by Lynsay Sands
“Oh.” She smiled at him slightly, and then cleared her throat and asked the first question she came up with. “I was told you aren’t vampires, but immortals. What is the difference?”
“Vampires are fictional dead and soulless creatures that sprung up from a curse. While immortals are merely scientifically enhanced humans,” Magnus answered promptly. “We are not dead and soulless. We are alive and well and still have souls.”
“Scientifically enhanced humans?” Allie asked, arching an eyebrow. “Like The Bionic Woman enhanced, or . . .” She couldn’t think of another example to use.
“No,” he said with a smile. “Enhanced as in we have bioengineered nanos flowing through our bloodstream that are programmed to keep us at our peak condition.”
Allie stared at him blankly, not really seeing a connection between the human peak condition and fangs or a need for blood.
“The nanos are blood based,” DJ said, obviously picking up on her thoughts. “They use blood to propel themselves as well as make repairs, and to generate more nanos when need be.”
“Make repairs?” she asked with interest.
“Yes,” Magnus said. “When the nanos were created, the intent was that they would repair injuries and fight illnesses without the need for surgery or chemical aid.”
“So, break a leg or get stabbed and these nanos would fix it?” she asked.
Magnus nodded. “The nanos rush to the injury, rapidly replicating themselves to the number they need for the job at hand, stop the bleeding, and repair the wound or broken bone.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. “So where do the fangs and glowy eyes come in?”
“From laziness,” Leonora said with amusement, and then added, “God bless them.”
DJ grinned at the woman and it was Magnus who again explained. “The scientists who created the nanos chose to take a shortcut when it came to programming. Rather than develop separate programs for each individual ailment or injury a human might suffer, they decided to program them with a map of the male and female body at their peak condition and the instruction to ensure their host was at that peak condition and then self-destruct once it was achieved.”
“To be fair to our scientists,” DJ said now, “there are a hell of a lot of injuries and illnesses a human can experience. So creating just the one program probably seemed expedient at the time.”
“Yes,” Allie agreed. “But I still don’t understand how that ended with you guys having fangs and sucking blood.”
“It didn’t in the beginning,” DJ assured her. “At first, well, of course, with the nanos using blood to make repairs and propel themselves, it was expected that blood transfusions might be needed for the more extensive injuries or illnesses, and the patients were given those transfusions accordingly.”
“But the tests provided some surprises,” Magnus said, picking up the explanations again. “The first was that the nanos saw the effects of age as an injury or illness, something that needed repair. And because we reach our peak at somewhere between twenty-five and thirty depending on the person’s physiology, the nanos reversed the physical age of any host older than that, returning them back to that peak stage.”
“The fountain of youth,” Allie murmured.
“Yes. It must have seemed like that at the time,” Magnus agreed.
“What were the other surprises?” she asked.
“The nanos did not self-destruct and leave the body as expected,” he answered solemnly.
Allie wasn’t really surprised to hear this. Everyone she’d encountered seemed perfectly healthy, yet had the silver sheen to their eyes that she could only guess came from the nanos they carried inside them, so she simply asked, “Why?”
“Because the nanos did not ever consider their work done,” Magnus said. “If they had been programmed to simply do one thing like repair a specific wound, or remove cancer, they would have finished their job and self-destructed, but they were programmed to keep the body at its peak. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, the body is constantly taking on damage, even if only minute. Inhaling pollutants, damage from the sun, and the simple passage of time cause damage in the body that the nanos feel they have to repair. They don’t see their work as ever done, so do not self-destruct.”
“Okay,” Allie said slowly. She found this fascinating, even wonderful in a way, but still didn’t understand how this life-saving advancement had ended up with them having fangs. “But where do the fangs and stuff come in? I mean, peak isn’t the crazy strong Stella was when she was tossing me about like a doll, or the speed she could manage. That’s freaky speed and strength, not peak human abilities.”
Magnus grimaced, but answered, “Right. Well, as I said, the necessity for extra blood to make the needed repairs and such was expected, and patients given the nanos as treatment were also given blood transfusions to make up for that. However, because the nanos didn’t self-destruct but continued to work in the body, the need for extra blood continued as well.”
“You see, the nanos use more blood than the average body can produce,” Leonora explained.
“Yes.” Magnus nodded. “It was a problem, but not insurmountable at the time. The scientists simply gave the patients daily blood transfusions to make up for that.”
He paused then, and Allie stared at him expectantly. Nothing he’d said had seemed to her to explain the fangs.
It was Leonora who said, “The nanos were developed in Atlantis several millennium ago.”
Allie’s head shot around at that, her eyes wide. “What?”
Leonora shrugged. “Surely you’ve heard the tales of Atlantis? It existed ages ago, and was a scientifically advanced culture that was destroyed by earthquakes and an erupting volcano or something?”
