by I. T. Lucas
“Sounds good to me. My crew would like attending a lecture like that. I think most people find the subject fascinating.”
“I need you to make sure they will. I’m going to too much trouble and expense for them not to show up.’
“I’ll make sure they do.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
Chapter 35: Amanda
“You can’t stay, Jackson.” Amanda gave him a light shove to hurry him out the door. They were in the classroom adjacent to the one she was going to deliver her lecture in. After the class was over, everyone would come to this one for snacks and games.
“Why? I’m already here. Why can’t I stay and listen to your lecture? I heard you’re an amazing teacher and your classes are so interesting.”
Smooth. The boy was a pro. But this time flattery wasn’t going to help him.
“Thanks for bringing the pastries and for not charging for them. But if you stay, Tessa will hang out with you instead of mingling with the others. The whole point of this experiment is to introduce the suspected Dormants to new immortals who have no idea who they are. That’s why there are so many other humans here.”
Jackson nodded. “I get it. I’ll go.”
“Smart boy.” She patted his arm.
He didn’t like her calling him a boy, but he was too polite to say anything. “Don’t forget to mention Fernando’s Café. I need to make my money back.”
“I won’t. And I had the name and address printed on the back of the pamphlet.” She decided a little flattery would compensate for the ‘boy’ remark. Jackson wasn’t the only smooth one in the room. “It was a genius idea. After they get a taste, they will not only come for more but bring their friends.”
The compliment did the trick. Jackson smirked and pointed at his head. “I always think ahead.”
“Yes, you do. Now out.” She walked him out of the room, watching him stride down the hallway before she entered the other classroom.
Amanda surveyed the faces of her audience.
Thirty-two immortals, none of whom had met Eva’s crew before, twenty-three students, Eva’s crew, and the flower girl had been invited to the lecture. Hannah couldn’t come, which was a relief. The girl was too smart and too involved in Amanda’s work. The lecture and the games Amanda had planned for after would’ve made her suspicious. If it were a fundraiser, it would’ve been a different story. The unscientific flavor of the event would’ve made sense.
Everyone had shown up, including a few uninvited students who’d heard about it from their friends.
A nametag had been given to all participants to stick on their shirts.
“Good evening, everyone. My name is Professor Amanda Dokani, and I’m a neuroscientist. Today’s lecture is about paranormal phenomena in general and individual paranormal abilities in particular. We will also discuss the various methods we use to test these abilities. After the lecture, we will move to the next room and play games that are designed to test your own talents. You’ll discover that most people can feel when someone is staring at their back, some can tell when others are talking about them, and a few can guess what the other person is thinking. Refreshments will be served, and it will be a lot of fun. So don’t skip this part.”
As was the case with all her lectures, her audience, including the immortals, hung on Amanda’s every word. And as always she wondered if it was the fascinating topic or her delivery style that kept them captivated. At least with the immortals, she knew for sure that they weren’t obsessing about her looks.
When she was done, no one snuck out and everyone followed her to the next room. The promise of snacks was irresistible to students.
“The amazing pastries are courtesy of Fernando’s Café. They are also inviting you to try the café and offering a free cappuccino to all who attended this lecture. All you have to do is show them this.” She lifted the pamphlet each participant had received.
More than a few eyes rolled in pleasure after tasting the pastries. Jackson would gain a lot of new business from this event. Hopefully enough to compensate for not being allowed to join his girlfriend.
Amanda glanced around the room, searching for Tessa. She spotted her hiding behind her boss. That wouldn’t do. Sauntering over, Amanda offered her hand to Eva. “Darling, I’m so glad you could make it and bring along your lovely entourage.”
Eva shook it. “Fascinating lecture. Right, Tessa?” She turned to her assistant.
“Yes, and thank you for inviting me. My head is still spinning from it all.”
“Come, let me introduce you to some people.” Amanda clasped her hand. Eva hadn’t said what Tessa’s problem was, but she’d hinted it had something to do with men. Pulling the girl behind her, Amanda scanned the room for a female immortal that wasn’t busy talking with a human. She spotted Ingrid just as she was about to move to her next.
“Ingrid, sweetheart, I want you to meet Tessa. I think the two of you will make a great pair for our first game.”
“Nice to meet you.” Ingrid offered a hand to Tessa, who looked relieved to be paired with a woman and shook it enthusiastically.
“Same here. Have you played games like this before?”
Ingrid smirked. “Plenty of times. I’m an old pro.”
“That’s good. Because I’m clueless.”
“That’s why I paired you two.” Amanda patted both on the shoulder and moved on to introduce the next pair. A random student this time. It was important not to tip off the immortals as to who the suspected Dormants were.
“Okay, people.” She waved a hand in the air. “Does everyone have a partner?”
“Good. Time for the first game of tonight. Are you ready?”
A few murmured a yes, others nodded.
“I can’t hear you? Are you ready!”
“Ready!”
“Turn your back to your partner and lift a random number of fingers. From one to all ten. Look at them and say the number in your head several times.”
