Dark Secrets Resurgence (The Children Of The Gods Paranormal Romance Series Book 44)

by I. T. Lucas

  What time was it?

  His watch was on the nightstand, but David felt too languid to reach for it.

  Perhaps the tour could wait for later, or even for another day. If he couldn’t do it with Sari, he preferred to stay in bed and get a little more rest before the match tonight.

  Kalugal didn’t look like a formidable opponent, but he was an immortal, and therefore stronger and faster than he looked. David would need to be on his best form to last a minute or two before getting subdued and bitten.

  The problem was that other than sex, he hadn’t done any exercise since leaving his home. Perhaps he should get up and practice a few moves? He’d never wrestled, but he’d taken a course in judo back in the day.

  Nah, sex was a much more pleasurable alternative. He could stay in bed and wait for Sari to come back and wake him up.

  Imagining all the ways she could do that, David smiled without opening his eyes.

  A kiss? A soft caress? Or maybe something bolder like palming his shaft?

  Now that would be a great way to wake up.

  He slid his hand under the blanket and gripped his morning erection. Perhaps he could call Sari and ask her to come back?

  Maybe she was in the living room, working on her laptop and sipping on a cup of coffee?

  If she was anywhere in the apartment, she would hear him calling her name.

  “Sari, come back to bed,” he said without raising his voice.

  With her immortal hearing, she should have heard him, but there was no response. He waited a couple of moments and called her name again, a little louder this time.

  Still nothing.

  Perhaps she was having breakfast with her family?

  The thought of food made him aware of the empty feeling in his stomach, which was still on the West Coast time schedule and thought that it was way past lunchtime.

  A bathroom visit was another necessity.

  With a sigh, David reached for his watch and checked the time.

  No wonder Sari wasn’t in bed or anywhere else in the apartment. It was almost one o’clock in the afternoon, and his stomach was complaining about missing both lunch and dinner.

  Sliding his feet over the side of the bed, he got up and padded to the bathroom. He and Sari had showered together last night, so his morning routine was shortened to less than ten minutes, and that included shaving.

  When he was done and opened the door to the bedroom, David found Sari sitting on the bed. “Good afternoon.” He grinned. “You must be telepathic. I was calling your name.” Still in the nude, he sauntered toward her.

  “Good afternoon indeed.” Her eyes zeroed in on the flagpole sticking out from his thighs. “That looks very appetizing, but regrettably, I will have to pass and stay hungry.”

  “And why is that?” He plopped on the bed and pulled her on top of him.

  Sari smiled. “You need your energy for the ceremony tonight.” She kissed him lightly on the lips.

  “There is plenty of time until then.” He palmed her bottom and gave it a squeeze.

  The smile in her eyes turned to worry. “I don’t want to impede your chances of a successful transition in any way.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m in excellent shape and have no underlying conditions. I’ll be fine.”

  “You are also not a teenager. You are a thirty-eight-year-old man.”

  He arched a brow. “If you are so worried about me not surviving the induction, you should grant me a dying man’s last wish and make love to me before the ceremony.”

  “Don’t say that!” She slapped his chest. “You must believe that you’ll transition successfully and easily. Assume the win, and it will happen.”

  Who was she trying to convince? Him or herself?

  “Then there is no reason for you not to make love to me.” He gripped her waist and flipped them around.

  “You are impossible.”

  “I’m tenacious.”

  As he slipped his hands under her blouse and cupped her breasts over her bra, his stomach growled in protest.

  “You’re hungry.”

  “Food can wait.”

  65

  Sari

  “You’re in luck.” Sari picked up her phone off the nightstand. “It’s Yolanda’s turn in the kitchen today, and she is a fabulous cook. I’ll ask her to prepare a meal for us.”

  She typed a text to Yolanda and another one to Ojidu, telling him to pick up the tray from the kitchen and bring it to her apartment.

  David stretched his arms over his head, putting his muscular chest and biceps on display. “Didn’t you eat already?”

  “I had breakfast with Annani and Alena.” Sari bent down and lifted her discarded clothes off the floor. “I had an interesting conversation with my mother.”

  “About?”

  “You, of course. I asked her to tell me about the man you reminded her of. At first, she dismissed it, saying that it was nothing, and that you are not him. But when I told her about your dreams, she seemed quite shocked. Annani not only shares your belief in reincarnation, but also hopes that her beloved husband will one day return to her as a reincarnate.”

  David frowned. “Do I look like him?”

  “I asked her the same question. You don’t, but you remind her of someone else. She told me that a long time ago she took a lover thinking that he was susceptible to thralling, but later discovered that he became resistant when agitated. When he started noticing strange things about her, he became a threat to her.”

  “In what way?”

  Sari shrugged. “She didn’t say, but he probably thought that she was a witch or a demoness, and I don’t need to tell you what humans do to those who are different and who they fear.”

  “Were there witch hunts among the pagans? I thought that it was a Christian thing.”

  “The Nordic people had shamans, male and female, so it shouldn’t have been a problem since they were purported to have paranormal abilities. But Annani must have gotten carried away and shown him something that no shaman could have done.”

