by I. T. Lucas
“They definitely don’t sound like nice people.” Onegus crossed his arms over his chest. “The question is, what do we do with this information?”
Turner shook his head. “The better question is what Emmett’s former leader is going to do with the information he provided her with. We need to see that email, or we can beat it out of him.”
“I have his laptop,” Peter said. “William can probably crack it open easily. Emmett is not a tech-savvy guy. But he sent the email in his people’s language using the English alphabet. He added a pronunciation key, but I don’t know if that’s enough for William to translate it.”
“We can always torture the information out of the guy. No need to waste time on code breaking,” Kian said. “Keep him tranquilized all the way to the keep.”
“We might not have enough doses,” Charlie commented in the background.
“You do. I’ve already sent Morris with the large jet to pick up the team from Eugene. You can fly directly home. Onegus will send a couple of Guardians to take him to the keep.
“Thanks, boss,” Charlie said. “We will deliver the package well wrapped and asleep.”
Ending the call, Kian leaned back and let out a sigh. “How the hell did they get here without us knowing about it?”
Onegus chuckled. “Maybe not all of the UFO sightings were hoaxes.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Turner finished scribbling notes on his yellow pad and put his pen down. “We know that Emmett Haderech has a penchant for theatrics. The Moses style robes, the styled beard and hair, the sermons he delivers at the retreat, those are all meant to make him look like a prophet, or a deliverer. The guy might be suffering from delusions of grandeur, and he might have invented a story about being the descendant of aliens.”
“He has the fangs and the strength of an immortal,” Onegus pointed out.
“I have no doubt that he is an immortal.” Turner leaned back and folded his arms over his chest. “The question is, where did he come from? Was he a Dormant who somehow got turned accidentally? Maybe he was a soldier and encountered one of Navuh’s brethren in a fight? An even simpler explanation might be that he’s an ex-Doomer who has lost his memory or his mind. We know that Emmett has been in Safe Haven for the last twenty-seven years. There was no internet back then, no emails. Who did he send the email to? If we use Occam’s razor, the simplest explanation is most likely the correct one.”
“We will know more after we interrogate him.” Kian rapped his fingers on the conference table. “But if he’s insane, and he’s making all that shit up, we have no way of proving or disproving it.”
“Yes, we do,” Onegus said. “If he gets an email response in the same language as the one he sent, that will prove several things. First, that the language is not gibberish that he’s invented, and secondly, that there is someone out there who can communicate in it and is interested in what Emmett has discovered. Which means that we need William to decipher the email after all.”
69
Bowen
After paying for the beverages and the sandwiches he’d collected on his tray, Bowen looked around the hospital cafeteria for a quiet table. He needed to call Magnus and give him an update, preferably out of his fellow diners' earshot so he wouldn’t have to speak in code or whisper.
A corner table at the back of the cafeteria was just what he was looking for. Putting the tray down, he pulled out a chair and sat with his back to the wall.
Holding the phone in his hand, he debated what to tell Magnus.
He had stayed outside Margaret’s room just long enough to hear the doctor explain that she needed an operation for her fractured knee, and that she would need help during recovery.
Who was going to take care of her? Her community was in a shambles, and everyone would be busy picking up the pieces.
Perhaps he could go back with her and thrall Shirley into moving into Margaret’s room to look after her?
In any case, he wasn’t leaving the hospital until she was ready to go home, which probably wouldn’t be until the following day, and someone had to pick up the ambulance, which needed to be returned.
Placing the call, he took a couple of sips from his coffee until Magnus answered.
“How is your charge doing?” Magnus asked.
“She is going into surgery. I need someone to pick up the ambulance because I’m not leaving her alone.”
“She is not your problem, Bowen.”
“Margaret is Anastasia’s best friend, and she asked me to keep an eye on her. But even if she didn’t, I can’t just leave her. She has no one.”
Magnus chuckled. “You’ve always had a weakness for damsels in distress. I’ll send Elliot and Richie to pick up the ambulance. By the way, Charlie and Ewan have Emmett and Peter.”
“Thank the merciful Fates.” Bowen leaned back in his chair. “Is Peter okay?”
As he listened to Magnus recount the events that had led to Emmett’s capture, Bowen turned his gaze heavenward and thanked the Fates again.
Things could have ended much worse, and they’d been very lucky,
Magnus hadn’t said what Emmett had gotten Peter to reveal, but it was probably too much no matter what it was. If he’d managed to escape with that knowledge, it would have been a security nightmare.
“Charlie is flying Emmett and Peter straight to Los Angeles,” Magnus said. “Kian sent Morris with the big jet to pick us up. I assume that you won’t be joining us.”
“I can’t.” Bowen rubbed a hand over his stubble. “When Margaret is ready to leave the hospital, I’ll rent a car and drive her back to Safe Haven. I have to make sure that there is someone to take care of her when she gets back home.”
“I understand. I’ll let Onegus know that you are taking a couple of days off.”
“Thanks. That will save me having to make another call. I want to get back to Margaret.”
