Tangled Moon

by Stocum, Olivia

  Nick stood. “Tell me about it in the truck.”

  “I can take care of this myself.”

  “I’m sure you can,” he smiled with a little too much confidence. “I’m coming anyway.” He took out his keys and dangled them from his hand. “Time to go, Darling.” He lifted his chin in the air.

  “That is not funny.”

  “Yes, it is.”

  She climbed into Nick’s truck and he pulled away from the curb, made a U-turn, and headed in the opposite direction.

  “Talk to me,” he said. “Because all I know are horror movies.”

  She took a breath. “Vampires have two kinds of venom. One relaxes the victim so they stop fighting. The other turns them into a vampire.”

  “I’m immune to the second, but not the first.”

  “Yes. Only shapeshifting werewolves are immune to both types of venom.”

  “I’ve never been so grateful to have been bitten, and by a fox no less.”

  She opened her mouth to correct him, then realized what a dope she was. “Um . . . thanks.”

  He pulled into the cramped parking lot of a Victorian house that had been turned into a vet’s office. Danielle recognized Kendra’s VW.

  “Let me handle this,” she said, pulling out identification. “I am a game warden, after all.”

  “Got to love a girl who knows her stuff.”

  She wished she really did know what she was doing. Oh, the dog she could handle, but the rest of her life was something else entirely. Nick turned the glass knob and opened the antique door for Danielle. Kendra was in the waiting room and she went to her.

  Kendra’s eyes were red from crying. “Danielle . . .”

  “What happened?” She took the seat next to Kendra.

  “I couldn’t find Sammy last night, but he’s done that before. He gets away every now and then and roams the hills. He always comes home.” Kendra took a breath. “I came out, and there he was on the doorstep. He’d gotten in a fight and lost a lot of blood. Must have dragged himself home.”

  Danielle looked at Nick. “Stay with her. I’ll take care of the dog.”

  “Danielle?” Kendra said.

  She turned back.

  “Do you think whatever killed Jason did this to Sammy?”

  She hesitated, then decided to come out and tell her. “Yes, I do.”

  Kendra shook her head. “Why me?”

  “I really don’t know. But I’ll take care of everything. I promise.”

  Nick took Danielle’s spot next to Kendra.

  Going to the reception desk, Danielle showed her badge. “I need the dog that was brought in this morning with a severe bite wound.”

  The receptionist was no more than twenty. She had died black hair and tattoos of cats down both arms. Her eyes widened. “Why?”

  Danielle lowered her voice so no one would overhear. There was no sense in causing a panic, after all. “He could be contaminated with an infectious disease.”

  Yeah, vampirism.

  “I’ll have to get the vet to release him to you.”

  “Then do it. Now, please.” Danielle waited, tapping her fingers on the desk. A minute later the vet emerged, an older man with thick glasses.

  “What’s going on? He’s resting.”

  “Still alive then?”

  “Yes.”

  Bad. Very bad.

  “I need to see the dog.” She showed him her forged credentials.

  He nodded. “Very well.”

  Danielle was led into a room where a brindle bulldog was stretched out on a table, his neck bandaged. She smoothed her hand over his muscled shoulder. She could smell female vampire on him.

  “Who’s he been in contact with?” Danielle asked.

  “Me, and my assistant,” the vet said. “His owner.”

  “Everything was kept sterile? Needles were properly disposed of, and no one was bitten or stuck with a needle?” It was really the biting part that concerned her, but a vet would expect those kinds of questions.

  “No. Everything was kept sterile. And he hasn’t been conscious anyway.”

  “Good.” She couldn’t carry the dog by herself. He was too big. She couldn’t just put him down with lethal injection either. It would take werewolf venom to destroy him. She turned. “I have to take the dog, for safety’s sake.”

  The vet nodded. “I am sorry to hear that. It will be hard on his owner.”

  Didn’t she know it. “I’m afraid there’s nothing I can do.”

  “I’ll have my assistant bring him out.”

