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In his corner of the ballroous MacKay and his hlanders The French fop Jean-Luc Echarpe was approaching with yet another Scotsreeted them "Did ye find them, Connor?"

"Aye," he replied "We checked the surveillance caht they&039;d be"

"Are you talking about Shanna Whelan?" Ivan asked "I saw Draganesti take off with her, you know Is that his er, run and hide?"

With a growl, Connor stepped toward him "Let me snap his scrawny neck once and for all"

"Non" Jean-Luc Echarpe blocked the Scots stick The Frenchman stared at Ivan, his eyes an icy blue "When the time cooing to do to me, Echarpe? Give me a fashion uarantee no one will recognize you afterward"

"And the cheus asked Connor "Is he safe?"

"Aye Ian is with hi about Laszlo Veszto, I have news for you," Ivan said "The man&039;s days are numbered"

MacKay&039;s bland look said he was unihlander with Ivan&039;s watch "Well?"

The Scotsed "It looks like a normal watch, sir But we canna be sure unless we open it"

"I understand" MacKay took the watch, dropped it on the floor, and stomped his foot on it

"Hey!" Ivan jumped to his feet

MacKay picked up the broken watch and exaood watch" He handed it back to Ivan with a twinkle in his eye

"Bastard" Ivan tossed his ruined watch on the floor

"Wait a minute" Connor stepped back and looked at the Russians "Ye have four of theht," MacKay said "Ye said there were four at the house in New Rochelle"

"Aye, there were," Connor replied "But there was a driver, too Where the hell is he?"

Ivan ser," MacKay muttered "Connor, take a dozen uards outside and have therounds"

"Aye, sir" Connor motioned for twelve men to follow him After a few quick words, they divided up and zooap in the line of Highlanders was quickly taken up by Corky Courrant and her crew froood shot," she snarled She turned to the ca for Live with the Undead There&039;s been one exciting event after another at the Gala Opening Ball Here you can see that a regihlanders has taken the Russian-American vampires prisoner Can you tell us MacKay&039;s nose

He scowled at her in silence

Her smile stretched wider and froze "Surely you don&039;t take prisoners without just cause?" She jabbed the ain

"Go away, lassie," he spoke softly "This is none of yer business"

"I want to talk" Ivan waved toward the camera me"

"We havena harmed you" MacKay drew a pistol and pointed it at Ivan "Yet Where is the fifth person of yer group? What is he up to?"

"Still trying to park the car You know, for a party this big, you really should have valet service"

MacKay arched a brow "Perhaps I should warn ye these bullets are silver"

"Will you try to kill me in front of so many witnesses?" Ivan sneered He couldn&039;t have wished for a better situation than this He not only had the attention of all the guests at the Gala Opening Ball, but everyone watching DVN would also hear his e He levitated onto his chair and waited for the music to end

Echarpe slid a sword out of his walking stick "No one wants to listen to you"

"Will the Gala Opening Ball end in bloodshed?" Corky Courrant whispered in a loud voice "Don&039;t touch your re bow as the ned, so he had to pop it back into position

Corky Courrant faced her ca smile

"Ivan Petrovsky, Russian-American coven master, is about to make a speech Let&039;s hear what he has to say"

"It has been eighteen years since I attended one of these balls," Ivan began "Eighteen years that I have been forced to witness the tragic decay of our superior way of life Our old traditions are laid to waste Our proud heritage ridiculed A new politically correct philosophy of the modern-day Vaue"

A e, but Ivan suspected there were others who longed to hear hirown fat and complacent on this ridiculous Fusion Cuisine? How otten the thrill of the hunt, the ecstasy of the bite? I tell you tonight that this false blood is an abous raised his pistol "Come down from there"

"Why?" Ivan yelled "Are you afraid of the truth? The True Ones are not"

Echarpe lifted his sword "The True Ones are cowards who hide in secret"

"Not anyht into the caht we shall have our revenge!"

"Take theed forward, followed by his h into the air, then vanished as they teleported froarden

"Hurry!" Ivan yelled "To the car"

They zipped across the lawn to the parking lot The car was eht

"Crap," Ivan muttered "He should have finished by now" He pivoted, scanning their surroundings "What the hell happened to you?" He stared at Katya

She glanced down and laughed "I thought the night air was bit chilly" Her skirt was gone, leaving her naked from the waist down "When we juuess he got a hold of my skirt, and it came off"

"Jean-Luc Echarpe?" Galina asked "He&039;s so cute And so are the Scotsmen Do you think they&039;re naked under those kilts?"

"Enough!" Ivan took off his jacket and tossed it at Katya "Need I reet in the car"

Katya lifted a brow and instead of wrapping the jacket around her hips as he had intended, she put the jacket on Her private parts were still on display Alek gawked at her, hisopen

Raw pain stabbed at Ivan&039;s neck "Do you want to spend the rest of your existence without eyeballs?" he growled

Alek jerked to attention "No, sir"

"Then get the ladies in the car and start the daritted his teeth and snapped his neck

A blur in the dark raced toward them Vladimir The vampire stopped beside hie facilities?"

"Da" Vladimir nodded &039;The explosives are ready"

"Good Let&039;s go" Ivan spotted Highlanders racing toward theht sleeve He had suspected the Highlanders would empty his pockets, so he&039;d hidden the detonator to the C-4 in his cuff link One punch of the button and Draganesti&039;s precious stockpile of synthetic blood would be gone

Shanna was speechless Vampire sex? She wasn&039;t sure such a bizarre phenomenon even existed Well, there was certainly one way to find out Should she even consider it?

Well, she couldn&039;t get pregnant from it And since he wouldn&039;t even be in the same roo, no unnecessary roughness No little varoaned Was she seriously considering this? She&039;d have to let Ros he could do to her? What deliciously wicked sensations he could¡ªoops That line of defense wasn&039;t working

He had taken a seat at the kitchen table and atching her with his gold-tinted eyes, looking infuriatingly amused by the whole situation As if he knew she would say yes The rascal Wasn&039;t it enough for hi a vampire? But no, he had to propose va vaoose buent And he wanted to concentrate all thather? Good God She was telanced at his eyes and i her head like a cool breeze Her heart pounded Her knees turned to rubber A loud blast deafened her ears The floor shook beneath her feet She grabbed at the wall to steady herself My God, did he do that to her?

Roman juain, and Shanna stumbled toward the easy chair

"Ian! What the hell is going on?" Roman yelled into the phone He paused to listen "Where was the explosion? Was anyone hurt?"

Explosion? Shanna sank into the chair Oh jeez She should have knohen the Earth moved, it wasn&039;t related to sex They were under attack

"Did they catch hi on?" Shanna asked

"Petrovsky got away," Roht, Ian We knohere he lives We can retaliate whenever ish"

Shanna gulped It looked like a vampire war had started

"Ian," Roman spoke into the phone "I want you and Connor to take Shanna back to the house And Laszlo and Radinka, too" He hung up "I have to go Connor will be here soon"

"Where was the explosion?" She followed him to the door

He picked up his cape and used it as insulation to turn the locks "Petrovsky blew up a storeroom of synthetic blood"