Conclave (Hypernaturals 3)

Our First Daughter

Jessica wrapped her arms around my neck, kissed me, and told me firmly: "Adrian: Your Mom and I are here. Morgan is not going to die. Rachel will recover. I promise. It is not your fault Adrian. None of this is. Not Rachel getting hurt. Not Morgan turning. You did everything you could to stop him. Everything. More than anyone else even could. I watched that fight, and never felt so helpless in my life. It came so fast. Morgan and I had guns ready, planning to shoot if it went bad, and it went bad so fast we could only realize we failed. That's on us, not you. We should have killed him before he hurt Rachel, but we couldn't get them out fast enough. There is nothing you could do. In fact, he was in such a hurry to get back to you he did not finish Rachel off. He hurt her. You saved her."

Jessica looked back at the room Morgan is laying in. "That very first night, when we found the Sirens you and I saw the women who give in, and what happens to them. Morgan was completely lost in the Song. She was about to walk into the room and surrender herself to the Siren. Think about how she would feel about that. She surrendered herself to a trustworthy man she is in love with and who loves her and gave back her self control. You know Morgan: What being in control means to her. The bite mark on her breast? She is the one that put your fangs there, right? Her reaction to you using your pheromones to overcome the Siren song was to try and fuck you right then and there?"

I nodded 'yes' mutely, unable to speak. My eyes burned.

Jessica went on "She said it to you and you need to listen to Morgan. The loving Morgan who is in there now. She loves you. She is glad it is you. Not only that you are the one that turned her, but that you are the one that pulled her back. Into safety. Into warmth and love and caring. She is glad it was you." Jessica then told my mother "Sorry: Probably more than you wanted to know."

Mom gave her a very tight smile "Please. The things I could tell you about.... Never mind. Let's focus here, shall we?"

Jessica returned to me "You controlled Morgan the way Vampires have been controlling humans for ages on end, and with the same occasional end result. None of that is your fault, Adrian."

My Mom is standing there, listening and learning about the things her son has become. Has done. It is appalling. What I did not need. My Mom to think I am even more of a sexual freak show.

Jessica pulled one of my bandaged hands to her lips, and lightly kissed it. "Look at this. Look at what you did to yourself. You beat these beautiful loving hands bloody and to the bone, trying to help Rachel. We need to get stitches in these, by the way. You tore them open dealing with a problem Vampires have had longer than we knew. Not trying mind you. You won. You stopped him. You killed him. You killed the man that killed your baby. You avenged Helen's loss. William was a legend. A god damn certifiable literal legend. He was more than twice your strength, millennia more experience than anyone we know of, and you won."

"I won because you trained me. I won because Rachel stood with me. It was not me."

"Your training is not done yet either my love, so you know. You keep getting into trouble like this. However, you are quite wrong. It was you. You and Rachel."

"Either way, I failed. Helen will hate me for letting Rachel get hurt like that. She couldn't MOVE. She looks so broken. I hate me for letting her get hurt. For not having her back better. I knew she is a shitty fighter. It turned out I could beat him, but I only stepped it up when Rachel was out of the fight. I should have gone into that hyperdrive thing earlier in the fight."

Jessica was gently amused. "That hyperdrive thing you did not know you have? The hyperdrive thing few Vampires anywhere have? That one? That's what happens when you fight defense. You cannot blame yourself. I watched you learn. Adapt. Change your fighting style. Figure out the weaknesses and the only way you could win. You had to fight a fight of a thousand tiny blows. It took time. For a fight, a very long time. Rachel does not have your training and does not have your speed. She did not have his power. And... look at me. LOOK AT ME."

"Adrian: Rachel went into that fight to avenge what William did to her baby. To her love. Rachel grieved. She mourned. She wanted revenge. She had me teach her some things. She always meant to fight. That peaceful, loving woman was transformed by the loss every bit as much as we were. She needed to be there. She wanted to be there. She gave you the time and the openings so you could win. Honor her. Don't pity her. It will take a while, but she'll be fine again. She is Vampire, and she helped you with William. You should be proud."

Mom had tears in her eyes. So did I. They freely rolled down my cheeks. I could not stop them anymore.

Jessica was not done. "About Helen. You know who she is. Right? What kind of person?"

I nodded mutely

"She will not hate you. She cannot hate you. You killed the man that killed her baby. Sure, she wanted to do it, but she couldn't. You could. You did. She would never have thought you had that in you."

Jessica again addressed Mom "I know you raised Adrian to value life. Peace. Love. It sounds like an idyllic existence growing up. I hope you can forgive us for what we needed to do. Mostly what your loving son was forced to do."

I sensed Helen walk quietly up as Mom replied to Jessica "Oh my darling one, don't be silly. My poor unhappy boy is there alive, feeling the weight of the world, and the man that tried to kill him is dead. That's how I want that to be. Every single damn time. Peace is an ideal, and while we raised our children to value that, I hope we also taught them to be realistic about it. Humans don't always let that work out. I'll even give you 'rarely' on that. Vampires are no different, it seems. I do not think Adrian is suddenly going to run around killing for fun. Look at him. He's a wreck. He is paying and will be paying for a long time for today."

Mom leaned into the two of us and gave me a hug. "Adrian, I'm proud of you. Proud of the man you have become. Prouder still that you brought all of that over into this new life. Never doubt that for a second. Also, you snagged your parents three exceptional daughters." She ruffled my hair with affection. It felt good.

When we were done hugging, Helen said in a low, husky voice "I'm proud of the Vampire you have become, Adrian. I heard what you said. I do not hate you. I do not blame you. You did what I wanted to do. You killed a man I needed to kill. You are our babies father. You had the right. I'm only sorry it was not me. It turned out how I wanted, in the end, as your mother said. He is dead. You are not. That is how I want that to be."

Helen rubbed her stomach, where the spear pierced our child, adding sadly "It could not have been me in that fight. He would have killed me. I'm still far too slow. Still recovering. Rachel gave you the chance I couldn't today. I do not hate you." Now Helen's eyes met mine, and hers shown with an odd intensity "Quite the completely terrifying opposite. I love you."

The way she said it: It is a little bit scary. It is the way Jessica says it. It is an intimate way.

She understood that she is saying something new. Maybe it even surprised her. She waited for that to sink in, then repeated in a slightly less declarative way "I love you and more than that, especially for me, I admire you. Respect you."

Now Helen started to sound more like her old self "So get off your pity potty, arsehole. You did well."

 Helen reached up, pulled my face down to hers, kissing me. Softly. Warmly. This is new for her and I: our two times together had been full of many things, but this kind of gentle loving not one of them. When her tongue gently parted my lips and entered my mouth it was not with passion but light little affectionate probes.

This is being loved. There may be a hint of sexual desire there, but it is way off in the distance, hands behind its back, and waiting for another time. A different day.

Mom started to shuffle her feet a bit nervously. When Helen pulled back, her blue eyes still shining she told me lightly "We are naming our first daughter 'Rachel' just so you know. She'll like that."

"Of course." I replied. 

Our FIRST daughter? 

Morgan moaned loudly enough that Mom looked alarmed, and declarations of love and knuckle stitches on hold, we all headed into the room.

I am going to need to wait a bit longer to fall apart, but I know when I do I will be surrounded by love.