Dark Survivor Echoes of Love

by I. T. Lucas

  Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t stop thinking of her as a woman, albeit one who was much too young for someone like him.

  The attraction between them was undeniable.

  He might have been able to squash it down if it were only him lusting after her, but her wanting him back made it mission impossible.

  Damn, he needed to talk to someone about this. Someone who wouldn’t think he was a dumb ass for believing that the girl was way too young to get involved with an immortal who was nearly a thousand years old.

  To get a laugh out of people, Anandur was willing to put himself on the line and act the fool, but not about this.

  Maybe he should talk to Vanessa.

  The therapist should be able to give him advice. Unless the movies had it right, and all she would do was ask him how he felt about that. If that were all therapists did, then what was the point of going to one?

  He might just as well stand in front of the mirror and ask himself how he felt about things.

  “Anandur?” Wonder asked from behind the bathroom’s closed door. “Are you about done? I need the clothes you said you’re going to let me borrow.”

  Crap, he’d been standing under the water and philosophizing instead of taking care of his girl.

  “Look inside my closet,” he called out. “Take whatever you want.”

  “Thank you!”

  3

  Wonder

  “That was good.” Wonder leaned back in her chair and rubbed her tummy. “I didn’t realize how hungry I was.”

  Either she had been famished, or the frozen meals were much tastier than Anandur had given them credit for. She’d consumed three before finally sating her hunger, and Anandur was on his fifth. The portions were modest, probably meant for average-sized humans, and according to Anandur the entrees were basic.

  One thing was for sure. His simple tastes in clothes and food didn’t translate to his apartment. It wasn’t just the generous size of the rooms and the beautifully appointed bathrooms that made the place look so fancy. The furniture and the rugs and the art on the wall seemed expensive, even to her untrained eye, and were coordinated to perfection.

  Wonder had only seen such luxury in movies and magazines.

  Maybe he held a more important position in the clan than he claimed? This didn’t look like how she imagined a Guardian would live. According to Anandur, a Guardian was a cross between a policeman and a warrior, and in the movies she’d seen, law enforcers and soldiers lived much more modestly.

  It wasn’t something she could ask him about, though. It would sound as if she was accusing him of lying to her, which would be extremely rude. Most of the things he’d told her turned out to be true, and she was quite sure there was a logical explanation for the apartment as well.

  For now, she would just watch and listen and try not to ask too many questions. People, even honest ones, tended to put a certain spin on things. Some did it out of modesty, not wanting to show off, while others did it for the exact opposite reason. The bottom line was that there was as much to be learned from watching and listening as from getting answers to questions. Maybe more.

  Anandur finished chewing and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “You need plenty of fuel to repair massive damage like the injury you’ve sustained.”

  “It was only a knife wound. It’s not like I needed to regrow a limb.” She furrowed her brows. “Can we regrow limbs?”

  “We can. But it takes a long time and hurts like hell.” Anandur massaged his forearm as if reminded of an old injury.

  “Did it ever happen to you?”

  “Yeah. I had my hand cut off at the wrist. It was hell re-growing it.”

  As a phantom pain gripped her, Wonder cringed and cradled her own wrist. “How long ago was it?”

  “Ages. I’m a very old immortal.”

  “How old is old?”

  Anandur got up and started collecting the empty boxes from the frozen dinners they’d consumed. “Almost a millennium. I’m an old fart.” He chuckled as he tossed everything into the trash.

  “I never understood that phrase.” Pushing her feet into her sneakers, Wonder leaned up and reached for a paper towel to wipe the table clean. “Farts can’t be old. They dissipate as soon as they are released.”

  “That’s true.” Anandur nodded sagely as if it was a most important issue requiring further contemplation. “I need to check on this, but not now. People are waiting for us in the village.”

  Right. Wonder looked at her borrowed rolled-up sweatpants and oversized T-shirt. This was not how she wanted to meet the leader of the American branch of the clan and his wife. Regrettably, though, the only female Guardian whom she could’ve borrowed clothes from was currently on rotation in the village and not in the keep.

  “I wish I was more presentable than this.” She waved a hand over herself.

  “Sorry, but that’s the best I could do. I would’ve stopped by Walmart for you to buy new clothes, but I don’t want to keep Kian waiting for too long. He didn’t like it when I told him we needed to shower and eat first.” Anandur grabbed his wallet and his car keys from the counter and headed for the door.

  “No, of course not.” It was better to show up in ill-fitting clothes than late.

  Besides, she was comfortable wearing Anandur’s things, and not just because everything was loose and soft, but because under the scent of the detergent they’d been laundered with, she could still smell his own unique scent and it was comforting to her.

  Anandur had been different with her ever since they’d arrived at his apartment, no longer flirting or making suggestive remarks to make her blush. Instead, he was now treating her as if she were one of the guys.

  Figures.

  Wonder was used to that. People assumed that since she was a big woman she wasn’t feminine, or that she wouldn’t appreciate being treated like a girl.