“Well, yes, I’ve heard of it,” Allie admitted. “But—”
“They aren’t just tales,” Leonora assured her. “The stories are true. Atlantis did exist. It was apparently isolated and well advanced compared to the rest of the world, and these nanos were one of their scientific advancements. Which was all good and fine until Atlantis fell and sank into the ocean. The only survivors were the Atlanteans with the nanos inside them. They crawled out of the rubble, or swam out of the ocean, to find themselves left with a world that was much less advanced than their home country had been.” She grimaced and said, “We’re talking seriously less advanced. Mud huts and wiping your bottom with bits of leaf if they wiped their behinds at all,” she added with a grimace, and then shrugged. “There were no more blood transfusions for them.”
“The Atlanteans started to die from lack of blood,” DJ said now, and explained, “When the nanos got low on blood in the veins, they migrated to the organs and such to mine it and some of them did die, basically from lack of blood. A terribly, painful way to go,” he added grimly.
“But in others,” Magnus said, “the nanos forced what they saw as a necessary evolution to get what they needed to fulfill their programming and keep their host at their peak condition.”
“The fangs,” Allie said on a sigh.
Magnus nodded. “They gave them fangs, added speed and strength, night vision, and the ability to read and even control the minds of other humans so that they could get the blood they needed for the nanos to do their work and keep them in their peak condition.”
“Forever young and healthy,” Allie said with a shake of the head, and sat back in her seat, then glanced around with a start when a plate appeared in front of her.
“Here you are,” Elvi said as she set the plate down. “Eat up. You have to build up your blood and get your strength back to chase after that sweet little boy of yours. He needs his mother strong and healthy.”
“Thank you,” Allie murmured, and then repeated the words when Victor arrived with a tray of mugs full of coffee and set one before her first.
“You are welcome,” Victor said with a smile, and then removed cream and sugar from the tray to set in front of her and announced to the table at large, “I di
d not know how everyone took their coffee, so just brought the fixings for each of you to do it yourself.”
Allie reached for the sugar, inhaling the scents wafting up from her plate as she did, and nearly swooned with pleasure.
“Wow, this smells good, Elvi,” she murmured as she fixed her coffee.
“I thought so too,” she admitted on a laugh as she headed back around the kitchen counter. “So I ended up making a big bowl of it so everyone can have some.”
“And I made loads of toast,” Mabel announced, approaching now with a stack of plates topped with silverware. “Who wants a plate?”
Allie wasn’t surprised when everyone decided they were hungry. The smell coming from her plate was mouthwatering and she couldn’t wait to dig in. But good manners made her wait politely until everyone had plates and silverware, and the food was on the table. However, the moment the last person was seated and the food was being passed around, Allie dug in.
It was as good as it smelled and she was starved, so it was several moments before more questions began to filter into her mind. Allie was halfway through her meal before she asked, “So Stella was somehow given these nanos?”
There was a moment of silence as everyone glanced up from their plates, and then Magnus swallowed the food in his mouth and nodded. “Yes. Abaddon would have given both her and her husband some of his blood to transfer the nanos.”
“And Liam got them from Stella while in the womb?” she queried.
“Yes,” he said solemnly.
Allie nodded and took another bite of food, but her mind was churning things over, and after swallowing, she asked, “So he’ll never look older than twenty-five or so once he grows up?”
“No. Physically, his aging will stop at around that age,” Elvi said this time. “As will Sunny, Gracie, and Teddy.”
Allie nodded, but asked, “But you all weren’t born immortals?” When the others stared at her blankly, she explained, “I mean, Leonora said she was eighty-four when she was turned. So she wasn’t born immortal. Were the rest of you turned too, or . . . ?”
“Mabel, Leonora, and I were all mortal by birth and turned some years ago,” Elvi said, spooning some sugar into her coffee and stirring it briefly. Setting down the spoon, she added, “But Victor and DJ as well as Leonora’s husband, Alessandro, were born immortals.”
Allie accepted that and then turned to Magnus with curiosity.
Before she could ask, he said, “I was born mortal.”
Her eyes widened slightly at this news. For some reason she would have guessed that he was born immortal like the other men. Allie wasn’t sure why.
“Oh, Madre de Dio, something smells so delicious.”
Everyone at the table turned to peer at the man who had entered the house. Dark haired like Leonora, the man quickly shed his coat and boots and moved to join them, heading straight for Leonora.
“Ah, Gioia, it must be you that smells so good, sì?” he murmured, bending to kiss her.
“I think Gioia means ‘joy,’” Elvi explained quietly when Allie looked confused at the man using the wrong name. “A term of endearment.”
“Oh,” Allie whispered, and then glanced back to the couple as the kiss ended and Leonora laughed.
“No. It’s not me that smells so good.” Raising a hand to run it affectionately over his cheek, she murmured, “It’s the omelet. I think there’s some left. Did you want some?”
“Sì,” he said abruptly, straightening. “I am a poor hungry man whose wife abandoned him to go play with her friends.”
Leonora snorted. “Nonsense, Alessandro. You and Edward were playing that video game and didn’t even notice when I left.”
Alessandro grinned. “Sì. The game is good. Etienne, he has done it again. But I did notice you left, and missed you at once.”
“Victor’s brother, Etienne, creates video games,” Elvi explained to Allie. “He has a new one coming out soon and sent a couple of beta copies to Victor to be tested. Alessandro and Edward were kind enough to offer to try it out too.”
