Conclave (Hypernaturals 3)

Helen

Helen lay propped up on a pile of pillows, sheets across her. She looked pretty good for having recently had a spear run through her. Rachel left us alone, although that is an observance of a polite custom more than a necessity. If Rachel stayed upstairs, she would hear Helen and I talking.

There is zero thought in my mind of being reserved in any way with Helen. This is not a seduction in a shower. I went to Helen, bent, took her face in my hands, and kissed her. She responded, and ran her fingers across the back of my hands. When I pulled back, there were tears on her face. "I'm so sorry, Adrian." She said.

That is not even close to what I expected. "For what?" I asked, puzzled.

Helen touched my face. "I put myself... Our child... into harm's way. Adrian, I can see it like it is in slow motion. He aimed at me. At the baby. He killed our baby. He meant to do it."

"I know" I reflected for a sad moment, then repeated "I know. He is a cold-blooded killer, and he will pay. The race is on to see who gets to him first."

Helen repeated Jessica's sentiment, shaking her head 'no' forcefully. "You need to stay away from him, Adrian. He'll kill you."

I remembered vividly hanging there in the air. The way he tossed me into Morgan. I diverted from that rather than agree to it. "You know who he is?"

The blue eyes flashed the way I expected them to when she is mad. "Rachel told me what you said. I agree with you. It's him. It's the bloody King. The bloody baby murdering bastard of a King."

Seeing that flash made me strangely happy. I wanted her to be still right now though. I leaned over and kissed her again, and this time longer and deeper. Soft. Open. Accepting. When I pulled back this time, Helen breathed, then smiled ruefully "Even without your child in me, I am still bonded to you. I still... want you." Her blue eyes bored directly into mine "The King will want that power you have."

I touched her arm, where the needle for the transfusion had been. "Well, you do have a fair amount of my blood in you. And Morgan's. And Jessica's. I guess you have the power too."

Helen looked at me, the affection something that I am not used to seeing on her face. "Rachel said you nearly gave too much. That they hit some problem inside me and forgot about you for a couple of minutes. I can feel your blood in me. It's odd, but I know it's yours. I am glad you look OK now." That reminded Helen of something "Rachel: I have never seen her like this. In all our years together, I have never seen her like this. So controlled. So angry."

I saw it in Rachel too. "I know. We are all barely hanging on. You more than most."

"I feel... Fairly good. Probably the drugs talking. But I looked." She lifted the covers to look again. "I'm patched up pretty well. Your mother and Jessica did an amazing job.

That reminded her of another thing. "Your mother... More humans in the know. More secrets to keep." That thought took her to yet another place. "Oh my god, what do your parents think? About you and I, I mean. And our baby?"

"Now you are the one applying the old rules, from when you were young. Mom and Dad do not care about anything other than the fact that we lost a child. Mom keeps looking at me sadly. They both understand that parents are not supposed to lose children. They are mourning their lost grandchild."

"They don't think I'm a slut, for sleeping with you? Let us not mince words: Having sex with their little boy, and getting pregnant by him, all while he is married to her best friend. By human standards, I'm quite a harlot."

The mental image of Helen as a harlot really did not work. No one that knew Helen would ever think that. Least of all my parents.

"Hardly. My parents don't judge what two or even more consenting adults do. Poly is cool these days. Seriously: they know that you are with Rachel so it would be easy for them to think I am helping you two have a baby. We could be a Poly-foursome. It would not matter how that all worked. We lost a baby and that is all they care about."

"It's that too, I guess. You helping Rachel and I have a child even as it was also you and I having a child." Helen admitted.

"It is complicated," I said sadly.

Helen looked at me closely. She sounded sad. "You have it too. The black rage. The anger. The control. Exactly like Rachel. I have never seen you like this. Never felt you like this: I feel your anger. It resonates with mine, but I know it is yours. The blood I guess."

I gave a half-laugh. "I barely have any control, Helen. Between losing the baby and thinking I lost you, the whole thing, I am barely here right now. It's like watching me from a distance. The closest thing I have been to here and now is when I kissed you. That brought me out of it for a few moments, because I could smell you and taste you and know you are alive and still with me."

"Then kiss me again, Adrian, and don't be in such a fucking a hurry about it. Be here, with me, right now. Remind me why my body aches for yours. When you are done, in say ten or twenty minutes, send Jessica in. I imagine she was hurt I asked for you first."

She knows her friend so well, and I told her "Yeah. She is. She also understood. Lean back a little."

It was not even five minutes, but I took my time, and I let her know in wordless ways how glad I am she is still alive and with me. I forgot for a few moments anything other than her. For once, finally, there is no guilt about it.