by I. T. Lucas
“You will have to have sex with an immortal male and bond with him. And before you ask, a bond between two immortals or between an immortal and a Dormant is stronger than what humans call love.”
Blushing, Lisa shook her head. “What about David? I’m sure that he didn’t have sex with your cousin or bond with him. He is as straight as they come.”
Sari stifled a chuckle. “It’s different for male Dormants. The venom glands are activated by two triggers. Either aggression toward other males, or sexual arousal. David and Kalugal wrestled, Kalugal’s aggression was triggered, and he bit David.”
“What about the bond?”
“David bonded with me.”
“Still sounds like bullshit to me. I mean, the bond part. I get that the venom has chemicals that trigger transition, but a bond is a feeling.”
“It might be more than that. Feelings impact our physical bodies. When you are scared, your adrenaline spikes. When you hug someone you love, you are flooded with endorphins. What if the bond activates the production of a hormone in the immortal or Dormant’s body that assists with transition?”
“It could be. But you said that if I were younger, a bite alone would have activated my transition. So, the bond is not a necessary part of the process.”
“Not at puberty, you are right about that. And frankly, I’m not sure that it’s really needed. We are basing that assumption on one case of a Dormant who didn’t transition despite repeated induction attempts. The only difference between him and the others was the lack of a bond with an immortal female.”
“So perhaps he is not a Dormant at all? Or maybe he is defective? A sample of one is not science.”
“It could be. The problem is that our entire sample is pitifully small. Dormants are extremely rare, and we’ve found only a few, so we didn’t have enough adult transitions to call our observations scientific.”
“So maybe the sex is not necessary either.”
“No, that one we know for sure is.”
“Can my mom and I come live with you and David as humans? In case my dad doesn’t make it, that is. I don’t think we can make it on our own.” Lisa looked away. “My mom has been a homemaker all her life, and she can’t get a job that would pay more than minimum wage. I don’t know how much money they have saved up. And even if my dad survives, he would be disabled and wouldn’t be able to work.”
“Don’t worry about that. The clan will help you out financially and otherwise. You are part of the family now.”
“Are we?” Lisa looked into Sari’s eyes. “If we can’t live in your community as humans, how are we family?”
“You know that you are always welcome in our community, and my invitation still stands. But your mother is not going to fit in. She has a life in Anaheim that I’m sure she wants to go back to, and you still need to finish school. The one nearest to the castle is a two-hour drive away, so your only option will be homeschooling. When we weren’t sure that your parents would be found, that was the best option I could come up with. But thankfully, we found them, and your mother is going to be fine. Given that we don’t have any kids your age and the school situation, the best option for you is to go back home.”
“Magnus said that he has a son who’s a little younger than me.”
“Magnus lives in my brother’s community in California.”
“Are there other kids my age there?”
“Parker is the only one.”
“Is he homeschooled?”
“I’m not sure. Kian’s community is not as secluded as mine, so Parker might be going to a human school. I can ask Magnus.”
“Is Parker a nice guy?”
“I don’t know him, but I know that he has a unique talent. He’s a compeller.”
“What’s the difference between that and thralling?”
“Compulsion is stronger, and it lasts longer.”
“That’s a scary talent to have. I don’t think that I want to hang out with him.”
Sari smiled. “We have very strict rules for using compulsion and thralling. Parker is not allowed to use his talent without a person’s explicit permission.”
“Rules are meant to be broken, and a guy with that kind of power could take advantage of a girl.”
“Not if he is a good guy. Besides, using thralling or compulsion to seduce a female is considered rape, and the punishment is so severe that no one dares to break that law.”
“He’s a minor. What can you do to him?”
“Clan law is different than human law, and every immortal older than thirteen is subject to the same punishment.”
“What’s the punishment for rape?”
“Whipping and entombment.”
Lisa’s eyes widened. “A death penalty?”
“Close, except that it’s not permanent. An entombed immortal would just go into stasis. He could be revived at some point in the future. It depends on the length of the sentence.”
“That’s barbaric, but I kind of like it. I bet that’s a very effective deterrent.”
“It is. To date, we’ve only entombed one clan member. We caught him trafficking.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, Lisa tilted her head. “That doesn’t mean that other clan members have never committed rape. It just means that they weren’t caught. If they can thrall humans to have sex with them, they can also thrall them to forget it.”
“That’s true. I hope that the values we instill in our people, along with the fear of punishment, are enough to deter all but the most rotten of apples. As I said, in all of the clan’s history, we’ve only had one.”
26
David
As David entered the cafeteria, he debated which news he should share with his sister first. The good or the bad.
Lisa turned to look up at him. “Has anything changed with my dad?”
Well, that solved his dilemma. He would start with the bad.
Pulling out a chair next to his sister, he took her hand. “Frank’s condition is unchanged. The good news is that they are releasing Mom later today.” He glanced at Sari. “We will need another hotel room for her.”
“She can stay with me,” Lisa offered. “I’ll keep an eye on her.”
