Siren Song (Hypernaturals 2)

Shower Comfort

When my parents built this house, they spared nothing. It is built in many non-conventional ways, designed to use almost no energy. Water is collected and stored to supplement what came from the well. For all that, it uses far more water than it should because the bathroom is Sybaritic. The water collected from the shower and sinks went to the plants around the house, but that is partly to offset the guilt of having a bathroom that is designed to use so much water. There is a walk-in shower with four opposing shower heads, two on each side of the large space. There is a glass wall to the outside that has a private garden and privacy shield wall covered in climbing plants. The small room that is the shower will hold four easily, or more if they are close personal friends. There are lounges to sit on. Light tubes brought in more outside light during the day, keeping a number of tropical plants alive. Recessed grow lights supplemented the glass wall and light tubes during the winter. At one end is a whirlpool tub with a broad ledge.

Jessica is nearly my height, so when I took her into my arms in the water spray I am looking nearly directly into her deep dark eyes. She leaned up and in the barest whisper, audible only barely over the running water, saying: "Helen had a terrible trip. She has news that affects us. You." I nodded.

I saw shadows moving on the other side of the frosted glass door. The transom above that is open to the bathroom, and it appeared to me Helen pulled up the makeup stool, and sat down outside the door. Kind of odd. She usually comes IN the shower.

"So: Really lousy trip, huh?" Jessica said, her voice echoing off the tiles a little, not completely absorbed by the plants.

"Not great." Helen admitted.

"Did you tell Adrian about any of it yet?" Jessica inquired.

"No." Helen sounded slightly sullen, but it is hard to tell given the acoustics.

"I asked her about her trip. She more or less told me to bug off." I said.

"Why?" Jessica asked towards the door

"I just got home. He was asking me about things that I wasn't ready to talk about yet." Helen said.

"She refused, saying if she was going to tell me she would have." I noted.

"I'm going to tell you. You are, as is your normal way, in the middle of it." Helen said, and there definitely was the slightest edge of petulance. When she added the part about me being in the middle, she made it sound like I am the one being the child here.

Jessica made an exasperated sound, went and opened to the door to the shower. A cool breezed wafted in.

"Are you going to get cleaned up after the trip?" Jessica asked Helen.

"Sure: I cannot wait. Sat next to this pig of a man on the plane who would not leave me alone..."

"Called it." I inserted quietly

"... I really want this entire trip smell washed down the drain. I thought you wanted to hear about this now. It can wait if you want to take time to relax or perhaps get a good shagging in."

"I do want to hear about it, and I also want to at some point in the near future to use Adrian's body for my own needs, and then put him away wet. My point in asking about your bathing plans is that, as you already know and have availed yourself of, there is a whole other wall of shower heads in here. Be nice to Adrian, I'll wash your back. Be really nice, and I'll wash your front. All of it."

She then closed the door and splashed back to the warm water. Jessica is good. She painted this mental image of Helen trying to decide whether to rip off her clothes and dive in for the body wash or if being nice to me is too high a price. It's not like we never showered together before. It's SOP on most days. I am a perfect gentleman and keep my hands to myself.

Helen made a verbal noise of some sort, then her blurry form went away from the glass. I heard her putting the chair back under the vanity as its metal feet squeaked on the tile. A pause, fabric rustling sounds, and then her blurry pink form reappeared at the glass door. The frosted glass door opened, and Helen stepped in.

Jessica anticipating that response already turned on two of the four shower heads on the one wall, and so Helen came and stood next to us, placing her head under the spray. Looked like she is going for the promised back wash rather than use the other shower heads at a safer distance from me. Of course, Jessica already had them on, so it seems Jessica already made that choice.

Jessica watched her friend for a second, concerned. "Helen, come here and give me a hug. Let the shit go. You are home, here with us now." Jessica said, opening her arms. 

Helen came into them, and they stood there in the water, hugging. Jessica patted and rubbed Helens back reassuringly and after a moment, Helen reciprocated, running her more petite hands up and down the curve of Jessica's back. I stood aside, relegated to observer status. I put my hands behind my back so they would be out of the way and stood there looking at them.

I marveled at the contrast between these two Vampire women. Helen does not dress to accentuate, but with her narrow waist, she is a woman built to five-sixths of Jessica's scale. Thinner too, but still very feminine in form.

Helen is hundreds of years older than Jessica but to me, she looks slightly younger. Helen looks like a delicate doll with a classic face right off a Cameo and Jessica is a dark-skinned and haired version of a reclining nude in any number of Romantic-era oil paintings.

Helen is right where she wants to be. Naked, in Jessica's strong arms. Jessica is the person Helen loves with all her heart. It is not that Helen does not like men too, I am told. It is that Jessica is her heart. That is how Jessica became a Vampire. One of the things that gave me hope about the idea that Vampires can be in love and have long-term relationships is that Helen has been in love with Jessica for every minute since she met her.

I really did not want to think about what life without Jessica would be like. My newly issued longer life seemed like it would be worth nothing without her in it.

With the single exception of Helen, Jessica is mostly interested in men, and at the moment I have the singular fortune of being that man, to Helen's dismay.

Helen held onto Jessica fiercely. Whatever is wrong with Helen, Jessica had known what needed to be done. She is like that. I watched the Hispanic refuge from a Bouguereau paint hold and comfort the small, blonde, porcelain doll that is her lover and friend. Whatever this is, I can wait. It is very unlike Helen to be so openly vulnerable in front of me.

Jessica continued to rub her friends back comfortingly and encouraged Helen to nuzzle her neck and chest. They said nothing. After a bit, Helen pushed back, looked at Jessica. "Thank you, my love. Exactly what I needed."

That sounded more like Helen. Her voice was deeper, stronger, more confident and less imperial.

"Nothing more comforting than skin on skin." Jessica replied.

"Indeed: Your skin on mine especially my dear." Helen looked over at me. "I am sorry Adrian."

"For what?" I asked. Helen did not like to apologize to anyone, and certainly not to me.

"Being rude to you earlier. You will need to know all of this anyway, so I should not have been so short with you."

"S'alright. I wasn't going to lay down and take it or anything." I replied.

Helen smiled wetly since the water sprayed across her shoulders and hit her face. "You never do."

"So, What's up?" I asked

Helen turned around, pulled her just past shoulder-length blond hair forward, and presented her back to Jessica, who reached into a wall cubby and selected some liquid soap and a washcloth. It is unscented soap as Vampires really don't like a lot of cloying fragrances. Helen bent her head forward as Jessica worked on Helen's deceptively small, massively strong shoulders. I remember those shoulders and arms pulling me out of Lake Travis so I know their power well.

Helen looked unhappy. "What is wrong is that I am no longer going to be on the sub-Council deciding your Probation. I have been asked to remove myself."