Chapter 26 Lokan
LOKAN
Once again, the group of paranormals made their way to the gym, this time with Onegus leading the procession.
"Do we need to repeat the ceremony?" Carol asked.
Onegus shook his head. "I stand as witness to what was already done. Spencer was presented to the Fates. Now we simply offer another path to the same destination."
He turned to Spencer and smiled reassuringly. "I offer my venom freely, with no obligation beyond what was already sworn. You don't have to be my friend if you don't want to. Do you accept?"
Spencer looked taken aback. "Aren't you supposed to become my mentor? My guide into the world of immortals?"
Onegus rubbed a hand over the back of his neck. "Yes, I am. But I don't want you to feel obligated."
"What if I want to be?"
"Then I will welcome your friendship." Onegus clapped the guy on his back. "Let's do this."
What followed was very different from the careful sparring matches that had taken place on this mat before. When they entered the ring, Onegus didn't circle or give instructions. He simply said, "Defend yourself," and lunged.
Spencer, to his credit, tried to block, but he was no match for Onegus. They went down hard, with Spencer hitting the mat face down and Onegus on top of him with his fangs already extended.
Spencer gasped as Onegus bit him, his body going rigid, then limp.
"Efficiently done," Carol commented dryly.
Onegus couldn't respond since his fangs were still embedded in Spencer's neck, and he was probably counting the seconds to make sure that he gave the guy enough but not too much.
Almost a minute passed before the chief retracted his fangs and licked the puncture wounds closed.
"No point in prolonging it." Onegus rose smoothly to his feet. "The anticipation is worse than the bite itself."
Jeremy and Dylan carried the unconscious Spencer to the clinic, which was unnecessary, but Lokan didn't object.
Once the guy woke up from the venom stupor, he could go to sleep in his own bed.
The transition wasn't going to happen tonight.
Best-case scenario, it would start tomorrow, but chances were it wasn't going to happen at all.
Onegus collected his jacket from where he'd draped it over one of the treadmills and followed the procession out of the gym, but stopped next to Lokan. "Let me know if Dylan wants me to induce him. I can be here tomorrow night at the same time as today."
Lokan nodded. "He'll probably want to wait and see if Spencer is transitioning. But I'll let you know."
They parted at the elevators, with Onegus taking one to the parking level and Lokan and Carol taking the other to the clinic.
When they got there, Spencer was already awake as Lokan had predicted, his girlfriend Sofia sitting next to him and holding his hand.
"How are you feeling?" Lokan asked as he walked up to the bed.
"Loopy. Julian said that I can go as soon as I'm steady on my legs, but I'm not there yet."
"Take your time. It's not like your apartment is far away from here and you need to take a taxi to get there."
The attempt at humor was met by a weak smile from Sofia and a wince from Spencer.
"How long do we get to stay in these apartments?"
The implication of the question was obvious. Those who didn't transition would be compelled to silence and most likely sent back home.
Lokan wasn't happy with that decision. Humans were already living in the village, those that the Kra-ell had enslaved and who had chosen to live with their former masters rather than live in Safe Haven. The paranormals who didn't transition should be given the same choice.
It was true that their circumstances were different, and that, unlike the former slaves, they could have normal lives in the human world, but they had seen too much and had been exposed to too much to be satisfied with that.
"I don't know," Lokan admitted. "I'm not the boss."
Spencer shifted his gaze to Carol and lifted a brow.
"I'm not the boss either, but the idea is that those who don't transition will go home. Don't you want to do that? You have enough money saved up to provide you with an easy start."
"We can't go back," Sophia said quietly. "How can we go back and pretend like that's all there is? And what if I'm a Dormant? It's unfair that the only options I have are to either leave Spencer and hook up with an immortal or not even try."
It was unfair, but then life was fair only in fairy tales.
Spencer shook his head. "I don't want you to give up your chance for me. You will never forgive me. I can live with you hooking up with an immortal."
She cast him a sad look. "And then what? I turn immortal, and you don't? How does that work?"
Lokan walked out of the room, leaving the couple to talk, and wrapped his arm around Carol's shoulders. "Let's go home."
She looked up at him. "You mean the penthouse."
"Where else?"
Carol sighed. "We are such nomads. The apartment we shared in Beijing still feels most like home to me, but our house in the village is a close second. The penthouse is more like a fancy hotel suite."