The video played. The Japanese cheered.
"We're famous!" Yuki shouted.
"Brisskys for everyone!" Kyo yelled.
Phil stood. "Guys, I hate to break up the party, but we need you to leave. We're expecting trouble any minute now."
"Trouble?" Kyo asked. "What kind of trouble?"
Yuki lifted his chin. "We do not run from trouble."
"Dudes, the Malcontents are coming," Phineas explained. "They want to kill Vanda."
Kyo jumped to his feet. "No one kills Vanda."
"We will fight!" Yoshi punched the air with his fist.
"They'll have swords," Phil warned their new friends.
"We not afraid," Yuki declared. "We fight."
Colbert and the other Vamps gathered around the table, their swords drawn and ready. The remaining customers ran from the building.
Two hours later they were still waiting.
Vanda sighed. "I was scared to death a few hours ago, and now I just want to get it over with."
"What's taking them so long?" Phineas asked.
Phil shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe they smelled a trap."
"Or they were busy doing something else." Robby called Angus, then reported that no bombings had occurred. The Malcontents appeared to be taking the night off.
"They're up to something," Zoltan muttered.
But three hours later it looked like they weren't.
Phil had started drinking coffee to try to stay alert.
"Maybe they missed Corky's show," Phineas suggested.
"Some Malcontent somewhere must have seen it," Robby said. "Perhaps it's a problem of getting the news to Casimir. He may be hiding so well, some of his own people doona know where he is."
"That could be it," Colbert agreed. "I say we come back here tomorrow night. Casimir could still come, looking for Vanda."
The Japanese stood and bowed. "Then we will come back tomorrow to fight."
They headed for the door, but Phil stopped them on the way. "Are you serious about helping Vanda?"
"Of course," Kyo said. "She famous American celebrity."
Phil whipped out his cell phone and added Kyo's cell phone number to his directory. "Thank you. If I ever need your help, I'll call."
"It would be an honor." Kyo bowed and left with his friends.
Vanda sat on her assigned cot in the upstairs section of the coffee warehouse where the New Orleans coven lived. She unwound her whip and set it on the cot while Scarlett and Tootsie perched on a neighboring cot, entertaining her with stories of their crazy antics.
She glanced across the dormitory at Phil, who lay sleeping on his cot. The poor guy was so exhausted, he was sleeping with all the noisy Vamps chattering around him.
But not all the Vamps were talking. Vanda had spotted a few private rooms behind the kitchen. Colbert and Giselle had retired to their own room. Vanda had been tempted to ask for a private room for her and Phil, but there were too many MacKay S & I employees here. She couldn't let them know she was indulging in a forbidden affair with her assigned guard.
Scarlett stood. "I'm going to have a warm cup of Chocolood before bed. Would you like some, Vanda?"
"Yes, thank you." Vanda leaned over to unzip her boots.
"Intruder!" a man by the surveillance monitors shouted. "Intruder alert!"
In seconds the Vamp men had grabbed their swords and were dashing out the door. Vanda hurried to the monitors to see what was happening. A dozen men, armed with swords, had arrived in the huge room on the ground floor.
Colbert ran into the dormitory, barefoot, his shirt unbuttoned, but with a sword in one hand. Giselle followed him, wrapped in a bathrobe. The coven women gathered around her.
"Oh my God!" Scarlett grabbed Tootsie. "What do we do?"
Colbert glanced at the two men as he hurried out the door. "Guard the women!"
Tootsie gasped. "I thought we were the women."
Phil sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "What's going on?" He grabbed his shoes and quickly put them on.
Vanda ran to him. "The Malcontents are here."
"Shit." He strapped on a shoulder holster and inserted his handgun. "Stay here." He grabbed a sword from the stash by the surveillance monitors, then he sprinted for the door.
"Phil!" Vanda ran after him. The damn balcony was about three stories up. She'd had to levitate him up earlier. "Wait." She reached the balcony just in time to see him leap. She squealed. Good God, he'd kill himself.