  Maybe things would’ve been different if she put more effort into looking girly, like wearing more makeup and putting on a nice dress or a skirt from time to time. Except, she didn’t own any. It would’ve been frivolous to buy stuff that she had nowhere to wear. A bouncer with a side gig as a warehouse cleaner didn’t need to dress up.

  Which reminded her that she’d left both jobs suddenly and without giving notice. It wasn’t fair to the people who were depending on her to show up and do the work. The problem was that Anandur had gotten rid of her cell phone, explaining she could be easily tracked by its signal, and he hadn’t provided her with another one to replace it yet.

  Stepping inside the elevator, she leaned against the mirrored wall. “What about Tony? I need to call him and let him know that I need to take a few days off.”

  “Already taken care of. Magnus called your boss and explained that you will be gone for a while.”

  “What did he tell him? I don’t want to lose that job.”

  Anandur patted her arm. “Don’t you worry about a thing. Magnus told Tony that you’re in the witness protection program, and that it’s not clear when you’ll be coming back.”

  Shit on a stick. Tony wasn’t going to wait for her. He would replace her with someone else. The idea of that door closing on her stressed her out even though she had a feeling that this part of her life was over. Having the option would’ve made her a bit less anxious. Without it, Wonder felt as if she were trapped.

  “What about Shaveh and Mordan? Are they here yet?” Anandur had told her that they were being flown in by a different aircraft, but they should’ve arrived by now.

  “I don’t know. They are no longer your problem. You can forget about them.”

  Wonder crossed her arms over her chest. “I want to know what is going to happen to them.”

  “I’ll tell you as soon as I know anything.”

  That sounded a lot like a brush-off, and she didn’t appreciate it one bit. “You must have an idea of what is awaiting them.”

  “I do, and so do you. Interrogation and then stasis.”

  Yeah, he
’d told her that, but she wanted to make sure he hadn’t been trying to make light of what awaited her prisoners for her sake. Rightly or wrongly, Wonder felt responsible for the two.

  “Are they going to be tortured?”

  “Not likely. They don’t know much, so why bother, right?”

  “That’s good to hear.”

  When the elevator stopped, Anandur held the door open for her. “After you, my lady.”

  “Thank you.” She liked that he was treating her like a girl again. On second thought, though, it could’ve been a reflex and not something he was doing deliberately.

  “No problem.”

  Anandur also opened the passenger door for her and waited until she was seated before closing it.

  Wonder smiled. It seemed that her guy was a gentleman. It wasn’t really a surprise but a confirmation of what she’d suspected before. Anandur had always been polite around her, and the way he’d done it had been so effortless that it seemed like it was second nature for him.

  He isn’t mine. Wonder sighed. Way to get carried away.

  “Don’t get scared when the windows turn opaque,” he said as he fastened his seatbelt. “It will happen several minutes before we reach the village. For security reasons, its location needs to remain secret. The car is going to drive itself for the last few miles.”

  “That’s cool.”

  “Technology rocks, right?” He backed out from his parking spot.

  “Yeah, it does.”

  He’d probably meant the new inventions, but to her, all technology was awe-inspiring. Wonder was still learning the world around her and everything it had to offer.

  For the next few minutes, they sat in silence, with Anandur searching for a station with the kind of music he wanted to listen to, and Wonder sneaking glances at his hawkish profile. When he didn’t smile, Anandur looked formidable, even dangerous, but his warmth and his humor softened his harsh features. He was such a handsome man, and charming, and funny.

  She missed his flirting.

  Had he done it only as a persuasion tactic and had never been interested in her for real?

  During the time they’d spent together in the facility, Anandur had seemed to be attracted to her. Heck, she’d seen proof of it despite his efforts to hide it. Unlike females, who could pretend to find a guy attractive, males couldn’t do it convincingly. Some signs were impossible to fake.

  Except, working at the club Wonder had seen enough couples hook up for only one night of pleasure to know that sexual attraction didn’t mean he wanted a relationship with her.

  Why not, though?

  He obviously found her appearance appealing. Was it her personality that he didn’t like?

  Yeah, that was probably the reason.

  He was funny, and she wasn’t.

  He was charming, and she was boring.

  Add to that her being a killer, and it was no big surprise that Anandur wasn’t interested in her romantically. He might have approved of her killing in self-defense, but that didn’t mean he wanted someone like her as a girlfriend.

  Ugh.

  And if that wasn’t enough, with one mighty pull on his arm, she’d sent Anandur flying through the air landing him on his butt, and then she’d Tasered his brother.

  Wonder had singlehandedly felled two trained Guardians.

  That and the kill from before guaranteed her status as one of the dudes. Anandur thought of her as excellent Guardian material, and not a potential girlfriend.

  All men wanted women they could feel strong next to. The good ones were protective and wanted to feel needed, the not so nice ones were bullies and wanted to be in control, but no guy wanted a woman who could kick his ass.

  4

  Grud

  As Grud drove around the residential neighborhood looking for a good spot to dump the truck, he also had his eye out for a suitable patsy.

