by Lynsay Sands
“Yeah, but . . .” Allie shook her head helplessly. “I would never—”
“Yes, you will,” Tricia assured her cheerfully. “Maybe not that, but something else. I hear Sam and Mortimer ended up trying to do it while he was driving on the highway.”
“No!” Allie gasped, eyes wide.
Katricia nodded. “I guess they damned near had an accident before Mortimer pulled over . . . apparently just seconds before they passed out,” she added dryly, and then shrugged. “But that shows you how little sense we all have when it comes to life mates.”
Allie just stared at her with a sort of horror.
“So.” Tricia clasped Allie’s left hand and lifted it off the table to examine as she changed the subject. “Look at this, a married woman without a ring on her finger.”
Allie peered at her bare hand and smiled wryly. “Magnus put his signet ring on me for the ceremony, but it was much too big. I gave it back to him as we left the courthouse rather than risk losing it.”
“Hmm.” Tricia nodded and then pursed her lips and arched her eyebrows. “Now I wonder what Magnus could be shopping for?”
Allie’s eyes widened. “He went for a ring?”
“I don’t know,” Tricia admitted, releasing her hand. “But that would be my guess. It really bothered him that he didn’t have a proper ring to give to you.”
“He said that?”
“No, honey. He thought it. He’s easily read right now,” she explained. “It’s a symptom of meeting a life mate. Even old immortals are easily read then.”
“Oh,” Allie murmured, peering down at her bare hand again.
“You said the kids were in the basement?” Tricia asked.
Allie nodded. “Playing the owl game.”
“Well, it’s good they’re getting some use out of the rec room Victor insisted on putting down there,” Tricia said with amusement.
“It wasn’t always there?” Allie asked with surprise.
“No. The basement was concrete walls and floor before. Victor had it finished to give the kids a place to play, but they usually stay upstairs,” she said, and then stood up. “I think I’ll just pop down and say hi to my son. I’ll be back in a minute.”
“Okay.” Allie smiled after her.
It seemed to her that the basement door had barely closed when Drina called, “Tricia? Is that you I hear down there?”
Rising, Allie moved out to the entry to look up at the woman standing at the top of the stairs. “She just went downstairs. She’ll be right back. Is there something you need that I can get for you?”
“No. The postman is coming through the gate with a package and I was hoping she could sign for it so I don’t have to leave my post,” Drina explained, shifting on the spot with indecision.
“You go on and get back to your post. I can get the door,” Allie assured her, and turned to walk toward it.
“No, no, no,” Drina cried, rushing down the stairs as Allie reached the entry and peered out. The mailman was just closing the gate, his back to the house, when she looked out, but she could see his mail bag and the large box he was carrying. Turning to walk slowly up the sidewalk, he dug through his bag, eventually pulling out a sheaf of multicolored papers.
“Someone’s got a big package coming,” Allie commented as Drina reached her side.
The woman glanced out at the mailman and nodded, but then said, “Go wait in the kitchen.”
Allie’s eyebrows rose at the order. “Why? It’s just the mailman.”
“Yeah, but I don’t want you by the door when I open it. Go on. The kitchen.” She waved her hand in a shooing motion and Allie grimaced, but moved away.
“Fine. I’ll go make coffee,” she announced, starting into the dining room, but then paused and turned to look back as she heard the front door open and the rumble of a deep voice.
“Sure. I thought you guys had digital things to sign nowadays,” she heard Drina say with amusement as she turned her back to the man and placed the stack of multicolored papers on the open door to have a flat surface to sign on.
Allie’s gaze shifted to the mailman then and her eyes widened slightly. He looked familiar. She was trying to sort out where she’d seen him before when three things happened in quick succession. She heard a door open behind her, felt a cold draft, and heard the murmur of Mabel’s and Elvi’s voices as they apparently returned, a second door opened and she heard Tricia call a greeting, and then movement drew Allie’s attention down to the box the mailman held and she saw that it was open and he was pulling a machete out of it.
