by I. T. Lucas
“Say no more. The food is no problem. My house is always fully stocked. Anything in particular you have in mind?”
“Frankly, I have no clue. I just know that it’s not frozen pizza.”
“Let me think. We don’t want anything too heavy or too garlicky.” Callie chuckled. “You don’t want to chase away the vampire. You want to get him in the right mood. Pasta is messy, and steak is too everyday. How about fish? I can make an awesome salmon dish.”
“Sounds good to me. Do you know if Yamanu likes fish?”
It was embarrassing how little she knew about the guy she’d just agreed to marry.
“No clue. But I haven’t met anyone yet who didn’t like this dish. I think it’s a safe bet. So that’s settled. I also have a nice selection of wines. I don’t have candles, but that’s not a problem. I can go on a quick scavenging run and get everything you need. How about sexy lingerie? I know Amanda always has new designer stuff that she’d be overjoyed to contribute.”
“I’m good in that department.”
“What else? I can hook you up with several silk scarves, those are multipurpose. You can use one as a blindfold and the others to tie Yamanu to the bed.”
Mey laughed. “You are making me blush.”
“That was the intention. But seriously. There is a lot you can do with silk scarves, and it doesn’t need to be kinky. Go on YouTube to get some ideas.”
“Thanks for the suggestion. I will. And thank you so much for doing this for me. I owe you.”
“Nonsense. You can pay me back by making me one of your bridesmaids.”
“The spot is yours regardless. But once I’m a fully accepted member of the clan and can go shopping, I’m going to invite you and Brundar for dinner. I’m not nearly as good a cook as you are, but I’m decent.”
“Offer accepted. See you in an hour.” Callie ended the call.
Mey glanced at her watch. How did Callie plan on cooking dinner and collecting romantic paraphernalia in such a short time?
The better question was, what was Mey going to do in the meantime?
Perhaps she could go on YouTube and find out what silk scarves could be used for.
50
Kian
Kian glanced at his watch. It was after six and time to call it a day. Syssi expected him home by seven, and he was looking forward to eating dinner with her and hearing all about her day. The question was whether he should relax first with a cigarillo on the roof or go home and smoke it in the backyard.
His phone ringing solved the dilemma.
Kian had been expecting a call from Lokan after his meeting with the government contact, and hopefully, the guy had some good news about the paranormal division’s location.
If there was one.
He accepted the call while heading for the stairs. “Hello, Lokan. Got anything for me?”
“I do, but it’s not what you’ve been expecting. The guy I met had no new information about the paranormal talent collection effort, but he told Carol and me a very interesting story about a civilian job he did a couple of years ago. A reclusive billionaire, whose name he obviously couldn’t reveal, bought a mansion in the Bay Area and added a three-story deep underground bunker that could house a hundred people comfortably, and installed a state-of-the-art computer and communications system. He hired my guy to handle the cybersecurity for the house and for the basement complex.”
Kian pulled out the cigarillo box and sat down on the rocker chair. “It’s an interesting story, but I don’t see how it has anything to do with our search for the paranormals the government is supposedly collecting.” He lit up and took a puff.
Lokan chuckled. “Your head is still geared toward the paranormals. This is about something completely unrelated.”
“Like what?”
“Doesn’t the setup make you curious? A big underground facility? A reclusive billionaire who my contact suspects made his money on Wall Street?”
As soon as Lokan mentioned Wall Street, the cogs in Kian’s mind shifted gears. “You think that it might be Kalugal?”
“It’s a possibility that is worth checking out.”
“It’s probably a long shot, but I can have my hackers gather more information about the guy. Do you have the address?”
“I do. After Malcolm told us the story, I peeked into his brain and got the name of the city as well as a visual of the location. That was enough for me to find it on Google Maps.”
“Good work. Text it to me.”
A long moment passed before Lokan spoke again. “I need your word that you are not going to take out Kalugal and his men. I will not aid you in doing that.”
That was to be expected, but Kian couldn’t give his word without knowing what he was dealing with first. He also didn’t need Lokan to tell him the address.
As long as he knew the mansion was in the Bay Area, he could find out the rest by checking out real estate transactions that were about two years old, and then cross-referencing the information with city records of building permits granted in the same timeframe. Even in an affluent area, probably not many mega mansions had exchanged owners about two years ago, and even fewer had undergone extensive renovations and expansions.
Still, Lokan had called him with the information, and he needed assurances that he hadn’t betrayed his brother by doing so.
“Look. My mother asked me to look for Kalugal as a favor to yours, so it’s not like I have malicious intentions toward the guy. But if I discover that he poses a threat to my clan or that he is involved in something really bad, I can’t promise you that I will do nothing about it. I can promise you, however, that I will not take any steps against him or concerning him without consulting with you first.”
“Fair enough. Let me know the moment you learn anything.”
