Page 110 of The Silver Fox Vampire

He sat up so fast his head spun, then realized there were another four humans, their white garments tattered, kneeling around them.

Clare lay beside him on the ground, deeply asleep, or worse, in a coma.

And then he saw the deep bite marks on her neck. A thin thread of silver venom streaked her skin around the bite, signifying she had been turned.

Oh gods, it was all coming back to him now. He had done this. He gathered her in his arms. Stroking her hair away from her face, he sealed the wound with his lips.

After a moment Natalie said, “Is she going to be okay?”

How could he answer that? She was between states, between human and vampire. This could last for days. He had no real idea if Clare would survive this, and yet, somehow, he sensed she was strong enough. “I don’t know,” he said out of tight lips.

He listened to her heart, stroked her soft cheek. Her skin was not cold, and there was a slight color in her cheeks. There was hope.

“What happened to us?” One of the humans was staring at his companions in utter bewilderment. It appeared they had no memory of what had happened.

But he had.

They had broken the Dark Dimension. But at what cost?

Oliver stared around the grassy hillside. The air was full of the sound of birdsong, and the soft fall breeze blew a golden leaf from a nearby oak tree. It floated onto the grass beside him. Below them in the valley he could see the rooftops of Tween, little puffs of smoke swirling up from so many chimneys. The neat rows of houses glowed in the fall sunlight. It was all sonormal,so benign, the humans blissfully unaware of the horrors they had narrowly escaped. His gaze scanned the horizon, and he detected the haze above Motham City in the distance.

And then his eyes alighted on a little dip in the grass nearby. There was something so familiar about the vegetation around here, the view… And then with a jolt, he realized. Right here, where they sat, was where his family’s farmhouse had once stood.

His first childhood home. Where he’d shared such happiness and laughter with his father and mother, and Effie.

He glanced down at the ring on his left hand, and a sudden certainty filled his heart. It was going to be okay.

Clare was going to be okay.

One of the humans cried out, “Oh my god, look up! What are those creatures in the sky!”

Oliver’s eyes darted upward… To his relief, he saw a group of gargoyles, headed by Grayson Lightfoot, circling lower. They landed nearby, folded in their huge wings, and bounded over.

The humans huddled together.

Grayson’s face was etched with deep concern as he strode over. Meanwhile, another of his team was reassuring the cowering humans. “It’s okay, we won’t harm you. We’re here to take you back to Tween.”

“What happened?” Grayson knelt down, his eyes on Clare’s prone body.

“Too complicated to explain right now. We must get Clare to Waldo. She needs to recover from this ordeal.”

Grayson nodded. “Waldo contacted us and told us we needed to get here fast. As we flew toward you there was a flash of light, then a huge mushroom cloud came out of nowhere. And then everything just returned to normal. And now you’re all sitting here looking like stunned mullets.”

Oliver didn’t crack a smile. He was too exhausted.

“Do you want to fill me in?” Grayson asked.

“It’s a very long story.” And one he wasn’t willing to share right now. He had no idea how much venom he had injected into her, but he was sure it was a lot. What happened if a vampire turned a necromancer? He had no idea if it had ever happened before. And yet, the ring was warm on his finger, reassuring him, as if his family were watching over him. Crazy maybe, but the hope in his heart remained.

Grayson radioed over to a couple of gargoyles with red crosses on their uniforms. “We have our ambulance service here. A sling stretcher—we’ll fly her back.”

The gargoyles gently placed Clare onto the stretcher. Once he was satisfied she was comfortable, Oliver went over to the humans—gods only knew where his PD badge had gotten to. “You’re going to have to take this on trust. I am Chief Inspector Oliver Hale from the Motham police department. You have been through a huge ordeal that you may not ever remember. But trust me, these gargoyles are friendly forces, and they will escort you back to Tween. They will leave you at the town gatesand alert your families that you are safe. I would urge you seek medical assistance, but not at a Tween clinic under any circumstances. They are affiliated with dark corruption.”

The humans stared at him blankly for a moment, then finally nodded. They deserved more from him, but he had very little left to give. “Motham police will be in touch shortly to explain everything. In the meantime, your families will be—mostly—pleased to have you home. All the best.”

And then he strode off, shifted into his vampiric form and took to the sky, following the stretcher bearers who carried Clare back to Motham City.

As her senses awoke from a beautiful, dreamless sleep, Clare’s brows furrowed.