“Drina!” she shouted in warning as he swung the machete back. She rushed forward as he started to bring it down.
“I’d just pulled out the machete when the human screamed a warning. The vampire bitch turned and saw it coming at her. She tried to duck, but I still clipped her a good one in the head.”
Allie could hear the speaker, but she couldn’t see anything. She was lying on a cold, damp floor on her stomach, her head turned to the side with her eyes closed and no desire to open them. Her head was pounding as if she was the one who had taken the machete to the head. In fact, Allie wasn’t sure she hadn’t. The last thing she remembered was running to Drina and then pain exploding in her head. Now there was blood dripping down her face, and terrible pain radiating from the back of her skull. If he hadn’t hacked her in the head like he had Drina, then the man had thumped her with the handle of it hard enough to do some serious damage.
“Just a head wound?” another voice asked, this one closer to her. Standing over her, she guessed, and at first thought he was talking to her. But then the other man answered.
“Yes. I was going to cut her head off, but once the human screamed there was no chance of that happening. The bitch’ll be out of commission for a while, though.”
“Yes, yes. Good. But how did you end up bringing Allie instead of the boy, Stephen? It is your son we want.”
Stephen. Stella’s husband, Allie thought, and realized suddenly why he’d looked familiar to her when she’d first seen him there in the door. She’d looked at the picture in the locket often enough since Stella died that she was sure she would have recognized him at once if he hadn’t been dressed in the mailman gear. That had thrown her off.
“Well,” Stephen said, “she rushed over to try to help the vamp bitch. But her scream had raised the alarm. People were coming from every direction. There was no chance of looking for Liam, so I knocked her out, threw her over my shoulder, and ran. I thought maybe we could trade her for Liam.”
“Ah. Yes. Clever,” the second man complimented. “Fast thinking too.”
“You think they’d trade my son for her, Abby? She’s just a human.”
Abby, Allie thought grimly. So she was in the presence of not just Liam’s father, but of the man who had turned Stella so violently and made her into a monster. If only temporarily. Apparently, her husband hadn’t been so lucky and was still in crazy town.
“Allie was human,” Abaddon corrected. “But not anymore. She’s been turned.”
“Has she?” Stephen sounded truly surprised. “I didn’t notice.”
“Well, she has. Which means she is a life mate to someone in that house, which makes her very important. I have no doubt they will trade Liam for her. After all, he is not related to any of them.”
“So I did the right thing?”
“Yes. You certainly did. Come now, we shall plot how to arrange a trade.”
Allie heard their footsteps move away. She listened until she couldn’t hear them anymore before risking taking more than the shallow breaths she’d allowed herself until now. But she didn’t move. She wasn’t sure she could. God, her head hurt. Shouldn’t the nanos be fixing that?
Forcing herself to calm down, she concentrated on her breaths rather than the pain. Or tried to. Unfortunately, her mind was turning to what Abaddon had said about the others being willing to trade Liam for her.
“No.” The word slid out in a soft
whisper of denial. Surely Magnus wouldn’t trade Liam to get her back? Hand her son over to these madmen and let them twist him into another Leonius? She didn’t want that. And Stella certainly hadn’t. She’d killed herself to prevent that happening. And Allie would too, without a single regret.
Well, that wasn’t completely true. She already had a regret. Allie wished that when Magnus had told her he loved her, she’d done more than sit there staring at him with fear rolling through her. She wished she’d had the courage to admit that she thought she might be falling in love with him too. She could have given him that at least. But she hadn’t realized that she might not get the chance later. She supposed that meant she’d learned another of life’s lessons today. Always tell people how you feel about them. Don’t withhold it out of fear. You never knew if you’d get another chance.
Well, this was bullshit, Allie thought suddenly. She would get the chance. She wasn’t dying here, and she wasn’t lying around waiting for them to try to get Magnus to give them Liam in exchange for her. She wasn’t chained down and her captors had left her alone. She was getting up and getting out of here.
