Authors Note: This short has about 4200 words. It’s in the world of the Hypernaturals so there are adult Vampires doing Adult Vampire things with humans in here. You have been warned. Also, more adult language than the Nova short has. It’s a different story, even though Nova is in it.
Also: If you are of a strong particular opinion about certain aspects of Christianity then this one isn’t for you. You have been warned. Again.
Copyright 2010, 2018 CJ Stevens
Becky listened to the door close with a great deal of joy. She may be the Pastor of this church, but that couple really got on her last nerve. Who did either of them think they were fooling? They were headed for a divorce, and it would be a mercy for everyone around them. The only losers would be the people they were having affairs with should they decide to flee to them. They would be well advised to run screaming for the exits. It was not that they were having affairs that made them bad. It was that they were not nice people that made them bad. Becky was not sure why they even came to her church. Becky did not teach Prosperity Gospel. Far from it.
She could not say any of that to them of course. Not for the first time she wondered if Jesus had to do marriage counseling. If he did, she wished he would have left some tips in the Bible or any of the related Apocrypha. The idea of not being self-involved assholes was in the existing bible of course, but she could talk about that till she was blue in the face with those two. They deserved each other but there was no way they stayed together.
If Dorit was around, she could ask her about any lost teachings. She had known Jesus personally, having lived near him for a while. Dorit knew his wife. His children. His mom and dad. She had told Becky all about what it was like to hear him speak, and watch his followers. She thought he was an all-around pretty nice guy and certainly did not deserve what had happened to him, just because he was a little angry at the temple that day.
That is what Becky wanted right now. To just be a little nicer. A little less angry at the couple. She did not like herself when she had these kinds of negative thoughts, no matter how deserved they might be. Becky wanted to find her center, and rise calmly above it, not feel like she needed to hit something. It was not true that angry Vampires went around biting people out of anger. Vampires bit and drank because they were hungry or horny or both.
It was hard to be quiet in these counseling sessions when you knew things you were not supposed to. The couple had not confessed their affairs to Becky and probably not to one another. The wife was not only having an affair, Becky knew with who, because she smelled him on her. She knew who that was. They must have had sex within hours of the couples session! Becky did not have words.
Of course, they had no idea she could scent them, so they had no reason to think they were being indiscrete. At least he was single, mostly because he was also very young. Adult, but barely. Becky supposed this was a big adventure for him, but assumed he would get over it soon enough. He was a nice kid that had just been sucked into something by his hormones. This was the place in his life where he should learn the lesson about sex not being the basis of a solid relationship. The woman was nice looking, and probably the dictionary definition of MILF. She was a cast iron bitch as well and that was probably the result of being such an obvious trophy wife. The young man would figure it out.
The husband was not any better. He thought his wealth forgave him all other things. If he wanted it, then it was OK. In addition to his affair with a woman Becky did not know by scent, he was also a compulsive liar, about things he had no reason to lie about. Becky wanted to bite him and use her hypnotics to tell him to just stop it. He lied about the stupidest things! She hardly even needed her Vampire senses to detect them. It is probably how he became wealthy. He was the type of CEO who was also a psychopath. In that regard, Becky did feel sorry for his wife.
They were not a couple made in heaven and they made each other completely miserable. ‘Just end it’ was Becky’s real advice. Instead, she had told them the official church positions on divorce: That while it was not considered a sin, it was the easy way out. They needed to try harder to love each other, remember why they had fallen in love, etc. So on. So forth.
The problem with all that was that they had never been in love. He wanted her because of the way she looked. She wanted him because he was wealthy and powerful and she thought those were things she needed in her life. So the churches teachings could not apply.
Becky believed in what she said and did here as the pastor to her flock. She honestly tried to help those who came to her church. She thought Jesus had the right ideas about things. When she told people about his teachings, she was getting them second hand rather than retranslated down the ages. Dorit had been there. Seen him. Met him. He was an amazing man, especially at that time, and against the church of the day. Becky admired and tried to live up to him.
She sighed. She knew it was only partly about the couple. She would normally be able to let that go, at least until Sunday. But she knew what was coming tonight, and she was not happy about it.
#
The North American Vampire Council Subcommittee on Clovis Daigle would be meeting tonight. Sometimes they met at the church. Tonight it would be in the warehouse district. Tucked safely away from prying eyes.
Becky was looking over the reports on Clovis when her husband Jon came into the kitchen and saw her spread out on the table.
He bent over her and kissed her neck. “Hi, Hon”.
She reached up and offered her mouth, which he kissed with intent.
“Hi, baby. Have a good day?”
Jon looked at her and read his wife’s expression and semi slumped body attitude. “Better than you I think.”
Becky’s eyes widened a bit. “Really? I look that bad?”
