Dark Queen’s Quest

by I. T. Lucas

16

  Kian

  Kian swiveled his chair around and looked out the window, checking whether Onegus was on his way. From his office, he could see all the way to the pavilion, but the chief hadn't arrived yet.

  Glancing at his watch, he debated whether the five minutes he had left until the meeting were enough for a quick smoke up on the roof.

  Eh, what the hell, why not.

  The pavilion was just as visible from the rooftop, and he could head back down when he saw Onegus walking over.

  The chief was coming to discuss the Doomers’ move to the clan’s turf and what they were going to do about it, and smoking helped Kian think things through. Who knew, maybe his brain worked better when he was relaxed.

  Opening the drawer, he pulled out the small wooden box containing his cigarillos and put it in his pocket. The lighter was still in his other pocket from his previous break.

  Up on the roof, he sat on the lounger, lit up and took a puff.

  Oh, yeah. That was it.

  He closed his eyes for a moment and concentrated on loosening his shoulder muscles.

  After the brainstorming session he’d had with Annani last night, they still hadn’t come up with a good idea for utilizing the information Areana had provided.

  It wasn’t really big news that Kalugal had taken his men with him when he defected, but Areana had given them a more precise number. They had probably stayed together in the beginning and then gradually dispersed over time, but in the unlikely event that they had continued on in the same general location, seventy or so immortal males living together in one place should be easier to find than just one.

  The question was how.

  If they were indeed based in New York, the city was too big and had too many clubs and bars to search the way the Doomers’ had tried to search for clan members in the past. So that was out.

  What else would make them stand out?

  He’d already asked William and Roni to hack into the state’s DMV database and run its driver licenses through the facial recognition software, which they’d been constantly tweaking and improving.

  Other than that, there wasn’t much else they could do. If they didn’t find any suspicious duplicates in New York, they should start working on other states’ databases. Not only to find Kalugal and his men, but also potentially other immortals as well.

  Like Roni’s grandmother, who they still hadn’t found.

  Glancing at his watch, Kian rose to his feet and looked at the walkway leading from the pavilion to the office building.

  As he’d expected, Onegus was on his way.

  Stubbing out what was left of his cigarillo, Kian threw it in the trash can and headed back down.

  “Good afternoon,” Onegus said. “Up on the roof again?”

  Kian opened the door and motioned for the chief to go ahead. “Yeah, it’s a bad habit.”

  Onegus pulled out a chair and sat at the conference table. “I’ve given the situation some thought, and I came up with several ideas, but I don’t think that will be enough.”

  “Let's hear them.” Kian pulled out a chair and sat next to Onegus.

  “I contacted the chief of police and told him that he needs to watch out. I hinted that whoever is snatching girls up in the bay area is expanding the operation to include L.A.”

  “There isn’t much he can do. They are not going to increase police presence at the campuses until girls start disappearing, and even then they don’t have enough officers to spread around.”

  Onegus lifted his hands. “We have the same problem. There are too many higher learning institutions in the Los Angeles area for us to post Guardians in each one. I thought that we could put up warning posters. We can hire a company to do that for us. Other than that, I can send Guardians to talk to campus security. They can go as undercover agents and thrall a sense of urgency into whoever is in charge.”

  Kian raked his fingers through his hair. “None of that is going to help. If a Doomer focuses on a particular girl and thralls her into trusting him, no one would know that foul play is involved.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  “We need to find the Doomers’ base and take them out.”

  “They are going to send more.”

  “Then we will do the same to the next group and the one after that.”

  Onegus shook his head. “They have thousands of men. They can just keep sending them.”

  “True, but it will reflect badly on the head Doomer running the operation.”

  Onegus nodded. “Lokan’s so-called brother. Losham.”

  Kian waved a hand. “Whoever it is will be removed and replaced by someone else. In the meantime, no girls will be taken, and hopefully they will decide to change tactics.”

  “To what?”

  “Voluntary service. Lokan is right about that. There are enough women who are willing to do this for the money.”

  Onegus shook his head. “The difference isn’t that big. Once they get to the island, they will become slaves. It’s not a temporary gig.”

  “I know. But it’s the lesser of two evils. Do you have a better suggestion?”

  “I wish I did. But unless we conquer the island and topple the despot, we can’t stop the import of women. Besides, the island and its Doomers are small fish in the ocean of traffickers. Eliminating them is like swatting one mosquito out of a swarm.”

  Kian leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “I sometimes wonder whether the gods of old could have done more. If there were a hundred Annanis instead of one, could they have stopped global trafficking?”

  “I don’t think so.” Onegus rubbed his jaw. “And there is more than one. Areana is a goddess too, but she is no more powerful than an average immortal. Our Clan Mother represents the best of the gods. Others were probably not as strong.”

  “Still, even though there weren’t many of them, they managed to keep humans semi-decent.”

  “That’s because the human population was tiny compared to what it is today, and transportation wasn’t easy. In places where the gods’ influence didn’t reach, the same shit and worse was happening.” He chuckled. “Sometimes I wonder whether Navuh isn’t right about humanity. Is it really worth our efforts?”

