Dark Secrets Absolved (The Children Of The Gods Paranormal Romance Book 46)

by I. T. Lucas

  She leaned back. “How convenient. The only physical proof to verify your story is missing.”

  Lisa’s skepticism was understandable. Perhaps the same approach that had worked with David would work with his sister.

  Facts and logic.

  “How familiar are you with the biblical stories?”

  “I saw The Prince of Egypt.”

  “What about the ones that came before? The Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, the expulsion from paradise, Noah’s Ark, etc.”

  “I know the stories. Not in detail, though. Why?”

  “I’ll tell you a slightly different version of them, and I’ll let you decide which one sounds more logical to you.”

  “Do we have time for that? When is Magnus coming with the chopper?”

  “He will let us know. But first, we need to wait for the helicopter operator from Kanab to report. Magnus is not going to leave the base before that.”

  “Then I guess we have time.”

  11

  Richard

  “Good afternoon.” William got up and offered his hand to Stella. “I’m so glad that you decided to share an adventure with Richard. I promise you that you won’t regret it.”

  “I hope so.” She sat down in the chair Richard had pulled out for her. “I just don’t know what I want to do in the virtual world. Do you have brochures that you can show us?”

  “I have something better. The Perfect Match studios compiled a bunch of promotional videos to showcase their most popular adventures. You can watch them and choose the one you like.” William pushed his glasses up his nose. “Of course, those are romantic in nature, so if you prefer a different kind of adventure, I have a small selection that we programmed in-house. It’s mainly extreme sports, so if you are interested in sky diving, parachuting, or cliff jumping, you can choose one of ours.”

  If William didn’t talk so fast, Richard could have told him Stella’s choice and saved him the trouble of explaining. But the guy hadn’t given him a chance.

  “I’m not into extreme sports.” Stella smiled. “I prefer a romantic setting. I just don’t know what the different options are, and I’m still not clear on how the whole thing works.”

  William grinned. “A romantic adventure is a good choice. The Perfect Match studios have a much larger selection of themes than we do, and their adventures have been tried and tested.” He pulled two laptops from his desk drawer and opened one. “After you watch the promotional videos and get a general idea of what you want, you will need to fill out a questionnaire. The programs are highly customizable, so don’t be afraid to go wild.” He pushed one laptop over to Stella and the other to Richard. “After you read the instructions and answer the questions, you will have a much better understanding of what a virtual adventure is. And if you still have questions, I will answer them to the best of my ability.”

  Stella pulled her laptop closer. “Can we take them home with us?”

  “You can watch the videos at home, but you might have questions for me while filling out the questionnaire.”

  As Stella shifted in her chair, Richard draped his arm over her shoulders. “We can text you the questions, I think Stella will be more comfortable doing this at home.”

  “As you wish.”

  “Are we supposed to fill them in separately or together?” Stella asked. “I mean, do I tell Richard what I chose, or is it supposed to be a secret and the program chooses the closest match between what I want and what he wants?”

  “Normally, people fill them in separately and they have no idea who the person they are going to share the adventure with is. That’s the whole point of doing it. Finding a perfect match. But since we don’t have anyone in the database yet, the program is going to match you to each other anyway, so I don’t see a reason for secrecy. You can decide on the details together.” William took off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt. “But that takes away from the experience, especially if either of you is shy about what he or she wants. It’s much easier to talk to the computer and tell it your secret wishes than to your partner.”

  “Do we have to decide now?” Stella asked.

  “No, of course not. You can discuss it at home and decide how you want to play this. You also need to decide whether you want to use avatars and go into the game without knowledge of your real life, or do you want to go in as yourselves and just enjoy the adventure. I recommend using avatars, but it’s up to you.”

  “I don’t want to go in as myself.” Stella held the laptop against her breasts like a shield. “What’s the fun in that? I want to experience being someone else and doing things that I don’t do as me.”

  That was a surprise. Normally, Stella was so reserved and cautious that Richard had been sure she would like to retain control over the adventure. But it seemed that he’d been wrong, and that she craved new experiences unhindered by her secrets and her inhibitions, whatever those might be.

  So far, Stella was just as bold in bed as the other immortal females he’d been with, and just as assertive if not more. He doubted she harbored some secret desires that she was too shy to share with him.

  “I agree.” William smiled. “Also, if you have questions about the specific adventures, you can talk to Syssi about them. She designed some of the best ones, and she’s well familiar with the selection.”

  That was news to Richard. “I didn’t know that Syssi was a programmer.”

  “She isn’t. Syssi is an architect by profession, and she has an incredibly creative mind. She drew some of the more fantastical environments and came with the backstories for them.”

  “Fantastical in what way?” Richard asked.

  “They are futuristic. Some of them even happen on different planets.” William leaned closer. “You can choose to be an alien, or for your partner to be one.”

  Stella grimaced. “Gross. I don’t want to have a romantic adventure with a purple alien or a tentacled monster.”

