by I. T. Lucas
42
Eleanor
“Good morning.” Vivian walked into Eleanor’s room with a tray. “How are you feeling?”
“More clear-headed.” Eleanor eyed the thermos. “I hope that’s coffee.”
Vivian smiled and pushed the rolling tray so it was over the bed. “It is. Would you like me to pour it for you?”
She nodded. “I can lift my hands now, and I even went to the bathroom this morning, but I don’t know how steady they are. Is Ella coming to see me later? I would also like to see Parker if it’s possible.”
Vivian poured the coffee into two mugs, handed Eleanor one and took the other with her to the chair. “Ella is talking to the doctor and she will come in a moment. Parker is at another location, and you will see him when we move you there.” Vivian took a sip from her coffee. “Parker is a compeller like you, but he’s not an immune.”
“Is he an immortal as well? I don’t remember if you told me that yesterday or not. A lot of the things you and Ella talked about are kind of hazy, but I’m much more lucid today.”
“Parker is an immortal now. In fact, he was the first of us to transition. The clan threw him a big coming of age party, and he had a blast.”
“The clan?”
Vivian smiled. “That’s the Eleanor I remember, sharp-minded and doesn’t miss anything. There are several communities of immortals, and ours is called Annani’s clan.”
“How did Parker discover his ability? Did he have it before turning immortal?”
“It happened accidentally. How did you discover yours?”
Eleanor grimaced. “I didn’t know I had it. I just thought that I was very persuasive and that the people around me were pushovers. I didn’t realize that I had a special power until I was in my early twenties, and it scared the shit out of me. I was afraid to be around people. The pharmaceutical gig was perfect for me. I never stayed in one place for long, I could go skiing whenever I wanted to, and I made loads of money.”
“Were you happy in that life?”
“I was okay. But then I met a guy and fell for him head over heels. He wasn’t nearly as interested, so I compelled his cooperation. But I soon discovered that I couldn’t compel him to love me, or even feel desire for me, I could only compel his loyalty, which I thought was enough, but it wasn’t. It took me a while to realize that I was just making myself more miserable by keeping him, so I let him go.”
“You can compel attraction.” Ella walked into the room. “It was done to me.”
Eleanor shook her head. “The attraction had to be present in the first place. It could have been weak, and the compulsion amplified it, but it couldn’t have manufactured it out of nothing.”
Given the sour expression on Ella’s face, she didn’t like the answer. “Do you remember a guy named Lokan, or Logan?” she asked.
Eleanor shook her head.
“He’s a compeller, and when I first met him, I was scared of him and thought that he was really bad. But he is also a dream walker, and he entered my dreams and compelled me to be attracted to him and no one else.”
A dream walker? Eleanor had never heard of a talent like that.
“Is he handsome? Because you could have been scared of him and attracted to him at the same time. You just didn’t want to admit it to yourself.”
Vivian smiled. “Lokan is magazine-cover gorgeous. He’s also eloquent, charming, and a great dresser. A real prince.”
Ella pinned her mother with an incredulous stare. “Don’t admire him. He kidnapped us and was planning to leave us on the damn Doomers’ island. I forgave him for Carol’s sake, but he’s far from being my favorite person.”
“He has changed his ways.” Vivian patted her daughter’s arm. “Perhaps knowing that he can no longer compel us makes it easier for me to forgive him.” She looked at Eleanor. “Besides, I’m a great believer in giving people a second chance to redeem themselves.”
“I don’t know how to do that,” Eleanor admitted. “Seeing you and Ella after all these years made me realize that I never really hated you. I was just angry and hurt and you were an easy target. I’m sorry.”
“You see?” Vivian waved a hand. “You are already taking steps in the right direction. Now, all you have to do is abandon your plans for trapping people with paranormal abilities and selling them to the highest bidder.”
Eleanor released a puff of air. “That chapter of my life is closed.”
Vivian smiled, but Ella eyed Eleanor with thinly veiled hostility. “It is over for the simple reason that your compulsion doesn’t work on immortals, and you are now stuck with us for good. But if it did work on us, I wouldn’t trust you as far as I could throw you.”
Smart girl.
It all depended on how well these people were going to treat her now that she was one of them. Unbidden, Greggory’s face swam in front of Eleanor’s eyes, and she lifted her hand to where he’d bitten her.
The memories of their intimate moments had returned during the night, as had the memory of her giving Calvin the combination to the safety deposit box and telling him all of her dastardly plans.
That was the real reason why that chapter of her life was closed. She had nothing to work with, and nothing to show the Chinese.
Besides, Ella had confirmed what Eleanor had already suspected. These people, or rather these immortals, were not going to ever let her go, and they were going to keep her either locked up or closely watched.
Not that she could blame them. What she had planned to do to Greggory and his friends in the mansion was bad. Not horrible, though. She was bad but not evil or cruel. After all, paranormally talented people were a rare and sought-after commodity, and they would have been treated well, even pampered. The only thing they would have lost was their freedom.
