"Ian." She skimmed her hands up his back to his shoulders.
"I want to see the love in yer eyes when I enter you," he whispered.
"You have it." She looked at him. "I love you."
He slid inside her. A mixture of sensations surged through him. Joy, love, erotic pleasure, and a primordial, male triumph as he took possession. He intended to make love slowly, but she was so beautiful, so sexy, so loving, that they were soon hurtling together toward a climax. They couldn't get close enough. Her legs locked around his waist, and they ground their bodies together.
His orgasm hit hard. He pumped into her with a speed and ferocity that only a vampire could do. She screamed and came with a shuddering rush. She clung to him as her body continued to spasm.
"Oh my." She panted, trying to catch her breath.
He rested his brow against hers as their breathing slowly returned to normal.
"I hope I dinna hurt you," he whispered.
"No. It was…wonderful. Spectacular. Mind-blowing."
"Aye." He collapsed beside her and pulled her close.
Her eyes flickered shut. "You wore me out."
"Aye." He shut his eyes and nuzzled his chin against her hair. A man could easily want an eternity of this.
Toni woke up, slowly becoming aware that she was naked and cold. She sat up. In the dim light that spilled from the cracked bathroom door, she spotted Ian beside her. Her gaze drifted down his naked body and back to his face. Gorgeous man. So sexy. And so sweet to age another year just to be with her. Had the drug worn off? He certainly looked dead to the world.
She glanced at the bedside clock. Good grief. It was almost noon. Carlos and Howard had to be wondering what had happened to her. She pulled the sheet up to cover Ian to his chest. Then she went to the bathroom and took a hot shower.
She padded back into the bedroom with one towel wrapped around her head and another around her body. She found her polo shirt on the floor on one side of the bed and her bra on the other. She glanced up at the wrought-iron chandelier above the bed. Her underwear was dangling from one of the spiky branches. She doubted she could reach it, even if she stood on the bed. What a shame she couldn't levitate like the Vamps.
Maybe she could find something that would knock her panties down. She looked inside the closet and smiled at the kilt hanging there. She stroked the softness of Ian's sweater and leaned close to smell his scent. She spotted the black leather pants he'd worn the night they rescued Bri. Behind that was the tuxedo he'd worn to play Dracula. And then there was the vampire cape.
She skimmed her fingers down the sleek, black satin. The stand-up collar was so cool. She glanced back at Ian, still dead to the world.
Well, why the heck not? She dropped her towels to the floor and grabbed the cape. She twirled around, flourishing the cape like a matador. Then she swirled it onto her shoulders and tied the strings at her neck. She clasped the edges with her fingers so she could lift her arms and spread the cape wide. Whoosh, she ran across the room, letting the cape billow behind her. Then she executed a few lunges in a Paso Doble style. Happy with that, she bent her right elbow, letting the cape cover the bottom half of her face. Like Snidely Whiplash, she stalked across the room.
She jumped onto the foot of the bed and lifted her arms wide. With an ominous glare at Ian, she said in a spooky, low voice, "I am your master."
"Like a virgin," a female voice answered.
Toni jerked around. That had to be her cell phone. Her pants were somewhere on the floor.
Madonna claimed she was being touched for the very first time.
"Oh, hush." Toni jumped down from the bed and strode about the room, searching for her pants. "You're about as virginal as I am."
"That's debatable," a male voice said.
With a squeak, she spun around. "Ian?"
"Toni?" His eyes widened as he took in her costume, or lack of costume.
She whipped the edges of the cape together to conceal her nude body. "I thought you were dead. Again."
His mouth twitched. "I wouldna miss this for anything."
Her face heated up.
"Like a virgin," Madonna taunted her.
She snatched the phone from her pants pocket. "Hello?"
"Menina, what happened to you?" Carlos asked. "You went upstairs to check on Ian and never came back."
"I–I'm fine. Ian's fine." She glanced at the bed. Ian was grinning at her.
"Did you fall asleep?" Carlos asked. "I know you were tired this morning."
"I…slept a little. Sorry."
