by I. T. Lucas
Squeezing Jacki’s hand, he looked at Kian. “Taking the long view also means that I’m not in a rush to move. With Simmons gone and Roberts under my control, Jacki is safe here, and I can take my time building a new home for my people. And since you’ve already done it for yours, I would appreciate your help with that.” He glanced at Jacki. “I would love to build a village for my mate.”
“Speaking of Simmons,” Turner said. “We need to get rid of the body, and it needs to be done today. Roberts is doing great thanks to the blood transfusion, and we can probably send him home in a couple of days. The staged accident has to happen before that.”
“I reserved the van that got hit for that purpose,” Lokan said. “Rufsur has men cleaning it up. We don’t want any bullets to be found.”
“Good.” Turner nodded. “I’ll take care of the rest tonight.” He looked at Bridget. “I hope that you are not planning on staying another night.”
“Not unless Roberts takes a turn for the worse.” She looked at Kalugal. “If you are going to stay in this house for a while, I suggest that you dedicate one room for a clinic and stock it with medical equipment and supplies. You should also send one of your men on a paramedic course. Even immortals need to get treated for injuries and broken bones.”
“I can always bring in human doctors and thrall or compel them to forget.”
Bridget shook her head. “You’ve been living peacefully, and you’ve been lucky that your men haven’t sustained any injuries. But you should know that by the time you get a human doctor here, the injury will heal, and any broken bones will fuse. Without medical intervention, however, the healing might not be done optimally. Bones will have to be re-broken to be reset properly, and that’s additional pain and suffering that could and should be prevented.”
Kalugal nodded. “You are right, and I would appreciate your or Julian’s help in that. I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“I can order everything for you, but you’ll have to pay for it.”
“Of course. And I will gladly reimburse you for your time as well.”
Bridget smiled. “I would never charge a family member for such a small favor.”
34
Jin
“Jin, sweetie, wake up. I brought you more tea.”
“Mey?” Jin croaked. “My throat hurts.”
“I know. Arwel told me. I came to check on you.”
Jin forced her eyelids to lift. “What time is it?”
“It’s after two in the afternoon.”
“Oh, damn. I thought that I only closed my eyes for a moment.” Jin pushed back on the pillows, reached for the tea mug, and took a sip.
The tea wasn’t hot, but it hurt to swallow. “I think I have strep throat again.”
“Open your mouth. I’ll take a look.”
Jin put the mug on the nightstand and opened wide. “Ahhh… It hurt to do even that.”
Scrunching her nose, Mey held Jin’s chin between her thumb and forefinger and turned her face toward the light. “Your throat is red, but there are no white spots.” She patted the sides of Jin’s neck. “Your glands are swollen. I hope it’s not mono.”
Jin shivered. “I hope so too.”
The truth was that she had all the classic symptoms. Fever, sore throat, swollen lymph nodes, and body aches. The only thing missing was a skin rash.
Mey had had mono when they’d moved back to New York, and she’d been miserable for two months. One side of her neck had gotten so swollen that she'd had to rush to the hospital for an injection of antibiotics.
The thing about mono was that people could carry the virus in their bodies for years without ever having symptoms, and then something happened to weaken their immune system, and it exploded. And when it did, strep and other nasties took the opportunity to attack.
The other problem with mono was that it wasn’t easy to diagnose because it mimicked other more common diseases. The doctors hadn’t realized that Mey had it until her spleen had swelled up.
Jin lifted the tea and took another sip. “Where is Arwel?”
“He went to get you something for the fever. The hotel’s gift shop didn’t have anything, so he had to drive to a pharmacy. Also, Bridget is on her way back to take a look at you.”
That was a relief. As the daughters of a pediatric nurse, Jin and Mey knew a few things about various illnesses. But what if this was the start of a transition?
“Did your throat hurt when you were transitioning?”
Mey shook her head. “I felt very weak and achy, and then I developed a fever. Later, my gums started hurting because I was growing these beauties.” She flashed Jin a toothy smile.
“Your fangs are cute, and they can barely qualify as such. They look like pointy canines.”
Mey shrugged. “I was freaking out because I thought I’d get fangs like the males do. But these are okay.”
Reaching into her mouth, Jin patted her gums. “Nothing there. But I wouldn’t mind getting fangs like yours. Heck, I wouldn’t mind getting a pair like Arwel’s.” She chuckled. “But if mine also elongate when I get excited, that could be a problem. How would we kiss?”
“Maybe that’s the reason why females don’t have venom glands and elongating fangs.” Mey turned her head toward the door. “Someone is coming.”
“That super hearing is something.” Jin shook her head. “What I don’t get is how come the immortals were less impacted by the noise device given their sensitive ears.”
A moment later, there was a knock, and Mey got up to open the door. “Hi, Bridget. Come in.”
The doctor strode into the room with her black bag. “Hello, Jin. I stopped by the suite first to bring this.” She lifted the bag. “So, what’s troubling you?” Bridget sat on the bed next to her and pulled out a thermometer.
“Sore throat, mild fever, achy body. My lymph nodes are swollen too. It feels like the strep, just not as bad.”
