North American Vampire Council & Past Calling (Hypernaturals 12 & 13)

Gallery

Vera and Angel waited on the sidewalk. In a reshuffle of car and driver for the trip south from Huntsville back to Houston, Angel and Vera went in the Hyundai. They were in the easier to park vehicle. Morgan can park that road going Cruise ship about anywhere, but the little car is always going to be easier to find a spot for.

Sam was also there. Morgan explained to us, "Sam sort of makes his own parking spots." When I asked "How did he beat us?"

Houston is a massive city. Not so much from a population point of view, although it is the fourth largest in the US, but from the sheer amount of land it covers. One can drive for over an hour at 120 kilometers an hour and never leave the city limits. Houston is like Texas in that way: Lots of land, so that the population can spread out. 2.3 million people spread out over 1658 square kilometers.

Houston is also many different subareas inside the larger one. Down south there is Clear Lake. Home of the Johnson Space Center. Out east is the ship channel, with a ton of cargo ships loading and unloading. Also, an enormous group of chemical refineries. Their position relative to the ship channel no accident. Houston flat stole away most of Galveston's industrial port work when they built that. Up North is all sort of tech. Center of town (but not the center of Downtown) is a huge medical center that employs over 100,000 people. Just in the Med Center! A huge center of human medical research is there for things like cancer and heart disease. On and on. All sorts of subareas with different subcultures.

We are currently in an older part of The Montrose. Morgan's old beat as a cop. The Montrose is a very cool part of Houston. Very avant-garde and hippy. The most open-minded and Austin-like part of town. A center of art and music. Where I would live if I lived here.

Morgan stood quietly aside from us, looking around her old stomping grounds, clearly tripping down memory lane. Sort of like when she was looking out at the pine belt at the hospital, but much more in her face and immediate. This is where she used to solve murders.

"Sam: What the hell did you do to my Montrose?" Morgan asked.

"Tell me about it. Some of the older stuff is still here. All of it now costs your soul to rent or buy. I can't afford to be here anymore. Not with Mary and Thomas. You always lived away from here, but now I do. The commute is a bitch too. Houston got 11% bigger after you left and a lot of them live here. Look at all these high-rise Condos!" Sam replied, scanning the skyline with his eyes to pick out brand new housing the towered over the older, shorter buildings.

Bob Watts Studio and Gallery is one of those older, multi-story buildings, where the first floor is businesses, and the upper floors are mixed-use.

Sam pointed up. "Remember when we caught that homicide case on the top floor here, in this exact building? The club on the top floor? Still there, but it has been through a few owners since. Was Jazz back then. Hip-hop dance place now." Sam pointed over at a high-rise condo. "The people in that building sued the club because the upper floor condos can hear the music until two in the morning. Stupid. The club was there when they built the place."

Morgan looked up. "I forgot about that one. Stupid case."

"I thought all Homicides were kind of stupid to you." Sam said.

"Yes, well, I may have slightly reformed my view of what is a valid reason to kill someone since we were partners." Morgan admitted.

"Oh?" Sam asked. "Why would you kill?"

"Hurt someone I love. You are dead." Morgan said simply.

Morgan said that so matter-of-factly that Sam studied her. Processed that statement in with everything he knew about Morgan from when she was here and a Cop, and what he has learned recently. "I learned as your partner NEVER to fuck with you. I think that might be even more true now." Sam concluded.