All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire(18)

 

The phone on the desk rang. "Arrgh!" Toni quickly took the name and number of another girl who thought Ian was hot. Then she dialed Sabrina's cell phone.

 

After seven rings, she was transferred to voice mail. "Bri, this is Toni. I just heard you were released from the hospital. Call me." She checked her phone for messages. Zilch. Where was Sabrina?

 

The phone on the desk rang again. This time it was LaToya who thought Ian was hot. Then Michelle, and then Lauren. Apparently Ian's hotness was becoming legendary.

 

"This is too much," Toni growled. She used the house phone to call her apartment. Maybe Sabrina had simply gone home, and she was worrying over nothing.

 

The phone rang until the answering machine picked up. "Bri, are you there? Call me, I'm worried about you."

 

She called Carlos in the apartment next door. "Have you heard from Sabrina?"

 

"No, what's wrong?"

 

"She's been released from the hospital, but I don't know where she is."

 

There was a pause, then Carlos spoke, his voice deeper than usual. "Toni, you need to tell me what's going on."

 

"I will, tonight, when I get off work." Toni hung up, then the phone instantly rang.

 

"Damn!" She grabbed the receiver. "What?"

 

"Good morning. This is Travis Buckley."

 

A man's voice. "Yes? What is it?"

 

"Is Ian MacPhie there?"

 

Toni blinked. "You…want to talk to Ian?"

 

"Oh yes, honey. I saw his picture on Single in the City, and I thought he was so…"

 

"Hot?"

 

"Exactly." Travis chuckled.

 

Toni wrote his name down. "I would love to tell him you called."

 

"Super." Travis gave her his number. "I think he's über-hot."

 

"Oh, totally." Toni hung up, then rubbed her temples. "This can't be happening to me. I'm stuck in the Twilight Zone." She turned to the computer and clicked on My Documents. A security box came on screen, asking for the password.

 

"Damn." If she wasn't such a techno-moron, she could get around this, but she didn't have a clue. Oh well, even if she found a document where a bunch of Vamps confessed to being real, would it actually prove anything? Anyone could write such nonsense and claim it was true.

 

Speaking of false claims, she needed to check out Ian's profile on Single in the City. It was easy to find. He was on the home page in a list of the ten most popular guys. His photo was great, but his profile sounded like Don Juan on Viagra. The more she read, the more she felt steam coming out of her ears.

 

The phone rang again. And again. And again. The list of names was now up to thirty-four girls and two guys who all thought Ian was hotter than liquid magma. How would she ever locate Sabrina? Or study for her final?

 

The phone jangled again. She snatched it up. "Yes, Ian is hot! But you'll have to wait your turn."

 

"Cool." The girl smacked on chewing gum. "I don't mind sharing. Is he into group sex?"

 

Toni grimaced. "You'll have to ask him about that."

 

"Okay." She popped her gum. "So who are you?"

 

"I'm…his parole officer."

 

"Cool. I've got one of those, too. Got busted for solicitation."

 

"I hate it when that happens."

 

"Yeah. So this Ian dude, is he really as rich as his profile says?"

 

Toni gritted her teeth. "Just give me your name and number." She wrote down the information and slammed down the receiver. "I can't take it anymore!"

 

She fumbled in the desk drawer and found a big, black permanent marker. She stalked into the bedroom and glared down at Ian. "If I fail my final, it'll be your fault!" She smoothed his white T-shirt across his rock-hard chest and abs, then wrote in capital letters HOT, HOT STUDMUFFIN. Beneath that she wrote, For a good time, call Travis.

 

Then she marched downstairs to the ground floor, and turned on the answering machine. The Vamps wouldn't like it, but she was not about to screw up her last exam because of Ian's love life. As she descended into the basement, she heard the phone ringing again. The guys in the cellar were fine, so she called Howard for the ten o'clock report. She explained about the answering machine, and he agreed.

 

While she ate her lunch in the kitchen, the phone rang twelve more times. It was still ringing when she went upstairs to her bedroom. She disconnected the phone there so she could study in peace. She checked on the guys again at one and four P.M. for her afternoon reports.

 

She also called the hospital back and talked to a nurse on the floor where Sabrina had stayed. The nurse admitted Sabrina had left with family, but wouldn't say more than that. It had to be Sabrina's aunt and uncle, since they were the only family Sabrina had. Toni couldn't recall their last name. The information would be at the apartment. Meanwhile, Sabrina never called back, so Toni continued to worry about her.