would be terribly selfish of him to try to keep her here when she had such a noble plan for her future.
"Everything was going according to plan till last Sunday," Toni continued. "Sabrina was attacked in Central Park. She ended up in the hospital with cracked ribs, contusions, and...bite marks."
Ian inhaled sharply. "Malcontents." "Yes. She was hysterical when the police questioned her. She claimed she'd been attacked by vampires."
"Those fools. They should have erased her memory." Toni's eyes widened. "You think it's all right, what they did?" "No, of course not. But any vampire, good or bad, knows there is nothing more important than
keeping our existence a secret."
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Toni winced as she threw away the dirty paper towels. She pulled more towels from the dispenser.
"Let's clean up your knees." She started to kneel, but Ian levitated till his knees were even with the sink. "It'll be easier this way."
"Oh." She glanced up at him. "This is weird." "Thank you. Back to yer story..." "Right." She gently tugged his bloody knee socks down. "Sabrina's trust is handled by her aunt
and uncle. Her uncle's a psychiatrist, and he diagnosed her as psychotic and delusional. He put her in a mental ward."
"She's the one at Shady Oaks Psychiatric Hospital?" "Yes." Toni's eyes flashed with anger. "Her uncle wants her money, so he'll make sure she's never released. Carlos and I went to see her tonight, and it was awful."
Ian lowered himself to the floor. "Ye went there before Mass?" No wonder her emotions had been so raw.
Toni nodded. "I can't fail her like I did Grandma. I've got to get her out of there." He squeezed her hand. "And ye thought ye would need my help? Is that why ye took the job as my guard?"
"I do need your help, but that's not exactly how things happened. After Sabrina was attacked, she asked me to find the vampires who attacked her, to prove she wasn't delusional." Ian stiffened. "Ye purposely went to the park to be attacked?"
"I didn't think anything would happen, 'cause I didn't believe vampires were real. But--" "Ye were viciously attacked," he finished her sentence. "Ye could have died if Connor hadna come along."
"Believe me, I know how bad it was. Connor offered to erase my memory, but I couldn't do that, not when I'd just found out that Sabrina was right. So I took the job, hoping I could get the proof she needed."
A chill came over Ian. "Ye intended to prove our existence?" He let go of her hand. "Ye took an oath that ye would never expose us."
Toni winced. "I know." "Do ye no' understand the full importance of our secret? If our existence becomes public knowledge, there would be millions of mortals wanting us destroyed. There would be slayers roaming the streets with their bloody stakes. There'd be scientists wanting to experiment on us or dissect us. And if they ever found out about the healing properties of our blood, we'd be hunted like animals and drained dry. Exposure means extinction."
She paled. "I never meant to hurt anyone. I thought I could give the proof to a psychiatrist or
lawyer who would keep it confidential. Sorta like your Father Andrew." "That's a terrible risk to take. Ye canna guarantee someone would keep quiet, especially if he considered us a serious threat to mankind."
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"The Malcontents are a serious threat."
"Ye canna expose them without exposing us! And we're the only ones capable of defeating them. I canna believe ye would take such a risk with our lives." He paced away from her. "I didn't understand at first how nice the Vamps are. Once I got to know you all, I knew I couldn't
hurt you." "That's bloody generous of you." Ian frowned at her. "Ye should have told me this from the start." "I didn't know if I could trust you. It took me a few days to get to know you." Ian didn't know what to think. He just felt a nagging sense of betrayal. "I--I have to think about
this." He headed for the door. She followed him. "Ian, you must know I could never hurt you." He felt too confused to even know how to answer. "Go to bed, Toni. I'll see you tomorrow." "Ian, I'm sorry." He couldn't bear to see her stricken face, so he marched back to the waiting room. Shanna was
ready to see him. He sat on an operating table, thinking things over while Shanna plucked glass
from his face