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."
I looked at her, illuminated to my eyes in the starlight. "I do not know if I will ever be able to do things like this easily. Helen seems so eagerly ready. Even if these guys are scum, and they are... Even if they tried to kill me, which they did, even if they would have raped Helen, and they would have tried, I am not comfortable being in this position. I know it is the way out. Don't worry: I will do it. I will not let you down." I looked back at the little plane. "I just hope I never like it."
Jessica looked over at Helen crouched down in the dark not too far away. Well within Vampire earshot. "Helen is very ready to do this. That is true. She has had centuries to adapt to them. There is also who she is. The moment she survived jumping out of their plane all three of the men were doomed. No matter what. One way or another, she will make them pay for what they did. You had to know that. You know her well already. You two fight like an old married couple."
What they had done to Helen is serious. Mauled her unconscious body. Made her deal with acrophobia. Made her feel indebted to me. Hurt her like hell when she hit that water. Planned to rape and kill her. It seemed to me that the former items are the larger crime than the latter. Rape is a realm she has power in. They try it, they are dead so many different ways. Unwanted intimacy is certain death, and the only question is how fast they die. She could do nothing about the first list of things. Nothing other than taking her vengeance here tonight.
I looked over at Helen's determined face. Helen is pissed. I mean deeply pissed. I hope she is never that angry at me. We may fight all the time, but somehow it never got a real rise out of her. Not like she is right now.
Jessica spoke and took my attention back from Helen's Angel of Death visage. "You won't let me down, Adrian. I am beginning to understand that you will never let me down about anything. Not intentionally. I am sorry that to be a Vampire, you are going to be required to learn how to do this kind of thing when needed. You were a human for years. You have been a Vampire for only a few months. It takes more time than that to adjust to the new realities of your life. I remember: it took me so long... That you are here tonight, taking this responsibility on with us. For me... it should help with your Council subcommittee if that is of any consolation."
Her words about not letting her down warmed me. I am not sure if I am consoled or not.
A car or small truck was coming. Headlights bouncing through the brush, with the sounds of a motor and a laboring suspension. We crouched even further down, hidden by rocks and scrubby grass, the plane shed across from us and in plain sight.
We all held perfectly still. One side effect of the Vampire nervous system rewire and the new muscle tissue: We can hold nearly one hundred percent motionless, not counting wind stirrings and such. As a human, there are all these little muscle corrections in one direction as the opposing muscles push or pull against each other try to create a balance. A never-ending twitch and wiggle. Even though I am new to the species I already can 'set it and forget it'. Part of being a predator upon humans: Human eyes and brains are evolved to detect motion. Vampire muscles and nervous systems are evolved to evade human motion detection.
The sounds resolved into a fairly recent model four-door Ford pickup truck. It carried all three men we know, but do not love. All three being here means it all is going to be dealt with right here and tonight. No extra human hunting. No having to threaten them to disclose where the missing guy is. No, Wait: That is wrong. Juice them. Not so hard actually, judging by the guy in the Jeep. Vampire tool set! Learn to use it, idiot!
I am starting to think of the big Caucasian guy as 'Spinner'. I am waiting to use that one with Helen, but have not had the opportunity yet. There is also the smaller guy with dreadlocks and the little wiry Hispanic pilot. I need names for them that will piss Helen off too.
The trio wasted little time and started to go to work on the plane, getting it ready for flight. They worked quickly with brief uses of tiny red light flashlights when they needed more than starlight to see to work with something. They did not want to ruin their human night vision. They have obviously done this many times before. They said little. All three looked around fairly often and appeared to be nervous. I read into that paranoia that they are not one hundred percent sure they should be doing this run. That could be totally wrong. For all I know this is their standard, run of the mill, drug runner caution. You don't want to get caught, you pay attention to everything. They spotted Helen trailing them after all.
Vampire preditor motionless behind our screen of tall grass and tumble of rocks we are invisible to them unless they slip on night vision goggles. If they have that kind of gear, it is not in evidence. I would not put it past them. They have a private runway and a plane after all. I have been inside that plane. Its dashboard is filled with electronic gadgets. None of that is cheap or low tech.
They filled the wing tanks from a much larger airplane fuel tank next to the shed. As I watched them work so smoothly, I tried to decide who is stronger, the littlest one or the biggest. Not that it mattered. Continuing to distract myself from the inevitable. They moved objects around as they prepped the plane, and nothing looked like it is very difficult for any of them. Ultimately I decided the big guy has the edge in the strength department, but only by a fraction. A stupid game, but it served its purpose. I briefly did not worry about what is to come. Very briefly.