David would rather not have his mother sleeping in the adjoining room. But given that Lisa hadn’t made any snarky remarks or alluded in any way that she had heard him and Sari making love, he had to assume that the insulation in the hotel was better than he’d thought.
But it was also possible that his sister was just a sound sleeper.
“I’ll leave it up to Mom. If she wants her own room, we will get her one.”
“I don’t want her to be alone.” Lisa glanced at the two nurses sitting at a nearby table and then turned to Sari. “Is David inside your bubble? Because he can hear us.”
Sari waved her hand. “Now, he is. But he could have heard us despite the shroud. Mind tricks don’t work on other immortals.”
“You should have said so.” Lisa leaned forward. “I still can’t believe that you can shroud people.”
“I can also shroud things, but my shrouds are small, and I can’t keep them up for long. There is a guy in the village who can shroud an entire city block and hold it for hours. In days past, he saved our community from marauders many times.”
“I would like to meet him.” Lisa leaned back. “Sari and I have been talking about the possibility of Mom and me moving to Scotland to live with you in her castle. Or maybe in her brother’s community.”
That was unexpected. They hadn’t talked about the possibility of bringing his mother to live with them. David hadn’t known that it was even on the table.
He cast Sari a questioning look. “Isn’t it too early to bring this up?”
“I didn’t. Lisa did. She is worried about what will happen to her and your mother if her dad doesn’t make it. I think it’s smart to have a contingency plan, but I believe it’s best for her to go back home and finish school. Naturally, we will help her and your
mom financially, so that’s one less thing for her to worry about.”
Lisa huffed. “You’re doing it again, talking about me as if I’m not here.”
“I was just bringing David up to speed.”
“Okay, fine. But I still think that Mom and I, and even Dad, if he makes it, should move into your community. Now that I know that I’m a Dormant, and that one day I’m going to turn immortal, how can I go on living like a normal person? And even if Dad makes it, which I pray he does, he will need a lot of help to recover, and Mom can’t do it alone. I will need to help her. Which means that I can’t go back to school in any case.”
“That’s very noble of you.” David put a hand on her shoulder. “But we can hire a nurse to take care of Frank. You are not dropping out of school.”
“I wasn’t planning to drop out. All I’m saying is that I’m fine with homeschooling. With what I know now, I can’t go back to my old life.”
Running his fingers through his hair, David glanced at Sari. “Perhaps Lisa is right. We could bring all three of them to Scotland with us. My mother is not going to betray her children, and neither would Frank. He would most likely suffer from major disabilities, mental and physical, so it’s not like he could run off and tell anyone. Besides, I will feel much better having Lisa and my mother with me and knowing that they are both safe.”
Sari’s eyes softened. “Then it’s settled. They are all coming back with us.”
Lisa grimaced. “We still need to convince Mom that this is the best option. You know how proud she is. She wouldn’t want to be a burden. And we also have to tell her the whole story.”
“What about your friends?” Sari asked. “Aren’t you going to miss them?”
“Like crazy.” Lisa sighed. “Can I keep in touch with Roxie? She is my best friend. I can tell her that I moved to Scotland to live with my brother. She doesn’t need to know that I’m living in a castle full of immortals.”
“I don’t know.” Sari crossed her arms over her chest. “I will need to ask Kian what’s the protocol on that. This is all new to me.”
“I’d hate to never be able to talk to Roxie again, but if that’s the sacrifice I must make to come live with you, I’ll do it. I just wish that I didn’t have to wait to become immortal.” Lisa blushed crimson. “Maybe fifteen is not too young. Some girls my age already have sex, and in some countries, they even get married and have kids.”
“Forget it.” David squeezed her shoulder. “You are not having sex until you are twenty-one.”
“Says who? You are not my father, and even he can’t tell me what to do once I turn eighteen.”
“I was joking. It’s just that you are still a kid, and I doubt you’ll be ready even at eighteen.”
Frowning, Lisa glanced down at her nearly flat chest. “My maturity level has nothing to do with my bra size.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
“Really? Then what did you mean?”
Sari lifted her hand. “That actually gives me an idea. Since you seem to be a late bloomer, you might still be able to transition with the bite alone. I don’t know if it would work, but it’s worth a try. The worst that could happen is that nothing will, and you just won’t transition.”
A grin spread over Lisa’s face, but a moment later it turned into a frown. “You said that an immortal male needs to get aggressive or aroused for his venom glands to activate. Since sex is not on the table, am I supposed to fight a guy?”
Sari shook her head. “He will still need to be aroused, but there will be no sex. Your only option is Parker.”
“Ugh, gross. He is not even fourteen yet.”
David smiled. “That’s old enough to get excited about a pretty girl. I’ll have to kill him after, though.”
Lisa rolled her eyes. “Save it, David. The caveman attitude doesn’t suit you.”
“As I said, Parker is your only option.” Sari leaned forward. “But since he lives in the village, we will have to take you there. Hopefully, the two of you will like each other.”