“No problem. Elliot will call you when he gets to the hospital.” Magnus ended the call.
Pushing to his feet, Bowen picked up the tray and headed back. The door to Margaret’s room was open, and no one tried to stop him as he walked right in, probably because he was still wearing the firefighter outfit.
That had to go back as well, but it wasn’t a problem since he was wearing civilian clothes underneath it. He would give the outfit and the Kevlar vest to Elliot to take back with him.
The doctor was gone, and Margaret seemed to be asleep, but as he put the tray down on the side table, she opened her eyes and looked at him.
“Have you been gone long?”
“Not long. Why?” He lifted the back of her bed and handed her the paper cup with her tea.
“I fell asleep. The morphine is making me woozy.”
He glanced at the cup she was holding, but her hand was steady, and it didn’t look as if she was going to drop it.
“I brought you a sandwich too.”
She smiled. “I can’t eat. I’m heading to surgery.”
“I heard.” He sat down and reached for one of the sandwiches. “Do you mind if I eat?”
“Not at all. Did you talk to the doctor?”
Damn. He didn’t want to admit that he’d been eavesdropping by the door. Besides, a human couldn’t have heard anything.
“The nurse told me,” he lied.
“I promised Ana that I’d call her after the doctor gave me the prognosis, but I don’t have Leon’s number. Can you call her for me?”
“Of course.” He put the sandwich down and pulled out his phone. “By the way, I’m going to stay here until they let you go back home. You should tell Anastasia, so she won’t worry.”
She seemed both shocked and relieved. “You really don’t have to. I can call a taxi when I’m ready to go, and someone will help me to my room when I get there.”
“Not going to happen. I’m staying, and I’m taking care of you until I know for sure that someone else is going to take over for me.”
As tears glistened in her b
ig brown eyes, he felt once more as if he’d met her before.
“You are a very kind man, Bowen. Thank you.”
“You are welcome.”
70
Anastasia
When Leon’s phone rang, Ana knew it was Margaret even before he answered the call.
She’d promised to call after talking to the doctor, and that should have happened a long time ago. The last time they’d spoken, Margaret had been sent to X-ray.
“It’s Margaret.” Leon handed her the phone.
“Hi.” She clutched the device to her ear. “So what did the doctor say?”
“I’m going into surgery.” Margaret’s voice quivered.
“Are you scared?”
“A little, but it’s a standard procedure, and I should be able to go home tomorrow.” Her friend was trying to sound brave, but she wasn’t fooling anyone other than perhaps herself.
“So why are you crying?”
“I’m not. It’s the morphine. It makes me woozy and, apparently, weepy. Bowen is insisting on staying with me until I’m discharged, and his kindness just got to me.”
Ana heard Bowen grumble something in the background.
“I’m sorry,” Margaret said. “But it’s not nothing.”
“Are you talking to Bowen or to me?”
“Bowen. He said that it’s nothing, and that anyone would have done the same. That’s so untrue.”
“He’s a nice guy, and I’m glad he’s staying with you. What about after the surgery? Are they going to put your leg in a cast?”
“Yeah. I read in the brochure that it will take my knee three to six weeks to heal.”
“That’s a long time.” Ana switched the phone to her other ear. “How are you going to get around?”
“With crutches. It’s not the first time I’ve broken a leg, but the other times weren’t as bad, and I didn’t need surgery. The doctor is checking my bone density. She thinks that I might have mild osteoporosis.”
“Aren’t you too young for that?”
“First of all, I’m not that young. And secondly, it’s not just postmenopausal women who have it.”
“You should see a specialist. But that’s beside the point. Safe Haven is probably a big mess now, and there will be no one there to help you. I’m coming back.”
“No, you are not.” Leon glared at her.
“Yes, I am. Margaret needs me.”
“Ana, don’t be silly. I’ll be fine. Shirley will keep an eye on me, and I can ask Gwen to help me shower.”
“You need someone to be with you twenty-four-seven. There are no freaking phones in the residences. How are you going to ask for help if you can’t even call anyone?”
“I can ask for a phone. I’m sure they will make an exception for me.”
Ana shook her head. “That’s a lot of ifs. I can’t stay here and play honeymooners while you are all alone with no one to take care of you. When is the surgery?”
“Later today.”
“Are they releasing you right after, or are you staying overnight?”
“I’m staying overnight.”
“Then I’ll leave tomorrow morning, so I can be there when Bowen brings you back.”
“Anastasia,” Leon growled. “You can’t leave. You promised me a week.”
She rolled her eyes. “Leon is making a fuss. I’ll have to call you back.”
“Don’t fight with him. I will never forgive myself if you lose your chance for happiness because of me.”
“I’m not going to lose anything.” Ana leveled her eyes on Leon’s. “If he cares for me, he will wait a month for me to come back to him. And if he doesn’t, then he’s not the right guy for me.”
It had hurt to say it, but it was true.
Leon flinched. “We need to talk.”
