Laura Jo Phillips (43 page)

Her survey of the room ended there as Ran approached her, picked her up into his arms and kissed her long and deeply.  “You are so beautiful,” he whispered when he raised his lips from hers.  “We are so blessed, and so honored by you.  I would have you know that I will love you all the days of my life and beyond.”

Summer smiled as she caressed his face lightly with one hand.  “That makes me happier than I ever imagined it was possible to be.”

Ran kissed once more, then carried her to the bed and sat her carefully in the center of it.  Then he, Maxim and Loni removed most of their clothing, save only their pants, and joined her on the bed.

“The first part of the ritual is that we inject you with our mating fangs,” Maxim said.  “It will not cause you pain.”

Summer shrugged nervously.  “I am not afraid of a little pain,” she said.  “But what will the serum do to me?”

“The first injection will speed up your ability to regenerate,” he replied.  “It is necessary that you are able to regenerate quickly in order to be able to shift into an alter form.  The side effects of that are that you will not age, and you will heal quickly from most injuries or illnesses.”

“Most?” Summer asked.

“Magical weapons and nuclear or radiation weapons will not heal as well as mundane injuries,” Maxim explained.  “Such injuries must heal normally as they do in humans.”

“Okay,” Summer said.  “What do I need to do?”

“Just relax,
kilenka
,” Maxim said as he shifted on the bed until he was behind her.  “Lie down here.”

Summer lay back as Maxim indicated so that Loni was on her left side, Ran on her right, and Maxim near her head.  Maxim lowered himself until he too was lying on the bed with his head next to hers.  He looked at his brothers, who nodded as they each picked up one of Summer’s wrists and raised them to their mouths.

“Easy now,
kilenka
,” Maxim said into her ear.  “This will only take a moment.  Please do not move.”

“All right,” Summer said, doing her best to relax.  She knew that these men would never cause her harm.  She knew that they loved her.  And she wanted this.  She was just a little nervous about the unknown.

At some silent signal that Summer missed, Maxim lowered his head to her neck and at the same time, Loni and Ran lowered their mouths to her wrists.  They all sank their mating fangs into her flesh, but she felt only a mild stinging sensation.  She focused on her breathing, unable to do anything about the rapid beat of her heart as she forced herself to remain motionless for what seemed like an eternity.

Finally, all at the exact same time, the Katres lifted their mouths from her flesh and she felt them each lick her where their mouths had been, just once.  Loni and Ran lowered her wrists back to her sides and Maxim raised his head.

“How do you feel?” he asked her.

“Okay, just a little nervous,” she admitted.  “Is it done?”

“Yes love, it is done,” Loni replied.

Summer took a long deep breath of relief.  “That was easy,” she said, trying to make her voice sound light.

Maxim and Ran chuckled softly as Maxim rose to his knees.  “You are very brave,” Maxim said.  “Now, how would you like a bath?” 

“A bath?” Summer asked in surprise.  “Um...okay?”

“Come,” Maxim said, picking her up once more before working his way off of the bed.  “This part of the process will take about an hour,” he explained as they all walked across the room and through a door into a large bathroom that was lit with candles like the bedroom.  “Then, you will suddenly begin to feel sleepy,” he said as he set her on her feet.  Loni walked over to a large tub that, to Summer, seemed more like a swimming pool than a bath tub by the size.  He reached in to check the water temperature and nodded in approval. 

“What happens after I get sleepy?” Summer asked, as she watched appreciatively while all three of her men removed their pants.  Ran caught her gaze and grinned at her.  “Sorry
saritu
,” he said, we won’t be able to indulge ourselves until later.”

Summer made a show of sighing heavily.  “Too bad,” she said as Maxim reached for the belt of her robe and untied it. 

“Do not worry, we will get there,” Maxim said as he slipped the robe off of her, laid it carefully over a stool, and led her to a set of steps. 

“This is the first time I have ever had to climb stairs to get into a bath tub,” she said as she walked up the marble stairs, then down more steps on the other side into the warm, scented water.  She saw that the edges of the tub were lined with seats so she selected one and lowered herself all the way down, sighing with pleasure.  She realized too late that she had forgotten to put her hair up so it wouldn’t get wet, flipped her soaked braid back over her shoulder and shrugged.  It would dry.

“So, what happens when I get sleepy?” she asked again when all three of the men were in the tub with her.

“You will suddenly fall into a very deep sleep,” Maxim said as he reached for Summer’s braid, pulled it forward and released the braid with nimble fingers.  “That is when your DNA will be rewritten to be Jasani instead of human.”

“I remember everything I’ve ever read,” she said, “but I’ve never read any medical books.  My knowledge of such things is very limited, but even so, that does not sound good.”

“It is, in truth, the most dangerous part of this process,” Maxim admitted, as he released Summer’s loose hair and watched it float in the water.  “You will sleep for about an hour.  When your DNA is finished being rewritten, we will have only a short time to inject you a second time to begin the next step in the process.”

“Which is?” Summer asked.

“Your body must change to match your new DNA,” he replied.  “That is the part that is painful, so we will have Shali here for that.”

“Will I be conscious?”

“I do not know,” Maxim said, reaching out to run his fingers lightly through her hair.  “I know that neither Lariah nor Saige were, but that is because they were put into a deep sleep to escape the pain.  I do not know if Shali will do the same thing or not.”

“You do realize that my hair is now completely soaked and, since I will be lying down sleeping, it will be a mess of snarls later.”

Maxim smiled.  “When you go to sleep, we will dry it for you and braid it.  Do now worry
kilenka,
you are our Arima, and it is our privilege to take care of you in all ways.”