  William laughed. “Don’t worry. You won’t, unless you want to. The questionnaire is very specific. You’ll probably roll your eyes at how many questions there are regarding what you want in your partner. By the time you are done, you will have described your mister perfect.”

  Richard grinned. “That’s not difficult. All you have to do is look at me.”

  12

  Stella

  With a sigh, Stella closed the laptop William had given her and removed the headphones.

  Richard was sprawled over an armchair across from her, his brows furrowed in concentration while watching the same thing she had. To avoid influencing each other’s choices, they’d agreed to go through the process of choosing an adventure and filling out the questionnaires separately. Once they were done, though, they were going to compare notes.

  The Perfect Match studios presentation was top notch, and it had explained in plain terms what visitors to their virtual worlds could expect from their adventure. The short videos showed the different environments, and the presenter told the story behind them, but it wasn’t what Stella had hoped for. For privacy reasons, they didn’t record the sessions, so they couldn’t show a movie of an actual adventure. For that, she had to use her own imagination.

  Couldn’t they have used actors to demonstrate? That would have been so helpful.

  As it was, Stella was no closer to designing her dream adventure than she had been before watching the nearly two-hour-long advertisement.

  Was it really going to be as fabulous as they had made it out to be? How was it possible to forget who you were for three hours, and then remember everything upon waking up?

  She’d seen Total Recall when it came out, but that was science fiction, and she could have never imagined it becoming a reality one day, or more precisely, a virtual reality.

  It was mind-blowing in its complexity, and scary, but after watching the presentation she was excited about trying it out. The question was which adventure was right for her?

  She needed to at least narrow it down to a couple
and then choose from them.

  Richard looked at her and lifted his headphones, so one ear was exposed. “Did you say something?”

  Apparently, she had said it out loud. “I was talking to myself. Did you find an adventure you liked?”

  “I like all of them. It’s hard to choose.”

  “Knowing you, you probably want to be the king of one of the fairytale worlds.”

  “Wrong. So far, my favorite one is being the captain of a pirate ship. But I’m not set on it yet. Besides, we were supposed to do this solo, remember?”

  “Yeah.” She waved a hand. “Go back to watching. I’m going to call Syssi and pick her brain.”

  “Good idea.” He pulled the headphones back down and returned to the presentation.

  Stella glanced at her watch. Syssi was still in Scotland, and she didn’t want to call her in the middle of the night. It was three in the afternoon, and Scotland was eight hours ahead, which meant that it was eleven o’clock at night over there.

  In case Syssi was sleeping, Stella decided to send her a text.

  If you are free to talk, I have some questions about the Perfect Match experience. William wants to test the machines on Richard because he’s the only human in the village, and Richard wants to share it with me. But I can’t decide on what type of adventure I want. Since you designed some of the environments, William suggested that I talk to you. It’s not urgent, so if you are in bed already, we can talk tomorrow.

  Stella read over the text to make sure that the auto-correct hadn’t made any gaffes and that the tone was polite, and then pressed send.

  Her phone rang a moment later.

  “I’m so excited for you. I would love to help you choose an adventure.”

  “Thank you for calling me back so quickly. I was afraid to wake you up.”

  “I’m not sleeping. We are on our way home. I’m calling you from Kalugal’s plane.”

  Stella frowned. “Weren’t you supposed to stay there four more days?”

  “We were, but we changed our plans after what happened to David.”

  “Who’s David?”

  Syssi chuckled. “I guess the village rumor machine is not working as smoothly as it usually does. David is Sari’s mate. After he transitioned, he called home to invite his family to his and Sari’s wedding and discovered that his mother and her husband were missing. His fifteen-year-old sister was trying to get a hold of him for two days, but his phone didn’t work in the castle. Needless to say, the wedding plans were put on ice, and he and Sari flew to California. The mood was spoiled, and we decided to follow them home.”

  “Did you hear from them? Were the parents found?”

  “Not yet. But I had a vision, and I was shown where they are. Kian is sending someone with a helicopter to investigate.”

  “What’s going on?” Richard pulled his headphones off.

  “I’ll tell you later,” she mouthed before responding to Syssi. “It seems like my timing is really bad. You are in the middle of an emergency, and I’m bothering you with my nonsense.”

  “It’s not nonsense, and I have done my part. The rest is up to the people on the ground. What would you like to know?”

  “I watched the presentation videos, and the Krall environment seemed cool.” She chuckled. “And not just because it takes place in Greenland. The creatures who slept under the ice sound a lot like us, and their females seem badass, but I’m not sure about their strange mating rituals. They don’t seem very romantic.”

  “That’s the whole idea. The Krall are supposed to fall in love with humans and learn from them. You can be one of the leading females, perhaps even the queen or the princess, and Richard can be the resistance leader who is captured and sentenced to be your slave. You fall in lust first, and then in love. He teaches you humanity, and you realize that the old mating customs have to go. Your union paves the path for a new bright future of coexistence and harmony.”

  “I like it. I’ll probably tweak it a bit, but I like the idea of being the alien queen who falls in love with a human.”

