by I. T. Lucas
“Parker is Magnus’s son, and it doesn’t matter where he bites me. It’s still going to be intimate, and since he’s the only teenager in the clan, he’s my only option for the induction.” Lisa’s lips twisted in a wry smile. “None of the adults are going to want to do it because that would probably make them feel like pedophiles.”
Leaning forward, Ronja put her teacup down on the coffee table. “Are you saying that there is only one boy Lisa’s age in the entire clan?”
“Our fertility rate is very low. We had a group of boys born into the clan who are now in their twenties, then nothing for a long time, and then we were blessed with several Dormants who transitioned. Parker is the only one close to Lisa’s age.” Sari smiled. “I hear that he’s a very nice young man, and he possesses a unique talent. He’s a compeller. But don’t worry, we have very strict rules about not using our abilities to take advantage of mortals, and especially girls.”
“What about school?” Ronja asked. “Can Lisa go to a regular human school while living with immortals?”
Sari shook her head. “We don’t have any schools in the castle’s vicinity. That’s why I think that my brother’s community might be a better fit for you.”
“What about Parker? Is he homeschooled?”
“I wanted to ask Magnus about that, but I forgot,” Sari admitted. “My brother’s community is not as isolated as mine, so Parker can go to a human school if he wishes to.”
“Perhaps your brother’s place is indeed better for us.” Ronja turned to David. “I want to be with you, but I have to think about Lisa and her future. One boy her age is better than none, and going to school is important for social interactions, not just learning.” She looked at Sari. “Do you think your brother will accept the three of us? I can sell the house and pay for our expenses, and I will take care of Frank. We will not be a burden.”
Sari doubted that Ronja and Frank could get clan membership, and she was sure that they wouldn’t be entitled to a share in the clan profits. With the exception of Dormants about to transition, no humans had ever been admitted to the clan before.
David’s family would set a precedent, so their acceptance into the clan needed to be handled with care. That was a job for Edna. The judge would need to come up with a bunch of rules that would serve as blueprints for the future.
“You don’t need to sell the house.” Sari crossed her legs. “No one pays rent or utilities in the village, and David and I will cover your other expenses. That’s not going to be a problem. I have to check with Kian first, though. He’s very reluctant to accept humans into his community.”
“I don’t want you and David to pay for anything. With rent and utilities covered, we won’t need much, and we can use our savings. What about medical expenses, though? We have insurance, but what if Frank needs care that is not covered?”
“We have in-house doctors, so that’s not a problem.” Sari was just going to pay for whatever was needed and not tell Ronja.
“Don’t you think that I should have a say in it too?” Lisa’s furrowed forehead indicated that she wasn’t happy about where things were going. “I don’t care about school and having a social life. I want us to live with David and Sari. Besides, what if Parker is a dweeb? It’s stupid to move to Kian’s place only because he’s there.”
35
David
“We can take it one step at a time,” David said. “We’ll go to the village first, you’ll check the place out and get to know Parker, and then you will come with us to Scotland and decide which place you like better.”
“Deal.” Lisa looked at Ronja, who was frowning. “What’s the matter? You don’t like David’s idea?”
“I don’t know if Frank and I would be able to travel, but that wasn’t what I was thinking about. The affinity that immortals and Dormants feel toward each other, is that the only way to identify Dormants? It sounds iffy. I didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary for the two Guardians. They are both handsome, and they are polite, so naturally I like them, but I would have liked them if they were regular humans too.”
“There are other indicators,” Sari said. “Having a paranormal ability is a particularly strong one, but not all Dormants have them, and other than the ability to thrall and shroud, most immortals don’t have them either.”
Ronja pursed her lips. “I might have a paranormal ability.”
Sari leaned forward. “What is it?”
“You’ll think that I’m crazy. Frank thinks so.” She smiled sheepishly. “There is no dictionary definition for it, but I can sense when something is up like with Michael’s cheating. I just knew that he was playing around even though I didn’t hear anything, and I never caught him. I just knew it, and when I confronted him, he admitted it.”
Lisa snorted. “That’s not a paranormal talent. When you know someone well, it’s easy to tell when he starts acting off.”
“Okay, that might be a bad example. But what about Frank’s promotion? I told him that he wasn’t going to get it because his boss was going to promote the hussy with the fake boobs that he’d just hired.”
“That’s not a paranormal talent either. You must have sensed something.”
“How? I never even met Frank’s boss. I only met the hussy, and I knew that she would be trouble.” Ronja threw her hands in the air. “It’s hard to explain. I can just sit on the couch and watch something, and suddenly a bunch of thoughts starts swirling around in my head. I close my eyes, and I see them like a tornado of puzzle pieces, just going round and round, faster and faster, and suddenly they start connecting, and more pieces fall into place, and then boom, the puzzle is complete, but it’s not a flat picture. It’s a movie. That’s why I’m so into conspiracy theories. I know when they are for real and when they are not.”
“Dad is right.” Lisa patted Ronja’s arm. “You are crazy.”