“Now,” Allie muttered aloud when her body didn’t immediately start moving. Clenching her teeth, she shifted first one hand and then the other closer to her body, and then started to push herself upward. She managed to lift her upper body perhaps an inch off the ground before the pain in her head increased from agony to shattering.
Allie wasn’t conscious when she hit the floor again.
Magnus was whistling happily to himself, his gaze repeatedly sliding to the pale blue jeweler’s bag with the bow tied to the handle on the passenger seat. He was pretty pleased with himself. He’d got exactly what he’d envisioned when he’d set out to find Allie’s rings, both an engagement ring and a wedding band. Of course, he’d had to drive into London to find it, and it might not be the right size. But the salesman had assured him they could alter the size to fit later.
Now he just had to hope Allie liked it, Magnus thought, and felt a flutter of anxiety push in to join the pleased feeling. He wanted her to like it and she’d seemed to like the clothes he’d chosen her, so he hoped their taste in rings would match up too, but jewelry could be such a personal thing. Maybe he should have waited until he could have taken her with him.
“She will like it,” he reassured himself, but was still oddly nervous about presenting it to her. Maybe he should do something special. Take her to dinner, or—
His thoughts fled as he approached Casey Cottage and saw Teddy’s SUV in the driveway. The lights were flashing and the door was wide open. Hands clenching on the steering wheel, Magnus hit the gas, sending Mabel’s car shooting the last twenty feet up the street and squealing into the driveway. He was out of the car the minute it stopped, rushing inside, leaving the door open as Teddy had, the pale blue bag forgotten on the passenger seat.
Eighteen
The main floor of the house appeared empty when Magnus rushed in, but he could hear the murmur of voices from upstairs. Hurrying around the kitchen counter, he headed for the stairs, his feet stumbling to a halt when he spotted the blood splattered on the front door and the pool of it on the entry floor.
Desperate to find Allie and assure himself she was all right, Magnus turned and ran up the steps. The door to Allie’s room was wide open, showing that it was empty. His footsteps slowed a bit as relief coursed through him. She hadn’t been hurt, then. It was someone else, he thought, and then a surly voice barked, “She saved my life, Harper. If she hadn’t screamed out that warning I wouldn’t have my head. We have to get her back.”
“I know, honey. And we will. But you have to let them give you more blood so you’ll heal. You took a terrible wound.” Harper’s voice drifted down the hall to him, sounding as anxious and upset as Magnus had been feeling just moments ago. Turning that way, he headed down the hall to see what he could do to help . . . and get a look at Allie. He’d feel better once he could actually see her and know for sure that she hadn’t been injured.
“No. We have to go look for her. I’m an Enforcer. I have to find her. She saved my life.”
“Honey, I’ll go look for her. I promise. But you have to stay here and let them give you more blood.”
“No. She saved my life. I have to—”
“No, she didn’t, Drina honey,” Mabel said now, obviously trying to help calm her. “She maybe saved you getting a more serious wound, but immortals can survive a beheading if the head is replaced quickly enough. You know that. So just take your blood and leave finding her to the men. You need to—”
“Not always. Sometimes it doesn’t work,” Drina muttered, and then, voice rising to a shout, she told them, “It wouldn’t have worked on me!” and then almost in a whimper, “I need to find her, Harper. She saved my life.”
Magnus reached the doorway as she said that, and stared at Drina with shock. The woman was seated on the side of the bed, hunched over, holding her head and rocking slightly. If he hadn’t recognized her voice, he wouldn’t know who she was by looking at her. Drina was covered with blood from the gaping wound on her head, almost to her waist, and the deep red stain was spreading even as he watched.
“I’ll go look for her. But you have to let them give you more blood, Drina,” Harper said pleadingly. When she shook her head and tried to stand, he grasped her shoulders and held her down, but finally lost it and barked, “Jesus, woman! There’s a gaping wound in your head. Stop being so bloody stubborn and let them give you blood.”
