by I. T. Lucas
Supposedly, they all had special genes that could be activated.
Anastasia had been turned with ease, so the activation process couldn’t be too bad, and Wendy hadn’t mentioned anything terrible either. Maybe it was as easy as getting some miracle elixir intravenously. Ana had joked about the doctor putting a miracle drug in her IV, and maybe that was what had been done to activate her dormant immortal genes.
If that was all it took, Margaret was willing to give it a try.
But did she really want to live forever?
Life was hard. Why would she want to drag it out indefinitely? Didn’t the immortals get tired of living?
She wanted time to get to know her daughter, and maybe to explore a relationship with Bowen, who was actually much older than her but looked a decade younger.
Her mortal lifespan was long enough to do both.
If she became immortal, would the process reverse her aging and turn her young and beautiful again?
Could she start anew?
Margaret chuckled softly. The transition might shave ten years off her appearance, but unless Bowen thralled her to forget her ugly past, there was no getting rid of the memories she’d accumulated, and not many of them were good.
She’d learned not to feel too much, not to think about what she’d lost or about how meaningless it all was. She didn’t want eternity to ponder the depressing reality of existence.
Margaret had learned to live in the moment, to keep so busy that she didn’t have time to think. Idle moments were her enemy, as were the moments before falling asleep.
That was why she’d worked so hard, why she’d kept reading and researching material until her eyes burned from exhaustion and she knew that she would fall asleep as soon as she closed them. Anything less than that meant staying awake for hours and agonizing. To spend eternity like that would be hell.
When a soft knock sounded on her door, she wiped the few tears she’d shed with a corner of the duvet. “Yes?”
“Can I come in?” Ana asked.
“Sure.”
Her friend walked in with a cup of coffee in hand. “Bowen is worried about you. He sent me to check on you.” She sat on the bed and handed Margaret the cup. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“Strange. Did last night really happen, or did I dream it all up?”
“It happened.” Ana smiled. “Your beautiful daughter came. She wasn’t angry at you, she hugged you and kissed you, and she called you Mom. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
“It doesn’t.” Margaret took a sip from the coffee.
“So why were you crying?”
She shrugged. “I’m not sure that I want to live forever. I mean, I want time with Wendy, but I’m not old. I still have many years left to make up for those I lost.”
Ana regarded her with puzzlement in her eyes. “Why wouldn’t you want to live forever?”
“Because life is hard, and it’s sad. Why drag out the misery?”
“It doesn’t have to be miserable. You can learn to be happy.” She leaned closer and whispered, “You have an amazing guy who wants to spend that eternity with you. What can be better than that?”
“Does he? When Wendy called him my mate, he told her that we were not there yet.”
Anastasia rolled her eyes. “That’s because you haven’t had sex yet. It’s like marriage. It needs to be consummated to be official. Bowen is in love with you, and you are in love with him. It’s time you let yourself feel it.”
Margaret opened her mouth to refute Ana’s claim, to tell her that she wasn’t in love with Bowen, but she closed it when she realized that Ana was right.
She’d fallen in love with Bowen from almost the very first moment. When he’d brought her to that ambulance and stayed with her, she’d felt the pull, the yearning. But she hadn't allowed herself to internalize it, in the same way she hadn't allowed herself to internalize anything else.
She’d been existing, not living.
To open her heart would have opened the gates not only to love, but also to misery, to the self-loathing, and to the horrible memories, and Margaret wouldn’t have survived it.
Her capacity for pain had been maxed out a long time ago.
“You need to get up and get dressed.” Ana patted her arm. “We can leave as soon as you are ready.”
Margaret swallowed. “Do you mean the four of us?”
“Of course. There is no reason for us to stay here any longer. We are going to the immortals’ village.” Ana grinned. “I can’t wait to see it. Leon has told me so much about it, and it sounds like a real haven, not the fake one Emmett created.” She pursed her lips. “Which reminds me that there is one more piece of information that might shock you.”
As panic constricted her throat, Margaret lifted her hand to her neck. “I don’t know if I can handle any more shocking news.”
“I think this piece will explain a few things, or at least make you see them more clearly. The clan has captured Emmett, and they have him locked up in their dungeon. Apparently, he’s also an immortal, just from a different breed, and he used compulsion to make you and the others worship him. The guy who helped you, Kalugal, is not a motivational speaker. He is also a compeller like Emmett, and all he did was override what Emmett has done to you. The leader you admired so much compelled you to get panic attacks every time you thought of contacting Wendy or even just seeking information about her.”
4
Syssi
By the time Okidu parked the limo in the underground garage of the building, Lisa and Ronja had talked up a storm, updating Sari and David on the latest village gossip.
Luckily, mother and daughter weren’t aware yet of the one item that would most likely bother Ronja the most once she found out about it.
Syssi wasn’t sure what kind of a relationship Ronja and Bowen had, or if it had developed into anything romantic, but even if it hadn’t, the news about Bowen’s newfound love would probably be upsetting to Ronja. Now that he belonged to another woman, he wouldn’t be spending time with her like he used to.
