Siren Song (Hypernaturals 2)

Solstice Prep, Vampire Style

With Mom and Dad safely tucked into the RV for the night, Lori and Danny went to their home. Before everyone left, we did some pre-cooking work for the big day tomorrow. Tamales take time. Now the three of us sat around the living room, sipping fortified wassail and talking about plans for the morrow. Jessica has been such a hit with Mom and Dad, I am looking forward to introducing her to Don and Liz.

Jessica had another thing on her mind. "I am not looking forward to returning to the Siren hunt after this. I guess part of that is that I have no idea what we do when we find them. Every time I think about this, I get back to the same place: We track down the other two Sirens via Arnold. Then what? Do we kill them?"

Jessica paused. Looked sadly at her hands, flexing the inhumanly strong fingers. "I want to. I want to kill them very dead for what they did. So very dead."

She looked up at me, dark eyes clouded with hate. It is not something for the faint of heart. "Very very dead. You have no idea how painfully dead I want to make them." Actually, looking at her face, I think I have some notion.

Helen chimed in "I think I might have an idea how dead you want them to be. I remember waiting here not knowing what was up. Thinking Adrian hurt again the way he had been at the slaughterhouse... I saw what they did to the house. The cats. All your history."

Jessica smiled at Helen. She spread her hands to open the question "What if that following that impulse to rain down death upon them leads to us being exposed? A war between the kinds again?"

I have been thinking about it too. "I think we track them. We find out where they are. Where they work. Who they are. All in secret. All with documentation that they are really Sirens. Then Helen takes it to the council. We need enough to convince the Council we are not being hysterical, and then we see what they want to do."

"I hate that word." Jessica said

"Council?" I wondered if Jessica is feeling pressure from the probation I am on.

"Hysterical. Same root word as hysterectomy. The implication, a woman being unreasonable."

That is not the answer I expected. "Never using it again. I hope. Never thought about it before now."

"Most people don't." Jessica said, a bitter edge, slight, but there. "It's part of the unconscious way English and other languages betrays the feelings of a culture about women."

"It's just a word to me." said Helen "Besides, testerical sounds stupid. More easily assumed to mean being overly Cro-Magnon. As men always and only think with their balls, also redundant."

"That is true. All I use." I agreed.

"Someone is getting grumpy. You need to get laid again?" Jessica asked.

"No, I'm not being grumpy. Not exactly. Not for that reason either. You have a very dirty mind, my love. No. I am not looking forward to the hard work we are going to have to do with regard to the Sirens. Not that it's 'Hard' but that it is so... I don't know. Undefined? No clear path? Also, I am not liking how much I like Adrian's Mom and Dad." Helen said.

That last admission came out of the blue. "What's wrong with them? Or you liking them."

"Really? I want them to be my parents too, and I'm bloody six times their age."

"And?..." I asked

"And I can't be. They may be open-minded, but they don't strike me as approving of polygyny or otherwise into the various group relationships. They won't go for another daughter without them having had another son. Or a daughter. I think they'd go there."