Chapter Nine
Helen walked into her office just as she heard her laptop go "Ding". She walked over to her desk and opened the email from Declan. It showed a map with a red dot over Joplin, Missouri and a message saying
Helen,
There have been several rumors in the area about people with odd features. The new head of new New York sanctuary is currently in Mumbai with Chaaya working on a rare sand worm. I would appreciate it if you could check this out.
Declan
As Helen decided to take on the mission, Nikola sauntered in and picked up the laptop from her desk. He read the email and said, "Who's going?"
"You and Kate, and I."
Nikola raised his eyebrows and said "Not many"
"Bigfoot almost never goes on missions, I need Will to hold down the fort, and Henry needs to install some security updates."
"I'll go and alert Katherine. Or is it Katrina?"
"It's Kassandra, and you need to get your things together."
Nikola swiftly left her office without a word. Helen reached for her walkie and radioed Kate.
"Kate, gear up. You, Nikola and I are going on a trip to Joplin. I've got a contact named Rachel in a small town called Neosho."
"Copy that doc."
When the three of them were ready to head out Helen said to Will "We'll call you as soon as we land in Kansas City. Then we'll take a rented car down to Joplin."
"'Kay. See ya in a week."
The flight to Kansas City was uneventful, and whoever uploaded the music onto the plane had horrid taste. When the plane landed and the three walked towards the car rental area, Nikola grinned at the car Helen had rented.
When they got out of the city, they were zooming through the country in the blue Tesla roadster. After about an hour, kate said "How long is this ride anyway?"
"We should get to Joplin in two hours."
"Oh, great. Two hours of cows, corn, and soybeans."
Nikola chuckled, turned around in his seat and said "wait until you have to go through New Mexico. You mostly stay on the same road the whole time it's totally straight. All you see are those pitiful bushes that turn into tumbleweeds."
Helen rolled her eyes and said "Who was it who was staring at those odd rocks with eyes as big as saucers?"
Nikola grinned, remembering the strange round boulders that were piled up to form mountains. "I only looked like that at that one rock that looked as if it would fall and crush us any second."
Helen and Kate giggled at Nikola for finally admitting he had been afraid.
Three Hours Later...
"Oh, FINALLY!" shouted Kate as she looked at the old buildings.
"So, Helen, where are we staying tonight?"
"The Hampton Inn."
As they arrived at the Hotel Nikola looked at it approvingly and said "Not as bad as I expected."
"Get your bags, I'll go check us in."
When they arrived in Helen's room, Kate immediately went into the restroom.
Nikola said "My my, Helen, are we all three staying in the same room?" his mind swimming with ideas.
Helen glared at him, walked over and handed him his room key "You. Are. Incorrigible."
Kate then walked out of the bathroom and Helen handed her the third room key.
"Kate, you are in the room the the left, Nikola to the right. I'll see you all in the morning."
Helen didn't know that she would in fact not see them in the morning. Ivar Stonekrel, the evil menace who had been following Helen's actions since 1870, the year of the source blood injection, made his move that night.
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I don't really know if the Drury inn has a pool or not, but whatever!
I haven't updated in a while due to school. XP