Dark Secrets Resurgence (The Children Of The Gods Paranormal Romance Series Book 44)

by I. T. Lucas

  Kalugal appeared next to Anandur at the opening. “The surprise is for Sari, not for you.” He waved a hand. “Come on up, everyone.”

  Behind them, Edna asked Rufsur, “Do you know what this is about?”

  “I promised not to say a word. But I can tell you that it’s a good thing. Crazy, but good.”

  Kian didn’t like surprises, especially when Kalugal was involved, but he was curious. Besides, the pledge his cousin had taken prevented him from doing anything with malicious intent.

  It was probably some sort of expensive, one-of-a-kind gadget for Sari. Kalugal invested in many startups, and one of them might have come up with an interesting device.

  The last thing Kian had expected was the human sleeping in the back. Was he the surprise? Had Kalugal lost his mind completely?

  “Who’s that?” Syssi asked in a whisper.

  “That’s Professor David Levinson. I compelled him to sleep, and he’s not going to wake up until the plane lands in Scotland. You can talk freely in front of him.”

  Kian regarded the human, trying to figure out why Kalugal thought that the guy would be a nice surprise for Sari. Perhaps he was an archeologist, and Kalugal had brought him along for his own purposes?

  Scotland had a rich history, but Kian wasn’t aware of any current archeological digs that Kalugal might be interested in.

  He waved a hand in the human’s direction. “What is he doing here?”

  “I’ve told you already. David is my present for Sari.” Kalugal walked over to the sleeping man. “Until I met Jacki, I’ve only ever felt an affinity toward two humans. David, and a young digger in Egypt. I have a strong feeling that the professor is a Dormant, and also that he and Sari are meant for each other.”

  That was something Kian would have expected to hear from Amanda, not from Kalugal, and even she wouldn’t have kidnapped a person and brought him as a present to another.

  Amanda sauntered over and ran her fingers through the guy’s short blond hair. “He’s handsome. Sari is going to like him.”

  Behind Kian, Dalhu emitted a muffled growl.

  Looking over her shoulder, Amanda smiled at her mate indulgently. “He can’t hold a candle to you, darling, and he’s not my type, but he is Sari’s.”

  Kian shook his head. “I wouldn’t have expected a crazy stunt like that even from you, Amanda.” He turned to Kalugal. “What possessed you to do that? Did you compel the guy to come with you?”

  “I gave him a little push, but not much was needed. David took a sabbatical from Stanford to work on his sci-fi novel. When I offered him a free vacation in an enchanted castle in Scotland, he was inclined to accept, but he was a bit hesitant. After all, he barely knows me. So, I used a little compulsion to get him over that hurdle.”

  Letting out an exasperated breath, Kian ran his fingers through his hair. “You can’t bring a person as a present to Sari. You need to call her, explain why you suspect that the professor is a Dormant, and get her permission to bring him along.”

  “Where’s the fun in that?” Amanda struck a pose. “I think it’s a lovely idea. If Sari gets mad at us for bringing her the hunky professor, we can drive him to a hotel in Inverness, dump him there with a bunch of false memories, and that’s the end of the story. Although I don’t think Sari will be upset, especially if he turns out to be a Dormant.”

  Callie came closer to get a better look. “The guy is a total hottie. If Sari doesn’t want him, I’m sure there would be plenty of other takers. Right, Wonder?”

  Anandur’s mate shrugged. “Looks aren’t everything, but if Kalugal felt an affinity toward him, then he must be likable.”

  “He is,” Kalugal confirmed. “David is highly intelligent, and he’s not a pompous know-it-all like many of his colleagues. He has a reputation as a ladies’ man, but I don’t think it will be a problem once he meets the one fated for him. After all, that’s a common thing for immortals, so we can’t look down our noses at humans with a similar attitude.”

  Jacki put a hand on his shoulder. “He’s not an immortal, though, and a human man his age should have been married by now. David is probably a player who has a problem with relationships.”

