Naked Came the Vampire (Hypernaturals 1)

Danny and Lori

There are a number of parts to "The Plan".

First is to let Danny know I am headed home. Using my own cell phone for the first time in a while, I called him from the road. I told him Jessica would not be coming with me, and that, No, I really did not want to talk about it. Not yet anyway. I tried to sound down rather than like a man given a reprieve from certain death by a Valkyrie Vampire firing squad.

That is my mental image. I have no idea how the ladies of the Crew put the unlucky males who don't get adopted down. Maybe they drain them dry thinking 'why waste good blood?'. Who knows? Not me. Not yet and hopefully never.

Calling Danny and lying like this assumed that Arnold is listening to phone calls. Not an easy thing to do with a cell phone but it is technically possible. Maybe he was, maybe he wasn't. If no cell phone tap, the easier thing would be to bug the house. It is not as if Arnold would get hung up on a warrant. No way to know for sure.

I completely hate this part of the plan I am not used to lying to my friends. I wanted to shout for joy, not pretend I am down. It is going to be very awkward. Danny will be sure to try to cheer me up. That would suck.

This drama is a gamble, based upon the idea that Arnold is bug-fuck nuts. That his problem with me is that I am in the way. We hoped that he would not put some obvious things together. No one knew how badly I had been hurt MORE than Arnold. He was there. He beat the shit out of me. He wondered out loud at the deer processing plant why I was not dead. No human could be coming back home healed as fast as I am. The gamble is Arnold does not care about me if Jessica and I are not together. We were trying to finesse this, and it had every chance of not working.

If that is not true, and he comes after me at the house, I am going to have to deal with that head-on. My new Physical strength against whatever he brings to the party. Probably a gun. Not his service weapon maybe, but a throw down. Arnold is the kind of cop to have a drop piece.

I needed to keep telling myself over and over this bald-faced lie is to keep Danny out of our situation. He did not to be involved in Vampire business. If Arnold came at me at the house, I am going to have to protect him too, and oddly I am OK with that idea. It would be easier to hurt Arnold if he is trying to hurt Danny.

When we arrived in Austin, Helen reconnoitered the marina lot where my car is. It was still there, and no one seemed to be watching it. Jessica dropped me off at the forlorn looking 500C and then headed for where she had the 'Nightwing' berthed. She is going to bring 'Nightwing' back to here, and dock it in plain sight rather than in the shed. Jessica's part of the play is to be on open display, and obviously alone.

I sat in the driver's seat looking through the now spotty window and wistfully watched Jessica drive away to pick up Helen. According to the plan, I did not know quite when I would see her again. It depends on things outside my control.

I am starting to wish the plan is 'Move to Timbuktu and start new lives devoted to elevating consciousness through frequent sexual relations.' Something like that had even been discussed, though Helen pretended to not understand the innuendo and ignored all the lecherous regards of each other to the degree that she could. Helen executed occasional eye rolls when it got really silly.

I may not know if Jessica loves me the way I love her, but there is no doubt she enjoys, for the first time in her life, having sex on tap and with a person that could not be killed as easily as a human.

I felt sorry for Helen. I saw the way she looked at Jessica when she thought no one was looking at her. I would never let her know that. People hate to be pitied, and I am one-thousand percent sure Helen would hate it more than the average person.