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

Observatory

I walked into the house through the front door. No one appeared to be home, or at least not in the Kitchen / Dining / living area.

I was not there at bedtime since I was swimming my ass off so I am not sure what people's plans for the day are, other than the surprise party.

No one is in the Master bedroom, or our massive shower. Not a normal shower time of day. Still: this is weird. Jessica should be here. Her scent is fresh. Her car in the big garage.

I stopped in the Living Room again, and closed my eyes, and listened. Faintly, I could hear someone is upstairs. Not the second story, so she must be up in the Observatory. We don't have a telescope that has sun filters on it yet, so it could not be solar observation.

I walked up the stairs, down the hall, and up the stairs to the Observatory. We added this to the solid structure my parents built with this house. This house has, at its core, steel I-beams. We can bolt stuff onto that solid frame all over the place.

The Observatory was a no brainer. My daughters all love it up here. I do too. Here there is peace, quiet, and science. Some of my favorite things.

I paused before entering the balcony area to observe.

Jessica is looking out over the trees, but her body language says 'dejected'. This does not look like someone that is in the mood for a party tonight.

I don't blame her.

Jessica knows I am here. I have not been loud in the way I arrived, but she is a fully functioning Vampire. It does not take my senses to notice someone this close. She could hear my breathing, my feet on the tile. If she paid attention, my IR radiation as perceived by the skin on her back.

I leaned lightly against the door frame and studied her. So perfect. Tall. Long black straight silky hair. Her frozen-at-twenty-five body drawn solely with French Curve Protractor. Her hair the only straight line on her.

She looked around at me finally. "You just going to stare at my ass all day?" she asked.

"I could. For sure." I said.

"Come on over. I won't bite you." She said. She did not sound any happier than her body telegraphed. I guess my down mood about the party is catching.

I walked over and leaned against the rail, and took her in profile. Still yummy. I am not saying anything about any of that because she is obviously not in the mood. I thought about the party tonight. New Ninovan meant there will be lots of people, and Crew and family and friends are all coming. Not to mention the NorthAm Council.

Alexander would be there. Of that, I have no doubt. Ever since their 'affair', he takes every opportunity to be wherever she is. Affair is too strong a term for what is essentially a deeply regretted quicky, but Jessica still gets down on herself about her screw up from time to time. I wonder if that is the issue here: That he is going to be there to remind her of what happened. She has not relapsed into any kind of depression over it for a while, however, so I am not assigning that idea a high probability. I have no idea what the problem is. Only that it is something. I hope it is not my mood becoming contagious. I know that ever since I was put on Council I have been hard to live with.

I looked at Jessica, and she closed her eyes and basked in the sun. We stood there for several minutes like that. I felt no need to fill the silence. She was basking in the sun. I am basking in her.

"Ready for your party?" Jessica finally asked.

I made zero attempts to decode that question for intent. It had a subtext, but I had no idea what.

"No." I replied. "Everyone is going to be calling me 'Councilman' and I will have to put up with it. Bigger than that though is that you are not happy. If you are not happy, I cannot be happy."