be better off without having a monster like her for a mother.”
“As an immortal she couldn’t have been suffering postpartum depression,” Sam said quietly. “It was just her conscience and her belief that she was now a vampire that was tormenting her. The sad thing is if we’d known about her we could have told her what she really was and helped her deal with it.”
“She had killed mortals,” Lucian reminded Sam. “If we had known about her, she would have been put down as a rogue.”
“Oh. Yes, of course,” Sam said, but frowned at the realization as he turned to spear Allie with a look.
“Did you see the vam—” Lucian began, but stopped abruptly as he started to say vampires. Shock and then disgust crossed his face before he said, “Did you see the rogues she said had found her?”
“No,” Allie said apologetically. “I did look around to try to spot them, but it was very dark and there was no one on the streets.”
“But you have seen them since,” he said with certainty, and she supposed the fact that she was no longer living in Calgary probably gave that away.
“About a week after Stella died, I heard a noise in the backyard and looked out to see a man creeping toward the house. He was just a darker shape in the night, but then the moonlight, or maybe the lights from the neighboring houses, reflected off his eyes. Seeing that, I knew at once that he was one of the vampires Stella was so terrified of. Her eyes glowed like that in the night, and she had said it was the easiest way to identify one. So when I saw that, I just freaked. I immediately gathered up Liam, rushed to the garage, jumped in the car, and fled.” Allie grimaced and then finished with, “And we’ve been running ever since. The first stop was Edmonton, but there have been countless cities and towns between then and now. Toronto is just the latest in a long line of them.”
“They keep tracking you down?” Magnus asked with a frown.
Allie nodded and said with frustration, “I don’t know how. I left everything behind. I didn’t even take clothes other than what Liam and I were wearing. I had to replace them in Edmonton when I got there. I also got rid of my cell phone, and stopped using credit cards. Hell, I even drive hours from where I’m living when I have to go to the bank, just in case they can track my banking activity, but they keep finding me.”
There was silence for a minute, and then Magnus asked, “Did you keep the same car throughout?”
“Yes,” Allie admitted, glancing at him with surprise. “You think they’ve been tracking the car?”
He hesitated, but then said, “It is a possibility. It sounds like that is the only thing that has gone with you from place to place, except for Liam.”
“Well, that won’t be a problem this time,” Tybo pointed out. “Your car is still in the parking lot of your apartment building, and we’re taking a helicopter to Port Henry. They won’t be able to follow.”
Allie hoped he was right. It would be nice not to be looking over her shoulder for a change. It would be nice too not to have to give up blood to Liam, and even just to be able to talk about this stuff with someone. Those things were making Port Henry seem as attractive as a luxury resort in a tropical locale, she thought, and then glanced to Lucian with curiosity and asked, “Why haven’t you asked me to describe the rogues I’ve spotted over the last four years, or if I recall the head guy’s name yet?”
“Because I can read the descriptions from your mind and that you have not recalled the name,” he said simply.
“Oh. Right.” She felt her face heat up at the idea that he was reading her thoughts, and started running back through them, trying to see if she’d thought anything she needed to be embarrassed about.
“Maybe it would help you remember his name if you thought back to when you first heard it,” Magnus suggested. “Do you remember when Stella told you his name?”
“Not really,” Allie admitted apologetically, even as she tried to search out the memory. Distracted by the task, she muttered, “I mean, it’s been four years since she told me the truth.”
“A hectic four years too, from the sounds of it,” Tricia said, her voice sympathetic.