Naked Came the Vampire (Hypernaturals 1)

Rendevous

The agreed upon rendezvous point is a place where the road cut through the rock of a large hill. The vertical boreholes for the dynamite still visible, crossing the layers of the limestone at an angle. We could sit perched on top of the hill unobserved, watching traffic, until we spotted the Tahoe.

It took us a little over an hour to run here through the West Texas desert, being very careful about not turning an ankle on rocks or shredding clothes on the cactus. We carried our parachutes, now repacked.

Sitting on top of the dark hill watching for traffic is also a perfect place to look up at the sky. Out here, there are no nearby cities. No man-made lights. Starlight as I have never seen it before. The Milky Way Galaxy bright, and with my new vision, less of a cloud and more of a star field compared to when I last viewed it in darkness with human eyes.

We sat side by side, a gentle breeze occasionally stirring, night animals wondering around doing night animal things. Otherwise the near quiet of the desert. With Vampire senses, nothing is really quiet. Cars are few and far between, and we can see and hear them coming for miles.

"You did well tonight Adrian." Jessica said, breaking the quiet.

I knew she is not talking about our mid-desert lovemaking. I was tempted to insert some goofy thing, maybe some Groucho Marx or something, but it did not seem appropriate. I did not want to have any conversations about what I am sure she is about to bring up.

"Thanks" I replied simply.

She studied me with a sidelong look in the dark although to her I am as visible as day.

"You know what I mean." She said at last.

"Yes" I said.

Jessica sounded very understanding. "Not ready to talk about it."

"No. Not sure I ever will be."

"You will be. You have to figure it out sooner or later. Mentally ill people can take a life, and it means nothing to them. You are not mentally ill. You'll have to figure it out so that it does not grow and fester in you and make you sick. Not killer sick, but angry and sad. I don't want you angry with me because of this."

I was surprised by that idea. "Angry... With you?"

"Sure. Of course. I turned you. Stole your old life. Made you a Vampire. I got you into this mess with Arnold and the drug dealers. Your life would be normal but for me. You would not have learned how to kill someone or do any of the things you did. All of that is because of me."

She is both right... and wrong.

"Jessica. I have been angry already. Angry at the Council. Angry at the way a male Vampire is treated like a third-class citizen. Angry that they... the Council... endangered you because of me. Bonded you to me in such a way that if I screw up, you get punished."

I looked as serious as I could. Not my forte. I tried to remove all the levity and kidding normally contained in my voice. I deal with everything with humor but I need this to not be funny. I need her to understand and believe what I say to her.

"Jessica: I am not angry because I killed a man because you turned me. I had to. End of story. I am not angry with you in any way. I am not saying I could not get angry with you. I am not telling you that there is nothing that you can do that would not piss me off. You totally could. More than any human alive, I would think, if you put your mind to it. It is that none of these events are things that would do it. You are the most incredible person I have ever met, and the more I learn about your life, the more amazing you become. I want to get to know everything about you."