by I. T. Lucas
As Edna’s fingers rubbed faster, her ass swaying from side to side, back and forth, there was nothing Rufsur wanted more than to get behind her and give her what she so desperately wanted. But all he could do was pump his fist up and down his shaft and watch Edna bring herself to completion.
“Put your finger inside that hot sheath,” he hissed.
He wanted to get behind her so badly, to grab her luscious ass and sink his shaft into her balls deep, filling her up with his essence, both sperm and venom. But watching her play with herself was hot as hell too, and for now, it would do.
Pumping first with one finger and then coming back with two, Edna moaned. “I’m getting close.”
“Me too,” he managed through his fangs.
Except, his climax wouldn’t be complete without sinking his fangs into her, and he would have to empty his venom glands by biting his damn belt.
“Rufsur!” Edna arched her back.
The sound of his name on her lips as she came triggered his own release, and as he jetted all over his pillow and his phone’s screen, Rufsur didn’t care about the mess he was making.
What he minded, however, was that Edna didn’t see him coming.
Panting, she collapsed on her belly, her long legs quivering from the force of her orgasm. The sight was so arousing that even though he’d just released about a gallon of sperm, he was already hard for her again.
32
Eleanor
Eleanor woke up feeling like crap. She could barely open her eyes, and when she finally did, she had no idea where she was. Two things she was sure of. One was that she’d been heavily drugged, and the other that she had to find a toilet ASAP.
Thankfully, the door to the bathroom had been left ajar, and the light was on inside. Getting there, though, was a problem. The moment she tried to get to her feet, her head spun so badly that she had to sit back down.
On her next try, Eleanor braced her weight on the nightstand, lifted up slowly, and used the wall as support on her way to the bathroom.
Sitting on the toilet, she tried to remember how she’d gotten there, but her vague recollections felt more like a dream, bits and pieces that didn’t add up. The last thing she remembered clearly was getting ready for her date with Greggory.
Except, she wasn’t wearing the outfit she’d put on for the date. The clothes were her own, so wherever she was, she must have come voluntarily and brought her things with her. Had Greggory drugged her?
That was the only logical explanation, but there were two problems with that. The first one was that she didn’t trust her faculties at the moment, and the second was that she couldn’t remember the date and wasn’t sure that Greggory had even shown up.
Perhaps he’d stood her up, and she’d gone to a bar to find another guy to hook up with?
It wasn’t like her, but after getting stood up, she might have been angry and sad, and sought to drown her sorrow in booze. Someone could have slipped her a roofie, and she’d gone home with him to wherever she was now.
Probably the basement of his parents' home because only losers slipped roofies into women’s drinks.
Talk about bad luck. Why couldn’t she get a break?
Because she was bad, that’s why.
Bad people deserved bad luck. Except, Josh had been good, and his bad luck had killed him, so there was that. Goodness was not a virtue, it wasn’t appreciated or rewarded, and bad things happened to good people.
So why bother to be good if it wasn’t rewarded?
On the contrary. Do-gooders were suckers.
Damn. She needed to get off the toilet and find something to clobber the loser over the head with, so she could get out of there. Hopefully, he hadn’t given her a venereal disease, or gotten her pregnant. With how out of it she’d been, and given how unlucky she was, the jerk probably hadn’t bothered with a condom.
Except, getting off the toilet was easier said than done, and even though she braced against the vanity, Eleanor swayed on her feet and almost fell down.
Taking a deep breath didn’t help either, and as she opened the faucet and looked into the mirror, her reflection was blurry, and not because there was condensation on the glass. Her head hurt, and colorful circles danced in front of her eyes, popping up and disappearing, then popping up again in different places. She’d most definitely been drugged, but not with something that was fun.
A splash of cold water on her face helped a little, but her vision was still blurred as she opened the door to the bedroom.
“Hello, Eleanor. How are you feeling?”
This was the loser who’d slipped her the roofie?
Even with her less than optimal vision, she could see that he was magazine-cover gorgeous. A guy like that didn’t need to trick women into having sex with him. He looked vaguely familiar, though, which reinforced her conviction about the roofie.
The only reason someone as gorgeous as him would kidnap a stranger from a bar was that he was a psycho who planned on torturing and killing her.
Not all serial murderers were ugly middle-aged men.
She needed to find a weapon fast. A bedside lamp or a vase would do.
But as Eleanor turned her head to look for something she could use, the fast movement caused the world to swim in front of her eyes, and she lost her balance.
Except, she didn’t hit the floor as she’d expected. The psycho moved faster than was humanly possible, caught her, and put her on the bed.
Now the torture would start, and she was completely defenseless.
As tears pooled in the corners of her eyes, she mumbled, “Don’t hurt me.”
“I’m not going to hurt you.” He put a cold hand on her forehead. “You are burning up.”
“Where am I?”
“You are safe, Eleanor. I will take care of you.”
A sob escaped her throat. “You are going to kill me, aren’t you?”
“What gave you that impression?”
“You slipped me a roofie in the bar, kidnapped me, and now you are going to torture and kill me.”