“I think it’s worth testing,” Sari said. “My sister is a researcher of paranormal abilities. Maybe she can run some tests on you and confirm your assumption or disprove it.”
“I would like that.” Ronja looked triumphantly at Lisa. “I’ll prove to you and Dad that I’m not crazy, and that all my conspiracy theories are true.”
“In that case, I want Sari’s sister to test me too. I also have a paranormal talent. It’s called a bullshit radar.”
“Lisa!” David admonished. “That’s no way to talk to your mother.”
“What? I didn’t mean that Mom’s talent is bullshit. I meant advertisements’ claims and politicians’ promises.”
He chuckled. “That doesn’t require a paranormal talent either. Everyone knows that neither is true.”
“Okay, but seriously, maybe it’s not a paranormal talent, but I’m curious. I want Sari’s sister to test whether I can really tell when people make false claims. Also, there might be something else, but there is no way to prove it.”
“What is it?” Sari asked.
“I think I can sense the affinity you talked about, the feeling of familiarity that immortals and Dormants have for each other. When I first met you, I felt that you were different, but in a familiar way, like I’d known you from before and liked you. Then when I met Magnus and Bowen, I had the same feeling.”
“That’s to be expected.” Sari uncrossed her legs. “You are a Dormant, and we are immortals.”
“There is more.” Lisa closed her eyes for a moment. “When you or even Magnus and Bowen are near my mom, I feel that you are connected. It’s really difficult to explain.” She shifted her weight and leaned against the armrest. “It’s like what I felt when you encased us in your silence bubble… no, that’s not it. It’s like there is an aura that’s connecting us, but it’s not something I see. I sense it as if it’s a weak energy field. Does that make any sense?”
“I don’t know.” Sari’s expression was guarded. “Feelings are subjective, and everyone experiences things differently. You might be more sensitive to affinity than others.”
“Perhaps
Amanda can design a test for Lisa?” David suggested.
“We don’t have Dormants to test her ability on, but maybe we could put Lisa in a room with a mixed crowd of humans and immortals and have her identify the immortals. I’ll leave that to Amanda. She might come up with a better idea.”
36
Sari
Sari turned on her side and looked out the window of the master bedroom. It was still early, and the first rays of sunlight were just starting to illuminate the horizon.
No trees blocked the desert view, and despite the lack of anything green, Sari had to admit that there was a certain beauty to the barren landscape. Pink and red hues mingled with oranges and yellows to paint the undulating shapes that the different erosion rates of the various stones had created.
Next to her, David stirred. “What are you doing awake?” He wrapped a lazy arm around her. “We’ve just gone to sleep.”
They had made love until two in the morning, and if not for Magnus and Bowen returning from visiting Charlie, they would have kept at it even longer. But the soundproofing in the house was poor, and Sari hadn’t wanted to give the Guardians a porn show.
She chuckled. “Four hours of sleep are plenty for an immortal. I’m going to make coffee and call Kian.”
David’s hand coasted south. “I can think of a better way to spend our morning. We have some unfinished business to attend to.” He squeezed her butt cheek.
“The two reasons for the interruption are still on the other side of the wall.”
“I don’t care. We can be quiet.” He pulled her closer. “Or we can turn on the water in the shower and make love there.”
That was an offer she couldn’t refuse. “We will need to be quiet in there too. Can you manage that?”
“I can. But I’m not sure about you.”
The smirk on David’s handsome face betrayed his plans. “Did you just challenge yourself to make me scream?”
“How did you know?”
“It’s written all over your smug face. But it’s not going to work. I have an iron will.” She pushed on his chest until he let her go.
“Let’s bet on it.” Watching her shrug the robe on, David pushed up on the pillows. “If I make you scream, we’ll go back to bed and make love again. If I don’t, you’ll make coffee and call Kian instead.”
“Challenge accepted.” Sari opened the bathroom door.
Apparently, David still had a lot to learn about her.
Sari hated to lose, and if she decided not to make a sound, even the most explosive orgasm of her life would not force it out of her.
Half an hour later, she’d left the bathroom with a victorious smile on her face and a pair of shaky legs.
David followed behind her, but instead of getting dressed, he plopped on the bed. “You are one hell of a stubborn woman.”
“It’s good that you are discovering it before it’s too late.” She pulled a pair of panties out of her suitcase. “You can still change your mind about marrying me.” She picked up a white bra, a light blue blouse, and a pair of dark blue trousers.
“Oh, I’m still marrying you, and I’m going to spend as long as it takes to improve my technique until you scream your climax whether you want to or not.”
“Your technique is perfect.”
“There is always room for improvement.”
Pushing her feet into a pair of low-heeled pumps, Sari shook her head. “You’re welcome to try, but it’s not going to happen. As you said, I’m stubborn.” She opened the bedroom door.
“We shall see,” he called after her.
In the kitchen, Sari loaded the coffeemaker and then sat on the couch with her phone.
Hopefully, it wasn’t too early to call her brother.
