by I. T. Lucas
Remembering Anandur’s advice, Vlad decided to boast a little. “Six. I can also play the flute, the clarinet, and the saxophone.”
“Wow. That’s impressive.”
He strummed a chord. “Ready?”
“Yes.”
He chose one of the quieter songs, and when the first notes left his throat, Wendy gaped a little.
Mey came out of the bedroom and joined Wendy on the couch.
Feeling shy, he watched his fingers on the guitar even though he didn’t need to. But looking at Wendy while he was playing would have been too nerve-racking.
He was a good singer, but she might not like his style, or the lyrics, or whatever.
Once he was done, Wendy and Mey started clapping, and Vlad took a bow. “Thank you.”
“You are an amazing vocalist, Vlad,” Mey said. “Your voice is unique, and you have perfect pitch.”
“It was beautiful.” Wendy crossed her arms over her chest.
Was she suddenly feeling shy? Had he gone overboard showing off?
“Did you go to music school?” Wendy asked.
“I had tutors that I went to.”
“That’s nice.”
She sounded sad, maybe a little envious, which was a first for him. What he got most from people was either pity or wariness.
Perhaps showing Wendy his artwork could wait for another time.
He lifted the duffle bag, put it on the coffee table, and unzipped it. “Check out the games I brought for you. If you find one that you like, we can take it to the theater. Playing a video game on the big screen is an experience. You have to try it.”
She pulled out several and looked them over. “I like them all, but I’m not in the mood for playing. Maybe we can just watch a movie?”
That was even better. Perhaps while watching, he’d gather the nerve to put his arm around her shoulders.
“Sure. We have all the latest movies on the server.”
Wendy rose to her feet and turned to Mey. “Would you like to join us?”
Mey waved a hand. “You two go and enjoy yourselves. I could use the time to work on my designs.”
Vlad held his breath. Was Wendy going to find an excuse not to go?
He wanted to be alone with her again, but what if she’d asked Mey to hang around because she didn’t want that?
“We even have an antique movie popcorn machine,” he murmured.
“I know. And it’s the best ever.”
“So you’ve been there already?” He started for the door.
Thankfully, she followed. “There is not much to do here.”
As Wendy walked next to him, Vlad was very aware of the difference in their heights. She was so small, and he had an intense urge to protect her, to wrap his arm around her shoulders and bring her close to him so he could shield her.
It was a silly thought because, despite his freakish strength, he wasn’t a fighter. Not in skill and not in inclination. The only times he’d felt violent was when witnessing injustices, the strong preying on the weak. But he’d never acted on those impulses, and he wasn’t sure that he could.
“I get a weird vibe from you.” Wendy looked up at him. “What’s going on?”
He’d forgotten about her empathic ability. But wasn’t she supposed to touch someone to get a read on them?
“I was thinking about Yamanu’s invitation to train with him in the gym. He is a Guardian, so I assume that some hand-to-hand combat training would be part of it. The thing is, I’m not sure I can strike someone even in self-defense. But I probably could do that to defend someone else.”
She smiled. “You are really a nice guy, Vlad. Too nice. Training could be good for you. If someone attacks you, your training will take over, and you’ll defend yourself without even thinking.”
“Did you experience that?”
She shrugged. “We had a self-defense class in the program, and that was what the instructor said. She said that it was important to practice a lot so the response would be instinctive. If you have to think about your next move, you are already too late.”
“That sounds reasonable. Maybe you can come with me and Yamanu can train us together?”
She looked up at him, examining his skinny arms and probably thinking that he was a weakling.
“Is Yamanu a good teacher?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never attended any of his self-defense classes. I guess we will have to find out.”
58
Wendy
“Which movie would you like to watch?” Vlad scrolled through the selection on the tablet that served as the remote for the theater.
“Have you seen Ready Player One?”
She’d watched it on Netflix in her room, but she wanted to watch it again. Living inside a virtual game world appealed to her on so many levels. She could choose an avatar that was beautiful and strong, and she could do things that were impossible in the real world.
The possibilities were endless.
“I did. But I don’t mind watching it again.” Vlad selected the movie. “Would you like some popcorn?”
“Yes, please.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Vlad had surprised her today. It seemed like her pep talk from the day before had done him good. He was less timid, and he’d even sung for her.
His voice was as beautiful as his soul.
She sighed, wondering whether growing up in a loving home had made him a good person, or was it genetic? Did children of decent, loving people inherit their parents’ genes, which made them good as well?
What did it say about her, though? Was she destined to be bad?
Neither of her parents were good. Her father was a nasty man with a drinking problem who had taken out his frustrations on his daughter, and her mother was a drug addict who’d left her baby to be raised by a monster.
That was probably another good reason to never get into a relationship. With the example she had, what kind of a mother could she possibly be?
Perhaps people with her genetic makeup should never have children.
“Here you go.” Vlad handed her a paper bag filled to the brim with popcorn.
