by Lynsay Sands
“But how did it get in there?” Allie asked with dismay, staring at the little black disc, and then she glanced to Decker with surprise when he snatched up the disc and moved over to Dani.
“What are you doing? Just break it,” Teddy demanded. “Put it on the ground and stomp on it, or flush it down the toilet or something.”
“That may not be a good idea,” Magnus pointed out. “We might be able to use it to lure Abaddon into a trap.”
“That’s true,” Tricia said with a frown. “But we can’t keep it in the house. What if it’s still sending the signal? It will lead Abaddon and the others straight here. You can’t put the children in jeopardy that way.”
Allie couldn’t agree more, but her attention was on Dani and Decker as the pair whispered back and forth. They only spoke briefly before Decker nodded and announced, “We’ll take it with us and drive back to Toronto.”
“What?” Elvi asked with concern. “But they’ll follow you.”
Decker nodded. “That’s the idea. Dani has to get back and we were planning to head home in the morning anyway. But if we leave tonight, we can take the tracker with us and lead Abaddon and the others away from here. It will keep the children safe,” he pointed out, and then he added, “And we might be able to lead them into a trap if Lucian can set one up before we hit Toronto.”
“I’m sure he can,” Tybo said, pulling out his phone and heading for the entry. “I’ll call him now and tell him what’s happening.”
Allie watched him go and then turned her concerned gaze back as Elvi asked, “But what if they run you off the road or something before you reach Toronto and this trap?”
“They aren’t likely to do that. We have the necklace. They’ll think Liam and Allie are in the vehicle.”
“I hate to say this,” Teddy began in a grim voice. “But if you’re going . . .”
“Go quickly?” Decker suggested with amusement when Teddy hesitated to say it after all.
The police chief nodded apologetically. “The longer you stay, the more chance there is that they’ll find, surround, and attack the house before you can lead them away.”
“Right. Well, on the bright side, we didn’t have time to grab anything to bring with us, so we don’t need to pack. Now.” Decker glanced around the people in the room. “We flew here. What vehicle do we take?”
“My SUV,” Victor said at once, pulling keys from his pocket and offering them. “It’s in the garage. They won’t see who gets in if they are already outside, and the windows are tinted so they won’t know who’s inside.”
“I guess we are going to have to move some vehicles, then,” Magnus said, walking toward the pantry, presumably to get his coat.
“There’s no need,” Victor said, catching his arm to stop him, and then explained, “We added a second vehicle door on the side of the garage shortly after Elvi and I married.” When Magnus turned with surprise, he shrugged. “We were still running the bed and breakfast then, and it got to be a pain in the ass having to make people move their vehicles every time we wanted to go somewhere. The garage was big enough, so it was just easier to put in a second door and short driveway, and start parking facing the road rather than the driveway.”
“Well, then, I guess we’d best go,” Decker said.
There was an immediate convergence of people, as everyone moved forward for hugs and to admonish them to be careful.
Allie wanted to thank Dani for everything she’d done for her, but felt her family had more right to say goodbye, so she stood back. But then Dani pushed through the throng and took her hands.
“Thank you,” Allie said at once. “For everything.”
“You’re more than welcome,” Dani assured her, and then looked at Magnus and said firmly, “Turn her. Now. The minute we leave.”
“Oh, no,” Mabel said, joining them. “It’s their wedding night, Dani. He can’t turn her tonight.”
“Do you want what happened to me to happen to her?” Dani turned on the other woman, anger vibrating through her. “I thought I was safe in the care of the Enforcers too, and then Leonius kidnapped me and turned me. A no-fanger turned me, Mabel. And now I’ll never be able to have children or—” Pausing abruptly, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes as if fighting for control.
Allie watched her with concern. She had no idea what a no-fanger was, or why Dani couldn’t have children. She’d thought the doctor was an immortal like the others. Before she could ask, Mabel gently pointed out, “Abaddon’s immortal, not a no-fanger, Dani. He couldn’t do that to Allie.”
