by I. T. Lucas
In a way, it made sense. She would have welcomed a pregnancy even from a random hookup with a human, and Rufsur had never even dreamt about the possibility of fathering an immortal child before the clan and his people had sat down to the negotiation table.
For her and Rufsur, the decision to have a kid together seemed easier than falling in love or admitting that they already had.
Their relationship was too new, too fresh for that, and yet she felt as if she knew Rufsur better than any of her clan family, and she’d known many of them all of her life.
Nevertheless, Edna wasn’t ready to say the words.
She wasn’t a teenager who acted on impulse and rushed head on into things that would impact the rest of her life. She needed time for her feelings to stop running all over the place and settle down.
Rufsur sighed. “I told you that you wouldn’t like it.”
“It’s not that I dismiss the idea, but I would never employ a tactic like that just to put pressure on Kian. Besides, you are talking as if we are a forgone conclusion.” She smiled, trying to lighten the mood. “I don’t remember hearing a marriage proposal.”
“We are immortals, and human customs don’t apply to us. But I would gladly go down on one knee and ask you to marry me, except I don’t have a ring.”
She huffed. “That was the suckiest proposal I have ever heard.”
He looked confused. “Are you being serious? Or are you teasing? A moment ago, you said that you weren’t ready to acknowledge your feelings for me because we don’t have a plan yet.”
The truth was that she’d gotten carried away, but it wasn’t Rufsur’s fault that her heart and her mind weren’t in alignment, and it wasn’t fair to give him confusing messages. It would be better if he believed that she’d been teasing.
“True, but then you started talking about children, and it all sounded so heavy, so I decided to tease you a little. I apologize if I hurt your feelings.”
47
Eleanor
After landing in Atlanta, Eleanor collected the suitcase from the baggage claim and reentered the terminal.
There was nothing for her in the city. She’d purchased a ticket on the first outgoing flight she could find a seat on, and her plan had been to check into a hotel and get some sleep. But after reading the journals, she knew where she needed to be.
The Bay Area.
Fortunately, she’d found a business class seat on a direct flight to San Francisco, which meant that she could spend the five hours semi-comfortably, and perhaps even get some sleep.
Not that it was likely. She was exhausted, but too hyped up to fall asleep.
With excitement coursing through her veins, she was ready to embark on a new adventure. It might be dangerous, and Eleanor wasn’t a big risk-taker, but she had a solid lead, and she was determined to pursue it.
Besides, just being who she was put her in danger, so she’d better ovary-up and do what she needed to do.
The government program had been a good place to discover more about others like her and learn what made them different, but since Roberts had kicked her out before she had learned anything valuable, Eleanor had no choice but to expand her search.
That mansion was home to paranormal talents, other people like her. Perhaps she could join them?
She wasn’t after membership in their exclusive club. Eleanor was a loner who didn’t trust people, normal or paranormal, but if they were after new members, that would be the easiest way in, and she could learn what she could from them.
The question was whether they would want a compeller on board. Her talent was the most feared, and for a good reason. Could she pretend to be only an immune? Would that be enough to grant her membership?
If she was subtle with her compulsion and used it sparingly, she might be able to get away with it. Once she’d exhausted that source of information, she could sell it to the Chinese, and maybe get into their program and learn what they knew.
She had the contact information of Simmons’s mole, and from the director’s notes, she’d learned that the guy’s only loyalty was to money. Basically, he was selling his government’s secrets to get rich, and not for any ideological reasons. Which meant that he would have no problem switching sides and buying information for them.
He was Eleanor’s type of guy, and she knew precisely how to handle him. A cut of the profits should do it.
The question was whether she would sell information only or follow Simmons’s idea and capture a few talents. If she had live samples, it would be easier to convince the buyer that she could deliver what she promised.
Simmons had been an idiot for keeping the information from her and not taking her along on the mission. She could have saved him the trouble and compelled the talents to come out without a fight. All she needed was to get in hearing distance of them. Hell, she could compel them to accompany her on a field trip, straight into the arms of the Chinese program.
At the thought, a vague memory tried to push itself into her conscious mind, something about a potential snag in her plan. But the threads were too elusive, and after a few moments of intense concentration, Eleanor gave up. She needed a clear mind for that, and right now she was running on adrenaline fumes. Perhaps it would be better to take a nap and wake up refreshed.
Except, she had too many things to plan.
Before going to snoop around the mansion, she needed to find a place to stay and a car. Rentals were problematic because they were too easy to trace, but until she found a car to buy for cash, she could use an Uber. A new burner phone and one of her fake identities would be good enough for making her Uber trips anonymous.
But if she wanted to capture several paranormals, she couldn’t do that using an Uber or a Lyft. She needed her own car, maybe even a van.
But that was for later. First, she was going to do some reconnaissance. If what Simmons and Roberts had suspected was true, she would move to stage two and get the supplies needed for transporting her victims. If she couldn’t deliver them straight to the Chinese, she would need tranquilizers and handcuffs for when she had to leave them alone in the house.