“Is it all for me?” she teased.
“I’m going to help.” He took a fistful. “And we can always make more.”
“I don’t think we will be able to finish this one.”
Vlad shrugged and pretended to drape his arm nonchalantly over the back of her seat.
It was cute for a twenty-year-old guy to make a middle-schooler move, and she was glad that he was so reserved. If he had put his arm on her shoulders, she would have removed it. They weren’t on a date, and she shouldn’t encourage him.
Except, if she wanted to get out of this basement prison, perhaps she should pretend that she wanted to be more than friends. Using Vlad like that would be a nasty thing to do, but then she wasn’t a good person, so why would she care?
Her objective was to stay in her uncle’s good graces, and giving him a cache of paranormal talents would earn her a permanent position as his favorite person. She could have a good future in the program, helping her uncle run the secret paranormal division.
She would just have to make it clear that making babies, normal or super, was not part of the deal. She was never going to get married or become a mother. Her life would be about her work and nothing else.
Wendy grimaced.
She’d just described Marisol.
Did she want to be like that heartless bitch?
Thankfully, Vlad hadn’t gathered the courage to move his arm from the back of her chair to her shoulders. But he was thinking about it while nervously shoving popcorn into his mouth until it was all gone long before the movie was over.
Wendy felt the battle he was waging with himself and was glad that the timid side was winning.
When the movie ended, she lifted the empty paper bag and shook it. “I think I would like some more after all.”
“Do you want to watch another movie?”
/>
“No, I just want more popcorn. We can take it to my room and play one of your video games.”
Vlad’s eyes sparkled with excitement, or rather the one she could see. The other one was covered by his long bangs.
Wendy reached up and swiped it aside. “You will ruin your eyesight like that.”
“Not much chance of that.” He climbed the stairs to the back of the theater.
“Yeah, right. You think that you are invincible because you are still young, but it’s all downhill from here.”
He smiled, his long canines gleaming white in the dark theater. “Not for me.”
Wendy rolled her eyes. “Pretending to be a vampire doesn’t make you one.”
That seemed to amuse him, but he didn’t respond. Instead, he loaded the machine with more corn kernels and pressed a button.
Nothing happened.
“Is there a power outage?” She looked at the dim lights illuminating the back of the theater. Those could be powered by backup batteries.
Vlad shook his head. “We have generators that come online automatically when it happens. Something must be wrong with the machine.”
“Usually, it’s as simple as the plug getting loose.”
Wendy crouched and looked under the antique popcorn maker. She could see the cord and part of the socket. If she flattened herself on the floor, she could reach it.
“What are you doing?” Vlad sounded alarmed.
“I can see part of the plug, and it looks loose. I think I can reach it." She pushed herself forward on her tummy, but her arm was still too short.
“Let me do it. I have longer arms.”
“I almost got it.”
She pushed a little further, stretching her arm as far as it would go, and made contact with the socket, as well as something furry that moved.
“Yikes!” Jerking back, Wendy bumped her head against the underside of the machine, and the whole thing started listing.
Closing her eyes, she expected to get crushed under its weight, but it never happened. Instead, she felt the whole thing vanish.
A split second later, Vlad was crouching next to her. “Are you okay? What happened?”
Turning around, she wondered where the popcorn machine had gone. She saw it behind Vlad, resting innocently on its spindly legs as if nothing had happened.
“I bumped my head on the underside of that thing. How did it get there? Did I black out or something?”
“I hope not. I caught it before it fell on top of you and moved it there.”
Wendy looked at the machine again. It was about five feet tall, two feet wide, and four feet long, and it looked heavy.
“How did you manage that? That thing must weigh a ton.”
“It doesn’t. It just looks heavy. How is your head?”
She rubbed the spot. “It’s okay.” Then remembering what had caused the incident, she jumped to her feet and shook out her hands.
“What are you doing?”
“There was a spider on the socket. That’s what freaked me out.”
Vlad shook his head. “You could’ve been killed because of a harmless spider.”
“Hey, you just said that the machine wasn’t that heavy, so it couldn’t have killed me.”
Curious, she put her hands on it and tried to push it. “It doesn’t even budge.”
“That’s because its legs are wedged in the carpet.”
“Okay, then I’ll try to lift it.”
She grabbed a bar on one side and tried to just tip it, but barely managed to lift it an inch before letting it drop back.
Narrowing her eyes at Vlad, she put her hands on her hips. “Is telekinesis one of your talents?”
He laughed. “No. I lifted it with my arms, not my mind. I was so scared for you, and the adrenaline rush must have added strength to my muscles.”
What muscles? He didn’t have any.
Then again, she’d heard about impossible feats that had been fueled by adrenaline, so maybe Vlad was right.
“I think I’ll skip another serving of popcorn. Let’s grab a beer from the kitchen instead.”