  “What did she do to the guy when he started threatening her?”

  “She said that she fled, but I don’t think she told me the entire truth, especially given your dreams of her.”

  “Do you think that she got rid of him?”

  That had been his suspicion when she’d first told him about Annani’s reaction, and apparently, he still believed in it despite all her efforts to portray her mother as a positive figure.

  “I don’t know what to think. Annani is all heart. She wouldn’t have resorted to killing if it was at all avoidable. She is a great believer in the sanctity of life. But on the other hand, she was scared of him. Without her mental tricks, she couldn’t physically overpower him.”

  “Was she alone with no one to protect her?”

  “She had her Odus, and if push came to shove, they would have shielded her. Maybe one of them even killed the guy, but I doubt it. They wouldn’t do that without her expressly commanding it.”

  As a knock sounded on the bedroom door, David pulled the blanket up to cover his chest.

  Sari smiled. “It’s just Ojidu. You don’t have to be shy around him. He doesn’t care if you are naked.” She turned to the door and called out. “Please, set up the table, Ojidu. We will be right out.”

  David flung the comforter off. “I’m starving.” He got out of bed and headed to the walk-in closet. “By the way, where does your butler sleep?”

  Following, she leaned against the door jamb and watched him getting dressed. “He doesn’t need sleep.”

  David pulled up his jeans and buttoned them. “Ever?”

  “He checks out for an hour or so a day, but he doesn’t need a bed for that. He just sits in a chair.”

  “Where?”

  “My living room.”

  “Creepy.” David pulled a T-shirt over his head.

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. It just is.” He pushed his feet into a pair
of loafers.

  “Ojidu is not only my butler. He is also my protector. Not that I have anything to worry about in the castle, but when I travel, I take him with me.” Sari pushed away from the door jamb. “I still didn’t instruct him to answer your questions. I’ll do it now.” She opened the door to the living room.

  The dining table was set up for two, but her butler was already gone. There was a lot of cleanup work to be done after last night's party, and most of it fell to him.

  “I guess I’ll have to catch him later.”

  David pulled out a chair for her. “From what you’ve told me, I understand that Ojidu used to belong to your mother, and that the episode with the immune lover happened before you were born, so he was still serving her at the time.”

  “I think it happened even before Alena, so all seven Odus were still with Annani.”

  “Then he would know what happened.” David sat on the other side of the table, unfurled the napkin, and placed it over his knees.

  “He would unless she’s ordered him to forget it. She could have also told him to never mention it to anyone.”

  “Still, it’s worth a try to ask him. Maybe Annani didn’t do any of those things. At the time, there was no need to insist on secrecy because she was all alone with just her Odus, and she might have forgotten about the episode when her children were born.”

  “She wasn’t entirely alone. She got one of the northern tribes to worship her as their goddess and shelter her among them.”

  “You said that she was heartbroken and didn’t interact with anyone for years.”

  “Annani doesn’t talk much about that period. I always thought that it was because it was depressing, and she didn’t want to burden her children with dark tales.”

  “And what do you think now?”

  Sari cut a piece of chicken breast and dipped it in creamy sauce. “That those were indeed dark times for her, but not only because she was depressed. She was a young woman, alone, and she was trying to find her place in the world. Perhaps she did things that she’s not proud of.”

  66

  David

  “Is that okay?” David waved a hand over the nylon gym pants and muscle shirt he was wearing. “I feel odd showing up for an important ceremony in what I wear for training.”

  Running her hands over his upper arms, Sari chuckled nervously. “You are going to wrestle Kalugal, not have tea with him. Besides, you look very sexy.”

  Her smile was strained and didn’t do much to hide how anxious she was.

  Pulling her into his arms, he stroked her back. “It’s going to be fine. You said that the transition wouldn’t start right away, right? It might take several days until it does. All that is going to happen today is that I’ll black out for half an hour or so because of the venom, wake up feeling a little woozy and stupidly euphoric. Then we will come back here, and you will give me a sponge bath and a massage with a happy ending.”

  The teasing helped. Her shoulders relaxed, and she wrapped her arms around him. “You are taking advantage of the situation.”

  “Of course. If I’m going to get banged up and bitten on the neck by a guy, which by the way, I find very uncomfortable and not only because it’s going to hurt, I fully expect to get pampered after that.”

  He really wasn’t looking forward to having Kalugal’s mouth and fangs on him. Wrestling was fine, but a bite was too intimate. It was a shame that female immortals didn’t have fangs and venom. He would have much preferred to be induced by Sari and have her mouth on his neck.

  Besides, he was a bit anxious about the transition himself, but not as much as Sari, who for some reason was more fearful for him than his other immortal friends.

  After they’d had a late lunch, he and Sari had met with Kalugal and Jacki and had gone on a tour of the grounds. Kian and Syssi had joined them on the way, and everyone had been in a good mood except for Sari. None of the others had seemed worried, and Kalugal had even teased him jokingly, calling him a puny human who was no match for a demigod.

