Dark Survivor Awakened

by I. T. Lucas

  Locking up the back door after saying goodbye to her two employees, Ruth took a deep breath, removed her apron, and hung it on the peg next to the door.

  Except, she wasn’t ready to go back to Nick yet. Instead, she ducked into the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, she didn’t like the anxious eyes staring back at her. She didn’t want to be that mouse of a woman.

  She wanted to be a tigress.

  Grrr, she growled at the mirror and swiped her fingers as if they were claws, then giggled at her own silliness. Letting her hair out of the tight braid she wore during work, she finger-combed it to fall in soft waves down her shoulders.

  Nick liked to run his fingers through her hair, and his touch was always gentle. She had no reason to fear intimacy with him. He was nothing like Ashton.

  “Okay, I can do this,” she told the mirror.

  Maybe this time she could do more than kissing. Perhaps she could take his hand and lead it to her breast. Nick wasn’t going to do it unless she initiated.

  Damn it, she wasn’t that forward.

  On the other hand, her timidity was what had gotten her in trouble in the first place. If she weren’t such a pushover, who had waited for the guy to take the initiative, she might have made better choices and had been enjoying intimacy for all those years instead of cowering away from it.

  That’s what happened to people who were reactive instead of proactive. They didn’t get what they wanted. Others got what they wanted from them. She’d repeated those same words of wisdom to her daughter countless times. Apparently, Sylvia had listened, growing up to become an assertive woman who knew what she wanted and went for it no matter what.

  It was time for Ruth to follow her own advice.

  A lot had changed in her life lately. She’d made impressive progress if she said so herself. From someone who’d hardly ever left her house, she’d turned into a businesswoman who didn’t suck too badly at managing other people.

  The two human girls she’d hired had no problem listening to her and doing what she told them, which frankly had surprised her. Ruth had expected to encounter resistance and backtalk like she had with Sylvia. But apparently, mother-daughter relationships were different. There were a lot of layers to them. Besides, not many people were as stubborn as Sylvia. Her employees didn’t argue with her at all.

  If she could conquer one fear, she could conquer another.

  Right?

  19

  Nick

  Was it his imagination or did Ruthie seemed a little different tonight?

  Her kisses were a bit less reserved, and she had even initiated a few. Maybe she was ready for more?

  Damn, he wished he knew for sure. The last thing he wanted was to make a wrong move and lose her. Should he ask?

  Instead, he let his hand trail up her ribcage, but stopped right below her breast. He’d tried it a couple of times before, but she’d always pushed his hand away.

  This time she allowed it to remain where it was, but to say that she looked like she wanted it was a stretch. Her breathing was shallow, but not because she was hot for him. It was more like she was terrified of making a move.

  Maybe if he admitted that he was a virgin too, she would be less anxious.

  He cupped her cheeks. “Are you scared, Ruthie?”

  She nodded. “A little.”

  “Why? Is it because it’s all new to you? It’s all new to me too.”

  Her eyes softened, and she lifted her hand to his cheek. “Oh, Nicki, it’s so brave of you to admit that. I’m so proud of you.”

  Now she sounded as if she was his teacher or his mother and he didn’t like it one bit. “That’s not exactly what I wanted to hear.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. I should’ve leveled with you a long time ago.” She lowered her eyes.

  “What is it?”

  “When I told you I wanted to take my time, it wasn’t because I’m a virgin.”

  She sighed. “I’ve been with one guy, years ago, and it wasn’t good. Since then I haven’t dated anyone until you. You’re sweet and kind and I love you, but I’m scared that it will be horrible again, and that you’ll leave me because I can’t enjoy sex.” She let out a puff of air. “I can’t believe I finally had to guts to say this.”

  Nick frowned. Ruthie wasn’t much older than him, if at all. Except, since she refused to tell him her age, she must’ve been at least a little older. In either case, whatever had happened to her must have been when she was a teenager. Had some older guy taken advantage of her?