Eyes flashing open, Dani glared at the other woman. “No. You’re right . . . All he can do is kill her,” she said harshly, and then turned to glare at Magnus again. “Turn her.”
“He’ll turn me,” Allie said before Magnus could respond. “We’re life mates now.”
Dani didn’t even take her eyes off of Magnus to look at her, but stared past her at him and insisted, “Tonight.”
“Tonight,” Magnus agreed on a sigh.
“Good,” Dani said, relaxing. Finally looking at Allie again then, she smiled and hugged her. “Congratulations. I hope you two are very happy.”
“Thank you,” Allie murmured, hugging her back. “Stay safe.”
“We will,” Dani said, and then released her and turned to slip back through the crowd to Decker’s side. Expression solemn, he took her hand and then turned to lead her out to the garage.
Allie watched them go, but her mind was on the subject of no-fangers. Sam had mentioned them first, back at the Enforcer house. She’d wondered about it then, but they had been under Lucian’s “no questions until after” order and by the time “after” had come, she’d forgotten.
“Allie? You are very quiet. Are you all right?” Magnus asked with concern, clasping her shoulders and urging her to lean back against him.
Before her back could touch his chest, she turned and managed a smile. “I’m fine. I was just wondering what a no-fanger is.”
He hesitated briefly, but then said, “An immortal without fangs.”
“Oh.” She considered that briefly, and then asked, “Is that such a bad thing? Your people don’t bite people anymore anyway. You drink bagged blood. And why would that stop her from having children?”
Magnus paused briefly as if considering his answer, and then explained, “No-fangers are the result of different nanos than immortals. It was an early batch that were tested, but proved problematic. While it worked well in a third of the patients, a third died and another third went insane. That was enough to make them halt testing with those nanos and go back to the drawing board. They eventually came up with a new batch of nanos, the ones that immortals have. After the fall of Atlantis, those of our kind with the second batch of nanos gained fangs, but the patients who had received the first batch did not. We called them ‘Edentates’ if they were sane and ‘no-fanger’ if they were insane to differentiate the two,” he explained. “As for Dani having children, technically she could, but she does not wish to risk having a no-fanger child.”
“Oh,” Allie said quietly, glancing toward the people crowded into the pantry, watching Dani and Decker leave. Apparently, someone was holding the door between the pantry and garage open. She could smell a faint whiff of exhaust and hear the hum of the automated garage door being raised. Glancing back to him, she asked, “So are you really going to turn me now?”
He peered down at her solemnly. “Do you want me to?”
Allie nodded at once. There seemed little reason to delay. This is why she agreed to be his life mate.
Magnus was silent for a minute, and then nodded slowly. “All right. Then once everyone comes back from seeing Dani and Decker off, I shall inform them of your decision and we will start the preparations.”
“Preparations?” Allie asked with surprise. “What preparations?”
“Mom!”
Allie turned her head as Liam came rushing into the room with Teddy and Gracie on his heels. “The movie s
topped playing. Can you come fix it?”
“Oh.” She hesitated. Elvi had found a movie on Netflix for the kids when they’d taken them pop and chips. If it had stopped working, the modem probably needed rebooting or something. She glanced back to Magnus, but then sighed and moved toward her son. Explanations would have to wait.
Thirteen
“Why is Leonora setting up an IV?” Allie asked with concern as Magnus led her into her room at Casey Cottage. It had taken her longer than she’d expected to fix the Netflix problem. And of course the minute she was done, the kids needed bathroom breaks and more to drink and she’d had to pause the movie she’d just got going. She’d then had to wait there until they were all set again before unpausing it for them. By the time all that was done, Allie had come out to find Magnus waiting to lead her here to perform the turn.
Allie had been surprised to hear the turn would be done in her room. She hadn’t really considered where she would be turned, but supposed because it was a medical procedure she’d had a vague thought of a hospital or a clinic now that Dani was gone. Which was ridiculous, Allie realized now. Immortals would hardly want their existence known. But then, apparently, there were a lot of things she hadn’t considered. Like: “Why are they attaching chains to the bed?”