  Old humans were the best for what he needed, especially those with weakening minds. They were the easiest to thrall. And if the mind manipulation caused them damage, some human aging brain disease would get blamed instead of anyone looking for a supernatural cause.

  Not that the Brotherhood cared about such things. But Grud was on his own and wasn’t sure how long he would need to hide in an old human’s house. A grown child might call and notice their parent’s mental ability dropping too quickly and come to investigate. But if the parent was already suffering from age-related brain disease, they would think nothing of it.

  He spotted his victim from a mile away. The old human was walking a large dog. Or rather the dog was walking him, which meant that the human’s house was close by. The way the guy was shuffling his feet, he couldn’t have walked far. The dog was no problem either. Grud knew how to manipulate the animal’s tiny brain too. They were easy. One terrifying image planted into its brain and even the largest dog would cower before him.

  He parked and waited.

  The good thing about driving the old clunker was that no one paid attention to a gardener’s truck even if they’d never seen it drive through their neighborhood before. Gardeners came and went unnoticed the same way servants used to in rich people’s houses.

  It was such a shame he had to get rid of it.

  Since Grud had made sure not to kill the guy he’d stolen the truck from, he wasn’t worried about the human police chasing after him. A stolen vehicle was not a priority for them the way a murder investigation would have been.

  Nevertheless, the gardener was going to report the truck missing, and the license plate number would be entered into the police database.

  It was better not to take the risk of being spotted driving a stolen vehicle.

  Grud didn’t have to wait long for the old man to reach his house.

  As the old man turned into the driveway, an equally old woman opened the front door. He waved at his wife and unhooked the leash from the dog’s collar. Tail wagging, the dog trotted to the front door and pushed his head under the woman’s hand for a pat.

  The man stopped by the mailbox, took out a stack of papers, and then followed his dog.

  Perfect.

  Both old-timers seemed to be in functioning condition. The woman could cook for Grud, and the man could run errands. And after he showed the dog who was the boss, the animal would probably stay out of his way.

  Lifting the gardener's phone from the passenger seat, Grud snapped a picture of the house so he could find it later.

  Mortdh, he was such a fucking idiot.

  He wasn’t going to keep the gardener’s phone and lead whoever was looking for the guy’s vehicle right to the house he was going to appropriate.

  First, he trashed the picture he’d taken and then scribbled the address on an old receipt he’d found in the glove compartment.

  The real challenge would be to find the right place to get rid of the truck, the phone, and the gardener’s wallet—somewhere that could hide the vehicle, but at the same time be walking distance away from the old couple’s home.

  After driving around the entire neighborhood twice, Grud realized that there was no such a place. No supermarket to hide the truck among all the other vehicles, and no wooded area to hide it behind bushes.

  On his third round, a ‘for sale’ sign caught his attention.

  The house seemed vacant, and what’s more, its garage was at the back of the property with a long driveway leading to it. He could park the truck in the backyard of the house so it would be hidden by the structure and not visible from the street. And if he were really lucky, the garage wouldn’t be filled with stuff, and he could park it there.

  Thank Mortdh, his luck held.

  The garage door was unlocked. Grud lifted it with ease, drove the truck inside, and then pulled the door closed. Unless potential buyers wanted to inspect the separate structure, there was a good chance the vehicle wouldn’t get discovered until the house was sold.

  Getting rid of the smaller items was much easier. He smashed the phone with a rock, dug a small hol
e in the ground, and buried it there together with the wallet.

  The last hurdle was to get to the old couple’s home unnoticed. He still had no shoes and looked like a homeless vagabond. Luckily, the feature he hated most, his tightly curled hair, prevented his unkempt beard from reaching down to his chest. It hadn’t got trimmed in months and was one messy tangle. His hair was in no better shape.

  After he thralled the old couple and sent the woman to cook him a decent meal, he was going to take a long hot shower and trim that jungle. The best thing would have been to get rid of it all together, but Grud still hadn’t made his final decision regarding the Brotherhood.

  Just in case he needed to go back, it was better to at least leave some stubble. Mortdh’s teachings specifically forbade shaving. Males were supposed to take pride in their manliness and not try to look like females. Showing up with a smooth-shaven face was almost as bad as showing up wearing a dress.

  Grud brushed the dust off his clothes. Other than adopting the right attitude, it was all he could do about his appearance.

  Instead of slinking along the shadows, he decided to jog to the old couple’s house. Holding his head high and pumping his arms, he looked like any other human out for a run, only barefoot and a little shaggy. Fortunately, there was no shortage of weird humans, especially not in this area. He’d seen a bald male wearing red lipstick, and a homeless man holding the latest smartphone. A shaggy male running barefoot shouldn’t raise anyone’s eyebrows.

  5

  Wonder

  “It’s beautiful out here,” Wonder said as they walked out of the pavilion.

  The entire trip to the village had seemed like a scene from a futuristic movie. First with Anandur’s car taking over the driving and the windows going opaque, and then with the elevator ride up from the parking garage, which was located on the lowest level of the underground. Traversing through the ten levels hewn out from the insides of the mountain had taken mere seconds and terminated on the ground level of the village.