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

Booty Camp

The three of us stood in the center of an open courtyard. The idea of Boot Camp started at Casa de Gato. We kicked it around for a long time. It was a very amorphous concept and often Helen, Jessica, or especially Morgan's response to my complaining about the plight of my gender in the Vampire world.

The idea of Boot Camp gelled when the Vampires that had been in hiding up in Tulsa came to me (because I apparently have a reputation) looking for help. Boy Vampires in hiding because they did not want to be killed by the lady Vampires. Turns of many years that were not running around preying upon human women.

It was learning about these terrified (and a little stupid) Vampires that made Denise decide she was done with taking orders to kill. Told Victoria to her face. Victoria responded, making sure Denise did not leave Crew.

I have always liked Denise. Even when I was on probation, I worked well with her. Did Crew missions with her. I never really saw the trajectory of us. Never saw her being pulled into the Sagan orbit. It was events like that that started outlining her eventual downfall. Now she lives with us, loves us, and someday we are going to marry her. When she is ready for her next step.

Getting the Camp built out has been Anne and Denise's special project as co-Crew Leads. Boot Camp may have been an idea started by my family, but it is a passion project for Luciana, Anne, and Denise. Having Co-Leads and a backup was supposed to give them time off, and they do take it. They all also work more than they are supposed to. Use their numbers to cover day-to-day Crew. and build Boot Camp at the same time.

I helped design this place and have seen the early stages of it, but there are new things all the time. It's still not done. I am not sure it will ever stop evolving. Nor should it. The more we learn, the more we should adapt that learning to here.

Anne pointed. "The bunkhouse is mostly done. Silly to call it that, but you helped on the original designs so you know; it's more like a motel. Private rooms for guests. Over there, the medical facility is complete. Mostly. They are working on transplanting one of the pheromone harvesting units from the Ninovan fertility clinic to here. Not portable. Jessica said that your dad is working on version two now."

"Yeah, but the need for pheromones outstripped his ability to make a smaller model in time, so they decided to move one from the clinic in Ninovan." I said.

"Makes sense. Not as if Alexander will be leaving here quickly." Anne replied. "Uma is here all the time. Jessica stays pretty busy between being a Mom and with Ninovan's medical facility. We need a full-time Doctor here, so Uma bases Crew medical from here for now. Do not be shocked if we ask for a Camp Doc. Uma needs to be able to travel to Crew injuries out in the field. Takes a long while to get to an airport from here."

"Jessica mentioned that to Helen. I am sure Helen is working Victoria on it now." I replied.

That got a sharp look. No comment, but I knew what Anne's issue is. "She is not working around me. Jessica is head of medical research on Council. If she wants a Doctor at the Camp, that is her purview. It is not as if I was not standing right there, and it is not as if I do not agree."

Technically, I was laying there.

"OK." Anne took a deep breath. I love the loyalty. I said nothing further.

"Until we have that sorted, I am sure that in addition to Jessica that my Mom will be here as much as Uma needs to get up to speed on running the collection process. The gear is not the problem, ultimately. It's getting Alexander to get into it. Denise is really good at that."

"I wish he feared me the way that he does her." Anne frowned, shook it off. "Over there is the education center. We started many classes to see what people need and respond to. Still getting that dialed in. Vampires old and new need to retrain. It's way bigger than learning self-control for the newbies or updating for the Crew. Got to have a future. For example: you have to teach 1000-year-old Vampires how to program computers. That is not easy sometimes."