by Lynsay Sands
“And yet you’ve still never had a blood test?” she asked. “Not once since you were sixteen?”
“I’ve never been to a doctor. Never needed to,” she added. “I seem to have a healthy constitution. I don’t catch colds, or the flu. I’ve never been injured or hospitalized . . . until I fainted and hit my head in the blood bank,” she added, and then paused and frowned. “I wonder if they took blood while I was unconscious.”
“Probably not for a head injury,” Dani said quietly.
There was silence for a minute and then Allie cleared her throat and asked, “Where is my son?”
“He’s downstairs,” Leonora said reassuringly. “He wanted to come up right away when he heard you were awake, but Elvi told him he had to finish his breakfast first. I think she was trying to give you a few minutes to wake up before you were surrounded with children.”
“If Liam comes up, Teddy, Sunny, and Gracie will no doubt follow,” Dani assured her with amusement.
“I know Sunny is someone named Elvi’s daughter, but who is Gracie?” Allie asked with confusion.
“She is Mabel and DJ’s daughter, who are good friends of Elvi and Victor’s, as well as Tricia and Teddy Sr.’s,” Magnus explained solemnly. “Teddy, Elvi, and Mabel grew up together and wanted their children to do the same so set out to have babies around the same time. The three kids were born weeks apart about four years ago.”
“Liam’s age,” Allie murmured.
“Yes.” Leonora grinned. “The four have become quite chummy since his arrival. Thick as thieves.”
“Oh.” Allie smiled faintly at the thought of Liam having friends. It would be something new for him. She was glad something good had come out of all this. Clearing her throat, she asked, “So, I’ve had the transfusion and everything is fine?”
“So far so good. I need to continue to monitor you over the next twenty-four hours, but problems usually pop up early on so I think everything is good.”
“Does that mean I can get out of bed?” she asked.
Dani looked surprised. “If you want to.”
“I want to,” Allie assured her. “I need to pee.” The words left her lips before she thought about them . . . and the fact that Magnus was sitting there. Flushing with embarrassment, she avoided looking at him and grimaced.
Dani smiled with amusement, but quickly removed the rope that had been tied around Allie’s left wrist to keep her from moving it and knocking out her IV.
The moment she was done, Allie pulled the blanket and sheet covering her aside, not even thinking about what she was or wasn’t wearing until she saw the black jeans and blouse she still wore. Relieved that she hadn’t been undressed, Allie got cautiously to her feet, noting that the rope from her wrist had been tied around the bed frame under the mattress. She didn’t comment, but let Dani take her arm to lead her to the bathroom.
“Do you need help?” Dani asked as they stopped in the room.
“No. Thank you, though,” Allie murmured, and much to her relief Dani headed out of the room at once.
“Shout if you need help,” Dani said as she closed the door.
Allie mumbled an agreement, but knew she wouldn’t need help. She felt surprisingly good. Better than she had in weeks. Certainly better than she had the last time she was awake. Her breath wasn’t coming in pants from the small exertion of walking, and the cold clammy feel she’d been suffering was gone. She felt pretty much back to normal, or as normal as she had been in a long time. She still wasn’t as strong as she’d been when she was first handed Liam and found herself on the run, but then she hadn’t worked out for a long time, so probably wasn’t as strong as she used to be, Allie thought as she took care of her business in the bathroom.
Allie peered at herself in the mirror as she washed her hands afterward and grimaced at the sight she made. She was still a bit pale, but at least the blue tinge around her lips was gone. In that way, at least, she looked better than she had in weeks. But it was the first time she’d seen the white bandages around her head. It wasn’t an attractive look, especially now with her light brown hair a tangled mess where it stuck out from under it.
“I need a brush,” she muttered, and reached up to run her fingers through her hair to work out the worst of the tangles, only to pause and sniff at herself with a grimace. “I need a shower.”
“Allie? Are you all right? Did you say something?”
Sighing, she let her hands drop and turned to open the door, blinking in surprise when she found both Dani and Magnus standing there, concern on their faces.
