Conclave (Hypernaturals 3)

Question of the Day

A small bookish woman asked "You were here last night, right? You saw what happened to Helen?"

Here it is. The main event. Why everyone is here four deep.

"Yes. I was here. Morgan as well." I admitted "I tried to fight him. He nearly killed me, but Morgan shot him to stop that, and he got away."

The change of subject got everyone to pay attention.

"Is it him? Is it the King?" Tammy asked with wide eyes.

I shrugged in a noncommittal way. "Well, I have never met this 'King' person of course, and as I understand the legend, no one alive here today ever has. Having said that: yes, I think it is him. He has actual wrinkles on his face."

Victoria ignored this question so I asked it here for the same reason. "How old does a Vampire need to be to have wrinkles?"

It is a rhetorical question and taken as such by the hot tub at large. The questions came rapid-fire now. They had been holding back.

"What does he want? Did he say?"

"Is he here to try again?"

"Try to take over the entire world now? That'd be crazy!"

"He attacked Vampires here at a Conclave. He has to be crazy."

"Is he as strong as a female, like the story says?"

On it went, and I answered the ones I could and listened to the discussions about the others.

The conversation flowed on, the questions unanswerable until the one about his physical strength. "Yes. He seems individually as strong as Jessica, Helen, or Rachel. Jessica and Helen know how to fight, in addition to being able to do bench presses with Smart cars."

I have never seen any of them bench press a car. I assumed they could if they needed to.

Before the conversation could take off Morgan added some more fodder. "Pain does not seem to be much of a hindrance to him either. I shot him cleanly through the calf muscle, and it did not even seem to slow him down very much, other than being enough of a distraction to make him throw Adrian." She paused. "On top of me, as it turned out." Morgan added.

"Slider." I told Morgan.

"More of a Fast Ball I think." Morgan replied. She rubbed a shoulder and I wondered if I hurt her more than she is letting on. She had been pretty dazed. I gave her a head to toe all spectrum's look-over, several up and down passes in different wavelengths. I saw the warm places where deep bruises had been inflicted, including one she had just been rubbing.

Morgan cocked her head oddly, her sexual interest scent spiked, and her nipples got gooseflesh around them. I suddenly realized she has no idea what I am doing other than looking at her entire body intently. I touched a bruised place on her arm "Sorry. Hard to believe, I know, but I am not ogling you: I am diagnosing." I tapped the Orbital bone to indicate my eye. "Scanned you head to toe in other wavelengths. It looks like I beat you up pretty good when I landed on you. Sorry about that."

Morgan understands my hyper senses and gave me an affirmative nod. Her body relaxed. "It is not like you planned the trajectory. William wanted me to stop shooting him. You were at hand."

The conversation took off and flowed of its own accord for a moment till one woman on the far side of the hot tub asked "So the thing about it taking twelve of us originally to take him down. That's real?" and everyone waited to hear an answer on that from me.

I decided it is a good time to start defanging some of the legends. "No. I don't think so. My personal opinion is that two really good female fighters could take him down. Helen and Jessica. Anne and Denise." I looked back at the bar "Cert and someone stupid enough to fight alongside Cert."