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“Until you can do it without the visual aid and it’s second nature, stick to real clothes if you are going to hang out with Humans as no one can afford a constantly changing wardrobe. You need to maintain a fixed set of clothing. I’ve been doing this long enough that I keep a wardrobe set in my mind.”
“Right!” he nodded. That made sense to him.
They made their way down to her car for the drive to work. As she drove, she glanced over at him to catch him admiring her.
“I have another question for you,” she said. “And I want you to think carefully before you answer. The Council may ask you the same question, and you’ll need an honest answer.”
Nate was still feeling a little nervous about meeting this group, but he nodded to her. “Shoot.”
“What do you want out of your life now that you’re aware of your true self?”
Nate’s eyebrow rose. “What do I want?”
“Yes, what does your life look like to you now? How do you envision your life going forward? Give it some thought.” Camila concentrated on getting them through the busy morning traffic as Nate sat quietly thinking.
He knew he couldn’t do anything with his new state that would attract any attention. It was a colossal secret that he couldn’t share. So really, it came down to what did Nate the human want? The answer came to him quickly. A soul mate. Like his dad found with his mom. He knew he couldn’t have that with a human. He now knew he was a slow acting poison for humans. In a physical relationship at least. His platonic relationship with Jo hadn’t caused her personality to warp.
He suddenly realized he hadn’t checked on her and the guilt slammed down. “I need to call Jo. Make sure she’s ok. She was taken back to her apartment last night, wasn’t she?” he asked as he searched his pockets for his cell. Then he recalled these clothes were just a glamor but didn’t recall the phone being in his other pants.Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.
Camila nodded then caught his frown. “What’s wrong?”
He looked at her. “I think I lost my cell! What if it was on the yacht?” he asked anxiously.
Camila shook her head. “The clean-up crew doesn’t make mistakes. Besides Oletha wouldn’t have allowed you to keep it. It was likely destroyed to keep you from being located by it.”
Nate slumped back in his chair. “Another reason to hate her, as if I didn’t have enough.” He saw Camila’s sympathetic smile and sighed as he collected his thoughts. He considered the woman beside him. From her condo and her car and her role as CEO of her own company he knew she was successful and wealthy. Things he aspired to be one day. But she lived alone. He was deeply curious about that.
“Maybe I should have asked this before we enjoyed ourselves last night but, is there a Mr. Villamor?” he asked.
She snorted softly. “No, I’m not married.”
“Is there a reason? I understand there aren’t many Incubi. Is that why?” he asked.
She gave him a curious glance. “Succubi and Incubi don’t typically stay with one partner for very long.” She paused as his question exposed a significant gap in his knowledge about their kind. “You probably haven’t been told this yet, and I’m sorry to tell you so bluntly.” He looked at her nervously. “One of the important things to know about Succubi and Incubi is that we have very long lifespans. Barring accidental death, we can live for hundreds of years. Spending that much time with one partner would be difficult. It’s just not in our natures. Our longevity also means at some point you’ll have to end your relationship with your Human friend before she realizes you aren’t aging as she is. I’m sorry.”
Nate stared out the windshield at nothing at all while Camila’s words circled in his mind. It was both amazing and depressing news. He’d received the gift of living to see the future, but he wouldn’t be able to share it with Jo or bring her with him. To hide his secret, he was going to have to abandon her. The shock deepened as he thought of his gang of friends from high school and college; Joey, Dave, Jeff- shit.
He returned to the present when Camila touched his arm. He glanced around and saw they were parked in an underground parking lot. “Oh! We’re here?”
She nodded. “I’m so sorry to hit you with that information unprepared.”
“No, I was going to have to learn sometime. It’s good. I mean, some of it is good. The other part…”
She nodded. “Without knowing from the beginning, of course, you’d form strong relationships with your Human friends.”
The unfairness of it filled Nate with a directionless rage. “We can’t tell anyone?” he blurted.
“No. Never. You’d be putting their lives and ours at risk. The Council takes steps to ensure the secret remains protected,” Camila explained carefully.
“Right. I get that.” He sighed wearily. “I mean, I knew I’d be saying goodbye to them eventually but… I thought I’d be able to grow old with them. Share all that crazy old man shit with the guys.”