  The thought of anyone hurting Ruth made him furious. “Where is that son of a bitch? I’m going to kill him!”

  She smiled a sad little smile. “I don’t know, and I don’t care. I want to bury that in the past and start afresh as if it never happened. Unfortunately, I can’t help that panicky feeling I get every time I think you want more than kisses.”

  He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “Did I ever do anything that was unpleasant to you?”

  Ruth shook her head. “No. But I can’t relax enough to enjoy even our kisses. I never feel safe. I know it’s crazy, and I want you to know it’s not your fault in any way. You’re a sweetheart.”

  Nick was at a loss. Not only did he lack experience with girls, but he also wasn’t all that good with people in general. He had the tendency to say the wrong things at the wrong time and was probably the last person to come up with a way to help Ruthie.

  “Is there anything I can do?”

  “You’re doing it. You’re patient with me, and you don’t get mad at me for taking my time, and you love me anyway. I could not have asked for more.”

  “I wish I could do more. But I don’t know what. Maybe you should talk with someone who knows? Like Jackson’s mom? She is a therapist. I’m sure Jackson can get you a discount.”

  “I thought about it, but the idea of confiding in a stranger scares me. I don’t like talking with people, and especially not about my problems.”

  “I could go with you, you know,” he offered. “Hold your hand and stuff like that.”

  “That’s sweet. I’ll think about it.”

  Which meant she wouldn’t do it. By now he knew Ruth well enough to be sure of that. Maybe there was another way?

  Looking down at their joined hands, Nick decided to take a chance. “I want to ask you something that might embarrass you, and maybe make you think less of me…”

  “Nothing would make me think less of you, Nicki. I love you, you must know that.”

  He nodded. “Did you ever watch porn?” He cringed before daring to look at her.

  “No, why do you ask?”

  “Well, I watch a lot. And I think that, maybe, if you could see people having fun doing it, you’d be less scared. There are some very nicely done movies with romance and everything. You know, the kind girls enjoy.”

  Ruth shook her head. “I don’t know. I would probably be too embarrassed to watch.”

  Nick let out a relieved breath. She hadn’t called him a pervert, and she hadn’t said it was disgusting either. “We can watch for a few minutes, and if you don’t like it, we can stop. I’ll look for a nice one with lots of romance.”

  “Okay,” she whispered and then blushed. “I guess I can watch for a few minutes.”

  20

  Anandur

  Anandur woke up with a bitching headache. The first thing he became aware of was that he was cold. The second was the reason for it.

  He was naked, and he was lying on a thin mattress inside a cage.

  “You’re awake,” an unfamiliar male voice said.

  “What the hell?” Anandur sat up and rubbed at his temples. “Where am I?”

  The male chuckled. “You said it. This is hell. Welcome to Wonder’s hotel. Included in your stay are one meal of rice and beans a day and a cold hose-down shower every other day.”

  Anandur rubbed the back of his head where there was a large bump. Someone had knocked him out using a blunt object. With the headache he was nursing,
it had taken him a few moments to notice that the small hairs on his neck were prickling like crazy.

  His neighbor, or rather neighbors, were all immortals.

  He glanced left and then right, looking at the males’ faces, all three regarding him with suspicion and hostility.

  Doomers.

  What the hell was he doing caged up with three of his enemies? Thankfully, each had his own cage. Being locked in the same one with three Doomers would have probably meant his imminent demise.

  Whoever had locked him up, apparently wanted to keep him alive. But who could consider both the clan and the Brotherhood as their enemies?

  As far as he knew, there was no third faction of immortals. Except, maybe for Navuh’s youngest son who’d supposedly defected with his entire platoon during the Second World War. That one could’ve considered both the Brotherhood and the clan as a threat.

  Still, even if it were him, it didn’t make sense for the guy to start capturing immortal males.

  Unless Navuh’s son was building an army and this was his recruiting tactic.