“I’m fine,” she assured them with a crooked smile. “Except I need a shower and change of clothes.”
“Oh.” Dani frowned.
Suspecting she was going to say that wasn’t a good idea, Allie added, “I stink.”
“Oh.” The doctor sighed and then nodded reluctantly. “All right, then. But maybe I should stay in the room with you in case you—”
“No,” Allie said firmly. “Really, I feel fine, Doctor. All I need is my bag.”
“Dani. Call me Dani,” the blonde said, and turned as if to go get Allie’s bag, but Magnus had already gone and picked it up from where it sat next to the bed. He returned quickly to hand it over.
“Thank you,” Allie murmured, and backed into the room. “I won’t be long.”
“Shout if you feel faint or—”
“Yes, Doctor,” Allie said with amusement as she closed the door. Shaking her head, she set the bag on the sink counter and reached into the tub to turn on the shower. Then she paused to peer at the bandage in the mirror. After a hesitation, she quickly unwrapped it and then turned her head and tilted it slightly to get a look at her head wound. It didn’t look too bad, Allie decided. She could wash her hair if she was careful and avoided the spot. Dani probably wouldn’t be happy, but Dani wasn’t the one with greasy, tangled hair.
The shower felt awesome. Allie stood under the beating water for several minutes, just letting it pound down over her shoulders and back before looking around for the soap. A grin lifted her lips when she saw it was small, pink, and shaped like a unicorn. Sunita apparently really liked unicorns.
She washed her body quickly and then went slower and more carefully with her hair. Once done, Allie quickly dried herself and then opened her Go bag and pulled out the jeans, T-shirt, and underwear she kept it in. They were a little wrinkled, but clean. She dressed, ran her fingers gently through her hair to get out the worst of the tangles, and then bit her lips to give them a little more color. She wished she had some lipstick or something, but that was in her purse and she had no idea where that was. Probably back at the apartment, Allie thought with a frown. She hadn’t taken it with her on her “rob-the-blood-bank” caper, and hadn’t had a chance to grab it when she got back from the hospital. She also hadn’t got a chance to grab her computer. Fortunately, she wasn’t working on any projects right now so that wasn’t such a big deal, and if she was lucky and they caught Abaddon, she could eventually go back to the apartment and get all the things left behind.
That thought made her feel a little better as she gathered her dirty clothes and opened the door.
“Mom!”
Allie froze, prepared herself for Liam’s jumping like a monkey trick. Fortunately, he kept his feet on the ground and merely threw himself against her legs and hugged her tightly.
“You’re awake.”
“Yes.” Smiling faintly, Allie reached down with her free hand and caressed his head, noting that he was wearing the clean clothes from his Go bag too. Someone had looked after him while she was unconscious. She was grateful for that.
“Are you feeling better?” Liam asked, tipping his head back to look up at her.
“Yes, thank you. Much better,” she assured him.
“Good.” He gave her another hard squeeze and then backed up and gestured toward the door before announcing, “These are my friends. You met Teddy.”
Allie looked to where Liam was gesturing and
smiled at the boy as she nodded. “Yes. Hello, Teddy.”
“Hello, Mrs. Liam’s mom,” he said politely.
Allie’s smile widened at the title. She didn’t correct him about the Mrs. part, but simply said, “Call me Allie, sweetheart.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” he murmured.
“And that’s Sunny and Gracie,” Liam continued with his introductions.
Allie shifted her attention to the two little girls standing just behind Teddy Jr. and felt her mouth stretch wide. They were such adorable little girls, one with red hair laying in soft, flyaway waves around her face, the other with blond hair pulled back into a ponytail. Both girls smiled shyly back.
“Mrs. Elvi told us to go watch cartoons for a bit so we aren’t under her feet while she cleans the table,” Liam announced solemnly. “But I’ll stay with you if you want.”
Allie shifted her gaze back to her son and caressed his cheek affectionately. “That’s all right, sweetie, you go ahead and have fun.”