"It's okay. Nothing's happening. I just thought you might be hungry. Howard's making some paninis in the kitchen. You want one?"
"I—uh…" She watched Ian stroll past her into the office. The view from the back was great. He removed a bottle of blood from the small fridge at the wet bar and popped it into the microwave.
"Toni, what's going on?" Carlos demanded. "Do you need some help up there?"
"No! I–I'm fine, really."
"He's awake, isn't he?" Carlos demanded. "Either that, or you have developed some tastes that are way too kinky."
"Okay, he's awake," she confessed.
"Howard told me about the Stay-Awake drug," Carlos said. "I guess you two are putting it to good use?"
"Oh yeah."
Carlos chuckled. "Ciao, menina." He hung up.
"They know what we're doing?" Ian removed his bottle from the microwave and poured the blood into a glass.
"Yes." She dropped her phone and wandered into the office. "Are we going to be in big trouble?"
"No one has a way to contact Connor right now, so I wouldna worry about it." Ian sipped from his glass as he watched her approach. "That cape looks better on you than it does me."
"I don't think it's the cape you're looking at." She swept the cape open for a second to flash her body.
Ian smiled and took another sip. "Something amazing happened."
"Oh yeah, the sex was great." She perched on a bar stool.
He chuckled. "That, too. But Toni, I actually fell asleep." He leaned toward her, resting his elbows on the bar. "It was so strange. I havena slept in centuries."
"Wow."
He drank more blood. "I'd forgotten what it was like. Death-sleep is so…blank. It's nothing but death and total oblivion. But this was sweet and…"
"Restful?"
His eyes glimmered with moisture. "I had a dream. I dreamed of you."
"Oh…my." She noticed the tears in his eyes were reddish in color.
He touched her face. "I would have never thought it possible."
She took his hand. "What did you dream?"
His mouth quirked. "Ye did a striptease dance for me in a vampire cape."
"Really?" When he laughed, she made a face at him. "Very funny. What was the dream?"
His eyes softened. "I'll tell you someday."
"Hmm." She scooted off the bar stool. She walked away from him, then flipped one side of the cape back to reveal a rounded hip. "I have ways of making you talk."
She gasped when he zoomed up to her at vampire speed. "I have ways of making you scream." He untied the strings at her neck and pushed the cape off her shoulders.
The satin material pooled on the floor, the red side up. Ian lifted her in his arms, then laid her down on the scarlet satin.
"Well, why not?" She gave him a wry look. "We've stained everything else in this place."
With a laugh, he zoomed back to the bar and grabbed his glass. An inch of blood still remained in the bottom. "Ye've given me an idea."
"You're going to stain the carpet?"
"Nay." He knelt beside her and drizzled the blood over her breasts and down her torso.
"Eeuw. I hope you plan to clean that up." She forgot to be indignant when his tongue lapped the blood off her breasts. He followed the trail of blood down her torso, then licked the last remaining drops from her belly button.
She squirmed on the red satin, enjoying the decadent feel of it
against her backside. Ian returned to her breasts to suckle. She felt his teeth nibbling ever so gently and recalled the look of his fangs when he'd gone into full Dracula mode. His eyes had glowed blue, intense with Vamp power, then they'd turned red as he'd looked hungrily at her. The old bite marks on her breasts and torso itched, but not with fear or repulsion.
She felt desire. And need. "Ian."
He glanced up at her, and the red glow in his eyes tugged deep within her. Her bite marks burned.
She raked her hands into his long black hair and gripped his head tight. "Bite me."
He blinked. "Nay. Doona say that. I willna use you for food. I'm no' hungry."
"I am. I have a deep…hunger inside me."
"Toni, ye're reacting to my Vamp power. I'll try to tone it down."
"No, let it loose."
He studied her curiously. "Do ye know what ye're asking? Ye were attacked. Ye have terrible memories."
"I want to turn that terror into something beautiful. Can you do that?"
"I can keep it from hurting. But it is all an illusion. Mind control. And I know how ye feel about that."
"I'm not afraid of your mind. I love you."