Evidently karma had taken care of that, and she had lost her freedom instead. Except, captivity wouldn’t be all that bad if she could have Greggory join her.
Eleanor lifted her hand. “You have every right to suspect the worst of me, but I vow to behave and never betray you and your people.”
Vivian smiled. “They are your people now as well. If you betray them, you betray yourself and your family.”
“I won’t, you have my word.” She lowered her hand. “I have about a thousand questions. First of all, where is that place I’m going to get moved to, and is it where you live?”
“We call it the village, and it is hidden from humans and other immortals.” Vivian took Eleanor’s hand in hers. “It’s a beautiful place and you can stay with Magnus, me, and Parker. Magnus is my new husband.”
Eleanor’s heart squeezed painfully. Logically, she accepted that it was time for Vivian to move on, but emotionally, it was difficult.
“Congratulations. Inviting me to live with you is very gracious, but I don’t want to impose and rob Ella of her room.”
Ella chuckled. “I no longer live at home. I live with my fiancé.”
Even though the girl was much too young to be engaged, that was easier news to absorb. “Congratulations to you as well.”
Ella grinned. “You’ve met my fiancé already. Do you remember Julian?”
“The doctor?”
“That’s the one.”
That was one hell of a catch. The guy was gorgeous and a doctor.
“Impressive young man.” Eleanor frowned. “Is he really young? I guess one can never know with immortals.”
“Julian is as young as he looks,” Vivian said. “He’s Bridget’s son. My Magnus, on the other hand, isn’t. So don’t be surprised when he tells you stories about his days of hunting for food when he was a wee lad of ten summers.”
“What about Greggory? How old is he?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t met him.” Vivian patted her hand encouragingly. “But you can ask him yourself when he comes to the village for the wedding next Friday.”
As excitement bloomed in her heart, Eleanor grinned. “Who’s getting married?”
“Jacki,”
Ella said.
“Oh, wow.” Eleanor shook her head. “I can’t believe that she is an immortal now, and so are Jin and Wendy. Where do those immortal genes come from? How many immortals are there? Does the government know about us?”
Ella laughed. “Slow down. Instead of you shooting questions at us, how about I start at the beginning, and once I’m done, you can ask as many questions as you want. Otherwise, it will take hours to explain.”
“It will take hours regardless,” Vivian said. “So if you need to go to the bathroom, I suggest that you do it now.”
43
Kalugal
“What are you going to do about all that information?” Rufsur took a seat at the dining table.
Kalugal reached for the breadbasket and pulled out a roll. “I’ll hand it over to Kian. He’s already into the rescue business, and he has Turner, who’s an expert on it. We have no experience with extracting people, and especially not from places like China and Russia. That’s risky business.”
Rufsur loaded his plate with baked potatoes and half of a roast chicken. “If you do that, he will get the Dormants.”
Kalugal shrugged. “There are enough clan females for our men to choose from, and they are already immortal. Why bother with Dormants?”
Jacki shook her head. “I’m sure that the Chinese and Russian programs are much worse than the one I was in. Human rights are not a priority in those places, and even here, where they are, they were violated left and right.”
Kalugal reached for her hand. “We can’t fix the entire world with one wave of a magic wand. Kian might want to undertake this or he might not. But at least he is better equipped to do that than we are.”
“I know.” Jacki sighed. “I just feel sorry for those people.” She put her other hand over her chest. “I feel like they are members of my tribe, potential immortals who will never get to realize that potential if we don’t get them, and that by leaving them there we are abandoning our own.”
“That’s true. But our first responsibility is to our people, and I’m not going to endanger my men by sending them to do something they are not trained for and that I’m not qualified to plan for.”
“I didn’t say that you need to do that. I’m just thinking out loud. Jin and Mey were adopted from China, so there might be a concentration of Dormants there, different than those found in the west, with other traits.”
“Perhaps they are descendants of other gods,” Rufsur said.
“That’s what I was thinking. Jin says that Annani has never heard of females with fangs, or about talents like hers and Mey’s. Maybe Annani’s people weren’t the only ones? What if there were several different groups? One might have settled in Sumer, another in China, and maybe there was even a third one in America? The Indians have legends about a flying serpent god, and the Chinese have legends of flying serpents as well.”
“All those legends might originate from the same gods,” Kalugal said. “Perhaps their flying vehicles looked like serpents to the primitives.”
“I wonder why.” Rufsur took a second serving of potatoes. “Did their jets leave contrails, and did humans think that they looked like snakes?”
“What are contrails?” Jacki asked.
Kalugal remembered reading an explanation for the phenomenon. “The hot and humid exhaust from jet engines mixes with the atmosphere, which at high altitude has lower vapor pressure than what comes out of the exhaust. The vapor from the exhaust condenses and freezes, and that forms a cloud, or rather the streak that you see in the sky following the aircraft.”
Jacki looked doubtful. “That doesn’t look like a snake at all. Besides, you are assuming that the gods’ aircrafts operated using the same technology that we have today. It might have been something completely different.”
Rufsur shrugged. “Who knows what they imagined. They could have only used stuff they could reference.”