Jon scoffed. “Right: You look bad. The eternal twenty-five-year-old. Actually, you do need some touchups on your fake gray there, but that’s not the point. You look unhappy. Stressed.”
Becky shrugged “Council business.”
Jon’s hands went up in a surrender pose. “Say no more. Please. I insist.”
“Like I could say more. You may be a human in the circle of trust, but there are things even you can’t know about.
“I know. I know. It’s nothing. Still, afterward, if you like, I’ll get some nice wine. Some candles. We’ll float around in the hot tub and try and wash away your day. Sound good?”
“Very good. Thanks, babe. Oh.. You up for a little feeding and foreplay? I could use the boost.”
Jon looked at his briefcase for a second.
“Sure. No problem. I can work on this while you are off doing your mysterious Vampire stuff.”
“I’ll be back there in ten. Just need to reread this last thing.” Becky said.
Jon knew from fifteen years of marriage that ‘back there in ten’ meant ‘go take off your clothes and lay on the bed’ and wait for her.
Becky watched him go and felt fortunate. Jon was a state senator. She had one of the few Council Sanctioned marriages going right now, and that meant Jon could know who and what she was. He was heavily conditioned to never let anything out: Not about her and not about Vampires. Often marriages like this were about convenience. Vampiric influence over things going on in the human world. Jon was viewed as an up and comer, and Becky, as the leader of a church, was good for his public image. No one ever asked him questions about what church he went to. Becky ran a very middle of the road, open-minded ministry. It was all about love and acceptance. She was definitely not a hellfire and damnation preacher.
He was probably going to move onto the national stage next election. That would put him in a place to know things. Influence things. The council needed and wanted that influence, so they had sent Becky to seduce him a decade and a half ago. It had been a long time since Becky had taken on a human marriage like this. Her friend on the council, Helen, did them far more often. Helen was ambitious and the youngest NorthAm Council member ever, so that was in great part her choice.
As luck would have it for Becky, Jon was a good man, An honest politician. For Becky, her love for her husband was now real. Their problem was only that she did not age: Not in any human way. He looked a well kept and fit forty. With her clothes off, and not wearing her makeup, she looked twenty-five.
Becky knew that for now, Jon did not mind that she was physically so young. For her, he was young in bed still. Jon worked very hard to stay in shape and healthy. The day would come though: She could only age herself so much with makeup. Sooner or later, he was going to look a lot older than her, and not long after that, she would have to ‘die’. It would be tragic. Jon would mourn her passing. Perhaps even think it real. But they had time yet. Maybe another fifteen or twenty years. She could be a very young looking sixty. Sixty-five even. Just start a rumor about a good plastic surgeon.
She finished up the report. It did not tell her anything new upon being re-read. She packed it all away in a folder, put that in an Attache, and locked the case. Her husband was naked and waiting for her, and she was going to have a quick sip of his blood, and then skip the foreplay for a quickie with her husband and her love. She had said foreplay but had decided she needed more. If she was late… so what? Clovis Daigle would still be there.
#
It was not just Clovis that was there waiting for her. The other two members of the subcommittee were as well. Becky greeted Helen and Nova warmly. The had not seen each other to talk for a while. Not since the last meeting of the council, and before that, when they had joined to consider Clovis’s case.
In addition to Clovis, there was his parole officer. Her current name was Belle, and it was she who had asked for this meeting.
Two others were there. Becky knew them well. They were Council Enforcers. The Cleanup Crew. They were a precaution only. Nova, Helen, Belle, and Becky were easily able to deal with Clovis, should it come down to that. He was only six months old as a Vampire and had at the very most two-fifths of any one of their physical strength. At the very most.
Six months had done almost nothing to trim the fat off Clovis. He must have had to work hard at staying that big. Normally a Vampire would, as a matter of nature, become a more natural weight. Not that some Vampires are not plumper than others, but Clovis was a little plumper than even the cushiest Vampire Becky knew about. She tried not to think of his physical nature as being reflective of his mental one.
The meeting room in the warehouse was on a landing and enclosed on all sides. The interior was well lit and soundproof. Helen, Becky, and Nova sat in a line at a table, facing two chairs. The council Enforcers stood back, and to either side of the door.
Becky knew Denise and Anne well. They had served for a long time and were utterly reliable. She greeted each with nods. It would not do to chatter away like this was going to be a sewing circle.
Becky was head of the subcommittee. Helen, of course, was far younger than her as the youngest member of the North America council. Nova had been on the Council for decades and was a Native American in the very truest sense of that term. Even now, most of her life has been spent without having ever seen a white person.
It was time to get going. “Mr. Daigle. Have a seat.”
“Call me Clovis ma’am. Everybody does.”
“Fine. Clovis. Have a seat.” Becky was not about to let Clovis good ole southern boy routine change anything, or throw her off her pace.
