Conclave (Hypernaturals 3)

You Were Conned

The saloon-style barroom is nearly empty. Rachel has been carried to the car carefully strapped in with shredded clothes and a padded cake thing that Jessica modified to be a neck brace with some real force. The shirtless sirens that donated their clothing watched her ripping the metal about like it is tissue paper with no small amount of fear. This is angry but professional Jessica, and there came no resistance to anything she wanted. Larry said nothing when his office door turned out to be the one picked for the transport backboard.

Using IR vision, and the combined strength of four Vampire women, Jessica straightened Rachels neck carefully, talking to her the whole time. Once it was exactly aligned the way Jessica wanted it in all axis, she applied the neck brace that would not let Rachels' head budge a millimeter. 

Very carefully Rachel went into Jessica's Honda because only Jessica trusted herself to drive home and avoid the bumps. The Pilot is ambulance once again. William's maimed corpse went none too gently into the Suburban, wrapped in trash bags.

Larry supervised the room cleanup. Not counting the damage for Rachel's transportation and neck brace, it is mostly blood on the wooden floor. Nothing compared to the last two fights in here. No ceiling fans are damaged even though this is the worst and longest fight so far. The hardest win. The most costly to my soul.

Rachel's condition sunk further in. She is a quadriplegic now. I assume that Vampire healing will keep that from being a forever thing, but her neck is so very broken. It is hard to understand how she is even alive. William did not intend her to be.

Despite that, part of me found irony in the fact that a major assault and a death occurred here tonight in front of a room full of Sirens, and no charges will ever be presented. Sirens tend as a group to take law enforcement type jobs. Plenty of cops saw this. I have complete faith it will never get out. Sirens are nothing if not controlled by their own rules.

The body will be gone. The blood evidence cleaned up. There will be nothing left for anyone not here to know about the internecine Vampire warfare. Oddly, this will probably help interspecies relations. We came to their house and played it by their rules. That had to buy us something, however dearly.

We are getting ready to clear out ourselves. I need to have a few words with Larry.

Carol, Anne, Denise, Morgan, Larry and I leaned against the bar, Vera with Leslie, handing out beers. Helen and Jessica are with Rachel in the Honda. Larry shook his head slowly back and forth saying "Aint't never seen nothing like it. Nothing. Fuckin' amazing you are Adrian. I had no idea you could do all that."

"You didn't need to know" I lied since I had no idea I could either before tonight. I emptied all the counter bowls of their nut mixes and tossed back beer like water, trying to refuel. Vera handed me a big can of nuts from someplace under the counter with a slight smirk. She apparently found my ravenous hunger amusing. She also found my weary self appealing in new but unspoken ways. Lovely.

My body ached from the exertions. Gauze from the office medical kit wrapped my hands. I want to leave this place. Duty will not let me. Not just yet. I need to stay and make sure that this is controlled. Rachel would be unhappy if we rolled without making sure the hard-won victory here tonight did not bear solid results.

I, in theory, just killed their great-grandfather with my bare hands. Species relations improving over this meant getting this next part right.

"Here is something you do need to know, Larry. William is.. Was.. a con man. A liar. His only goal in life was taking things from other people. He ran to you when he knew we were after him, and told you a story about being the father of all Sirens. It's complete bullshit. We know how Sirens reproduce, and it has nothing to do with Vampires. Right?"

Larry agreed "Well since you put it that way, that makes sense. Still, he knew all kinds of details about us."

"He's a con man. He researches his marks. Researched. Not that well. Look at how much he got wrong. Dumb mistakes. He won't be doing that anymore." I looked at my cleaned and bandaged hands. They seem... distant. Not mine.

"No, I guess he won't. Ya took care of that!" Larry is far too eager to agree. He wants me out of here. I want to indulge him.

"Ok. As long as we are clear on that. He was a baby killer. He nearly killed my woman. He badly hurt a friend of mine. He would have done nothing but drained the Sirens dry. He was a one-of-a-kind eight thousand-year-old con artist. He has had the Vampire community telling tales about him for millennia. Thousands of years of lies, Larry." Here is my main point and I drove it home with a finger. "You just got saved a great deal of trouble. You're welcome."

"Yeah, yeah. You're a prince." Larry agreed.

"I stayed away from the fans, didn't I?" I pointed out, thumbing towards the spinning fixtures.

Larry gave me that one, as he fondly surveyed the roof. "Yeah. Yeah, ya did. I actually appreciate that."

"I'm out of here. See you next meeting. Regular stuff next time. Getting tired of fighting here. Just want to hear the music and drink beer that Leslie brings me if its all the same." I paused. Added "I am not claiming Leslie. Yet. I just like the way she brings me a beer when I need it."

Larry actually smiled at that one. "Yeah. She flashes you. What's not to like? After tonight she'll probably serve you naked. Anyway: Works fer me."

With more nonchalance than I felt I said: "Beers on you, as usual then. Ladies?" I waved palm up at the entrance to the foyer on the far side of the room.

I felt eyes tracking me as we left. I must have done something really amazing to have all those eyes on me when there are far scarier women all around me. I turned back to the room one last time to see Vera and Leslie both looking at me from the bar. Leslie grinned, waving goodbye. Vera seemed to be looking through me at something else.

I turned and left.