“Oh,” Allie said with a smile, and then froze when Alessandro’s attention settled on her and he smiled widely.
“You must be the Allison my wife came to help with, sì?” he said, moving around the table to take her hand.
“Oh, well . . .” Her gaze shot to Leonora. “Yes, I guess I must be.”
“Bella. Welcome to Port Henry,” Alessandro said, pressing a kiss to her hand. “But you are too pale. You must eat, sì? Or my wife, she will worry. So mangia, mangia.” He released her hand and then disappeared around the counter, returning a moment later with a plate and fork to claim the seat next to Leonora.
Allie glanced around the table then, taking in everyone there and realizing quite suddenly that she’d spent the last four years running from vampires, and yet for the second time in as many days found herself sitting at a table with a large group of them as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Immortals, dear,” Elvi corrected as if she’d spoken aloud. “Now eat. Alessandro is right. You need to rebuild your strength.”
Allie flushed and turned her attention back to her food, concentrating on the taste and texture in an effort to silence the thoughts in her head. It was extremely discomfiting to have people reading your thoughts all the time. It made her want to get as far away from them as possible, which was a shame, because they all seemed rather nice.
Nine
“Time to take your pulse and temperature.”
Allie had just finished her last bite of omelet when Leonora made that announcement and stood to move around the table to her side.
“Pulse, temperature, blood pressure, and respiratory rate,” Leonora listed off, producing a thermometer from her skirt pocket. Removing it from its plastic case, she gave it a couple of shakes, and then popped it in Allie’s mouth before taking her wrist in hand. “Just relax and breathe through your nose.”
Allie watched as the others stood to clear the table, her gaze traveling from one person to another. They were all healthy-looking, but she couldn’t help but notice that the women were curvy with a bit of meat on them. Not overweight or anything, but not the stick-thin twiggy figures so popular in the magazines. She thought that was interesting. Apparently, peak condition was not anorexic.
“Good,” Leonora pronounced, releasing her wrist. “I need to go fetch the blood pressure cuff from your room. You just keep the thermometer in until I get back.”
Allie nodded in response, but the woman was already rushing away. She watched her go and then simply sat there, waiting. The conversation in the kitchen behind her was just a murmur of sound until she heard her name mentioned, and then she tuned into it.
“Allie might need to go shopping for necessities. Dani wasn’t sure, but said she had to and thought Allie might as well.”
“I am not sure either,” Magnus admitted. “She had two bags with her when we took her and Liam from the apartment, but I am not sure what is in them. She might need to go shopping.”
“The backpacks?” Elvi asked, and snorted slightly. “There can’t be much in there. She probably does need a good shopping excursion.”
“I don’t think Dani wanted her exerting herself, though,” Mabel put in. “It’s probably better if they just relax around here today.”
“You’re probably right,” Elvi agreed, and then said, “Well, if you want to be alone to talk, Magnus, you could take her into the salon for a little privacy.”
Allie was just wondering what they thought the two of them needed to talk about when Elvi added, “I’m sure she still has a lot of questions, and she might feel more comfortable asking you without the rest of us around. I think our being able to read her mind makes her uncomfortable.”
She heard Magnus grunt in response and then Leonora was back, the blood pressure cuff in one hand and a clipboard in the other.
“This thing reads your pulse as well as your blood pressure, but I like to count it out myself jus
t to double-check,” she announced as she set the clipboard on the table and strapped the cuff around Allie’s upper arm. “Now, let’s just see if it gets the same reading on your pulse as I did.”
Leonora pushed the button on the blood pressure machine twice, and as the cuff began to swell and tighten around Allie’s arm, she took the thermometer from her mouth and read it.
“How is it?” Allie asked with curiosity. She felt fine, but it would be nice to have verification.
“Good,” Leonora announced, and picked up the clipboard to enter the temperature.
They both fell silent then as the cuff stopped swelling and the machine began to beep. A moment later, numbers popped up on the readout and Leonora quickly entered those on her clipboard too.
“Look at that. The same pulse rate as I got,” she said with satisfaction. “I haven’t lost my touch.”
Allie smiled faintly at the proud words and then sat still as Leonora set the clipboard aside and quickly removed the cuff.
“The numbers are all good,” Leonora assured her as she set the portable blood pressure apparatus on the table next to the clipboard. “No need to bother Dani.”
“Good,” Allie said wryly, and then glanced past her to Magnus when he appeared with two cups of coffee in hand.
“I thought we might go into the salon and talk, if you like,” he suggested.
Allie nodded and stood to follow him out of the dining room.
The salon was a room across the entry from the dining room. She had no idea where it got its name. It just looked like a little living room to her, but she settled on the couch and accepted one of the coffees with a murmured, “Thank you,” then watched Magnus close the double doors, sealing them off from the others.
Magnus turned back to the room after closing the door and then hesitated before moving to sit on the couch on the far end from Allie. He would have liked to sit closer, but didn’t want to make her uncomfortable. Aware that she was watching him, he sipped at his coffee, and simply waited. He expected her to ask why he couldn’t read her and was trying to come up with an explanation without mentioning life mates, something he was sure she wasn’t ready for, when she suddenly asked, “How were you turned?”
