by I. T. Lucas
Apparently, communicating telepathically using actual speech, the way she and Ella did, was an extremely rare gift even for these super beings.
Which reminded Vivian that Ella hadn’t contacted her last night.
Should she worry?
Gorchenco’s Russian estate was in a different time zone though, and Ella might still be adjusting to it. There were eleven zones in Russia, but Ella had mentioned the time in their previous conversation, making it possible for Vivian to figure out which zone the estate was in.
It was late evening over there, so Ella probably wasn’t alone. She’d wait until later when their communication had less of a chance of getting interrupted.
Parker opened the bathroom door. “Mom, what are you still doing in bed?”
Vivian spread her arms out. “Come give me a kiss, and I’ll get up.”
Undecided, Parker eyed the bed for a long moment.
He hadn’t cuddled with her in bed for years, and she missed that. At twelve and a half, he was still her little boy, with smooth cheeks that were very kissable, and soft hair that she liked running her fingers through.
When he let her.
“Don’t tell anyone,” he said before diving into the bed and getting inside the circle of her arms.
She hugged him close to her and kissed his warm cheek. “I won’t. It’s going to be our secret.”
One more among many.
If Parker proved to be susceptible to thralling, which he most likely was, they were going to tell him everything.
Vivian smiled. He was going to flip. Parker’s superhero aspirations would gain a whole new meaning. He would probably decide that he wanted to become a Guardian.
Like Magnus.
That was another thing he was going to flip over. Except, Vivian wasn’t sure which way the flipping would go. Parker seemed to like Magnus a lot, but teenage boys were possessive of their mothers. He might not like the idea of sharing her with a man who was not his biological father.
On the other hand, Parker didn’t remember Josh.
Vivian had done all she could to preserve Josh’s memory and give Parker a good sense of the kind of man his father had been, but that was not the same as actually growing up with a male role model in his life.
He might like the idea of Magnus filling that void. Vivian certainly did. Magnus was the kind of guy her son could look up to and emulate. And it had nothing to do with the immortality.
Parker’s belly rumbled, reminding Vivian that she had a hungry kid to feed.
“What would you like for breakfast?”
“Pancakes.”
Hard to do without a stove to cook on. “Other than that.”
“I’m sick of cereal.”
“I can make you a sandwich.”
“I’m sick of that too. Can we go out for breakfast? You said we could if we put on the disguises the lady brought for us.”
“True.” She kissed the top of his head. “I’ll check with Magnus.”
He pulled out of her arms and got up. “I’m going to get dressed.”
Vivian picked up her phone and typed a text to Magnus. Can we go out for breakfast? Parker is in the mood for pancakes.
Sure. Are you ready to go?
Give me ten minutes.
3
Magnus
“Aren't you going to blindfold us?” Parker asked as they neared the keep.
He must’ve recognized the streets leading back to the high rise.
“I forgot to do that on the way out, so it doesn’t make sense to do it now. You already know where it is.”
Carried away by the kid’s excitement at finally getting out of the underground, Magnus hadn’t thought of Kian and his paranoia-driven instructions. Besides, in his mind, Vivian was his mate and there were no more secrets between them.
Or maybe it had something to do with how sexy she looked in the dark-haired wig and sunglasses. Stealing sidelong glances at his beautiful mate, he had trouble focusing on the driving, let alone remembering the blindfolds.
As he turned into the parking structure of the building across from the keep, Parker grumbled, “Your boss will be angry at you.”
He glanced at the kid in the rearview mirror. “If you don’t tell him, I won’t.”
Parker shook his head. “I don’t want you to get fired for something as stupid as this. What if he finds out? He can kick you out and send someone else to watch over Mom and me.”
Kian wouldn’t do that. The worst Magnus would get was a warning and one of Kian’s withering looks. But the kid seemed concerned to the point of being anxious, and that was reason enough to make an effort to comply with the boss’s dictate.
Except, there was nothing they could use as blindfolds. “How about you guys close your eyes? I trust you not to peek.”
“I can do that.” Parker removed his sunglasses. “You can even check to make sure.”
Vivian removed hers as well. “I don’t really need to close my eyes because I have no sense of direction. Once we are in the tunnels labyrinth, I wouldn't know where we are going anyway.”
“Do it, Mom. Do you want to get Magnus fired? If there are hidden cameras on the way, I want the boss to see that both of us have our eyes closed.”
“Fine.” Vivian did as he asked and crossed her arms over her chest.
Magnus was touched. Out of all the things Parker could’ve been worried about, the thing that bothered him the most was the possibility of Magnus getting replaced by another Guardian.
When the time came, and he and Vivian tied the knot, Magnus was going to ask Parker if he was willing to become his son and Ella his daughter. The clan had no procedures in place for adopting children, but he was sure Edna could draft something.
The paperwork itself didn’t matter. It was the spirit of it.
Magnus wanted Parker and Ella to be considered his children. If they would have him, of course. It wasn’t something they should be forced or coerced into accepting.
