Conclave (Hypernaturals 3)

In the Multiverse, We Are Lovers

Morgan and I leaned against a wall, away from the pool and the hot tub, sipping fresh beers. We slowly air-dried. None from the hot tub joined us, I think out of general sheepishness. We have scads of fluffy towels to sit on to make the stone floor less uncomfortable.

I acquired the new bucket of beers from Cert, who handed them over without comment. Her anger is gone, but her regard worse. Now she is scanning me. Studying. Assessing. She may have been tending bar, but she heard every word. She is not interested in me. She is thinking about my threat level.

I looked over at Morgan's arm, propped up on a bent knee, and at where she gave blood. I am mostly healed. Her skin still has the obvious place where the needle had been. "You are an unusual lady."

"In what way?" Morgan asked, curious

"You, a human, schooled a hot tub full of women that could rip your head off without even trying."

"Vampires are like anyone else. They operate in their realm of assumptions, and they never see them. It is easy to see them from the outside, looking in. Or, I would guess, easy to see such assumptions if you are new to the world and have not been part of it for centuries. Being a new male I am sure you see each assumption as if it has a laser pointer on it."

"In the world of the Vampire you, as a woman, have more stroke than me, to be sure." I said.

"The funny thing about you is that is not innuendo." Morgan observed "Using the word 'stroke' after a conversation like that last one I mean. You know: The one with all the naked ladies. Including you scanning my entire body quite completely, it appeared."

I spluttered "Of course it wasn't. I would never..."

Morgan lightly touched my forearm to stop the spluttering. "It is OK, Adrian. I understand."

I looked at her hand resting there. I still felt the need to splutter. "Get what? Look, I'm no virginal schoolboy or anything. It is that I reserve my innuendo for times when it is appropriate, at least by my standards."

"Oh, I know that." She lowered her voice to subvocal levels. Even with Vampire hearing, only I would hear this next part. "You do not get two women pregnant at nearly the same time if you are all sweetness and light. The opposite in fact, especially, and let us be honest here, one of them is Helen. You start using real, full of intent, innuendo with me and I will know I am about to engage in sex with you. Perhaps find out if you can get humans pregnant too."

She had me there. "Err. Exactly? Humm."

Morgan seemed to enjoy having me slightly off keel. 

Morgan made some personal observations about me to all the other women sitting about, and we are sitting here talking quietly without clothes on. "So, what about you? You seemed to be speaking from some experience in the hot tub. About good men, and bad. All that."

"Let us say I am picky. I like men. I like men a very great deal. Enjoy them when I can. I have never found the right one. At least, not when they are available."

Now seemed the time to ask. "Don?"

"Eh?" Morgan seemed to view that as a non-sequitur.

"Don. My brother." I persisted.

Morgan was confused. "What about him?"

I decided I could not stop now, even though I suddenly have this feeling I am way off base. "I think that, if he was not married, he would be after you."

The light went on for Morgan. "Ahh. I see. Yes. Well, he is married. I never really thought of him in that way."

Now I needed to defend Don's honor. "Really? You two would seem natural together. From the outside. He's a crusading lawyer. You are a crusading detective. All that."

"On paper, I suppose." Morgan admitted, took a sip, and looked at me sidelong "Ever dated someone that all your friends think is the perfect person for you. You like each other well enough. But it doesn't work for some reason?"

"Yes."

Morgan accepted the point I awarded with that 'yes'. "That is your brother and I. Were he available, we still would not date, because there is no chemistry between us. We get along, but he is like you. He treats me as a friend and colleague. He has no sexual interest in me."

Mentally I sighed. "Well, then Don is not like me at all."

Spock-like, a thick and lovely eyebrow raised. "Meaning?"

I spilled it in a jumbled rush. "I am not expecting a response to this but I mean I would dearly want to be more than only a friend to and with you. When we very first met, I read you as not remotely interested in me. It was only me being attracted to you and so I ignored it. I am NOT rude that way. You have no chemistry with me, however, that is not true the other way around. You are my exact type. I thought Don was interested in you for all this time. That is apparently me projecting my interest."

 I grinned. "Deeply projecting. There. Have some pointed innuendo. If you had been interested in me, I would never have been on the beach, never met Jessica, never turned. Your lack of interest made me what I am today."

Morgan sipped from the beer. She did that when she is composing answers. In this case, I think she is deciding how open to be. "Thank you for such clearly delineated and focused innuendo, and the associated mental image. I will, of course, treasure it, even as I feel penetrated by your wit."

Now who has the mental image? Thanks, Morgan.

"So: you projecting. You were interested in me as a lover before this whole situation ever came up and for a fair amount of time. Years. That is humbling because it proves I am not as much of a detective as I give myself credit for. I never thought you to be interested. Not a single vibe to that effect from you that I perceived. Most men at least LOOK twice. I assumed our age difference bothered you, or something along those lines, but it was a working assumption. Given your perceived lack of interest in me, I would not have done anything to jeopardize my working relationship with Don."

Morgan sighed. Her scent spiked. "Frankly: Damn it, Morgan. Not so smart after all."

Morgan is not a sighing type, but she heaved a deep one now. "Unlike Don, I would have enjoyed getting to know you in a romantic sense."

Morgan did not seem happy with that sentence. "Let me not mince words. Had it been different, I would have wanted you and I to be lovers. I am fairly certain, knowing you and most especially knowing you as I now do, I would have wanted more than that. I feel it likely that once we had been intimate that I would have liked to pursue a long-term relationship. That, like Jessica, I would have decided that you are, as they say, 'The one'. Given my romantic history, that is ... Almost hard to imagine. Yet I think it is true. My romantic history is why I would have been ready. Finally."

Morgan gestured to infinity with her beer bottle as a pointer "Perhaps out there in the multiverse a human you and a human me figured it out and made it work somehow. Married. Children. The traditional works. I am sure that we are very happy together out there. I guess it is a good thing we are able to be friends in this corner of the multi-verse."

We knocked beer bottles together with a light click of glass. I am glad she is not Vampire because her vision of that joint future got past my defenses. A pheromone or two have been set free and are wafting freely in the air.

I felt some heat on my face. "Morgan, it is an honor."

It did not take Vamp-o-vision to see she is also blushing. "For me as well, Adrian."