  “Not necessarily,” Edna said. “If he is indeed a Dormant, the Fates might have kept him from committing to a human. He was destined for an immortal.”

  It seemed like all the ladies were in favor, but Kian still thought that Kalugal had acted irresponsibly.

  “You shouldn’t have done something like that without consulting with me. You are no longer a solo operator, Kalugal, and you can’t pull stunts like that on a whim.”

  Edna chuckled. “Do as I say, not as I do, Kian?”

  Damn, she’d got him. He often failed to include the council in his decisions, but that didn’t mean that he consulted no one.

  “I might not always involve the council, but I get Onegus and Turner’s opinions on security issues.” He turned to Kalugal. “The professor is your responsibility. If he is not a Dormant, you will take care of returning him home and erasing his memories.”

  “Of course.” Kalugal dipped his head. “And I’ll even be the one to induce him. As a three-quarters god, my venom is the most potent.”

  Talk about a pompous ass. Humility was a foreign concept to Kalugal.

  “The human is all yours.”

  16

  David

  As the jet’s wheels touched down on the runway, David woke up with a start.

  Looking ahead, he was surprised to see that the plane was full of passengers. Had he missed the stopover in Los Angeles?

  “Good morning,” the guy sitting next to him said. “Did you have a nice nap?”

  “Where are we?”

  “We just landed in Inverness.”

  David pushed the button on the seat’s armrest until it was in the upright position. “Impossible. I couldn’t have slept for fourteen hours.”

  “It was only twelve. The jet's noise is like a lullaby. It always puts me to sleep.” Smiling, the guy extended his hand. “I’m Rufsur.”

  “David.” He shook it. “Do you work for Mr. Zolotovsky?”

  The smile turned into a grin. “You could say so.”

  That was an odd answer. “Are you an associate of his?”

  “I’ll leave the explanation to him.” The guy released his seatbelt even though the plane was still taxiing and walked over to the front.

  Leaning over a seat, he spoke to someone who turned to look at David and smiled. There was something familiar about that smile, but the face didn’t belong to anyone David knew.

  The man got up, walked over, and took the seat that Rufsur had vacated a moment ago. “Hello, David.”

  “Do I know you?”

  The guy nodded. “You know me as Kajeck, but my real name is Kalugal.”

  That was absurd. “Is that a joke? You don’t look or sound like Kajeck.”

  “I was wearing a disguise.”

  If that was true, the guy had the best makeup artist on the planet. The face looking at him was so drastically different from the Russian’s that the transformation could have been achieved only with the help of extensive prosthetics. Up close, those would have been obvious no matter how well they were done.

  “I don’t buy it. No disguise is that good, and your voice sounds different.”

  The guy smirked. “Does it sound different now?” The Russian accent was spot on, and the voice was Kajeck’s.

  “You are a great mimic.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I meant that you are imitating Kajeck’s voice perfectly, but there is no way you are him.”

  “Are you sure about that?” The guy’s image wavered, changing before David’s eyes into that of Kajeck.

  He leaned away. “How did you do that?”

  “Magic.” Kajeck, aka Kalugal, waved his hand in the air.

  The image shimmered again and went back to that of a young, handsome man.

  David narrowed his eyes. “Did yo
u drug me?”

  “No, my friend. This is a dream, and you are in an alternate reality that I created for you.”

  “Come on, Kajeck or Kalugal, or whoever you are. I’m not dreaming. What’s going on?”

  The guy waved both hands in the air. “I’m a master illusionist, and I hypnotized you to dream this beautiful dream. Thanks to me, you are going to live ten fabulous, adventure-filled days in the span of three hours. You wanted a new experience to inspire your novel, and you are interested in the occult, so you should be more open-minded about it. Enjoy the ride and write the best book you can. By the end of the trip, I can promise that you’ll have plenty of new material.”

  That could explain how he got to Scotland after a short nap, but David was still not buying it. Pinching himself discreetly, he verified that he wasn’t dreaming, and that he was very much awake.

