All I Want for Christmas is a Vampire(72)

 

A sad look came over Connor's face. "Aye, it is fierce. It rages like a wildfire, but leaves you with naught but ashes." He left the room.

 

What had happened to Connor to make him such a pessimist? Ian knew that a relationship between a mortal and Vamp rarely worked. Eventually they broke up or the mortal agreed to change over. Shanna had agreed to become a Vamp sometime in the future. Did he really want to involve Toni in a relationship where he'd have to suck her dry till she was dead, so he could change her?

 

Connor was right. If he really cared for her, which he did, he'd leave her be. He'd let her find love with her own kind. And he would keep looking for love among the Vamps.

 

"What's wrong?" Shanna asked.

 

Toni sighed. She knew she looked like a mess. How on earth had Ian found her attractive? She filled a plate with cheese cubes, carrot sticks, and broccoli, and what the heck, a few chocolate chip cookies. "I'm doing my Rudolph-the-red-nosed-reindeer impersonation."

 

Shanna handed her a cup of punch. "Are you unhappy with your job here?"

 

"No." She bit into a cookie.

 

The fellowship hall was filling up fast with churchgoers. Toni hated for everyone to see her swollen, red eyes, but she didn't want to run off just yet. She still needed to talk to Ian. "I have a close friend who's in the hospital. I just came from visiting her, and I was all smiles while I was there, but now…"

 

"Now the stress has caught up with you," Shanna observed. "I'm so sorry. If you need some time off, I'm sure we can arrange it."

 

"You're very kind." Unfortunately, she might have lots of time off very soon. Connor was probably going to fire her. Fired for kissing a vampire. Who would have known her life could be so risqué? But she'd known it was against the rules.

 

Would she do it again? In a heartbeat.

 

It had been the most phenomenal kiss of her life. Not one of those fumbling ones like she'd had in the past where she'd spent the entire kiss wondering if she was doing it properly, or wishing like hell that the guy knew how to do it properly. There'd been no wondering or wishing at all. She'd simply been swept away into a glorious daze of pure sensation. It was the kind of kiss she'd always dreamed of.

 

And Ian was the romantic hero she'd always dreamed of. Strong, but sweetly vulnerable. An endearing mixture of pride and uncertainty. Bold enough to kiss her and damn the consequences. Exciting, noble, clever, sexy—perfect in every way. Except one. He was a vampire.

 

"Shanna, can I ask you a personal question?"

 

"Sure."

 

"I was wondering how you…well, is it difficult being in a relationship with a vampire?"

 

"Ah." Shanna sipped some punch. "I suppose it depends on the vampire. I lucked out with Roman." She looked around the room, and Toni could tell the instant she spotted her husband. Her eyes softened.

 

Roman must have felt her gaze or heard her say his name, for he turned away from his conversation with Father Andrew and smiled at her.

 

"He's the love of my life," Shanna whispered. "And Constantine, too. I'm totally amazed by them."

 

"But how do you handle the different hours?"

 

"Tino and I keep late hours. We stay up to one or so in the morning, so we can spend time with Roman. Then we sleep late in the morning. I take dental appointments from three in the afternoon till about nine at night, so I can see both mortals and Vamps. It's a bit of a challenge, fitting in family and a career, but it's that way for all women, so I don't think my situation is all that strange."

 

"I see what you mean." Toni popped a piece of ranch-dipped broccoli in her mouth.

 

"So which hunky Vamp guy are you interested in?"

 

She nearly choked. Her eyes watered, and she gulped down some punch. "I didn't say I was."

 

Shanna grinned. "Never mind. I think I know who."

 

"It was a hypothetical question," Toni insisted. "I was just wondering how a Vamp and mortal could make it work, and obviously, you and Roman are doing it well, so I asked. That's all."

 

"Uh-huh." Shanna gave her a knowing look. "Well, hypothetically speaking, I think he's a great guy, and you'd be crazy to pass him by."

 

Toni wondered if she was referring to Ian, but didn't dare ask. "I don't mean to be a downer, but I just don't see how it can last, not when the mortal continues to age, and the Vamp doesn't."

 

Shanna nodded. "It was a tough decision, and not one I took lightly." She rubbed a hand over the bump where her second child was growing. "I've decided to change over eventually, but I wanted to wait till the children are a bit older."