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

The Bar

I handed the access key to Jessica, who waved it at the card reader. The door rolled up with a snap, and she pulled into the parking garage. The Ram road-barge rolled in behind us since I gave Morgan a key with no explanation. Morgan understood today is the reveal, so correctly assumed this is part of it. As a precaution and long ago I measured the garage to be sure the Ram would fit in here. It's tall.

We parked in the empty underground parking garage by the elevator, next to a line of electric car chargers.

As near as I could tell, none had any idea why this location is the one I chose for the reveal.

"This condo is brand new." Jessica said, looking around the underground space. The lines on the ground for the parking spots are freshly painted; bright and crisp. New construction also has its own smell, from fresh concrete, fresh paint, but also stuff left in the air from drilling and cutting. There were some neatly stacked sawhorses in a parking area off to one side, obviously being used as a carpentry workspace.

"Just built, Jessica. Not quite done. This way." I waved us to a particular elevator not yet labeled but that would read '1, 51-60' when the sign was put up. I opened the door, went inside, and badged the wall panel with the floor selector, then chose the top floor.

This elevator, as the sign will soon show and the buttons made obvious, only stops at 1, then the top 10 floors.

"The only floor one can get to without an electronic badge is the first floor where the shops at the street level are, as well as the leasing office." I explained. "There is a brand new pub on 1. Local micros on tap. Good food. Pricy, but everything locally sourced and organic." I said as we rose.

Morgan noted the floor selection with silent interest.

"Still has the move-in padding on the wall of the elevator." Denise patted the quilted pad attached to the wall. "Brand new."

"They take that on and off as people move in." I pointed up at top of the wall and the way the pads connect at the top. "Quick release."

"Interesting how you know that." Denise said suspiciously.

On the top floor, we exited into the undecorated lobby. Gypsum wallboard floated and taped. A close eye would show the walls are recessed for later, more decorative overlays. Even that is fake, as the lobby is thick concrete behind the false wall.

The stark lobby has three heavy steel doors. Red and Green on one wall, Blue on the opposite. Each door painted a rich, dark color. Each door has a badge reader and a security camera setup inset into the wall on the right of the door. There is also an emergency exit door opposite the elevator door.

I picked the cobalt blue door, badged it.

We went through the foyer and into the living room. Everyone looked around curiously at the fully furnished room, a contrast to the lobby.

Nakoma spotted the first surprise immediately when she walked into the room.

"Who is that?" Nakoma asked, pointing at the cat.

"That is the first owner of Casa De Gato II. Her name is Hershey. She is a Maine Coon that was abandoned by her old family for no known reason. She lives here now." I explained.

The girls all swarmed the large cat, the condo forgotten for the moment.

The adults looked around at the furnishings. The pictures on the walls of the family. A blown-up picture of Helen in a ballroom gown, frozen in dance. I had it painted from a photo by a local artist. A few other original oils from local artists. Some commissioned artwork from ComicCon mixed in. A photo of Jessica, Morgan, and I from ComicCon, in costume. One of Denise drawn up as Artemis. The artist used photos I gave her as a reference since Denise could not know about that commission until right now. Lots of pictures of the kids scattered around.

Morgan finally spoke. "Adrian: How in the entire Hell did you hide this? Casa de Gato II? The pictures? This is our place... transported downtown!"

"Go in there." I pointed to a double-wide opening.

Morgan went and looking in. "A rec room... and... my bar?"

"Your bar is here! I want to see it! I have only ever seen it in the storage room!" Jessica dashed over and into the space. "Oh, my gods! It's huge! Look at this thing!"

I looked over at Helen. "No way that bar could ever fit at the house. I had that room built out especially to accommodate it. I have something for you too."

"Oh?" Helen was intrigued. "Let me look at the bar first."

We all went into the rec room.

Vera let out a low whistle. "Whoa. You could..." She looked back, saw the kids were loving on Hershey to the exclusion of all else. "Fuck on top of that bar. Like several people, all at once. Even pregnant." she finished.

Morgan was running her hands over it. "Already happened. Wendall and I. Probably Sally did before me." She looked at me, tears in her eyes. "I just looked at the bar last week. It was in storage. How..."

"I stole it." I admitted.

"You can't steal what's already yours..." Morgan said, running fingers over the wood. A combination of an old and well-used bar that is also highly polished.

"Quick tour of this room? I have everything you need to store homebrew beer over there. Tap lines run to the bar. I left tap handle selection for you. The bar already had a place for the taps. Same kind as what we have down at Holly's. Out on the patio, there is an outside kitchen with a brewing facility. A temperature-controlled place to lager if you want to make anything in that style. I had the homebrew shop set me up with everything, plus I looked over your rig at the house to be sure I did not miss anything you like to use. Your recipes are copied into that book. Not sure why you do not keep them online. Copying those out manually even with a camera was a pain to keep secret. Had to wear gloves to keep my scent off the paper."

I pointed at the bar back. "As you can see, I replicated our favorites from the house. Scotch, Vodka, and Tequila. Sorry, Vera and Angel: You have to wait for those. Proper glasses for each, plus big cubes for the Scotch under the bar in a new freezer I added. No bar mods: I picked a size I could set up under there changing nothing about the bar. The bar is sacrosanct and exactly as it was in Houston."

I pointed at the wall at the end of the bar back. "Those wine coolers contain a freshly imported batch of all the latest Claremont varieties. Stored at the proper temperature and of course with wet corks. Fiona helped me get that going with no one knowing I was doing it. I just have to tell her about the look on your face, Helen. She'll love it."

Helen is looking pretty wide-eyed, and this is not even the surprise for her.

I pointed around. "Pool table. We never had space for that, not really sure if anyone plays, but always nice at a party to have one. If nothing else, you can play strip pool with Carol, DeWayne, Danny, and Lori."

"This looks nice for a good fuck too." Vera said, running fingers over the felt. Vampire in bonding mode. One-track mind. "Helen? You like to screw on pool tables?"

"Let's find out." Helen said.

"It is not difficult to get the members of the extended family's clothes off of." Jessica pointed out. "But still: You don't like a tease. Maybe they do..."

"Strip pool and then sex. I'm in." Vera said.

"Me too." Angel agreed.

"Yes, well, for now, the tour. Conversation areas. Places to curl up with a book. A selection of each of your favorite authors is over there on the built-in. The sliding glass door goes out to the rooftop patio. Let's go back into the living room. We'll look outside later."

We trooped back into the living area.

"Back that way is the girls' bedrooms. Also Angel and Vera's suite. You can also get into there from the lobby if you are sneaking in a lover. The red door. Also, a door in the foyer. That suite has space for kids' rooms. Along the hall are a few offices. One for Rachel to work remotely from. A Crew office for Denise. A PI office for Denise, Angel, Morgan, and me. Pretty good size area. I furnished nothing back that way as yet, so you all get to pick out what you want for there. There is also some open space for anything you all need or want to have built out."

"Shit!" Vera said.

"Tour continues this way."