All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire(48)

 

Radinka made tsking noises as she placed a teabag in each cup. "Gregori told me he's doing a television interview tonight with Corky Courrant."

 

Shanna made a face. "That's a disaster waiting to happen."

 

"Why?" Toni asked.

 

Shanna bit her lip, considering. "I should leave Ian a note, begging him not to do it. Is he in the basement?"

 

"No, he outgrew his coffin. He's on the fifth floor." Toni winced. "In your husband's bedroom."

 

Shanna laughed. "Well, looks like I'll get some exercise. Be right back." She strode from the kitchen.

 

Toni was tempted to go with her. She'd seen Ian only once this morning, right before calling in her eight o'clock report. She'd risen at six-thirty A.M. and was having breakfast in the kitchen when Phineas and Dougal had come in for a bedtime snack before retiring to the basement. She'd hoped to see Ian, but he'd gone straight up to the fifth floor without stopping by to see her.

 

Why had he not wanted to talk to her? She was a bit worried that he'd actually hit it off with one of those fifty Vamps he'd dated last night.

 

The kettle whistled, and Toni jerked back to the present. She had to stop thinking about Ian so much.

 

Howard strode into the kitchen. "Those women are psycho! One of them hit me with a poster when I told her Ian wasn't here."

 

Toni winced. "Sorry. They do seem awfully determined."

 

Radinka handed Howard a cup of tea. "Such nonsense. Are they still there?"

 

"I got them to leave, but I'm afraid they'll come back." Howard drank some tea. "I'd better check on the guys. Is Ian still on the fifth floor?"

 

"Shanna's already on her way up there." Radinka set a cup of tea in front of Toni.

 

"I'll start in the basement then." Howard gulped down the rest of his tea, then left the room grumbling about crazy women.

 

"Is this truck?" Constantine looked up at Toni, then pointed at another word.

 

She glanced at his book. "Yes, it is." He had finished his banana. "Would you like something to drink?"

 

"Can I have some milk?"

 

"Sure." Toni hunted through the cabinets, but couldn't find any plastic cups. She'd have to give him a glass. She set it in front of him, and he drank without hesitation.

 

She sat next to him. "How old are you, about four?"

 

He grinned with a milk mustache. "I'm almost two."

 

Toni gaped, then shut her mouth quickly since she didn't want to embarrass the little boy. "You're…sure?"

 

"He'll be two in March." Radinka added some milk to her tea. "He's very clever, isn't he?"

 

More than clever, Toni thought. He was a wonder child.

 

"Is Toni with us?" Constantine asked.

 

Radinka tilted her head, considering Toni. "She may not know it yet, but I believe she is."

 

What did that mean? Toni sipped her tea with a growing sense of confusion.

 

"Do you want to see what I can do?" Constantine backed away from the table and spun around.

 

"That's great!" Toni smiled appreciatively.

 

He gave her a dubious look. "I haven't done it yet."

 

"Oh, sorry." Toni's mouth dropped open as the young boy slowly rose to the ceiling. "Oh my gosh."

 

Radinka sat at the table with her cup of tea. "He's very special."

 

"I'm back." Shanna strode into the kitchen. She picked up her cup of tea and glanced around the room. "Where's Tino?"

 

A giggle from the ceiling drew her attention, and Shanna snorted. "I should have known." She gave Toni a wry look. "I've been trying to teach him to clean the ceiling fans."

 

"He—he's floating," Toni said lamely.

 

Constantine giggled and performed a front somersault.

 

"Oh, now you're just showing off." Shanna sipped some tea. "You should see him and his daddy play basketball."

 

"I blocked Daddy's goal by sitting in the hoop," Constantine boasted.

 

"He—he's really Roman's son?" Toni asked. "How—?"

 

"Roman's a genius. Don't ask me how, but he inserted his DNA into human sperm." Shanna patted her stomach. "We're expecting another one in May. A little girl."

 

"Oh. Congratulations." Toni watched Constantine float down to the floor. She couldn't believe it. Shanna and Radinka were sipping tea like it was entirely normal to breed half-human/half-vampire children.

 

"Did you ask if it was okay before you levitated?" Shanna asked her son.

 

"Yes, Mommy." He climbed back onto his chair.