Lisa cringed. “I think I’ll pass. I’ll wait until I’m older.”
27
Stella
As Stella entered the café enclosure, Jin waved her over. “I ordered us coffees and pastries. Is that okay? Or do you want something else? I can get you a lemonade.”
Jin sounded a little slurred, and Stella wondered what was up with that. It was too early in the day to be drunk.
“I could use a coffee and sugar boost right now.” She pulled out a chair and sat down.
“A busy day?” Jin glanced at the portfolio folder Stella put on the table.
“It’s not the designs. I’ve done then over the weekend. It’s the virtual adventure Richard and I are about to try out. The questionnaire has over three hundred questions, and I keep changing my answers because I’m afraid to make mistakes that would ruin the experience.”
“I don’t know much about it, but if you answer honestly, I’m sure you’ll be fine.”
“It’s not black and white, or yes or no. There are so many shades of meaning. And then there is the type of adventure I chose. I’m not sure I made the right decision.”
Jin smiled. “It’s just a game. Why are you obsessing about it so much?”
Letting out a breath, Stella leaned back. “I don’t know. I guess I’m scared. Going into the virtual adventure, I will forget who I am. I will become this other person with an entire lifetime of experiences and memories. The idea is to experience things outside one’s comfort zone, but I don’t want to wake up and be embarrassed about what I did in the adventure. Usually, the people sharing the experience don’t know each other, and because they use avatars, they can’t even recognize one another if they accidentally meet. That’s real freedom to try out new things. But Richard and I are a couple. What if I do something terrible to him?”
“Why would you?”
“It’s the type of adventure I chose. Syssi recommended it, and it seems like a lot of fun, but the female character is extremely aggressive, and the male has to fight her to win her favors.”
Jin smiled, revealing a pair of fangs that belonged in a male’s mouth. “Sounds like my type of adventure. Tell me more.”
“It’s about a species of people called the Krall, who are basically vampires. They crash-landed in Greenland thousands of years ago, but they stayed in stasis until an earthquake woke them up and freed them from the ice. When they woke up, they took control of the entire Arctic Circle, enslaving the human population there and using them mainly as a food source, and also as sex slaves. The Krall don’t form family units like humans. When a female is in her fertile cycle, she extends an invitation to a male of her choosing, and he has to fight her and subdue her to prove his worth. If she conceives, he’s required to support their child, but he’s not involved in its raising. There is also an underground resistance that helps humans escape the Krall controlled territories.”
“Sounds cool, but not very romantic.”
“That was what I thought as well, but then Syssi explained that the idea is for the enslaved humans to teach their masters about love and the importance of family. She suggested that I choose to be a Krall princess, and Richard would be the captured leader of the resistance who’s sentenced to be my slave. We have fabulous sex and fall in love.”
“I dig that. Arwel and I should try it out.” Jin’s lips curled in an evil smile. “I didn’t know that you had a violent streak, Stella. Now I know why I like you so much.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “So, what bothers you about it?”
“What if Richard is turned off by my aggression?”
“Ask him. Maybe it turns him on, not off.” Jin leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Arwel loves it when I bite him, which is a good thing since my fangs reached a new stage of development. They elongate now.”
“Oh boy. What about venom glands?”
Jin nodded. “I’m afraid so. They are not active yet, but they are growing. Bridget confir
med that. I’m officially the village freak. Well, not officially yet. Other than Arwel and Bridget, who obviously know, I’ve only told Mey and you, so please don’t tell anyone.”
“I won’t. But what if you can do what the males do?”
“You mean, use them in a fight? I don’t intend to.”
Taking a quick look around, Stella made sure that no one was paying attention to their conversation and leaned forward. “I mean bite during sex and give Arwel explosive orgasms and euphoric trips. You might also be able to induce transition.”
“Bridget says that my venom’s composition would probably be different than that of the males. Theirs changes according to triggers. One type is for fighting other males, and the other type is for sex. What is mine going to respond to? Aggression toward other females? Or maybe just sex?”
“Does that scare you?”
Jin shrugged. “When my fangs started elongating, it freaked me out, but since Arwel thinks it’s hot, I’m okay with that.”
“What caused them to elongate?”
Jin smirked. “Arousal, of course.”
“Makes sense. You should try wrestling with Kri to see if aggression triggers them as well. That will answer your question.”
“I don’t want to do that. If I’m going to fight anyone, it’s going to be a male. But since Arwel will flip if I suggest it, it’s not going to happen.”
“What if you fight Arwel?”
Jin smiled. “That’s why the Krall story appeals to me. Arwel and I can try it out in the virtual world first, and if it’s a turn-on for both of us, we can try it out for real.”
28
Sari
“This is the house.” The Lyft driver stopped at the address Magnus had given him. “It’s the finest Airbnb property in Kanab. You are lucky it’s not the high season. Usually, it’s rented months in advance.”
It was one of the only three listed on the site, so it wasn’t as if there had been much choice. It was either that or a hotel.