by I. T. Lucas
“If she’s an immune, then she knows he’s not human.”
Turner didn’t sound overly concerned, but Eleanor knew that it didn’t mean shit. The guy just looked and sounded totally devoid of emotion no matter what was going on.
It was quite enviable.
“She doesn’t know,” Peter said. “Don’t ask me how Leon pulled it off, but he managed to convince her that she’d imagined the bite. He also convinced her to give him a week to see where their relationship was going.”
“Is there a relationship?” Turner asked.
Eleanor snorted. “Definitely.”
“I’ll arrange for transportation. Are the four of you leaving? Or are you and Eleanor staying behind?”
“We are staying.” Peter glanced at Eleanor. “We haven’t discovered anything fishy yet, but I’m not ready to give up. I have a feeling that we are missing something.”
“What about you, Eleanor?”
“I can’t leave Peter alone. He needs a wing-woman. But back to getting Anastasia out of here. She doesn’t want to burn bridges and she wants to have the option to return to Safe Haven after the week is up. The problem is that members are not allowed to take vacations just for the fun of it. They are only allowed to leave for medical treatment or a family emergency. We need to arrange an emergency.”
“Something with her father, perhaps?” Turner suggested.
“You’ve got it,” Peter continued. “So here is the plan. Tomorrow, her father or his assistant will call the office to inform Anastasia that her father has suffered a stroke and she needs to rush to the hospital. She believes that they will check the story, so you will have to get her old man to cooperate.”
“He will. I assume that Leon will accompany Anastasia, and since she is an immune, we can’t let her into the village. He will need to take her to the keep.”
“We think that the cabin is a better option,” Eleanor said. “The keep is a dreary place, and Anastasia won’t appreciate it as her vacation destination. Besides, the lovebirds need a nicer environment to bond than the keep’s underground.”
“I’ll discuss it with Kian. How are Anastasia and Leon going to get out of there? Will they be provided with transportation?”
“A staff member will drive Anastasia to the train station, and Leon will probably have to sneak onto the bus.”
“Very well. Tell him to call me once he gets his phone from the locker. By then, I’ll have all the details ready for him. Tomorrow morning, I’ll call the office with the news and leave a call back number for Anastasia. It’s going to be either her father’s cellphone number or his personal assistant’s, but the call will be redirected to me.”
“Good deal. Thanks, Turner.”
Peter was about to end the call when Turner asked, “Anything you want to report at this stage?”
“Regrettably, there is nothing to report yet.” Eleanor leaned over the phone. “The place is very well organized, and the people here worship Emmett. It’s a typical cult scenario, but other than Emmett making shitloads of money off the suckers who come here to find themselves, nothing seems overly nefarious.”
55
Kian
As Kian’s phone rang, he picked it up and looked at the display. An incoming call this late could only mean trouble.
“What’s up, Turner?” Grabbing his pack of cigarillos, he pulled the sliding doors open and walked out into the backyard.
“I got a call from Peter and Eleanor.”
Letting out a breath, Kian sat on a lounge chair. “I thought that you’d heard from Lokan. I’m worried about the guy.”
Surprising himself, he was not only worried about Lokan spilling clan secrets, but also about him getting in trouble with his father.
Provided that Carol had kept her mouth shut and hadn’t told her mate things she shouldn’t have, Lokan didn’t know anything that his father could use against the clan, so that wasn’t a big concern. But Navuh was a cold bastard, and Kian wouldn’t put it beyond him to execute his own son upon discovering his treachery.
“Lokan is still on the island,” Turner said. “He won’t call until he gets back.”
“True. So what did Peter want?”
“Turns out that Anastasia is an immune and possibly a Dormant.”
“I’ll be damned. You were right.”
“I don’t have all the details yet, but apparently Leon was able to translate a conversation she’d heard in her head, and it was in a language she’d never heard before. Peter didn’t say which one it was, and it doesn’t really matter. The important part is that what she hears is real.”
“That’s good news, but since you are calling me this late, I know that’s not the whole story.” Kian pulled a cigarillo out of the box and lit it.
“It’s not. Leon and Anastasia got intimate without protection, and he bit her. I assume it happened before he found out that the voices were real and she was a potential Dormant.”
Stupid man. After discovering that she was an immune, he should have known to stay away from her. “Leon knew what you suspected going in, and after finding out that he couldn’t thrall the girl, he should have kept it in his pants.” Kian took a long puff on the cigarillo. “He messed up big time.”
“Could be. But what’s done is done, and now there is a chance that she will enter transition. They need to get her out of there and take her somewhere close to a clinic. I thought that the keep would be perfect for that, but Eleanor thinks that the cabin would be a better choice. It’s not too far from the keep, and if Anastasia starts transitioning, Leon can take her there.”
“I have no problem with them using the cabin. In the meantime, what are they doing to keep her from talking?”