“Thank you, Mom.” Liam gave her legs another squeeze and then whirled away to hurry to the door with a happy, “Love you.”
“Love you too, baby,” she called as the foursome rushed out of the room.
“Did you want to get back in bed?” Dani asked, moving to her side to gently flip her hair around and look at her head wound.
Allie remained still for her, but her eyes shifted to look at the bed. She found herself reluctant to return to it, though. Actually, she was hungry, she realized now.
“It’s healing nicely. We can leave the bandage off,” Dani decided, her hands falling away. Stepping back, she smiled wryly and added, “And of course you’re hungry. I should have expected that. You haven’t eaten since noon yesterday.”
“Would you like me to go below and fetch you something to eat?” Leonora offered at once.
“I’d really rather go below myself,” Allie admitted, although she wasn’t positive she knew what “go below” was. Presumably it meant going downstairs, though, and not that she had to descend into hell to get food.
Leonora grinned suddenly, but then asked Dani, “It should be all right for her to go down and sit at the dining room table to eat, don’t you think? She appears to be feeling well enough for it.”
Dani nodded slowly, but warned, “Just don’t overdo it. You’re no doubt feeling better, and are probably fine, but I’d just rather you took it easy. At least until we’re positive there are no adverse reactions to the transfusion.”
“I’ll be careful,” Allie assured her.
“Good. I just don’t want you to wear yourself out. The transfusion replaced some of the blood you lost and you aren’t critical anymore, but you’re still probably a pint low and need to be careful until your body builds it back up.”
Allie nodded solemnly. “I will.”
“Okay, then.” Dani turned to Leonora. “I’m heading to bed. Call me if there is any problem. Anything at all.”
“Certainly,” Leonora said solemnly. “Sleep well.”
“Thank you,” Dani murmured, and smiled at Allie again before slipping from the room.
“Well, let’s head downstairs and find you something to eat, then, shall we?” Leonora suggested brightly.
Nodding, Allie followed her out of the room and into a hall. She was very aware that Magnus was behind her, bringing up the rear, but tried not to think about that and asked, “Where are the kids watching TV?”
“In the porch off Elvi and Victor’s room,” Magnus answered from behind her, and then added, “It is heated.”
“Heated, insulated, and furnished,” Leonora added as they started down a curving staircase. “The children actually slept out there last night. They were watching movies and decided they wanted a pajama party out there. Since it meant Liam wouldn’t witness your blood transfusion and possibly worry even more about you, the adults all decided it was a good idea and gave permission so they sacked out in sleeping bags. Although, being children, I doubt they got much sleep.”
Allie nodded, but asked, “Do you live here too, Leonora?”
“Oh, no, dear. I have a house across the street where my Alessandro and I live.”
“Alessandro?” Allie queried with curiosity, wondering about the woman. Leonora looked young, but then she’d noticed that all of them looked to be between twenty-five or thirty years old. This woman spoke as if she was older, though.
“Alessandro is my husband,” Leonora explained, and then added, “And I was eighty-four when I met him, found out I was his life mate, and allowed him to turn me. That was several years ago now,” she admitted wryly. “But I don’t feel a day over sixteen. At least, not on the inside,” she added wryly, and then glanced over her shoulder with concern. “Are you managing all right? Do you need to stop and rest?”
“No. I’m fine,” Allie assured her, and it was true—she felt fine. Going down the stairs wasn’t tiring her at all. But she hadn’t forgotten what had happened the last time she’d mounted stairs. She’d have to remember to take it slow when she came back up.
“Good idea . . . at least until you’re sure you can manage them well enough,” Leonora said brightly as if Allie had argued the subject aloud. It reminded her that these people could read her thoughts. Except Magnus. He couldn’t, she recalled, and wondered if that was why she felt so much more comfortable and safe with him.
“Well, you’re up.”
Allie looked past Leonora to see a redhead with a pretty face and big eyes waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
“You’re looking much better than you did when you arrived, dear,” the woman said with a wide smile that Allie automatically responded to with one of her own.
