Serenity

Chapter 3

Tami

I gave her a mock salute, then stepped back as she pulled into the traffic. A clock inside the terminal told me I had half an hour to get to the private hangar where the plane would be arriving. Not much time, but as long as I didn't get sidetracked, I'd make it.

The Mohiri jet was a joy to watch as she streaked through the air. Watching from the hanger, I played with the ring on my right hand. Given to me by a childhood friend, it was a reminder of simpler times. No matter how many times I tried, it was something I couldn't let go of.

The captain greeted me at the top of the stairs and shook my hand. I found it hard to smile when I greeted her. She was a first-class pilot that flew many of the rescue missions I worked on. But part of me had hoped to see Julian and Phil flying the plane. Grandpa pulled me into a fierce hug before the captain asked us to take our seats for takeoff.

An hour into the flight, the copilot called Grandpa into the cockpit. After a conversation that lasted ten minutes, he returned, his face grim, and all traces of laughter in his eyes gone.

He sat and looked at his hands for a few minutes as he fought to get himself under control. Grandpa lifted his head, and I saw the sadness in his eyes. "That cyclone's expected to hit the coast just after midnight. The weather service is predicting it to hit somewhere north of Port Douglas, but for our own safety, we have to land at Cairns."

"That may not be far enough away."

The frown on his face told me he was thinking of the same thing I was. Cyclones can be hundreds of kilometres in diameter. Even the outer edges of a cyclone cause thousands, if not millions of dollars' worth of damage to property and infrastructure.

Grandpa sat in front of one of the plane's built-in tablets and brought up the latest cyclone watch advisory warning. "The cyclone is changing course, veering further north. It will take a while to calculate the new point of landfall, but predictions are that it will be several hundred kilometres north of the original landfall position."

"Any major population centres nearby?"

"Not near where they expect the eye to cross. But a few towns, including our destination, are on the outer edges. Plus, storm surges along that section of coast are always a possibility."

"What's the strength?"

Grandpa scrolled through the information on the tablet. "It looks as if it's a cat four, but they're expecting it to lessen to a three by the time it reaches landfall."

"Are we going to join the SES?" Humans didn't realise it, but natural disasters were a magnet for vampires and demons that preyed on them. The supernatural predators enjoyed taking advantage of a time when humans were at their most vulnerable. It was why every Mohiri hid a silver dagger in their work boots or under the legs of their jeans, and a few even carried a machete when we were helping with disaster relief.

Grandpa locked eyes with my sire's mate, Jaynah, and raised an eyebrow. She inclined her head, then turned back to the book she was reading. "I'll call them as soon as we land." Grandpa spent the rest of the flight with his head buried in the tablet, monitoring the news feeds for information about the cyclone. By the time we landed in Cairns, he knew everything he could about what the meteorologists expected the cyclone to do.

True to his word, Grandpa was on the phone to the SES commander in Armidale the moment he left the plane.

I strode over to the terminal and took a few minutes to catch up with warriors I hadn't seen since I finished training. After graduation, we scattered to various parts of Australia and didn't have time to take holidays. I was so caught up in talking with my friends that I didn't notice Grandpa had finished his call until he walked past me, Jaynah two steps behind him.