  Right. Talk about a trip down the absurd lane.

  “How did I get here?" Anandur asked.

  “Same as us. The immortal female.”

  “What female? What are you talking about?”

  All Anandur remembered was taking a woman out to the back alley, getting busy with her, and then boom! Someone had Tasered his ass.

  “The bouncer!” The image of her jade eyes popped into his head. “It was her!”

  “That’s right, brother. The pretty bouncer captured all of us.”

  Brother.

  The Doomer thought Anandur was another member of the Brotherhood, a most beneficial misconception. He’d play along until he knew more about what was going on.

  The Brotherhood had thousands of warriors, so obviously not everyone knew each other, but a six foot six inch redhead was too conspicuous to blend in.

  Still, Anandur had spent enough time talking with Dalhu to be able to bullshit his way through it.

  Then another thought hit him. There was only one way the Doomer could have known that the bouncer was an immortal female. He must’ve scented her arousal. Aside from the subtle difference in scents between an aroused human female and an immortal one, there was no other way to distinguish between them.

  Well, there were two other signs, but they weren’t as conclusive as the smell.

  There was the glowing eyes effect when experiencing extreme emotion, but it could have been mimicked by a human female wearing contact lenses, reflecting light from a particular angle. The superior strength could have been explained by bodybuilding. Some human women were into that.

  “I’m Grud.” The guy threaded his arm through the cage’s bars.

  Anandur turned and shook it. “I’m Dur.” His Scottish name was so old that it was doubtful anyone would recognize its origins, but Dur sounded more like a Doomer’s name.

  “But maybe I should get dressed before further introductions are made.” Damn, he shouldn’t talk like that if he wanted to sound like a Doomer. Rich vocabulary was not part of their training.

  Grud eyed him suspiciously, then switched to the Doomers’ dialect. “The clothes will be small on you, brother.”

  “I know,” Anandur replied in English. He understood enough of it to respond appropriately, but he didn’t speak it fluently enough to fool the Doomer. “But it’s better than being butt naked.” He reached for the small pile of old clothes next to the mattress.

  Thankfully, they were clean. Otherwise, Anandur would have had a real problem. It wasn’t that he was a germaphobe, but he had a strong aversion to body odors.

  Grud chuckled. “You said it. But you’re lucky. She kept us naked for a long time before getting us clothes. Maybe she thought you weren’t good looking enough and wanted to cover you up quickly.”

  Anandur pulled on the training pants. They fit around his middle but reached only mid-calf.

  Could have been worse.

  “Maybe she thought I was too good-looking and that is why she wanted me to cover up. Seeing me naked was making her horny.”

  One of the others jumped up, grabbed one of the upper horizontal bars of his cage and started doing chin-ups. “Dream on, redhead. If she has the hots for anyone, it’s for me.”

  “That’s Mordan,” Grud said. “The size of his biceps is in inverse proportion to the size of his brain.”

  “Showoff,” Mordan said between one chin-up and the next. “You just want to impress the new guy with all those fancy English words you read in the books that Wonder gave you.”

  “At least I’m not a dumb ass like you. I’m learning something. You read these books to me and learn nothing.”

  Anandur stifled a snort. Doomers and books didn’t belong in the same sentence. Apparently, it took extreme conditions of having nothing else to do to force them to read. Even Dalhu, who was much smarter than the average Doomer and had escaped the Brotherhood a long time ago, didn’t do much reading.

  Not that Anandur was such an avid reader himself. He used to borrow Brundar’s books on warfare and battle strategy, but he no longer shared an apartment with his brother. His new roomie was into espionage fiction. Maybe he should have Magnus recommend one of those to him.

  “I’m Shaveh,” the third Doomer introduced himself. “I don’t remember seeing you at the island.”

  Anandur waved a hand. “I’ve been working undercover for years.”

  Grud pushed his nose through the bars. “On what?”

  “It’s classified.”

