All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire

You might have filled it with poison. Is it poison, MacPhie?" Ian glared at him. "Is it poison?" Jedrek shouted. Nadia looped some silver rope around Ian's neck and pulled it tight. His neck sizzled. Toni swallowed hard at the bile rising in her throat. Ian glowered at Jedrek. "It's no' poison. Try it and see." Jedrek nodded slowly. "You want me to drink it." He strode to Corky and ripped the duct tape off

her mouth. She screeched. "That hurts, you bastard." "This might hurt worse. Hold her!" Jedrek ordered, and Yuri held Corky's head still. Corky glued her lips together, but Jedrek pinched her nose till she opened her mouth to gasp for

air. Jedrek poured some of the greenish liquid down her throat.

Back in the control room, the door opened slowly and Phineas peered inside. "Don't shoot," he told Howard. "Do you have the security office?" Howard asked. "Yeah. I left Dougal there. Zoltan and Jack are doing one final sweep. We're almost ready to

move on Jedrek." "Thank God." Toni motioned to the monitors. "Have you seen what they're doing to Ian?"

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"Yeah." Phineas grimaced. "There's a monitor in the security office that shows us what's on air. More importantly, the whole vampire world is seeing what they're doing to Ian. And he has a bunch of admirers out there."

"So?" Toni didn't want to hear about all the Vamp women who still wanted to date Ian. "So, they're all showing up outside," Phineas said. "We can see the parking lot on a monitor, and

there's got to be fifty angry Vamp women out there. They're all screaming that Ian MacPhie must be released." "Good grief," Toni breathed. "It's getting wild out there," Phineas continued. "Those women have whips and baseball bats." "I have an idea." Gregori went to the wall of shelves and grabbed a camera. He turned it on and

looked at the monitors. "How do I get this to show up there?"

"Here." Stone went to the control panel and flipped some switches. A bottom monitor showed them in the control room as seen through Gregori's camera. "And how do we get this on air?" Gregori asked. Stone showed them which switches to use. He handed Carlos the earphones and took a small one

for himself. "I'll let you know when we're ready." Gregori headed out the door. "Let's go, Stone." Phineas and Howard stood guard while Carlos studied the control panel. Toni watched the

monitors, wondering how Ian was faring. She couldn't see him at the moment because the cameraman was still focused on Corky. The Vamp world was waiting to see if Corky was going to die from poison.

"How do you feel?" Jedrek asked her. "I--I'm fine." "You don't feel anything at all?" Corky glared at him. "I feel great, actually. Full of energy like I could kick your ass all the way to

China." "Gag her." Jedrek said, and Yuri stuck the tape across Corky's mouth. Jedrek paced across the room and stopped in front of Ian. "Full of energy? That sounds about

right." He lifted the vial to his mouth and drank the entire contents.

He sneered in Ian's face. "You realize what will happen, MacPhie? The sun will rise, and you'll fall into your death-sleep while I remain awake. You'll be the first one I'll kill." Ian remained silent. "Master?" Yuri asked hesitantly. "What if he's taken the drug, too?" Jedrek turned sharply to look at Ian, who simply stared back. "It won't matter. We'll just keep him

tied up. He won't be able to defend himself."

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"Master!" another male voice called, and the camera swerved to the door where Stanislav was entering. "Master, the Vamps have invaded the building." Jedrek gritted his teeth. "Do I have to tell you what to do? Just kill them." Stanislav paled. "They were too fast. I--I can't find any of our men."

"What?" Jedrek shouted. "Look!" Toni pointed at the bottom monitor. Gregori and Stone were in the parking lot. "They're ready."

Carlos flipped the switches and spoke into the headphone. "You're on."

Stone's face filled almost all the monitors now, while Jedrek was relegated to one monitor on the bottom row. "This is Stone Cauffyn, reporting live from the parking lot of DVN," the newscaster shouted. "As

you can see, this is definitely not boring! Over fifty Vamp women and a few men have gathered here in support of Ian MacPhie, who is being held prisoner inside. In fact, more Vamps are teleporting here as I speak."

Gregori panned the camera along the angry mob. They shook their fists and baseball bats in the

air. "Set Ian free! Set Ian free!" "I have their ringleader here," Stone continued, and Gregori aimed the camera back on him. "Vanda Barkowski, do you have anything to say?"

