She didn’t relax, though, until she heard the engine chug and cut off. The headlights, no longer shining in the windows, were off a moment later. Da... was back, and, if he was back alone, he was uninjured. There was only one set of footsteps on the gravel going towards the back door whenever the distant thunder didn’t cover the crunch.The evening had been great -- until the call came for him. His gentle but so-thorough love making would have been the best sort of memory to be the last. The thing. What had made her carefully tuck it into her wallet and keep it was beyond her understanding. She was only realizing that she'd intended to make this detour all along.She smiled as she read his boat's name again: "Time to Ponder". Pondering is precisely what she had been doing in these long months since they had met on line. They'd met on line in a writer's chat room. Both had proverbial "day" jobs, but their hearts were into writing and they'd corresponded for some time about it. Critiquing. Anastasia started straightening up the place and made sure there was no trace we were ever in the house.“Are you ready to complete the spell and make your transformation complete?” Natasha asked me.“There was never a doubt in my mind that I want that. I want you more than you will ever know.”“Take me, Bret. Make me yours once again. Take my blood, just as I took yours and we will have eternity together.”I took Natasha’s hand and led her into the kitchen. I leaned her against the island in. " What happens if somebody isn't bought?" asked Helen and was truly horrified when Kate replied brusquely, "They starve. There isn't any food or shelter in the prison here; just this building and it's locked when there's no ship in. Anyone unsold has to fend for themselves. They can't live away from the mines because there isn't anything. Nothing was growing here when the planet was first discovered; no plants, no trees, no birds, no animals, no insects, no people, nothing. Now we have a few.