Bad Choices (Hypernaturals 8)

New Last Name

Angel Sagan immediately started doing one thing her new last name would imply: Angel joins us in the shower now. She may not sleep with us, but she baths with us. The benefits are obvious: people to help you get clean. She likes getting her hair washed, her aches of the day removed by skillful Vampire fingers and / or warm water.

She was in here when she slept with me after my rape. It just took her a 'moment' to get used to it again, and from the new point of view. The relationship is different. Then she was helping me recover. Now we share a daughter. It changes things.

Rachel would be in here too but is in New York tonight. That is an important job to all of Vampiredom, as it helped tremendously to be able to release the 'Vampire Cult' story Rachel had on the hook as and when she did. I wish she could leave the Times and be with us full time instead. 

I am sure Helen and Rachel wish that too.

Morgan is working on Angel's back, Angel's hair flipped forward for now. "What have you been doing to your shoulders, Angel? You are all tension though here. Especially on the right side."

"Damnable handgun. Range work. I am having trouble with the muzzle flip. I know I am supposed to ride it up, not fight it. I am trying to double-tap, and that means I have to get the barrel back down fast for the second tap, and it's wanting to point at the roof of the range. I muscle it back down but that second shot is always terrible. The first one is never that good either because I flinch knowing the gun is going to buck."

"What are you shooting? A cannon?" Jessica asked Angel, from the next shower head over where I am washing her hair.

"It is a Sig p220" Angel told her. "The instructor said I would like it. It's a nice gun. I like it in my hand. I just hate the way it kicks."

Jessica sighed. "Those things are chambered for a .45 ACP or a 10mm. It is a damn cannon. What are you trying to kill? Bear? Load a high-pressure round in that, short barrel, and you are going to be hitting yourself in the face with it all day long. Good gun, but NOT a starter pistol."

"No wonder..." Angel said.

"It's not a stagger clip, so I can see why you like it in your hand." Jessica thought for a moment. "See if they have .40, 7 or 9 mm gun to shoot. The 220 is a good gun, but you don't need a combat weapon. You have to pass a shooting accuracy test, not a 'punch a hole in an engine block' test. I wonder what the hell that guy is up to. Any other women in the class?"

"No. Just me." Angel said. "A lot of men that think it is funny I am there though. Much taunting about how my dates must go, and things of that sort."

"As if you would date any of them. When do you go next?" Jessica asked.

"Tomorrow." Angel did not sound enthused.

"I'll meet you at the range. I have a Sig chambered for 9 mm, and some medium pressure rounds for it you can use. Very smooth. You'll like it much better. If that fucker handed you a pressure plus loaded 10 mm, I am going to feed it to him." Jessica worked herself up over the idea of someone screwing with Angel in that way, so I massaged her scalp a bit more deeply.

"Oh. Yeah. That's the ticket." Jessica said, more happily.

"You know what Jessica? Just knowing you are going to help has loosened Angel's muscle knots up nicely. Much better. I will show up too. If that alleged instructor has been doing what Jessica thinks, and Jessica shoots that weapon, with her skills and Vampire strength, she'll center punch the entire clip one-handed, and that will be a lot of fun to watch the expression on that guys face. Spectator sport: Take a misogynist down a notch."

"You guys take such good care of us." Angel purred as Morgan worked on her shoulders and arms.

Helen, who had been reading on a lounge spoke up. "Don't be silly, Angel. Family. Speaking of that, you guys give Adrian his new card?"