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Roman ith his usual sharp and sudden intake of air His heart lurched in his chest, then settled down to a steady beat He opened his eyes

"Thank God," a voice muttered "We dinna think ye&039;d ever wake up"

Rous was standing next to his bed, frowning at him In fact, there were several people crowded around his bed Jean-Luc, Connor, Howard Barr, Phil, Gregori, and Laszlo

"Hey, bro" Gregori slanced at Laszlo "Are you all right?"

"Yes, sir" The sine how relieved I was to wake up in your house"

Angus crossed his arms over his broad chest "The question is, how are you? I hear ye were up and about during the daytilanced at his bedside clock

God&039;s blood The sun o "I overslept"

"I havena ever heard of that happening before," Connor said

"Possibly a side effect of the drug you took" Laszlo leaned forward "Do you mind if I check your pulse, sir?"

"Go ahead" Roripped Roratulations, reat success Awake during the day¡ªit is aht" Rolanced down at his chest where the sun had slashed a wound across his skin The rip in his shirt was still there, but the skin had healed Now, the wound was inside, tearing at his heart Eliza had caused the wound a hundred years ago when she&039;d wanted to kill hiain

"Pulse is noro of Roman&039;s wrist

How could it be normal when his heart was ripped to shreds? Roman sed hard "Did Shanna come back?"

"Nay," Connor whispered "We havena heard from her"

"I tried to save her," Phil said, frowning "But they had me outnuus muttered "Phil and Howard told us all about yer dayti for ye to wake up"

Ro her father&039;s team He&039;ll train her to kill us"

Connor scoffed angrily "I doona believe it"

Gregori shook his head "It doesn&039;t sound like her"

Angus sighed "Mortals canna be trusted I learned that the hard way" He regarded Roht ye did, too"

He had, but Shanna had filled hiain Roman had fallen asleep totally confused, and now it still didn&039;t make sense It seemed clear that Shanna had wanted to stay with her father And staying with her father meant she would become a vampire killer But why had she warned him of the slayer behind him? Why try to save his life if she wanted hi hi with her father? Did she actually love him after all?

"We&039;ve been busy while ye were sleeping," Angus announced "When oke, there was still an hour or so of nighttih So we&039;ve had every phone in this house busy while we teleported ood news ishave an aro to war"

"I see" Roman climbed out of bed Many of the men downstairs would be ones he had personally transforht, ould happen to their ioodoff mortals God would never allow such creatures into heaven And if the only alternative was hell, then Roman had doomed their immortal souls the uilt too heavy to bear "I&039;ll be with you in a minute Please wait in my office"

The men filed out Roman dressed, then went into his office to warori?"

"Fine I just caback chair, frowning "She says shewar I&039;m not a coward, you know"

"I know" The ed, and Roman removed his bottle of blood "But you haven&039;t been trained to fight"

"Big deal," Gregoribehind"

Roh weapons?"

"We&039;re bringing stakes and our silver-plated swords" Angus paced about the roo guns in case Petrovsky hashi

"Speak of the devil," Jean-Luc whispered

Roanesti here"

"This is Petrovsky I don&039;t kno youthe day, but don&039;t ever try it again Frouards here, and they&039;ll be shooting silver bullets"

Roman sat behind his desk "I see my new formula has you worried Are you afraid we&039;ll co?"

"You won&039;t find us, you bloody svoloch! We have other places to sleep during the day You&039;ll never find us"

"I found my chemist I can find you"

"You can have the stupid chemist The little weasel ripped all the buttons off anesti You deliver Shanna Whelan toyour employees And the next time I take one of your people, he&039;ll be a pile of dust by the tiht"

Rohtened He wouldn&039;t risk any hlanders And he&039;d never betray Shanna, even if she betrayed him "I don&039;t have Dr Whelan"

"Of course you do I heard she was in my house with you You turn her over, and I&039;ll stop bo Romatech"

Ridiculous Petrovsky would never stop causing trouble Roman knew that without a doubt And he kneould protect Shanna with his dying breath "Listen, Petrovsky You won&039;t be bo a hair on Shanna Whelan&039;s head, because you&039;re not going to live through the night"

Ivan snorted "That drug you took has messed up your head"

"We have an ar after you tonight How many men do you have, Petrovsky?" There was a pause Rous&039;s latest reports that the Russian-American coven can muster about fifty warriors at the enerous," Roman continued, "and say you have a hundred men That still leaves you outnu to win tonight&039;s battle?"