  “Who am I going to tell? It’s not like we are ever getting out of here. We’ve been here for months. The female will never let us go.”

  “How do you know she is an immortal?” Anandur pulled on the worn-out T-shirt the woman had left for him.

  Shaveh huffed. “What other female can pick up a grown man, carry him over her shoulder, and dump him in a cage?”

  “A firefighter.” Anandur lifted a finger. “A bodybuilder.” He lifted another. “A trained soldier.” He lifted a third. “Nowadays, human females do a lot of things they didn’t do before.”

  “Wonder said she was an immortal,” Grud said. “And she knew who and what we were.”

  “Is she from the clan?” Anandur knew she wasn’t.

  “No, she doesn't know where she comes from. She knows nothing. It’s like she was born all grown up. She keeps asking us things about immortals.”

  “What did you tell her?”

  Grud paled. “I told her about the island. I hoped she would let us go if I did. It’s not a big deal. You know she can’t force its location out of us. It’s not like we can tell her where it is when we don’t know it ourselves.”

  “True. So that’s why she took us? To get info about other immortals?”

  Mordan let go of the cage’s top horizontal bar and jumped down. “She took us to save the women. Only later she figured out that we might be able to tell her things too.”

  Save the women?

  A moment later it all clicked into place.

  Perhaps these Doomers were responsible for the killings earlier that year, and the bouncer thought Anandur was about to do the same to the woman he’d taken to the back alley.

  Maybe she was someone like Eva—a Dormant carrier of immortal genes who’d been induced by accident. A chance encounter with an immortal male had caused her to transition without either of them realizing it. And just like Eva, she knew nothing about immortals, their fangs, or what they did with them during sex.

  Seeing a male with his fangs embedded in a woman’s neck, she’d naturally concluded that he was responsible for the reported murders. The women had been left to bleed to death from twin puncture wounds to their necks.

  In his case though, he hadn’t even had the chance to bite his partner before his nervous system had gotten fried. The bouncer must’ve reacted as soon as he’d flashed his fangs.

  The Doomers might be innocent as well, but he d
oubted that. The way Mordan had phrased it, it hadn’t sounded like they were the victims. These Doomers were most likely responsible for at least some of those deaths.

  He should find out. The trick was to phrase his question in a way that wouldn’t give him away. “You were part of that unit, eh?”

  Grud nodded. “We followed orders. You know how it is. Sometimes a warrior has to do things he doesn't want to. It wasn’t a pleasant assignment. But we are not civilians who can do whatever we want.”

  Damn.

  The bad news was that he was sharing space with murderers. The good news was that he might get a lot of inside information out of them.

  21

  Ruth

  “It was a fun movie,” Ruth said as they left the theater.

  Naturally, Nick hadn’t gotten some of the parenting jokes. While she’d been cracking up and tearing from laughter, he’d regarded her with raised brows.

  Ruth had laughed the hardest when Mr. Incredible tried helping his son with math. His complaints about how even that had changed since he’d been in school reminded her of her own frustration while helping Sylvia with homework.

  Nick opened the passenger door for her. “Who was your favorite character?”

  “Jack-Jack, of course. And yours?”

  “Mr. Incredible. It was cool how he was trying to be a good dad, kept messing up, but he never gave up.”

  They hadn’t talked much about their families. Ruth avoided the subject for obvious reasons, and it seemed like Nick didn’t like talking about his.

  Should she ask?

  Wasn’t that something a girlfriend should do?

  “What about your father? You never talk about him.”

  Nick shrugged. “I was adopted, and then my parents got divorced. I lived with my mom, but then she got married again, and her new husband made me feel like I was a nuisance. So I moved in with my father for a couple of years, but he was even worse. It was one thing for the stepdad to dislike me; it was another to feel unwanted by the one who was supposed to act like my father. I moved out as soon as I finished high school, which I did at sixteen. I was already making good money using my tech skills, and my parents had no problem signing all the paperwork that was necessary for my independence.”