Bridget put a new earpiece on her device. “How is your hearing? Do you still experience the hum?”
“Very mildly. The sore throat bothers me much more.”
“I’ll be gentle.” Bridget moved Jin’s hair back and put the device in her ear. When it beeped, she looked at the readout. “A hundred and one. That’s mild.” She pulled out a tongue depressor and a flashlight from her bag. “Let’s take a look. Open wide.”
“Ahhh…”
“Oh, my.” Bridget frowned.
It was never good to hear a doctor react like that.
“What’s going on in there?” Mey asked.
Leaning back, Bridget pinned Jin with a grim look. “You are growing venom glands.”
Jin swallowed and immediately grimaced from the pain. “Are you sure? What if those are just my own glands that are swollen?”
“I’ve seen enough dormant males go through the transition to know what growing venom glands look like. There is no mistake.” She looked at Mey and smiled. “It seems that you were lucky to get only fangs.”
“But my gums don’t hurt.” Jin patted them to make sure.
“They will.” Bridget pulled out a tape measure from her doctor’s bag and a tablet from her satchel. “I need to take your measurements.”
“I’m not going to get any taller, right?”
Having glands and elongating fangs was bad enough, and she was already six feet tall.
Talk about being a freak.
“Mey didn’t, but then she didn’t grow venom glands either.” Assuming a sympathetic expression, Bridget patted Jin’s arm. “There is no reason to panic. The venom glands might develop but remain dormant, and your fangs might grow no bigger than Mey’s.”
“I’m not panicking about that.” Jin pulled the blanket under her chin. “Getting taller is scarier to me than having active venom glands and elongating fangs.” She looked at Mey. “I guess that I was meant to be a spy or a fighter after all. A businesswoman doesn’t need to grow fighting implements.”
“That’s not true.” Bridget measured
the length of her arm. “Look at Wonder. She took down Anandur and Brundar, two of our most formidable fighters, but she doesn’t want to be a Guardian because that’s not where her heart is.” The doctor wrote the measurement on her tablet. “We get to choose what we want to do with our lives. You can either go with your natural attributes or not. It’s entirely up to you.”
35
Kian
Kian pulled out his cigarillo box. “Anyone care to join me on the veranda?”
After Amanda and Dalhu had taken Bridget back to the hotel to check on Jin, the rest of them had one more coffee and continued discussing the future of the paranormal program. Good progress had been made, and Kian craved a little relaxation.
Lokan eyed the box. “I would like another one of those."
“I need to make some phone calls.” Turner pushed to his feet. “In private.”
“You are welcome to use the library,” Kalugal said. “Shamash can show you where it is.”
As soon as his name was uttered, the guy materialized from the kitchen. Kalugal’s personal assistant was like Okidu and Shai rolled into one person.
As Turner followed the guy, the rest of them headed out to the veranda and made themselves comfortable on the outdoor couches and chairs.
“Do you have a bar out here as well?” Kian asked.
“No, but I can get you a drink from the main one in the living room. What would you like? I have a nice selection of good whiskeys.”
“Surprise me.” Kian offered the box of cigarillos to Lokan.
“And for the ladies?” Kalugal asked. “I can make you a couple of Old Fashioneds, or maybe you would prefer wine?”
“I love that cocktail,” Jacki said.
Carol cast him one of her charming smiles. “Then I’ll have one too.”
“I’ll be right back.” He eyed Kian’s box. “Save one of those for me.”
“You are a bad influence on your cousins,” Anandur said. “Their mother is not going to be happy with you.”
The guy’s teasing reminded Kian that he still had to give Annani an update about what had transpired during Kalugal’s wedding ceremony. She’d probably heard all about it already from someone else, and she would be pissed at him for not informing her right away.
Kian lit his cigarillo and then gave the lighter to Lokan. “I need to report to Annani, but I want to make sure that we have everything under control first.”
“We do.” Kalugal returned with a tray and put it on the coffee table.
Kian nodded in appreciation. “Hibiki 17. Nice.”
Kalugal handed the cocktails to Jacki and Carol and then opened the bottle. “I figured we had cause for celebration.” He poured the whiskey into four of the glasses and handed them out. “To the bright future of our clans.”
Kian chuckled. “I see that you are fond of the idea. What are you going to name yours?”
“I haven’t given it much thought.” Kalugal glanced at Lokan. “Perhaps I should call it Areana’s clan. Then both of our clans will be named after the goddesses who contributed their genetic material to their formation.”
“That’s a great idea,” Jacki said. “Maybe that will convince Areana to leave your father. She could be like her sister, the head of her own clan.”
“That reminds me.” Kalugal pulled out a cigarillo from the box Kian left on the coffee table. “I still didn’t hear the story of how Carol infiltrated the harem.”
Carol looked at Kian. “May I?”
He hesitated for a moment. Now that they had open communication with Areana, infiltrating the harem once more wouldn’t be necessary. There was no harm in telling Kalugal how they had done it. If Areana or anyone else wanted to leave, they could help them escape via the cliff.
“Go ahead.”