  Emitting a long-suffering sigh, Sari rested her forehead on his chest. “In case something goes wrong, and I don’t get a chance to tell you how I feel about you, I want you to know that I’m in love with you.”

  David’s heart leaped in his chest. He felt the same, but he had refrained from internalizing it because it was just too damn early for that.

  “It’s okay,” she murmured into his chest. “You don’t have to say it back. I just wanted you to know.”

  “Oh, sweetheart.” He tightened his arms around her. “I’m in love with you too, but nothing is going to happen to me. I promise.”

  “You can’t make such a promise.”

  “Yes, I can.” He hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her head. “First of all, your doctor confirmed that I’m in excellent shape inside and out. And secondly, a very smart lady once told me to assume the win, and that’s precisely what I’m doing. Besides, you said that the Fates brought me to you. Do you think they would have done that only to tease you with what could be?”

  “The Fates can be capricious. We have a belief that they grant true-love mates to those who have sacrificed greatly for others, or those who have suffered a lot. I have done neither.”

  “That’s not true.” He kissed her forehead. “You are leading your community, which means that you work harder than anyone else in this castle, and you are not doing it for personal gain or glory. I call that sacrifice.”

  “It’s not a big one. I enjoy what I’m doing.”

  “Perhaps the sacrifice is required of me? Not you?”

  She regarded him with questioning eyes. “Did you suffer greatly or sacrifice a lot for others?”

  He thought about it for a long moment. “When my twin died, the pain I felt was intolerable. Even though we each had our separate lives and I didn’t see Jonah often, I didn’t know how to live on without him.” He chuckled. “That was what got me into researching reincarnation. I needed to know that he existed somewhere in some form. Your mother gave me proof that reincarnation is real, for which I’m grateful to her despite what she might have done to my other self. Whatever it was, he probably deserved it.”

  “You’re very gracious.”

  “Not at all. Who knows? Maybe the sacrifice or suffering that your Fates demand for their gift of true-love is not limited to one lifetime? Maybe it accumulates over many reincarnations?”

  “That’s more or less the concept of karma.”

  “And since the idea of karma is so old, it must be true, right?”

  “As an immortal, I’ve never considered that. We live for so long that reincarnation is not relevant to us. But then my mother believes in it. She says that the purpose of it is for the soul to grow and become more compassionate as it experiences suffering through the many cycles of rebirth.”

  “You never know. A soul might be a cosmic entity, and you might have lived many lives for millions of years on other planets.”

  She laughed. “Now you are being fanciful. Next, you will tell me that many versions of me live in parallel universes, and that the sacrifices and suffering of all those other Saris are taken into account by the Fates.”

  “Why not? Why limit our thinking to what we can see and touch? You of all people should know that there are hidden truths and mysteries that the vast majority of people are not aware of.”

  “I’m too pragmatic to expand my awareness that far and wide.” She tightened her arms around him. “But thank you for the pep talk. It helped.”

  “I’m glad.” He took her lips in a soft kiss.

  The fear was back in Sari’s eyes, and she kissed him back with the desperation of a woman who expected it to be the last one.

  Then she suddenly pulled out of his arms, straightened her shoulders, and pushed her chin out. “We should head out.”

  He took her hand. “Yes, we should.”

  67

  Sari

  “This place looks amazing.” David glanced around t
he castle’s transformed gym. “Where is Amanda? I need to thank her for organizing this.”

  Their gym wasn’t nearly as large or well-equipped as the one in Kian’s village, or even his old one in the keep, but Amanda had done wonders with it.

  Sari scanned the tables for her sister, but only a few people were seated, while others were bringing out trays with wine glasses and platters with appetizers.

  “We are a little early, but she should be here somewhere, bossing people around. Maybe she’s in the kitchen.”

  Her sister not only had a knack for organizing beautiful parties and utilizing resources, but she was also a masterful mobilizer of people’s help. The castle’s small Guardian force had brought over tables and chairs from the dining hall, others had helped with the decorations, and Archie had set up the recording equipment and a couple of large screens mounted on rolling racks, so everyone could see the fight as if they were standing around the wrestling ring.

  David walked over to the roped-off arena, ducked under the rope, and stepped onto the mat. “Should I take my shoes off?”

  “Not yet. When the match starts.”

  He jumped up and down a few times and then started stretching. “The human needs a little warmup.” He winked at her.

  “Take your time.”

  David was doing his best not to show his anxiety, probably for her sake, but she could feel it as well as scent it. Still, he wasn’t nearly as concerned as she was.

  Frankly, Sari couldn’t understand the irrational fear that had been mounting inside of her. From the moment it had been decided to hold the induction ceremony tonight, it had escalated to near panic.

  David was healthy and in excellent shape. The only thing going against him was his age, but Steven had confirmed that he was healthy. He’d even said that David’s biological markers were of someone in his late twenties, not thirties.

  Steven wasn’t a very experienced doctor, though. He’d just recently completed his internship as a general practitioner in a human medical center, but she trusted his opinion. He’d assured her that a physical exam on a human was an elementary procedure.