Page 75 of The Vampire and the Case of the Baleful Banshee

‘Back at you, Bunny Rabbit.’

I let the moniker slide since he was willing to die with me. We stood side by side and waited for the kushtaka’s next attack. When the wail came, Gunnar raised his gun as I reached inwards. I blinked with surprise when I felt the heat broiling there when moments ago there’d barely been a wisp of a flame. I’d have to time it right. I had one shot at this; I’d already learnt that my supply of fire wasn’t inexhaustible.

The kushtaka charged. Gunnar fired and I held my nerve until it was almost close enough to touch my boss with its long arms and claws. Then I let rip.

Fire poured out of me and struck the beast. It screamed, and the smell of burnt hair filled my nostrils. Lit up like the Statue of Liberty, the thing ran back into the forest; if it had had a lick of sense, it would have dived into the water.

We could still hear it screaming – until it stopped abruptly.

Chapter 47

Finally, the skiff bumped onto the gravel of the beach and Gunnar and I climbed in. ‘The kushtaka?’ Stan asked urgently as he looked us over for injuries.

‘Bunny roasted it,’ Gunnar said with a proud smile that made my heart burst.

Stan frowned. ‘How?’

‘With the fire on the beach,’ I lied hastily. ‘A lucky throw with a burning branch. It turns out its fur is highly flammable. A real design flaw.’ Gunnar trusted Stan, and I did too, but the fewer people who knew about my oddities the better. Gunnar squeezed my hand and I knew my secrets were safe with him.

I watched as we moved away and the island got smaller and smaller. I swore nothing would ever get me onto it ever again.

When we were close to the boat, I searched anxiously for Connor. I saw his head drop to his chest as he let out a breath of relief. Finally I felt safe – although we still had to get back to civilisation and get Sidnee to hospital as quickly as possible. We climbed on board and Stan stowed the skiff in record time.

‘Bunny!’ Connor wrapped me in his arms. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t come back,’ he said, looking at me to see if I was angry. ‘I didn’t want to take up a space on the skiff. It could have meant that someone else died.’

‘It was the right call.’ I leaned against his shoulder. ‘That was scary.’ His arms tightened around me. ‘I hit the kushtaka with fire and it went down. I don’t know if it’s dead or not, but I vote we never return to the island just to be sure.’

I felt him smile. ‘Deal. Come on, let’s get you warm.’

The warmth in Stan’s heated cabin felt heavenly. Thomas had wrapped Sidnee in blankets and was holding her tightly under the bow. Sweat was dripping down his forehead; at least he had warmed up so that was one less person to worry about. ‘Soapy?’ I asked Connor.

‘He’s on the deck outside, spitting nails. The drugs were gone and the siren members that were left to guard it are gone too.’

‘Dead?’

‘Almost certainly.’

I blew out a breath. That wasn’t good. The creepy government agency that had been experimenting on Portlock hadn’t left after all, and now they had retrieved a shit tonne of their deadly drugs. It was the worst outcome we could have feared. ‘We’ll need to warn the other towns,’ I said grimly.

‘Gunnar’s already done that. Everyone knows fisheye is deadly. They’re on high alert, and for now that’s all we can do.’

‘We need to find those black-ops twats and shut them down.’

Connor kissed my forehead. ‘It’s a problem for another day, Bunny.’ He wasn’t wrong: we still had our fair share of problems without borrowing more. Sidnee needed medical treatment and we had to find the missing gems.

The rain, which had stopped, came down even harder and the wind whipped around us so we all took refuge in the house. The boat dipped and rose and rocked from side to side. I considered being sick, but it was from fear rather than motion sickness so I gritted my teeth through the nausea.

When Stan finally pulled onto his slip, I was genuinely tempted to kiss the ground. We left him to deal with the boat while the rest of us piled into the Nomo’s SUV and rushed the still-unconscious Sidnee to the hospital. When we arrived, Thomas carried her in and explained what had happened to the medical staff. He laid her on a bed and she was wheeled out of sight.

Gunnar called Sigrid, and soon the waiting room was full. Stan, Gunnar, Thomas, Sig, Connor and I waited anxiously to find out if my friend would be all right. I looked at the people waiting for her and realised that if I were lying in that bed in Sidnee’s place, the same people would be here for me as well. I had people that cared for me, and that was everything.

I had no idea how long we waited but it was several cups of nasty hospital coffee later when a nurse called, ‘Sidnee Fletcher’s family?’

‘That’s us!’ Sigrid stood up.

The nurse gave a reassuring smile. ‘She’s responding well to treatment and we’re confident she’ll make a full recovery.’

Sigrid burst into tears and collapsed into Gunnar’s arms. Her wailing stopped my tears in their tracks; it was a little too close to the kushtaka’s. Over Sigrid’s head, Gunnar and I exchanged grimaces. Connor wrapped me in his arms and his steadying presence helped me hold myself together.

---