“Allie, this is Elvi Argeneau,” Magnus announced as they reached the bottom of the steps and paused in front of her.
“And I’m Mabel,” a pretty blonde announced coming around the corner to join them. In tight jeans and a clingy T-shirt, she had a killer figure that made Allie feel like a boobless wonder in comparison.
Allie peered from one woman to the other and then to Magnus and finally Leonora. “You all look to be in your mid- to late twenties. But I know Leonora is in her nineties.”
The blonde and redhead exchanged a wry glance, and then Elvi turned back and announced, “We’re all older than you, love. Well, except for our Stephy and the children.”
“But we aren’t as old as our mates,” Mabel added with satisfaction. “They’re ancient old men.”
“Oy!” A man with dark hair and a friendly face came around the corner and slipped his arms around the blonde. Hugging her from behind, he kissed her neck and said, “I may be an ancient old man, but I’m your ancient old man.”
“This is Mabel’s husband, DJ,” Elvi announced, smiling at the couple, and then she turned back to Allie to explain, “The nanos are the reason we all look so young. They’re programmed to keep us at our peak condition, and that would be between twenty-five and thirty for humans.”
“Nanos,” Allie murmured. It wasn’t the first mention of the word, and her curiosity about it returned at once.
“I can hear the questions mounting in your poor mind,” Elvi said with amusement. “Why don’t you sit yourself down at the table. We’ll put some food together for you and then answer all those things you want to ask.”
“That would be nice. Thank you.” Allie followed when the trio turned and led the way into a large dining room that, along with a kitchen area, ran the length of the house. An L-shaped counter divided the two sections, but did nothing to make it seem smaller. It was positively huge and had a large fireplace against the far wall that looked Victorian. But then, so did the foot-high molding and the trifold doors that sat open between the dining room and the entry she’d just passed through.
“Who wants coffee?” a tall, good-looking man asked from the kitchen as he fetched coffee cups off an open shelf on the wall next to a door that looked to lead outside.
“Victor Argeneau, Elvi’s life mate,” Magnus m
urmured by her ear, and Allie smiled faintly and nodded.
“Magnus? Coffee?” Victor asked, glancing their way.
“Not for me. I like the taste, but caffeine agitates me,” Magnus said with a shrug.
“You’re in luck, then, it’s decaf,” Victor announced. “Caffeinated coffee winds me up too.”
“In that case, coffee sounds good,” Magnus decided, and glanced at Allie in question even as Victor did.
“I’ll have one too, please,” she said as Magnus led her to the dining room table.
“What do you feel like eating, Allie?” Elvi asked, moving around the kitchen counter to join her husband. “Something to build up your blood would be best, I suppose. How about some scrambled eggs and toast?”
“Just some toast would be fine,” Allie said at once. “I don’t want to put you to any trouble.”
“Nonsense, scrambled eggs are easy enough to make, and there’s lots of hash browns and bacon left from the breakfast I made the kids. I’ll toss them in along with onions and cheese and make you an omelet, shall I?”
Allie stared at her blankly, not wanting to put her to the effort, but her mouth was watering at the thought of an omelet.
“An omelet, it is, then,” Elvi said with amusement, obviously reading her mind.
“I’ll do the toast,” Mabel offered, moving to grab a bag of bread from a wood bread box as Elvi opened the refrigerator to retrieve the fixings for the omelet.
“Then I guess I’ll help Magnus and Leonora answer those questions I hear buzzing around in your head,” DJ decided, leaving Mabel’s side to join Allie, Magnus, and Leonora at the table.
There was a moment of silence once he’d join them. Allie supposed they were waiting for her to start asking her questions, but she had so many she didn’t know where to start and then she glanced at the people in the kitchen and then those at the table and wondered where Tricia was.
“Tricia and Teddy are working today,” DJ answered as if she’d asked the question out loud. “They’ll be back around dinnertime.”
