The Phone Call Part 8
Henry gestured for Vicki to to take her seat as he sat across the isle, fastened his seat belt, took a deep breath, closed his eyes and waited for the plane to take off.
Vicki sat, fastened her seat belt and turned her head to watch Henry. She couldn't see his face but felt his tension mounting as the plane's engines built the power needed to race down the field and lift it's wings toward the sky. Speaking softly she asked, "If you hate this so much, why did you fly back here in the first place?"
Henry kept his eyes closed and waited until the plane started to roll before answering, "You needed me."
Vicki heard the strain in his voice, appreciated his efforts on her behalf and said, "If I didn't say it before, thank you for coming."
Henry kept his eyes closed while saying, "Your welcome. But promise me we never have to fly anywhere again."
"I'm not going to make a promise I'm not sure I can keep."
Henry gripped the armrests as the plane's acceleration reached the point where the nose lifted and over came the gravity that pushed them back into their seats. He hissed through his fangs as the plane continued it's to climb into the air. He didn't react as the pilot said, "We've received confirmation of our flight plan and in a few minutes we'll reach the cruising altitude of 33,000 feet. The flight should take a little over three hours. If you need anything, push the call button just over head. It's a good night to fly."
Henry stopped hissing and opened his eyes long enough to look at the call button and snarl at Vicki, "What would I need that he could provide?"
Laughing, Vicki answered, "Blood."
"That's not funny. My life depends on his skill."
Vicki laughed again, "Mine too!" Then she reached across the isle to place her hand on Henry's arm, "I know what we can do to fill the time."
Henry moved his arm from under her hand, "Forget it. I'm perfectly aware of the 'mile high' club and I'm not interested."
Vicki raised an eyebrow in mock surprise, "Now there's a first. Henry Fitzroy, not interested in sex."
Insulted, he snapped back, "I most certainly didn't say that."
Vicki shrugged and spent the next hour looking at the blurred view from the window. After a while she grew bored and looked back over to Henry and whispered, "Are you sleeping?"
"Of course not. I'm thinking."
"What are you thinking about?"
He sighed, "Can't you be quiet? Look out the window or something."
"I've been looking out the window. It's not much fun when it's mostly a blur. Let's talk."
"We are."
"No. I'm talking, you're grumbling."
Henry gave another deeper sigh, opened his eyes and looked straight at her. "I'm sorry."
Vicki reached down and unfastened her seat belt.
In alarm, Henry asked, "What are you doing?"
She raised herself up, quickly shifted her hips and landed on a surprised Henry's lap while saying, "Getting comfortable."
Startled, Henry's arms wrapped around her waist of their own accord as she nuzzled his neck, breathed in his scent and said, "Yes! This is much better." She nibbled on his ear and added, "I wish I had the fangs to take a bite of you."
Henry's body went rigid as the plane took a quick dip and gave a brief shudder. He let go of her waist and gripped the arm rests even tighter than before.
Vicki placed her palm on his cheek, "It's only a pocket of wind causing air turbulence. It's okay. The plane's not going down." She kissed his chin, "Come on, open your eyes and look at me."
She saw his eyes were dark with vampire rage and hunger and the tips of his fangs were visible as he tried to control his emotions. She offered her neck so that he could feed knowing taking her blood would distract him. Accepting the silent offer, he sank his fangs into the softness of her neck and let the calm reassurance of her taste comfort him. Neither one of them paid attention to the pilot's apology for hitting the bumps.
When the pilot announced fifteen minutes to landing Vicki asked, "Are you sure you don't want to join the mile high club?"
"No thank you. Experiencing my first 'in flight dining' is enough ."
"I hope you don't get indigestion."
"Actually the opposite. I'm ravenous. I intend to feed very well from you when we've landed."
"That sounds good."
After a smooth landing, the co-pilot came from the front of the plane and was about to say something when Henry took over his mind long enough to plant the idea that the passengers were satisfied with their flight and further comment wasn't needed.
***
Vicki waited until they reached Henry's car before asking why he had done that.
Leaning down to help her into the car he whispered, "Augustus is going to ask him about how I reacted on the flight. I don't need him knowing about my fear of flying or about whether or not I'm a member of the club so to speak." With that said, he firmly closed the door to the car and on the subject.
After he was settled behind the wheel, Vicki admitted, "I don't like flying either." She started to say something more but bit back her words and road in silence.
Answering her unasked question, Henry said, "We've got a forty five minute drive to the motel where we'll spend the day and then there's about another two hours of driving before we reach our current home."
"Current home?"
"I want to give you a choice about where we live in the future."
"I'm not picky."
"You'll learn it becomes necessary to be very picky. We're at the mercy of everything and everyone during the daylight hours."
Vicki thought about his words for several minutes before pulling her cell phone out of her bag, turning it on, waiting a few seconds then pushing speed dial. Henry wisely kept his mouth shut as she said, "Mom. We've landed safely and are taking two days to Henry's drive to place. I'll call tomorrow or the next day with more information. Bye."
She closed the phone and smiled, "I love voice mail. I can leave a message and not get trapped with questions or advice."
Henry asked, "Aren't you going to call Mike too?"
"Nah. Not until we have time to deal with his problem."
Henry pulled into the small motel parking lot and went to the front desk. Since Augustus had already made reservations and paid for the room he was back with the key card before Vicki had a chance to pull her travel bag from the back seat.
"Here, let me get that."
***
Vicki took a quick shower while Henry did everything he could think of to secure the room from any outside light or interruption. He noted that Augustus made sure there was a nice choice of food for Vicki along with bottled water and fresh juices. Throughout the centuries, Henry had come to rely on the discretion and help of a select group of humans that accepted vampires and were willing to provide for their needs.
Vicki came out of the bathroom and admired what little she could see of a naked Henry turning down the covers as the light from the bathroom reflected off his pale skin.
He heard her come into the room and said, "Please turn off the light and join me. After feeding I'll place a compulsion on you so that you'll spend most of the day sleeping. It's best if you eat very little and drink a lot of water each time you wake up . At sunset we'll head home and then when we get here you'll have your turn to feed from me."
"How many exchanges before I'm vampire?"
"As many as it takes. Three exchanges is a myth like most of what's been said about vampires. Some turn after the first taste of our blood while others never turn. My best guess is that you'll be somewhere between one and four more times." Henry pointed to the bed, "Are you ready?"
She straightened her shoulders, raised her chin and dove for the bed saying, "As ready as I'm ever going to be." She grabbed Henry's hand as she flew by so that the momentum carried him forward and he landed on top of her.