  “No.” She hesitated. “I’ve got that covered.” Danielle went back into the waiting room. Kendra was crying on Nick’s shoulder. Something twisted inside her. She felt possessive of Nick and didn’t like seeing him with another woman.

  Did that make her a hypocrite?

  Probably, yes.

  She forced herself back on task. Danielle nodded at Nick. He said something to Kendra, then stood and came to her.

  “I need you to put the dog in the back of your truck,” Danielle whispered. “Do you have anything to secure it with?”

  “I have some chain.”

  “Good. I need you to tie him. If he wakes up, he’ll smell me and make a run for it. I’ll be right out.”

  He went for the dog and Danielle turned to Kendra. She sat next to her on the molded plastic seat. It was still warm from Nick. “I have to take Sammy. I think the animal that bit him carried a contagion.”

  “What?”

  “You need to tell me, did he try to bite you when you brought him in?”

  “No. He was too weak for anything like that.”

  “Good.” Then it occurred to her, Kendra wouldn’t have been able to lift the dog without help. “Who put him in your car?”

  “Greg.”

  Danielle needed to call him. “Thanks.”

  “Are you going to put Sammy into quarantine? I’ll see him when he’s better, right?”

  “I can’t promise you’ll see him again.” She squeezed Kendra’s hand. “I know this is hard. But you need to trust me.”

  She wiped her eyes with a tissue. “Okay.”

  “We’ll call your parents and have them take you to their house.”

  “I should go to the diner.”

  “No. Steph has everything under control. Wait here for your parents.”

  Danielle went outside, wishing she had time to break down and cry, knowing she didn’t. Nick had the dog in the truck bed and was securing him. “I need your phone,” she said. “I don’t have Greg’s number and he handled the dog.”

  He turned his phone over. “What does that mean?”

  “Hopefully nothing, but if it nipped him, anything’s possible.”

  “Greg?”

  “Like I said, it’s probably fine. The likelihood of the dog having venom already is slim.”

  “It’s kind of like rabies then.”

  “Yeah. Zombies are even worse. All it takes is one bite. They’re highly contagious.”

  “I don’t even want to go there.”

  “You’re right, you don’t.” She brought up the favorites menu on Nick’s phone.

  “Hey, Nick,” Greg answered a moment later.

  “Greg, it’s Danielle. I need to talk to you about your sister’s dog.”

  “He didn’t die did he? She’ll be really upset.”

  “Listen to me, you didn’t happen to get bit did you?”

  “No. Well, sort of.”

  Her stomach lurched. Not Greg. Please not Greg.

  “It’s fine. He was still conscious when I went to lift him up. He didn’t recognize me at first and tried to defend himself. He barely broke the skin.”

  “He bit you?”

  “Just barely. It’s fine.”

  No, it wasn’t fine.

  Nick touched her shoulder and she snapped back to attention. “Hey,” she said calmly to Greg. “I want you to call your parents and have them take Kendra to their house, then could you meet me at t
he cabin?”

  “Does Nick know?”

  Tears burned her eyes. He thought she was coming on to him. Poor kid. “Yes, he knows.”

  “Okay, I’ll be there.”

  “See you in a bit.” She ended the call and passed the phone to Nick. “Excuse me.” She found a bush and puked all over it. This was why it was better not to get attached to mortals. Protect them, yes. Care about them, no.

  Nick came up behind her as she finished. He caught her elbow and helped her up. “He’s been exposed?”

  “It’s unlikely. There would have to be venom in his bloodstream, and he would feel it, like you did when I bit you. It would burn. The dog isn’t a vampire yet, but I rather not take any chances by releasing an exposed human into public.”

  “What do we do?”

  “We take Greg to the cabin and keep him there until we know.”

  “How long?”

  “To be safe, two days.”

  “And the dog?”

  “I’ll have to kill it.”

  He looked over his shoulder at the truck, his jaw working. “I can do it.”