As Amanda had proven, rituals and ceremonies had the power to alter people’s perception. Thanks to that silly ritual she’d enacted, Vivian now believed that the curse had been lifted and that her love for him wouldn’t cause his death.
Naturally, the revelation about his immortality had helped too.
What a night that had been.
Magnus couldn’t decide what had been more monumental about it, their mutual love declarations, or the secrets he’d shared with Vivian.
For him, hearing her say that she loved him had been the most important part. For Vivian, it had probably been the prospect of immortality for her and her children.
Vivian had loved before. Magnus hadn’t.
This was the first time he’d fallen in love, and the feeling was indescribable. Once he’d stopped doubting and let it loose, his love for Vivian had unfurled its wings and soared.
There was no better feeling in the world.
“Magnus? Are you going to help us out?” Vivian asked. “Or can we open our eyes now?”
While daydreaming, he’d parked the car and was just sitting there and smiling like an idiot. It was good that both Vivian and Parker still had their eyes closed.
“Yes to the first one. No to the second. Give me a moment to get the cart.”
After loading Parker and Scarlet first, Magnus came back for Vivian and swung her into his arms. “Can I steal a kiss?” he asked in a whisper.
“Yes, please.”
Holding her close to his chest, he pressed his lips to hers, and then went in for a quick taste. “So sweet.”
She laughed. “It’s the pancakes.”
Reluctantly, he deposited her in the cart and sat behind the wheel.
She turned her face toward him, peeking at him from under her lashes. “Amanda didn’t blindfold me when she took me out last night. So technically, you’re off the hook.”
“Amanda is Kian’s sister. Different rules apply.”
“Can she do whatever she wants?”
&n
bsp; “Pretty much.”
Vivian chuckled. “Yeah, even take a Doomer for a mate.”
“What’s a Doomer?” Parker asked.
“Oops.” Vivian put a hand over her mouth.
“It’s my nickname for bad guys,” Magnus said. “The bringers of doom.”
“Sounds like a video game,” Parker said.
Magnus laughed. “Here you go. You have a working title for the first computer game you’re going to design.”
It reminded him that he still needed to check if Parker was susceptible to thralling, and then call Kian. Vivian’s slip about Doomers had given him the perfect opportunity to erase just that. A tiny thrall would do.
Parking the cart in the clan’s private garage in the keep, Magnus patted Vivian’s knee. “You can open your eyes.”
“Okay.” She winked.
She’d been peeking from under her eyelashes the entire way.
After helping Vivian down, he took Scarlet’s leash from Parker and then waited for the kid to look up at him. It took only a moment to erase that one recent image from Parker’s memory.
When they were back at the apartment, Magnus asked, “What’s my nickname for bad guys, Parker?”
The kid scrunched his nose. “Scumbags? Lowlifes?”
“You’ve got it.”
“Which one, though?”
“Both. It depends on the circumstances.”
Parker shrugged and dropped his sunglasses on the table. “Can I play, Mom? Or do you want me to study on a Saturday too?”
Vivian picked up the glasses. “You had a long break already, but fine. No studying on the weekend.”
That earned her a hug. “You’re the best, Mom.”
She laughed and kissed his cheek. “Go play in the bedroom. I want to talk to Magnus and plan the rest of our day.”
“Can we go swimming again?”
“That’s one possibility.”
“Cool.” Parker took his portable gaming system into the bedroom and closed the door.
“I guess the experiment was successful,” Vivian said.
“It seems so, but I’ll ask him again in an hour. The memory is not erased, just suppressed. He might be able to force it up.”
She looked disappointed. “Are you going to wait until then to call Kian?”
“No, I’ll call him right now, but I’d better not do it from here.”
“I’ll make us a cup of coffee and bring it to your room.”
“Thanks.” Magnus smoothed his hand over his goatee.
Kian would not be happy about him issuing an invitation to the village without checking with him first. In case some of his remarks got offensive, it would be better if Vivian wasn’t there to hear their conversation.
“Can I have fifteen minutes alone with him? Kian has quite a mouth on him, and when he’s not happy about something, he lets it loose.”
She smiled. “I understand. I’ll wait here until you’re done. You can tell me what he said later.”
He leaned and kissed her lips. “Thank you for being so understanding.”
Vivian waved a dismissive hand. “Go.”
In his room, Magnus pulled out his phone and fired a quick text to Kian first, asking if it was okay to call. The boss worked on Saturdays, but Magnus didn’t want to catch him at a bad time.
His phone rang a moment later. “You didn’t need to ask. I’ll always make time for anything that has to do with Dormants. What’s on your mind, Magnus?”
Rather than waste Kian’s time with a long preamble, it was better to rip the Band-Aid off and deal with the consequences later. “I told Vivian everything, and I offered to move her and Parker into the village.”
“I’ve heard things were heating up between the two of you. Congratulations.”
Magnus hadn’t expected such a calm and reasonable response. “Thank you.”
“How did she react?”
