Naked Came the Vampire (Hypernaturals 1)

Drug Deliverance

The starlit night sky was crystal clear. If the moon is going to come up tonight, it has not yet. Normally at this time of the year with no clouds to hold in the heat of the earth, it will be a fairly cool evening. I guess? I don't feel cold the way I used to.

The trio of Night Hunters (I capitalized it in my head), I.E., Helen, Jessica, and I, lay in wait at the drug dealers combo ranch and airport. Ok. Two Night Hunters and little old me. I am feeling very out of my element. Emotions that ran along the same lines as when I burgled Arnold's computer except much worse.

The Tahoe is parked a couple of miles up the road and hidden in a copse of trees Helen knew about from her last visit. That kept the truck away from the view of people either driving by or flying over.

It takes almost no time at all to drive away from the Austin metroplex and be in scrubby arid looking land. Not high mountain desert like West Texas, and nothing like the Sahara. You don't like the climate or geology in Texas, you only need to drive a short distance to get to the one you prefer. Land of a thousand lakes and alligators? East Texas. Mesa and Wind farms? West Texas. Just wind farms? The Panhandle. Marshes and mosquitos: The Gulf Coast.

The runway must have taken some serious work to make this flat. All the cedar, mesquite, piles of rocks, and other whatnot pulled out of the path and lining the edges of the airstrip to a height of two or three meters in most places. Snake heaven. Tons of dirt and gravel added down the center line. Get off the line on this runway, and you and your plane are toast.

I recognized the single-engine plane Helen and I had taken our plummet from, sitting all harmless looking in its metal hail shed. The structure sat on one side of and at the end of a grass runway. It is hard to think of that quiet and innocent looking plane as having been recently used in two attempted murders. From a distance it appeared as if I did not damage the back double door permanently. It was closed and seemed to be aligned with the fuselage. Hard to believe. I hit it pretty hard to bust it open, and the wind added its force when the back door slammed against the side of the plane. I am pretty sure there is a reason skydiving airplanes have sliding doors.

The plane is apparently airworthy, and that is the main thing. A scheduled drug materials supply run is set for tonight. We hope that is still on. That requires a working plane. It must be flyable because it made it back here after our jump to freedom. The pilot fought it at first, but he got control. He may be a drug dealing murdering rapist, but I admit he is also a pretty good pilot. Inconsiderate jerk. Because he can fly planes with expertise, I am here tonight rather than at home in bed with a pile of cats and Jessica.

If the high-wing plane is airworthy, this run is probably still on, which means Plan B is still on. I sighed audibly, causing odd looks from the two Denizens of the Dark.

We talked it over on the way here. Speculating this way and that about various outcomes and scenarios. A safe subject that did not end up with me being bitten in sensitive areas numerous times by hungry Vampires. One possibility is that there would not be a run tonight, and that might be because of the events of yesterday freaking them out.

We are hoping greed and maybe pressure from a larger organization will win out over caution. We want their mental math to be that the chances of us being alive are so low that they can safely to make this flight. There was no news about people falling from the sky either. That means we are surely dead and at the bottom of the lake.

They are humans and will make human assumptions.

Jessica broke the silence quietly. "Are you ready for this Adrian?"

I made a scoffing noise and shook my head. "Fuck no. Does that matter?"

Jessica frowned. I learned unhappiness has a scent. "It matters to me. Yes."