Conclave (Hypernaturals 3)

We Have Nothing to Fear, but Pheromones Itself

Ahh. No wonder.

"Oh. Well. That would be off-putting." I told her. Admitting to fear is not something Jessica would like to do. Not against a male Vamp and not against one that ran her lover through.

Victoria was apoplectic. "Adrian: You are saying that this nightmare of a Vampire can terrify other Vampires because he has a third pheromone?"

"At least a second pheromone. I have no idea if he has the 'come fuck me' one." I agreed. "That is why we need to be sure when we have him cornered we are prepared. I made my nose filters out of simple toilet paper. They worked pretty well. I imagine, given the resources of the Council, that there are better kinds we can get our hands on. Needs to be simple and easy. We cannot fight him wearing gas masks."

Eurasia said: "There are allergy filters that would probably work commercially available."

Becky looked doubtful "Adrian's toilet paper worked because it blocked everything. It was not a nose filter. It was a nose plug. A pheromone is a much smaller molecule than a simple bit of dust or pollen."

Jessica agreed "I do not think an allergy filter would be small enough filtration. We are talking about a range of around 20 or so bonded carbon atoms. Carbon atoms are measured in picometers. Pollens are in the micrometers range. Orders of magnitude different."

Victoria ended that part of the discussion "I'll have the Cleanup Crew look into it. See if there is some military technology available perhaps. Worst case, we'll all walk around with Kleenex shoved up our noses for the duration."

"Fun. Unless there is a female Hypersensitive here? She should be fine for the reasons I just laid out." I commented.

"None I know of. There are maybe three or four of you in the entire world. You are by far the most high-functioning. Anything else we should know about William?" Victoria asked.

Interesting that all the other Council members at this discussion let her take the lead. Of course, she is head of Council, and this is her Conclave and her geography. I assumed the others are members of their respective bodies. Surely Vampiredom did not place every Council head in the same location at the same time.

Right?

"He is strong and fights very dirty. He went on about the Sirens, and he acted quite loopy, but it is all a ruse. When he had an opening, against an experienced fighter, he took it. I have fought beside Helen. She is good. Of course, I just now learned he used chemical warfare against us as well. It is hard to fight when you are terrified. Even if he is not the Vampire of legend, He is bad news. Very bad. PS: He totally is the Vampire of legend." I could not help but add that last part.

There was general agreement on that point, followed by a question the Baltic States. I really needed to learn their current names. "So, why do you think he is going on about the Sirens? Do you think that is a genuine interest of his?"

I mentally turned over how I felt about that. It is a very good question, and I have not had time to think it all through yet. I looked over at Jessica to see if she has an opinion but saw she is waiting to hear what I think about it. "How crazy is he? He hid all this time, so where has he been? Was he alone? How did he find out about this conference? Why did he come? I think all of that relates somehow, but I don't know how. What if you are a deposed ruler. A male in a society where males are second class citizens... stop looking like that. I'm not bringing that issue back up. Not exactly."

They all looked about ready to explain to the poor dumb little male why he needed to be treated like shit again. All but my wife of course. "Look: it's no bed of roses being distrusted all the damn time, as I am. In his case, it is that he is distrusted for a reason. Being a boy is not a reason. Being who he is and having done what he has done... that's a reason. So, work with me here for a second. Dumb ass boy Vamp totally wild ass guessing."