“I guess it was easier for Vivian to accept my story because of her own otherness. The only part that got her upset was the erasing of the bite memory. She took it as a violation of trust. But after I explained why it was necessary, she accepted it too.” Magnus chuckled. “Considering how bad of a job I’ve done explaining it, Vivian has been taking it remarkably well.”
“I’m happy for you. But you can’t move her and the kid to the village before she transitions. Until that happens, it is not certain that they are Dormants.”
Expecting Kian’s response, Magnus had prepared a rebuttal. “Vivian can’t go through the transition until we get Ella back. Their connection is our only way of communicating with the girl. And even then she wants for Ella to do it first. An eighteen-year-old should transition easily. A thirty-six-year-old, not so much. Given her age, Vivian wants to ensure there will be someone to take care of Parker in case she doesn't make it. I’m sure you can understand that.”
“I do. What it all means, though, is that Vivian and Parker will have to stay in the keep until Ella is rescued and goes through the transition.”
Magnus started pacing. “It could take months. After her rescue, Ella won’t be in the right state of mind to get intimate with anyone, even a sweetheart like Julian. So no transition for her in the foreseeable future. We can’t keep her mother and kid brother locked up in the underground for that long. They are not prisoners, and the kid needs to be out in the fresh air.”
Kian sighed. “Look, Magnus. If you bring them to the village, and Ella takes months to attempt transition, and then we discover that she’s not a Dormant, Vivian, Parker, and Ella will have too many memories of us to thrall away. They will have to stay in the village for the rest of their mortal lives. It might be okay for Vivian, since she wants a life with you, but it’s not okay for the kids.”
“What if she's willing to take the risk? Because I’m sure the three of them are Dormants. You have to admit that the Fates wouldn’t have done all of this to bring Vivian and her children to us for nothing.”
“I’m not a spiritual guy, Magnus. I’m pragmatic. In my opinion, it’s best for them to stay in the keep or some other safe place and not take risks. I can find them a secure location above ground.”
Kian had a point, but Magnus was convinced that Vivian and her kids were Dormants. “Look, even if we take them to the village, they will not know where it is. Who is going to believe them that there are a bunch of immortals hiding in a secret community in the Malibu mountains?”
“That’s irrelevant, Magnus, and you know it. We follow a strict secrecy protocol for a reason. Give Vivian the option. If she is willing to risk her kids’ future because of temporary inconvenience, it’s up to her. But I strongly advise against it.”
4
Vivian
“You don’t look happy,” Vivian said as Magnus returned. “Did he say no?”
He sat next to her on the couch and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Kian raised several valid points and asked me to run them by you so you can make an educated decision. You might reconsider after hearing what he had to say.”
Vivian put her mug down on the coffee table and turned to face him.
“Let's hear his reservations.”
“Despite your strong telepathic ability, there is a chance that you’re not a Dormant.”
“I’m aware of that.”
Magnus rubbed the back of his neck, which meant that he was uncomfortable with what he had to say next. “It might take a long time for us to get Ella back, and after that, I doubt she’ll be in the mood to start a new relationship. It could take many months until she’s ready. In the meantime, you and Parker are going to accumulate too many memories for us to thrall away safely. Your options would be to either risk brain damage from a massive thrall, or stay in the village for good even though you’re not immortal.”
What had he meant by that? Would he stop loving her if she didn’t turn? How could he talk about erasing her memory of him?
Vivian crossed her arms over her chest. “Unless what you’re trying to tell m
e is that if I don’t turn we are over, I want to be with you as a human or as an immortal. I fell in love with Magnus the man, not Magnus the immortal. I hope the same is true for you. Did you love me before discovering I might be a Dormant, or was it only after?”
He pulled her closer to him. “I think I fell for you at first sight, but it took me some time to realize what I was feeling. I’ve never been in love before. So I wasn’t sure if what I was feeling was love or attraction. But there is no more doubt in my mind. I love you and always will.”
“I know that there is a but coming up.”
“We need to think about Parker and Ella. You might be okay with staying in the village as a human and not being able to leave, but it won’t be fair to them. Parker needs kids his age, and we have none in the village. He also needs to grow up, fall in love, start a family, and live a normal life. And other than the issue of friends close to her age, the same is true of Ella.”
Vivian slumped against his arm. “You are right. I feel so stupid for not realizing this. I didn’t know that there was a limit to the memories you guys could erase. That’s why it didn’t cross my mind that we could get stuck in the village as humans. We can’t go.”
“I told Kian that he can’t expect you to stay in the underground for months. He said that he’d find us a new safe house.”
“That’s good. As long as you’re coming with us, I don’t care where we live. But what about our memories of you? You’re already so entrenched in my heart and in my mind that there is no way I’m going to forget you.”
“I’m not leaving you no matter what. If you don’t turn, I’m going to stay with you wherever you are. And if you need to keep on hiding for the rest of your life, I’ll hide with you.”
Imagining them living together in a remote cabin somewhere, kind of like the one they’d stayed in before, Vivian smiled. She would homeschool Parker while Magnus would teach him how to hunt and how to fish, and later, when Gorchenco was no longer a threat, they could move back into the city.