Page 58 of The Vampire and the Case of the Cursed Canine

I loved her goodbyes. I called Gunnar and Sidnee next and they said they’d pull together a search party while I came up with a plan. I checked the time and saw I had a text from Connor. I could breathe again.

Just landed. Floating into North Harbour. Finally North Harbour was bringing me something good. I sprinted out of my house to meet him; I needed Connor like I needed air, and I doubly needed his solid presence to get me through this.

He was helping Edgy unload when I flew down the ramp. He looked up, his smile like sunshine that warmed every part of me. He put down the box he was holding in time to catch me as I launched myself into his arms. ‘Hey, doe,’ he said before wrapping his arms around me.

‘Connor, someone kidnapped Mum.’ The tears began. Part of me was shocked at how I felt; after all she’d done to me, I shouldn’t have cared that she was in danger. She was a stranger in a lot of ways; she’d hurt me many times through the years and she’d even cursed Fluffy. I should hate her, but at the end of the day she was still my mum.

He clutched me tighter. ‘We’ll find her, don’t worry.’

His words calmed me immediately. I knew Connor wouldn’t stop until he’d fulfilled his promise. I clung to him for a minute more, then it was down to business.

We carried the boxes for the Nomo’s office and put them in Margrave’s idling truck. Connor hadn’t just brought back computers but also two desk chairs. Desks were being made in town with some lumber he’d donated; in the meantime, someone from the mayor’s office was bringing in folding tables and chairs for the tiny ‘lobby’.

Connor took me to the office. Sidnee was already in, Fluffy was gambolling around her heels and Shadow was giving a lazy stretch. Sidnee had only left for the office when she’d received my panicked call, and considering she was pulling back-to-back shifts, she was looking great. Better than me: I hadn’t showered or combed my hair. I must have looked like a madwoman flying down the dock at Connor but I’d had more pressing concerns.

‘Bunny, how are you holding up?’ my friend asked anxiously.

‘I’m all right,’ I lied. ‘Thanks for helping.’

‘Gunnar has started calling people to help search, and I’m making a list of possible suspects – mainly barrier protestors and the old gem witches. Someone wants our barrier down.’

I nodded, suddenly exhausted. The constant fear about the barrier, my mum and her revelations, and the problems with the gems was wearing me out. I’d solved who’d stolen the gems a week earlier but the problem was still going on. There had to be another way forward that meant we weren’t dependent on those cursed things. Curses here, curses there, curses everywhere.

I sat down heavily on the floor – and suddenly I couldn’t get up. Fluffy barked loudly, and Connor and Sidnee were looming over me. ‘What’s going on?’ I asked. ‘Why can’t I move?’ But then I couldn’t talk.

Connor snatched me up and ran through the front door. That was the last thing I remembered.

Chapter 37

I woke up to see Anissa’s face leaning over me. I gasped and tried to move back, but I was lying on a bed and couldn’t go anywhere. ‘Drink this, Bunny.’

She was holding blood in a hospital cup with a straw. Well, that would be a new experience. I tried to push it away.

‘Drink it, Bunny, dammit,’ Connor growled from my other side. I turned my head and he was standing over me as well. I realised it wasn’t anger that had sharpened his tone but fear, and that scared me enough to drink.

I drank the blood fast even though I couldn’t hold my nose – and there was no point when you were drinking through a straw. I finished it with a grimace. ‘What happened?’ I asked. My head felt muddled and hazy.

‘You were cursed,’ Anissa said grimly.

‘Was it the same curse?’ I looked down at my limbs but it didn’t appear that I had started wasting away. ‘How long have I been here?’ My voice cracked.

‘An hour,’ Connor answered.

Relief filled me. I hadn’t let my mum down; I still had time to find her.

‘Not the same curse,’ Anissa confirmed. ‘It seems to be a curse to send you to sleep, sap your energy.’

That’s how I’d felt: sapped, limp, wrung out. I’d experienced true weariness since I’d been turned – daylight exhaustion was a real thing – but this tiredness was far greater.

‘It has to be the kidnapper. They don’t want you on their case,’ Connor snarled.

‘Why give me an ultimatum that I can’t follow?’ I asked, confused.

‘Did you touch anything, or eat or drink anything new or strange?’ Anissa asked.

‘No, nothing. I—’ That bloody note. ‘I touched the note that was on my door,’ I groaned. ‘It’s in my jeans’ pocket.’ I hadn’t worn gloves, a rookie error.

Anissa retrieved a plastic bag full of my clothes from next to the bed then pulled out my jeans and waved a hand over the pockets. ‘This is the source.’ Her hand blazed brightly for a moment and I felt pressure in my ears. ‘Not a strong curse, but effective. I’ve neutralized it.’

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