Camila just waited patiently.
He ran his hands over his face. “Right. OK. I got this. Let’s go meet the lawyer.”
They got out and made their way to the elevators. Nate’s mind was taking him all over the place. He had so many questions.
The elevator took them up to the top floor. Nate eyed the two large men standing by the doors in the elevator lobby, and they eyed him as they nodded to Camila.
He spotted the nameplates for the executive offices as they walked down the hall and he paused next to one. “Henry Gable, CIO,” he read aloud. Camila smiled at him. “That guy is a CIO? He can’t be much older than me!” he blurted.
“He may be a little younger,” Camila replied with a smug little smile. “Marisa is his Executive Assistant.” She glanced in the door, but her daughter wasn’t in yet.
“How did he land the CIO gig?” Nate asked.
Camila gestured for him to follow and led him down the hall to pass before the windows of a server room. Nate admired the flashing lights. The room was visibly a server room, a very neat and tidy one with lots of hi-tech looking equipment inside but he knew close to nothing about computers. “Very nice.”
She smiled and motioned for him to continue following her. They entered a waiting room with a good looking man behind a desk.
“Good morning, Felix! This is Nate Walker.” The two men nodded to each other with a smile. “Has Ms. Chandra called yet?” Camila asked.
“Good morning. Ms. Chandra called to say she would arrive in,” he glanced at the clock on his screen. “… fifteen minutes.”
“Thank you. I’ll be with Nate until she arrives.” Camila nodded and walked over to open the door to her office. With a nod to the man behind the desk, Nate followed.
He looked around as she closed the door behind them. He was impressed with the luxurious appointments of her corner office.
Camila walked behind her desk to take her seat while gesturing to Nate to take a seat before it. “While my door’s closed and the privacy ward is active, you may speak freely about anything. She started up her PC and brought up a picture on the large screen, swiveling it to show him. The image was of a dark and decrepit space filled with old computer racks. Dust, mess, and loose cabling abounded. “This is what we had before Henry arrived. Actually, at that time his name was Stanley, and his glamor presented him as a much smaller man. A professor friend of mind at a local college taught him and determined he had savant level talent with computers. I interviewed him and offered him the position. In a very short time, he took us from that to what you saw in the hall.”
Nate nodded in appreciation. “How did he go from this small man to the one I saw last night?”
Camila sighed. “Most of the story is top secret by order of the Council, but I can tell you he came to need a new glamor as his old one… became cursed. Don’t ask me or anyone for that matter about the curse. We can’t give you details. His new glamor looks more like his true shape and size, minus the non-Human aspects.”
“What is he?” Nate asked.
“That’s one of those questions you just don’t ask-”
“Right! Sorry!” he blurted as he kicked himself mentally.
“Not to worry. We’ll teach you how to behave. We helped Henry.”
Nate thought about how Stanley had done the work, and now Henry was continuing it. “How did you explain Henry taking over Stanley’s job?”
Camila smiled. “Henry looks like Stanley’s older brother, so the cover story is that their mother put them both up for adoption. They met in Ireland recently but Stanley ‘died’ in an accident while there. Henry came back to the States, and as he had similar skills, we offered him the job. He also lives in the condo Stanley rented from VRL. The tricky part was reintroducing Henry to the friends he made in the building. I understand so far, they’ve accepted him.”
“Hidden Race or human?” Nate asked.
“Human.”
Nate frowned crossly. “How is he going to deal with the aging issue? Is he going to have to abandon them as I will mine?”
Camila gave Nate a sad look, and he sighed, holding his hands up indicating she didn’t have to answer that. She did anyway. “Henry isn’t like us. He’s unique, and we don’t know how long his life span will be. That said, if he shows no signs of aging while his friends do, he’ll have to leave them behind too.”
“Sorry, that anger just crept up on-” Nate began then Camila’s intercom buzzed. She gestured that she understood as she answered.
“Yes, Felix?”
“Ms. Chandra, Mr. Duncan, and Ms. Gunderan are here.”
“Please send them in,” Camila said, unlocking the door.
Roy was the first one in and immediately grabbed two extra chairs to set them beside Nate who’d stood to greet the new arrivals. Roy shook Nate’s hand. “Roy Duncan, Security Chief.”