“Apparently, Leon has managed to convince Anastasia that she imagined the bite, and she still doesn’t know what he is. But since they’ve gotten romantically involved, she agreed to spend a week with him away from Safe Haven.”
Kian sighed. “I thought that having access to Kalugal would solve the problem of keeping Dormants in the dark about who they are until it’s safe to reveal the secret. But it would seem that there are more immunes out there than we suspected.”
“It could be that Dormants are more prone to be immune than the general population. Out of the twenty-two discovered so far, three are immune. That’s about fourteen percent. Including Anastasia, that’s four out of twenty-three, which is seventeen percent.”
Kian did a quick calculation in his head but counted only twenty. “I’m short two Dormants. I wonder who I am forgetting.”
“Lisa and Ronja. They didn’t transition yet, but we know that both are Dormants.”
“Right. So almost one out of five Dormants is an immune.”
“It would seem so. I’m organizing Anastasia and Leon’s extraction for tomorrow. Can you send Okidu to prepare the cabin for them?”
“I can do that. What about Peter and Eleanor?”
“They are staying behind to do more snooping around. So far, they didn’t discover anything suspicious, but Peter has a gut feeling that things are not as they seem.”
“I don’t know about leaving him alone with Eleanor. She could double-cross him.”
“I doubt that, and we can’t send a replacement for Leon at this stage. Peter can take care of himself.”
“What about the men you have guarding the perimeter?”
“I don’t have anyone there. I scrapped that idea after we decided to send Leon and Peter in. Eleanor doesn’t require an army to keep an eye on her.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Turner chuckled. “Have I ever been wrong?”
“There is a first time for everything.”
56
Eleanor
“We should wake Ted up and ask him some more questions.” Eleanor leaned over the desk to look at the computer screen. “We can get him to show us what they are hiding.”
“Not tonight.” Peter put the phone back in its place. “I’d rather not stay
here too long. We need to find whatshername and return the keycard.”
“Libby. We can just drop it on the floor somewhere in the common room. She will think that she lost it there.”
Peter shook his head. “If we find her, I’d rather thrall her to remember that she came back here to look for something. The fewer loose ends we leave, the better. Leon is out of here, but you and I still have a mission to complete.”
He leaned over Ted. “You are going to wake up in thirty minutes and remember that you just fell asleep because you were tired.”
Eleanor opened the door and waited for him to join her. “Kri told me that thralling works by entering a human’s mind, but you seem to be doing it differently. Did you thrall him just by talking to him?”
“No, I entered his mind and planted a scenario there. I just like to say it out loud if I can. It helps me focus.”
“I thought that it worked similar to compulsion. I can’t enter anyone’s mind. I can only command them verbally.”
They left the administrative wing without bumping into anyone, which wasn’t surprising since it was after midnight, and no one was supposed to be there.
“You know what I find strange?” Peter asked.
“What?”
“They have keycards, and they lock their office phones, but there are no surveillance cameras anywhere.”
“Maybe it’s a budget thing.”
“They have the money. I think that it’s intentional. If something shady is going on, they wouldn’t want it recorded.”
“True.”
As they entered the common room, Eleanor scanned the place for a suitable victim. “I want to find a staff member and take him to my room.”
Peter grinned. “Naughty girl.”
She rolled her eyes. “To interrogate him. And you need to be there to thrall the guy after I’m done with him.”
“Good plan. We can take our time with the dude, and after that I will thrall him to remember that we had a threesome.”
Eleanor winced. “That’s gross.”
“Why? I’m a good-looking guy, and I have a charming personality. You could do worse.”
She lifted a hand. “Please, stop before I gag. I have a boyfriend, and we are work buddies. Let’s keep it that way.”
“You have no sense of humor.”
“Whatever.” She zeroed in on a staff member who seemed to be on his way out. “Let’s catch him before he leaves.” She pointed.
Peter grinned. “Do your thing, girl.”
“I’m not a girl.” She strode toward the guy, catching up to him as he rounded the corner.
“Stop.”
He froze.
“Turn around.”
The guy pivoted on his heel, and as he saw her, a hopeful expression replaced his puzzled one. “How can I help you?”
“You can come with me to my room.”
“It would be my pleasure.” He walked up to her and offered her his hand. “My name is Wesley.”
“I can read.” She pointed at his name tag.
He looked at her chest, and at first, she thought that he was staring at her boobs, realizing a second later that he was searching for her missing name tag. She and Peter hadn’t put them on before heading out tonight.
“I’m Marisol.” She shook his hand. “Let’s go to my room, Wesley.”
He glanced at Peter. “What about him?”
“He likes to watch.”
57
Kian
As Kian walked into the bedroom, Syssi put her reading tablet down. “I heard you talking outside. Trouble?”
“That remains to be seen. Do you want a cup of tea?”
“Are you making it?’
“I wouldn’t suggest it otherwise.”
She flung the comforter off and reached for her fluffy robe. “I could snack on something too.” She tied the belt loosely around her protruding belly. “I get hungry at the oddest hours.”
