35—Heartbound
Bonhi knelt near Dallas, touching his bare chest.
“I need a clothing spell,” he told her, his face lined with sweat and dirt. “They call it an everweft. Dakota gave me this one, but it's always been a little broken. Yours will be perfect because you're my fated mate—”
Thirty feet away, six vampires appeared, then two disappeared, then six more appeared. Dallas turned his head to stare at them.
Dakota ran between them and the vampires, holding up her hands, ready for anything. Aven dropped down with a piercing shriek to stand near her, pacing with wings high, ready.
“Do it in the cabin,” Dakota said. “We’ll guard the door.”
Bonhi gave Dakota a panicked look, having no clue how to do a clothing spell.
“You'll do great, Bonhi,” Dakota said. “You're strong in magic.” She held her free hand out to Dallas. “Lemme see that.”
He handed over his prosthesis, pointing out a bent spot. Dakota ran her finger over it.
“Hm,” she said. “Breath Coven works with metal.” She raised her hand and shot green fireworks into the air. “Goldie!” she shouted. “We need you!”
The bear ran back and forth near the edge of the tree line, its eyes on the fresh group of vampires but when Dakota called, it turned and ran for them, the woman on its back watching the vampires.
They arrived and Goldie slid off the bear’s back and landed on the ground. Dakota handed over the prosthesis. “Can you fix this?”
“Yup.” Goldie held it with her hands on either side of the bend and twisted. Green speckles, lights, and fairy dust swarmed her hands and the metal.
Dallas put on his shirt, struggled to his feet, and leaned on Bonhi, then they watched the spell completion together. The light cleared and Goldie held the prosthesis out to Dallas, saying, “Good as new.”
Dallas took it, a grin spreading on his face. “I thought it was toast, Goldilocks. Thanks.”
The bear snarled, reaching out its long neck toward Dallas. Dallas grinned. “I mean, Goldie, or Ma’am. Thank you, Ma’am.”
He backed into Bonhi and she helped him to the door.
They moved inside and shut the door behind them, then went to the table.
Dallas took his pants off and sat down on a handmade wooden chair wearing only boxers.
Bonhi put her knife down next to two water bottles, a bowl of steamy water and a stack of towels.
Dallas grabbed a water bottle and downed it. Bonhi drank some, too, and they rinsed their hands and faces with the hot water and towels.
Cleaned up, Dallas prepared to don his prosthesis.
Bonhi knelt in front of him, chewing her lip.
“So the spell fixes your clothes?” she asked.
“It takes them off me when I shift into a jaguar and puts them back on me when I shift into a man, complete with everything in my pockets.”
“Okay...” Bonhi said, thinking about how to do that. She had no idea, and so she watched Dallas, thinking about how much she loved him, and how much she wanted to help him.
An idea appeared. “The cuff!” she said, grabbing it out of her pocket. “This is the time!”
She smoothed open the ring of flat leather and stared at the colorful rock and the strange symbols, feeling hope that this thing was magical enough to guide her through the process.
Mama Soline had said to put her magic in it.
She cupped the ring in her hand, believing she could do this.
Mentally, she poured her magic and her love for Dallas into the circle and all over the leather.
Her hands glowed, feeling warm and lighting up the cuff with color.
Dallas watched until the light dimmed, then he pulled his prosthesis up his stump.
Bonhi stopped him. “Hold on,” she said. “This goes…”
She didn’t know where it went but she thought it had something to do with the stump itself, so she pressed the cuff against Dallas’ knee, then moved it down to his stump, trying to figure where it went.
Outside, shouts and thuds arose. Bonhi focused on the cuff in her hand, blocking out the sounds of the fight. She had to figure this out.
She pressed a cupped hand to Dallas’ stump, working with the scarred flesh, molding it and warming it, then she fit the cuff over it with her other hand.
Perfect. She motioned for him to put the sleeve on while she kept the cuff stationary, purposely pouring magic inside and all over as they worked together.
Blue light zipped up the sleeve, then encircled Dallas’ knee, climbing up his thigh and down his prosthesis.
Bonhi removed her hands, but her magic remained, swirling around them.
She smiled at the blue light, loving everything about it.
“Good?” she asked.
“Good,” he rumbled, standing and carefully putting weight on the leg that still swarmed with blue light.
Bonhi stood. Dallas placed a chaste kiss on her lips, then simply watched her.
She pictured him standing tall with his prosthesis perfect and strong and his clothes on.
Light glowed around her hands. She pictured Dallas shifting into his jaguar, wearing only black fur, and his animal prosthesis, and then she pictured him shifting and his clothes coming back to him.
She stood on her tiptoes and touched the top of his head, then ran her fingers down his body, muttering, “Men need clothes, jaguars need fur. Make it happen, make it strong, and make it right. Give my mate an everlasting everweft.”
Blue speckles danced all around them while the light at her hands brightened. Grinning at the beautiful magic, she knelt in front of him, spending extra time running her hands over the connection of his prosthesis to his leg.
Bonhi stood up. “That oughta do it.”