  Kajeck, or Kalugal, was not only a master illusionist but also a master bullshitter.

  David chuckled. “Just for the fun of it, I’ll humor you and play along. Who are you in this reality?”

  “My name is Kalugal, and I am a handsome demigod.”

  “And who are your friends?”

  “Other than you, everyone on board this plane is an immortal.”

  “Fascinating story. And who am I supposed to be in this alternate reality?”

  Kalugal smirked. “You are Alice, or perhaps Neo, if you prefer a masculine avatar.”

  “That’s very imaginative, but I need to know what’s going on. I’m okay with playing games as long as I know the rules and what’s at stake.”

  The guy sighed. “I knew that you were too smart to buy the simplified explanation, but the full one will take a long time, and we need to get going. I’ll tell you everything on the way to the castle. It’s a two-hour drive.”

  “I’m not moving from here until you tell me the truth.”

  Two rows up, a tall, gorgeous brunette got up and turned around. “Hello, David. My name is Amanda.” She smiled and walked toward him.

  The huge guy she’d been seated next to turned and looked at him with a baleful expression on his rugged face.

  David couldn’t blame him. If he had a woman like that, he would probably be possessive and jealous as well. Not that he had ever experienced those feelings, not even toward Stacy, who he’d been engaged to, but Amanda was inhumanly beautiful.

  “Relax, darling.” She glanced at the enormous man over her shoulder. “I’m only going to extend my colleague a professional courtesy.”

  David stared at her. The lady was not part of Stanford’s faculty. There was no way he could have missed a breathtaking beauty like that. And he hadn’t seen her at any of the conventions either.

  “Do I know you?” he asked when she offered him her hand.

  “Professor Amanda Dokani. I’m in a related field. Neuroscience.” She motioned for Kajeck, aka Kalugal, to get up. “I’ll take it from here.”

  He didn’t look happy. “We don’t have time for this, Amanda. Sari is expecting us in two hours.”

  “Don’t worry. David and I will talk during the drive to the castle. Right, David?”

  He nodded.

  As much as he wanted to insist on getting answers right away, David found himself unable to refuse the gorgeous neuroscience professor.

  17

  Kian

  As they sped through customs and passport checks, Amanda kept the professor engaged so he didn’t notice that no one had stopped them to check their luggage or documentation. The two were talking animatedly about their respective fields of research, and David seemed to have forgotten all about wanting answers right away.

  Threading her arm through Kian’s, Syssi leaned to whisper in his ear. “Do you think Amanda thralled him?”

  “It’s possible. But I think he’s more enthralled than thralled. Amanda doesn’t need any mind tricks to have a guy wrapped around her little finger.”

  Syssi cast a look at David and Amanda and then at Dalhu. “If Amanda keeps flirting with him, Dalhu is going to tear out his throat before he ever reaches Sari. Maybe it’s not a good idea for her to sit next to him in the limo. We should separate them, and you should take over the explanations. Or leave it to Kalugal. After all, this was his brainchild.”

  Kian chuckled. “Are you worried that David will fall in love with Amanda and won’t be interested in Sari?”

  “I admit that it has occurred to me, but I’m more worried about Dalhu. I can feel the aggression wafting from him.”

  The response was unwarranted, but Dalhu probably couldn’t help it. So far, he hadn’t said a word and was doing his best not to attack the unsuspecting human.

  “He shouldn’t get all worked up. Amanda couldn’t be interested in David even if she wanted to. The mated bond prevents it, and besides, she’s pregnant.”

  “Dalhu knows that, but physical attraction is not the problem. He is insecure about his lack of education. Watching Amanda talk up a storm with David makes him feel inadequate. He can’t engage her intellectually like a fellow professor in a related field can.”

  That was something Kian hadn’t considered. Syssi understood people much better than he did, but it should have occurred to Amanda as well. Then again, Amanda thought the world of her mate, so she might not have realized that he had insecurities. In any case, Syssi was right about separating them and sparing Dalhu anguish and potentially keeping David safe.

