Page 46 of Incandescence

Newry jerked up his head. “And go where?” He put his cup down and it clattered on the table. “Please don’t go on my account. In fact...I’d prefer not to be alone right now.”

“Then of course, we’ll stay,” Charley hastened to reassure him.

The doctor’s shoulders slumped. “Thank you.”

Jasper chose that moment to trot into the dining room and head straight to the front door. When he sat and whined, Charley looked at me and said, “I think Jasper is hinting for a walk?”

I nodded. “I’ll come too.” It would be a relief to get outside and clear my head. Get away from the jarring feeling I was jailed all over again. I turned to Newry. “We won’t be long.”

He nodded, and I clipped on Jasper’s lead before he all but bounded outside, vibrating with energy.

“Wow, the dog’s fired up,” Charley said with a smile, clearly as relieved as me to get out and do something normal.

Of course, she had no idea the Rotty had consumed a good amount of black vampire blood. And I wasn’t about to spoil the mood and tell her. Not when our walk was meant to destress and relax us after breaking the terrible news to Newry. News that had involved me, whether I liked it or not.

I pushed away the ever-present guilt and sucked in the mid-morning air. Despite it being the coldest season of the year, the sun was warm on my head. A magpie warbled from the branches of an overgrown eucalyptus tree in someone’s front yard.

Despite Newry’s grief and my own role in it, my step had a spring to it. Despite not having any money in the foreseeable future, I’d never felt more secure. Charley and I had more than a fighting chance now to make a life together. And I for one couldn’t wait to leave my past behind me.

Brakes screeched and I looked up at an old, faded sedan that’d pulled to the curb ahead of us. A man climbed out of the driver’s side before the passenger door opened. I narrowed my eyes. It was the same lady from the house we’d taken Jasper.

“See, Freddy! I told you that was our dog!” the woman screeched, her thin frame quivering with rage.

I felt Jasper’s tension seconds before his hackles raised and his top lip pulled back. When he growled and lunged toward the couple approaching, the lead almost slipped from my grasp.

Freddy stilled and his partner in crime stopped beside him. Freddy was a big man, with big arms, a huge beer belly and a receding hairline. He curled his fists but he didn’t come any closer when he snarled, “What the fuck have you done to our dog?”

Charley pointed a finger at them. “Shouldn’t we ask what you did to your dog for him to hate you this much?”

“Give him to us before we call the police!” the woman shouted, jabbing her finger right back at us.

I moved toward them, holding the leash out for them even as Jasper’s vicious growls and snarls amplified to the next level. The Rotty looked ready to tear the couple from limb to limb.

I had no idea if the vampire blood had given him the extra courage, or if he’d decided he liked being with us a whole lot more. Possibly both. I hid a smirk. “Go right ahead. Take your dog.”

The woman stepped forward and Jasper leaped at her, his teeth glinting and his mouth drooling. “Bloody hell.” She stepped back. “Keep the mongrel away from me!”

I shrugged and stalked toward Freddy. “Hey, he’s your dog. Don’t try palming him off to us now.”

Freddy stumbled back, palms out. “He’s not our dog. Never seen him before.” He fled to his car.

When the sedan roared back into life and took off down the road, I turned to Charley with a grin. “Don’t suppose we’ll have to worry about them anymore.”

Her grin reached her sparkling eyes. “Great job scaring them away.”

“Hey, Jasper did all the work. I was just a humble bystander.”

She kissed me on the cheek anyway, a chaste touch that left me softer than a marshmallow inside.

Then she dropped to eye level with Jasper. “Hey, they’re gone now. You got rid of them. Good boy.” Jasper’s whole body relaxed, and he whined before pushing his big snout into her hand. Charley giggled. “Relax, buddy, we’re not going anywhere without you now.”

My heart swelled. It sounded as if we were already a family. My stomach dipped. All that was missing was a child. But I wasn’t foolish enough to imagine that might be a possibility.

The vampire blood might have changed our DNA forever.

We really needed to study those books.

As if reading my thoughts, Charley straightened and said, “We probably should take Jasper home. I think he’s had enough excitement for a while.”

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