As she’d found out in the program, some people reacted to compulsion like others did to alcohol. They shook it off quickly and required another dose. If she could find a house with a basement, that would be great. She could lock them up in there while she negotiated with the buyers.
With her plan solidifying, Eleanor couldn’t wait to go snooping. Nothing too ambitious, just drive by the mansion to assess the location and check for exterior surveillance cameras. The easiest way to do that was to rent a car at the airport and make a circuit or two. Later, she could return it and take a taxi to a hotel in town.
After a proper night of sleep, she would check the Airbnb listings for houses that suited her particular needs.
Closing her eyes, she tried to doze off, but the thoughts swirling in her head kept her awake.
“Would you like something to drink?” asked the flight attendant.
“Coffee, please.”
If she couldn’t sleep anyway, she might as well start her house hunting on the plane.
The guy sitting next to her ordered a drink, and five minutes later started snoring.
She patted his arm. “Please stop that.”
He cracked one eye open. “Stop what?”
“Don’t snore,” she said, imbuing her voice with compulsion. “Go back to sleep, but no snoring.”
Up until now, she’d never tried to compel someone to stop doing something that was not under their control, but it had worked, and the guy went back to sleep sans the snoring.
Fascinating. Evidently, compulsion worked on the subconscious mind as well as it did on the conscious one.
An hour later, Eleanor had a house secured in San Mateo, only fifteen minutes away from the mansion. The place was a dump, but it had one feature that made it perfect. The house used to be a restaurant, and it had a spacious walk-in fridge that locked from the outside. The
cooling didn’t work, and the only reason the fridge appeared on the listing was because of a disclaimer that guests were responsible for their own safety.
48
Vlad
“What would you like for lunch?” Wendy sat next to Richard on the couch.
“Nothing.”
That was atypical. The guy was always happy to eat. Perhaps he was transitioning?
Vlad walked over to him. “You are always hungry. Are you feeling sick?”
Richard shook his head. “I’m depressed. Nothing is happening even with Kian’s venom. I have to accept that I’m not a Dormant, and that I’m not going to live forever, and it’s damn depressing.”
“Don’t give up yet,” Wendy said. “I didn’t transition overnight either. It takes time for the venom to work.”
He cast her a sad glance. “No offense, Wendy, but it’s not the same. This was the fourth attempt, and I had to beg Kian for it. I also asked him to allow me to stay in the village as a human, but it doesn’t look as if he’s going to grant my request.”
Vlad put a hand on his shoulder. “As long as he didn’t say no, there is still hope.”
Wendy shook her head. “If you don’t turn, why would you want to stay? Isn’t it better to have your memories of immortals wiped so you don’t walk around sad and disappointed about not transitioning?”
He cast her an incredulous look. “Would you have liked your memories wiped?”
“I wouldn’t want to lose my memories of Vlad, but I wouldn’t have cared about everything else. If I weren’t in love, I would have preferred to forget about immortality and live a normal life.” She grimaced. “Or as normal as it was possible for me. I wasn’t in a good place before I met Vlad.”
Richard patted her arm. “I’m really happy for you, Wendy. Compared to how you were in the program, you are a different person now. I’d never noticed how beautiful your smile was because you hardly ever smiled. Now you are smiling all of the time.”
Even though Richard's comments were harmless, Vlad didn’t like him complimenting Wendy, or noticing how beautiful she was. But it made her happy, so he could live with it.
Wendy was glowing and becoming more and more beautiful by the day, and it wasn’t just because he was watching her through love-tinted glasses.
Perhaps he shouldn’t have asked Roni to dig into what had happened to her mom. Why ruin all that progress by dragging out misery that was best forgotten?
“But that’s the thing,” Wendy said. “I’m in love with Vlad, so if I had faced the same dilemma as you do, I would have probably wanted to stay on as a human even though it would have been selfish to put Vlad through watching me get old and die. But you are not in love with anyone here, so you are better off forgetting all this.” She waved a hand around.
“I’m not in love, that’s true. And no one is in love with me either. But I have good friends here, and I feel like I belong. I never felt like that in the human world.”
Wendy arched a brow. “Really? I remember you being quite the player in the program, and I even thought that you were a jerk with an overinflated ego. You’ve never been a wallflower.”
Vlad would have loved to hear Richard’s response, but his phone rang right as the guy opened his mouth, and Roni’s face was on the display.
“I’ll take it outside.”
Hopefully, they would think that he was being considerate, but the truth was that he didn’t want Wendy to hear him talking with Roni.
Out on the porch, he accepted the call and sat on the bench. “Hi, Roni. What’s up?”
“After what you told me about Wendy’s father, I couldn’t wait until Monday to do some digging. I found out stuff that you’ll find interesting.”
“Where are you?”
“At the lab. Can you come down here?”
“Right now?”
“I’m not going to stay long. I promised Sylvia to be back by lunchtime.”
“Can’t you tell me over the phone?”