Anandur, Brundar, and Kian had been busy talking about security and didn’t pay attention to the prattle, but she’d caught Okidu stealing glances at Ronja through the rearview mirror.
Lately, he’d been acting even stranger than usual. Well, stranger for an Odu, but less strange for a human. Could it be that he was developing real feelings? Was he concerned for Ronja?
The butler knew everything that was going on, heard all the gossip, and stored it in his cybertronic brain.
Syssi shook her head. She was being silly, and it was all in her head. She’d gotten so used to Okidu that he seemed human to her.
“This building needs a name,” Lisa said. “I’m tired of calling it the building across the street from the keep.”
“What would you suggest?” Anandur asked.
Lisa shrugged. “I don’t know. Anything would be better than that. Name it after one of the presidents or something. The Adams building, or Madison, or Monroe. Or the Shangri-La.”
Syssi chuckled. “I like Shangri-La, but don’t forget that we intend to lease these apartments at some point. I don’t think prospective tenants would like their building to be called after a fictional place.”
“We can discuss this upstairs.” Kian opened the passenger door at the same time Okidu opened the one on the other side. “Mother and Amanda are waiting for us with lunch.”
As the eight of them headed toward the elevators, Okidu lifted Sari and David’s luggage from the trunk and followed behind them.
“I shall wait for the next elevator, master.” He bowed.
“Thank you for getting our luggage.” Sari patted his arm. “I left Ojidu home to take care of those who volunteered to stay behind.”
The perpetual shroud around the castle meant that those in charge of maintaining it couldn’t leave. Usually, that wasn’t a problem, but it was a shame that they couldn’t take part in the celebrations. It was time to r
eplace the shroud with technology, but, for some reason, Sari was dragging her feet about it.
Perhaps she wanted to move out of there. She had refused Kian’s offer to join the village because she liked her independence, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t move her people to another location in Scotland. The castle was beautiful, but it was old, and there was only so much that could be done to bring it into the twenty-first century.
“Your apartment is on the top floor.” Kian pressed the button to call the elevator. “It’s not a penthouse, because the building wasn’t designed with residences in mind, but you’ll still have a nice view.”
Sari cast him an apologetic glance. “You’ve gone to so much trouble to make this event possible. We could have made the wedding a smaller celebration in the village.”
As the elevator arrived and they all crammed in, Kian wrapped his arm around Syssi’s shoulders. “The plans to convert the building from offices to apartments were made long before I decided to host the clan here. Your wedding only hastened the construction, so don’t feel guilty about it. I just wish that you could stay in the village during your visit.”
Sari shook her head. “I need to be near my people, and they are all staying here. But David and I will come visit the village on Sunday. Miranda can’t wait to see it.”
“When is she arriving?” Syssi asked.
“Later today.” David held the elevator door open until all of them spilled out. “The logistics of bringing everyone here without attracting attention were complicated. Only a small group is arriving straight from Scotland, and not all from the same airport. Others are making stopovers at other major cities, in Europe and in the States, before heading here.”
Kian nodded. “We are using delivery trucks to pick them up from the various collection centers they will Uber or taxi to.”
Sari winced. “Please tell me those trucks have nice interiors. I don’t want my people shuttled in like cattle.”
“Of course.” Syssi put her hand on Sari’s arm. “This is a celebration not an evacuation.”
As they started down the corridor toward the corner unit, the door opened and Amanda rushed out. “Sari!” She pulled her sister into a hug. “You look amazing.” Amanda smiled at David. “Thanks to you, no doubt.” She let go of Sari and hugged him too. “I’m so excited about your wedding. Especially since I didn’t have to do anything. Gerard took care of all the details, including hiring the decorators and supervising their work.”
Sari shook her head. “I don’t know how you managed to rope him into organizing our wedding and Kian’s birthday. You must teach me your magic spell.”
Amanda pursed her lips. “Got guilt? That’s my magic.”
“I see.” Sari turned to Kian. “Your birthday was supposed to be a surprise, but at some point, it was decided to include you in the plans.”
Syssi lifted her hand. “That was my doing. Kian doesn’t like surprises, but he loves big clan-wide parties. I figured that he would prefer to be included in the planning, especially since security was a major concern.”
“You know me so well.” He kissed the top of her head. “Let’s not keep Mother waiting.”
5
Kian
Kian waited patiently for the emotional reunion between Annani and Sari to be done with and for everyone else to exchange greetings.
When it seemed to be done, he pulled out a dining room chair for his mother. “Oridu is wringing his hands in the kitchen, waiting for us to sit down so he can serve lunch.”
Annani smiled up at him. “Oridu is not doing any hand wringing. Are you hungry, my son?”
“Starving.”
“Then let us eat.” She motioned for the others to join her.
“I thought that Andrew and Nathalie would come and bring Phoenix,” Sari said as David pulled out a chair for her. “I can’t get enough of that little girl. She just cracks me up with her grown-up talk. She sounds like a seventeen-year-old.”