  As they followed the brothers and their mates to the two limousines waiting for them outside the airport, Kian decided on the seating arrangements. “I’ll get David to sit with us, Kalugal, and the brothers. Amanda and Dalhu will go in the second limo with the others.”

  “Kalugal will want Rufsur with him.”

  Kian shrugged. “I’ll leave it up to him. Kalugal can go in the other limousine with Edna and Rufsur, and then Wonder and Callie can be with their mates. Except, I think that he should be the one to explain the situation to David. Kalugal cooked up this mess, so he should deal with it.”

  Syssi leaned to whisper in his ear. “I don’t know if it’s a good idea to tell David everything before we reach the castle. On the one hand, it’s better to prepare him, but on the other, it’s less romantic. He should hear it from Sari.”

  Kian lowered his voice. “It doesn’t really matter. If she doesn’t like him, we can thrall the memories away, or Kalugal can compel him to forget them.”

  “It’s not about David. It’s about Sari. Think back to when you told me about yourself. Would you have liked for me to learn everything from someone else?”

  “I wouldn’t.” He would have hated it. “Change of plans. Kalugal or I will put the professor to sleep throughout the drive.”

  Syssi smiled. “That’s better.”

  Ten minutes later, they were sitting inside the limo together with Kalugal and Jacki, the brothers, and the professor, whom Kalugal had compelled to sleep.

  “So, what’s the story?” Kalugal asked. “Why did you want me to put David to sleep again?”

  “Syssi thought that it would be more romantic for Sari to tell him the full story.”

  Jacki nodded. “There is something to that. But you are assuming she’ll fall for him right away. What if she doesn’t?”

  “She will,” Kalugal said. “The moment I saw Sari, David’s face flashed in front of my eyes. I have this persistent voice in the back of my head urging me to get these two together. And since I’ve never had the urge to play matchmaker before, I guess that your Fates are involved.”

  Syssi frowned. “What does the voice sound like? Is it the same one that whispered in your ear at the new building site?”

  “Why? Do you think your ghost is involved? I thought that we’d discarded that hypothesis.”

  “Nathalie said that it couldn’t be Mark, but maybe it’s a new ghost. Did you ever experience anything like that before? If a person is a conduit, the talent usually manifests at a young age.”

  “Not like that. When I escaped my father wit
h my men, the urge to flee had been persistent, but I assumed it was my subconscious telling me that it was time, and the inner voice was my own.” Kalugal shrugged. “And it’s probably the same now. I’m so used to assuming different personalities and changing my voice that I probably do it subconsciously to my inner voice as well. Usually, the simplest explanation is the correct one.”

  Anandur chuckled. “Except when immortals and Dormants are involved. There was nothing simple or mundane about any of the matings.” He leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m glad that’s going to change once your men start dating our ladies. Finally, we will have a normal community with people meeting and getting to know each other. I just wish we had females available for our men as well. That would have made it perfect.”

  “Indeed.” Kalugal nodded. “Now that the accord is complete, we can turn our focus to the government’s paranormal program and to hunting for female Dormants. I understand the need for gender balance in our community.”

  “What are we going to tell David?” Syssi asked.

  “I’ll continue with the alternate reality story,” Kalugal said. “Given his esoteric interests, he should be open to the idea, and if not, I’ll thrall him to be more accepting of it.”

  18

  David

  When the limousine came to a stop, David opened his eyes and looked out the window. They were parked in front of an old castle that wasn’t as impressive as he’d expected. It was a sprawling four-story building, but there was nothing enchanted or even enchanting about the structure.

  If not for its two towers, it would have looked like a large building that had had wings added to it over the years. The middle part with the towers looked hundreds of years old, but the two wings looked like later additions. Perhaps the interior was where the magic was.

  The gardens, on the other hand, were a masterpiece. Whoever was taking care of the grounds was a gifted horticulturist.

  “Welcome to the enchanted castle, professor,” Kalugal said as the limo’s driver opened the passenger door.