It occurred to Summer to warn them that she was not a doll, and that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself, but she held her tongue.  She reminded herself that they had recognized she was the best one to approach the Aki, and that her plan to go alone into the compound on Li-Hach-Cor was the best one.  They wished to care for her, but she didn’t think they meant to smother her.  And if they did, she would just have to educate them.

“Why do you smile?” Ran asked her, breaking into her thoughts.

“No reason,” she said, searching for a change of subject,  “By the way, what do you think the explanation is for William?  Do you think he really is related to Mara?”

“We will soon find out,” Maxim replied.  “Did he say anything of import?” 

“There were a few things you should know,” she said.  “The first is, he was able to scent the Controllers in all three of us.”

That got a few surprised looks, as she had known it would.  “I believe he scented the brain chemistry changes caused by its activity though because when I deactivated mine, he knew it.  He tried to verbally reactivate it to Control me, but of course that didn’t work.”

“That’s interesting,” Maxim said. 

“Yes, I thought so,” Summer said.  “He thought someone else was using the Controllers and threatened to kill Darleen in order to get whoever it was to show themselves.  That’s why I had to attack him.  When he reached for her, I struck his arm off with the katana.” 

“Excellent,” Maxim approved. 

“That’s when he told me that it would
self heal
in a few days, but that I should not worry because our children would heal much more quickly.”

“Your children?” Maxim asked, shocked. 

Summer glanced at Ran and Loni, noting that they too were stunned by that bit of information.  So much so that their eyes were beginning to glow.  “Don’t get worked up,” she said.  “He’s dead now, remember?”

“What else?” Maxim asked.

“He knew that I was a
berezi
, and he said that he was my husband and I was his bride.  That’s when he told me his full name.  Right after that, I decided to see if his head would grow back the way he said his arm would.”

“I just noticed something,” Ran said. 

“What’s that?” Summer asked curiously.

“You have a bit of a temper, don’t you?”

Summer hit the water with the heel of her hand, splashing Ran directly in the face.  “What makes you say that?” she asked sweetly.

Maxim and Loni both chuckled as Ran wiped the water from his eyes.

“What about the Xanti?” Maxim asked.  “Did he have anything to say of interest?”

“Not really,” Summer replied.  “He mostly wanted me, or rather, he wanted the
berezi
, and he said something about selling me again now that William was dead.  He also seemed to think that Lio had betrayed him.” 

“Perhaps he did,” Maxim said with a shrug.  “I am sorry to lose the information the man may have eventually given us, but I cannot say I am sorry to be rid of him.”

“I know,” Summer replied.  “I nearly turned him over to the Council before we left, and when I knew he was dead, I couldn’t help thinking that if I had done that, he would still have his life.  But, at the same time, had we not brought him, we would not have been able to bluff our way through the compound’s security.”

Maxim understood that Summer’s regret was for the loss of a life, not for Lio himself, but he did not want her to dwell on it further.  So he changed the subject.

“We have something for you,” he said.

“Yes?” Summer asked with a smile.  “What?” 

“The translation of the writing on the saya came in,” he said with a grin. 

“I didn’t even know you requested it,” Summer said. 

“Of course you didn’t,” Ran said.  “If you had, then it wouldn’t have been a surprise.”

Summer arched a brow at him and considered splashing him again.  But, as he reached over to a shelf near the tub for an electronic pad, she refrained.  For the moment.

“The writing is quite old,” Maxim said.  “Several thousand years old in fact, as is the katana itself.”

“I had a feeling it was old, but I had no idea it was that old,” Summer said.  “What does it say?”

Ran flipped on the electronic pad and scrolled through a few pages. 

“The translation is: 
In time, with Nintai, shall the double headed dragon be struck down by the heat of Natsu.”

Summer’s face paled.  “What is it?” Maxim demanded. 

Summer swallowed hard.  “When Sensei asked me my name that day, I told him it was
Natsu
.  Only I don’t know what that means, or where it even came from.  Ran, can you find out what the word
Natsu
means?”

“Of course,” Ran replied as he quickly typed a request into the electronic pad.  “According to this, it is Japanese for
summer,”
he said after a few moments.

“I thought it might be,” Summer said.  “Do you remember I told you that my parents and I had a falling out, and I changed my name?”

“Yes,” Maxim said, staring at her intently.  He did not like any of this, and regretted getting the translation.  But it was done, so now he needed to learn everything about it that he could.

“Well, I didn’t change my name because I was angry with my parents,” Summer explained.  “I did it because I wanted privacy.  Everyone knew that the famous Whitneys had one daughter, and her name was Natalie-Sue.  But the public never knew that in my family, I was always called Summer.  I always thought it was an extension of the name
Sue
.  But now I see there was more to it than that. “

“Natalie-Sue, Natsu,” Maxim murmured.  “Do you think your real name is Natsu?”

“Yes, I think so,” Summer said.  “I need to contact my parents to find out for sure, but I have one of those strange feelings again, and it’s telling me that I’m right about this.”

“So the message on the saya is saying that you will fight a dragon if you’re patient?” Ran asked doubtfully.

“Not exactly,” Summer replied.  “Sensei called the katana
Patience
.  He used it like a name.  I remember from that day when I spoke Japanese that
Nintai
is the Japanese word for Patience.  ”

“Then it means that you will fight a dragon with your katana?” Maxim asked, shaking his head before he finished the question.  “No, I do not think so.

“How about we discuss that if, and when, the time comes?” Summer suggested, hiding her grin.  She was a little amazed to realize that only a week or two earlier she would have been offended by both Maxim’s words and his tone.  Now she knew he was being overprotective and worried, not overbearing and thick-headed.

“We also got a response from Eldar Hamat regarding the
time in a cup
question,” Ran said.