  “Nick, no.”

  “Think about it. I can test out the arrows.”

  She didn’t want him hunting at all. Danielle rubbed her pounding head. “Let’s just get to the cabin.”

  * * *

  Nick and Danielle loosened the chains from around the unconscious dog and Nick lifted it out of the back of the truck.

  “We can put it in the cage for now,” Danielle said, opening the back doors of the van. “Once we get Greg settled in I’ll deal with it.”

  “How strong will it be when it wakes?”

  “Unlike any animal you’ve ever seen.” She climbed in and unlatched the cage they kept in the back of the van. “We’ve had to remove infected animals from the public before. This cage has been reinforced.”

  “Gives the term animal control officer a whole new meaning.”

  “Yeah.” She moved out of the way so Nick could put the dog in. A hundred pounds was no problem for him. She was a little envious. Danielle closed and latched the cage door then hopped out of the back of the van. “Lothar is in the forest.”

  “You can manage without your mentor for a little while.”

  “That’s not it.” She closed the doors. Well, yes, it was.

  “Yeah, I was afraid of that.” He leaned back against the van, watching her.

  “It’s not personal.”

  “If you keep saying that, maybe eventually we’ll both believe it.”

  She turned so they were shoulder to shoulder, both with backs to the van. “It’s not that I don’t care about you,” she said. “There are just a few things I can’t seem to work past.”

  She’d latched onto Lothar a long time ago. For better or worse, her weakness had converged with his. That part made sense. When they’d first met, she’d been in need of the security of a strong male—unlike her adoptive father—and Lothar had needed someone unadulterated to love. Being raised in the same home—an ancient creepy castle no less—with a satyromaniac couldn’t have helped his development any. Lothar and Vesper had been exposed to more bizarre sexual acts by the time they were ten than the average pimp over a lifetime.

  She heard the crunch of tires on gravel as Greg pulled up in his police car. They both moved away from the van, turning to greet him with false smiles.

  “Kendra’s dog was exposed to a contagion,” Nick said as Greg got out.

  There was a banging sound from inside the van and it rocked from side to side. Of all the times for the dog to wake up, why did it have to be now?

  “What’s in there?” Greg said.

  “Wild animal.” Nick patted the side of the van. “We have it under control.”

  “Yeah. No problem.” She renewed her fake smile. “Can I see the bite on your hand?”

  “Am I going to need rabies shots?”

  She wished it was that simple. “Let me see it.”

  Greg held out his hand, his pulse racing when she touched him. She knew it had little to do with her. It was just Greg being a twenty-four year old, single male. She examined the bite on his hand. He was right. The dog had hardly broken the skin. It was more of a scratch, really.

  “Okay.” She squeezed his hand. “Just to keep things safe, I would like you to stay here for a few days.”

  Greg looked at Nick as if asking permission to spend time with her.

  “I’ll be around,” Nick said. “I can tow down the Mustang if you want. We can work on it here.”

  She nodded. “I think that’s a great idea. And Nick can bring over some of your things.”

  The van rocked again, followed by a low growl.

  “Did you finish your lunch? Want me to pick up anything?” Nick asked.

  Greg eyed the both of them. “Why are you guys acting like I have two days left to live? And what’s in the van?”

  Danielle laughed it off. She knew they were being too obvious. “Nick, you haven’t eaten yet. Maybe you could pick up some burgers?”

  “Will do.” He eyed the van as he walked toward his truck. “I’ll take care of our friend there later.”

  Why did he have to be so bullheaded?

  “Wait.” She jogged over to him, pretending to impulsively wrap her arms around his shoulders so Greg wouldn’t know what was really happening. Nick caught her up against him.

  “It will break you like matchsticks,” she said.

  “Matchsticks, huh?” He kissed her once. “Your PDA is making Greg blush. Now go on. I’ll be back.”

  Danielle watched him get into his truck and drive off. Mortal life was so fragile. Even with his immunity to vampirism and his accelerated healing, there was no way to know how long he would live.

