Page 84 of The Vampire and the Case of the Cursed Canine

‘Of course you can stay!’ I said. I turned to Connor, ‘He can stay, right?’

Connor nodded. ‘We’ll do some paperwork.’

‘Actually…’ Reggie started. ‘It’s probably best if we don’t leave too much of a paper trail, guv. I was part of a werewolf biker gang, joined it when I got bit at sixteen. But they’re not too good at letting people go, if you know what I mean.’

‘We can fudge it,’ Connor assured him. ‘Reginald Watson might have to die, but Reggie Fluffsen can be reborn.’

Reggie grinned. ‘I can roll with that.’

Anissa came over looking worn. ‘Well, I’ve got some bad news. We didn’t break the curse exactly.’

I got a chill. ‘What do you mean?’

‘The shamanic magic transformed the curse but didn’t break it.’ She looked at Reggie, ‘The good news is you can now shift into your dog form at will. The bad news is we’re not sure if you can change into your werewolf form.’

‘Ever?’ Fluffy – Reggie – looked disappointed.

‘Honestly? We’re not sure. Time might wear down the curse until it dissipates, but then you might lose your dog form. I’ll keep looking into it – but you can be dog or human now.’

He nodded gratefully. ‘I have options. Ta, Anissa.’

‘You’re welcome. We need to clear up here,’ she added, in a not-so-subtle attempt to make us leave.

‘Sure thing,’ Reggie said instantly. ‘We’ll get out from under your feet.’

I still had my arm around him and I gave him a squeeze. ‘Come on, let’s go home.’

He grinned. ‘Shadow is going to lose his little head when he sees me on two.’

Chapter 53

Connor ordered a tonne of steaks and chicken drumsticks and had Lee bring over a brand-new barbecue that he placed in my back garden. I invited Gunnar, Sigrid, Sidnee, Thomas and Stan to come on over and meet Reggie. I’d invited John, but he’d politely declined. He said that he needed time to process his loss, and he didn’t want to bring the party down. I told him it was a standing invite, and whenever he was ready, he’d be welcome.

Happy to be able to use his hands again, Reggie cooked some potatoes and veggies whilst Connor grilled. It felt like a party – and we all needed one. I introduced Reggie properly to everyone and saw tears in his eyes as Sigrid enveloped him in a hug. I got it.

‘You want to still work at the Nomo’s?’ Gunnar asked, in between chewing some greens. ‘If you can still shift into a dog, your nose would come in handy.’

‘I don’t have anywhere else to go,’ Reggie admitted. ‘I’d love to stay if you’ll have me. I know you have April now, though, so I’d understand if…’

‘Pshhh.’ Gunnar waved a chicken leg around. ‘We’re always run flat out. It’d be great if we could train you up a little, show you the ropes. Though I guess you probably know a lot of it already from hanging with Bunny here.’

‘Yeah,’ he agreed. ‘But seeing and doing are different.’

‘Right you are, kid. We’ll get you on the right track in no time.’ Gunnar was in a gregarious mood, delighted that Sigrid had been released from the hospital although she was under strict instructions to take things easy and had a few more days of potions to take. Her recovery had been markedly slower than Stan’s, even though he’d been worse off; as a shifter, his body was primed to heal at warp speed but her witchy one wasn’t.

Somehow Shadow seemed to know exactly who Reggie was. He was miffed at all the attention his friend was getting, so he upped his antics to steal back the attention. He jumped up on the table, knocked things over, took off with Sig’s scarf. Reggie finally picked him up and cuddled him, and Shadow settled down to sleep in his arms.

After an evening of laughing and joking – and longing glances between Sidnee and Thomas – everyone finally left me with a messy home and a happy heart.

Connor helped me tidy up and clean whilst Reggie had a shower. Once we’d restored my home to an acceptable level, I walked into my living room and stopped abruptly – because there was Fluffy curled up on the sofa, next to Shadow.

I walked over to him and his tail thumped happily. ‘Hey,’ I greeted him, stroking his head. ‘Everything okay?’ He licked my face, making me grin. ‘You can take the spare bed, you know. Now that Mum’s gone that can be your room for as long as you want it.’

His tail tapped happily again but he laid his head back down. For now he was happy as a dog on the sofa. I guessed it would take him a long while before he felt normal in his human form.

I locked up, checked the shutters and turned out the lights, leaving Fluffy and Shadow to sleep. Connor and I went to my bedroom. I had so much in my headspace. I was a forbidden vampire – a hybrid – and I’d barely scratched the surface of what that meant, or what my powers would be. My father was responsible for turning me into said hybrid vampire, he and the vampire king of London who undoubtedly had his own agenda – and I wasn’t sure if Octavius was done with me yet. He’d sent John here to fuck with me, so my gut said no.

I’d be going to the police academy soon and I hoped they’d give me the skills to track down Chris Jubatus and his black-ops buddies. It didn’t sit right that they were free, wreaking havoc on the world with their horrifying drugs, and I no longer wanted to let Calliope take point on that.

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