“The IV is to give you blood during the turn,” Magnus explained.
Crossing the room to join them by the door, Elvi added, “Leonora will also use it to administer the drugs Dani left for you.”
“Drugs?” Allie asked with distraction as she watched Alessandro finish attaching a length of chain to the top end of the bed on this side and then move down to attach another at the foot of the bed. The comforter had been stripped from the bed and a length of what looked to her to be clear plastic sheeting had been laid over the remaining bed linens. Katricia was now opening an old fitted sheet to put over the linens and plastic sheeting.
“The drugs help ease the turn a bit,” Elvi explained.
“Uh-huh,” Allie muttered, hardly hearing the explanation as she watched Alessandro finish with the chain at the bottom of the bed on this side, and then carry two more lengths around to the other side. “But why is Alessandro attaching chains to the bed?”
Elvi turned to watch Alessandro too, and said, “Well, we used to have to run the chains under the bed, but after Tiny’s turn, Victor got special reinforced bed frames so we didn’t have to worry about them snapping and now we can just attach them to the frame itself. Of course, we haven’t had anyone turn here since he did that.” Shaking her head, she turned back with a wry smile. “Isn’t that the way of it? Have something happen several times, and then once you’re prepared for it, these things never occur. Or at least not for years, since it’s about to happen again.”
Allie had no idea who Tiny was, but didn’t really care in that moment either. She was more concerned with: “Why do we need chains, though?”
“Rope wouldn’t hold up against immortal strength,” Elvi pointed out, and then patted her arm. “It will be fine.”
“Why don’t we get you on the bed,” Magnus suggested, trying to urge her forward by the hold he had on her arm.
Allie dug her heels in, resisting. “Not until someone explains what the chains are for. They aren’t necessary. I’m doing this of my own free will.”
“Yes, of course you are,” Elvi said at once. “We wouldn’t do it otherwise. It’s against immortal law to turn someone unwillingly.”
“Yes, but the point is, since I’m willing, you don’t need to chain me down.”
“Oh, goodness, no!” Elvi said at once. “We know that. The chains aren’t to keep you here. They’re to . . . help you.”
“Help me what?” she asked with a frown.
When Elvi hesitated and then turned to Magnus expectantly, he grimaced and merely said, “It will keep you from rolling off the bed or . . . anything,” he ended lamely.
“You’re going to chain me to the bed to keep me from rolling off of it?” she asked dubiously, and then demanded, “What aren’t you telling me?”
“Probably a lot,” Magnus admitted on a sigh.
“Right-o,” Mabel said brightly as she sailed into the room. “The kids have been shifted up to Stephanie’s room to watch the movie on her TV. The soundproofing and double walls should prevent their hearing and being alarmed by the screaming. Now, what can I help with in here?”
“Screaming?” Allie asked with dismay.
“Oh, Mabel,” Elvi groaned with despair.
“What?” Mabel glanced over the threesome, her eyebrows rising slightly. “Haven’t you told her what to expect yet?”
“No!” Elvi barked. “We were trying not to upset her.”
“Oh.” The blonde bit her lip briefly, but then released it and scowled instead. “Well, that’s nonsense. The girl has a right to know what she’s signing up for here.”
“She knows what she’s signing up for, Mabel,” Elvi said with exasperation. “She’s about to become an immortal. But I see no reason to upset her with the horror stories of the turn when she won’t remember most of it afterward anyway.”
Oh.” Mabel blinked, and then grimaced and admitted, “I suppose you’re right. I don’t remember much of my turn. I mean, I remember the nightmares and have a vague recollection of terrible agony. But I have absolutely no recall of attacking you or any of the other things I did.”
“So,” Allie said when both women fell silent, “I’m guessing from the mention of screaming and terrible agony that this is going to be incredibly painful.” She didn’t wait for a response, but continued. “And the chains aren’t really to help me at all, but to keep me from attacking any of you?”