Syssi smoothed a hand over her belly. “Andrew had a big meeting at work he couldn’t wiggle out of, and Nathalie didn’t want to come without him.”
“Why is he still working for the government?” Alena asked.
“He’s not willing to give up the connections and the access to classified information that his job provides him with.” Kian passed the basket of bread to Syssi. “Frankly, I haven’t been encouraging him to leave. He’s in the know, and he can alert us to new developments in real time. Right now, he’s trying to get into UFO classified information. He might discover something connected with the Kra-ell’s arrival. If what Emmett told us is true, then they arrived sometime at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Perhaps there are records of sightings from back then.”
Leaning back, David crossed his arms over his chest. “Have any of you heard about the Tunguska event?”
The name sounded familiar, and after digging in his memory banks, all Kian could come up with was that it was something that had happened in Russia more than a century ago. “Was it a meteor?”
David nodded. “In 1908, there was a massive explosion near the Tunguska River in Russia. It flattened trees in an area of about a thousand square miles, maybe a little less. I don’t remember the exact number. The theory is that the explosion was caused by a large meteoroid, or rather the airburst it created. It must have disintegrated at an altitude of several miles above the ground because no impact crater has been found. Based on the size and magnitude of the impacted area, the shock wave from the air burst would have been a 5 on the Richter scale. That’s enough to destroy a large city. Fortunately, it happened over a remote, sparsely populated area, and only a handful of casualties were reported.”
“What are you trying to say?” Annani asked.
David shrugged. “It’s the largest impact event in recorded history, and there is no definite explanation for what actually happened. Perhaps it was an alien ship that went down, a large vessel that hadn’t been supposed to enter the atmosphere and should have stayed in orbit. From what Sari told me, I understand that Emmett’s group is small, and he was led to believe that they were the only survivors. It fits the narrative.”
“I don’t think they are,” Kian said. “I have a feeling that there are many more of them scattered around.” He unscrewed the cap from the large Perrier bottle and poured some into Syssi’s glass and then his.
“There might have been several escape pods,” David suggested.
Sari patted his back. “Is this the scientist talking or the sci-fi author?”
“Can’t I be both?”
“Of course, my love. But this sounds like you’ve let yourself get carried away on the wings of your wonderful imagination.”
Kian didn’t think so. “Reality is often stranger than fiction, Sari. I’ll mention the Tunguska event to William and see what he thinks of it.”
“Speaking of William.” Amanda shifted in her chair. “Is he making any progress with deciphering the Kra-ell language?”
“He is, but it’s a slow process.” Kian scooped a large serving of baked fingerling potatoes onto his plate. “William is not a linguist, and although we have many members who speak a lot of languages, no one is an actual philologist. He was able, however, to confirm Emmett’s translation of the email he’d sent to his leader.”
“The reason I’m asking, is that I had a great idea.” Amanda paused for dramatic effect, looked around the table to make sure she had everyone’s attention, and then smiled at Kian. “You are going to thank me for coming up with this one.” She paused again. “You should send Mey with Arwel and Jin to China. Even if Emmett’s people didn’t leave any breadcrumbs, they still left echoes of conversations embedded in the walls of their former compound. She can listen to them and perhaps find out where they were planning to move to.”
Annani clapped her hands. “That is a brilliant idea, Mindy. You are so clever.”
The idea was solid, provided they could decipher the entire language and Mey could learn it
in a couple of weeks, which wasn’t going to happen.
Anandur chuckled. “You know what this reminds me of? The joke about the solution to the German U-boat problem during WWII. Someone came up with the bright idea that raising the ocean temperature by four degrees Celsius would make the U-boats inoperable. When asked how he proposed to do that, the guy said, ‘I offered the solution, someone else will have to figure out the details.’ Mey listening to the echoes in the walls will not achieve much if she doesn’t understand what she hears. It’s not like she can record it and then have Emmett translate it.”
Amanda crossed her arms over her chest and jutted her chin out. “Then we should put her in the cell with Emmett and have her learn as much as she can until it’s time for the team to leave for China.”
Kian shook his head. “The question is whether she would agree, and even if she does, it will still take her a very long time to learn.”
“Isn’t it ironic?” Syssi sighed. “The two girls that the Kra-ell considered worthless and got rid of might lead to their capture.”
“Yeah.” Anandur grinned. “Payback is a b…” He cast an apologetic glance at Annani. “I mean, the Kra-ell will get what’s coming to them.”
6
Annani
“Perhaps that is why the Fates brought Mey and Jin to us.” Annani turned to Kian. “How do you plan to use Jin’s talent?”
“I’m not sure how her talent will be utilized, but given the circumstances, Jin and Mey could be our only hope of finding Emmett’s group.”
“I wish I had a cool talent like that,” Lisa said.
“Yours is even cooler.” Amanda patted her arm. “You were right about Anastasia. She was a Dormant, and now she’s an immortal. I only regret that I didn’t send you to sniff out her friend.”
