by I. T. Lucas
Bhathian smiled at Eva’s portrait. You would like Andrew, Eva. He is the kind of son-in-law every parent wishes for.
This was a bigger job than he and Andrew could handle themselves, and as much as he hated exposing his private life for everyone to see, it was time to get Kian and the rest of the Guardians involved. Especially if he wanted to take some time off to go looking for Eva.
Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he texted Andrew. I want to set a meeting with Kian and tell him about Eva and Nathalie. Later this afternoon work for you?
A moment later his phone rang.
“Why today? Shouldn’t we wait for Monday to talk to him?”
“No, I’d rather have an informal meeting with him at his place than schedule one for the office. For me, it’s not business as usual.”
“Yeah, I get what you mean. It’s just that this is Nathalie’s only day off, and I’d rather not cut it short.”
Bhathian chuckled. “Give her a break, she probably needs to have a breather away from you.”
“You think?” Andrew sounded doubtful.
“I know that I’m not much of a ladies’ man, but if Nathalie is anything like me, constant company drains her.”
“Fine, text me the time, and I’ll be there.”
“I will.”
After ending the call, Bhathian texted Kian.
Are you busy? Or can I call you about a private matter?
His phone rang a few seconds later. “What’s up, Bhathian?” Kian sounded worried.
“Nothing bad, boss. If you’re free this afternoon, Andrew and I have a personal matter we would like to discuss with you.”
“Andrew and you?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Well, you whetted my curiosity. I can’t wait to hear what this is all about. How about my place, four in the afternoon?”
“Perfect. We will be there.”
Bhathian let out the breath he’d been holding and texted Andrew.
Kian’s, at four.
Chapter 50: Andrew
“Come in.” Syssi opened the door for Bhathian and him. “Hi, stranger.” She kissed Andrew’s cheek after shaking Bhathian’s hand.
Okay, he deserved it. Ever since he started seeing Nathalie he hadn’t visited or even called his sister, Shame on him.
“Sorry.” He pulled her into a hug and kissed her cheek.
“It’s okay, you’re going to make it up to me by telling me all about this new lady friend of yours.”
He followed her inside and took a seat next to Bhathian on the couch. “Actually, this is exactly why we are here.”
Syssi perked up, but then glanced at Bhathian and frowned. “And this lady friend of yours has something to do with Bhathian?”
Andrew nodded. “Where is Kian? I don’t want to tell the story twice.”
“He’s coming.” She waved her hand in the direction of the hallway. “As always, he had to take a phone call about some disaster. It’s as if no one in this entire organization can make executive decisions and take care of business. They are like kids, calling daddy whenever something doesn’t work out.”
“You know that it’s his fault. They are used to him micro-managing everything. He needs to let go.”
“I know.” Syssi sighed and pushed toward them a tray loaded with an assortment of small containers. “Help yourselves.” The selection included roasted peanuts, almonds, olives and other munchies, along with several bottles of beer.
“Everyone is sick of me pushing cappuccinos at them, so I decided to serve beer instead. But if you guys want coffee, I can make it in a jiffy.”
“Not for me, thank you.” Bhathian reached for a bottle, popped the lid, and gulped half of it on a oner.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting.” Kian walked in barefoot, comfortable in his weekend attire of faded T-shirt and pair of old, well-worn jeans. He looked younger and more relaxed than Andrew remembered ever seeing him.
Marriage apparently agreed with the nearly two-thousand-year-old geezer who looked like he was in his early thirties.
Kian motioned for Syssi to get up from her chair, then took her place and pulled her down to sit in his lap. She didn’t object in the least, leaning back against him and resting her head on his shoulder.
It was obvious that Syssi was happy, she looked so content.
Andrew’s heart swelled in a very unmanly manner, and he felt like kissing his brother-in-law on both cheeks, or at least bro-hug-and-clap him. These two belonged together, and although there would no doubt be many fights in their long future, over matters small and large, their love for each other was unshakable.
Bhathian took another swig of his beer and glanced at Andrew.
Andrew shook his head. “It’s your story to tell, not mine.”
He nodded. “I’m not good at this, so bear with me.”
“Take your time, Bhathian,” Syssi said.
“Over thirty years ago, I hooked up with a stewardess who turned out to be resistant to thralling. I somehow managed to refrain from biting her and thought it was the last I’d seen of her. A month later she found me at the same bar we’d first met at and invited me again to her hotel room. She informed me that she was pregnant and that I was the father, saying that she hadn’t been with anyone else for months. I suggested an abortion, but she refused.” Bhathian rubbed his hand over the back of his neck, then emptied what was left in his bottle.
The only response from their audience had been a stifled gasp from Syssi when Bhathian had gotten to the pregnancy part.
“She said she was forty-five and had given up hope of ever conceiving—which was unbelievable because she looked to be in her mid-twenties. She wanted the baby regardless of my involvement. I offered her the only thing I could, financial support. She thanked me, but that was all. She never contacted me again and never came back to the club. I went to that damned club every night hoping she’d be there, but after weeks of waiting, I knew she wouldn’t and went searching for her. All I had to go on was her name and the airline she worked for. I found out that she quit her job shortly after talking to me, and moved out from the address listed in her file. I also got her social from that same file and tried to find her using it but got nowhere with it. Other than that, I had nothing else to go on.”