She waited a full minute. “Partners. Guess the number and write it down in the pamphlet.”
A few moments later it seemed everyone was done. “Okay, turn to your partner and look at the number she or he wrote.”
A few murmurs and giggles sounded.
“Partners, raise your hand if you guessed right.”
Five pairs did.
“Excellent. Everyone write down the name of your partner in the space provided for game one, and those of you who guessed right mark it with an X. Both partners.”
She waited a few seconds. “The reason I asked both partners to mark it with an X is that either one could’ve been responsible for the result. As I explained in the lecture, telepathy can be of the receiving kind or the projecting kind. Now everyone switch partners.”
They played for over an hour, and when Amanda ran out of games, the room filled with murmurs of disappointment.
“I’m glad you all enjoyed yourself. Before you leave, please tear out the answer sheet from the pamphlet and leave it in this basket.” She pointed.
It took another half an hour for everyone to say their goodbyes and leave. Tomorrow, she would get the results from the immortals.
Syssi took the basket and tucked it under her arm. “Great evening. I hope we’ll get the results we are hoping for. And I’m not talking about what’s in here.” She shook the basket.
“I’m crossing my fingers.” Amanda crossed them on both hands.
They walked out together and headed for Amanda’s car.
“These results are not worth much because of the large number of immortals participating.” Syssi put the basket in the back seat. “I’m sure most of the positive results are from the pairs they were in. But we can arrange for a similar evening with humans only. It should be interesting what results we will get then.”
“Not a bad idea. And with Jackson supplying the food, the costs are minimal. The university gave us the use of the rooms free of charge, and all I have to pay for is the cleanu
p.”
Chapter 36: Jackson
A box of pastries in hand, Jackson walked into Amanda’s lab. His previous plan to speak with her after the lecture had crashed and burned. He’d hoped to soften her up by providing the refreshments free of charge, but she’d kicked him out.
Therefore plan B.
“Can I help you?” The woman whose desk was facing the entry eyed him and his box suspiciously.
“I’m looking for Professor Dokani. I brought pastries.” He pointed at the pink cardboard box. As he was discovering lately, that was his entry ticket to most places. If he ever wanted to be a spy, he would use a box of pastries to get into high-security areas. No one had turned him away yet.
“Her office is over there.” The woman pointed.
“Thank you.” He walked over and knocked on the door even though it was partially open.
“Come in.”
He pushed the door open, then closed it behind him.
Amanda lifted her head. “Jackson, what are you doing here?”
He put the box on her desk. “I brought more pastries. Advertisement.”
“Right. Why are you really here?”
“I wanted to find out the results from last night. Did you have time to analyze them yet?”
Tapping her pen on her desk, Amanda stared at him for a moment. “You want to know about Tessa.”
There was no reason to lie about something that was becoming obvious to anyone who knew him. “Yes.”
“How serious is this thing between you two?”
“Very serious. I think she is my one.”
Amanda dropped her pen on the desk and leaned back. “Oh, boy.”
His heart sank to his gut. “Why? She is not a Dormant? Please tell me.”
“She might be a Dormant. Our testing provides no definite proof.”
Damn it. She was talking in circles. He already knew all that. “What were her results?”
“All four of the suspected Dormants scored high on the affinity test. But so did a few of the humans.”
“Maybe they are Dormants too?”
“Or maybe they are just charming people who others gravitate toward. That’s why this is not a foolproof method of identifying Dormants.”
“Tessa is shy. She barely talks to strangers. If any of the immortals felt an affinity toward her, it wasn’t because of her outgoing, friendly personality.”
“I agree. Which is a good thing because she doesn’t have other indicators like Nick and Sharon do.”
Jackson ran his fingers through his hair, pushing the long bangs back and smoothing them. “I want to tell her about me. I have to.”
Amanda nodded. “She is resistant to thralling.”
“No. I never tried to thrall her. She is very skittish. I’ve worked hard on gaining her trust, and I’m not going to do anything to undermine it.”
“That’s very admirable, Jackson. I’m proud of you.”
“So can I tell her? I can’t even kiss her. How am I going to explain the fangs?”
Amanda frowned. “I’m sure you figured it out already. From what I hear she is not your first girlfriend. You have quite the reputation for someone so young.”
Damn. This was so frustrating. “It’s not the same. It’s easy to hide the fangs when I’m the one with my tongue inside a female’s mouth; it’s impossible the other way around. I can’t be the aggressive one with Tessa. I need to let her explore. Do you understand? I really don’t want to say more.”
Given her pained expression, Amanda knew exactly what he was talking about and was saddened by it. “I understand. What if she never gets past it? You won’t be able to turn her.”
“She will. It will take time and patience but eventually she will. I’m sure of it.”
Amanda sighed. “You’re too young to take upon yourself such a task. But then again only the young have that much hope in their hearts. You still believe that you can change the world and fix whatever is wrong with it.”
