“Man,” Tybo groaned. “She couldn’t catch a break, could she?”
“It would seem not,” Tricia said sadly.
Allie didn’t comment on that. “Stella said once she set him straight, he changed his tune. She said she thought he even felt guilty for his behavior because he admitted that he actually lived in a house across the city and the town house was a rental property that was presently without tenants. He offered it to her as a temporary solution until she could find a job and apartment of her own.”
“Well, that was lucky,” Tricia said, brightening.
“Yes. Lucky . . . and a total lie,” Allie said grimly, and then allowed, “Well, probably not a total lie. I suspect the dirty old bastard part was true. Stella’s voice was pretty bitter when she said it. But I’m thinking he didn’t suddenly turn over a new leaf and become the kindly old benefactor offering her a home like she said.”
“What makes you think that?” Magnus asked, and she was surprised by how gentle his voice was. It made her suspect some of her own confused emotions were showing.
Sighing, she admitted, “Because after the town house burned down, the owner’s body was found in a freezer in the basement.” She shook her head. “I don’t know if he attacked her and Stella killed him in self-defense, or what. I hope that’s what happened. But whatever the case, he ended up dead in the freezer and she just moved in and lived there with his corpse.”
Realizing how strident she had sounded there at the end, Allie forced herself to take several deep breaths to calm herself.
There was silence for a moment, and then Magnus asked, “How did the fire start?”
“Hang on,” Sam protested. “We’ve skipped a bunch here. We know Stella ran from the rogues to Kelowna, then had to flee there for Calgary where you two became friends. But what happened when she told you all this stuff? I mean, did you believe her?”
Allie snorted at the question. “I thought she was crackers . . . until she showed me her fangs.” She grimaced at the memory. “That was a shocker. And terrifying. Being forced to acknowledge that vampires existed was bad enough, but learning that my best friend was one?” She shook her head. “It rocked my world, and this time I was the one who rushed off. Stella begged me to stay, but I said I needed to think and fled like the hounds of hell were on my heels. I mean, she was a vampire, for heaven’s sake.”
Considering she was sitting at a table with a bunch of vampires, Allie wasn’t surprised when they all glanced at each other rather than her. Sighing, she paused and sipped at the remains of her cold coffee to wet her mouth, before continuing. “Stella gave me the exact same amount of time to myself that I’d given her. She showed up at about four in the morning on the third night. Suspecting I wouldn’t open the door, she used my key as I had done at her place. I had given her one when she gave me hers,” she explained, and then shrugged. “It seemed the thing to do. Besides, I didn’t have close family or anyone to worry about me. It was reassuring to know someone could get in if I suddenly collapsed or something.”
The women nodded. The men peered back at her solemnly, so Allie continued. “She was upset. Somehow instead of it being about my distress at what I’d learned, this talk became about her horror and shame. She said I was the best friend she’d ever had. That she loved me like a sister, and that I was the only one she trusted or believed might give a shit about her and her baby.”
“What about Stephen?” Sam asked with a frown.
“Stella didn’t trust him. She said their sire had seemed to have some strange hold over Stephen. That they’d spent a lot of time together. Not at first. At first Stephen had avoided him like the plague, and when he was forced to be in his presence, he always came back acting strangely manic and stressed. She said he’d usually pace and fret and then make love to her, but it was different than it used to be, almost desperate. But then one night one of the men came to fetch him. Their sire wanted to see him. She said he was gone all night, not even returning at dawn. It was the next evening before she saw him again and he wouldn’t talk about what had happened.
“Stella said Stephen was distracted after that, and cold. She said he started going out on raiding parties with the other men, and staying away from her. He even started tormenting their victims like the others. They’d both been a little crazy after the turn, but learning she was pregnant had seemed to snap them both out of it, at least briefly, but he was changing, becoming as cruel and heartless as the others, and it scared her. It made her glad they were leaving. She felt sure he’d be all right again once they were away from the others. Only he didn’t leave with her, and she didn’t really believe the excuses he gave for why. She said he was no longer the man he’d been before he died and became a vampire. Stella didn’t trust him anymore.”
There was silence for a minute, and then Tybo suggested, “Their sire could have read their minds, realized they were planning an escape, and decided he liked the idea of Stella gone. You did say he didn’t like women much. Maybe he told Stephen he’d let Stella go if he remained.”
“Wait. What? Read their minds?” Allie asked with disbelief.
“Reading the minds of mortals is one of the abilities immortals have,” Magnus said almost apologetically. “An older immortal can also read a younger one as a rule.”
Allie sagged back in her seat with disbelief and gaped at the six people around the table. Then she snapped her mouth shut and asked sharply, “Then why the hell did I have to relive all of this for you? You could have just read my mind.”
“Magnus cannot read you at all, and the rest of us can only read your surface memories,” Lucian said mildly, and then for clarification, added, “Things you are thinking about.”
Allie stared at him briefly and then glanced to Magnus and back. “Why can’t Magnus read me? Is he not a full vampire or something?”
“Immortal,” Lucian corrected her tightly. “And yes, of course he is a full immortal, but as your—”
“Explanations later, you said,” Magnus interrupted sharply, looking stressed, and Allie presumed that whatever the reason that he couldn’t read her it must be embarrassing.
“Yes. Of course,” Lucian agreed.
Allie frowned from one man to the other, really wanting to learn why Magnus was the only one who couldn’t read her, but knowing she would have to wait for that explanation. She wasn’t willing to wait for the answer to another question, though. “Does that mean Liam can read me too?”
“No,” Tricia assured her. “Teddy and Liam are too young to be able to read minds yet.”
Allie was just relaxing at that reassurance when the woman added, “Immortal children do not start to pick that up until the age of five or six.”
“What?” she asked with dismay. Dear God, her little boy might be reading her mind in another year.
“There have been a few who have picked up the skill a little earlier,” Lucian countered. “Although I have never heard of one mastering mind control before five.”
Allie’s alarm immediately increased and she squawked, “Mind control?”
As soon as the words left her mouth, she recalled the sense she’d had the night before of not being in control when she’d walked out of the pizza joint and got in the car. Her eyes immediately shot to Magnus. “Oh, my God, you controlled me last night and made me get in the car.”