Clovis sat down, and Belle took the seat next to him with obvious distaste.
Becky directed the next to Belle. She wanted to underline a few things about the night from the get-go.
“Belle: You called this review. This is your charge and responsibility, Clovis. When we spoke six months ago, you took his Parole and joined your fates. How may we serve you in your cause?”
Ok. It was dramatic, and in her peripheral vision, she saw Helen stifle a grin.
“You may serve it by severing us. I want to end the parole. I do not wish to be joined to this asshole anymore.”
Becky tapped the small pile of reports in front of her. “I have read these several times. I can see why. Still, if you would, in your own words please, tell us why you wish to sever the parole?”
Belle looked over at Clovis, who was scratching his scruffy beard with one finger and looking for all the world like he was bored. He really had no clue.
“I bit him. I turned him. He was fun and goofy and all that, and I thought he’d be a good and gentleman as a Vampire.”
Nova picked up her report sheaf. “I saw nothing about major violence in here.”
“Naw. He ain’t violent. Not exactly: Just incredibly eff’ing irresponsible. I have to watch him night and day. He’s not even trying. And worse, I caught him about to take a chomp on a tourist woman over in the Quarter one night.”
“I wasn’t really gonna bite her…” Clovis said, doing the aww shucks routine for all it was worth.
“Like hell! Shut up mother fucker. You were gonna, and you know it. The only reason you didn’t was I was there.”
Belle addressed Becky “I told him over and over: No women. Only men or bottled. Too much chance of turning someone…”
Helen held up a hand to silence Belle, and addressed Clovis “Clovis: Tell me. What are the odds of turning a woman?”
Clovis clearly could not get a read on Helen. Her British accent seemed to be throwing off his routine a bit. “Uhh… Let’s see. Its … like… one in… five thousand?”
“And your chances of turning a man? If you bite him?”
Clovis actually got a little angry “I ain’t no fag. I wouldn’t bite no dude. Not ever.”
Helen went a little stiff. “That was most expressly not the question, Clovis. Please answer what I asked you.” The please came out as a command, not a pleasant request.
“I.. Uhh..” Clovis looked up at the ceiling “I don’t recall. One in a bajillion. A lot.”
Helen sat back a little, arms crossed. “A ‘bajillion’ is not a recognized number, but I will accept your answer. You know the difference between biting a man and a woman. You understand the consequences. Belle is responsible for teaching you. Clearly, she has been trying.”
Clovis mistook what Helen was saying as approval “Aww, hell yeah. Belle is great. She is always trying to come over and teach the stuff. Makes me take notes. All that shit.”
Nova, a scholar of many centuries was slightly amused “I hope that did not stress you deeply. Taking notes I mean.”
“Aww. No M’am. I mean, I don’t think it helps me remember nothing, but if Belle wants me to, I do.”
“Only when forced to, and only when I keep insisting,” Belle said with disgust. She looked at Becky, pleading “I cannot be tied to this guy. He is not who I thought he was.” Belle looked down, had an internal conversation, looked up “I caught him that time. I don’t know he has not tried to bite others. I do know that the only damn thing he has studied is how to use pheromones to get human women into his bed. I can’t be there every second. I followed every woman I know he has fucked and there have been a ton of them. I checked ’em out. Made sure they were not bitten too. All that. But I can’t be there all the damn time. He’s gonna do it. He’s going decide to get a taste of one of his conquests. Sooner or later. He has no self-control None.”
Clovis took exception to that. “Now, that ain’t fair. I got control of my … my… scent thing. I ain’t spraying the room am I?”
Belle rolled her eyes “Fine. You got one thing mastered. The thing that keeps your knob wet with all the chickies in the quarter you can handle. Fucker. Literally.”
Helen said lightly: “That does seem redundant.” Which got a small smile from the otherwise angry Belle.
Nova picked up her reports, and started making piles “If I have understood this correctly Belle, you document that in six months he has seduced … sixty-two different women.”
Belle nodded “Not counting the repeats, and the one I know he tried to bite.”
Becky asked the male Vampire “So. Clovis. Do you think this is something you should be doing?”
Clovis thought about it, decided “Well, ma’am. As I understan’ it, I can’t get ’em preggers or nothing. I can’t give ’em no social disease. What’s the harm? They are willing enough. Not like I’m raping ’em.”
Clovis really did not understand much of anything, Becky thought. Not about the time he had been given. Not about how his actions affected Belle. Not about informed consent. Nothing.
Informed consent was a very slippery slope for Vampires. The need to feed, especially if you are female is well understood. It is not that a human man cannot be raped. At best there were guidelines for how a Vampire can behave with humans, and the hypnotics allow there to be no damage because there is no memory and as Clovis just correctly stated, no consequences. It never made Becky happy how they had to live, but she did not ask to be a Vampire any more than anyone else here had.
