Dark Queen’s Quest

by I. T. Lucas

  That was a problem. “What about artificial insemination?”

  “I don’t think it can work. Besides, I don’t want any other male’s venom in you either. I want you addicted to me and not anyone else.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “Yeah, I forgot about that. And you can’t produce venom without getting aroused.”

  “Right.”

  “I know that you don’t want to talk about it, but since we are laying it all out, how is your vow of celibacy protecting your people?”

  He shook his head. “I haven’t told anyone about it. My friends suspect that I’m celibate, but they don’t know for sure. I want to keep it this way. At least for a little while longer until I decide what to do.”

  “I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

  He took her hand. “I will tell you, but not right now. Can you give me more time?”

  His eyes were pleading with her to accept, and Mey couldn’t deny him. After all, she hadn’t revealed everything either.

  She still hadn’t told him about her days in the Mossad, and she wasn’t sure she could even if she wanted to. It had been drilled into her head so hard to keep it a secret that she doubted the words could leave her mouth.

  And then there was Jin’s paranormal talent, which she hadn’t told Yamanu about yet…

  Suddenly the pieces of the puzzle realigned themselves perfectly, and what had been a vague suspicion became a conviction.

  Jin’s talent, the Mossad, the American Secret Service, people following her around to see if she did anything unusual.

  Damn, she was putting everyone in danger by being here. The immortals she’d been hanging with were a much bigger scoop than Jin and her paranormal abilities.

  “I need to disappear,” she whispered. “I’m putting all of you in danger.”

  “Are you talking about the detective following you?”

  She nodded.

  “I told my boss about him, and he said that we shouldn’t worry about it. To the world, we are who we seem to be. A model and her entourage. You just happened to hook up with Arielle's business manager.”

  “Perhaps you are right. But I still need to disappear. I know now why they have Jin, and why they want me too.”

  “Jin shares your ability.”

  “How did you know?”

  “It was a logical assumption. Talent usually runs in the family. Your mother must have had it too. It’s a shame we don't know who she is. Although she is probably too old to transition safely anyway.”

  Mey sighed. “If she’s alive. She might have died.”

  “That’s possible. So, what’s caused your sudden alarm? Was it fear of exposing us?”

  “That too. But I just connected the dots. Jin’s talent is more useful than mine. If she touches a person once, she can see what they are doing and hear what’s going on around them.”

  “That’s an amazing spying capability.”

  Her eyes widened as the implications sank in. “Oh my God. It’s so much worse than I imagined just a moment ago. If Jin was tuned in to me while you told me your story, she saw and heard everything that you’ve told me. And since I think she’s been recruited by the government for her spying ability, they can get the information out of her.”

  Yamanu’s hold on her hand tightened. “Can she only see and hear in real time? Or can she see and hear past events?”

  “Only in real time.”

  “So, if she wasn’t tuned into you right now, she won’t know what we’ve talked about.”

  “Correct.” Mey let out a breath. “Sorry for panicking, but I just wasn’t thinking straight. I always feel tingles when she does it to me, and I didn’t feel a thing. So, she wasn’t tuning in to me. Your secret is safe.”

  Yamanu didn’t look convinced. “You were absorbed in my story. You might have missed it.”

  “It’s not something mild. I get goose bumps all over my arms.” She lifted them. “See? No goose bumps.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  “Positive. But I’m also sure that they are eventually going to get tired of waiting for me to manifest my talent and just take me forcibly.”

  “They didn’t abduct your sister. She went willingly. Do you think she knew why she was being recruited?”

  Mey nodded. “I went to her old dorm room and meditated there. I was hoping to find out more about her new employer, maybe overhear a phone conversation. But all I got was her breaking up with her boyfriend over the phone. When she was done, she cried a little, and then she murmured something about others who were going to be more like her.”

  “Do you think that she was referring to her paranormal talent?”

  “What else? She surely wasn’t referring to other Asians. There are plenty of us everywhere. In fact, her next comment was about her hair being exactly like that of two billion other Asian women, but that none of them could do what she could.”

  “So she knew.”

  “It would seem so. But I don’t think she knew that they would be limiting her ability to get in touch with her family, or that they would be monitoring her communication with the outside world.”

  “It’s not uncommon in special units, especially for new recruits. She might be allowed more freedoms once she goes through the training program.”

  “Perhaps I should let them take me? So, I could be with her?” Mey looked down at their joined hands. “It would solve your dilemma. Without me, you wouldn’t need to break your vow.”

  Yamanu hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her head so she had to look into his eyes. “Do you think that I could survive without you? Or that you could survive without me? We are bonded, my lady Mey.”

  She knew he spoke the truth. When she’d suggested letting herself get taken, her gut had flipped frantically, twisting on itself and tying in knots within knots.

  “So, what do we do?”

  62

  Yamanu

  Yamanu pulled out his phone. “I have to call my boss again. I already spoke to him about bringing you in, but I thought there was no rush. We are getting reinforcements tomorrow, so I can leave and take you with me.”

