by I. T. Lucas
Perhaps she needed another kiss to remind her how it had all started and why it was still a good idea.
9
Kalugal
Jacki sighed. “Not as much as I was this morning. I don’t know why I didn’t think about the identity issues before. I don’t like feeling stupid.”
“It didn’t occur to me either, and I never feel stupid.” He winked before tightening his arms around her. “After the epic kiss that we shared yesterday, we got carried away and didn’t think things through. But because we are both smart, we found a solution.”
Kalugal didn’t like Jacki’s defeated mood, and he didn’t like that she was second-guessing her decision. He wanted her to be excited and happy about marrying him.
She waved a hand. “Practicality is the antidote to romance.”
“True. Perhaps we need a repeat performance to remind ourselves why we wanted to get married in the first place.”
Smiling, Jacki wound her arms around his neck. “Best idea I've heard so far. You must have read my mind.”
Now, that was a welcome mood change.
Cupping the back of her head, he coaxed her lips to part, and when she moaned softly, he slid his tongue into her welcoming mouth. Licking, savoring, tasting.
Exquisite.
Jacki shivered, her body softening against his as she surrendered to the kiss. Not for long, though. She enjoyed his dominance, but she wasn’t passive. Clutching his shoulders, she tentatively kissed him back.
It went against his nature to let her take over, but it was also erotic as hell. For the first time, he could allow a woman to kiss him back despite his elongated fangs.
Still, as her tongue slipped into his mouth, he had to fight the instinct to deny her entry. Sliding his hands over her back, he caressed her softly, encouraging her to keep going.
Unafraid, Jacki swirled her tongue around one fang, sending an unexpected jolt straight to his groin. It felt as if she was licking his manhood instead, and just like what was happening down below, his fangs punched out to their full length, protruding over his lower lip.
Maybe it was the novelty of it, or perhaps it was an immortal male’s natural response to his fangs being licked, but the stimulation was overpowering.
With his dormant predatory instincts coming dangerously close to the surface, Kalugal was afraid that he might accidentally nick Jacki just by taking over the kiss.
Applying a little force to the back of her head, he pulled it back.
Thankfully, her eyes were closed, and she didn’t see the complete transformation.
When fully elongated, his fangs were quite terrifying. Could he get them to retract before she looked at him?
Or perhaps it would be better for her to see them in their full elongated glory now, and not on her wedding night. It could be a nasty surprise that might ruin the mood for her.
Caressing Jacki's gorgeous golden hair, he gently kissed her forehead. “Open your eyes.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to.”
“You need to see me the way I am. You need to internalize that the man you are marrying isn’t human.”
“I know that.” She smiled without opening her eyes. “I’m marrying a demigod.”
It seemed that he’d discovered the one thing he didn’t like about Jacki. She was stubborn, and she liked to argue about everything.
“Open your eyes.” He infused his tone with command. Not compulsion, since she was immune, just authority.
This time Jacki obeyed, and the smile slid off her face, but she didn’t stiffen in his arms, which was a good sign. She wasn’t scared.
“Your eyes are glowing. They are so beautiful.”
Was she trying to be polite and not mention his fangs?
“What about these?” He pointed.
“They are bigger than I thought. They didn’t feel as big when I kissed you.”
“They grew even more. When you licked my fang, I discovered that they are highly responsive to stimulation.”
Her eyes widened. “You didn’t know that until now?”
“You are the first woman I've ever let kiss me back.”
Jacki’s entire face softened. “I love that I’m your first in something. It makes me feel special.”
Okay, he could expand on that.
“You are also the first woman who remembers my real face after I've kissed her.”
Except, he had to qualify that claim by adding in recent years. When he was much younger, Kalugal often hadn’t shrouded himself, only erasing his face from the females’ memory later.
For some reason, though, that hadn’t worked on Eva, and she still remembered him.
Then again, after discovering that he’d taken her virginity, Kalugal had been more concerned with erasing that from her mind than the memory of his face.
“You seem unsure of that,” Jacki said.
“There was one exception, but it wasn’t intentional. It was a mistake.”
“Tell me about it.”
He arched a brow. “I don’t think we should discuss my prior partners. You might get jealous. I know I would be if you told me about yours.”
“Except, I don’t have any, and now that you've mentioned that one incident of a woman who remembered your real face, you have to tell me the rest, or I’ll keep obsessing about it.”
Argumentative wench.
“I don’t like it when you argue with me.”
Glaring at him, Jacki straightened in his arms. “Tough. Get used to it. If you want a wife who will always answer with a 'yes, dear,' you shouldn’t marry me.”
“But I want to marry you, and not someone who says 'yes, dear' to everything I ask of her. I would just appreciate a little less arguing.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Are you trying to get away with not telling me about that woman?”
