Bad Choices (Hypernaturals 8)

Don't Bogart That Joint

The clerk that checked us in last time was at the desk "Mr. and Mrs. Olsen. Welcome back! Honeymoon suite again, I see! I hope that means you enjoyed your stay last time!"

"Oh yes. We had a lovely time." Morgan told her. "So much so that we brought our friends so they can see this beautiful place."

Marvin is not yet powered up as a Vampire as that takes time, food, and a medicine cabinet full of supplements. That only helps: It still takes time. Ten years for a complete changeover, though most of it is front-loaded and actually there are smaller changes over the life of the Vampire. More metals. More muscles against those bones. Further densification of neural tissue. More co-processing neural tissue lumps distributed through the body. All of nature's strategies for making the Vampire the preditor of the apex predator.

Angel reserved two more suites to cover Marvin, Skye, Helen, Rachel, and Jessica. "Just put everyone and everything on my tab please." Morgan requested.

"Of course, Mrs. Olsen, of course." The young woman enthused. I wondered how often they rented out all the suites to one party like this.

As the clerk was handing out keys, Jessica took one to the honeymoon suite. The desk clerk asked no questions. Just handed one over, saying "Certainly Mrs. Sullivan" to Jessica's request to room with Morgan and I.

In the elevator, Jessica said: "Dammit. Why didn't she ask? I was ready to tell her I am Morgan's girlfriend."

Helen popped that bubble of enthusiasm. "It's a luxury hotel in Galveston. Where they have Mardi Gras every year. She just handed out keys to two women, not that big a deal anymore, a man that looks forty years older than his wife, and a threesome, one of whom is apparently recently married to someone else. Really. This is just a standard day for her. You want a reaction, tell HER to come up after her shift. My read is she would. Not because of just you, my dearest, but because she would like to make the threesome a foursome. She liked the look of everyone in that room. Even the boy toy."

"No way. You are just pulling my leg. Honestly?" Jessica asked, slightly taken aback.

"Rachel? What do you think?" Helen asked.

"Oh. Yes. Definitely."

"Hypers? She have a scent spike?" Jessica double-checked.

Morgan picked up her bags with a non-commital shrug as the elevator door opened. "She was interested in someone. Scents are not that specific. I was thinking it was Adrian, but that may be colored by my point of view."

"Adrian?" Helen prompted.

"Her scent told me she wanted to be on top." I offered.

Jessica poked me. "Now you are just projecting."

"That is how she would get on top: Him projecting." Morgan said.

Skye said to Marvin "I never really thought about what our age difference looks like to others since in real life I am a year older than you, and before now, I was always stealing my way into your bed."

"I never think about it at all. It won't matter soon enough." Marvin told her. He touched his head. "All these short little hairs coming in. Give it a month and I will have hair like a kid. Six months, I'll look like Adrian."

"Oh! I did not think of that! Are you going to make your hair like it was when we met?" Skye asked, sounding intrigued.

"Nothing like an old hippie." Marvin agreed.

"According to my math, you would be at the end of the hippie age." Jessica said. "Therefore, a young hippie. Still half my age."

"I am married to children." Helen told Rachel, who is over two hundred years older than Helen is.

"How about dinner at 8 pm. Mexican place Adrian and I like? Just up the seawall a short way." Morgan asked. This was upvoted rapidly.

We all went into our various rooms and dropped our luggage. Jessica bounced on the edge of the bed in our suite. "Ok. Since we'll be out late scouting, we should have a nap now I think. By have a 'nap', that is totally innuendo. for us having some pre-dinner nookie. As opposed to the post-dinner and refueled version of said nookie. Nookie, part two."

"Mrs. Sullivan!" Morgan acted shocked. "What will Mr. Sullivan say?"

"Oh baby, oh baby? Ask him. He's standing right there. In fact, snag him and bring him to me before he goes down to retrieve the desk clerk."

"Oh. Does that mean we both get him?" Morgan asked, very innocently.

"Yep. I get you. You get me. We're a happy family." Jessica chanted.

"Good, because Helen was a total bogart the other night. Also, I am glad you did not sing that." Morgan told her very sincerely.

"Naw: I hate that show. However, youngun' How the hell do you know what a 'bogart' is? Aren't you of the 'Harry Potter' Bogart definition?" Jessica asked, as she undressed and folded her clothes on a chair for later use.

"Little Feat?" Morgan answered, then sang 'You been holding onto it, And I sure would like a hit! Don't bogart that joint my friend, Pass it over to me!'"

"I always forget you were in a band that covered the classics." Jessica said.

"Music points to Morgan. Negative points to Jessica for even reminding me about that fucking purple dinosaur." I inserted.

"That Little Feat song has all new meaning to me, now." Jessica said. "I was planning on sharing that joint. OK. It is really Adrian's joint if you must know. Oh. That reminds me. You know how I gave Adrian the 'Mr. Sullivan' ID? I got this one for you." Jessica went to her luggage, pulled out a badge wallet, tossed it to Morgan.

Morgan opened it, and read "Texas Rangers? Ms. Sullivan?"

"Adrian's Sister. You two are very close. The rumors I could start! Seems law enforcement runs in the family. He's CIA, I'm Secret Service, and you are a Ranger. I picked Ranger because of your friend Juan. I thought it would be fun to have a local law person in the family. If we need something more international, we can move you to the FBI or something. You get that star and ID for the badge wallet, and this star to put on your shirt if you like" Jessica explained, flipping her another star, which Morgan caught deftly.

"Thank you! I made fun of you giving Adrian this when we were chasing down William, but this is just amazing. So much more authority than my PI license." Morgan looked at the badge and thumbed the inset silver star. "I love the shield. Very old school"

Morgan looked at me, screwed up her mouth. "However, for the 'nap', I think I will stay Mrs. Olsen, since being his sister would just be weird."

"Yeah. Better to have a cheating spouse than a sibling, for sure." Jessica agreed, looking me over in a similar way.

"Being a Vampire can be so complicated sometimes. So, If I have this down correctly, I am going to cheat on my new wife with her girlfriend, but it's not cheating because they'll be sharing a joint at the time." I contributed.

"Nothing complicated about it. Get her and my joint out here where she and I can share. It's in there. Ours." Jessica said, pointing rudely.