  Mey shook her head. “I have a shoot on Monday.”

  “Can’t you cancel?”

  “I can ask Derek if he can work with what he has so far. If I drop the project a day before the end, I can kiss my career goodbye. Dalia is not going to take me back, and rightfully so.”

  Yamanu wanted to point out that once she transitioned, she wasn’t going back anyway, but there was still a small chance that she wasn’t a Dormant and that she would need her job back.

  “Can you check with him while I talk to my boss?”

  “Sure. Are you going to the executive lounge to make your call?”

  “I’ll call from here.” He leaned and took Mey’s lips in a quick kiss. “We shared our secrets, so I don’t need to make it private, but I don’t want to talk with Kian while you are on the phone. There is a reason we put it in the safe. I told you that it’s possible to eavesdrop on your conversations even when it’s off.”

  Eyes widening in alarm, she put her hand on his arm. “What if the government is monitoring your phone as well?”

  “First of all, we are not sure it’s the government. And secondly, this is a special clan-issue phone. The communication is highly encrypted, and it goes through our own satellites.”

  “You have satellites?”

  “Just one, but we rent space on a couple of others.”

  She looked at his phone for a long moment. “Aren’t you worried about my phone being tapped? They know that I’m hanging out with you. If I suddenly disappear, they’ll come looking for me here. Worse, they will follow the signal wherever I go, and I can’t get rid of my phone because I’m waiting for a call or message from Jin.”

  Yamanu clapped a hand over his forehead. “That’s why they are allowing her to communicate with you. To make sure that you don’t dump the phone when you run.”

  Mey tilted her he
ad. “That’s a little farfetched. First of all, why would they think that I would run? And secondly why would they assume that I would get rid of my phone?”

  The wheels in Yamanu’s head were on overdrive. What Mey had said was true, but his gut was telling him that he was right, which meant that his subconscious had already processed information his conscious brain was still trying to figure out.

  He got out of bed and started pacing back and forth in front of it. “They must know that you have a background in intelligence, and therefore you are more likely to notice someone following you around, like you did. And with the training you got, you would know to get rid of your phone and get a burner.”

  “That’s possible…” Mey slapped a hand over her mouth. “The messages are not from Jin. They are using her phone to keep me tethered. Oh my God, now I’m sure that they are holding her prisoner.”

  “Why, was there something off about them?”

  “Yes, and I wondered about it. I thought it was a hidden message to watch out, but it was the opposite. She, or rather whoever had her phone, told me to keep doing what I’m doing because modeling is a great job. Jin never thought that it was. She used to say that I have much more to offer than my looks. Whoever sent it wanted me to relax about Jin and to stay put.”

  As Mey started trembling, Yamanu sat on the bed and pulled her into his arms. “There is no need to jump to conclusions. She might still be in training and not allowed outside communication. Were you allowed to call home during your military training?”

  Mey shook her head. “No cell phones were allowed. But at least we were told ahead of time, so we could warn our families that they were not going to hear from us for three whole months. It was supposedly done to encourage bonding within the unit, but I suspected that they wanted us to cut the umbilical cord.”

  “It’s most likely the case here as well.”

  “I hope you are right. They probably collected the phones from all the new recruits.” She pinched her forehead between her thumb and forefinger. “But what if the part about having no reception there was actually true? I found a West Virginia travel guide in Jin’s room. One page looked like it had been earmarked, and it was about a National Radio Quiet Zone in West Virginia. I know it’s not much of a clue, and I’m not even sure it was Jin who earmarked that page, but that combined with the no reception comment might be.”

  Yamanu picked up his phone. “On second thought, call Derek from my phone.” He handed it to her.

  “Good thinking. No reason to alert the snoopers that I might be going somewhere. I also need to call Dalia.”

  “Will she keep the job for you?”

  “If I don’t drop the ball on her in the middle of a project, then yeah. There are plenty of models she can use while I’m on vacation. I just hope she’s not going to be too pissed off that I’m calling her on a Sunday.”

  “Tell her it’s an emergency, and when she asks what sort, tell her that you are not free to talk about it.”

  Mey nodded. “That’s close enough to the truth, which is good. I hate lying.”

  63

  Mey

  The irony wasn’t lost on Mey. Her life was all about keeping secrets and that necessitated lying. Perhaps that was the reason she tried to stick as close to the truth as she could whenever she could.

  She called Derek first. “How are you holding up? Did your nephews tie you up already?”

  “How did you know?”

  “That’s what they did last time.”

  “How do you remember that? It was a year ago.”

  She remembered every personal story anyone had ever told her, especially when kids were involved, because she loved hearing about families.

  “I just do. Listen, I need a favor. Is there a way you can work with what we shot already so I don’t need to show up on Monday?”

  He chuckled. “Why? Is your new boyfriend taking you somewhere special?”

