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 . .