"The devil take it," the second captor grumbled. It was Angus. "Let's just skewer the bastard and get it over with."
"I'm unarmed!" the captive shouted.
"Ye were armed two minutes ago before ye threw yer sword down," Angus argued. "Look, Yuri. Aye, no need to look surprised. I know who ye are. 'Tis a simple matter of being time-efficient. If we doona kill ye now, ye'll just come back, and we'll have to do it later. So I say we slaughter you now. 'Twill save us all a lot of time."
Jean-Luc chuckled. "You expect him to agree with you?"
"If you're as good and noble as you claim to be," Yuri said, "then you'll never kill an unarmed man."
"Och, I hate it when they say that," Angus growled.
Jean-Luc pressed the point of his sword against Yuri's throat. "Don't be a coward, Yuri. Pick up your weapon, and we'll settle this like men."
"Now ye've scared him," Angus said. "I think he's wet his pants."
"I did not!" Yuri protested. "Stanislav, I'll leave without you."
Stanislav was busy with Phineas. Both men eased slowly to their right, their legs bent, their swords ready.
"Stan the man, you're going down," Phineas spoke softly. "Why are you doing this? I always thought you were pretty decent. You were the only Russian I could stand to talk to."
"You double-crossed me, you bastard." Stanislav slipped in the snow and quickly righted himself. "You tricked me into telling you where Katya was."
"She was a bitch, Stan. Haven't you realized yet that you're on the wrong side? You're one of the bad guys."
"Traitor!" Stanislav lunged forward, swinging his sword wildly.
Phineas blocked each move, and Stanislav fell back, breathing heavily.
Phineas circled him. "You're not going to live through this, Stan."
"Let's go!" Yuri yelled.
"I can't!" Stanislav wiped sweat from his brow. "Jedrek will kill me if I don't kill Phineas."
"You're up shit creek." Phineas advanced, and with an expert thrust, he sent Stan's sword flying from his hand.
Stanislav backed away.
Phineas grazed the tip of his sword on Stanislav's chest. "The way I see it, you have three options. You can be killed by me, killed by Jedrek, or you can join our side."
"Now wait a minute." Angus strode toward them. "I seriously doubt we could ever trust this bastard."
Stanislav vanished. Ian turned just in time to see Yuri teleport away, too.
"Merde," Jean-Luc muttered.
Angus sighed. "Ah well." He patted Phineas on the back. "Ye did well, lad."
Phineas sheathed his sword. "I should've killed him when I had the chance. I just…"
"Dinna want to?" Angus asked. "That's what makes you one of us, lad. We kill when we have to, but we doona relish it."
"But he'll just come back," Phineas said.
Angus rested an arm around his shoulder. "There are always bad vampires in want of killing. I've lived over five hundred years, and that has never changed. One thing that time has taught me is there's no need to be in a hurry to kill."
"Aye, that's true." Connor spoke from the circle. "Ye kill one, and two more show up the next night."
"It's freezing out here," Roman observed. "Let's get back to the party."
The Santas walked back to the parking lot. Ian sheathed his sword.
Robby leaned toward him and whispered, "Ye'd better wash her scent off before Connor or Angus get a whiff of you." He strode off to join the other Santas.
Ian winced. He waited till all the Santas had entered Romatech, then he zoomed down to the silver room. With vampire speed, he showered and redressed.
He sprinted to the stairs. When he heard a dinging sound behind him, he glanced back. The elevator doors opened, and Toni stepped out.
"Toni." He strode toward her. So much for her doing as he asked and staying in the conference room.
She spun around. "Ian. What are you doing down here? I thought you'd be with Phineas."
"I was, but…what are you doing down here?"
She lowered her voice. "I was in the foyer, finding out what happened outside, when Emma MacKay whispered to me that I should retire for the evening. She's one of the big bosses, so I didn't want to argue, but I got the impression that she knew what we'd been doing…"
"Vamps have a verra good sense of smell. I received a similar warning."