Jedrek struggled and kicked, but Ian held him tight. "Now, Toni!"
As she ran forward, she noted the shocked look on Jedrek's face. A mere mortal was about to kill him.
He attacked her with a wave of psychic power. You are under my control. Drop that stake now!
Her hand shook. Icy power streamed through her, threatening to freeze her in place. She forced her feet to move forward. One step. Two.
Jedrek's eyes widened. "No! You will fear me! You will feel the power of fear!"
"I'll show you fear, you bastard!" She stabbed the stake through his heart.
His cry faded as his body disintegrated.
Her mind was free. She dropped the stake, and it fell onto a pile of dust.
Ian tossed the silver rope aside. "Toni." He pulled her into his arms. "Ye were amazing."
She leaned on him, closing her eyes in relief. Jedrek was dead.
"To please the master, I will kill the blonde," a voice whispered behind her.
"No!" Ian yanked Toni to the side.
She jolted when a dagger plunged into her side. Stunned, she saw Ian grab at Nadia, but the female Malcontent teleported away. She looked down at the dagger in her side. How strange. Then a burning pain ripped through her and dragged her into oblivion.
Panic gripped Ian. He swept Toni up in his arms, and the dagger clattered to the floor. It must not have been in very deep. A good sign. But she was losing so much blood.
He shot a pleading look at the camera. "Roman, Connor, if ye hear me, come to Romatech. Please."
The door burst open, and Phineas, Dougal, Howard, and Carlos rushed in. Ian knew they could take care of the hostages, so he teleported straight to Romatech.
"Laszlo!" He zoomed to the operating room.
"I'm here!" Laszlo opened the door for him. "I saw what happened on the television. Put her on the table." He rushed to the sink to wash his hands.
Ian laid Toni on the operating table. Forms wavered in front of him. Roman materialized, holding Shanna, while Connor appeared with Constantine in his arms.
"Oh, thank God," Ian breathed. "She—she's losing so much blood." Already the sheet beneath her was stained red.
Roman and Shanna ran to the sinks to wash their hands. Connor disappeared, then returned with Radinka.
Laszlo snapped on a pair of surgical gloves. "You realize she may have to go to a hospital?"
"Yes, of course." Ian didn't know how to help. He pulled off Toni's shoes and socks.
Laszlo grabbed a pair of scissors and began cutting away her polo shirt. Ian unbuckled her belt and pulled it out from underneath her.
"Ian, stand back." Roman snapped on gloves.
"I canna lose her." Ian flinched when Connor grabbed his arm to pull him back.
"Get out of their way, lad. Let them do their job."
"Is Toni hurt bad?" Constantine asked, his bottom lip trembling.
"She'll be fine," Connor said.
"How is she?" Radinka asked.
"She'll be fine," Connor repeated as he handed Tino to her.
Radinka forced a smile. "Of course she'll be fine." She hurried from the room with the little boy. "Let's wait outside."
Ian watched helplessly as Toni lay on the table bleeding. "By all the saints, I canna lose her."
"She'll be fine, lad," Connor murmured.
Ian turned to him. "I love her, and I willna let ye fire her. I doona care what the rules say."
"Calm down, lad. No one wants to fire her. We saw what she did on the telly. She overcame vampire mind control and staked a vicious Malcontent assassin. It was truly an amazing feat for a mortal."
"She is amazing." Ian looked at Roman. "Ye have to heal her!"
"We'll do our best," Roman said calmly. "The wound is shallow. No major organs were affected." He gazed at the monitor that Shanna had hooked up to show Toni's vital signs. "Her blood pressure's very low, but that's to be expected." He tossed a bloody pad into a metal pan.
Laszlo passed him another pad. "We could give her a transfusion. She's AB positive."
"Do whatever ye have to do!" Ian demanded. "I'm no' going to lose her!"
"Calm down." Shanna walked toward him, carrying a tray of gauze pads and a bottle of something nasty, no doubt. "You've been burned. Let's get you cleaned up."
Ian waved a dismissive hand. "I doona care. I'll heal during my death-sleep."
"Ian," Shanna spoke sharply. "Those wounds need to heal cleanly."
He groaned. "Fine." He endured the stinging medicine she applied to his burns. It served him right for failing to protect Toni. He'd been so relieved to hold her in his arms, he hadn't seen Nadia sneak up on them.
"It's all my fault." He watched Toni on the operating table. She looked so pale. "I dinna get her out of the way fast enough."
"We saw it on TV," Shanna said. "It was terrifying. Everything was happening so fast."
"Aye," Connor agreed. "Ye did well, lad. The Malcontents lost about ten men, and we dinna lose a single one."
But he'd failed to keep Toni safe. Ian gazed sadly at her. "Can ye fix her?"
"We're trying," Roman said. "But we're not surgeons."
Laszlo nodded. "We've never had to repair internal injuries. Vamps always heal naturally from within."
"Because of our vampire blood." Roman looked at Laszlo. "I've always been curious about how well our blood can heal. What if we give her a transfusion of vampire blood instead of regular synthetic blood?"
Laszlo fiddled with a button on his lab coat. "We could give her a sedative to keep her unconscious. That might simulate death-sleep enough that the vampire blood would start to heal her internally."
"Are you planning on turning her?" Shanna asked. "We should have her permission."
"This won't transform her," Roman said. "She would have to be drained completely and in a vampire coma. And then she would have to drink from a vampire and ingest the blood in order to change. This would keep her mortal, but we could see if the vampire blood heals her."
Laszlo nodded. "It would be very interesting to see if it works."
Shanna gave the two men a dubious look. "You want to experiment on her. Wouldn't it be safer to take her to a hospital?"
"She would have to undergo surgery in a hospital," Roman argued. "If our theory works, she'll heal naturally and quickly."
"Indeed." Laszlo twisted a button. "We'll be able to tell fairly quickly if it's working or not. If it doesn't, then we can take her to a hospital."
"Then let's get on with it." Ian strode toward the operating table. "I'll give her my blood."
"We'll need to make sure your blood is compatible." Laszlo swabbed Ian's arm with antiseptic.
"It should be. I drink AB positive all the time."
"So I see." Roman glanced at the bite marks on Toni's neck and frowned at Ian.
"I–I dinna force myself on her."
"How recent?" Laszlo cleaned Toni's arm and inserted a needle.
"About nine hours ago." When Ian received some confused looks, he explained. "I took the Stay-Awake drug, so we could have some time alone."
Connor muttered a curse under his breath.
Roman exchanged an amused look with his wife. "Well, since your blood came from Toni, it should be a perfect match."
Lazlo rolled a second gurney up to the operating table. "Get on."
Ian lay on top, and soon his blood was being pumped directly into Toni. Roman and Laszlo kept a close watch on Toni's wound, while Shanna watched her vital signs.
"The bleeding stopped," Roman whispered.
Laszlo fiddled with a button. "That's a good sign."
"Blood pressure's still too low," Shanna murmured.
"Sir, I believe that tissue is closing," Laszlo exclaimed.
"Yes, it's working," Roman announced. "Let's sew her up."