“That’s not what happened. I’m a doctor, and my job is to save people, not kill them.” He pulled the blanket over her. “Try to rest a little. I’m going to get you something for the fever.”
“Is that why I can’t remember anything? And why am I so loopy? Am I sick? How did I get here? Who sent you?”
The guy claiming to be a doctor chuckled. “You are in no condition to process my answers.” He tucked the blanket around her. “Nothing bad is going to happen to you. I swear it. I just need to step out for a few minutes, and I’ll be right back.”
33
Kalugal
Following a brief knock on Kalugal’s office door, Julian walked in with a grim expression on his face.
“What happened? Did Eleanor give you trouble?”
“You could say that.” Julian plopped on the couch. “She has a fever.”
“Is that a common side effect of the drug?” Rufsur asked.
“It’s not. She might be transitioning.”
“Impossible.” Kalugal pushed to his feet. “Greggory bit her twice, but he used a condom the second time. He’s too far removed from the source to induce transition so quickly.”
Julian sighed. “He might have lied about using a condom the second time. Maybe he wanted to induce her transition. You said that he took a liking to her.”
Kalugal waved a hand at Rufsur. “Call him in here.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Also,” Julian continued. “He might be a weak immortal, but Eleanor might turn out to be a very strong one. Ella and Parker, her niece and nephew, have impressive paranormal abilities that they didn’t inherit from their mother. Vivian had no special talent until she got pregnant with Ella, and her telepathic connection with her daughter started during the pregnancy. That is why we suspect that the father must have been a Dormant, and we know that Eleanor is an immune and has a strong compulsion ability. I think that proves the case.”
That wasn’t good.
After giving it much thought, Kalugal had decided to keep the woman locked up until he was ready to move. The one dose of drugs that Julian had given her the day before was sufficient to get her talking and to forget what she’d learned over the past couple of days, but even massive amounts of it weren’t going to erase all that she’d learned from Simmons’s files. Too much time had passed since she’d read through them, and the drug couldn’t erase long-term memories that had been created more than a day or two before.
After he moved to a new location, he would have her drugged again and dropped off somewhere. By the time she shook the drug effect off, he and his people would be long gone, and she would have no way of finding them.
“How will we know if she’s transitioning?” Rufsur asked.
Julian raked his fingers through his hair. “Because of the drug, that’s hard to know at this point, but if she blacks out we will know for sure. In any case, we need to hook her up to monitoring equipment, and you have nothing here.”
As a knock at the door announced Greggory, Rufsur walked over and opened it.
“Good morning, Greggory.” Kalugal pinned him with a hard stare. “I need to ask you again, and I need you to tell me the truth.” He imbued his tone with compulsion. “Did you use a condom the second time you had sex with Eleanor?”
“Yes, I did.” Greggory frowned. “What’s happening?”
“She has a fever.” Rufsur patted him on the back. “It might mean that she’s transitioning, or she might be just sick.”
“I should get back to her.” Julian pushed to his feet. “I promised to give her something for the fever.”
“Could it be that she has some condition?” Kalugal waved a hand. “Something that had a negative reaction to the drugs? Diabetes perhaps? I admit that I’m quite ignorant when it comes to human diseases. The subject of medicine never interested me.”
Julian shook his head. “Eleanor claimed to be perfectly healthy, but she could have lied or could have been unaware of having a condition. I gave her a very basic checkup, blood pressure, pulse, temperature, etc. To do more extensive testing, I need proper equipment and a lab to analyze her blood.” He walked to the door. “Which I can do in the clinic back home, but not here. If she’s transitioning, we can’t take her to a human hospital. I should check on her. I’ll be right back.”
As the door closed behind Julian, Rufsur walked up to Kalugal’s bar and poured himself a glass of water. “What are we going to do with her if she turns immortal?”
“I’ll take her,” Greggory said. “I made this mess, and I’ll clean it up. Eleanor is my responsibility.”
That was a chivalrous offer, but Kalugal didn’t want the rotten apple any more than his cousin did.
“Eleanor is not trustworthy. She planned to sell us to the Chinese. What will you do with her, keep her locked up for the rest of her immortal life? That’s a very long time.”
Which was precisely what his father was doing to his mother, but the difference was that Navuh provided Areana with a community of people to interact with and the most luxurious accommodations possible. It wasn’t freedom, but it wasn’t terrible hardship either. She lived like a queen and ruled the so-called harem as she pleased. Eleanor would be entirely isolated.
Perhaps he could ask William to make a cuff for her?
They would also need the monitoring software for the cuff and to install it in the house. Except, his mansion wasn’t the village, and Eleanor could potentially open a window and scream for help.
No, that wouldn’t work.
If Eleanor turned immortal, Kian would have to find a solution for her.
Greggory rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “Perhaps the clan can take her?”
“That’s what I was thinking. I need to call Kian.”
“Do you think that he’ll be okay with me coming over to visit her? I mean, instead of offering myself to be auctioned to the other clan ladies?”
