Page 52 of Only Human in Strangeville

“Yeah, if he doesn’t shift back soon, that may be necessary. Thank you for the offer.”

The vampire bowed slightly.

Nimbus returned at a jaunty trot, tail curled up over his back and wagging happily.

“Feel better, buddy?”

He rooed softly.

I caught Katsuro’s wince out of the corner of my eye. A few disadvantages to having a giant dog, but the cuddle opportunity still outweighed them in my mind.

“Do you think we have time to go back to our cuddle session?” I glanced around as the sky darkened into true night.

“As much as I would like to say yes, I sense the wolves in the distance, and I suspect we were simply lucky the enemy didn’t bring human weapons to bear during the day. I did my best to shield our presence with my powers, but they aren’t the best under the sunlight. Nimbus may have assisted.”

“Why didn’t you hide us last night?” I tried to keep all blame out of my voice. I was sure he had a good reason.

“Bridger’s wards interfered at his property, and by the time we were free of them, they were already well on our trail. By myself, I could have gotten away. However, I certainly wasn’t going to leave you.”

“Thank you for that.”

He stepped in front of me, his hands going to my shoulders. “I will not leave your side until I’m well satisfied you can protect yourself.”

“That’ll make it difficult to pee,” I pointed out.

Katsuro smiled. “You know what I mean.”

I thought I did, and I smiled back. “Thanks.”

He kissed my forehead before releasing me. “We should find the others.”

Nimbus play bowed in front of me, which put his massive head at my level, and sniffed my nose like he often did, except he was huge, and I thought I’d get blown down. His wet exhalation wasn’t exactly unpleasant, but I was a little concerned about his giant size.

“Hey, any chance you can return to normal, buddy? We need to get caught up to the others.”

Nimbus sat on the ground with a thud and cocked his head to the side as if he were thinking. Then he shut his eyes, ducked his head, and… grew.

“Wrong way, buddy.”

Now he towered over me, the tips of his ears even with the tops of some of the mid-sized trees.

He huffed.

“Well, just think about it.”

Katsuro started the ATV and pulled it over to me. “How about I drive for now, as I can see without magic?”

“Sure.” Happy enough to let the vampire drive, I hopped on behind him. It wasn’t hard to convince myself to mold my body to his and put an arm around his waist, though the ATV had handholds in the back. He certainly didn’t complain.

Nimbus trotted along behind us, crashing through the trees.

I didn’t even worry about how loud the ATV was. The dog was louder.

The reality of our situation came back to me, and I sobered. Having myself wrapped around Katsuro was extremely pleasant, but we were in danger, and I had no idea how we were going to get out of this.

The sharp bark of a high-powered rifle and a spray of dirt pulled a scream from my throat.

“Nimbus, hide!” I shouted as Katsuro gunned the engine on the ATV.

---