Putting his hands on her belly, he dipped his head and kissed it. “Our daughter is a night creature. She wants you to eat when she’s awake.”
Syssi stroked his head. “I can’t wait to meet her, but I’m also a little scared.”
“Of what?” Straightening, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and led her out of the bedroom.
“I’m afraid that I won’t know what to do, and that I will make mistakes. Babies are so fragile.”
“I’m sure Nathalie and Eva will be glad to help. And if you want, my offer to invite your parents to live in the village is still on the table. Just say the word, and I’ll make it happen.”
She smiled sadly. “I wish it was that simple. Regrettably, my wishes are not my parents' top priority, which is fine. I want them to be happy and live their lives to the fullest. I just wish that I was more important to them.”
Perhaps it was time that he had a talk with his parents-in-law.
Syssi wouldn’t be happy about that, though. And it might not help either. He wasn’t going to thrall them into spending more time with their daughter.
“Did you talk with them about visiting when the baby comes?” He pulled a barstool out for her.
“My mother said that they would try to be here for the delivery and stay for a couple of weeks.”
“That’s good.” He opened the fridge and took out a couple of containers with dinner leftovers.
“Not really. They also tried to come for my graduation and didn’t. So it’s not a sure thing that they will make it.”
“They came for the wedding.” He put the containers on the counter and took out two plates.
“Let’s see what we got.” She opened the first one. “The salad was good. I’ll have some of that.”
He emptied half of the container onto her plate. “Anything else?”
“That will do. I don’t want to eat anything heavy before bed.” She took the fork he handed her. “You still didn’t tell me what the call was all about.”
“It was Turner. The young woman Eleanor and Kri were supposed to get out of a cult turned out to be an immune and a potential Dormant. Kri wasn’t invited for the same session as Eleanor, but luckily, Turner enrolled two additional Guardians in the program to keep an eye on her. One of them had unprotected sex with the girl and bit her, and now they need to get her out of there before she starts transitioning. Eleanor suggested for him to take the girl to the cabin. I guess Peter told her about it.”
“Or she might have heard about it from Wendy.”
“Are those two even on speaking terms?” Kian put cold pasta on his plate and the rest of the salad.
“They’ve made their peace.” Syssi smiled. “It warms my heart to see Wendy thriving. From a sad, mistrustful girl, she's turned into a confident young woman.”
“The love of a good man.” Kian winked.
“One of the best. I adore Vlad.”
“Turner made an interesting observation. Immune Dormants might be more common than we thought. Out of the twenty-three we’ve discovered so far, four are immune. That’s almost twenty percent.”
“Twenty-three? Who am I missing?”
“I made the same mistake. I forgot about Ronja and Lisa, and there is the new girl, Anastasia. Or so we hope.”
“Amanda will be tickled when she hears about yet another couple using the cabin as their love pad. Buying that place was a good move.”
“I didn’t have much choice.” Kian twirled some noodles on his fork. “We destroyed it. It was either repairing it to look as if nothing had happened or purchasing it and fixing it up properly.”
“I’m sure the Fates had something to do with that.” Syssi waved with her fork. “They guided Dalhu to the cabin. Just think how perfect it is, and how many couples fell in love within its walls.”
Kian chuckled. “Maybe we should get Mey to listen to the echoes embedded in that cabin. There could be love magic stored in them.”
“Don’t make fun of me.”
“I would never do that.”
&nbs
p; Smiling, she leaned and kissed his cheek. “You are a terrible liar.” She leaned back and got that far away look in her eyes that meant she was coming up with an idea.
“With Anastasia being an immune, Leon can’t tell her anything until she starts transitioning, which is terrible. But what if we send Lisa up there to check her out? She might be able to tell whether Anastasia is a Dormant or not.”
“We don’t know whether Lisa can do that. She claims to be able to feel immortals, but it could be just a heightened sense of affinity.”
“True, but it’s a rare opportunity to test her ability on a potential Dormant. She can tell us what she feels about Anastasia, and later we will discover whether she was right.”
“It’s not going to be a conclusive test either way.”
“I know. But we need to start testing her. If she is right more times than she’s wrong, then she’s worth her weight in gold. We could use a Dormant detector.”
“How? Are we going to have Lisa sit in coffee shops and scan the customers?”
Syssi shrugged. “We will think of something. Maybe psychic conventions? That’s where Julian found Vivian.”
Leaning over, he kissed her cheek. “I have a feeling that no matter what we do, we won’t find any Dormants unless the Fates want us to find them.”
“You might be right, but that shouldn’t stop us from continuing to try.”
58
Eleanor
“Sit.” Eleanor pointed at her bed.
Casting a worried glance at Peter, Wesley obeyed her command.
To those who didn’t know him, Peter looked scary. He was built like a pro-wrestler, and his pointy dark beard added a devilish flare, which women found sexy, and men found intimidating, especially short and scrawny ones like Wesley.
