“I can see that,” Magnus said now. “But if her sire had them all convinced that they could not be away from their room between sunrise and sunset and survive, how did Stella get away and move into the town house across from yours? Calgary, Alberta, is a long way from Vancouver, British Columbia, and she could not take the room with her.”
“Actually, she kind of did,” Allie said, unsurprised by the confusion that caused.
“How?” Tybo demanded.
“She watched the same movies you did,” Allie said with a small smile. “Stella remembered that in the movies, taking dirt from their grave allowed vampires to travel. Since the room they’d been given was both where they died and the closest thing to a grave they had, she gambled on the possibility that taking a bit of the concrete floor would allow her to move around at night and stay somewhere else in daylight without weakening or perishing.”
“Ah,” Tricia said with a grin, and then assured her, “It wasn’t true. She could have left at any time without the concrete, but it was clever of her to think of that anyway.”
“She was clever,” Allie assured her, and then admitted, “Stella said she wasn’t sure it would work, but if it didn’t and she and the baby died, then she felt it was a better ending than they would have suffered with the group.”
“So she took a block of concrete with her?” Tybo asked with disbelief. “How the hell did she break it up?”
“Not a block, just a bit of concrete powder she managed to scratch out of the floor,” Allie explained. “No more than a couple of spoons’ worth that she kept in a baggie. Stella showed it to me once. She kept it in her pocket at all times.”
“What happened to her husband?” Magnus asked. “You do not mention him being in Calgary.”
“No.” Allie frowned at the thought of Stella’s husband and then sighed and told them, “Stephen decided to go with her when they started planning, but the night they were to leave he said it wouldn’t work if they both went. He said he’d stay behind to delay anyone realizing she was gone and give her a better chance. He wanted her to get as far away as possible before they realized anything was up and pursued her. He also said that by remaining behind and pretending to be loyal, he might be able to throw them off her scent if they were getting too close to her. He said this was the best way he could think of to protect her and the baby. But later, after the baby was born, he’d find and join her. In the meantime they should both think of a way to make it appear as if the three of them had died.”
She let that sink in, and then said, “And then he gave her this.”
Allie reached for the chain that held the locket Stella had given her that last night, and that she always wore around her neck so that she wouldn’t lose it before Liam was old enough to have it. She tugged it out from under her blouse where the long chain allowed it to rest by her heart, and then lifted it off over her head and stretched her arm out so that it dangled above the center of the table for all of them to see. She thought it was beautiful. The locket was a heart with the front made up of detailed wings. She let them look for a moment, and then pulled her arm back and opened the wings covering the front of the locket. They were tiny doors that, when opened, revealed a picture inside.
Allie stared briefly at the happy young couple in the tiny picture. It was a wedding photo of a dark-haired man with a wide grin, and his arm around a petite brunette who was beaming at the camera. They looked incredibly happy. It was hard to look at when you knew the horrors that had awaited them, she thought, and then sighed and held it out again so that the others could see the photo too.
“Stephen gave this to Stella on their first anniversary, but it was taken away along with all the other jewelry when they finished turning,” Allie said quietly. “Stephen said he found it while searching around for things they should take with them while everyone was distracted with some of their victims one day. He’d hoped then to give it to her on their escape, but he now hoped it would reassure her of his love until they could be together again.”
Allie pulled the necklace back, closed the wings over the picture, and then slipped it back over her neck as she said, “Stella argued with him, begging him to leave with her, but he was determined to stay behind, he said to protect her as best he could. In the end, she had to go without him.”
She tucked the necklace back under her blouse. “They had gathered a little money over the few weeks before the escape, keeping some of the cash from their victims when they could. Stella used it to buy a bus ticket to Kelowna, hoping it was far enough away and big enough to hide in.”
“How far is Kelowna from Vancouver?” Tybo asked with a frown.
“About four and a half hours,” Lucian answered, which was probably good because Allie had no idea herself.
“But it is not very big,” Mortimer said quietly.
“It has over a hundred thousand people,” Tricia pointed out. “Not exactly a small town.”
“Calgary has over a million and would only have been another six hours on the bus,” Lucian responded. “She would have done better to go there right away.”
“Yes, she should have,” Allie agreed. “Stella wasn’t in Kelowna more than a couple days before she spotted one of the rogues from Vancouver.”
“Oh, no,” Sam said unhappily. “Did they catch her?”
Allie smiled slightly at the woman, appreciating her concern for her friend. “No. Fortunately, Stella spotted them in the market before they spotted her. She managed to slip away unseen. But it scared her. They’d tracked her from Vancouver somehow, and the only way she could think they’d managed that was because she took the bus. Stella had used cash for her ticket, and suspected that they’d questioned the people at the ticket counter, and the ticket seller had remembered her and told them her destination.”
“That is more than possible,” Magnus murmured when she paused. “Stella was a pretty woman.”
Much to her surprise, Allie felt a jolt of jealousy slide through her at his words. Which was ridiculous. She hardly knew the man. And Stella was dead, for heaven’s sake. Pushing away emotions she didn’t understand, Allie continued. “Stella had started to make a home for herself and the baby there in Kelowna, but after the scare in the market, she was afraid to return to it. So, she left everything behind and hitchhiked to Calgary.”
“And moved in across the street from you,” Magnus said thoughtfully. “How did she end up there?”
Allie hesitated, struggling with what to tell them. But finally she simply told them what she’d been told. “Stella said the last driver she hitched a ride with was the owner of the town house. She said he was a sweet grandfatherly type and they talked a lot during the hours she rode with him, and then as they neared Calgary he started asking where he should drop her off and she admitted she didn’t have anywhere to stay yet. Since it was late at night, he kindly offered to let her use his spare bedroom for the night and promised to help her find more permanent lodgings the next day. Stella accepted the offer and was extremely grateful right up until they got to the house and he turned, as she put it, into a dirty old bastard who expected her to blow him for the use of the bed.”