Page 95 of Only Human in Strangeville

I wasn’t in bad shape by any stretch of the imagination, but it had been a long day, and I wasn’t a runner. Still, I made good time and had everyone’s attention. Davin held his hand to his side and stared at me as if he couldn’t quite figure out what I was doing.

Bridger shouted something, and Oliver, well, I could feel his terror through our bond. Drake grabbed him before he could come to me.

I just hoped that the dog with the sunlight powers would catch up before this latest idiocy got me killed.

Gasping, I stumbled to a halt between Davin and Vito, his gun now pointed directly at me instead of the werewolf.

Davin growled unhappily, but there wasn’t anything anyone could do.

“I’m pretty sure you want me more than you want some werewolves. Looks like you’ve won. There’s nothing we can do against your magic and your vampires. Why don’t you let Davin go?”

“My dear, you’re in no position to bargain,” Vito began.

Just then I felt a soft brush of fur under my hand on my left, and a vibrant warmth on my right. The dogs had arrived.

“I think I am,” I shot back. “Let Davin go, and I’ll tell Nimbus to back off. You can get your revenge on me.”

“You make no mention of the vampires?”

“I think I’m more valuable to you than the werewolves, but I doubt you want me more than you want Katsuro.”

Vito chuckled. “You are surprisingly clever and wise for a human. Maybe I’ll turn you and make use of you that way.”

I didn’t bother to hide my shudder. Vito studied me, his oily gaze coating me in an imagined filth as he surveyed what he thought would be his next prize.

Nimbus rooed softly, and I sensed him gathering his energy. The new dog huffed, and before Vito could agree or disagree with my terms, they attacked.

Nimbus yanked Vito’s gun skyward with his powers. The new dog dashed forward, blasting the vampires with the sunlight pouring from her mouth.

Davin grabbed me and dragged me away from the fight. “You’re crazy, Hannah,” he snapped, now sheltering me with his body.

“It worked.”

“Where the hell did you get a sunlight-puking dog?” Davin shoved me around the corner of the coffee shop.

I snorted but otherwise didn’t answer. There would be time enough for questions later. Especially since I wasn’t exactly sure myself.

“Stay here. They still need me.” Davin glanced at me, and I nodded. The werewolf dove back into the fight. I peered around the corner, watching and grabbing for my magic. If I was recovered enough, I might be able to help.

Bridger had used my distraction to join the fight. He and Oliver were guarding each other while they fought the vampires. The new dog’s sunlight weapon was devastatingly effective, and the coffee shop had emptied as Vito called more vampires to shield him. He sported burns but was too powerful to simply kill that way. Too bad.

“Nimbus!” I called my cloud dog to me.

He popped into existence next to me.

“We need to see if we can free our vampires.”

He rooed in agreement.

Hoping the guys and the sunlight dog had the battle in hand, I crept back and headed for the service entrance. Nimbus trotted along ahead of me, his tail curled over his back.

When we got to the service entrance it was predictably locked. I pushed on the door a few times just to make sure and pulled once. Nothing.

Nimbus huffed before vanishing. Moments later, he pushed open the door, front paws on the crash bar. His teleporting abilities were handy.

I slipped inside and we let the door close behind us. Emergency lighting gave just enough illumination that I could see. Nimbus knew where we were going, too, so he led the way as we crept through the hallways. We would likely run into at least one vampire, and I prepared myself as best I could to fight them.

The hallways were empty, but the storage closet that led to the entrance wasn’t. They knew I was coming, so I charged in and blasted outward with my own version of the sunlight spell. Vampires screamed as the motes stuck to them and burned.

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