North American Vampire Council & Past Calling (Hypernaturals 12 & 13)

DNA Sequencer

At dinner that night, the family was abuzz.

Helen laid out a summary of the meeting and all my new roles and responsibilities. I did not interrupt.

My Dad looked at me when Helen finished with her outline and said "Son! That is huge. Congratulations!"

I frowned back at him. Said nothing. I was not trying to be rude to my dad: I had no idea what to say. If I said what I am thinking, it would not be family appropriate. I suppose I should have been ready for this, or dropped into hyper-time to think over a decent answer, but my emotional turmoil left me frozen instead.

Everyone at the table clued in on that lack of a response immediately and said nothing more about me and my new dishonor. Angel studied me in her Angel way and did not look happy at what she saw.

As time has passed since the Council meeting, I have not adapted to the realization that Helen just stole a couple hundred years of my life for her projects. Her ambitions. When Victoria asked me afterward if I had any questions, I told her I did not.

She properly and correctly frowned at that but seemed to understand I needed time. Off she buzzed in her car.

Vera looked at her wife, then at me, and understood any questions she had about the new Liaison thing are for later. Vera now reports to me too. I can understand her wanting to ask questions.

Jessica saw I am pissed off and passed me the green beans. Instead of saying something about my downfall, she kept it normal. "Would you put some more of these on Laura's plate?"

I happily did that, as it is the best assignment I received all day.

I thought about leaving and not being Debbie Downer, but that is not teaching my children how to deal with stress at all.

The Crew thing is throwing me for a loop more than being on the Council. Probably part of why I landed on Denise.

Denise is also in shock. She knew what was about to happen to me. She did not know what was going to happen to her. I think she viewed this as her way out. Off Crew. She has put in her time, so I know I am not being fair, but I need her there. I'll explain when I can talk without cussing.

I am deeply pissed with and at Helen. I sure as hell wished she had talked to me about it. She didn't because of the reason Victoria said. I would have refused had they not painted me into a global corner. Helen's damn doing. She knows I could not refuse with that audience. Manipulative political...

There were so many better ways to go after this. Ease it on. Start with Archeology. Make Ninovan some sort of official role. Step it up a thing at a time until you just say 'hey! You are doing the work anyway. Might as well make it official.'

But no. Helen had to fucking manipulate me. Set me up.

Helen sensed she needed to not engage me. Likely the daggers coming out of my eyes. She spent most of the dinner chirping and happy and answering questions in long-form, where I was mostly 'yes'. 'No'. 'No idea' and such. Helen is happy because she got her damn way.

Morgan being Morgan read me like a book and said nothing. She did not congratulate me. Nothing. Good for her.

My longest sentence was to her. "Morgan: You and I, our Computer company technically, are the Council nerd herders. The encryption project we did for Ninovan is Council official. We'll extend it to Starfleet Medical's data. We'll get paid for it. I forgot to mention our rates to Victoria, but she'll pay. Oh. She will pay. Also: Crew will continue to use our PI company as an auxiliary. Right, Crew Lead?"

Denise gave me a very sour look. "Right."

Denise is not happy because I landed on her like a ton of bricks. She knew about this and did not tell me it was coming, so actions have consequences. Do not spring bullshit like this on a guy and expect rational behavior.

I do honestly believe Denise's whole marrying us and such being as open-ended as Denise has made it is not psychologically workable. I might back off on that demand or at least discuss with her the time frame. I pulled five years out of my panicked ass. I am not mad at Denise. In fact, I need her to succeed with this Helen induced shitshow.

I also really need the Co-Crew-Lead thing plugged in. Denise works too damn hard. She needs downtime to jump in her Jeep, top-down, and enjoy her life. If she wants to run off to a camping ground or a beach and bop her way through the tents full of human college boys to relax and have some Vampire vacation, she needs to be able to do it. As I understand it, Spring break is popular with Vampires for that reason.

"OK. I will help however I can." Morgan agreed. Her expression said to me that the help she is offering is about more than as a PI or a coder. Morgan knows I have a serious Mad-on.

Jessica came in for her share of attention, but she got a good job. She and Mom are excited and chattered about being able to come out of the closet on some of the things they have been working on, and new test gear they need, and all sorts of happy sounding jargon. Seems we are going to need a new DNA sequencer, for example. The one from the Siren lab we stole is old and grungy.

I mentally retreated from the chatter and mostly watched Rachel and Laura. Diana folded herself into the adult conversations, but Rachel looks unhappy. I don't think it is my unhappiness, but who knows? Laura gave everyone her big, observant eyes as she absorbed without comment. I think perhaps she thought the DNA sequencer sounded interesting.

If Nakoma was here. She would read me like a book. She is out on a date, though.