"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."
"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."
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!"