“Because there are two immortals presently breaking into a ground-floor apartment,” Magnus said grimly as he got out of the car.

Cursing, Tybo turned off the engine and followed.

Two

“Mommy!”

Allie pushed the door closed and forced a smile as she turned to watch her little boy race up the hall toward her. His dark hair was sleep-tousled and his Spider-Man pajamas rumpled.

“Liam,” she breathed. Relieved to see he was alive and well and that at least one of her worries had been for nothing, she bent to hug him when he threw himself against her. “You should be napping.”

“I woke up and you were gone,” the boy complained, raising his head to glare at her accusingly.

“I know. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be gone so long,” she said apologetically, her eyes moving past him and up the hall. She needed to get their Go bags and get him out of there. Allie didn’t know how long she had, but having vampires show up at the hospital looking into her wasn’t a good thing. All the way home in the taxi she’d been terrified she’d arrive to find Liam gone and vampires waiting to kill or take her.

“What is this?”

She felt him plucking at the bandage around her head and shifted her attention to the boy. “Nothing,” she assured him. “Now you need to go get your teddy bear while I grab our Go bags,” she said, easing him away. “We need to leave.”

“We’re moving again?” the boy asked unhappily.

“Yes, honey. Right now. So go get your teddy or we’ll have to leave him,” she added firmly, giving him a push up the hall. She didn’t miss the way his shoulders sagged at the news, or how miserable it obviously made him, but his safety was her first priority and they weren’t safe here anymore.

Sighing, she stood and moved to the hall closet. Allie had just grabbed their Go bags and swung them over her shoulder when she heard Liam cry out in fear from his room. Panic seizing her, Allie rushed up the hall and through the living room, headed for the bedroom door. She never made it. She’d barely stepped into the living room when she was grabbed and restrained. The speed of her attacker told her she was dealing with a vampire. His strength backed it up, and then a second man strode out of the bedroom holding a limp Liam, his eyes aglow with golden fire.

“Why haven’t you taken control of her?” Liam’s captor asked with a scowl when he saw Allie struggling uselessly against the man holding her.