  Kian sighed. “I wish I knew. But we can’t abandon the cause. We have to believe that a better future is possible. It’s just taking so fucking long.” He tapped his fingers on the conference table. “But that’s enough philosophizing. We need a concrete plan for finding and eliminating the Doomers who are moving into our backyard.”

  Onegus lifted a finger. “I’ve got it. They are moving, which means that they’ve bought or rented a property large enough to house them. We need to check recent real estate transactions of small apartment buildings, hotels, motels, boarding schools, and any other property that can fit a bunch of Doomers who are not too particular about their living conditions.”

  “Good thinking. I can ask Lokan to find out how many Doomers his brother has with him. If we know how many beds they need, it will narrow our search.”

  Onegus raised a brow. “How about he finds out the address of their new location and gives it to us?”

  “Not a good idea. Firstly, because Losham would become suspicious if Lokan asks too many questions. And secondly, because once the Doomers are eliminated, Lokan would become prime suspect for the intel leak. Keeping his association with us secret is top priority.”

  “For what? I was wondering what you have in mind for him.”

  “He can give us advance warning. If Navuh somehow finds out where the village is and decides to send an attack force and take us out, a warning will give us time to move our people, and that’s invaluable. If I get that out of him, it would be good enough.”

  “Right. Just out of curiosity, anything else that you expect from Lokan?”

  Kian shrugged. “In the long term, he might be a candidate for taking over command of the island. If we ever find Kalugal, and he is a decent fellow, they
could do that together. Kalugal sounds like a very powerful immortal.”

  17

  Mey

  “Thanks for the lift.” Mey waved as Derek drove off.

  Standing in front of Jin’s old dorm building, she pulled out her phone and texted Jin’s ex-roommate. Is it okay if I come up? I’m missing a pair of shoes that Jin was supposed to leave behind. They might be under the bed.

  It was just an excuse to get in there again and do another meditative session. Hopefully, Gabi was still in class and the door was easy to open. If not, Mey would have to figure out a way to convince the roommate to let her stay alone in there for a little while.

  Perhaps she could invoke a fake Chinese ritual involving the release of house spirits?

  She chuckled. That should work. No one would be mean enough to refuse a spiritual cleansing.

  Gabi’s answer came a minute later. I’m in class. Just let yourself in. Push the door hard and it will open.

  Mey smiled. That was even better. She would still be breaking and entering, but with permission.

  Up on the third floor, she waited until there was no one in the corridor before putting her shoulder into the door and giving it a strong shove.

  Too strong.

  The latch gave up easily, and Mey stumbled inside, catching herself on the knob that she was still holding tight.

  The room was messy, with Gabi’s bed unmade, her clothes strewn over every piece of furniture and some lying on the floor. It hadn’t been that bad the last time.

  Gabi had probably tidied up before Mey had come over.

  Closing the door behind her, she debated what to do. Meditating would be impossible with all that mess distracting her, but Gabi might not appreciate Mey organizing her stuff.

  She decided to go with the method she’d often used on her parents. Do first. Apologize later. After all, she came to look for something, and that was a good excuse for moving things around.

  Fighting the instinct to fold and stack, she picked up all the clothing and dumped it on Gabi’s bed. The shoes went under it.

  With that done, Mey sat cross-legged on the floor with her back to the bed and closed her eyes.

  After several minutes of deep breathing, the breakup scene from before started playing behind her eyelids again. This time, however, Mey focused on the periphery instead of on what was being said, and she noticed something she hadn’t before.

  A travel guide. It was on the bed, tilted toward Jin’s thigh. Mey could see just part of it, a picture of a waterfall and the logo of the travel guide, but not the name of the place.

  Damn. She was willing to bet that Jin had gotten the guide to get familiar with the new place she was moving to. And she’d probably taken it with her.

  As her sister started mumbling to herself about the breakup, Mey expected the vision to dissipate like it had the other time, but it kept going.

  “There will be others. Hopefully, who are more like me.”

  Jin’s image didn’t waver after she’d murmured those words. With a sigh, she pushed to her feet and the travel guide fell down on the floor. She looked at it, but she didn’t pick it up.

  Instead, she walked over to the square mirror hanging on the back of the door and smoothed her hand over her ponytail. “Who are you, Jin Levine? What defines you? Is it your most unique feature or the most common one? There are more than two billion women in the world with hair exactly like yours. But how many can do what you can? Probably none.”

  Goosebumps rose on Mey’s arms. Jin was referring to her special talent, but was it connected in any way to her new job?

  In her imagination, Mey saw an institute like the one in the X-Men movies, complete with a wheelchair-bound, genius director. But instead of mutants, it was home to people like her and Jin.

  In fact, she and her sister were mutants of sorts.

  Mey shook her head. She was letting her imagination run wild.

  Jin’s monologue had been most likely about her breakup with Mitch, and not her new job. Perhaps she’d seen something that had upset her.

  Like Mey had with her ex.

  Normally, Jin would have told her about whatever she’d found out. But her sister might have wanted to spare her feelings and not share with her a similar story.