  And then some. She was still stunned that Yamanu was willing to take her to his people’s secret hideout. It still needed his boss’s approval, but Yamanu claimed that he’d gotten a tentative one already, so it shouldn’t be a problem.

  Except, she had to lie to Derek and make up a story.

  Mey still wasn’t clear about how Yamanu planned on sneaking her out of New York while she was being watched.

  “No, I wish. Something came up, but I really can’t talk about it.”

  “Don’t tell me that you got an offer from another agency. Dalia will be crushed.”

  Mey rolled her eyes. The dragon lady would cuss and throw stuff at the walls and then start a search for a new, tall Asian model. To Dalia, Mey was just an asset. Dalia liked her, but they weren’t friends. Still she could feed Derek’s suspicions and reinforce them.

  “Okay, I’m not telling you that I got another offer.”

  “You sly, sly girl. What are they paying you? Is it much more than you’re getting now? Do they need an experienced and charming photographer?”

  Mey laughed. “I can’t tell you anything now. We will talk when I come back.”

  “And when is that?”

  She had no idea.

  Maybe never?

  “A couple of weeks. I really need a break from New York.”

  “I know what you mean. So have fun and call me if you can. I won’t survive two weeks without knowing.”

  “I guess that’s your way of telling me that you can manage with what you have.”

  He sighed. “I’ll make it work. But you owe me. This will take hours of fiddling on Photoshop.”

  He did that anyway.

  “You are the best. And I owe you big time.”

  When she was done with Derek, Mey plopped down on the bed. “That was the easy one. Now I need to call the dragon lady.”

  Yamanu leaned over her and brushed a strand of hair away from her forehead before kissing it. “Do you want me to get you a drink?”

  “Don’t be silly. It’s too early for that. Besides, alcohol packs a lot of calories.” Then she reconsidered. After the morning she’d had, she could use a drink. “On second thought, I’ll have one after this call.”

  Yamanu grinned, looking happy to assist in any way he could.

  Was he a keeper or what?

  Definitely a keeper.

  Even if he couldn’t break his vow, they could make it work somehow. The clan’s doctor could come up with a solution, something like artificial insemination and a simultaneous venom injection. It was a little gross, but women did that all the time, either because their husbands couldn’t make them pregnant, or because they were single and didn’t want to wait, or because they just decided that marriage was not for them.

  Perhaps she could even get pregnant like that. Having Yamanu’s children would be much better, but if that was not possible, then this was an option.

  Except, unlike in the human world, Yamanu would know who the donor was, and that might be a problem for him.

  Oh, well, they could adopt.

  No, they couldn’t.

  Mey slapped her forehead. She was still thinking in human terms. If she turned immortal, she would outlive her adopted children and that was horrible. And besides, she and Yamanu couldn’t stay with the clan if they were raising human children.

  They had only two options. Either Yamanu broke his vow, or he agreed to her getting artificial insemination. It didn’t have to be from an immortal, she could do it in a human clinic with a human’s donated semen.

  But wasn’t she getting carried away?

  They’d known each other for less than a week, and she was already planning the rest of their immortal lives together.

  It was still possible that she wasn’t a Dormant, she still needed to find her sister, and Yamanu’s boss still had to approve her arrival as well as Yamanu’s leave of absence.

  Speaking of the handsome devil, Yamanu entered the room with a tall drink in hand. “We have the green light from Kian. Did you call Dalia?”

  “Not ye
t. I was sitting here like a doofus and planning the rest of our lives.” She shook her head. “Talk about getting carried away. I’ve known you for less than a week, and there are hurdles the size of Jupiter in our way to the happily ever after.”

  Sitting on the bed, Yamanu wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “When it feels right, it’s right. You know what Kian told me? That’s the name of my boss if you haven’t figured it out yet. And just so you know, he is the most cynical dude, so don’t think he’s some diehard romantic.” Yamanu chuckled.

  “What?”

  “He said that when he first met his future wife, he’d known right away that she was the one for him, but because he’d believed himself a realist and a logic-driven person, he’d refused to accept it. Then his sister had pointed out that he was lying to himself and hurting Syssi’s feelings. And they lived happily ever after. The end.”

  “It’s a nice story.”

  “Every word is true. Tomorrow, when we get to the village, you can hear her version of it, which I’m sure is much more detailed and interesting. We are flying out in the afternoon.”

  “How did you manage to convince your boss so quickly? Didn’t he tell you that he needed time to consult with someone?”

  “I explained the situation, and Kian agreed that we need to get you out of here as soon as possible.”

  Mey reached for the glass, lifted it to her mouth and gulped a third at one go. “It’s really happening, isn’t it? I feel as if I’m going to jump through an inter-dimensional portal and land in an alien world.”

  “Yeah, that about sums it up. Unfortunately, it won’t be as easy as stepping through a portal. It will take a six-hour flight. Fortunately, it’s going to be on the clan’s private jet.”

  COMING UP NEXT

  The Children of the Gods Book 32

  Dark Queen’s Knight

  To read the first 3 chapters

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