“Not at all. The story is simple. It happened about fifty years ago, and things were different back then. She was a college student, and she wasn’t shy. In fact, she acted so boldly that I was sure she was experienced. But she was a virgin, and when I discovered it, I tried to save the situation by erasing the entire thing from her mind. Normally, I would leave the memory of the sex intact except for the biting part but muddle the memory of my face. In Eva’s case, however, I did it the other way around. I figured that if she didn’t remember losing her virginity, she wouldn’t have to tell that to her future husband. Back then, it was a big deal.”
“Why didn’t you erase your face from her memory as well?”
“I intended to, but apparently I failed to do so, because she remembered me.”
10
Jacki
It was strange that the most important part of Kalugal’s story had escaped Jacki’s notice, reaching her awareness only a few seconds later.
She’d known that his fangs were not for decoration, but she’d assumed that they were a weapon to be used in a fight with other males or for hunting.
But Kalugal had just said that he’d bitten his sex partners with those monsters and then erased the memory of the bites.
“I thought that the fangs were a weapon. Why were you biting women?”
“Arwel didn’t tell you?”
She shook her head. “He only said that immortal males had fangs, but that they didn’t drink blood like vampires. He didn’t explain what they were used for, and I just assumed that they were like wolf fangs, used for fighting or hunting.”
He smirked, looking like a smiling tiger. “They have another function. During sex, the venom acts as an aphrodisiac and a euphoric. It delivers the best orgasms, and many of them. You are in for a treat.”
She swallowed. “But first comes the bite.” She reached with her finger and touched one pointy fang. “Ouch.” Blood beaded from the small incision.
Grabbing her finger, Kalugal licked the blood off. “Our saliva has healing properties.” He brought the finger closer to her eyes. “Look. It’s not bleeding anymore. Does it still hurt?”
Jacki shook her head. “It’s amazing. But that was only a tiny nick. I bet the bite hurts like hell.”
“It does, but only for a second. Then the saliva together with the euphoric and the aphrodisiac obliterate the pain and turn it into the most intense pleasure a woman could ever experience.”
She sincerely doubted it. “If you say so.”
“Do you think I’m lying?”
“Have you ever been bitten?”
“No.”
“So how would you know?”
“I’ve been with enough women to know what the effect is.”
Jacki rolled her eyes. “Maybe you are just an exceptional lover, and they orgasmed so many times because of your incredible lovemaking skills?”
He chuckled. “I wish. In fact, I try to delay the bite for as long as I can because using it feels like cheating. I like it when a woman orgasms because of my incredible lovemaking skills first.”
Damn. Talking about orgasms was starting to have an effect on her, and with Kalugal’s sensitive nose, he would sniff it right away. Before, it had been just embarrassing, but now she had his fangs to consider.
She should have realized that there was a connection between fangs and sex because they elongated when he got excited. It was truly amazing how the mind ignored the most obvious things because it didn’t want to acknowledge them.
A change of subject might throttle her arousal. “When you meet with Kian, are you going to talk about the government’s paranormal talent program?”
Kalugal shook his head as if to realign the gears in his brain to the sudden change of topic.
“Are you trying to make my fangs retract?”
That was a good excuse. “Is it working?”
He grinned. “What do you think?”
“They are definitely getting smaller. Where do they go?” She dipped her head and peeked into his mouth.
“Up into the maxilla.”
She chuckled. “Talking to you, I’m learning a lot of new terms. I need to start writing them down. What were the terms you used for the Sumerian writing? Was it phonographic?”
He smiled like a proud teacher. “You remember correctly.”
“And what was the other one?”
“Logographic.”
“I’ll remember that it sounds like logo, which is a picture that represents a name.”
“Perfect. Mnemonics are a great memorization device. Our brains are good at arranging things in patterns.”
Jacki nodded. “Doctor Roberts talked about it. He said that there were two ways to make memorization easier. One is word association, and the other is to turn things into pictures in your head. Take making a grocery list for an example. Instead of memorizing the individual items, it is easier to remember by imagining a meal made from them, or a fruit bowl with all the fruit that you need to buy.”
“Was he an actual medical doctor?”
“That’s how he presented himself, but at this point, I don’t believe anything they told us.” She lifted her cuff and rubbed her arm. “Like giving us so-called immunization shots, but instead injecting us with undetectable trackers.”
“Tell me more about him and the other main operators of the program.”
“Director Simmons was in charge, Marisol was the recruiter, and Doctor Roberts was the one with all the freaky experiments. He injected us with drugs to see if that would enhance our abilities, and I’m pretty sure that he was behind the breeding super-babies idea too. Marisol was in on it as well because she compelled people to hook up with each other. The others were just regular teachers and instructors, and I don’t think they knew what was going on.”
“Do you know Doctor Roberts’ full name? We might be able to find information on him, like where he went to school and with whom. It might provide us with important clues.”
“Doctor Elijah Roberts, and the director’s first name is Edgar. He is a doctor too, but not medical. I think his field is neuroscience. Although the guy is so old that he must have graduated fifty years ago. I don’t know if Harvard or any other university even had a neuroscience department back then.”
“How old is Roberts?”