Vanda lifted a fist, holding her whip. "You're going down, Jedrek! Nobody hurts our Ian MacPhie. We love Ian!" The crowd took up her shout. "We love Ian! We love Ian!"

"Oh please," Toni muttered inside the control room. "Look at this." Carlos turned up the volume on the monitor showing the studio where Jedrek was waving his hands in the air.

"What the hell is going on?" Jedrek glared at the monitor in the studio. "What is Vanda Barkowski doing on national television? How did she steal my place?"

"The Vamps must have taken over the control room," Stanislav said. Jedrek whirled around to glower at the Malcontent. "They cut me off? This is my show!" He pulled his pistol from his belt, zoomed to Ian, and pressed the barrel of the gun against Ian's forehead. "Put me back on now!"

Toni gasped. "Carlos, quickly." "I got it." He put Jedrek back on air. Jedrek glanced at the monitor and saw himself. "That's more like it. Stanislav, Yuri, go take back

the control room now!" "Yes, Master!" They ran from the recording studio. Toni gulped and tightened her grip on her dagger. "They're coming."

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Carlos jumped to his feet and drew his dagger. Howard took up a position by the door with his dagger in hand. Phineas raised his sword. "I'll take one. The three of you take the other."

The door burst open. Stanislav zoomed toward Phineas, and their swords clashed. Yuri halted when he spotted Carlos and Toni. "Mortals," he sneered. He pointed his sword at them. "This will be too easy."

With a bearlike growl, Howard leaped on Yuri's back and plunged a dagger into his side. Yuri screamed and threw Howard off his back with so much force that Howard flew across the room and crashed into the wall of shelves. Contents from the shelves spilled down on Howard. He didn't move.

Yuri sucked in a hissing breath as he looked at his bleeding wound. "You'll pay for this." He lifted

his sword and charged. Carlos dunked, and Toni leaped to the side. She heard Phineas cry out and glanced his way. Oh no! Stanislav had managed to stab Phineas in the shoulder.

A blur shot past her, and she whirled, lifting her dagger. "No!" Carlos shouted. Yuri caught her from behind. He pressed the edge of his sword against her neck. "Drop your

weapon." The sword pinched her skin. "Drop it!" She let her dagger tumble to the floor. "Stand back!" Yuri shouted. With a stricken look, Carlos stepped back. The clash of swords echoed in her ears as Phineas

continued to fight Stanislav. A low growl emanated from Carlos as he ripped his shirt off. She realized he was going to shift. Yuri cursed, then Toni gasped as everything went black.

Chapter Twenty-six

Toni materialized right into a shootout. Yuri jerked them both down to the floor as bullets sprayed overhead. She looked quickly about. Corky and Tiffany had dropped to the floor and were squirming out of the way.

Jedrek was shooting at Jack and Zoltan. They must have just charged into the studio. Jack jumped behind Stone Cauffyn's desk while Zoltan rushed in the opposite direction, taking shelter behind an unmanned camera. The cameraman was huddled on the floor behind his camera.

Jedrek's pistol made some empty clicking noises. With a curse, he threw it aside and drew his sword. Zoltan rushed forward to engage him, while Jack dashed toward Ian to press a dagger into his hands.

"Stop!" Nadia ran at Jack, her sword raised.

Jack lunged at Nadia, forcing her to retreat.

"No!" Yuri lurched forward to help Nadia.

With a quick slash, Jack nearly sliced off Yuri's arm. Blood splattered. With a screech, Yuri fell to the floor. Jack turned him to dust, then went after Nadia.

Toni swallowed hard. She couldn't let this violence freak her out. Yuri's sword was lying on the floor, and she needed to grab it. She stumbled to her feet, but an icy cold assault knocked her flat on the floor. The familiar icy wave swept through her, freezing her body.

You cannot move. Jedrek's command rang in her head.

He zoomed toward her. "You will drop your swords!" He pointed his sword at Toni's heart.

She stared at the sharp point, poised to kill her. Her body couldn't budge. She couldn't even turn her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ian's stricken face.

Swords clattered on the floor. Jack and Zoltan had surrendered.

