Missing Vampire: Reward Available (Hypernaturals 6)

Austin Shower

My clothes went into a trash bag, and then down a laundry chute. I did not know there are still things like laundry chutes in the real world, but then this 'house' is not new. It takes staff to run the massive thing.

As we stripped and 'chuted', Helen explained the money flow on 'my' house. How we pay for staff. Fiona.

"Fiona will tell you all about it when you take the tour with her. We show a nice profit every year, after taxes. Our grapes make the best red wines that there can be. You're a beer snob, but I am a wine snob. I know my wines. I would rather skip a year than put out a sub-standard Claremont. We can always sell the grapes into the aftermarket."

Helen's clothes followed mine down the chute. I stood there and admired her.

"What?" she asked.

"I like looking at you naked. You know that." I explained.

"Yes. I do know that. I like smelling you clean however so let me show you the shower. My phone is waterproof. We'll call your parents from there."

"Fuck. Great idea! You are damn sexy when you remind me to call my parents when I want to be looking at you. Weird, huh?"

"Not at all weird. You can look at me some more later when I am on top of you. Come along." Helen said and headed away. I followed. She dialed.

We went into a large room, not unlike the one at our Austin home. Mirrors. Drawers. Cabinets. Doors to small rooms with toilets and bidets: the classic 'water closet'. All with silent fans, large air movement, marble everything. The WC's (plural, for all the gods' sake: There are only three of us in the marriage, and there are other bathrooms in this castle) are small, soundproofed bathrooms attached to a large central area. Along one side is a glass wall with a door that led into the shower room.

Helen took my hand and drew me into the shower space. The phone clicked its way across the planet. It is exactly as she said: A larger version of my shower in Austin. She pointed out the differences. "I had a different size space to work with here. This used to be a shower plus a room behind it that was for storage. I had it all ripped out, and gave them a drawing of our shower. They expanded it to fit the space. Not like it needed to be bigger. It worked out that way. It was a big storage area, but this house has many of those."

"Hello?" Said my mother.

"Hi, Mom. Adrian and Helen, currently standing in a shower in France that looks a lot like ours in Austin. Helen going to give me a tour, but I stink to high heaven and so we are multi-tasking. Hope you don't mind."

I heard the phone moving about, the sound changing as it went onto speakerphone mode. "Ben, it's Adrain. Calling from the shower in France!." Mom said.

Only my parents would not find that last sentence odd.

I heard my dad coming closer. It sounded like they are in their RV. "Adrian! Excellent to hear from you. Jessica told us you are OK of course. Still, thank you for calling!"

"Sorry for the delay. The EuroCouncil folks wanted to hear my story. I need a shower as I have never needed one before. Long walk." I apologized.

"Oh, don't be silly. We were so worried. Jessica? She came apart. Never seen her like that. Morgan held her together with duct tape, baling wire, and hugs. It's such a relief to hear from you. Know you are OK." Mom assured me.

It is not good to hear how badly my being gone affected Jessica, and I blessed my lucky stars Morgan possesses that superhuman level of self-control so she could take care of her. Her and Diana. A double-edged sword, that control. It is also why she has resisted pressure to join us. it does not matter though: I am kissing her that much harder now. She can deal with it.