“Same age as Simmons, more or less. Why?”
“They might have gone to school together.” Kalugal lifted her off his lap and put her back in her chair. “Wait here. I’ll get my laptop.”
11
Kalugal
When Kalugal returned to the library, he found Jacki nibbling on a piece of dry toast.
“I’ll ask Shamash to make us a fresh breakfast.”
She waved a dismissive hand. “I’m okay with eating it like that. But if you want, you can ask him to heat it up for you. You shouldn’t throw perfectly good food away.”
“I feel bad about keeping you from eating it when it was fresh.”
“We had important things to discuss, and I’m happy with the solution we arrived at. Cold eggs are a small price to pay.”
“You make me sound pampered and frivolous.” He pulled out a chair, sat down, and put the laptop on the other side of the table.
Jacki smiled. “That’s because you are pampered, but you are not frivolous.”
“My days of eating field rations are long gone.” Stifling a grimace, Kalugal scooped cold eggs and fingerling potatoes onto his plate.
“I don’t know what they serve in those, but I’m sure it’s nothing like this.” She dipped her knife into the blueberry preserve, spread it over another piece of dry toast, and took a bite. “Yum.”
Jacki might be stubborn and argumentative, but she was far from demanding, and it extended to grander things than breakfast.
Even for an important event like their wedding, all she’d asked for was to have a few of her friends witness the ceremony. She hadn’t asked for a fancy party, or a beautiful gown, or even for a diamond engagement ring.
But she should have all that. Kalugal wanted to give Jacki a day to remember.
The problem was that neither of them wanted to wait, and a big party meant preparations that would take a long time. And besides, a grand event required a grand attendance, and he couldn’t give her that.
It would have to be a modest affair, but he would do his best to make it memorable.
Forking one tiny potato, he put it in his mouth and forced himself to chew and swallow. But that was it. He was unwilling to suffer just to prove that he wasn’t a pampered prince.
Kalugal pushed his plate aside and replaced it with his laptop. “Let’s check on Simmons and Roberts.”
“Don’t you want to eat first?”
“I’m not hungry. But if you want to pour me a fresh cup of coffee, I would appreciate it.”
“Coming right up.”
His fingers flew over the keyboard as he searched the two names.
“They went to Harvard together, and Simmons was in its first neurobiology graduating class, which was also the first department dedicated to the subject in the world.” Kalugal looked up. “He was a pioneer.”
“What about Roberts?”
“Graduated Harvard Medical School a couple of years later.”
“I wonder when he discovered that he was an immune.”
Kalugal lifted his head. “Who? Simmons or Roberts, or both?”
“Simmons. Marisol is immune too. I don’t know about Roberts.”
“That complicates things.”
Jacki put her mug down. “Why? What did you have in mind?”
“I thought that I could walk in there and get the other trainees out. But an immune could sound the alarm. The question is whether he is immune to shrouding as well. I could make myself look like one of his supervisors, or his wife.” He batted his eyelashes.
“He wears a wedding ring and talks about the missus, but I’ve never seen her. Is he really married?”
“Let’s check.” Kalugal did another search. “He’s been married to the same woman for forty-some years. Maybe we can gain access to him through her.”
“How?”
“I don’t have a plan yet, but the more we know about the key players, the better. I want to shut that damn program down and make sure that no one resurrects it.”
“You’ll need a big stink for that.”
He smirked. “No doubt. Either that or arrange a fatal accident for both esteemed doctors.”
Casting Jacki a sidelong glance, he wondered what her response would be, but she didn’t seem appalled by his murderous suggestion.
“Are you okay with that?”
“Killing them? I don’t know. What they are doing is wrong, but as far as I know, they didn’t murder or rape anyone. The death penalty seems too severe for their crimes. Besides, I don’t want you to play executioner. Especially without giving them a fair trial first.”
“It might be the most effective way to get rid of the program, the danger to you, to Jin, and to your other friends.”
She looked at her cuff again. “I want to get rid of the damn trackers they put inside my body. The cuff is like putting a Band-Aid on a skin rash. It doesn’t solve the problem, only hides it.”
“True. Maybe we need to capture Roberts and get him to explain how to do that.”
“Maybe Simmons is the one who invented those undetectable trackers?”
“I doubt it.” Kalugal closed his laptop. “In any case, my superficial search is just the beginning. When we dig deeper, I’m sure we will find much more.”
“Kian’s tech people can do that. William and Roni.”
“I have hackers that I can use too, but I prefer to use Kian’s people because they are immortals.” He looked at his watch. “I would love to stay and chat some more, but I have to get ready for the summit. Will you be okay here on your own?”
Jacki nodded. “Who are you leaving in charge?”
“Rufsur. I’m taking Phinas with me.”
She arched a brow. “Aren’t you afraid to leave him alone with me?”
He leaned and planted a kiss on her lips. “I trust you, and I trust him. We are about to get married. Even a thick-headed block like Rufsur will realize that the competition is over.”