Allie’s attention was forced away from the men approaching the doors when the man holding her eased her back against his chest and turned with her toward the man who had asked the question. The man in black jeans was holding Liam like an affectionate uncle rather than a kidnapper, the boy settled on his hip and one arm around him to keep him from tumbling, but not really restraining him. Still, Allie hesitated. As far as she knew, all vampires were bad. Well, accept for Liam, of course, and his mom had been good too in the end.

“I’m Tybo and the guy behind you is Magnus,” the vampire holding Liam announced. “We’re the good guys. We hunt rogues like the two men in your apartment and the ones out front, but there are too many of them, so we need to slip you out of here as quickly and quietly as possible, and preferably unseen. Is there a back door to the building?”

Allie hesitated briefly, unsure whether to believe and trust these two vampires or not. But they had saved them from the first two in her apartment, and they did appear to want to get them away from the men even now probably trying the entry door, so she took a chance and pointed back the way they’d come. Allie found herself immediately scooped up by the man named Magnus.

They nearly flew down the hall. Allie wanted to protest at being carried like a child, but knew she couldn’t move as fast as them, so forced herself to remain still in the arms of Magnus, the “detective” in the black suit and long coat. Who smelled ridiculously good, she noted, and immediately felt bad for noticing.

They’d nearly reached the end of the hall when Allie heard the crash of glass breaking behind them. Then Tybo pushed the emergency exit open and carried her precious boy outside. The door didn’t even start to close before Magnus was passing through as well with her.

“We won’t be able to get back to the SUV unseen.” Tybo’s voice was hushed as he paused to peer along the small paved laneway they’d come out on. It was just a track paved to allow the garbage trucks to come empty the building’s big bins. Otherwise it was usually empty as it was now. They were standing between the back of the apartment building and a high fence that blocked it off from the business plaza beyond.

“Over the fence,” Magnus ordered, and Allie watched with amazement as the man carrying Liam did just that. He took two running steps toward the eight-foot-high fence and then simply jumped over it like some Superman without the cape. He’d barely dropped out of sight on the other side of the fence with Liam when Magnus started forward.