Erasure and Affirmation (Hypernaturals 11)

Always the Businesswoman

Ginger and Wyatt asked to come over. We heard the tone of voice on the phone and gathered all hands. Rachel and Helen are back home, so we have a full living room, at least as far as Siren / Vampire things go. Angel saw the immediate need for drinks and dispensed them with her fiancé.

Denise took a beer. I decided to go that way as well. I sensed a lot of stress from the Siren pair. It seemed like a 'keep my wits about me' moment.

Wyatt, Morgan, and Jessica followed along with that.

Angel, Helen, Rachel, and Ginger went for Claremont's four-year-old burgundy. An excellent year. I don't even have to add 'or so I am told' to sentences like that anymore. I own the place, and I know what that means now. Some people train their whole life to understand this. The easier path is to turn Vampire and get your senses upgraded.

Although I own the finest winery in France, I usually pick beer or Scotch. Claremont is curated by Vampires, with our sensorium, so it is as good as it can get. Given how good wine is in France, that is a bit like saying 'I have the best Porsche Carrera'. Maybe I do, but they all pretty good. One thing that is absolute: You want Claremont Estates wine in this country, you either know us, or you went there and brought it back in your luggage. We do not export. Helen was very strict about that when it was her place, and I continue the policy because... Well... Helen told me it's the right policy. What the hell do I know about it? There is more to running a top-end winery than how good the wine is, or even the food at the tasting room / restaurant / gift shop.

Vera mixed herself a margarita with top-shelf Tequila, because ... Vera. She runs a bar, and she likes it that when she comes home that we only keep quality stuff here. It is not that she did not pick up on her Siren bosses stress. She does. Maybe it is because of it.

Once we settled into chairs (I pulled Helen into my lap. She is easier to see around than Morgan or Jessica) Ginger started to talk. "Thank you for seeing us on short notice like this. It probably was not that urgent, but I am not sure when the right time to talk about things like this is."

"I am glad you waited until I was home." Rachel said.

"We did not know you were gone, but I am too." Ginger told her.

Ginger looked at Wyatt, apparently for courage. "Wyatt and I think something is up. The Assembly is acting oddly."

"Oh?" Helen asked. Mistress of the wide open-ended 'Oh'.

"Going back to when Wyatt and I introduced ourselves to you. Just before that. There were discussions about ways to do various things. How to expose a part of our community to Vampires without Vampires knowing all there is to know. There is still a very low level of trust, despite everything we have done since Adrian appeared at the Firehouse with Vera.

"Why of all the Assembly we only technically know about you two." Helen agreed.

"Technically?" Wyatt asked.

"We know a few others." Rachel said.

"I see. Well. You know how Vampires are organized into Geographies? Each Council running its own region. No overarching global government?" Ginger asked.

"I had heard that about us." Rachel said smiling.

"Sirens are global. The Assembly has regional members, but it's like the EU or the US congress except global. In the USA there are four couples on the Assembly. We deal with local things, and we are part of the Grand Assembly for global things."

"That makes some things about the entire HPA situation in Bulgaria make sense. I honestly could not exactly figure out how the Assembly exerted influence to be able to allow us to take out the HPA there." Helen said.