."
"She was a bitch, Stan. Haven't you realized yet that you're on the wrong side? You're one of the bad guys." "Traitor!" Stanislav lunged forward, swinging his sword wildly. Phineas blocked each move, and Stanislav fell back, breathing heavily. Phineas circled him. "You're not going to live through this, Stan." "Let's go!" Yuri yelled. "I can't!" Stanislav wiped sweat from his brow. "Jedrek will kill me if I don't kill Phineas." "You're up shit creek." Phineas advanced, and with an expert thrust, he sent Stan's sword flying
from his hand. Stanislav backed away. Phineas grazed the tip of his sword on Stanislav's chest. "The way I see it, you have three options.
You can be killed by me, killed by Jedrek, or you can join our side."
"Now wait a minute." Angus strode toward them. "I seriously doubt we could ever trust this bastard." Stanislav vanished. Ian turned just in time to see Yuri teleport away, too. "Merde," Jean-Luc muttered. Angus sighed. "Ah well." He patted Phineas on the back. "Ye did well, lad." Phineas sheathed his sword. "I should've killed him when I had the chance. I just..." "Dinna want to?" Angus asked. "That's what makes you one of us, lad. We kill when we have to,
but we doona relish it." "But he'll just come back," Phineas said. Angus rested an arm around his shoulder. "There are always bad vampires in want of killing. I've
lived over five hundred years, and that has never changed. One thing that time has taught me is
there's no need to be in a hurry to kill." "Aye, that's true." Connor spoke from the circle. "Ye kill one, and two more show up the next night."
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"It's freezing out here," Roman observed. "Let's get back to the party." The Santas walked back to the parking lot. Ian sheathed his sword. Robby leaned toward him and whispered, "Ye'd better wash her scent off before Connor or Angus
get a whiff of you." He strode off to join the other Santas.
Ian winced. He waited till all the Santas had entered Romatech, then he zoomed down to the silver room. With vampire speed, he showered and redressed. He sprinted to the stairs. When he heard a dinging sound behind him, he glanced back. The
elevator doors opened, and Toni stepped out.
"Toni." He strode toward her. So much for her doing as he asked and staying in the conference room. She spun around. "Ian. What are you doing down here? I thought you'd be with Phineas." "I was, but...what are you doing down here?" She lowered her voice. "I was in the foyer, finding out what happened outside, when Emma
MacKay whispered to me that I should retire for the evening. She's one of the big bosses, so I didn't want to argue, but I got the impression that she knew what we'd been doing..." "Vamps have a verra good sense of smell. I received a similar warning." She stepped closer. "They can smell that we...you know?" "I know verra well. Unfortunately, a few others have noticed, too." "Good grief," she muttered. "Can't we get a little privacy around here?"
Ian grinned. "Are ye so eager to jump in bed with me?" "Quiet." She glanced around the hallway. "I don't want to get you in trouble. And I don't want to get fired. I sure don't want to lose my memory, not after...you know."
"Are ye referring to how ye gushed all over my face?" She winced. "We shouldn't talk about that." She glanced around the hallway again. "We're all alone, sweetheart." She scanned the ceiling. "But there are surveillance cameras around here somewhere." "Aye. That's why I havena taken you into my arms." He folded his arms over his chest. "I just
took a cold shower, and it dinna help."
"Oh, Ian." She sighed. "I don't know where we can go. All the bedrooms down here have cameras." "I'll figure out something. It'll be easier once Connor takes Roman back into hiding. And Jean-
Luc is having a house party in Texas, so a lot of the guests are teleporting there later tonight." "That's good." Toni yawned.
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"Ye're tired. Go on to bed, sweetheart." As he watched her enter the silver room, he knew he could never give her up. He wasn't sure how he could fit into her plan to run an orphanage and school. But he knew he loved her enough that he couldn't bear for her to sacrifice any of her dreams. Somehow they would make it work.