“I’m not naive, and I’m not hoping to fix everything. Just this one thing. Tessa deserves a life. I won’t let the monsters win.” Crap, he shouldn’t have said it. It was one thing to hint and another to practically spell it out.
“I wish you luck from the bottom of my heart. But before I give you the green light, I need to ask Kian’s permission.”
“Is there a chance he will refuse?”
“He might. But I can be very persuasive.” She winked.
“Can you do it now?”
Amanda chuckled. “Sure. Wait outside, please. And I mean way outside. There might be some yelling, and language unbecoming to a lady that I don’t want you to overhear.”
“How long?”
“Give me half an hour.”
Setting the alarm on his phone to go off in thirty minutes, Jackson went out of the building and spent the time pacing back and forth on the walkway in front of it. Any other time he would’ve been busy flirting with the babes passing him by, but he didn’t pay them any attention, not even when they came up to him.
He must’ve aged a decade until the damn thing finally buzzed that it was time.
“Well?” He burst into Amanda’s office.
“Take a seat, Jackson.”
She was killing him. “For crying out loud just tell me yes or no!”
“It’s a yes.”
Feeling light-headed, he closed his eyes and slumped in the chair. “Thank you, merciful Fates.”
“With conditions.”
His eyes popped open. “What conditions?”
“Kian wants Tessa to come to the keep, accompanied by Eva and Bhathian and you. He wants to talk to her while you’re there and swear her to secrecy. Tessa owes Eva her life. She needs to understand that by exposing her she will jeopardize her safety and that of every member of the clan.”
It wasn’t an unreasonable request, and yet Jackson knew how difficult it would be for Tessa. Mainly because of Kian. The guy was intimidating as hell.
“Will Sharon and Nick have to be brought in front of Kian too?”
“That’s a long way off. First, they will have to be matched with immortal partners. When that happens, they will be told. If they decide to go for it, they would have to stay at the keep for the duration of the experiment. If they refuse or fail to transition, their memories would be thralled away. Tessa is different. Because you guys are not intimate, and it’s not clear when you will be, the period of time during which she will know about us and remain human is going to be prolonged. Too long for successfully thralling her without causing damage, or for keeping her locked in the keep.”
Amanda’s detailed explanation made one thing very clear. Kian was doing Tessa and him a big favor by agreeing to this at all. Sharon and Nick’s induction process ensured the clan’s safety. Tessa was a wild card. And yet Kian was allowing it.
Jackson owed the guy a big debt of gratitude.
Chapter 37: Nathalie
Nathalie put Phoenix in her bassinet. After spending time with Auntie Syssi, then pooping a big stinky and having her diaper changed, Phoenix had gulped down every last drop of formula in her bottle and fallen asleep.
Things were getting much easier, and life was returning to normal. More or less. Nathalie no longer felt exhausted and bedraggled, their sex life was back on at full swing, and the biting part she’d been so concerned about was just as incredible as Syssi had told her it would be. Everything was perfect except for the nagging worry about her transition.
Or non-transition as it was.
In her nonscientific opinion, at eight weeks post-delivery her hormone levels should have gone down sufficiently. And to think of the torment she and Andrew had gone through to prevent it from happening, when her body knew it had to block it all along. Not that she would’ve done anything differently. Who knew what the venom could do to the baby, even if it did nothing to the mother?
Syssi collected the baby toys scattered on the living room couch and put them into their basket. “Why the frown
?”
“I’m worried. It’s been a month since Andrew and I started having sex again and yet nothing.”
Syssi blushed. “Did you talk to Bridget?”
“Yeah, she keeps giving me the same lame answer.”
“Which is?”
Nathalie rolled her eyes and plopped down on the couch. “To be patient, that my hormone levels are still high. Yadda, yadda, yadda. I’m sick of hearing it.”
Syssi took a peek at Phoenix in her bassinet. “She’s so adorable. Just look at those pudgy cheeks. I can’t stop kissing this baby.”
Nathalie chuckled. “She will grow so sick of everybody kissing her that as soon as she is old enough, she will punch anyone who tries to kiss her. Those cheeks of hers are just irresistible.”
Sitting next to Nathalie, Syssi grabbed a throw pillow and hugged it to her. “Maybe you should go talk to Bridget again. Have her run some blood tests to see where your hormones are at.”
Nathalie let her head drop back. “I’m scared. What if I can’t transition at all? What if motherhood negates a Dormant’s ability to change permanently?”
To Syssi’s credit, she didn’t immediately dismiss Nathalie’s concerns as nonsense. “Did anyone think of asking Annani? Maybe she remembers a similar case from the times where mixed pairings were common.”
Nathalie regarded her sister-in-law with new appreciation. The woman had one hell of a head on her shoulders, and thought outside the box. Like her idea for a new method to identify Dormants.
“Should I ask Kian to do it for me? It’s not like I have the goddess’s phone number on speed dial.”
“I think Bridget should do it. A formal request to Annani’s doctor.”
“I’ll talk to her when Andrew comes home.”