  She watched Nick’s Chevy until it completely disappeared from view.

  The undead dog inside the van howled. She wanted to destroy it herself without further ado, but Greg was there.

  Sighing, she turned back to him. “How about some coffee?”

  “Um, sure.”

  He followed her into the cabin. The wood stove was cold and she didn’t feel like lighting it. She pulled a camping stove off a shelf and set it on top of the counter. Danielle took her time filling the kettle and grinding coffee beans, hoping to avoid having to lie to Greg.

  “You guys like to rough it,” he said.

  “It’s not always like this, but sometimes, yeah.” She turned the knob to start the propane, then struck a match to light the burner. The dog was howling again and it was setting her on edge. It took her a couple tries to get the stove lit. Danielle put the kettle on.

  She heard Lothar’s howl from nearby.

  “I’ll be right back,” she told Greg. She wanted to let him know why she had the vampire dog locked up, and that Greg was there.

  Danielle made her way toward the forest. Lothar came out, still a wolf. He wagged his tail as she approached. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she buried her face in his fur.

  “I have to talk to you, okay?” she said.

  He turned and trotted back out, returning a couple minutes later with every hair in place. How did he do that, anyway?

  “What is wrong?” he asked.

  “Kendra’s dog is in the cage. It was bitten by the female vampire. Nick’s convinced he should test out his weapons on it.” She smiled through her teeth. “Oh, and Greg’s in the cabin.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m probably being paranoid, but he was exposed.” Her voice cracked.

  Lothar eased her into a hug. “You smell like him,” he said.

  “I know, I’m sorry.” She tucked her face against his warm neck, absurdly relieved to have him with her. “I got attached to the humans. I should’ve known better.”

  “Occupational hazard.”

  She smiled at that. He’d said it right and everything. “Thank you.”

  “For?”

  “The amazing lack of the words I told you so.”

  He rubbed hi
s chin against the top of her head. “I am on side, Darling.”

  “I am finding that out. Nick is going with us to Lithuania.” She heard his pulse flare. “I don’t see how to avoid it.”

  “We can avoid.”

  She looked up, studying his face while memorizing the way it felt in his arms. For future reference. Just in case. Danielle wasn’t even sure she knew how to go on without him at this point.

  It was ridiculous, really. Maybe they’d become codependent and needed counseling.

  But then, maybe, she didn’t care.

  Danielle ruffled his hair. She found herself smiling once she’d forced perfection into a sexy mess. He eyed her through narrowed lashes. Maybe he was annoyed, maybe not. He didn’t tell her. He lowered his head and kissed her instead, pressing her closely, one hand holding the back of her head, one against her tailbone, arching her as he cradled his body around hers. There was no force from him this time, and she felt herself yielding to his arms.

  Lothar lifted his head, brows narrowed, this time clearly annoyed. “Lesson number one. I expect you to pay attention when I kiss you.”

  “Lessons?”

  “You ask, I provide.”

  She grinned. “I like the way you think.”

  Pulling herself together by sheer will, Danielle eased out of his arms. She walked toward the driveway, almost managing a straight line.

  Lothar opened the back of the van and she came up on her toes to peek over his shoulder. The bulldog growled, his face turning with aversion from the shaft of light through the open door. Lothar shut it.

  “Let Nick have fun with dog,” he said.

  “He really shouldn’t.”

  “I will not stop him.”

  No, he wouldn’t. “Lothar . . .”

  He looked pained. “Do not ask for more than I can give.”

  She bit her lower lip to keep her emotions in check. Blaming him was useless. He could hardly help it. It would be like asking vampires to stop drinking blood. She decided it would be a bad idea to tell Lothar that even if she didn’t need Nick in the same way, she was still pretty attached to him.

  “Go wash off male’s scent,” he said. “I will keep eye on Greg.”

  “Nick’s coming right back.”

  Lothar growled. “All family with us, Darling. How nice.”