“Why were you searching for her? She didn’t want your money, and there was nothing else you could’ve offered her.”
Syssi cast her husband an incredulous look.
“What? Did I say something wrong?”
She shook her head. “Oh, my God, Kian, sometimes I wonder about you. Think! She was pregnant with his child! If it were you, wouldn’t you want to know if you had a son or a daughter? Try to help him or her in any way you could?”
Kian grimaced. “You’re right. I would’ve.”
Syssi patted his cheek as if he was a child who had learned his lesson, then turned to Bhathian. “Please continue.”
“You nailed it Syssi. The not knowing has been tormenting me throughout the years. So when I heard about Andrew’s access to government information, I asked him to help me find her.”
He glanced at Andrew. “Perhaps you should tell this part of the story?”
“No problem.” Bhathian needed a breather, and Andrew didn’t mind taking over at this point.
“To make a long story short. Bhathian’s stewardess, Patricia Evans, was a drug enforcement agent named Eva Paterson, who at the time was part of a long-term investigation regarding airline personnel who were suspected of drug trafficking. Following her meeting with Bhathian, she quit the agency, married a guy named Fernando Vega, and seven months later Nathalie was born. Bhathian’s daughter.”
“That’s amazing, Andrew, do you know where they are?” Syssi sat up straight and leaned forward as if eager to hear more good news.
“We know where Nathalie and Fernando are, right here in Glendale, but Eva has been missing for the last six years. No one knows what happened to her.”
Syssi cast Bhathian
a sympathetic look. “Well, at least you finally found your daughter.”
A mixture of pride and love shone in Bhathian’s eyes as he nodded.
“Now to the reason we are here. We suspect that Eva is an immortal.”
Kian harrumphed. “Impossible.”
“Here are the facts.” Andrew raised a finger. “One. Eva hasn’t changed a bit over the years. She looked exactly the same in the composite the forensic artist drew of her from Bhathian’s memories, and the picture Nathalie provided the police when she filed the missing person’s report. A woman who was supposed to be in her seventies still looked to be no more than thirty.”
Kian still looked skeptical, and Andrew raised a second finger. “Two. When Bhathian met her, he also thought she looked much younger than her real age. I know of no woman over the legal drinking age who would lie about being older than she actually is.”
He raised a third finger. “Three. Bhathian couldn’t thrall her.”
“Some humans are immune.” Kian waved a dismissive hand.
“Four. Nathalie talks with ghosts in her head.”
“What!?” Bhathian almost choked on the olive in his mouth.
Syssi gaped, and Kian lost his dismissive expression.
Andrew smirked. “I’ve been seeing Nathalie, basically every day, since Bhathian and I went to the coffee shop she owns. But she only confided in me recently about the voices in her head. She isn’t sure if they are real or imagined, and tried to keep it a secret so people won’t think her crazy.”
“Your mystery woman…” Syssi said quietly.
“Yes.”
Kian turned to look at Bhathian, who shrugged and clapped Andrew’s back. “I owe him, and I like him. Andrew is a stand-up guy, couldn’t have asked for a better man for my daughter.”
“Oh, wow,” Syssi exclaimed. “This is serious.”
Yeah, it was.
Andrew raised a hand with all five fingers splayed. “Five. Nathalie confirmed that her mother looked eerily young, despite her best efforts to make herself look older with the help of makeup and unflattering clothing.”
Kian moved Syssi to sit sideways on his lap. “I agree with you that the circumstantial evidence is strong. But how on earth could Eva have been immortal if Bhathian didn’t bite her? And even if he did, and she happened to be a Dormant, which in itself is extremely unlikely, the transformation would’ve been fatal—considering her age at the time. Not to mention what it would’ve done to her unborn child.”
Kian had been following the same string of logic as Andrew. He was going to shorten the process for the guy. “We have to assume that she was already an immortal then, but wasn’t aware of it.”
“There are no immortal females unaccounted for.”
“Yeah, I know. Bhathian told me as much. That’s why I think the only possible scenario is that she had sex with an immortal male long before meeting Bhathian, and was unknowingly turned. It must have happened when she was very young, and for years she must’ve assumed that she was just one of the lucky ones who were incredibly healthy and aged slowly. But as she got even older and still remained unchanged she probably freaked out and eventually ran when it became impossible to hide it any longer.”
“What does Nathalie think?”
Andrew chuckled. “That during her time as a government agent, her mother participated in some secret genetic experiment, and that her disappearance has something to do with this as well. Nathalie thinks Eva returned to her old job as an agent.”
Syssi pushed up from Kian’s lap and grabbed one of the beers. “Her take on it is less far-fetched than Eva being turned by one of us or a Doomer, going through the transition without realizing what’s happening to her, and then getting pregnant from a random hookup with another immortal.”