“I can. But if you want to keep this investigation a secret from Wendy, you will need time to calm down after you see this.”
The guy knew him well. Just imagining what Roni wanted to show him was enough of a trigger for Vlad’s fangs to elongate.
“I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“Bring a six-pack. William is here too.”
“Okay.”
That was actually a pretty decent excuse he could give Wendy for going to see Roni. He was just doing a favor for a friend, delivering beers to the guys working in the lab on a Sunday.
49
Kian
A glass of scotch in hand, Kian walked out onto the back patio and sat down on a lounger.
Sundays were usually reserved for relaxing at home with Syssi, but she and Okidu were busy with preparations for dinner.
Thankfully, Kalugal and his people were leaving right after that, and things would return to normal, or as normal as they ever got. There was always something to disturb the peace and take his mind away from running the clan’s business empire.
He liked Kalugal and Jacki, but playing host was exhausting, especially when a visit took over his weekend and he didn’t have time to recharge.
A new week was starting tomorrow, and he needed a clear mind and plenty of energy. It wasn’t easy to drum up enough business so the clan would have the funds needed for all of their ambitious plans.
Or rather his, like building fifty homes for no good reason other than a gut feeling. Until all those children he was hoping for were born to the clan and grew up, those would not be needed.
He was about to light up a cigarillo when Syssi stepped out. “I forgot to tell you, but I also invited Edna.” She sat next to him on the lounger. “She and Rufsur are a couple, and it didn’t feel right to leave her out.”
“I’ve noticed. They are no longer trying to keep a low profile. In fact, Rufsur is flaunting their relationship on purpose, and I’m surprised that Edna is okay with that.”
Syssi smiled. “Who would have thought that Edna would be the first clan female to mate one of Kalugal’s men, and not just any of them, his second-in-command.”
“That’s not a good thing.” Kian took a sip from his scotch. “There is no way either of them can leave to be with the other. Edna knows too much for me to allow her to cross over to Kalugal, and the same is true for Rufsur. Kalugal will never allow him to leave. Unless they can deal with a long-distance relationship, I’m afraid it’s not going to work.”
Syssi wound a lock of hair around her finger. “When a problem seems impossible to solve, it only means that not all angles have been explored.”
Kian had a feeling where she was going with that, and he didn’t like it. “Let me guess. You agree with Annani, and you want to incorporate Kalugal and his men into the clan. Good luck with that.”
“Why do you oppose it so vehemently? You seem to like Kalugal, and his men seem like good people.”
“Even if I didn’t have a problem with that, he does. There is no way Kalugal will give up his autonomy and join the clan, and I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t want to answer to my own sister, whom I trust and admire, let alone a cousin whom I’m just getting to know.”
“But what if he doesn’t need to answer to you? What Kalugal said about you and Sari forming a federation is true for him as well. We can have two independent sections that are self-ruling and cooperate only on certain issues, like security.”
Kian huffed. “Do you think I trust Kalugal and his men with the village’s safety? That’s the last thing I’m willing to cooperate on.”
“So don’t. You can offer Kalugal and his men protection as part of the deal and ask for something else in return.”
“Like what?”
“Kalugal seems business savvy. Joint ventures with him might be advantageous to the clan.”
“I don’t approve of his methods. He uses compulsion to force information out of people, and Fates only know what else. I don’t want any part in
it.”
“You can stipulate that he’s not allowed to use compulsion in deals that the clan is involved in.”
“Kalugal will not agree to that.”
Syssi let out an exasperated breath. “If you think that it’s hopeless, then why are you preparing fifty more lots?”
He chuckled. “Because a pushy ghost gave me the idea. Did Nathalie talk to Mark?”
Syssi shook her head. “She couldn’t reach him, which means that it wasn’t him in your head. It was all you.”
“I know. Subconsciously, I must have been thinking that it would be a good way to lure many of Kalugal’s men to join the clan. Now that I know Annani can compel their loyalty, I’m less worried about having them here. Not only that, I hope for an influx of new Dormants from the lists Roberts is supplying.”
Except, the vacant houses in phase two would suffice for that. He had no real excuse for his plans for phase three.
“Yeah, but to start with, we will be getting only males,” Syssi said. “The gender balance is going to get skewed.”
“How is that different from letting all forty-seven of Kalugal’s men into our community?”
“It’s not.” Syssi sighed. “Scoot.” She lay down next to him and rested her head on his chest. “I’m just thinking out loud. We need to get more female Dormants, and I’m wracking my brain, trying to come up with something that we haven’t tried yet. We tested thousands of subjects in the lab, and none scored well enough to be considered. Then we tried to arrange meetups between test subjects and clan members to see if there was affinity, and nothing came out of that either. William’s precognition game achieved nothing as well. I don’t know what else is there.”
Kian chuckled. “It wasn’t all wasted effort. William’s game is a financial success, and the meetups provided a good opportunity for hookups. I didn’t hear any complaints from the clan members who participated in those.”