She peered over the edge and gasped. He'd landed nimbly and was already challenging a Malcontent with his sword. How on earth had he managed that jump?
She flinched when a sword thrust narrowly missed him. Her heart lurched up her throat. How on earth could he possibly survive in a battle against a vampire? Good God, Hugo was right. Phil moved incredibly fast.
Her blood chilled as she surveyed the scene. Vamp fighting vampire. Swords clashing. Shouts of victory and screams of defeat. Men howling in agony before crumbling into piles of dust.
"Revenge!" someone yelled over the clash of swords.
She spotted the shouting man. He was completely surrounded by armed Malcontents. They fought furiously around him while he remained safely cocooned. He held a sword in one hand, his other arm cradled against his chest at a strange angle.
"Casimir," she whispered.
A scream jolted her. One of Colbert's men had been skewered. He turned to dust.
Hands grabbed Vanda's shoulders and she jumped.
"Come inside." Giselle pulled her back from the edge of the balcony. "Don't let them see you."
"But I have to know..." Vanda searched the flailing arms and swinging swords, looking for Phil. He was still all right. He had a different opponent now. He must have killed the first one.
She spotted a Malcontent lurking in a dark corner with a cell phone to his ear. A dozen more Malcontents appeared around him. "Look at that!"
Giselle gasped. "We'll be outnumbered!"
"We need to call for backup." Vanda grabbed Giselle's arm. "Get me a phone. We'll call Angus."
"It's already daylight on the East Coast." Giselle's eyes filled with tears. "They can't come."
Damn. That was probably why the Malcontents had waited so long before attacking. Vanda grimaced when another group of Malcontents teleported in. Good God, there had to be twenty of them.
Casimir barked with laughter. "Revenge for the Massacre at DVN!"
Giselle burst into tears. "God help us. This is a massacre."
Vanda stood frozen on the balcony, afraid to watch, afraid not to watch. Her heart raced, pounding in her ears. If only there was something she could do. But she'd never trained with a sword. It would be suicidal to jump down into the melee.
She spotted Robby and Phil fighting their way through the newly arrived batch of Malcontents. Robby skewered the guy with the cell phone. The Malcontent turned to dust, his phone falling to the floor. Phil stomped on it.
A flash of brown hair caught Vanda's attention. One of the newly arrived Malcontents spun about to ward off an attack. A long brown ponytail whipped through the air. A woman.
Vanda stepped closer to the edge of the balcony. There was something about the way the woman moved. She turned again, and Vanda's heart lurched.
Marta.
As if Vanda's thoughts could be heard, Marta glanced up at the balcony. Her eyes narrowed.
Vanda stumbled back. "No, no."
"Are you all right?" Giselle dragged her into the dormitory.
Scarlett hovered just inside the door. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
"I have." Vanda stumbled to her cot. Her heart ached in her chest. Marta. Fighting for the Malcontents.
Tootsie screamed.
Vanda spun around. A Malcontent had entered the room.
Giselle ran to the huddle of whimpering women at the back of the room.
The Malcontent spotted Vanda and raised his sword. She grabbed her whip off the cot.
With a shout, he charged. She leaped over a cot and snapped her whip at him.
Scarlett threw a pillow at him, then squealed when the Malcontent turned and stalked toward him. Scarlett pressed against the wall, trembling.
Tootsie teleported, landed right behind the Malcontent, and clonked him on the head with a Blissky bottle. The Malcontent tumbled onto the floor.
Scarlett leaped into Tootsie's arms. "You saved me!"
Giselle and the women screamed. Two more Malcontents had entered the room.
Colbert charged after them, killed one and engaged the other in battle. "We called a retreat!" he shouted. "Teleport to our country place now!"
The women began teleporting away.
"God be with you." Tootsie hugged Vanda, then he and Scarlett teleported away.
With a quick thrust through the heart, Colbert turned the second Malcontent to dust. He spotted the unconscious Malcontent on the floor and finished him off, too.
"Colbert!" Giselle ran into his arms.
He hugged her, then extended a hand to Vanda. "You should come with us."