  Had Mitch been unfaithful? Perhaps he’d flirted with someone? Jin would have been upset about that too.

  Having the ability to spy on people was a double-edged sword. It was a useful tool, and Mey was thankful for having it, but sometimes the truths it had helped her uncover had hurt. Still, she would take knowledge and pain over blissful ignorance any day.

  Where was that travel guide though? Could it have been shoved under the bed?

  Activating her phone’s flashlight, she looked under Jin’s bed, but all she found there were dust bunnies.

  Next, she did the same under Gabi’s. First, though, she had to clear all the shoes she’d pushed under there before. Besides that, she found a dust-covered towel, a small sleeping bag, and a bunch of books, two of them travel guides.

  One was about Virginia, and the other one was about West Virginia.

  Flipping through both, Mey looked for earmarked pages or any other indicator that Jin had been interested in a particular location.

  She found one page that looked like it had been bent and then straightened. It was about a National Radio Quiet Zone in West Virginia.

  Interesting. Mey hadn’t known such a place existed.

  Was it a clue that Jin had left for her?

  Or were those just two old travel guides that had been left over by the previous dorm residents?

  Mey shoved both guides back under the bed.

  Until Shimon got back to her with some more information, West Virginia was just a possible clue. Regrettably, he wasn’t likely to call anytime soon because it was the middle of the night in Israel.

  Except, it had crossed her mind that he could have answered her from anywhere in the world. Nevertheless, she shouldn’t bug him. He would call whenever he had something for her.

  For now, she had no more things to investigate or people to question, but Mey had an idea for how she wanted to spend the rest of the day, and it involved a little chutzpah.

  Pulling out the business card Arielle had given her, she punched in the number and waited.

  “Hello?”

  Mey stifled a chuckle. There was absolutely no Slavic accent in that greeting.

  “Hi, Ari. It’s Mey. I was wondering if you would like to grab that cup of coffee we talked about. My flat mates are on a shoot in Hawaii, and I don’t feel like going back to an empty apartment.”

  “I would love to,” Ari said with an exaggerated Slovenian accent. “I’m staying at the Regent Hotel. I’ll text you the address. When you get here, call me, and I’ll come down to the lobby.”

  “Awesome. Is there a café or a restaurant nearby?”

  “The hotel has a good restaurant, but we can order room service. I have a very nice suite. Besides, I’m sure you want to say hello to Yamanu as well.”

  Arielle was no fool, guessing the real reason behind the call, but Mey decided to ignore the suggestive remark. “I can be there in an hour. Is that okay?”

  “Perfect. Call me when you get here.”

  “I will. And thanks for the invitation.”

  “No, thank you. I’m so happy that you’re coming over. See you here in an hour.”

  As the text with the address came in, Mey was glad that the hotel wasn’t very far from her apartment. She was sweaty from the earlier shoot and covered in dust from searching under the beds. A quick shower and a fresh outfit were in order, something casual but flattering. What Mey was going for was effortless elegance that wouldn’t look as if she’d been trying too hard.

  18

  Yamanu

  “Are you out of your mind?” Yamanu glared at Alena. “Don’t bring her up here. Take her to the hotel restaurant.”

  Alena smiled, but it was a chilly kind of smile. “I’m
not asking your permission, Yamanu. If you don’t wish to see Mey, you can stay in your room.”

  “I’m in charge of this operation, and this is a security breach. No one is allowed on this floor. Ragnar is not renting out the remaining suite because of that, and only our keys get the elevator up here. You can’t invite a complete stranger just because she is nice.”

  “I can do as I please, and you’d better adjust your tone. What’s gotten into you?”

  Damn. Alena wasn’t Annani or Kian, and Yamanu treated her as he would Amanda, which was like a friend. But apparently that wasn’t going to work. Alena demanded the same type of deference as her mother and brother.

  The truth was that Alena had as much right to the title Clan Mother as Annani. If not for the thirteen children that she’d brought into the world, the clan would have been a fraction of the size it was. But she’d always remained in the shadows, acting as Annani’s companion and not as a leader in her own right.

  Kian and Sari had been appointed regents, Amanda was a council member, but Alena didn’t have an official title. Not only that, she’d always been so quiet and mellow that he’d never expected her to act so bossy.

  So far, she’d been a good sport, a team player. Why the sudden change? And what was so important about Mey that Alena felt like she had to put her foot down?

  Yamanu bowed his head. “My apologies. I didn’t think that establishing ground rules was necessary, but evidently I was mistaken. Would you mind taking a seat so we can discuss this like reasonable people and not turn it into a pissing contest?”

  “By all means.” Alena waved a hand toward the couch. “Let’s talk it over.”

  As Yamanu sat next to her, Arwel opened the door and stepped out of his room. “What’s going on? I sensed tension.”

  “Alena invited Mey over and she wants to bring her up here. I’m trying to explain why it’s a bad idea.”

  “Oh.” Arwel smoothed a hand over the back of his neck. “I guess the keep’s rules apply here. We weren’t allowed to bring outsiders to the clan-occupied floors in the keep. It’s a safety precaution that Kian insisted on.”