33—Her Resonant
Bonhi stared at her man, thrilled that she’d done bona fide helpful, awesome, undeniable magic. She’d saved Dallas and herself, too.
She was a switch. She was magic. She had a bigger purpose than courtroom lawyer and maybe judge someday. She was destined to kill vampires.
The switch part of her clamored after the vampire. She picked her way around the wall she’d made, rocks held in front of her. There was still enough light to see by, and blue light was coming from somewhere. She turned back to see if Dallas had a flashlight.
“Your eyes,” she gasped. “They’re glowing.”
Dallas put a hand to his face.
Bonhi drew a circle around her eye with her finger. “Right here,” she said. “…glowing blue.”
Dallas grinned. “Let’s hope that means something good.”
Bonhi held her rocks up and growled like an animal, because Dallas’ new glow made her feel primal and ready for anything.
Dallas shifted into his jaguar, and still he glowed around the eyes.
He maneuvered her with his sleek body so that he was between her and the cabin.
She pushed at him, wanting to go faster, and he held her back.
They rounded the boulders and saw only the cabin door standing open, no vampire.
They crept for the door and Bonhi’s purpose pulsed inside her. Kill vampires.
She heard them muttering inside, their tones hushed and scheming.
Dallas’ muscles tensed. He poked his nose into the doorway, then crept forward.
Bonhi crouched and followed, peeking in first like he’d done.
The vampires were huddled together with glowing silver eyes and nasty pointed fangs.
Dallas pounced and knocked one over, growling and biting, then he twisted so fast he was like a blur and flipped in the air, knocking the other vampire to the ground.
Dallas roared and shifted to a man, grabbing something off the ground—a gun.
The first vampire tried to scramble to his feet, and Dallas kicked him in the throat, then held him to the ground with his boot on the vampire’s head.
Bonhi darted forward, meaning to throw her stone at the second vampire, but he rolled off into a corner.
Dallas disassembled the gun in a few seconds and pocketed the bullets.
He flung the rest of it to the floor, then he shifted back into a jaguar.
Bonhi was already moving, rushing at the first vampire, her rocks held out, her guts squirming in disgust, but Dallas swung his head and the light from his eyes fell on the other vampire. He had another gun aimed right at her!
Dallas roared and leapt to get in front of her.
Bonhi raised both rocks. The vampire fired the gun with a loud CRACK.
Bonhi’s rocks jerked to the left on their own, then something hit one of the rocks like a freight train and blue crackles exploded all around.
Dallas sailed past her, hitting the wall, then turned and pounced on the vampire, roaring and biting him.
Bonhi crossed the room quickly, her rocks held in front of her, blue lightning crackling between them.
Dallas held the vampire with his teeth, a deep growl coming from his throat.
Bonhi raised both rocks. “Now I fry you up so my kitty can have a crispy meal.” she said, slamming her rocks toward the vampire’s face.
He got a hand up, knocking one rock away.
Blue lightning crackled his sleeve and skin, making him cry out.
The other vampire came running for Bonhi.
Dallas scrambled to her and pulled her away, making her miss her direct hit, but the second rock glanced off the vampire’s skull, scraping flesh to bone.
Bright red light spilled from the wound and the vampire screamed, then disappeared in a flash of red light.
“Coward,” Bonhi spat at him. She pulled away from Dallas and saw the second vampire had a knife, and if Dallas hadn’t yanked her away, the vampire would have stabbed her.
She whipped her rock at the knife, knowing as soon as it left her hand that it was off-course, but she could fix that.
She splayed her fingers and directed the rock with a beam of blue light from her hand.
The magic coming from her drew her eye, entrancing her, until it smashed the rock right into the vampire’s fingers.
He dropped the knife with a grunt and grabbed his hand.
Dallas leapt at him, sinking his teeth into the vampire’s throat.
The nasty fucker kicked Dallas’ prosthesis out from under him, lurching Dallas backward.
Dallas ripped the vampire’s throat out as he staggered back.
He regained his balance, then spit the flesh on the floor, where it splatted, black and oily.
The vampire put a hand to his moldy throat and grew new pale skin to cover it. Bonhi gagged and almost fell. Her mate moved close to hold her up.
Red light flashed, blinding Bonhi. When she could see again, the vampire was gone.
“Where’d he go?” Bonhi yelled, frantically looking around.
Dallas shifted back to a man. His shirt looked funny and he whipped it over his head, facing it forwards, then putting it back on. He looked all around the room, then said, “They can disappear like that. I don’t know where they go.”
“He’s not dead?”
“I don’t think so.”
Bonhi growled in a surprisingly good imitation of a jungle cat.
Dallas dropped into a chair, saying, “We fucking survived that shit.”
Bonhi leaned against the wall, dropping the rock to the floor, panting. “I don’t know how.”
“Because you’re awesome that’s how.”
Bonhi smiled at him. “That was you being awesome.”
“We should draw the Ingrav,” Dallas said. “If I can remember what it looks like.”
Bonhi shook her head, her hands on her knees as she tried to catch her breath. “I don’t know what that is.”
“It calls for help somehow.”