He frowned. “You’re nineteen. You are not supposed to drink.”
“Who is going to tell me no? Come on. I’m sure that after all this excitement, you can use one yourself.”
59
Kian
Syssi walked into Kian’s home office with a guilty expression on her beautiful face. “I’m heading out to the café to have lunch with Amanda. Are you going to be okay here by yourself?”
He knew that the guilt was not over leaving him in the house to eat his lunch alone. It was over keeping secrets from him. Syssi and Amanda were planning a surprise birthday party for him, and that’s what the lunch was about.
“I’ll miss you, of course. But don’t worry about me. I still have a lot of work to do, and I also need to call Lokan and arrange a conference call between him and the Bay Area team.”
“Should I tell Okidu to bring your lunch in here?”
Kian nodded.
Rounding the desk, Syssi leaned over to give him a kiss, but he wasn’t satisfied with the quick peck on the lips and pulled her onto his lap for a proper one.
When she came up for air, they were both panting and ready for more.
“Do you have time for a quickie?”
Her eyes were glazed with desire, but she shook her head. “I wish I did. But Amanda is waiting for me.” She pushed up.
“That’s a shame.”
She smiled coyly. “I’ll be back in about two hours. Try to be done by then, and I’ll take you up on your offer.”
“Deal. Only it’s not going to be a quickie then. I’m going to take my time with you.” He adjusted himself.
As always, the mention of sexual play made his wife blush, her pale cheeks flushing with the most beautiful pink hue. Which had him thinking about turning her other pale cheeks pink.
No doubt the same thought, or something along those lines, had caused the blush and the sudden flare in the scent of her arousal.
Syssi loved their kinky games.
“I’d better get out of here while I still can.” She blew him an air kiss and walked out the door.
For a long moment, Kian stared at the open file on his desk, trying to read but comprehending none of it. With images of what he and Syssi would do in a couple of hours dancing in front of his eyes, it was impossible to get his mind back on track.
It could wait for later.
He had phone calls to make, and those could be done outside the house in the back yard while enjoying a cigarillo. Maybe a shot of whiskey as well? Or was it too early for that?
Beer would be better.
Pulling the sliding door open, he stepped out, closed it behind him, and sat down on one of the easy chairs right outside of his home office.
After lighting up, he called Lokan first. “Are you ready for the conference call?”
“Give me five minutes. Carol and I are just about done with lunch.”
“No problem. I’ll get everyone ready for you and call you back.”
“Good deal.”
Arwel was next. “How are things going, is everyone ready for Lokan?”
“I have everyone here in the living room, and the others are waiting for his call in the hotel. Three of the guys are on watch duty, but he can do them last.”
“Good plan. Anything else?”
“Yeah.” He heard Arwel get up and start walking. “We had an incident this morning that might be nothing or might be something. Jacki gave everyone the slip and went out for a walk around the neighborhood.”
Kian frowned. “How could that have happened? Did no one hear her leave?”
“It’s a big house, and people go in and out of rooms and the front door all of the time. Besides, the Guardians on duty were not aware that they were supposed to keep an eye on Jacki.”
“I assume that you found her, and everything is okay?”
“We drove around the neighborhood
and found her walking several streets over. She had her hood up and was wearing the special glasses.”
“Do you think she was planning to escape?”
“It crossed my mind that it might have been a test run to see if she could get away.”
“Keep an eye on her.”
“Of course. I told the Guardians to do the same and report to me if she leaves again. I don’t want them to stop her because we are trying to maintain the illusion that she’s not a prisoner.”
“Technically, she is not. If she really wants to leave, we will have to let her go. But unless she is very clever and knows how to stay under the radar, that would mean an immediate capture for her.”
“Unless we give her fake documents and drop her off in another country.”
“That would increase her chances of evading capture, but not eliminate them. The government is investing a lot of resources into finding paranormal talents. They want them back.”
“Any new developments on that front?”
Kian took a puff of his cigarillo. “Surprisingly, very little is being done. Which reinforces my suspicion that one of the three is an informant.”
“Who’s at the top of your suspect list, Jacki?”
Kian chuckled. “That position keeps rotating every few hours. Each of them has something to gain or lose, and they all passed Edna and Andrew’s tests.”
“That’s what makes Jacki the most likely suspect. She has the strongest protective walls, and as far as she knows, she has a lot to lose and little to gain by staying with us.”
“True. On the other hand, she was the one who convinced Jin to run.”
“Jacki is a seer. She might have seen more in her vision than what she told Jin. She could have realized that it was a great opportunity for bringing a bunch of new talents into the program.”
60
Jin
“Jin, is that you?” Lokan leaned closer to the screen. “If I saw you on the street, I wouldn’t have recognized you.”
Eva’s online tutorial had worked out great. With tons of makeup and new-colored and styled wigs, Jin and Jacki were hardly recognizable. They were also wearing layers of clothing to make themselves look fatter.