Page 42 of Dark Voyage Matters of the Soul

"That was just one part of the plan," Kian said. "The second part was eliminating the Doomers who ordered the attack on the village. I know that it won't fix anything and that the Brotherhood will just send reinforcements, but I can't in good conscience let them live."

Dalhu nodded. "I agree on both counts. We need to take them out."

Frankie

"Thank you all for coming." Frankie pulled out a couple of chairs from a nearby table and added them to the one she and Mia had chosen. "I would buy you all drinks, but since they are on the house, it doesn't count toward repayment. All I can offer you is my sincere thanks."

Darlene waved a dismissive hand. "I'm so glad that this is behind me. I still remember how scary it was, and I'm happy to help in any way I can."

"Thank you." Frankie waved at Bob. "Can you come over and take our orders?"

"Yes, mistress, of course." He zoomed in from behind the bar. "What can I serve you, ladies?"

After they were done ordering their drinks and snacks, Frankie turned to Gabi. "Can you tell me about your transitioning experience? How long did it take to start after you and Aru started to work on it?"

"It just happened. Aru didn't know about Dormants. I knew I was one and what it meant, but I didn't know that Aru was a god.Anyway, my transition started on the third day." She smiled. "A god's venom is very potent."

Frankie felt the blood drain from her face. It was her fourth day with Dagor, and she'd even gotten a transfusion from him. She should have started transitioning already.

Perhaps she wasn't a Dormant after all.

She swallowed the bile that rose in her throat.

But wait a moment. They had used condoms at the beginning. The first time they hadn't was yesterday.

There was no reason to panic.

She let out a breath and turned to Kaia. "What about you? How long did it take for your transition to start?"

"Five days."

That was encouraging. "Was it difficult?"

"Not at all." Kaia glanced at her mother. "But it was slow for me. It took forever for my healing time to improve. I must be a very weak immortal."

"What does that mean?" Frankie asked. "I didn't know that there were weak and strong immortals."

"The more removed a Dormant is from the source, the more diluted their genes are," Kaia explained. "Kian is the son of a goddess, and therefore he is a strong immortal with an incredibly fast recovery time. I must be many generations removed from my godly ancestor, and that's why my healing time is much slower."

"There are exceptions," Darlene said. "I'm Toven's granddaughter, which makes me very close to the source, but my transition was pretty average."

After Darlene had shared the rest of her transition story and Bob had brought their drinks and snacks, Frankie turned to Karen. "Mia tells me that you are waiting for your husband's fangs and venom to be functional to transition."

Karen winced. "Gilbert and I are not married, but that's not important. We are fully committed to each other, and now that Gilbert is immortal, he's even more possessive and jealous than he was before. Everyone thinks that I shouldn't wait because of my age, but even though Gilbert and I have discussed several other options, neither of us is comfortable with any of them. Gilbert's latest idea was to ask one of the gods to volunteer his fangs. The advantages of that are clear. First of all, a god's venom is more potent, which will give me a better chance, and he can also thrall Gilbert and me, so it's not as difficult for us. But since Toven, Aru, and Dagor are already taken, that leaves only Negal."

"Not for long," Frankie said. "I plan to introduce him to my friend Margo, and if they hit it off like Dagor and I did, Negal will be taken as well. If you want to proceed with your plan, I suggest that you do that before we reach Cabo and Margo comes on board."

Karen groaned. "No pressure. No pressure at all." She briefly closed her eyes. "Is there any chance you could talk to Negal for us and explain what we need? It's so damn embarrassing. How the hell am I going to ask him such a thing?"

"I sure can," Frankie said. "Negal is a good guy. I have no doubt that he will be happy to do it."

Kaia shook her head. "You are not in high school, Mom, and you are not asking a friend to find out if a guy likes you. This is a delicate matter that should be addressed with the gravity it deserves by either you or Gilbert, but Gilbert is the better choice to approach Negal. The guy doesn't get embarrassed by anything."

"I'd better talk to Gilbert right away." Karen pushed to her feet and smiled apologetically at Frankie. "I hope you don't mind that I'm leaving so abruptly."

"Of course not." She waved her off. "Good luck."

Karen turned to leave but then turned back. "Do you know where we can find Negal?"

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