“I will. You have my word.”
A few moments later Kian got a message with the address, forwarded it to William, and then called the guy.
“Where did you get it?” William asked.
“From Lokan.” Kian relayed the rest of the information. “I want you to check it out. See if you can hack into the security system.”
“From what you’ve told me, that system is not going to be hackable. What I can do, however, is hack into the security feed of nearby restaurants and cafés. If he ventures outside his home, which he must if he wants to meet any ladies to seduce, then we can probably catch his face on one of those.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“Do you want me to stop the other searches? We are maxed out.”
“Yeah, I think this is worth checking out first. How long will it take you?”
“How far back do you want me to go? A week? A month?”
“Let’s make it a month. I want to either confirm that it’s him or discard the information and move on. What do you think, should I send someone with a drone to snoop around? Or maybe install a camera across the street from his gate?”
“If the guy hired the best cybersecurity firm in the country to protect his data, I’m sure he has done no less with his other security measures. We don’t want to spook him prematurely. After we confirm that it’s him, we can decide what to do next.”
“Right. Except, even if you don’t find his puss in the feeds, it doesn’t mean that he’s not there.”
“I’m aware of that. But again, let’s exhaust this first. After investing so many millions in this location, the guy is not going anywhere unless he feels threatened, and I doubt he stays home and never goes out.”
“True.”
After hanging up with William, Kian lit up another cigarillo and pushed back on the rocker. Holding the phone with one hand, he scrolled through his saved photos until he found Kalugal’s. It was a scan of the portrait Tim had drawn, but even on the device’s small screen, Kalugal’s personality shone through.
He was a good-looking fellow, with striking blue eyes and brown hair, but his best feature was his smile.
The guy was a charmer.
If he was the reclusive billionaire, though, then he was obviously not as light-hearted as he appeared in the portrait, and he was very serious about security. Which meant that finding out what he was doing in that bunker of his was going to be extremely difficult. Even more so than infiltrating a secret government facility holding paranormals.
Yamanu’s shrouding and thralling wasn’t going to be helpful because it only worked on humans, and conventional means of spying weren’t going to work either because the recluse was at the top of his game in that regard.
Which brought to Kian’s mind Mey and Jin’s extraordinary spying talents. Could Jin’s ability work on immortals?
What she could do was quite incredible. With one touch, she formed a connection to a person and could then spy on him or her whenever needed.
The question was whether she could do the same with immortals.
Mey’s talent worked on both, but then she listened to information stored in the walls, and it wasn’t about mental connection. Jin’s talent required hands-on, literally, so it might be ineffective on immortals.
Still, there was a chance that it was.
If they managed to find her, Jin could help them spy on Kalugal. Provided that he was indeed the reclusive billionaire, she could walk into a restaurant or a café he was visiting, touch him, and that was it. From that point on, it would be as if they had a hidden camera attached to his forehead.
51
Annani
“Hello, my darling son.” Annani motioned for Kian to bend down so she could kiss him. “I hope you came because you missed me and not because you have bad news.”
“In fact, I might have a bit of good news, although it could be premature.”
Kian had given her a thorough update about the mission without smoothing the edges for a change. He had not tried to minimize the consequences of what might happen if some of the Doomers had managed to escape and report that it had been the clan and not the police who had seized their comrades.
Annani appreciated that. Shielding her from the clan’s problems was absurd, and she was glad Kian had finally realized it.
“I am always eager for good news.” She motioned to the couch.
He waited until she was seated before sitting down himself. “I asked Lokan to arrange meetings with the contacts from whom he’d learned about the paranormal program. Earlier today, he had such a meeting in the Bay Area, and although he didn’t learn anything new about the government’s paranormal division, he discovered other interesting information.”
Annani listened to his report without interrupting, but her eyebrows hiked up a few times. It was not like Kian to make assumptions on so little information.
“The reclusive billionaire could be anyone, Kian. And his reason for building an emergency bunker might be simple paranoia and not a cadre of immortal warriors he needs to hide. Many people are concerned with nuclear power in the hands of unstable dictatorial regimes. Without proper safeguards, a crazy despot could cause the end of the world. Sometimes I get afflicted by such fears as well, and then I think that we should build proper shelters for our people.”
“That’s actually not a bad idea. Except, those are insanely expensive to build, and we can't afford them at this time.” He sighed. “Sometimes, I wish we didn’t have such high standards for ourselves. We could have all the money we needed by doing what we suspect Kalugal does. You can get very rich very fast by trading stocks when you have inside information.”
“That is true.” She patted his knee. “But that would be cheating, and innocent people would be affected negatively. Our mission is to make life better for everyone on the planet, and we do that by promoting new and better technologies and democracy.”
“I know, Mother. It’s just that sometimes I get frustrated with how long it takes.”