The truth was that Kalugal was intrigued, and it was a mystery he would have loved to sink his fangs into. But what he had told Jacki was correct, and he couldn’t get involved in rescue missions. He could, however, do some investigating.
“I admit that I’m fascinated by the possibilities. But the only thing I can do is organize archeological digs in those regions. The problem is that it would take years of detective work for me to figure out where to dig. Egypt and the area of ancient Sumer are well-defined archaeological treasure troves, and digs have been going there for a very long time. I know how to handle the local authorities, and how to smuggle artifacts out. It’s not going to be as easy in China or in Russia.”
“Bribery works wonders in Russia,” Rufsur said. “And they are not as strictly regimented as the Chinese. You can start there.” He chuckled. “I overheard Ella and Julian talking about a Russian Pakhan named Gorchenco, and it seemed like they were well acquainted with him. If you can get to him, he might prove very useful in getting digging permits.”
Kalugal waved a dismissive hand. “I have too much on my plate already. Digs in Russia will have to wait for a more opportune time.”
44
Eleanor
Showered and wearing her own clothes instead of the hospital johnny, Eleanor felt much better. She was still physically weak and suffering from information overload, but her mental faculties were coming back online, and she was processing things in her usual methodical way.
Thankfully and after a lot of arguing, Vivian and Ella had finally left her alone so she could shower and change in private. Her sister-in-law was well-meaning, or at least she appeared to be, but Eleanor was a loner who tired of company quickly and needed solitude to think and plan.
But that wasn’t the only reason.
Learning that Josh could have lived forever renewed her feelings of resentment toward Vivian. The feelings were illogical, she was well aware of that, but as much as she tried to convince herself that Josh’s death wasn’t really her sister-in-law’s fault, she couldn’t help it.
The feelings were there, and they refused to go away.
How was she going to survive living in the same house with Vivian and her new husband?
Even worse was the village itself. A tiny community of less than three hundred people was like a beehive, with everyone knowing everything about everyone else. There was no privacy, no anonymity, and nothing to do.
Perhaps she had died after all, and that was her custom-made hell?
On top of that, they were going to put a cuff on her wrist that would monitor her twenty-four-seven. The cuff would ensure that even those who hadn’t heard about her yet would know she was not welcomed among them. She was the mistrusted relative who had been allowed into their community just because she had nowhere else to go, or rather because the big boss didn’t want an unaffiliated immortal roaming the world free.
Eleanor could just imagine the hostile looks she was going to get.
Damn. Unless she somehow managed to gain the clan leader’s trust, she would never be allowed to leave, and that would be her life for eternity.
How the hell was she going to make the boss trust her?
From what Vivian and Ella had told her, the clan and the goddess heading it were dedicated to improving the human condition, and everyone supported that lofty goal.
As if.
Just that was enough to make her suspicious of them. Those holier than thou types were the least trustworthy of all. The news was full of stories about the directors of charities dedicated to helping children accused of pedophilia. Those were the more extreme cases, but they proved what Eleanor had always believed. Sometimes the worst people cloaked themselves in saints’ haloes.
She had no illusions about immortals being any better.
They were still people, and like humans, they had feelings and prejudices and uncontrollable urges. Some were good, some were bad, and the majority were neither good nor bad but just selfish and self-serving.
All that talk about promoting progress and democracy, saving victims of trafficking and rehabili
tating them, it all sounded too good to be true. There must be something in it for the clan. And since they worked from the shadows, they couldn’t even take credit for their good deeds, so achieving a Mother Teresa status and admiration wasn’t the motive either.
Perhaps if she could find out what that thing was, she could take part in the action or even hijack it for herself.
It might take her a long time to gain the clan and its leaders’ trust, but she was an immortal now, and time was of no consequence to her. If she proved herself useful, they might let her into the inner circle where she could learn the truth.
I’m an immortal. Wow.
Leaning closer to the mirror, Eleanor examined her face but couldn’t see any changes. The slight marionette lines that had started to form on her face were still there, the dark circles under her eyes hadn’t diminished, and her body was even thinner than before.
The doctor claimed that she would keep getting better, and that what she’d experienced so far was just the initial transition. Already, her body possessed the rapid healing ability that immortals enjoyed as well as immunity to diseases. To fully transition would take another six months.
Good stuff.
Vivian looked great, much younger than her thirty-six years, but then she’d always been beautiful. Regrettably, unlike in the vampire movies, the transition would not make Eleanor prettier. Still, she would be happy to look as good as she had in her twenties, and if she stopped running around so much, she might even manage to gain some weight and fill up her hollow cheeks.
It was funny how most women desperately tried to lose weight while she’d always had trouble keeping it on.
Driven by inner turmoil, Eleanor had always pushed herself too hard in everything she did, either in sports or in the various jobs she’d held. Perhaps now that she had no choice, she would learn to slow down and smell the roses. Heck, maybe she should take up gardening. It wasn’t as if there was much else to do in the damn village, and she wouldn’t be allowed out to go skiing, which was the only activity that managed to quiet her overactive mind.