I feel absolutely gutted over what has happened. I’m about to offer to drive Dash to the vet when Tamzin turns on me.
“You knew this could happen?” she asks.
“No!” I say too quickly, not realizing what she asked. “I mean, I knew it could happen. But I didn’t think it would.”
“You son of a—” She looks around, and her eyes fall on the cookie jar.
“Tamzin, don’t!” But it’s too late. Tamzin grabs the jar and smashes it to the ground. I’m surrounded by smoke, and then everything is dark.
CHAPTER 21
“What have you done?” the demon woman asks me. I can’t remember her name, if Damon ever told it to me.
“I don’t know,” I say, “and I don’t care.” My poor little Dash whimpers as I scoop her up in my arms. “Beverly, stay with Bella.”
“Of course,” she says, putting her arms around my daughter.
“And you, get out of my house,” I tell the demon woman. Where I got the nerves to speak to a demon like that, I’m not sure.
“You’ve made a big mistake here tonight. The Dark Lord will seek his revenge,” the woman says, and she dissolves into a shadowy puddle.
I hear her threat, but that is a tomorrow problem. Right now, all I care about is my dog. I grab my keys and run out to the car barefoot. I put Dash in the front passenger seat and hop in the driver’s seat. Thankfully, the animal hospital isn’t far. I just hope it is still open. Dash whimpers the whole way.
As I zoom into the parking lot, I see that the lights are off, but the vet, Lark Voorhees, is locking the door. I take up two parking spots.
“Dr. Voorhees!” I yell as I hop out and run to Dash’s door.
“Tamzin?” she says. We aren’t close friends, but she takes care of all our pets, so we at least know each other.
“Please, help me. It’s Dash.” I open Dash’s door, but Dr. Voorhees elbows me out of the way.
“Be careful,” the vet says. “Was she hit by a car?”
“No,” I say. “She was hit by… Well, a demon.”
The vet hesitates, giving me a look. “Okay, well, I don’t see any blood or broken bones. It looks like she’s in shock.” The vet takes her coat off and wraps it around Dash, picking her up gingerly. “The keys…” She glances around. “Oh, they are still in the door. Open it for me.”
I run over and open the door, putting her keys in my pocket. Dr. Voorhees runs to the back of the building, putting Dash on a table and hooking up an IV. She draws blood and uses her stethoscope, checking Dash all over for injuries.
“I have to do an x-ray, see what’s going on in there,” she mutters.
My phone beeps, and I see a message from Beverly. Found Mr. Darcy under your bed. He’s fine.
Okay, I text back. Dash with vet. Will update later.
Beverly replies with a string of hearts.
I pocket the phone and chew on my thumb as I watch the vet work.
“How…how is it looking?” I ask. I can see that Dash has calmed down, but I’m not sure if that is a good or bad thing.
“I have her on a painkiller and something to calm her down,” the vet says, petting one of Dash’s ears. “I don’t see any external injuries, but she could have internal ones. Why don’t you have a seat while I take her to be x-rayed.”
I nod and find a stool to perch on. She cradles Dash in her arms and takes her out of the room. Dash doesn’t make a sound. I can only hope it’s because she’s sleeping soundly.
As I wait there alone, I finally have time to think.
Oh my god. What have I done? And where is Damon? What did that woman demon mean? I didn’t kill Damon, did I? No, certainly not. I couldn’t kill him by breaking the jar. I just, like, set him free, right? Unless… I mean, he was bound to the cookie jar. So, I guess it’s possible that I killed him when I destroyed the jar. But… Ugh. I feel nauseous at the thought. Did I just kill another man that I loved?