He hesitated, frowning.
"Do it. Do it all. I want to experience everything with you."
He closed his eyes. "Ye're so verra tempting. I can smell yer blood, hot and delicious. I can hear it rushing through you, calling to me."
"Take me."
His eyes opened, and she gasped at the startling blue. A wave of icy cold air struck her forehead, then swept down her body, prickling her skin with gooseflesh.
I am with you. His voice reverberated in her mind, and her entire body tingled as if he were blowing his breath over her. He nuzzled her neck. We will share mind, body, and blood. He licked her neck, and she gasped as the same sensation happened between her legs.
It had to be an illusion. But one hell of an illusion. All the tingling on her neck was echoed below. Her need grew more desperate, and the tingles grew into throbbing pulses, demanding satisfaction.
She wrapped her legs around him. "Take me now."
His fangs extended with a small hissing sound that made her ache for him. She shuddered as his erection pressed against her and his teeth softly scraped her neck. Soon, soon it would happen.
He plunged into her core with so much force, she barely noticed the prick on her neck. And then he was loving her, taking her body and blood. I am inside you in every way. Ye are mine, and I am yers.
With each suck at her neck, a shudder of pleasure skittered through her. Then he pulled away from her neck. I doona want to take too much. He licked the bite wounds, and the shudders continued, intensified with each bodily thrust into her core.
His pace picked up. I can feel ye coming. We're coming together.
And they did. Toni cried out just as she heard his roar of pleasure thunder through her mind. She'd never felt anything like it. Their bodies shuddered together like a choreographed dance. Their minds pulsated in shared pleasure. Amazing, she thought, or did he think that? She could no longer tell who was who. They were one.
"Ian," she whispered as their breathing returned to normal. Even their breaths were in sync.
Do ye feel how much I love you? His voice filled her mind.
A warmth flooded her and brought tears to her eyes. Then a chill swept through her, and he was gone. Gone from her mind, but lying next to her with love in his eyes.
And she knew, then and there, that nothing would stop her from spending her life with Ian. No friendships or villains could stop her from loving him.
Even death couldn't come between them.
CHAPTER 25
That evening, just after sundown, Toni was sitting in the parlor with Ian, Carlos, Howard, and all the Vamp guys, watching the Digital Vampire Network. Stone Cauffyn of the Nightly News droned on and on. Phineas and Jack made everyone laugh with their impersonations of the boring newscaster.
Stone turned his head. "What is the meaning of this?"
The camera swerved, and Toni gasped. Jedrek Janow was approaching the newscaster's desk with a pistol in his hand. "Take him," he ordered, and a Russian Malcontent rushed past him to loop silver rope around Stone Cauffyn.
"What are you doing?" Stone asked. "This is highly irregular."
"On me!" Jedrek demanded, and the camera shifted to him. "You, cameraman, will do as I say if you want to live."
The camera didn't budge.
Jedrek nodded. "Good, now show our audience what we have behind door number one." He motioned to his right.
The camera panned to the door. Yuri and Stanislav entered the recording studio, each dragging a hostage.
Toni gasped. "They have Corky Courrant."
"And another woman," Ian muttered.
"I say we let him kill Corky," Phineas said.
"Shh." Ian turned up the volume as Jedrek spoke.
"As you can see, we have taken over DVN. Your regularly scheduled programming has been canceled for a far more interesting show. Ian MacPhie, you have twenty minutes to bring me the Stay-Awake drug, or I start executing people on live television."
Toni remained stunned and speechless, while the men all started to talk at the same time. How many men did Jedrek have? Who knew the layout at DVN?
The Vamp men suddenly leaped to their feet.
"Sorry!" a voice called from the foyer. Gregori entered the parlor. "Didn't mean to trigger the alarm."
Dougal rushed into the foyer to turn off the alarm.
Gregori glanced at the TV. "I saw what was happening. I thought I should warn you in case you didn't know."
"Do ye know the layout at DVN?" Ian asked.
"Sure. I've done a bunch of commercials there. Got some paper?" Gregori asked.