He answered on the second ring. “Is everything alright?”
“Frank is still unconscious, but Ronja is doing well. That’s not what I’m calling about. Last night, we talked about plans for the future, and I want to run them by you. Do you have time?”
“For you? Always.”
Kian listened patiently as Sari told him about Lisa and Ronja’s wishes and dilemmas and about their possible paranormal talents.
“So, what’s the verdict? Will you allow them to live in your village if they so choose?”
“I doubt that Lisa would enter transition with just the bite alone. If she does, she and her parents can stay in the village. If she doesn’t, I think it would be better for everyone involved to have their memories of us thralled away. They should go back to living their lives in the mortal world, Lisa should finish high school, and when she is old enough, we can start introducing her to potential mates. Obviously, we will help them out financially, and David can visit them whenever he wants, but he should keep his immortality a secret. It’s just cruel to let David’s mother live with the knowledge that she could have turned immortal if we had gotten to her in time.”
“Ronja doesn’t seem to mind, and Frank’s chances of even partial recovery are not good.”
“If he doesn’t make it, she can still remarry and have a decent life in the human world. In here or in Scotland, she will be lonely and have limited mobility. I know that as a mother of two immortals, she wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize their safety, and as an additional precaution we could use Kalugal to compel her silence, but she wouldn’t be able to have human friends.”
“What if I explain all that and they still want to live with us? I’m not going to refuse them regardless of whether Lisa transitions or not, and they can come live with David and me in Scotland. Will you allow them in the village if that’s their preference?”
Kian sighed. “I don’t like the idea of humans living among us, but since we have a powerful compeller in the house to ensure their silence, I no longer have a valid reason to refuse.”
“It’s also the right thing to do. David is my mate, and this is his family. He’s already lost his brother and father, and he wants to ensure that his sister and mother are safe. If Syssi had asked you to bring her parents to the village, would you have refused her?”
“No.”
“Then it’s settled.”
“I guess it is.”
37
Eleanor
Eleanor’s heart thundered in her chest as she made her way to Onegus’s office.
The summons could mean only one thing. Kian had approved her participation in the mission, and now that it was no longer a distant possibility, she didn’t know whether to feel excited or terrified.
The fear was irrational, and it was a remnant from her mortal life. She was stronger and better trained than she’d ever been, and she was practically indestructible. Not only that, but she was also a damn good compeller who could control most humans with ease.
Even if she encountered an immune, he would have to be incredibly strong and well-trained to better her in hand-to-hand combat.
Except, life in the village was like living inside a protective cocoon, and her survival instincts were rusty. She might not be well-liked, and some still regarded her with suspicion in their eyes, but no one was out to get her.
For the first time in forever, Eleanor felt perfectly safe.
Frankly, it was weird. She was so used to the high-octane adrenaline coursing through her veins that she missed it. There had been excitement in the vigilance, and safety was boring.
Stopping in front of Onegus’s door, she took in a deep breath and knocked.
“Come in,” came a bark from the inside.
Damn. She knew that voice, and it didn’t belong to the chief Guardian.
What was Kian doing there?
Duh, he was probably going to issue threats and warnings, that’s what.
Faking confidence she didn’t feel, Eleanor pushed the door open. “Good morning.”
“Take a seat.” Kian pointed to the other guest chair.
“Thank you.” She sat on the edge and folded her hands in her lap.
“As you might have guessed, I okayed your partici
pation in Turner’s rescue mission.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I was reluctant to approve you, but Turner convinced me that this low-risk mission would be a good way to test your loyalty to the clan, as well as your skills.” He pinned her with a hard stare. “But one wrong move, and you are never leaving the village again. Am I clear?”
“Crystal. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to prove myself. I promise not to let you down.”
He nodded. “As long as you understand what’s at stake, I trust that you won’t do anything stupid.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
Even if Eleanor had had plans to run off before, which she hadn’t, now that Greggory was moving into the village, she was coming back for sure.
Kian pushed to his feet. “Let’s move this into the conference room.”
“Do you need me there?” Onegus asked.
“No.” Kian opened the door. “Unless you are curious to hear Turner’s plan. That’s why I’m going.”
“Don’t mind if I do.” Onegus pushed his swivel chair back and got up.
The conference room was a few doors down, and when they got there, Turner, Kri, and another guy were already seated around the table.
Eleanor didn’t remember seeing the young man, which was strange, since she knew most village residents.
“Good morning.” Turner motioned for her and Kian to sit down. “This is Roni, the village hacker.”
She’d heard of him. The rumor was that he was one of the best hackers in the country, and that the clan had snatched him from the government in a daring extraction operation.
The guy grimaced. “Just a hacker, or the best hacker. The way you said it made it sound like I’m the village idiot.”
Turner put a hand on his shoulder. “No one would ever accuse you of that, Roni. You are one of the smartest people I know.”
Kri snorted. “He doesn’t need his ego stroked, Turner. It’s already the size of a supertanker.”