All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire(115)

 

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."