“There are no shortcuts, my son.” She chuckled. “I read all those ridiculous claims of people achieving great things by working only a few hours a day or even a week, and I feel sorry for all the fools who believe in that, spending their lives searching for those shortcuts, or hacks as they call them now, instead of working hard. I am all for working smart, mind you, but nothing significant can be achieved without putting in the time and effort first.”
Kian nodded. “Then I’ll rephrase. I wish I were smarter and could achieve more in less time.”
“Another way to approach this problem is to surround yourself with smart people who can aid you. But I know that you have tried and have not seen much success.”
“I've had some. Turner is a great asset, and if not for my damn pride, I could have relegated all security matters to him. Bridget is awesome at leading the war against traffickers and rescuing their victims, Vanessa is managing the rehabilitation center without any input from me, and Julian is doing a great job with the halfway house.”
“Indeed. It is only in business that you have a hard time finding competent people.”
“Right, but we got sidetracked. I came to tell you about the new clue and to ask you about the various powers the gods used to have. Do you remember anyone having Mey’s ability?”
“Listening to the echoes of past conversations embedded in walls?”
He nodded.
“I am not sure. There were many rumors, some of which were spread by the gods with the intention of making them look even more powerful than they were. I heard about a lot of bizarre abilities, but I cannot tell you whether they were real.”
“What about what Mey’s sister can do? Touching a person and creating a permanent link to him or her?”
Annani shook her head. “I have never heard of a thing like that. I can remote view on occasion, and the viewing takes place in real time as well, but it is an unpredictable ability, and I cannot use it at will. So, in a way, Jin is more powerful than I am. On the other hand, I do not need to touch the person or even to know him or her to see what they are doing. I regard it as something the Fates wish for me to see, and not a power that I possess.”
Kian leaned forward and braced his elbow on his knees. “I wonder about Mey and Jin’s peculiar abilities and how they came to be. What if they are the next step in human evolution and have nothing to do with us? If they exhibit powers that even the gods did not have, they might not be carriers of the godly genes.”
“Fates forbid.” Annani put her hand over her heart. “Poor Yamanu would be devastated. I saw him walking outside early this morning and went out to see what was troubling him. He told me about his dilemma.”
Kian narrowed his eyes. “What exactly did he tell you?”
“I am not at liberty to reveal his secrets, but he is worried about losing his powers if he takes Mey as his mate.”
Letting out a breath, Kian relaxed his shoulders. “I assume that he told you about his celibacy and the reasons for it.”
“He did. Did he tell you as well?”
“Yes, and I didn’t know what advice to give him. On the one hand, I can’t expect Yamanu to keep it up because it is grossly unfair to him, but on the other hand, I’m afraid of losing his ability to protect the clan and to shroud missions. I can’t begin to imagine how much worse last night’s fiasco would have been without Yamanu’s shroud. And that’s another matter I wanted to discuss with you. If Yamanu is not willing to pass Mey to another male, we might consider inducing her the way we did with Turner. Although I can’t think of a way that we could explain how she transitioned without revealing your part in it.”
Annani nodded. “That won’t be necessary. I told Yamanu to go ahead and claim his mate. If he loses his powers, which I hope he will not, we will find another solution.”
“I think it is safe to assume that he will lose it. From the way he explained it, I understand that his repressed sexual energy is channeled into his shrouds and thralls. Without it, there would be
no fuel.”
Annani put a hand on Kian’s arm. “I am not sure about that at all. Yamanu is an old immortal, and he has been doing this for a very long time. I think there is a good chance he will still be able to harness the necessary energy when needed. He can do that with meditation, or maybe even with short-term abstinence. Several days without sex might be all he needs. In any case, he cannot refuse a gift from the Fates. To do so is to court their wrath.”
52
Yamanu
“You've had enough, my man.” Anandur caught the bar, lifted it off Yamanu’s chest, and put it back on the rack. “If you want, I can put on lower weights. But I think you should call it a day.”
“You’re right.”
The truth was that Yamanu was so done that he probably couldn’t lift a chair, but fear was driving him to push harder. The more exhausted he was, the less chance there was of him hurting Mey.
“What time is it?”
Anandur glanced at his watch. “It’s six-thirty.”
Yamanu was supposed to get back home in an hour, and he still needed to shower, shave, and get dressed.
“Can I ask what this is all about?” Anandur threw a bunch of paper towels on his chest. “You usually train hard, but not this hard.”
Pushing up to a sitting position, Yamanu grabbed a couple of the towels and wiped the sweat off the back of his neck. “Killing time. I didn’t do shit in New York, and I was starting to feel flabby.”
Not a lie, just not the complete truth.
Anandur let out a breath. “Good. I was starting to worry that there was trouble in paradise. Everything okay at home?”
“Perfect.” Yamanu pushed up to his feet. “Thanks for spotting me. I’m going to hit the showers.”