When wing tanks were topped up and the fuel caps closed and secured, they rolled the plane out onto the runway and lined it up. The little pilot walked around the plane with a clipboard and red flashlight, checking on things.
If they are planning their normal run, we know from the manifests that they are planning a flight to Mexico, not to some place in Texas or close by in the USA. Mexico is where their primary pseudoephedrine source is. Jessica said that fuel is weight, so how much fuel they put in would be a clue as to how far they intended to fly. They topped the plane all the way up, so they are taking on enough fuel to go a long way. Mexico is in easy range from Austin for it.
Jessica is not my only source of information about the little plane. After my dunk in the Lake, I looked up the plane on the Internet to see what I just jumped out of, and what it could do. This model of airplane is designed either for six people, or four plus cargo. Having been inside it briefly, I know it is the four-seat cargo configuration. With only two in there, even more cargo can be hauled.
If today is a normal run, and not a 'get out of the country' run, they would load up with product and more fuel down south, and then return to here. They were about to have their plans changed by one very angry Vampire, one determined Vampire who wants her life back, and one determined but bilious Vampire newbie that loves the other determined one.
The plane seemed ready to fly. The three men stopped to talk, and they were standing between where we are hiding and the plane. I hardly had to try to hear them.
Dreadlocks: "You think this is a good idea? I know we talked about it but I'm still worried man. What if someone finds those bodies? Puts them with the plane that was flying over?"
Dreadlocks waved over at the plane with one hand as if they did not know which plane he was talking about.
Pilot: "We need the stuff man. We have orders to fill, and if we don't deliver, they'll start looking somewhere else."
Spinner: "Besides Bucky, we were over the lake. Those bodies are probably going to be weeks being found if the fish don't just eat 'em. Shit. Last time they found bodies in there they'd been in there for fuckin' years and years. Jest fuckin' bones man!"
Bucky/Dreadlocks: "That's probably true man, but I still don't like it. It's hard enough to fly around here without being caught by the border patrol and all before you start having bodies dropping from planes. That's fuckin' Travis man. Lots of people in boats running around on it. Even this time o year."
Spinner: "You gotta relax Buck's. We checked with Arnold. No one has found nothing. Cops ain't looking for no one."
Pilot: "Arnold ain't been all the great a guard, but even he knows how to read police reports and shit like that. We're good to go. An' we got people waitin' for us that it would not be good to disappoint. Get what I mean?"
Bucks/Bucky/Dreadlocks still looked unconvinced. He is the smartest one there, but he didn't know it.
Pilot: "Gimme a sec to look at that fucked up door again and we'll get goin'"
The little pilot went over to our left and started to wiggle the back doors I busted open, cursing under his breath.
Pilot: "The scared ass little motherfucker really jacked up this door, man. We need to get this fixed down in Mexico. Maybe next week we can stay a few extra days down there."
Bucky/Buck's/Dreadlocks: "That must have been something else man! I never heard of people so scared they fuckin' just jumped out of a damn plane before."
He moved to our right as he marveled at Helen and my apparent raw fear and bent up under the front of the plane to look at something under the cowling with a flashlight.
Spinner: "Fucking plane jumped around, damn door banging open. Scared the shit out of me. Not like them two was scared before they hit the damn water I'll bet! Probably a trail of shit in the sky. Man, what a fuckin' waste. I really wanted to do that blonde before she bought it."
Pilot: She was a hot little piece of tail. Tight man, like no ass I ever felt. Firm little boobies too. Bet her pussy was like a snapping turtle. Jesus!"
Jessica was getting a taste of what Helen and I heard from these guys. Not moving I could not see her expression. I assumed she is either grinning at the joke that is about to be on these fools or pissed as hell on behalf of her friend / occasional lover. Either way, these ass-clowns have no idea how deep they are digging themselves in. I guess it does not matter. Once you are dead, we can't make them deader because they wanted to have one last nice little rape before they left the planet.
They are lined up at the side of the plane, and across from us. We would not get a better chance.
Helen gave some hand signals. Jessica nodded. I was never in the military, but they told me what they meant when we laid out the plans for tonight. Decoded, Helen indicated that she is taking whoever is on the left. Jessica on the right. I am to go right up the center. We would rush them all at once to give them no time to react. No time to pull a gun or a knife. Helen held up three fingers, then 2, then 1. She made a fist.
Up and over the rock, we burst from the grassy cover. An explosive rush of speed like nothing I have ever known. The wind whistled in my ears as I flew across the ground. It is a rush. I have never been athletic. I hated running. Not anymore. This is amazing. The wind in my ears. The ground flowing by. I can ask my legs to go faster and they will. The rush that snow skiing is. I have no idea how fast I am going but it is more than twenty miles an hour. Thirty? Forty? I have no idea. It is easy, and it is amazing.
