Magnus glanced to Tybo with surprise at that comment. “Her car was in the parking lot?”
“Yeah,” Tybo answered, and then quirked his eyebrows in question. “Where else would it be?”
“I just assumed it would still be at the blood bank,” Magnus admitted. “I mean, she went there to break in, was found unconscious, and taken to the hospital by the police or an ambulance.”
“She didn’t take her car to the blood bank. She took a taxi there, and then another one to get home from the hospital,” Tybo informed him.
“What?” Magnus asked on a disbelieving laugh. “She took a taxi to a B and E?”
“Well, she had it drop her off down the street from the blood bank, not at the building itself,” Tybo said, and explained, “There are cameras in the parking lot of the blood bank. The last thing she wanted was a visual record of her visit when they discovered the blood missing.”
“Oh,” Magnus said, but then shook his head. “Still, taking a taxi to break in to the blood bank? Did she plan to take one back home after? And how would she explain the blood she was carrying?”
“I presume she had a backpack or box she planned to carry it in,” Tybo said dryly. “And I doubt she’d have it marked ‘stolen blood.’”
“Right,” Magnus murmured, but was still amazed at the thought of taking a taxi to commit a felony. The woman had balls, that was certain.
“We probably got away in the pizza delivery car just moments or even seconds ahead of the rogues searching the plaza for us,” Tybo commented now, his expression solemn.
They were all silent for a moment, pondering how close a call it had been. Magnus was an experienced soldier and could handle himself in a battle, but wasn’t arrogant enough to think he could take on a dozen rogues with the help of just Tybo and come out unscathed. Especially when he would have been distracted with the need to keep Allie and Liam safe.
The silence in the room was pierced by the buzz of Mortimer’s phone. The man glanced at it briefly and then announced, “Dani’s left the hospital and is on her way.”
Magnus nodded, knowing he was referring to Decker Argeneau Pimms’s wife, Dani, who was a doctor. She’d been at the hospital handling an emergency when they’d called her last night. It seemed the emergency was finally resolved and she could now come examine Allie and be sure that she was all right.
“I will also have her take a look at the boy to be sure he’s all right,” Mortimer decided.
“The boy is fine.” Magnus turned back to the window again to watch the trio playing in the snow outside.
“The boy is Liam. My son. Where is he?”
Magnus turned sharply at those words, his eyes widening as he found Allie standing in the office doorway. She looked a little better than she had when he’d laid her in the bed upstairs last night, but was still incredibly pale. She was also swaying slightly on her feet, he noted with concern.
“Where is my son?” Allie repeated grimly, her eyes sliding anxiously from man to man. “What have you done with him?”
Magnus was the first to recover from his shock, or perhaps Tybo and Mortimer were merely leaving him to deal with Allie since she was his possible life mate, but whatever the case, he was the first to speak.
“Liam is fine.” Magnus crossed quickly to her side, intent on reaching her before she fainted or passed out again. The woman’s lips already had a slightly blue tinge denoting a lack of oxygen, a sure sign that her blood levels were low. “He is safe and well. You are both safe now. No one can get to you here.”
“But where is he?” she growled with frustration.
“He’s outside playing with—”
“Outside?” The word was a bare breath of horror.
“Yes,” Magnus said, confused by her upset.
“But he can’t be outside. It’s daytime,” she protested, and whirled to leave the room, only to stagger as the swift movement set her off balance.
Magnus caught her at once, sweeping her off her feet to keep her from falling. He then carried her quickly to the window and set her down in front of it.
“Look. He is fine,” he said, pointing out the window.
Allie stared out the window, her eyes widening as she took in the scene playing out before her. Liam—in his secondhand, gray, and slightly grubby coat—and another boy who looked to be about the same age, but in a bright red obviously new coat, were trudging through the snow side by side, pushing a large boulder of snow ahead of them as a blonde woman in a white winter coat and a white knitted hat cheered them on. The woman was smiling as she watched the boys laugh and chatter as they moved across the yard one way and then another so that their boulder of snow stayed round as it grew in size, but finally they rolled it to a second, even larger boulder of snow and worked together to lift the new ball on top of the first. The boulder was easily the size of the boys themselves. She was sure it would have taken two normal adults to lift it, but the two little boys raised it like it weighed nothing and it was simply the awkward size that forced them to work together.
Once they had it settled on the larger boulder, they began to pack snow around where the boulders met to ensure it didn’t fall off.
“A snowman,” Allie breathed. Liam and the other boy were making a snowman. The first one he’d ever made, she realized, and felt her heart squeeze with regret. They didn’t lead a life where Liam could enjoy the things a normal child did. There had been no friends for him or even any real playing. Their life the last four years had been endless running, moving from town to town, city to city, one new address after another, usually having to leave everything behind and start anew each time. Liam had never complained at losing his toys or favorite blanket with each move.
Of course, he’d been a baby at first, and then a toddler, but he was growing fast. Really, he’d been a wonderful son, but much too solemn and quiet, she realized now. She had never seen Liam like this. He was positively beaming with pleasure, and he was laughing, his face glowing with joy. His life should have been like this every day, Allie thought, and suddenly felt like she’d failed Stella horribly.
But she’d done the best she could, Allie argued with her guilt. She’d fed him, clothed him, protected him. And how could she allow him to play? She’d lived with the constant fear of his being taken. Besides, vampires couldn’t go out in the sun. The thought made her frown and she asked, “How can he be outside?”
Magnus peered down at her blankly when she turned on him with the question. After a moment, he shrugged helplessly. “It is what children do. They play outside.”
“Yes, but it’s daytime. The sun is up,” she pointed out, and peered worriedly back to Liam, searching his face for any hint that he might be about to burst into flames. That was what happened to vampires in all the movies when they were touched by sunlight. But other than a nose gone a bit red from the cold, Liam seemed fine.
“He will not burst into flames under the sun. The boy is an immortal, not one of your mythical vampires.”
Those words came from behind them and Allie turned to peer at the man who had spoken. Standing in the doorway of the room was a tall stranger with hair so fair it was almost white, and ice-blue eyes as cold as she imagined the snow outside must be.