Page 34 of Only Human in Strangeville

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Hours later, I was woken from a deep sleep by a firm knock on my door.

“Coming,” I muttered, not sure if whoever it was could hear me or not. I supposed it depended on what variety of supernatural stood at my door. Considering I’d never met the neighbors, it was probably Oliver. Taking a quick moment to look in the mirror and swish a little mouth wash after my nap, I made it to the door in a reasonable amount of time considering whoever it was had woken me. Nimbus sat by the door, and I suspected whoever it was, still waited.

Glancing out the peephole confirmed my suspicion that Oliver waited, though he wasn’t alone and that surprised me.

“Sorry,” I said as I opened the door. “I was asleep.”

“My apologies for waking you.” He smiled gently.

I glanced at his companion and raised my eyebrows. “Bridger? Hi.”

The hunter grinned. “Seems you need a bodyguard.”

If anything, my eyebrows climbed higher. “What?” Choosing Bridger after everyone had told me he couldn’t know anything about what was going on in Beechworth made no sense to me.

“If you’re comfortable with Bridger accompanying you outside of Beechworth, he has agreed to be your shadow when I cannot,” Oliver continued.

“What do Davin and Katsuro think?”

“I have not consulted them. Undoubtedly, they’ll disagree, but so far they’ve failed to keep you safe.”

I had some doubts about what having Bridger around would accomplish. Maybe if everyone were desperate enough to keep their secrets from him, it would make them think twice about revealing any powers they might have.

“Uh, yeah, sure, that’s great.”

Bridger grinned. “Oliver told me that some thugs over in Mayday Hills took an interest. Real low lives. Resorted to poison. I bet it was the vampires. Hoping to knock you out until dark so they could catch you.”

I glanced at Oliver, who had a hand over his mouth, hiding a smile.

“Yeah, maybe,” I agreed.

The thing was, Bridger sounded excited about having this opportunity. He was practically jumping up and down. Did he not have better things to do?

“Okay. So, I have to be at work by nine tomorrow morning. Does that work for you?”

“Absolutely! I’ll meet you at the front door. We’ll sweep your car before we head out, or we can take mine. I’ll keep watch while you work and run errands, then I’ll get you back here. Sounds fantastic.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Hannah. Anything I can do to keep you safe from the bad guys.”

“Okay. Thank you.” I meant it.

“If it’s all right, I need to go prepare a few things. I’ll see you in the morning.” Bridger beamed at me and ran off.

“Oliver, what the fuck?”

The shade chuckled. “He’s perfect. He actually knows quite a bit of useful information about fighting the supernatural, though we’ve managed to keep any solid knowledge from him. The people in Mayday Hills also know who Bridger is and will likely try to avoid any confrontation while he’s around, and he lives for this sort of thing.”

“Doesn’t he have a job or something?”

“Not that we can tell.” Oliver shrugged and turned his shoulder as if he were thinking about leaving.

“Hey, uh, about earlier. I’m sorry if I pushed,” I said.

Oliver glanced away for a moment before turning back to me. “I did not feel pressured. Quite the opposite. It was a nice kiss.” His smile brought his blue-gray eyes to life.

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