I am being slightly left behind. Not like I am standing still, but I am not quite keeping up either. I am fast and accelerating. Jessica and Helen are faster. We consumed the distance between our hiding spot and the plane in a few heady moments of exhilaration.
I have 'Spinner'. The one who held the .44 caliber gun in the plane. Probably still has it. Also the winner of my 'strongest human' game. 'Great' I thought with some self-derision. Baby Vamp feets, don't fail me now!
I pushed harder, willing myself to arrive before he knows I am anywhere near him, the wind in my face. I can hear the wind: how could he not? Time seemed to slow. I had time to think as I ran. It was weird.
Helen had the little pilot, and Jessica has Bucky/Buck's/Dreadlocks. Helen would probably have preferred my target, and given his size, I would have preferred her to have him too.
Jessica keeps surprising me. All the things she has learned in her hundred plus years. So much experience. I would have to get over that about her someday. Earlier today she had shown me a few fighting moves. She has black belts in Aikido, Judo, Tukong Moosul, Karate, Kung Fu, Tae Kwan Do, and a few other hand-to-hand fighting styles. She has since mixed them up over the years and said as she showed me things that she fought in no style any particular school would recognize or approve of. Sort of Krav Maga taken to the next level. She explained her style is about whatever works in the current situation. Also her mood: Sometimes she feels like breaking heads. Sometimes busting balls.
Jessica is not only Vampire deadly, but she is also martial arts deadly. I am glad she likes me.
She showed me a few moves and sequences, all meant to kill. Fast. She had me practice them till I could repeat the nearly dance-like progressions almost without thinking. Totally without thinking would be ideal, but I only had part of a day to practice.
As a human, I was a fast study of most mental things. My parents are both extremely smart people, and I inherited some of that. With my Vampire rewire it turns out I good at learning physical things. I never was a typical nerd/klutz or anything but neither was I very good at sports. Part of that is complete lack of interest, truth be told.
What they both pounded, quite literally, into my head is that I am to use whichever moves or series of moves fit the situation. They could not tell me what the situation is going to be. I have a few options in my new killing humans toolkit.
Jessica showed me a chop. A jab. A left / right sequence. How to make my hands into edges to concentrate the blow. I then practiced against Helen, who blocked me easily.
Jessica did not think I would try hard enough if I was trying to hit her, and she is right. It isn't only that I never want to hit Jessica, it is that a man had hit her so often and so hard that she lost her baby. I never want her to think of me and him in even remotely the same way. Jessica seemed to intuit why I might not be willing to hit her and fixed it by making me try to hit Helen.
That worked. I tried much harder against Helen. Not a confidence building exercise. During the practice sessions, Helen was deadly serious. No teasing me about my utter inability to hit her. No unfair criticisms. All business. All helpful. Helen was only harsh if she thought I was not trying my absolute hardest. Every time she got in my face, I had to admit I pulled back. I kind of wished her and my relationship could be like this one all the time. Partners. Not rivals.
When we were done, and I barely landed anything, both women reminded me that no human would be able to block what I was doing. Not at my speed and my power.
I came up fast on 'Spinner'. He had no idea in the world that I raced at him with automotive speed. He heard small noises on either side of him as my flank Vampires hit their targets, but before he even a chance to understand or react to any of it, I arrived. He was turning to look to his right, and as he came around, I took the easiest blow in inventory and punched him in the gut as hard as I could, pushing through him as instructed. I imagined trying to hit and break his spine, ignoring that his entire body is between me and it. As taught I used my velocity and focused it entirely into this first blow. Power is force times velocity, and it is all concentrated into the few square inches of my fisted hand.
There would be less force in being hit by a car, at least in that small area of contact. Cars have big fat absorbing bumpers, not fists. I felt his fat and muscles wrap around my balled up fingers as I attempted to piston his spine into the fuselage of the plane he stood next to. With all my momentum I crashed into him next, and I made sure he was completely between me and the plane. 40 mph to zero (or whatever it was) in no time flat, cushioned and absorbed by Spinner's body. It had to hurt him because it sure hurt me to stop that fast.
The big guy smacked backward against the plane which rocked and he bounced off, now doubled over, his wind exploding from his lungs and making a horrible gagging noise. I bounced back too. I needed to pull back pretty hard to get my hand removed from his folded body. My arm hurt like hell. Second time this week I have been overly harsh to it. I took a second to recover. I didn't have to worry about reprisals: Spinner stayed doubled over making exhaling gaspy retching sounds. I doubted he would live if he did not get treatment. I think I felt his spine against my knuckles. He must be bleeding internally.