  “I’m glad that I could help. Have fun.”

  “Thank you.”

  13

  David

  The version Sari had told Lisa was shorter than the one she’d told him, but she’d used the same tactic. By anchoring her story in one that was well-known and adding details and explanations that made the biblical narrative so much more plausible, she seemed to be eroding Lisa’s resistance the same way she’d done with his.

  “Let’s say that I believe you, and that the mythical gods are your ancestors. I can wrap my head around the mind control, the so-called religious revelations that the gods planted in humans’ brains, and I can even accept that the immortals are the product of matings between gods and humans. But where do the fangs and venom come in? I’m not a Bible expert, but I’m sure there was no mention of fangs anywhere.”

  David chuckled. “You forgot about the snake. Why would a god be depicted as a reptile?”

  “Because he was sneaky? He disobeyed the boss god and gave humans the ability to procreate.”

  “So, you believe that part.”

  Lisa shrugged. “It makes sense. The fangs and venom don’t.”

  “I think that they were not originally intended for inducing Dormants,” Sari said. “After all, the scientists who manipulated the gods’ genetics did not anticipate them taking partners from a different species, or that the second generation of those pairings would need induction to realize their dormant genes.”

  “Why do you think that they were genetically engineered? Maybe that was how nature designed them.”

  “It’s possible. But even if their fangs and venom were nature’s gift, their purpose wasn’t the induction of Dormants.”

  Lisa braced her elbows on the table and her chin on her hands. “The fangs were obviously meant for fighting between males for the best females. That’s how it works in nature. It’s like deer antlers and rams’ horns. Otherwise, the females would have gotten fangs too.”

  Sari shifted in her chair. “That’s one of the things fangs can be used for.”

  “What else? Are immortal females attracted to the males’ fangs? Sometimes animals grow strange stuff that has no practical use other than attracting females of their species.”

  David felt like a proud father. His sister was a smart kid.

  “You are right about that.” Sari cast a sidelong glance at him. “But I’m not sure that you are old enough to hear the rest.”

  “Lisa is fifteen. You can talk about sex with her.”

  “I needed your approval.”

  “You have it.”

  Lisa snorted. “You are really old-fashioned, Sari. You don’t need my older brother’s okay. Nothing you can tell me will shock me. I might not have kissed a boy yet, but I know all there is to know about sex.”

  David raised a brow. “Sex education must have changed a lot since I was in school.”

  “I didn’t learn it in sex ed.” Lisa waved a hand in dismissal. “I read Mom’s romance novels. Just don’t tell her that. She doesn’t know that I borrow them from her bookcase.” She sighed. “Although if she and Dad are found alive, I’ll gladly confess to both of them.”

  Leaning over, he put a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll remind you of that.”

  “Please do.” She looked at Sari. “So, what kind of kinky stuff can immortal males do with their fangs?”

  “They bite their partners during sex. The venom has euphoric and aphrodisiac properties, which makes the bite highly pleasurable and addictive.”

  Despite Lisa’s bravado, her cheeks reddened. “Is it addictive because it’s so enjoyable, or is it addictive like a drug?”

  “Both. My brother suspects that the gods’ longevity was the result of genetic engineering, and that the addictive properties of the venom were designed to bind the females to their mates. In a steady, monogamous relationship, the female becomes addicted to her mate’s venom and she’s repulsed b
y others. It ensures fidelity.” She glanced at David. “Although given how promiscuous the gods were, it had the opposite effect. They slept around to avoid getting addicted to one person.”

  “Naturally, they found a loophole.” He reached for her hand. “Fidelity should be a choice made out of love, not chemically induced.”

  “I agree. But that’s the way it works, and there isn’t much we can do about it.” She turned to Lisa. “But then it was discovered that the venom could also induce transition. When the first immortals took human partners, their children were born human. At first, they didn’t know that the Dormant children could be activated because the venom hadn’t been designed for that purpose. It was a fortunate side effect.”

  “That’s so unfair.” Lisa crossed her arms over her chest. “First of all, why do the females get addicted to the males and not the other way around? And secondly, it would have been so cool to have fangs and venom.”

  Sari smiled. “The males get addicted too, but it takes them longer. And when the couple is a true love match, the powerful bond between them ensures their fidelity regardless of the venom.”

  “Are you and David true love mates?”

  “I believe that we are.”

  “How do you know if you are or you’re not?”

  “Well, one of the signs is the lack of interest in anyone else from the opposite sex.”

  “That could be a side effect of the venom.”

  “David doesn’t have fangs and venom yet.”

  “True. So, it must be love. Can your scientists fix it, so the females have fangs too?”

  “Unfortunately, the tablet our Clan Mother took from her uncle did not contain any medical or genetic information. We don’t know how to do that. There are two females in our clan who have fangs. One has tiny ones and no venom glands, while her younger sister has slightly bigger fangs and also venom glands. But as far as I know, they are inactive. Neither is happy about that. No one wants to be different.”