Conclave (Hypernaturals 3)

You Do Not Need to Tell Me This

"Change of subject: What you said about William. His attitudes. His lust for power and domination. Where did you get all that?"

If Morgan had any problem with that pivot away from the other 'us', it did not show to any of my senses. "Not any one place. I am moderately sure it is true. Start with the legend. Distill the common elements out. What are they?"

"In each legend, there is the germ of truth that started it. This legend is only a few generations old. Vampire generations anyway. Less time to drift." Not a direct answer, but Morgan liked it.

"Exactly. Next: Vampire perspective being what it is, and given that Vampires often die when they get tired of living, and that time seems to average between two and three thousand years, here is the question I am asking: What drives one to live so long?"

Morgan must have had many heart to heart talks with her mother since she found her. She knew as much about Vampire life as I do. More perhaps, or at least in a different way, being on the outside looking in.

"Do you think he is sane?" I asked

Morgan crinkled her mouth up. "I am not comfortable with technically diagnosing humans, more or less Vampires. I am a detective, not Freud or Jung. Insane is a loaded term, and I think that it is not a binary condition in any case. Having said that, I think he is crazy as a loon."

I smiled at Morgan to acknowledge her verbal double flip, and she returned the smile and continued "That contains no actionable meaning or bearing in our situation in any case. He is high functioning crazy. I think he is driven, powerful, and hungry. I think there is a hole in his mind that nothing will fill. In fact, if he took over the entire world. Human, Vampire, and Siren, and there was nothing left for him to do, he might actually decide it time to check out because there would be nothing left to do, and his need to conquer would still be there, pushing him on."

"OK, How do you get that?" I asked.

Morgan looked around the room, at all the Vampires in earshot. Shook her head. She stood up and headed over to Cert's bar. She returned with a double bucket load of beer buried in ice, her clothes, and said with a head toss: "Grab your clothes and come on."

"Yes, M'am!" I snapped a salute, but at the bucket, not Morgan. It would have been funny if she said 'Come with me if you want to live' but Morgan is not big on pop culture references.

I followed her out of the room, aware of the observing gaze from the hot tub area. There is nothing I can do about what they think or feel about this, although I am pretty sure that it is in the nature of boy Vampire conquers human female, and what is so great about her, and so why not let a few of them in on it too. My joke about Morgan being 'first in line' probably just backfired.

Morgan had taken a little cabin for the duration of the Conclave, the one I scented her in on the tour, so she would not need to drive back and forth. It is a cute little stone building, updated with triple-pane glass and all the amenities modernized. We tossed our clothes over a chair. In the bathroom is a two-person Jacuzzi tub, and Morgan started the water in it, setting the bucket of beers on the wide edge. In a very low voice, she said "You are a hypersensitive. I hope that means you can hear them before they hear us. The water jets should help block the sound. Sorry. I want to talk freely."

I am NOT sorry. I felt a weight gone now we are away from the listening ears. Morgan knew everything and is the only one here I can really talk to. Everyone else is at my house. "No problem: Makes sense." I told her quietly.

I grabbed a fresh beer for each of us and settled into the tub. Morgan settled in opposite and picked up her new beer for a long draft of it. The water noisily splashed into the tub from a faucet in the center, between us. Every now and then one of us moved a leg, intersected the water stream, and accidentally splashed water up into our faces and onto our beers. We kept small towels handy for this problem.