Outside, they heard angry voices and ran to the window to look out. A funky looking crowd was gathered at the edge of the meadow, and four more vampires appeared right in front of Bonhi’s eyes!
“Vampires,” Dallas said, wrinkling his nose like they stunk.
They were all dressed the same way, wearing jeans, work boots, and white t-shirts, their hair slicked back. They milled about, facing the cabin, not making a move toward it.
“Gross,” Bonhi said. “Why do they look like that?”
Dallas shook his head, his voice serious. “There’s a lot of them. We need reinforcements.”
The ground rolled under their feet and Bonhi held her hands out for balance.
Dallas did the same. All around them, furniture appeared.
Dallas was knocked to the side as a bed covered with pink pillows and blankets appeared where he’d been standing.
The desk and wood cook stove appeared, and antlers popped into view on the wall.
“Whoa,” Dallas breathed.
“This is what it was like when I came before,” Bonhi said.
The cabin shook again and magenta light coalesced in the center. Bonhi ran to Dallas and took his hand. A wild-looking woman with black hair, wearing a leather tunic and bare feet appeared, glowing magenta.
“Warrior Woman,” Dallas breathed and Bonhi realized this was the woman she’d seen in the spray of light at Mama Soline’s. Now she looked real.
Warrior Woman stared at Dallas and held something out to him. He opened his palm and she dropped it.
“Thank you!” he called, deep appreciation in his voice.
He turned to Bonhi, saying, “Knife.”
And what a knife it was! Bonhi put her hand in her pocket and touched the lightning sand tube that Mama Soline had given her. Inside the clear handle of the knife was one just like it, only ten times bigger.
The knife called to Bonhi and she took it, wide-eyed. The grip was pleasing, buzzing in her palm gently.
“I made it for you,” Dallas said.
Bonhi shook her head. “When did you have the time? We’ve been together every minute since Mama Soline’s…”
He smiled. “I made it after I first saw you at the courthouse.”
She smiled back, gripping her knife and taking his hand. “I remember that.”
Dallas turned to Warrior Woman. She appraised him, hands crossed in front of her belly. The magenta glow had faded.
“Thank you,” Dallas said again, seeming to search for words. “Did you get this from the magic house?”
Warrior Woman made no response, but Dallas stiffened and looked past her. Bonhi stepped to the side to see what he was looking at.
On the back of the door was the weapon wreath, and right in the center dangled the bottle.
Dallas crossed the room in a few large strides and grabbed the bottle. “This is it,” he said. “We got it. As long as this stays out of vampire hands, we’ll be able to keep the upper hand in the war.”
“War?” Bonhi asked, her stomach falling.
“War,” Dallas confirmed, his voice grave.
Warrior Woman drew a large pink circle in the air with four slashes across it.
It faded, and in the middle a scene right out of a movie appeared: four people standing around a television set in a large, grand room, like a fancy hotel lobby.
Bonhi saw Cora, Jameson, and a man and woman she didn’t know.
They all stood transfixed by the images on the television, which Bonhi watched like picture in picture.
The television showed what looked like the outside of a small hospital. On the front steps, a man in a suit held hands with a woman in a white dress. The couple descended the steps, smiling broadly while people in hospital gowns threw rice in the air.
“I can’t fucking believe it,” Jameson growled in the image.
“Holy fucking shit,” Dallas growled next to her.
“What?” Bonhi asked.
“That’s Jane Doe!” Dallas said. “And that’s… what… a doctor? Did they get married?”
The couple rushed to a limousine and got in the back, and it drove off, with JUST MARRIED soaped onto the back window.
“Who’s Jane Doe?” Bonhi asked.
Dallas pointed at a man in a suit watching the car drive off from the edge of the crowd of patients. “That’s Momeyer!”
Bonhi shook her head, not understanding any of it.
Dallas locked eyes with her. “Jane Doe is a woman with amnesia. She’s a patient there.
She showed up at Cove Springs a few days ago with a big bruise down her side like she fell from the sky, and we think she’s somehow involved with ‘The Cause’ or vampires.
Momeyer is a doctor there and he’s controlled by the vampires. ”
“Ohhhh,” Bonhi said as things made more sense.
“Jameson!” Dallas shouted at the image. Jameson didn’t respond, just kept watching the TV. “Flint! Cora! Goldilocks!” No response still. Dallas looked at Warrior Woman, but her face was placid. She held her hand up with fingers splayed, like her body was the magical conduit.
On a whim, Bonhi picked up one of her rock weapons and tossed it into the image. It landed on the floor inside with the four people and they all whirled around.
“Dallas?” Jameson growled, walking their way. “Bonhi?” he said, sounding shocked, peering at them.
“We’re under attack by vampires at a cabin just north of Cove Springs!” Dallas shouted. “We need help.”
The man Dallas had called Flint growled like a bear and said, “We’re on our way.”
Warrior Woman dropped her arm. The image winked out, and the woman herself disappeared.
A female voice screeched outside the cabin and Bonhi and Dallas looked at each other, with identical expressions of urgency.
“Dakota!” Dallas shouted, heading for the door.
Bonhi gripped her knife tightly and followed her mate into the fight.