“I’ll call you back, Margaret.” She ended the call and turned to glare at him. “How can you be so selfish? Would you have stayed here with me while your best friend was home alone with a broken leg?”
“I would have gotten someone else to take care of him, because this is important.” He waved a hand between them. “This is about the rest of our lives.” He reached for her hand. “I can hire a damn nurse to look after Margaret twenty-four-seven. It doesn’t have to be you.”
That was an option she hadn’t considered. The question was whether whoever was running Safe Haven now would allow an outsider to move into Margaret’s room, and the answer was most likely no. Besides, no nurse-for-hire would agree to share a cramped room with her patient and sleep on a cot.
“If that was possible, I would have hired a nurse for Margaret myself. But it’s not going to work. Besides, I feel obligated to take care of her. She helped me so much when I first arrived at Safe Haven. Margaret is like a mother and a big sister combined to me, and she feels more like family to me than my own freaking father. I can’t just turn my back on her.”
71
Leon
Leon scrambled for something to say that would convince Anastasia to stay, and not only because he couldn’t imagine being without her for a month.
Her transition might start anytime now.
He refused to even consider the possibility that she might not be a Dormant. The fact that Anastasia had managed to burrow into his heart and soul in one week was all the proof he needed that she was his one and only.
He’d never been in love before, not even close, and he’d been with many beautiful women over the years. But none had conquered him as swiftly and as completely as she had.
Perhaps he could go with her to Safe Haven?
He could thrall whoever was in charge now to let him into the community, and if they didn’t have any spare rooms, he would even share a room with damn Henry.
But what would he do when she entered transition?
The fastest he could get her to the clinic was not fast enough, and that was a risk Leon wasn’t willing to take.
He just couldn’t let her leave.
“Before Margaret fell and broke her knee, you were considering staying here with me indefinitely. You didn’t think about her at all.”
Anastasia winced. “I know. I was treating this time with you like a break from reality, and I allowed myself to just enjoy it, to be happy. I didn’t want to worry about the future, and I didn’t want to think about anyone or anything else. But after what happened with Emmett, and with your friends, and with Margaret, the real world came barging through this cabin’s door and shattered the fantasy. I can’t keep living a fairytale while my best friend needs me.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” He pulled her into his arms, and she didn’t resist. “What you call a fairytale can be our lives forever. I know that we have just met, but already I can’t imagine living without you. I need you in my life, and I believe that you need me too. I want to wake up every morning with you in my arms, and I don’t want to ever sleep alone again.”
Tears shining in her eyes, Anastasia chuckled. “You just want my body.”
“You are damn right that I want it, but I also want everything else. I want to be with you, and I don’t want you to leave now before this thing between us has had a chance to really take root and blossom.”
“I don’t want to leave either,” she whispered. “But I have to. Margaret needs me, and I won’t be able to enjoy being with you while worrying about her.”
As Leon searched his mind for a solution, he was reminded of an old proverb. “If the mountain will not come to Muhammad, then Muhammad must go to the mountain.”
Anastasia frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
“If Margaret needs you, and you want to be there for her, but neither of us wants you to leave, then the only alternative is to bring her here. We can be together, and I can help you take care of her.”
“Really?” She lifted her arms and wrapped them around his neck. “Are you willing to do this for me? We won’t have as much privacy.”
“It’s a compromise I can live with. What I can’t live without is y
ou.”
A shy smile lifting her lips, Anastasia stretched up on her toes and kissed him lightly. “I was already falling for you, but this has just sealed the deal.”
“Shucks.” He pretended to be disappointed. “And I thought that it was my incredible masculine magnetism.”
“That too. Now be a brave boy and say it back to me.”
“What, that I’m falling for you?”
She nodded.
“Haven’t I said it already in so many words?”
“You did, but since I was brave enough to admit my feelings for you, I want you to do the same for me.”
“No one has ever accused me of being a coward.”
She lifted a brow. “Then say it.”
He hooked a finger under her chin. “Ms. Anastasia Gaboviv, you have captured my heart and filled it with light and hope. As crazy as it might sound, I think that I’m in love with you already.”
Dear reader,
Thank you for reading the Children of the Gods.
As an independent author, I rely on your support to spread the word. So if you enjoyed the story, please share your experience with others, and if it isn’t too much trouble, I would greatly appreciate a brief review on Amazon.
Click HERE to leave a review
Love & happy reading,
Isabell
COMING UP NEXT
The Children of the Gods Book 49
Dark Haven Found
To read the first 3 chapters JOIN the VIP club at ITLUCAS.COM
JOIN THE VIP CLUB AT ITLUCAS.COM
and gain access to the VIP Portal
(To find out what’s included in your free membership, click HERE or flip to the last page.
If you’re already a subscriber, you can find your VIP password in each of my new release emails. If you are not getting my emails, your provider is sending them to your junk folder, and you are missing out on important updates, side characters’ portraits, additional content, and other goodies. To fix that, add [email protected] to your email contacts or your email VIP list.
