Chapter 4
I do not own claymore
The beeping alarms woke them all up, Helen stretched and yawned briefly before nudging Roger to wake him up.
George woke up and realized that he had unconsciously wrapped the blanket around himself in imitation of Mia's tail being wrapped around him.
Rachel said cheerfully, "This is the last hop, we'll be in Phoenix in just about four hours at midnight, their time."
The refugees sat up and buckled themselves in the seats as best they could for the take off. The engines started up and and after all of the preflights were completed, they felt the aircraft begin to move into position on the flight line.
Soon, the jet's engines began speeding up and after a pause, the jet began accelerating rapidly. When it felt like the plane was going to run out of space, the nose lifted and the floor tilted as the jet climbed rapidly to its cruising altitude.
After the jet had leveled out, the 'fasten seat belts' light went out and Natalie slipped out of her seat and peered out the small window, after a minute or so she declared in wonder, "It's like a sea of burning embers down below us!"
The others looked out the windows and gazed silently for a few moments.
Ayesha said softly, almost to herself more than anyone else, "Did we do the right thing, coming here so far from our ancestral lands?"
She looked around at her family. Her remaining daughters looked at her, their eyes shining with excitement.
Phillip also looked at her with his eyes brimming with love for her.
He would follow her 'til death they did part, she glanced at her son-in-law, George Bryce. The man who came out of the desert and became her oldest girl's lifemate, only to take her to a new land across the wide sea.
The once safe emptiness of the desert was no more, hard eyed men prowled the trackless desert now, bringing with them a violent interpretation of their faith.
George smiled at her and asked gently, "Are you okay mom? You look a little far away right now."
Ayesha smiled at him and replied softly, "I'm fine son, It's all a bit overwhelming. Only two days ago, I was looking at our melons and thinking about how long it would be until we could start picking them. Now we are high above the earth in a jet airplane, headed to a new land and home. For some reason, I can't help thinking about those melon plants we left behind and wishing I could have tasted at least one of them."
She smiled wistfully and shrugged, "Now I will see my first grandchild and our new home and we can plant melons without fear of them being spotted!"
Natalie sinuated into her mother's arms and slipped her tail around her mother's waist, the two held each other for a few moments then Ayesha said softly to her, "All too soon, you will be too big for twining like this and I will miss these moments we've shared. Soon, I will have a new little one twining with me and she will call me 'grandmother' and you, my love will be her auntie Natalie!"
As they were crossing over Texas, Rachel called Tanja Sims, "Tanja! We are about an hour or so away. We've brought everybody and their personal effects, we'll need a couple of big vans and a truck or something to haul their things." after a pause she said, "It went pretty smoothly, Henri managed to borrow a really big helicopter from his unit and we slipped into Algeria and got out again without anyone noticing." she paused again and replied enthusiastically, "Oh yes! Ask the Whartons. They know the area and have the vehicles to carry our people out to the ranch. In fact, their girls are with Mia right now."
Rachel chuckled and said, "Oh yes, it'll be big news alright. But we'll keep it quiet for a little while longer, at least until the paperwork is finalized. We'll talk more once we land in Phoenix. Bye now!"
Rachel then announced to everyone, "We'll be landing soon, I've made arrangements for transportation out to the ranch you'll be living at. Now's as good a time as any to tell you about it."
Clearing her throat and pausing to take a sip of water, she continued.
"The ranch is surrounded on all sides by the Gila Bend wildlife refuge and is owned by us. It covers about ten thousand acres of land and is dotted with critical desert habitat and archaeological sites, the ranch house itself was built near one of the few surface aquifers, you would call it an oasis. We're allowed to build up to ten housing units with the condition that they be self sustaining and have a minimal impact on the ecosystem. The fact that they're almost invisible from the air is an intentional effect, we don't want what may be the world's first openly existing lamia village to be easily seen from the air for your privacy."
Ayesha's eyebrows went up slightly and she asked quietly, "Do you know of other lamia families?" Rachel smiled at her and replied, "Mia has mentioned that some of the old tales tell of lamias living in Egypt and possibly the Sudan. We do have another team investigating the legends as I speak."
Ayesha said softly, "My grandmother's scrolls may have information that would help in your search, you may examine them if you wish."
Rachel grinned and said cheerfully, "We can wait until you are settled in and unpacked, then we can copy them with a scanner and take the images with us."
Phillip leaned forward slightly and asked, "Just what exactly, does your organization do? George described it as a cryptozoological research society with some real money backing it up, what is the purpose of it?"
Rachel smiled and said pleasantly, "We actually go back some five hundred years, the early European explorers were often supported by us in the hopes of finding the creatures out of legend. Our original intent was to bring these creatures to Christendom, to baptize them and give them 'souls' so they could enter heaven. During the "Age of Reason" fostered by the French revolution, our mission became, not one of conversion to something we had lost faith in, but preservation and protection of the very creatures declared to be 'an abomination' by the holy church. We felt that the hidden folk had as much right to live as anyone else."