Becky pulled out the report about the biting incident. It was only last week. So, chances were, Clovis was getting old enough to start feeling the hunger. Not like her of course: Males never had to feed like females. But enough that, with his level of control, he was going to try again. It was inevitable.
There was a picture of the woman’s neck. No bite marks appeared. “How was this left with her? Was she aware?”
Belle said “Yes. Sort of. She was tranced out pretty good on his pheromones. She had less resistance than anyone I ever saw. I think it was because she’s a meth head. Anyway, I jerked his head back and threw him across the room. Looked her over. She was like ‘what the hell? Whats going on? I didn’t agree to doing a chick too..’. You know. All like that. I told her to leave my husband alone, scared the piss out of her, and she left. Fast. Meanwhile, this fuck was picking himself up off the floor and telling me to mind my own business, and like that. He doesn’t get it. He IS my business because right now I own his fat ass. I signed up to keep him alive, and he could give a shit. Not about himself. Not about me. Nothin’. He just wants to fuck, and the more women the better.”
Becky looked at Helen and got her nod. She looked at Nova and took her assent as well. There was no hesitation for either of them.
Becky looked at Belle directly and spoke in a more official voice. “Belle: Your request is of course granted. You did a good job here and I commend you for your efforts. I am impressed with how you looked after the women, and this documentation is perfect. I know that this was hard, but we do have to try very hard on the males these days. Your fate is now severed. Go on back home and be safe. We’ll see you next Conclave maybe. Godspeed.”
Belles relief was palpable, and she stood. Before she left, she told Clovis “I tried dude. I really did.” Then she beat a hasty exit, looking grimly at Denise and Anne by the door as she opened it. She knew what she was leaving for the others in this room to do. Becky wondered how long Belle would think about this. How long she would wonder if she had tried hard enough. Looking at the reports, and having heard it all from Belle, she thought she had done as well as anyone could. Becky would write Belle later, In a week or so, just to be sure she knew it. It was time for Belle to forgive herself and move on.
“Clovis: Do you have any idea what a wonderful young woman that young lady who just left the room is?” Helen asked. Belle was one hundred and fifty-seven. Young, by Vampire standards.
“Ahh. Yeah. She’s great. So… what next?” Clovis looked puzzled by the question.
“Well, we have to take a quick poll. Ladies: Parole assumption anyone?”
For Anne and Denise, the no was a left/right of the eyes. For Helen, it was a folding of her arms and leaning back. Nova moved her head the most. Left. Right.
Becky sighed. “Very well. Clovis, just sit there. We need to get some paperwork arranged.” Becky started to shuffle the reports in front of her again and pulled out a pen like she was going to write. Clovis looked on with interest. “Yeah… Sure. Hey!… Can I go back to New Orleans with my new parole officer? I have lived there my whole…”
Clovis stopped talking when his head rolled onto the floor, looking surprised and his eyes dashing back and forth until the shock set in. Behind his body, Denise straightened up and inverted her sword over the remains to let the red smear drip onto the body. The carpet was laid in squares for a reason too. They had a large supply of them.
Becky thought about all the ways you can kill a Vampire that are real and all the ways that are fiction. Lopping off a head was real. Standing out in the sunlight was only good for a sunburn. Sometimes she wished it was that easy. That a condemned Vampire could be put in a well-lit room and that would be the end of it.
It didn’t work that way.
Helen looked at Becky with sympathy “You know you had to do it.” She pointed at the red pen in Becky’s hand. The prearranged signal.
Helen then said to Denise: “You too, Denise. That was a mercy. Well done.”
Denise acknowledged Helen with a small but unhappy nod. Being on the Cleanup Crew was the worst job in Vampiredom.
Becky knew she had to pick up that red pen as well. Still, she was tired, and she was angry. She wanted to tell Helen that was easy for her to say: She didn’t even like men all that much. She knew that was unfair. Clovis was the worst of his kind, and he had to go.
She had a warm, loving, human husband to go home to. A few decades of love and life left with him. She wanted to get there. Get to the wine and the hot tub. She was fairly certain he would be up for something a little longer than their quickie too. Becky could go back to worrying about stupid spouses in her church. Not condemning a man to die.
Not a good man and most especially not a good Vampire.
Denise and Anne would clean up the mess. Get rid of the body. It would be cremated along with every report and the stained carpet squares. No Vampire bodies could ever be found. No documentation either. That was their job.
As Becky said good night to her fellow Vampires and headed down to her car, she thought about her church and her flock. Jesus should have been a Vampire. That would have been great. He was a good man and he could have continued to teach for millennia.
There were hardly ever any good Vampire men it seemed.