“No, no. The chains are meant to protect you too,” Mabel said at once. “They’ll keep you from trying to claw out your own eyeballs, or rip open your stomach in an effort to stop the pain.”
“Mabel!” Elvi gasped with dismay.
“What?” the blonde asked with exasperation. “We have the chains. She won’t be able to do that, but she needs to know we’re looking out for her if we want her to place herself in our hands for this.” Turning to Allie, she added, “We really do know what we’re doing, dear. I promise everything will be fine.”
Allie stared at her wide-eyed. Now that Mabel had mentioned it, she was recalling a discussion back at the Enforcer house that had included some nasty descriptions of the turn. How could she have forgotten that, she thought, and then turned to Magnus. “This is going to be bad, isn’t it?”
Magnus hesitated, but then sighed and nodded reluctantly. “It is not going to be pleasant.”
“Birth never is,” Mabel said at once, and when Allie turned a startled gaze her way, she shrugged. “Well, this is like a rebirth. You’re going to go through a period of pain and suffering and come out immortal born.”
Allie blinked at the description, and then snapped bitterly, “Yes, except in birth, it’s the mother who suffers and Magnus is the mother of my rebirth, but he isn’t going to suffer anything at all.”
“Oh, he’ll suffer some,” Mabel assured her with amusement. “As for the other, do you really believe it’s only the mother who suffers in birth? Do you think it was pleasant for Liam to be born? I don’t imagine being squeezed and pummeled by his mother’s contracting muscles was fun, and at the very least he probably had a pounding headache from having his head squeezed in a vise. But the end result for him was life. Here, the nanos will invade your body, fixing anything that needs repair, and it will feel like acid pouring through your body, but the end result will be your life as an immortal. It will be worth it.”
Allie was still staring at the woman, her words running through her head, when Magnus took her hand, regaining her attention.
“If you want to wait, I completely understand,” he said gently. “It is our wedding night, after all.”
“God, no!” Allie snatched her hand away at the very thought, and headed for the bed. “I’m not putting it off and then freaking out over
what’s coming for however long we delay. Let’s get it done.”
“All set,” Tricia said, straightening from tucking the last corner under the mattress as Allie reached the bed.
Allie smiled at her weakly, glad the other woman was there. Elvi and Mabel were lovely, but Tricia was the first female immortal she’d met when she encountered these people. She also kind of reminded her of Stella, though they were polar opposites in looks. Allie liked her, and thought they could be friends. Turning, she started to sit on the bed, but then stopped and straightened again as she caught sight of the dress she was wearing.
“Should I maybe change into something else?” she asked uncertainly, running a hand over the soft blue lace. “I wouldn’t want this dress to get damaged or—”
“Oh, good Lord, yes.” Elvi turned and hurried for the door. “I’ll grab something else for you to wear.”
“I have my jeans I could change into,” Allie called after her, but the woman was already gone.
“You don’t want to ruin your clothes, dear,” Mabel said when Allie started to move away from the bed to grab the jeans and T-shirt she’d folded neatly and set on the dresser. “Anything you wear will be ruined in the turn. Elvi will fetch you something old and ready for the rag bin.”
“How will they be ruined?” Allie asked with confusion as she paused. “I’m not going to hulk out or something, am I?”
“No, nothing like that,” Magnus assured her quickly. “But the nanos will be removing a lot of toxins and . . .”
“Gunk,” Mabel put in when Magnus seemed unsure how to describe it. “The nanos remove everything nasty from your body, break it down, and push it out through your pores. At least, that’s what it seemed like to me. I woke up feeling like I’d been dunked in a vat of slimy grease. And the stink . . . Woo-ee.” She grimaced and shuttered at the memory. “You can wash it off your body with enough scrubbing, but nothing gets the stink out of cloth. Which is why Katricia put the plastic sheeting and an old bedsheet on the bed. It saves having to toss and replace the mattress later. We’ll just toss the plastic and the old sheet.”