“I’ll try to make it short. We had damaging information on a Russian oligarch who was a frequent visitor to the island, and since he’s also a major arms supplier for the Brotherhood, he could get away with stuff other guests of Pleasure Island couldn’t. He took me with him as his girlfriend, we staged a major fight, and he left the island in a huff without paying his bill. He later called, asking that I be given a job to work off what he owed. But he also specified that he didn’t want me to be around men. My punishment for humiliating him in public was to work off the debt for the rest of my life without enjoying male company.”
Kalugal lifted a brow. “And that worked? You are a beautiful woman. The head of the brothel would have loved to get you working there.”
“I also pretended to be a diabetic with an insulin pump. Besides, Lokan knew the guy in charge of staffing the harem, and he asked him to get me a job there, supposedly as a favor to the Russian. That’s how I got in. I expected to find Areana a miserable enslaved prisoner, but she lives like a queen. Navuh loves her and is devoted to her, and he keeps the other immortal ladies only for show. They are allowed relations with the human servants of the harem, and he then claims their children as his own.”
“How did you get out?”
She smirked. “I jumped off the cliff.”
“I know that cliff.” Kalugal frowned. “It's steep, almost vertical, and there are rocks at its bottom. You couldn’t have survived the jump.”
“We had a team climb up the rock face,” Kian explained. “Yamanu got up there and thralled the human guards to believe that Carol jumped. He climbed down with her on his back.”
“Areana and Tula were there,” Carol continued. “And we made a whole scene about how I was heartbroken over the Russian leaving me. The story was that I committed suicide.”
“Brilliant.” Kalugal took a puff of the cigarillo. “But I’m surprised my father bought the story.”
Kian leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees. “Carol was supposedly an insignificant human servant. She wasn’t worth an investigation. If Areana had agreed to leave, though, a similar scenario would not have worked. Navuh would have searched for her body.”
“How did you manage to get your team up to the cliff?”
“We had a semi-submersible and diving equipment.”
“Fascinating. But what I don’t get is where the two Dormants that Lokan tried to steal fit into the story.”
Kian was about to answer when his phone rang.
“Excuse me.” He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at the display. “I should probably take this in private.” He pushed to his feet and started walking toward the back fence.
“Hello, Mother,” he answered when he was halfway there.
“I heard what happened.”
“I was meaning to call you once we had everything sorted out.”
“What is left to be done?”
“We need to get rid of the body.”
“Is there a problem with that?”
“Turner is going to stage an accident. The vehicle will catch fire, and the body will get incinerated. But we haven’t done that yet.”
“And you have everything else handled?”
“Yes. In fact, the incident played beautifully into our hands and solved a big problem for us.”
“Do tell.”
36
Kalugal
While Kian spoke with his mother, Lokan told Kalugal about his plan to kidnap the two Dormants.
Jacki regarded him with thinly veiled hostility. “That was heartless, Lokan. I can’t believe you were willing to sacrifice them like that.”
To his credit, Lokan didn’t shy away from the criticism. “I’ve gained some perspective since then, and I wouldn’t have done it knowing what I know now.” He took Carol’s hand and put it on his chest. “But it all ended better than well. If I hadn’t schemed to kidnap Ella and Vivian, I wouldn’t have been captured, and I would have never met Carol or my brother.” He looked at Kalugal, and then turned back to Jacki. “And without me, you would still be in the program and would have never met Kalugal. So in a way, my dastardly plans brought happy endings for all of us.”
Jacki let out a breath.
“I didn’t sense any hostility toward you from Ella and Vivian, so if they are willing to forgive you, who am I to hold a grudge, right?”
Kalugal wrapped his arm around Jacki and kissed the top of her head. “I think the Fates navigated things very cleverly to bring us all together.”
“Kian is coming back,” Carol said. “Annani probably chewed his ear off for not calling her earlier. She hates it when he leaves her out of the loop. Not that she ever is. She knows everything that’s going on.”
“Is she clairvoyant?” Kalugal asked.
Carol chuckled. “I don’t think so. She’s just very good with that little cellphone she keeps in her pocket.”
“Annani wants to talk to you.” Kian put his hand over the microphone. “Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Like what?”
This was unexpected and somewhat unnerving.
Kian looked at the cuff still locked around his wrist.
“You can call Turner in here if you’re worried about me pulling something.”
Kalugal had wanted an audience with Annani, but not without preparing for it properly first. Perhaps he could use the time it took Kian to get Turner to gather his thoughts.
“I would, but when Annani wants something done, she wants it done immediately.” Kian handed Kalugal the phone.
Covering the microphone with his finger, he whispered. “What do I call her?”
“Clan Mother,” Lokan said. “Relax. Annani is not nearly as scary as Kian wants you to believe she is.”
Taking a calming breath, Kalugal brought the phone to his ear. “Hello, Clan Mother. It’s an honor to speak to you.”
“Oh, Kalugal. Let us dispense with the formalities. Talk to me like you would with a friend, and call me Annani, or Auntie Annani.” She laughed, the sound almost identical to her sister’s.
Otherworldly and enchanting.
“As you wish.”
