Conclave (Hypernaturals 3)

How Long Have You Known?

Dad looked at Danny and Lori, sitting together in one chair. "You two have known all this how long?"

"Not very long. Only since the Sirens attacked Adrian." Danny replied

"I need to hear more about that, I think," Dad requested, so Danny and Lori told them the lurid story of being tasered, hauled to a warehouse, and having to watch Sirens smash my teeth out while they were tied to chairs. How close Lori came to being raped.

By the end of the very colorful story, Mom looked at me and was clearly miffed. "So, during the holidays, family all around, you had been turned into a Vampire, jumped from an airplane without a parachute, been attacked by these Siren people, and wore a dental appliance made by a Vampire dentist. I, being a dope, didn't know about or even pick up on any of it."

Danny and Lori even left out the part where we killed the drug dealers and jumped out of the plane again, this time with parachutes. Mom would be doubly miffed if she knew that part. Mom is unhappy but not actually with us. At herself for missing something that affected her family going on around her.

I offered "Well, Jessica and I were newlyweds, and we were and are kind of happy about that, so maybe all that other stuff was not at the top of our minds. You had nothing to pick up on. We weren't really focused on it. You might recall that the thing Jessica was most nervous about is whether or not you all would like her."

That brought the expected pish and tosh reactions from both of them. I added, "You have to understand how important keeping the big secret is as well."

"Also, the ornament? That was Jessica's when she was a little girl." I pointed out.

"Oh..." Mom said, not having considered that the gift Jessica gave them was not a family heirloom, but from her childhood. "Thats... Oh...."

Mom at a loss for words.

Dad thought out loud "No written records. Nothing. How do you know anything? How do you advance?"

I injected my opinion "We don't advance. It is absolute. Only records I have ever seen were notes Becky took during my probation, and I am sure those are vaporized by now. I never saw the reports Rachel and Helen did, but they are surely atomized as well. Vampires are terrified of humans finding out about them. We have an entire group of specialized people whose job it is to clean up messes. 'Clean up' is code for utterly destroy all records of everything that might give anyone even a clue."

"Vampire Knights Templar?"

I smiled. A wan smile, but it is something. "If Vampire Knights Templar is a group of young women who are actually centuries old, and have spent all that time acquiring all the skills they need to kill and erase a person from existence. Modify historical sites without the humans ever knowing they were tampered with. Ease Vampires from this mortal coil that are tired of living, or who have been condemned to die by the Council. That sort of thing... then sure. Exactly like the Knights."

Jessica pushed back against my point of view a bit "It needs to be done, Adrian. You know that. Or it did. It will need to change soon. We will have to adapt to the times. Please understand Mom: If the humans know about us, they will hunt us down and kill us. All our evolutionary skills will be as nothing against modern technology. Just ask the Elephants."

Mom needed no convincing on that point. "Of course I believe that. I have been working with humans long enough to know the good and the bad of them. I don't want you hunted down and killed. Any of you." She paused and looked directly at me to underline what she said next "I know humans. I know you would be hunted. Killed. Experimented upon. Vivisected."

Mom looked over at Jessica and went for a lighter subject. She verbally tweaked Jessica's nose, and I am glad to hear it. "So, Doctor. Tell me about Vampire babies." She leaned on the word 'Doctor' to acknowledge to Jessica what she saw tonight.

Morgan leaned in on that one. "I have been curious on that point as well."

Jessica grinned, and then looking at me in defiance, rubbed her tummy. "We can't have them, or couldn't, as far as we knew."

Mom raised her eyebrows. "Yet, there you are. I assume you know what causes them."

"Yet here I am. And yes: I have heard rumors about that cause." Jessica smiled at Mom's open levity. 

"I have almost a centuries worth of playing at that cause to no effect. Before now. Here is the thing: the King is the only Vampire child we ever knew about, and since that is pre-History, and Vampires do not keep written records, for all we know that is a legend too. It could have been made up as a way to explain his abilities. Why he is so strong and can affect Vampires as well as human. As you now know, the manifestation of the Vampiric changeover is that we revert to the physical age of a human in their mid-twenties. Balanced on the biological edge between growing and aging. As a result, we have healthy ovaries." 

She rubbed near hers for good measure, looking at her lower abdomen with a slight tone of wonder. "Look with a laparoscope, and you will see rows of eggs, waiting to release. Every now and then, one randomly does, but it is not tied to any particular cycle, like a human. Nothing ever seemed to be able to fertilize them and believe me, we tried. Human or Vampire sperm does not seem able to penetrate the shell of the egg. The eggs are impervious. Strong, like we are. Too strong. It is not only that: Male Vampires can't get humans pregnant either as far as we know."

Jessica looked at me, with her Doctor look "That is all pre-Adrian knowledge." She gave me an offhand point with her index finger "Adrian is different, and we kept this secret to ourselves. The parallels to the King are such that he would terrify Vampire society as a whole. Especially in this time of Sirens. The idea that there is anyone like him around would not be good for his long life." Now she looked unhappy and added "That idea all before the actual real King showed back up. Now it's ten times worse. Adrian absolutely must remain our secret."

Mom looked at me, frowning. "All this time I was worried about you getting Vera pregnant, and it turns out you only get Vampire women pregnant."

"First time, every time so far." Jessica said, a hint of pride there, then went back to more professional tones "Adrian emits a pheromone that causes a Vampire female to ovulate, and that egg is ready to be fertilized for some reason. There is much we do not know here. For example, does that egg now have the ability to be fertilized by human sperm? I don't know. Adrian is the only man Helen and I have been with since this whole thing started last summer. We know that Adrian's pheromones affect Lori, at least to the extent that they should, and are supposed to. Vampire pheromones are about getting a human close and disarmed so that the hypnotics in our fangs can take over and erase the memory of the whole event. Natures design of the predator. Get in, have a drink, get away clean and forgotten. For Vampires, it is not only about blood and its nutrition for us. There is usually sex along the way. If anything our physicality amps that need up. For us, sex normally has no consequences. No STD's." Jessica paused, then took a moment to poke a little fun at me "Normally. Unless you sleep with Adrian, in which case, you are likely to get pregnant in short order."

"So, you think Morgan or I could get pregnant from Adrian? A human / Vampire crossover?" Lori asked curiously.

"I was also curious as to that." Morgan added.

"No idea. Maybe. If you want to try to get pregnant, better hurry it up though, Morgan." Jessica replied. 

"I was not saying I wanted to try." Morgan replied.

"Sure." Jessica said.

She rubbed her tummy happily and said "I have no idea if this little one is a Vampire, a human, or something in between. Her daddy is unique. Will she be as well? We have no data. Just one stupid legend. Now that I think about it, I have a few questions for the King before I kill him."

That instantly crossed the line for me. "Jessica: YOU are not going ANYWHERE near William unless he is in chains." I have never spoken to Jessica like that, but I am not backing down from it either.