"You stinking svoloch You can&039;t have two hundred dom But don&039;t take h"

Petrovsky cursed in Russian "We can do that, too, you know I&039;ll bring in hundreds from Russia"

"Too late The sun&039;s already up in Russia You can call, but they won&039;t be answering the phone" Ro They wouldn&039;t find his next co "But since you&039;re in a bind, I&039; to make a deal"

"What kind of deal?" Petrovsky asked

Angus, Connor, and Jean-Luc approached Roman&039;s desk ary expressions on their faces

"What do you wantShanna Whelan or a few Scotsmen?"

Petrovsky snorted "I&039;d like to rip your heart out and roast it over an open fire"

"Okay, I&039;ll give you the chance We&039;ll settle this dispute once and for all Just you and , "What are ye saying, ht alone"

"Let our warriors fight," Jean-Luc said "It&039;s a sure win"

Roman covered the receiver with his hand "This is the best way We won&039;t have to risk anyone&039;s life"

Connor frowned "Ye&039;re risking yer own We willna have it"

"What exactly are you saying, Draganesti?" Petrovsky asked on the phone "Are you giving yourself up?"

"No," Ro a duel Silver swords, and we don&039;t stop till one of us is dust"

"What do I get for winning, other than the pleasure of killing your ass?"

"You will accept my death as payhlanders, and Shanna Whelan You will not harus thumped the desk with his fist "Ye willna do this"

Roman held up a hand to stop further objections from his friends

"How noble of you," Petrovsky sneered on the phone "But that wouldn&039;t be much fun for me, would it? I want a victory for the True Ones"

Ro, all manufacture of Vampire Fusion Cuisine will end" After all, he wouldn&039;t be around to invent the formulas

"Does that include your synthetic blood?" Petrovsky asked

"No Synthetic blood saves hu about?"

Petrovsky snorted "Fine I get to skewer your ass, and I put a stop to your crappy Fusion Cuisine Two am, Central Park, East Green See you there"

"Wait a minute," Roet when I win"

"Ha! You&039;re not winning"

"When I win, your people ain That includes all hlanders, and Shanna Whelan"

"What? Then your people remain safe whether you live or die That sucks"

"It&039;s my only condition," Roman said "If you want a chance to kill me and end Fusion Cuisine, you&039;ll take it"

While Petrovsky thought this over, Angus and Jean-Luc fussed at Roman

"This is foolish, mon ami" Jean-Luc whispered "When is the last time you practiced with a sword?"

Roman couldn&039;t remember "You trained me for over a hundred years I can do this"

"But ye&039;re out of practice, lowered at hi"

"Exacteo in your stead"

"No," Roman answered "I transformed you, and I will not risk your immortal soul"

Jean-Luc&039;s eyes narrowed "That is the proble us"

"Darowled "It is our choice if ant to risk our souls Who the hell do ye think ye are?"

Ronored them and spoke into the phone, "We come alone, Petrovsky Just you and reement?"

"Yes But only because I&039;ve wanted to kill you for over five hundred years Say your prayers, priest Tonight, you die" Petrovsky hung up

Roman dropped the receiver into place and stood

"Ye canna do this," Angus shouted "I willna have it"

Roman placed a hand on his old friend&039;s shoulder "This is us It will save the lives ofus" Jean-Luc&039;s eyes flashed an icy blue "I deht"

"Don&039;t worry, Jean-Luc" Roht me well Wasn&039;t I the one who delivered the fatal blow to Casimir?"

Jean-Luc scowled at hi your back"

"Ye&039;re no&039; thinking straight," Angus insisted "Ye&039;re too distraught over that Whelan lass leaving you"