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

Whither Thou Goest

By the time I was parked in the 124's assigned slot in the garage, Denise was waiting for me to get out of the car.

"Hi." I said.

"I tried to call you." She said

I pulled out my phone and turned it back on. Missed calls and texts appeared.

"Sorry. I forgot to turn it back on when I was done talking to Vera."

"Why not put it on mute, then?" Denise asked.

"Still trackable that way." I explained.

"You did not want me to know you went to 'The Firehouse'. The place full of Sirens. The sub-species that not so long ago attacked you. Sent you a note at the fucking Hall." Denise was slightly miffed.

"No. Because you would have that reaction." I agreed and leaned against my car's warm hood.

Now that it is obvious I intentionally escaped my handler, Denise looked unhappy for a minute, held whatever her first reaction to that was.

"I did not like not telling you what was going on." Denise said, taking this a direction I did not expect. "I was told to not tell you. It felt like all the other orders Council has given me that I do not agree with. Part of why I wanted off the Crew."

"I am sorry. I need you there right now. However: I will never give you an instruction that you do not have a say in. In fact: Crew is yours to do with as you want. I'll tell you my feelings and my ideas, but I will trust you to hear me and tell me if I am full of shit. Not about me going to see Vera at 'The Firehouse', though. Closing out that topic: No one there was part of the attacks. Larry does not even know who the Assembly is. Every single thing we do there is for show and is about bringing up the boys. I have plans to change how the Sirens work. I want the seduction song stopped, but I can't just say they have to do that. I have to show them a different way. I have to show them they don't need that anymore. It will be a long haul, but no one at 'The Firehouse' attacked me. Besides: Vera is Vampire now, and trains with us, so between her and I was safe. I know you don't like the idea of me protecting myself, or even think I am smart enough sometimes to do it, but I needed that to be Vera and me. She has the same relationship to me now that you do, and I needed to make sure she understood that even as Helen rammed her outsize foot up my rear, and even as I did that same thing to her and to you, that I am not going to do it the way Helen fucked me. You all have a say. If you want off the Crew, help me get it going, and we'll make that happen. Priority one."

"No. I don't want off the Crew. Not now. I did. Now I want something else. I want to be your partner and make all the new things work. I want to never again take orders I do not believe in."

Denise looked back at the house. "I want to never be the person in your life Helen just became. I knew you would hate the living hell out of this idea. I did. I was told not to say a goddamn word because Victoria knew that too. Helen talked her into it, but once Victoria was on board with the idea, she knows you well enough to know if she gave you any place to run and hide, you would."

She looked back at me. "So: You and me. We do it differently. I trust you to run off to 'The Firehouse' if you want. You trust me to re-build the Crew as a new thing. Keep doing the good things. Keep working on keeping the secret. No more killing we don't have to do. Adrian: I hated not telling you. I did. You need to know that."

I heard some pleading there, and that is not a Denise thing at all, so I stood up and pulled her to me. "I do. I believe you. If I did not, I would not have made you one of the people that helps my dumb butt get through this. I need you, Denise. I made that a demand and I am sorry. I should have asked. Pleaded. Begged. Not used my stupid new position to dictate. My only excuse is that even in hyper-time I did not have time to think it all through. I need Vera, and Morgan, and Jessica. More than ever. You have the Crew: That is a big chunk. Part of why, when I was off in hyper-time thinking about it, I realized I did not want you to burn out. I see how hard you work. How much you worry about getting all the things right. It's super-important, and frankly, I am boggled they made Crew report to me as I am a demonstrated fool about some things. I think Victoria is two steps ahead on that one and knew that you wanted to leave, and this is how she got you to stay too."