Normally, I would stop there. I have the advantage, and I learned to never hit someone when they are down. Or to even hit someone. My beautiful lover, my sweet gentle warrior, told me that is the worst mistake I could make. Always follow up with a second and a third and if need be a fourth blow. The hand to hand version of the double tap with a gun. Don't stop before they are dead. Dead is the only way they are not a threat.
I got my balance and then I took a moment to line up the next hit. Seemed like an eternity, but I wanted this to be done right, and quickly. 'Spinner' was doubled over, butt against the plane, so there is no way he could see my knee headed rapidly and with significant force at his face.
I felt sickening crunchy things happening in his face as the force from my knee unfolded him in what seemed like slow motion and very much against his will. It stood him straight up, head snapped back so that he looked in a sightless way up at the sky. Spinner had no balance, so he went back against the fuselage of the plane which is the only reason he did not go all the way over. He would slide down to the ground unconscious as soon as his muscles un-bunched. A few microseconds probably. His throat, my next target, in view and at the right level for the next move Jessica and Helen taught me.
I coiled back and delivered a full power snap punch to his Adam's apple. As with the gut punch, I pushed the impact point mentally to the spine rather than targeting the front of the neck. My fingers curled into themselves, a hard edge sharper than a fist would be. Putting my Vampire enhanced strength and significant weight behind the bladed fist. It is all one of the 1-2-3 combinations I practiced with far less success against Helen earlier. Spinner couldn't block it. He didn't even know what happened. He was out after my second blow and his body has not yet caught up to his brain's lack of active status.
Jessica and Helen drilled it into me that I have no time to think about it. Thinking may have saved us in the plane, but here and now, in a fight like this, it could get me hurt or killed. They stressed over and over that I just had to do it. To react. Yet, at one level I was there thinking about it. A bystander, watching everything in slow motion. A critic watching the monkey-boy react to things.
I paused and pulled slightly back to see what Helen and Jessica's training wrought on Spinner.
No fourth blow required.
It didn't matter that the feeble newbie got the big guy. 'Spinner' slid limply down, turning purple in the face. His intestines and windpipe crushed against his vertebra. His face bones pulverized. He was not gagging. He was not breathing. He would be dead in moments. Even if I wanted to save him, which honestly I did not, the damage is done, and could not be undone. I doubted if he were laying in the best emergency room on the planet that there is anything they could do.
Time returned to normal. My hand hurt. I looked to my right and saw Jessica standing over the prone and broken form of her target, but looking with concern over at me. I signaled all clear. She gave one short nod back. Clear there too. Duh. Like that guy ever stood a chance. Death by determined Amazon.
I looked left. Helen was having a drink from her unmoving target. Done, she grabbed her guy by the hair and start dragging him to the plane. She saw the expression on my face and said simply "Waste not, want not. It's not as if he needed it anymore." Five-hundred-year-old Vampire point of view if there ever was one.
The other two targets, especially Helen's, with his throat laid open, are fully dead. Mine is not going to be alive very much longer, as defined by heartbeat. It is winding down. I am now a killer.
I looked at the nearly dead man at my feet, then at Helen's kill.
Snark required.
I pointed at the big guy who so recently held the big gun and verbalized his desires regarding Helen. "If you are going to rip off his dick and feed it to him for wanting to make you into a 'spinner', you better do it now. He'll be gone in a sec." as if I am all cool and level headed.
In a way, I am. My reaction to all this will be later when the pressure is gone. Like when I went all logical on what to do in the plane. It is how stress and I work. Delayed reaction. I am really going to pay for this one.
Helen looked down at him, shook her head 'no'. Gave me some sarcasm of her own: "That's OK. Very thoughtful of you. Thank you, Adrian. He was already a dickhead."
Nice verbal bankshot. I awarded Helen points.
The authorities investigating the deaths might have no idea what to think of the damage to the pilot's body. How the throat had been shredded if there is nothing in the plane that looks like it might have done it. Some jagged metal or glass near his head. To be fair to Helen, it hardly seems likely that Vampires would be the first theory of the FAA accident investigators. Being a drug dealer is a rough life. Lots of them end up without heads in various inter-gang and intra-gang conflicts. Lots of people not in the gangs end up without heads too, for that matter. The price of pissing off someone in the gang. This particular drug cartel member still has his head attached. Well... mostly attached.
Helen stripped off her bloody blouse and handed it to me, holding it with two fingers in a circle. No bra. She really never wears them. "Tuck that in the plane to be destroyed, won't you? I have another in the Tahoe."
