37—Home
Dallas woke slowly, with light streaming in the one window of the cabin. He realized he’d slept deeply with no thoughts of needing to guard Bonhi. The cabin felt safe, and Bonhi could take care of herself.
They’d slept for only a few hours, but he felt pretty good. The cabin had provided food in the middle of the night and a door had appeared in one wall that led to a well-stocked bathroom, which Bonhi had been very happy about.
Dallas rolled onto the floor and put his prosthesis on first, then went for his pants, checking that the bottle was still in his pocket. He pulled his pants on and looked around the room, and out the window. All was quiet and he relished it.
Bonhi made a noise in her sleep, then another.
He went to the bed, and her hand was curled around nothing, stabbing into the mattress.
She grabbed the blanket in both hands and twisted it, then bit it, growling.
Dallas smiled and slipped into bed, pulling her into his arms. She calmed and settled back into him.
Dallas smelled coffee. He looked up and there was a tiny coffeepot with one steaming cup in it, next to a plate of fresh-looking muffins.
After a bit, Dallas slipped away from his mate and went to the coffee, adding cream and sugar, then taking a sip. It was the best cup of coffee he’d ever had.
Bonhi sat straight up in the bed, one word on her lips. “Vampires!” She looked at him, her expression amazed. “I had the strangest dream.”
Dallas put the coffee cup down, grinned, and pitched forward into his massive jaguar. Bonhi slumped back onto the bed, eyes wide, mouth open.
It wasn’t a dream, he told her.
Dallas shifted back into a man, winked at his mate, and took another drink of coffee.
Bonhi looked dazed. She put a hand to her head, then her chest. “But… but…”
Dallas motioned her to the window. She got up naked, making him smile at her beautiful body. The blankets and pillows changed back to pink when she left the bed, and Dallas knew she wouldn’t be getting back in it.
Dallas took Bonhi’s hand and pulled her to the window, where the portion of the field they could see was littered with vampire corpses.
“Disgusting,” Bonhi said. She found her clothes and pulled them on.
Dallas turned to make her coffee, but another steaming cup was already sitting there for her.
She drank some black, then went back to the window, saying, “We need a magical cleanup crew.”
An image entered Dallas’ mind of a baby pushing its way out of the ground, head-first this time, and when it got all the way out, it plopped in the dirt and turned into a house. A feeling of coming home filled him, making him grab Bonhi’s hand. “Big-Butt Baby is back!”
She looked confused. “Who?”
“The magical house. It’s got a name I can’t remember, but you’ll like it when you hear it.”
“It’s back? How… do you know?”
“Ah, well, I have a feeling, just like the one I had when it appeared in the first place.”
She smiled at him, her eyes lighting up full of delight and acceptance. “I want to see it.”
“Yeah, let’s get out of here.”
Dallas wrapped Bonhi’s knife in a swathe of fabric. “First thing I do is make you a scabbard for this.”
“Oooh, yeah,” Bonhi said, slipping her hand in the crook of his elbow. “Talk dirty to me.”
He put the knife in his pocket. “It’ll be leather and you’ll wear it around your waist.”
Bonhi shivered and kissed him, saying, “I like the sound of that.”
Dallas kissed the corner of her mouth. “Anything for you, Bonbon.”
She snuggled into him, and they stood that way for some time, breathing in each other’s scent.
Eventually, they went outside into the sun-drenched clearing, where corpses lay everywhere, all dressed the same, most of them rotted to bones or even dust. Magic tinkled behind them and they both turned around.
The roof of the cabin seemed to collapse, and the walls seemed to melt into the ground.
All around them, vampire clothing and bones sank as well, until the little meadow was cleared.
“That’s pretty cool,” Dallas said.
Bonhi snuggled close to him, saying nothing.
They left the meadow hand in hand to the sound of birds chirping. The 4-wheeler sat where they’d stashed it. They climbed aboard and rode back to the BBOC like they had all the time in the world, with Bonhi resting her head against Dallas’ back and her hands around his waist.
They returned the 4-wheeler and walked to Dallas’ car, holding hands.
Families littered the parking lot, but there was no sign of anyone from The Cause.
They got in and drove away, Dallas feeling quietly jubilant.
He’d protected Bonhi just fine, and magic had even done the impossible, giving him his leg back, making him whole in his jaguar form.