"No!" Phil sprinted into the room.
Vanda grimaced at the bloodstains on his shirt. But thank God he was alive. But how he'd managed to get to the second floor on his own, she couldn't imagine.
He grabbed his cell phone he'd left on his cot. "Go ahead, Colbert. Leave while you can. We're leaving, too."
"God be with you." Colbert teleported away, taking Giselle with him.
Phil opened his phone and punched a number. "We've got to go, Vanda."
"But where?" she cried. "We can't go east."
He put the phone to his ear. "Brynley? Keep talking. We'll be right there." He wrapped an arm around Vanda and pressed the phone to her ear. "Trust me."
Vanda heard a strange woman's voice on the phone. Three Malcontents charged into the room. She gasped, and everything went black.
CHAPTER 18
Vanda stumbled. Her concentration was off, making for a messy landing.
Phil quickly regained his balance and steadied her. "Are you all right?" He snapped his phone shut and pocketed it.
"I - " She blinked. For a second she thought they were back in Howard's hunting cabin in the Adirondacks. But that couldn't be right. It was daylight in New York.
"Phil!" A young woman ran toward him, smiling.
He turned and grinned. "Brynley!"
She halted with a gasp. "You're bleeding. You've been injured."
He glanced down at his ripped and bloody polo shirt. "Just a few cuts. No big deal."
"It is a big deal." The woman cast a suspicious glance at Vanda, then grabbed Phil's arm and dragged him away. "Let me patch you up. Dear Lord, look at you." She touched his cheek. "You've gotten so handsome."
Vanda's hand curled tighter around the handle of her whip. Who the hell was this woman? With her long, gleaming hair and skintight jeans and tank top, she was bound to be a bitch. How come Phil let her touch him like that?
Phil took her hand and squeezed it. "I missed you."
Vanda cleared her throat.
He glanced at her. "Brynley, this is Vanda."
She noticed this time he didn't call her his fiancée. "How do you do?" Bitch. She glared at the beautiful Brynley. What kind of stupid-ass name was that anyway?
Brynley glowered back. "So this is the vampire you mentioned? Somehow, I thought it would be male."
Vanda's temper flared. "Who are you calling an 'it'?"
"Brynley," Phil said quietly, "Vanda and her friends are very good friends of mine."
"Friends?" She motioned at his bloody shirt. "What kind of terrible mess have these 'friends' dragged you into?"
"Phil's more than a friend." Vanda stepped toward the bitch. "He's my anger management sponsor. He can tell you how dangerous I get when I'm royally pissed!"
"Oh yeah?" Brynley stepped forward.
"Enough." Phil put out a hand to stop her. "Vanda, this is my sister. So cut the crap."
Vanda's mouth fell open. His sister? She looked past the gorgeous hair and perfect skin and noticed the pale blue eyes, just like Phil's. "I didn't know you have a sister."
"What?" Brynley stared at Phil. "You never told your friends about me? I'm your twin, dammit!"
"Twin?" Vanda gazed at her, then at Phil. "You hypocrite! Always hounding me to tell you about my past, and you don't even tell me you have a twin?"
Phil shifted his weight and glanced back and forth between the two women. "I-I'm bleeding, you know. I thought you might want to patch me up?"
Brynley crossed her arms. "Patch yourself up."
"Fine." Phil stalked into the kitchen area.
Vanda suppressed a laugh. "Good for you."
Brynley's mouth twitched. "Thanks."
Vanda's smile quickly faded when Phil removed his shirt. Cuts and slashes marked his chest and torso. "Oh no." She ran toward him.
"Damn, Phil." Brynley rushed to the kitchen sink and worked the old-fashioned pump. "Clean towels in the drawer there." She motioned with her head.
Vanda set her whip on the counter, then took a towel from a drawer and handed another one to Brynley. Water spewed from the pump, and she dampened her towel.
Phil winced as she cleaned the blood off his chest.
"How did this happen?" Brynley dabbed at a bad slice on the side of his torso.
