Page 29 of Dark Rebel’s Reckoning (The Children Of The Gods #93)

29

KIAN

K ian rested his elbow against the SUV's tinted window and watched the city slide past. He felt a steady hum under his feet as the vehicle navigated a sparse stretch of highway on its way to the keep. Next to him, Toven sat with a notepad and a pencil, sketching what seemed to be a silhouette of a woman.

"What are you drawing?" he asked the god.

Toven shrugged. "I'm just relaxing before the interrogation. I don't enjoy dealing with filth, so I try to fill my mind with beauty before we get started."

Kian understood that perfectly, and he wished he had some artistic talent that could help take the edge off. Regrettably, he only knew how to do that with a smoke or a drink, and he had neither with him. He didn't have any smokes in the keep either, but at least he had a bottle of whiskey stashed in his old office.

Perhaps he could send Anandur to get him some cigarillos. Even cigarettes would do in a pinch.

Weariness settled in his chest, but he shoved it aside. The clan's work was never done, and there were always more monsters prowling in the night. This particular fiend played at being a doctor, and Kian had a feeling that he would be one of the worst he'd ever encountered.

He stifled a chuckle.

How many times had he thought that, and how many times had he discovered that there were worse demons out there and that there was no end to depravity.

"I need to know where you want me to begin," Toven said.

Kian shifted in his seat. "Start with the basics. We don't even know his name. We only know him as the Doctor, which is a lie. He's no physician, but he pretends to be. I also want to know his position in the Brotherhood and his relationship to Navuh. He's not one of the adopted sons, but Dalhu's information might be outdated, and I haven't checked with Lokan about new players."

Toven nodded. "I assume you also want to know whether he was in Iran on the Brotherhood's orders or doing his thing on the side."

It hadn't even occurred to Kian that the Doomer might have been pursuing a private agenda. It was very difficult for Doomers to step out of line. They were always sent out in teams, and the team members kept rotating so no one gained a following or could do things behind Navuh's back. The Brotherhood's leader had learned his lesson after Kalugal, his own flesh and blood son, had assembled an entire platoon of warriors who had been loyal only to him and then given Navuh the slip during WWII.

"That's a good suggestion. I need to know his local ties and his connections to the regime." Kian let out a breath. "I suspect that he's found a method of identifying Dormants, and I hope he hasn't shared it with the rest of his brethren."

Toven put his small sketchpad in his pocket. "How likely is that?"

"Not very likely. The rank-and-file Doomers are clueless about Dormants. Navuh wants them to believe that only the Dormants on the island exist—the descendants of those he inherited from his father. They have no idea, or at least that was true until now, that there are Dormants in the general population."

Toven arched a brow. "How can they be so blind? They know that they themselves start as Dormants and are induced into immortality. Don't they deduce that their sisters might be Dormants as well?"

Kian shrugged. "Perhaps the new generation of smart immortals Navuh is breeding will figure it out, but the older generations believed what they were told. Even if they knew, they believed that females are only good for breeding, and therefore inducing the girls' transition would be a waste of resources because their fertility would dramatically drop. They need the women to produce as many males as possible for Navuh's army."

"That ignorance is carefully cultivated," Toven murmured.

"It's possible that the Doctor is close enough to Navuh to have been told the truth, but the more likely scenario is that he encountered Kyra by chance. I need to know how he found her, though. What she was doing in that institute and what he did to her."

"You assume that he didn't know she was a Dormant when he encountered her."

Kian nodded. "He obviously took advantage of her and inadvertently induced her transition. Then, when she broke free and set other women loose, he must have realized where her super strength came from. They probably had camera surveillance in there. He could have seen a recording of her breaking chains and shattering doors."

"He could have thought that it was a psychotic episode," Toven said. "Maybe in combination with the drugs she was given. Humans can summon great strength in short bursts."

"He knew what he was giving her, so he wouldn't have had another explanation for it. She'd gone in a normal woman. Then the sedation wore off, and she had the strength and reflexes of an immortal. I want you to confirm all that."

Toven nodded slowly. "So, the theory is that the Doctor is dealing with personally discovered information, and we hope that he hasn't shared it with the Brotherhood and is operating on his own." The god lifted his smart eyes to Kian's. "Perhaps he figured he could have a little breeding program of his own on the side and start building his own army of immortals."

"That's possible. I think that's the main reason Navuh convinced the Brotherhood that the only Dormants in existence are on the island. He didn't want anyone to get any bright ideas."

"Did you ask the rescued women if the Doctor told them anything about his plans?"

Kian shook his head. "They just got here, and they are still shaken from their ordeal. I'd rather get the answers from the Doomer than torment the women with questions that will bring them pain."

Toven nodded. "I agree. Anything else you want me to ask him?"

"The team brought back four human girls," Kian said, leaning back and stretching his legs. "I want to know if they were taken because he thought they were Dormants."

Toven's forehead wrinkled in thought. "Did you ask them about paranormal abilities?"

"No," Kian admitted. "I didn't for the same reason I didn't ask them anything else. I'd rather get it all out of him."

The SUV slowed as Anandur steered off the main road onto the driveway leading to the keep's underground garage.

Kian ran a hand over his face. "It's borderline amazing, and not in a good way, how many atrocities we've learned about in the last few weeks alone. I half-wish I could close my eyes and pretend the world is normal. That no one else is hunting Dormants, or trafficking people, or preying on children." He gave Toven a tight smile. "But you and I both know that ignorance isn't bliss. It just allows the monsters to run free."

As the SUV descended the spiraling ramp into the keep's lower underground levels, Kian felt a slight shift in pressure, a reminder that they were going deeper than any standard basement or parking garage.

Finally, the SUV rolled to a stop, and Anandur cut the engine.

Brundar opened his door first, stepping out swiftly to scan the area. There wouldn't be a threat in the clan's secure parking level, but the Guardian was always vigilant.

Besides, Kian had been attacked in this very garage by Igor and held at fang point, so there was that. Brundar had taken his failure to protect Kian almost as hard as Kian had taken having his blood sucked by that fiend.

He took a slow breath, then pushed the SUV door open and stepped onto the smooth concrete. The air held a chill and a musty smell that always lingered underground. He patted his coat pocket, confirming that his compulsion-filtering earpieces were on hand. He would need them once Toven got started.

Toven emerged beside him. "We're heading straight to the interrogation room, right?"

"Not right away. He's in stasis, so Anandur is going to soak him in water first to revive him. Then he's going to be mildly sedated, and only then will we go in. Kyra wants to be part of the interrogation, but she's going to be disappointed that we are using compulsion instead of letting Max beat the shit out of the monster. She was looking forward to that."

Toven arched a brow. "That doesn't sound like the traumatized victim you described."

"She is a strange combination of victim and warrior. She's been hurt badly, but she's not ready to roll over and play dead. She's ready to fight."