Toni ran to the desk. She collected some paper and pens, then dropped them on the large, square coffee table.
Gregori sat on one of the couches and began drawing.
"Phineas, Dougal, go below," Ian ordered. "Bring up some weapons. Howard, do ye know where DVN is?"
"It's in Brooklyn." Howard stood. "You want me to drive there?"
Ian ran a hand through his hair while he considered. "We doona want to teleport into a trap, so I think we should attack from the outside."
"Agreed," Zoltan said.
Their attention was snagged by a scream emanating from the television.
"You're burning my skin, you bastard!" Corky Courrant screeched as Yuri looped silver rope around her wrists.
The other woman whimpered as she was tied up.
Stone Cauffyn looked curiously at his ropes. "I say, what do you expect to gain from this?"
Jedrek sneered. "The world. With the Stay-Awake drug, I can rule the vampire world."
Stone gave him a bland look. "No such drug exists."
"Of course it does. Ian MacPhie took it. That's how he aged." Jedrek moved behind Corky and slid his hand around her neck. "I have you to thank, Ms. Courrant. You're the one who brought him to my attention."
Corky's eyes widened as his hand tightened. "If I helped you, then why don't you let me go?"
Jedrek tilted her head back to force her to look at him. "I enjoy watching blondes die. Isn't that so, Nadia?"
The camera swerved to a small brunette standing next to Stone. "It pleases the master when I kill a blonde," she whispered.
"You can't kill me!" Corky screamed. "I have fans." She glanced at the captured woman beside her. "Kill Tiffany. She's blonde. And she slept with my boyfriend."
"No!" Tiffany squealed. "I'm too young to die. And too pretty."
"Pretty?" Corky snorted. "Men just tell you that so you'll sleep with them."
"That's not true. I've been told I'm pretty by hundreds of men."
"And how many of those men did you sleep with?" Corky snarled.
Tiffany's eyes widened.
"Enough!" Jedrek rolled his eyes. "Gag them, Yuri, before I kill them now."
Yuri plastered a strip of duct t
ape over Tiffany's mouth.
Corky struggled with her ropes. "You can't kill me! I'm entertaining. Kill Stone! He's as boring as hell."
"Why, I say—" Stone stammered. "That seems uncalled for. I happen to find myself somewhat interesting."
Jedrek held Corky's head still while Yuri stuck duct tape across her mouth. Then he turned to inspect Stone, who stared blankly back at him. "What do you do?"
Stone blinked. "I read the news."
Jedrek strolled toward him. "And?"
"I have…nice hair."
Jedrek rolled his eyes. "This man is boring. I can't even sense any fear from him. Let him go."
Stone looked mildly surprised. "I must say, that is rather good news."
Nadia untied the silver ropes binding him and led him to the door. Corky tried to trip him as he passed by.
Jedrek paced in front of the two blonde hostages. "Now the question is which one of you shall I kill first? Or perhaps Ian MacPhie will come to save you."
Corky and Tiffany strained against their ropes.
Jedrek smiled. "That's it. Show me your fear. Let it ooze from your pores so I can revel in the smell." His gaze lowered to Corky's overly abundant breasts. "We'll need an extra long stake for this one."
Yuri chuckled. "Yes, Master."
Corky's scream was muffled and desperate.
Jedrek inhaled deeply. "Ah, the smell of fear." He turned to the camera. "Are you afraid, MacPhie? Are you going to let these women die so the entire Vamp world will remember you as a coward?"
"Go to hell," Ian muttered.
"I'm done," Gregori announced. He'd drawn a detailed schematic of DVN at vampire speed.
Phineas and Dougal whooshed into the room, their arms piled high with weapons. They set them down on the floor.
"Howard and Carlos, arm yourselves and get going," Ian ordered.
As the two mortal men grabbed swords, stakes, and daggers, Toni looked at Ian. Did he have other plans for her, or was he trying to completely leave her out? "Ian?"
His eyes met hers. "Can ye stay here?"
She shook her head. "For better or for worse. I'm with you."
A pained look crossed his face. "All right. Go with Howard."
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