The guy really liked Eleanor, which proved that the heart had a mind of its own, and it wasn’t thinking straight. The woman was bad news, selfish, resentful, and unpleasant. If she were a great beauty, Kalugal would have suspected Greggory of being blinded by her looks. Men could be really stupid when it came to hot women. But Eleanor’s looks were average at best.
The door opened, and Julian rushed in. “She’s unconscious. I have to get her to the clinic.”
34
Kian
As Kian’s phone buzzed with Kalugal’s number on the display, his finger hovered over the translation app, but at the last moment, he decided to risk answering without it.
He was tired of the mistrust, and besides, if Kalugal ordered him to do something that was out of character, Anandur and Brundar would stop him. They knew him well enough to notice if he behaved oddly.
“Good morning, Kalugal.”
“And good morning to you too, cousin. We have a problem. Eleanor is most likely transitioning, and Julian says that he needs to get her to the clinic. He is right here next to me if you need to talk to him.”
“Can you put the phone on speaker?”
Anyway, whatever he said to Julian while Kalugal was next to him wouldn’t be private.
“I can do that. Go ahead, Julian.”
“Hi, Kian. I’m sorry about this, but I can’t take her to a human hospital, and Kalugal still hasn’t ordered any equipment.”
“There is no point in building a clinic in the mansion when we don’t plan to stay here for long.” Kalugal sounded apologetic.
“What’s going on with her?” Kian still harbored a hope that Julian was jumping to conclusions based on some mild symptoms, and Eleanor was not transitioning.
“When I went to check up on her this morning, she was much more disoriented and woozier than could be attributed to the drugs I gave her yesterday. When she nearly collapsed, I caught her and checked her fever. She was burning up.”
“That’s bad.” Kian shook his head. “I mean good as far as transition signs go, but bad for us because we don’t want her to turn immortal.”
“It’s no longer up to us, Kian,” Julian said. “When I returned a few minutes later, she was unconscious. So unless she has some major underlying condition that she didn’t tell me about, Aunt Eleanor is transitioning.”
Kian leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.
He didn’t want the woman in his community, but he couldn’t let an immortal with dubious scruples loose either. Because her transition was induced by one of Kalugal’s men, Eleanor should have been Kalugal’s responsibility, but since he didn’t have the medical equipment to take care of her, he had no choice but to take her.
Besides, she was Ella and Parker’s aunt, so technically, she was the clan’s problem regardless of who had induced her.
Bottom line, he had two choices. He could bring her to the village and keep her a prisoner, or take her to the keep, wait until she transitioned, and buy himself a little more time to think.
“Take Eleanor to the keep. I’ll tell Bridget to meet you there.”
“Thank you.” Julian sounded relieved.
“Is the keep the underground facility where you housed Jacki and her friends from the program?” Kalugal asked.
“Yes.” Kian swiveled his chair around and looked out the window. “Someone needs to tell Ella and Vivian. Do you want to do that, Julian?”
“They know that Kalugal has her and why. But I can call Ella and tell her that Eleanor is transitioning. She can tell Vivian and Parker.”
“How did they react to Eleanor’s capture?”
“I only know how Ella reacted. Naturally, she has mixed feelings about her aunt.” Julian sighed. “I really can’t keep talking with you. I need to load her on the jet and get her to the keep. I’m so glad that Charlie decided to wait for me instead of going back and returning later.”
“Very well. Keep me updated.”
“Is there anything I can do to help
?” Kalugal asked.
“Yeah, have someone pack her things and eliminate any evidence of her staying in the place she rented, and that includes cleaning her fingerprints and collecting loose hairs. You don’t want Roberts to come looking for her and following the breadcrumbs to your mansion.”
“We’ve already packed Eleanor’s things, and they will be sent over with her. There wasn’t much. Just a few changes of clothes, money, and several sets of fake documents that we’ve collected from her safety deposit box. There is also the stuff from Simmons’s house, but we’re not done going over everything yet. If you want, I can make copies of the notebooks and the flash drive and send them with Julian. There is a lot of fascinating information in there about the Chinese and Russian paranormal programs. Those might be treasure troves of Dormants.”
“I would love to take a look at that, but we don’t have time to make copies, and it’s not urgent. Bring the notebooks and the flash drive with you when you come to the village for the wedding.”
“I’ll do that.”
35
Rufsur
“I’ll get her.” Greggory beelined for the bed and scooped Eleanor into his arms.
He was supposed to pack her suitcase, but as soon as Rufsur had offered to carry her to the car, the guy had practically shoved him out of the way. Now Rufsur was stuck packing the female’s clothing and other feminine paraphernalia back in her suitcase.
Was it possible that Greggory had bonded with the woman after spending only a few hours with her?
Had it happened so fast with Edna and him?
Rufsur tried to imagine himself in Greggory’s situation shortly after meeting Edna. Would he have reacted the same?
Probably. Immortal males were even more possessive of their females than human males, who were bad enough. But not wanting another man to touch Eleanor was not the same as bonding with her.