He was The Scout, whatever that meant. He was a Belief Shifter now, and that meant he had to believe his way into his success, which he knew he could do.
Dallas took the road that curved around the dome of Lightning Rock and ended at the field of sunflowers, his eyes peeled for the first sign of the magical house.
He couldn’t wait for Bonhi to see it.
Bonhi held Dallas’ hand, anticipation lighting her up from the inside. He was still driving through the sunflowers, and whatever was coming was something he adored, which meant Bonhi adored it, too. She saw the building coming up fast—a grand house made of marble with blue stone leading to it.
Dallas stopped the car out front and ran around to open her door and helped her out of the car. She only had eyes for the house. It was so beautiful and clean, almost sparkling.
Dallas opened the door for her, bowing. “After you.”
Across the foyer hung a chiseled stone sign that read, Credence, Stone of Truth. Rest your Belief on me and it shall never crumble.
“Credence is the house’s name?” She looked at Dallas who grinned at her, tipping his head.
“You’re right,” she said. “I do like it—actually, I love it. A magical house should be named something so grand.”
She took a moment to examine the modern artwork surrounding them, then she went deeper into the house, and Dallas followed her into the dining room with its floor-to-ceiling picture windows and glass-topped table.
She floated through the room, oohing and aahing, then went right into the living room with the comfy blue couches and white throw rugs.
She examined the fireplace and the stone chimney and the high ceiling.
“You live here?”
Dallas grinned and kissed her on her forehead. “And so do you. I’m certain you have a room. Let’s go see.”
He pulled her toward the stairs and up them. At the top, they went down a hallway. “That’s Dakota and Aven’s room,” he said, passing a door.
The last door on the right was barely cracked. Warm light spilled out from inside, illuminating a triangle on the floor.
“I bet that’s it,” Dallas said, not knowing what to expect.
They entered hand in hand, looking all around. The room was enormous—practically the size of a small house. The bed was big, covered with a blue bedspread and a quilt folded at the end.
“This is my quilt,” Bonhi said in surprise. “My grandmother made it for me.” She looked around the room, then gasped. “That’s my chair! From my house!” She crossed the room and picked up the books on the table next to it. “These are my books, look, this is my bookmark!”
Dallas grinned. He pointed out his suitcases and his extra prostheses lined up military-style near the door to the closet. “That’s my stuff.”
Bonhi went into the closet. “My clothes!”
Dallas sat down in Bonhi’s chair, watching her, loving her. This was their home now. He anticipated many happy evenings in this place.
Bonhi left the closet and walked farther into a room, finding a sparkly staircase in the corner.
“What’s up here?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I’ve never been here before. My first room was downstairs.”
The spiral staircase had been chiseled right into Lightning Rock with a rope railing. At the top was an opening. They started up the steps, Dallas first.
At the top was an open trap door. Dallas stuck his head through, then came back grinning. He helped Bonhi up, then climbed up, too.
They were in a screened-in porch built right into the side of Lightning Rock, with a large mahogany desk piled with stacks of notebooks and legal pads, plus tons of pens.
Behind it was a bookshelf full of legal citation books and encyclopedias.
The chair was high-backed and looked comfortable.
Bonhi went right to it and sat down, pulling out one of the books, then grabbing a highlighter.
She gazed out over the valley, grinning. What a view for work!
Dallas had gone the opposite way, finding a mass of thick, twisted tree roots climbing the back wall, which was the side of Lightning Rock.
He shifted and climbed up the roots as a jaguar, squeezing through a leaf-lined hole at the top, which sparked blue as he pushed through it.
Bonhi watched him through the skylights in the ceiling, climbing up the massive tree, until the branches sagged with his weight.
He looked all around at the view, then came back down into the room.
He stalked over to her with his head lowered, then jumped atop the desk like a housecat and gave her a big lick across her cheek, then laid down on top of the book and highlighter, his tail flicking some pens onto the floor, making Bonhi giggle.
He caught her gaze with his golden eyes and spoke in her mind. I used to think my life was ruined, but now I know that during my darkest times, I was being strengthened and molded into the type of man you would respect.
Tears sprang to Bonhi’s eyes. “I do respect you and love you,” she said, touching his black fur.
He nodded his feline head, his ears flicking this way and that, then he bent forward and licked her face, saying,
I love you, too, Bonhi Bon Bonbon. I’m so glad you finally believe.