Conclave (Hypernaturals 3)

You Know Our Ways Well

I looked at Larry earnestly "Larry, here is the deal. 'William the Liar' is a criminal in our society. We want him turned over to us. No deals. No quid pro quo. He is an eight thousand-year-old con man, and he is taking you in with his lies."

William went into a little acting routine that is less convincing than his story before. He tried to look sad and sound sympathetic. "It's no story, young Adrian, and you know it. I am not the only Vampire than can have children, now am I? You may be a powerless runt, but you got the swimmers."

"No, but not really the point is it, William? Since you bring it up, let us put that out there. You are as barren as Antarctic tundra, so who can have children? Who is a Vampire I mean?"

William was puzzled. He knew I should be hiding this secret. He did not know that I have been running scenarios at high speed in my head and saw no other way to make this work. My secret had to come out. Mine, Helen's, and Jessica's.

"You know who I am talking about." William hedged. He is trying to figure this out. He glanced around the stoney faces, got no clues. I applauded Carol, Anne, and Denise. They have no idea what game I am playing. They are waiting. Alert. Eyes on William. William saw that they were not distracted and waited to see if I would escalate.

"Educate everyone, William. If you know." I said, very, very evenly. This is going to change everything in my life.

"You, Adrian. You can have children." William said, flipping over the card, waiting to see what card I am holding.

Carol is the only one who glanced quickly my way and then focused back on William. Her expression did not change.

"Really? How do you know that?" I asked him "Making shit up, like the 'Father of all Sirens' story?"

William conceded "You are not a bad liar yourself Adrian. Not bad at all. You know that once it gets out you can have children your life is over. You will be locked away like I was. You are weak. No way you can get free of them by yourself. Why are you doing this? Why can you not let this go?"

I leaned in slightly. I wanted this crystal clear. "Because William, you started this. You could have walked away. No one would have known who you are. You couldn't leave it alone."

William sounded like I am being petty. "You are after me because I came after you." William said flatly "I should have known. You cannot stand the idea that you are not the original conqueror. You need me out of the way. Paahh. Typical. You are jealous of me. My power."

Larry is looking completely bamboozled now "What in the hell are you two goin' on about..?"

My beloved Jessica is up to speed on where I am going. She said: "William is projecting onto Adrian what he is. He thinks that Adrian is a threat to him. Competition."

William laughed at that. "This little thing? I could kill him with a blow. He is nothing."

"If he is nothing, then why did you attack and kill his child? My child." Helen is also on board.

"You were between me and the door." William said.

"Bull. Shit." Morgan enunciated her favorite phrase of the evening. "You were hunting. You waited. You planned. You could have killed Helen with that spear but you didn't. You went after the baby. You maimed her to get to the child."

"Human, you annoy me." William said, waving her accusation away.

"Good." Morgan replied, and she sounded honestly happy with that.

I pulled in Helen, Jessica, Rachel, and Morgan in a sweeping glance. "We were all there, William. We saw what you did. We know why you did it." I pointed at the center of his chest. "You killed a rival."

Larry looked at me "You are going to create more Sirens too?"

I sort of like Larry and am actually touched by his confusion in a funny way. He sounded hopeful I might be doing what he asked. "No, Larry. Sorry. Not what I am doing. What I am doing is what Barren William cannot do. The mother of my children are Vampire women. William kills babies, he does not father them. Not with Humans, or Sirens, or even other Vampires. William shoots blanks."

Larry is trying hard to catch up. "Children? More than one?"

"William killed one of my children. Not both." I replied

Larry, finally catching up, looked at William "You killed one of Adrian's unborn children?"

William waved it off "I stabbed his lover in the belly. She lived. The baby died."

I told Larry quietly "Bullshit. William stabbed the baby directly. The poor thing was his target. If he was after the mother, he would have gone for her heart or her head. He used his Vampire senses to see the exact place to stab, and he went for it. Helen was in the way. My baby was his target."

"If that is the case, why didn't I kill the one in her?" William pointed at Jessica

I took the opening that gave me. "Because William, I was slicing you up, and Morgan was shooting you. You would have killed the other baby if you could have. That you stuck around the city at all after you stabbed Helen is because you still want to kill the other one. You also want to kill me, eliminate a rival. You do not want a world with another Vampire's children in it."

"Ah, so you admit I can have children!" William pounced

William did not see my trap coming. The reason why I let the secret out. "I admit you would like to have them if you only knew how. I admit that you know nothing about Sirens. More proof you are not their 'Grandfather'."

I asked Larry "Larry: How do Sirens feel about abortions?"

A while back, Danny, Lori, and I had been kidnapped by some Sirens. From conversations the Sirens had with each other while we were captive, I learned that Sirens are the original right-to-lifers. This is a bit of a gamble. I am basing everything on an offhand remark during a kidnapping. I am pretty sure that, given the way, the Sirens reproduce through the rape of humans, that they do not like it when their babies are killed by abortions. That it is ingrained in the macho culture.

"We do everything in our power to stop such things." Larry agreed, and now he is very unsure of things. William is dropping like a rock in his estimation.

I kept boring after my point. I could not let Larry have any time to stop and try to rationalize this. I was right . Time to make it stick. I leaned forward, towards Larry, speaking from my heart. Letting him hear my pain. "William killed an unborn child, Larry. My unborn child. You understand where I am coming from here Larry? Do you get how I feel? Do you understand what I need to do? You know the ways of it. If William is of you, then he is bound by your laws and traditions every bit as much as the Vampire side is bound by ours. You know how this needs to be."

Larry looked at William in dismay. He sounded apologetic. "If you are the Father as you claim, then we owe you much. If you killed his child, not to mention stabbed a woman he has claimed, as you say you did, by our traditions he has an unbreakable claim on your life. We cannot protect you from his revenge if that is what he seeks. It is our way. If you are who you say you are, you know our ways. You were there when they were created."

Now William saw the card I had been holding and said grudgingly to me "Well played, young Vampire. Well played. Still, it gains you nothing. You have to take me. Not you and your army. The rules of combat."

"Not exactly, William. Not exactly. You are getting ahead of yourself again. You say you know these people, but again: you know nothing about them. You admitted here in front of everyone tonight that you can kill me with a blow. Called me weak. Puny. I do not disagree. You could kill me without breaking a sweat. The rules of combat say the fight needs to be fair. I have fought here, in this room. Twice. By the rules, I only must come after you with a fair balance of power. I must to be your equal. Our legends say that it took twelve women to stop you. Something must balance that you are ancient and incredibly powerful. Right, Larry?"

"You know our ways well, Liaison." Larry agreed, unhappily.