In the silence that followed, Andrew mulled over his sister’s succinct summary, and given the deep frown on Kian’s face, so did he.
Bhathian popped the lid off another bottle and let it swing from between his fingers as he shook his head. “I hate to give them credit, but it must’ve been the fates. The statistical chance of this unlikely sequence of events happening is so infinitesimal it’s practically nonexistent.”
Kian got up and grabbed a beer for himself. “What’s next? I know you guys didn’t come here just to share this incredible story.” He arched a brow at Bhathian.
“I want to go searching for Eva.”
“And I guess you came here to ask for an extended leave of absence?”
“Not yet, but I will once I know where to start looking. Andrew is going to do some research for me, but I will probably need additional resources.”
Kian nodded. “Whatever you need, it’s yours. But a leave of absence is problematic. You know how thinly stretched we are. We don’t have enough Guardians.”
“That’s why I came to you before even having the first clue to follow. We need to call in some of those who left the force, and at the same time step up the training of new recruits.”
“Yeah, I was thinking along the same lines, but for a different reason. There is a large contingent of Doomers somewhere nearby, and they’ve certainly had enough time to get organized. I expect shitloads of trouble, and soon.”
Chapter 51: Sebastian
“Letty, Letty, Letty, I told you, if you won’t hold position your punishment doubles.”
The sobs got louder, but the girl lowered herself back to the bench.
Testing her progress, he hadn’t tied her down this time. She wasn’t doing too well even though this beating was mild in comparison to the previous ones.
Stupid girl. By now she should’ve known that the more obedience she showed, the more submissive and compliant she was, the sooner her torment would be over, and she’d be rewarded with a bite—the pain ceasing immediately. But apparently her brain capacity was even less than that of the famous Pavlov’s dogs.
Letty was trembling all over.
At this rate, she would pass out before he got his fill.
Her screams and her begging were adequate. And even though he didn’t speak Spanish, yet, the sounds she was producing were lovely.
He wasn’t hitting her all that hard, and the pale welts on her ass would’ve faded by tomorrow even without the benefit of his venom. But the girl had a tolerance for pain of a toddler.
Damn, he hadn’t even gotten hard.
Swish, with a flick of his wrist the cane landed on target.
Letty cried out but held on.
Her obedience brought a small twitch to his member. “Good girl. Just one more.”
She whimpered, and he delivered the last one quickly before she lost her nerve and he would’ve been forced to give her more.
Sebastian was tired of her.
The problem was, she hadn’t gotten him aroused enough for his fangs to elongate and for his glands to produce venom. Sebastian wanted out of this room and away from this poor excuse of a sub. For a moment, he considered calling Tom to finish the job for him. Except, the guy would lose all respect for him if he got a whiff of Sebastian’s problem. And besides, he doubted Tom could get it up for the sobbing mess still bent over the whipping bench.
The guy was plain vanilla.
Reluctantly, he walked up to the girl, lifted her trembling body in his arms and sat on the bench. Cradling her, he stroked her hair and praised her although she didn’t deserve it. This was an important part of her training, and he had to resort to faking tenderness.
Rocking Letty back and forth, Sebastian closed his eyes and brought up the image of his attorney. Now, that was a worthy sub. Recalling their last session did the trick, and he felt himself getting harder, his fangs elongating. Imagining that the woman in his arms was plump, short, and fair-skinned, he scraped them over her neck and then bit down.
The girl sighed, her tensed muscles going lax. He lifted her up and carried her to her room. Unfortunately, the one minute walk had defeated his short-lived arousal. He laid Letty on her bed, put a bottle of water
on her nightstand, and walked out.
The question was, should he call the club and schedule a session, or go hunting again for someone he could actually enjoy?
The club won. Finding a pleasing submissive to abscond with was proving harder than he’d anticipated, as evidenced by what he and Tom had managed to snag to date. They had fifteen girls in the basement, but none was what Sebastian was looking for, and tonight his first priority was to release some steam.
Tomorrow, he would resume the hunt.
Chapter 52: Nathalie
“Hey, Nathalie, come meet my friends.”
Jackson poked his head into the kitchen, beckoning her to come out. Lately, this had been the new mode of operation—him up front taking care of customers, her stuck in the kitchen, baking and preparing sandwiches.
The only times she ventured out were when she had to send Jackson out to buy supplies because she was running out. Thank God that Andrew had volunteered to do it today, so she could keep on baking while Jackson tended the front. The place had been a mad house all day and she couldn’t have spared him even for a short supermarket run.
Jackson was a customer magnet—and not only of the female kind.
He seemed to have an endless supply of friends, whom he’d apparently been bragging to about her pastries. More and more of them were showing up each day to check out her baking. Better yet, they were coming back for more. More of her pastries, and more time to hang out with Jackson.
The shop was booming, there was never a place to sit, and she couldn’t keep up with the demand.
Fernando had been permanently relocated to a tiny corner in the kitchen, which he didn’t mind and actually preferred since she was spending most of her time in there and not up front, and besides, the crowded shop was making him nervous.
Unbelievably, she was thinking of hiring a helper for the kitchen.