Dallas kissed her, bending her backwards. Blue light flared through Bonhi’s closed eyelids, and for just a moment she forgot where they were and what they were doing. There was only Dallas, and her love for him, filling her, consuming her, drowning out all else.
Dallas broke the kiss and Bonhi was able to think again.
“That was the best everweft spell I’ve had,” Dallas purred. “My favorite.” He pulled his pants on, then moved into the center of the room and changed, pitching forward onto four legs, black fur covering him.
Bonhi gaped. Dallas had been a massive jaguar that came up to her waist, but now he was almost up to her shoulders, looking like he weighed 500 pounds, with muscles like granite under a sleek midnight pelt.
Am I bigger? he said in her head, surprising her.
Can I hear your thoughts? she thought.
Can you? The jaguar’s eyes locked on hers.
Yes?
The jaguar showed all his teeth, and she would have been terrified if she weren’t in love.
You’re way bigger, Bonhi thought, surprised happiness filling her at this new telepathic intimacy. Then she noticed—
Bonhi pointed at his rear leg, unable to speak or think… because she saw no prosthesis, only black fur and normal leg.
You’re fucking kidding me, Dallas growled in her head, looking at his own rear leg. My foot is back?
He shifted into a man, and his clothes covered him perfectly.
He lifted his pant leg, and they both saw the prosthesis.
He shifted into a jaguar again and dropped his head to look at his leg.
A low guttural sawing sound came from him.
He paced around the small cabin, then leapt up onto the bed and kicked at the wall with the leg.
Bonhi watched him, scarcely able to believe it.
The massive jaguar turned to face her, an endearingly human look on its face.
I love you, he said in her mind.
You love me?
He showed his teeth. I’ve told you that before.
You haven’t.
I’ve thought it. I feel it.
She crossed the room and put her hands on either side of his beautiful furry face. I love you, too.
I know.
Dallas purred at his switch and licked her along her jawbone, then kicked the wall again, scraping his claws across it. He could feel his toes! They felt muted, like this leg was maybe only 85% flesh and bone, and 15% something else. Magic maybe.
He shifted to a man, grabbed his switch, and bent her over backwards for a kiss, then he put her back on her feet. “Thank you.”
She shook her head. “This wasn’t all me. I’m sure Warrior Woman and Mama Soline had something to do with it.”
“Sure, and Goldilocks, too,” Dallas said, “But it was mostly you. That’s hot.”
Something slammed into the cabin wall. Dallas looked up, then gave his switch one more kiss. He crossed the room and ripped the door open, stepping out onto the stoop. A vampire lay crumpled in the flowerbeds. Dakota leapt in for the finishing blow and red light flashed.
Dallas surveyed the fight, seeing the two Count Chocula motherfuckers on one hilltop and Jameson and Cora on another.
Dakota, Aven, Flint, and Goldilocks were actively fighting, and the ground was littered with vampire corpses.
Still, more vampires came, appearing out of nowhere in a constant flow.
Dallas realized only two of the vampires had red eyes, and the rest had silver, meaning his two Count Chocula motherfuckers were also red-eyed motherfuckers.
They were special and creating or controlling these other vampires somehow.
Dallas put his foot on the porch rail and climbed up to the roof.
He clambered to the apex and shifted into his newly-massive jaguar, aware he was glowing blue from head to toe for the first time.
He faced Jameson on the hillside, still holding Cora.
Dallas was as big as Jameson in their shifted forms now, and they could fight on fair footing, but they wouldn’t. Now they would combine forces.
Aven dive-bombed and pulled up at the last second, landing near him. He shifted into a man and Dallas shifted into a man, too. They clasped hands.
“Cool glow, Rowr. You’re heartbound.”
Dallas grinned. “Did you see how fucking big I am?”
Aven yanked Dallas’ hand back and forth, a huge grin on his face. “Big enough to lead Belief Coven. I fucking told you so.”
Dakota screeched from twenty feet away, dodging vampires. Aven released Dallas and jumped off the roof, shifting into his eagle, then dive-bombing the vampire’s faces.
Dallas faced the vampires with red eyes, strong purpose pulsing within him. “I AM THE SCOUT,” he shouted. “AND NOW YOU DIE!”
Dallas shifted into his jaguar and jumped down to find Bonhi magically throwing rocks, with her knife gripped in her right hand.
On my back, Bonbon.
She ran right to him, and he dropped to the ground. She threw a leg over and grabbed the fur on his back in a tight handhold. He steered toward the two vampires with red eyes.
“I hate them so much,” Bonhi snarled, spraying blue light around them like a forcefield from one upraised hand.
The vampires stood facing them haughtily, and one of them spoke, his whiny voice amplified to the entire meadow.
“Goodbye, Sssscout. We’ll be back when you least expect it with a matching blood wound for your other leg.”
Dallas roared and leapt for them, but they both disappeared in a flash of red light.
Dallas whirled around angrily, looking for something to kill.
He ran at the few vampires left, tearing up the ground with his claws.
The green-glowing bear and Goldilocks, plus Aven and Dakota rushed in, and within seconds, the last remaining vampires were pulverized to nothing.
Dallas backed up, panting. He looked up at the hillside where he’d seen Jameson and Cora.
They were gone.