Drina raised her head, her eyes a mix of silver and bloodred. He suspected she was about to argue again, but then she spotted him and, instead, moaned, “Magnus.”
The room went silent as all eyes turned to him, and Magnus asked with concern, “What the hell happened?”
“The mailman took her. I’m sorry,” Drina moaned. “I told her to go in the kitchen. But she saved my life and he took her.”
“Took who?” Magnus asked, fear creeping up his back as he glanced around at the pitying looks he was getting from the people in the room. “Where’s Allison?”
“The mailman took Allie,” Elvi said quietly, moving to his side. “I’m sorry. We tried to stop him, but he slid the machete through the handles of the double front doors and we couldn’t get out that way. By the time we ran out the back door and around, they were gone.”
“What?” he asked with confusion and disbelief. “Why would the mailman take her?”
“Actually, it wasn’t the mailman,” Tybo explained. “He’s dead in a van down the street. We think it was Abaddon or one of his men wearing the dead mailman’s uniform. He came to the door with the mailbag and box. He looked like a mailman. Drina went to sign for the package and . . .” His gaze slid to Drina. “It sounds like he was going to cut off her head, but Allie shouted a warning and Drina ducked.”
Magnus’s eyes shifted back to the gaping wound on Drina’s head. It was a bad wound, but would heal.
“Unfortunately,” Tybo continued, “aside from shouting, Allie rushed forward, we think to help Drina, but he hit her over the head with the butt of the machete, tossed her over his shoulder, and fled.”
“But he stuck the machete through the door handles so you could not follow,” Magnus muttered what Elvi had said.
Everyone in the room nodded and Magnus stared at them with bewilderment, and then burst out furiously, “Well, why the hell are you all standing here, then? We need to be out looking for her.”
“We were going to do that, but have no idea where to start,” Victor said quietly. “He could have taken her next door, or all the way to London. We don’t have the manpower to search that big an area door to door.”
“Well, we cannot just stand here doing nothing,” he growled with outrage.
“Lucian is on the way right now with Basha and Marcus,” Victor told him. “He thinks she can narrow the search. And we expect Abaddon to call soon too. It’s not Allie he wants. It’s Liam.”
“We think he’l
l call offering to make a trade,” Tybo explained. “Liam for Allie.”
“Yes. He will do that,” Magnus breathed, feeling a little hope creep in to join the fear clutching at his chest. Abaddon wouldn’t kill Allie. He’d try to use her for a trade.
“In the meantime, we’re trying to get Drina to take blood so she can heal,” Elvi put in now. “But she’s determined to go find Allie and won’t let us give her blood.”
Magnus frowned and glanced to the woman. “Chain her down and make her take the blood.”
“We’re not chaining her down,” Harper growled. “We just need to talk some sense into her. She—”
“You cannot reason with her, Harper—she’s in shock, and probably has brain damage to boot,” Magnus snapped impatiently. “And if you do not chain her down, eventually she is going to try to get up again, fall over, and you are going to be scraping her brain off the floor and trying to put it back in her head. So chain her down, put an IV in her, start pouring blood down her throat as well, and open another bag to pour over the wound. She needs all the blood she can get and quickly or she is going to lose that baby she is carrying.”
Paling, Harper turned back to the bed and barked, “Where are the chains?”
“I’ll get them,” Victor said, slipping from the room.
Knowing they were kept in the linen closet in the hall, Magnus wasn’t surprised when the man was back quickly. Victor handed one length of chain to Harper, but gave Magnus and DJ each one too, then took the other and they moved out around the bed.
Drina didn’t lie down nicely for them to chain her. She fought like a wildcat, screaming that she had to find Allie the whole while. Magnus was right there with her. He wanted to be out looking for her too, and was fighting himself not to flee the house and jump in the car to do it. The only thing that kept him there was the hope that Basha really might be able to narrow down the search, and the possibility that Abaddon would call and possibly say something to give away his whereabouts. It was hard, though.