Phillip remarked, "That's good so far, how many of these 'hidden folk' have you found so far?"
Rachel grinned and replied, "We made contact with the hidden realm fairly soon after our philosophical change. Queen Henrietta Maria informed us that she had known of us almost from our beginnings, but that she had hidden her realm from us until we had matured as an organization and had seen the light of reason."
George chimed in with, "The Queen has informed me that the original intent behind midnight mass, was so that a vampire could seek salvation and redemption prior to being destroyed as an abomination. There were no takers, to the church's puzzlement."
Phillip looked thoughtful and commented, "I'd like to think that times have changed for the better. What would be the church's position today? If we face persecution in the U.S. We would have been better off staying put."
George blurted out suddenly, his voice choking with emotion, "Don't talk like that... Please! You've no idea of how I have worried and agonized over this, you thought you were safe in your desert, you were wrong. When we came to get you we had to drop off Helen to take out a couple of trucks loaded with Islamist gunmen, they were headed towards your cave. If we had been delayed by only ten minutes, we would have found your corpses. That's how close this was!" All of the refugees unconsciously shuddered at George's remarks.
A tone sounded and a soft voice declared, "Please straighten up your seats and fasten your seat belts. We are beginning our approach to Phoenix International airport, thank you for flying Smuggler Airlines!"
Rachel rolled her eyes and remarked, "How is it she has lived so long? I'm continually amazed that someone hasn't choked her by now!"
George chuckled and commented, "That's Helen for you, she is one irrepressible warrior." "Warrior?" asked Ayesha, George grinned at her and replied pleasantly, "Helen is one of the Claymore warriors, in fact she is one of the stronger ones. No human, werewolf or vampire could defeat one in battle, it is a very good thing she came along."
Ayesha smiled and said. "Your friend Roger seems to be quite taken with her, does he know anything about these warriors you spoke of?" George just shrugged and said cheerfully, "He's a big boy, he'll be okay!"
The change in the vibrations and sounds from the aircraft, caused all of them to belt themselves in and sit up straight.
A resounding "Clunk" signaled the deployment of the landing gear as did the sinking feeling, they were going in.
Minutes later, the jet was on the deck and braking hard to shed velocity.
Looking out the windows, George's in-laws could see the lights of Phoenix, Arizona beyond the fence surrounding the airport, their long journey was almost over.
As the jet taxied up to the side terminal, Rachel made a call, "Hello, Tanja! We are here, we are at the side terminal right now and about to dock." She paused a few moments then replied, " Yes, we'll unlock the door when the ambulances pull up, they'll get inside the ambulances and we'll go to the University hospital for the quick physical and cat scan." a moment later, Rachel grinned and said, "We'll be seeing you soon!"
Three ambulances with their emergency beacons flashing pulled up alongside the Gulfstream jet. George and Rachel exited the jet and after a couple of minutes, Rachel turned and gave the 'thumb's up'.
Helen unlocked the side door and lowered the steps while the medical gurneys were rolled up.
George held out his hand and assisted Ayesha as she exited the jet and slipped onto the waiting gurney, a blanket was spread out over her coiled up tail and she was whisked away to the nearest ambulance.
One by one, the lamias were slipped out of the jet and into an ambulance.
George climbed into the ambulance carrying Phillip and Ayesha.
As the ambulance headed to the hospital he called Mia, "Hey babe! We're here!" he cried happily, "We landed about a half hour ago and now we're headed to the same hospital you went to."
He paused a moment and replied, "Yeah, it's probably going to be the same thing, except your dad will get a quick going over too!"
A pause, "It's just to see if he might have anything wrong with him, he's been away from doctors for many years and a cat scan will find anything he might have wrong with him." another pause, "We'll be home just as soon as we can be, dear." he grinned and said wistfully. "I miss you too, it was so weird sleeping alone last night, with no long tail wrapped around me and you holding me so closely... I love you!"
George slipped the phone back in his pocket and smiled.
Tanja Sims and Sara Thompson were waiting for them as they exited the ambulances and were placed on gurneys and whisked inside by carefully chosen assistants.
Sara was all smiles as she weighed and measured the lamias, she practically squealed when she saw Natalie and exclaimed, "Oh my God! You are so cute! Mia told me she had younger sisters, but she didn't tell me you guys were this cute, all three of you!"
Tanja Sims, MD grinned and said, "Down, fangirl, you have to give her back, her family will miss her."
Sara laughed and said gaily, "I know, but I would sooo kidnap this girl!"
Ayesha's eyebrows raised momentarily, George chuckled and said. "She's the one who will be assisting with Mia's delivery and she also helped us with getting new clothes for Mia. She is a good egg and wouldn't really kidnap Natalie, though I will be checking the trunk of her car after she's been up for a visit."
Ayesha smiled and said cheerfully, "And I'll be right next to you!"