"Sure. Nothing like being prepared." I said, easily ignoring her toplessness. Unlike in the hotel room, there is nothing interesting about it at the moment. I know how Danny felt after he listened to the recordings of that woman enjoying being abused and then lost interest in sex with Lori. When I kill someone, even someone that deserves it, I lose interest in teasing Helen about her cute little breasts. It's not like we are falling out of an airplane this time either. Context is everything.
As I put the shirt in the back of the plane, I looked at it. Even if I had been so inclined to stop and have a blood snack, I would not have because I didn't want to do anything that could not be explained. As a male Vamp, in particular, I could not break that stricture against doing things that might get Vampires discovered if I want to continue to live. Helen has more freedom in that regard. In most any regard it seems.
Note to self: I will kill for Jessica. A new parcel of self-knowledge that is slightly scary. Is it love, or is it turning Vampire? Male Vampire aggression: The kind the Council fears.
We loaded the three bodies into the back of the plane cargo space. The big guy not totally easy to move around. Even with my muscles leveled up to 'Boy Vampire, junior grade', he is still big, heavy, and floppy. No Rigor Mortis. I never would have been able to load him by myself at all before the 'upgrades'. Helen and Jessica tossed their kills in without any issues. Showoffs.
We did not bother to belt them in. They are not going to wake up and jump out of the plane over Lake Travis. They are not going to wake up at all, what with the being dead and everything. Zombies are not part of the hypernatural world. There is another reason to leave them unbelted. We wanted them to be free to fly about the cabin when the time came. More damage to help cover up the damage we had done to them.
We stood by the plane after the bodies were loaded. Helen looked me over with what appeared to be some respect. "I did not think you had it in you, computer boy."
I looked back at her, not sure what to say. I did not feel triumphant. Or happy. Or even relieved. More sick to the stomach. I certainly felt no pride. I did something I needed to do. Something I told Danny I was not going to do. I will have nightmares about it.
I reminded myself that the stress is not actually off yet. We are not done. I have some more fears to face yet. I needed to stay buttoned down emotionally.
Helen went on, not mocking: maybe with some sympathy. "I know that this is your first time to kill, and that is never easy. The first time Jessica or I needed to, we felt the same way you are now." She pointed at the cargo area. "This is the harsh reality of being a Vampire. You will have to get used to it. You need to be willing to do anything to keep the secret of the Vampire existence. Anything. Oddly, your willingness to do this will help your case with the Council. The longer you live, the more you will be faced with these choices."
I returned Helen's earnest expression with a frown of my own."So, they worry about male Vampires being risky, unreliable, aggressive, and in some story from way back in history, violent, forever painting male Vamps as murderous, dangerous and not to be trusted. Yet my killing someone with my bare hands proves I am more reliable. How fucking ironic is that?"
Helen did not disagree. "It may seem like a double standard, Adrian, but it is a shade of gray, like most things in life. Drinking blood from a dead person is Vampiric logic as well: Ghoulish to some, but it is also silly to waste it. It will do him no good anymore, and it will help me. That you did this thing tonight can only help your case. I am on the Council and your subcommittee, so I know this to be true."
I know she is trying to make me feel better, but it did not. "Well, I would hope that my unwillingness to do 'it'.." I looked at my hands "Let us not be euphemistic here: to kill. To kill a man no matter how deserving and who never stood a chance against me... I hope that has some positive meaning as well. Far more in fact."
Helen smiled slightly. Not a happy smile. Acknowledging the inverted morality of it. "It does, yes. Another shade of gray, Adrian. Get used to them. Not liking to kill is a good thing. Even more so for a male Vampire. Being willing to do it anyway, to reduce all our chances of exposure. To keep the Secret. Also a good thing."
"Fucking weird." Is all I could think to say.
Helen shrugged. The chill air did not seem to bother her in the slightest. A sexist pig comment that I knew she would hate about the cold and her nipples died incomplete and stillborn. I have no heart to fight with her right now. I mentally struggled to stop a wave of nausea. Reminding myself again we are not done: We have bodies to mutilate yet.
Helen seemed to be expecting me to say something. Perhaps that shrug and its secondary motions were intended to evoke comment. She seemed to be feeling generous towards me right now. Nothing was forthcoming, however. She frowned and looked a little sad or angry or something. "I will see you all out West. Safe flight." She said finally.
"See you in a few hours" Jessica replied. Helen turned and zoomed off, her pale hair and skin rapidly receding, headed back to the Tahoe. Her IR glow increased at the same time so that she quickly became a glowing blob speeding away. The dark is no impediment to her speed, and she was gone even from my enhanced sight in seconds.