Oh God, what if Jedrek killed them? What if he killed Ian? And all because she was unable to function on their level. An old, familiar shame swept through her. Always unworthy. Never quite good enough.

"Tie them up," Jedrek ordered.

Nadia looped silver rope around Jack's wrists.

Jedrek strolled over to them. "What shall I do with you two? Shall I kill you now? Giacomo, the famous son of Casanova." He stopped in front of Zoltan. "And the mighty Coven Master of Eastern Europe. I should tie you both to a lamppost and let the sunrise burn you to death."

Toni noticed from the corner of her eye that Ian had cut the silver ropes looped around his chest and wrists. He stuffed some rope into his sporran. Nadia was too busy tying the new prisoners, and Jedrek was too busy taunting them to notice.

She had to help Ian. His poor chest and hands were covered with red welts. God help her, she couldn't lie here helpless while he tried to save everyone. And how could he save anyone if Jedrek kept control of the situation by threatening to kill her? She had to fight this. Somehow, she had to break through Jedrek's mind control.

Toni concentrated hard on Ian. On how much she loved him. On how strongly she wanted to help him. Her fingers twitched. She glanced at Jedrek and Nadia. Their backs were turned to her as they tormented Jack and Zoltan. Her hand jerked awkwardly to the wooden stake in her belt. Slowly she closed her fist around it.

She turned her head and saw Ian watching her. He nodded slightly.

He was counting on her. She focused hard. Her love for Ian had to be stronger than Jedrek's power.

"Jedrek, have ye figured out yet that ye've been tricked?" Ian asked, and Jedrek whirled to face him. "Do ye really think I would give you the Stay-Awake drug? That vial was naught but an energy drink."

Jedrek's face turned red with rage. "I'll kill you now!" He ran at Ian, raising his sword in the air.

Ian lunged to the floor to grab Jack's sword, then jumped to his feet to deflect Jedrek's first swing.

With Jedrek's mind fully engaged, Toni was better able to defy his mind control. She eased to her

feet. Ian's sword flashed so quickly, it was clear Jedrek was out-matched. With a flick of his wrist, Ian sent Jedrek's sword flying through the air.

Jedrek backed up. With his free hand, Ian pulled a length of silver rope from his sporran. "Nay, this time ye willna

teleport away." He dropped his sword and leaped forward, looping the silver cord around Jedrek. He pulled the Malcontent against his chest. Jedrek struggled and kicked, but Ian held him tight. "Now, Toni!" As she ran forward, she noted the shocked look on Jedrek's face. A mere mortal was about to kill

him. He attacked her with a wave of psychic power. You are under my control. Drop that stake now! Her hand shook. Icy power streamed through her, threatening to freeze her in place. She forced

her feet to move forward. One step. Two. Jedrek's eyes widened. "No! You will fear me! You will feel the power of fear!" "I'll show you fear, you bastard!" She stabbed the stake through his heart. His cry faded as his body disintegrated. Her mind was free. She dropped the stake, and it fell onto a pile of dust. Ian tossed the silver rope aside. "Toni." He pulled her into his arms. "Ye were amazing." She leaned on him, closing her eyes in relief. Jedrek was dead. "To please the master, I will kill the blonde," a voice whispered behind her. "No!" Ian yanked Toni to the side. She jolted when a dagger plunged into her side. Stunned, she saw Ian grab at Nadia, but the

female Malcontent teleported away. She looked down at the dagger in her side. How strange. Then a burning pain ripped through her and dragged her into oblivion.

Panic gripped Ian. He swept Toni up in his arms, and the dagger clattered to the floor. It must not have been in very deep. A good sign. But she was losing so much blood.

He shot a pleading look at the camera. "Roman, Connor, if ye hear me, come to Romatech. Please."

The door burst open, and Phineas, Dougal, Howard, and Carlos rushed in. Ian knew they could take care of the hostages, so he teleported straight to Romatech.

"Laszlo!" He zoomed to the operating room.

"I'm here!" Laszlo opened the door for him. "I saw what happened on the television. Put her on the table." He rushed to the sink to wash his hands.

Ian laid Toni on the operating table. Forms wavered in front of him. Roman materialized, holding