25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

With our night-time escapade on hold whilst we waited for Sergeant Marks to find an accountant, all I had to do was plan my next demonstration with Fluffy. I called Connor after my supernat class to go over the next day’s plan because I wanted his help. I was planning to do a demonstration of search and rescue and I needed someone to find. Connor was the obvious answer. He answered on the second ring. ‘Hey,’ I said. ‘How was your day?’

I could feel his smile. ‘It’s only just started but it’s all the better for hearing from you.’

‘I can’t wait to get onto a night schedule,’ I admitted. ‘I honestly miss it far more than I thought I would.’

‘The daylight exhaustion complicates things,’ he said sympathetically.

‘Exactly! Without it I’d probably enjoy the sun but it makes me feel rundown, like I’m about to be hit with the worst cold of my life and I’m slogging through it. Normally I cope fine because I get to mix up my days and nights, but nine weeks of days are killing me. Well, they would if I wasn’t already undead. Kind of.’

‘You can see why some vamps don’t pay to buy the charmed necklaces. They’re expensive and a symbol of status, but even though they help us go in the sun no vampire actually wants to go out in the sun. Don’t get me wrong some vamps will still kill for one, so continue to keep yours hidden.’ I fingered my necklace displaying my two pendants, Nana’s triskele protection charm, and my daylight charm in the cheeky shape of a sun.

‘Now that makes total sense!’ I laughed. ‘And that leads nicely to my next question. How do you feel about helping me tomorrow in the daylight?’

He laughed. ‘For you, Bunny, I’ll even brave the sun. What do you need?’

I had an atrociously soppy smile on my face. ‘Fluffy and I are going to do a search and rescue.’

‘So you need someone to rescue,’ he interjected.

‘I do indeed.’

‘I’ll be your damsel,’ he promised.

‘You’re the best.’

‘Don’t you forget it. I’ll meet you tomorrow in the parking lot.’

‘Counting the hours.’ I sighed. ‘Love you.’ I hung up before I could get even more sappy.

Eager to see Connor, I powered through my classes the next day even though nerves were nibbling the edges of my stomach. I was confident that Fluffy and I could do a good demonstration – after all, we’d done it in real life with the poor Savik brothers, and that had been truly scary shit. We’d done search and rescue beyond the barrier with a scary monster stalking us. This exercise would be a piece of cake in comparison.

I met Connor and shook off my nerves. Fluffy hopped out of the truck, his K-9 vest already in place and I greeted him with a full body cuddle and lots of pats. He licked my face enthusiastically, making me laugh.

‘Lucky guy,’ Connor muttered under his breath.

I turned. ‘I can greet you just as enthusiastically if you like?’

He laughed. ‘If you did, we’d miss the demonstration.’

My skin warmed. ‘Right. Well then.’ I cleared my throat and tried to sound businesslike. ‘You have the undershirt?’

He reached into the truck and handed it to me sealed in a plastic zip bag. ‘I wore it for twelve hours, as requested.’

‘Thanks!’ I covered Fluffy’s ears, told Connor where I needed him to go, and he obligingly set off.

I released Fluffy’s ears. ‘I didn’t want you to cheat and know where he was going,’ I explained. ‘We don’t need to cheat to excel. Hard work will get us there every time.’ Fluffy gave a firm bark, and we set off to show all of the recruits how it was done.

I felt more confident today when I was standing in front of my peers. Fluffy sat proudly next to me, eyes locked on mine, vibrating with tension. He was ready. So was I.

I turned to the recruits. ‘Search and rescue dogs can be any breed – it depends on their strength and mental fitness to concentrate for periods of time. There are dogs that are specifically trained for avalanche recovery, seeking dead bodies and for finding a lost hiker, amongst many other things. Fluffy has a wide range of skills, and finding people is one of them.’

Danny raised his hand and I nodded to indicate he could ask his question. ‘How do you know when he’s found someone?’

‘That’s a good question. We’ll demonstrate when we go outside, but part of having a trained dog is learning the dog’s tells. I’m lucky because Fluffy is very demonstrative so he’s easy to read.’ Especially because he had human-level intelligence, but I didn’t add that part.

When nobody raised another question, I continued. ‘As we demonstrated yesterday, Fluffy has some skill with scent tracking, so I start with something saturated in the victim’s scent. He also knows to watch and to listen for cries for help. That would help in an avalanche scenario, for example, or if someone fell down a mine, but he’d still track them first by scent since most of what he does is locating lost people.’

The recruits were taking notes, even Thorsen and his minions. Maybe Fluffy had impressed them a bit yesterday.

‘I’ve set up a search and rescue situation. We’ll go outside for the demo. Follow me.’ I was pleased that this time that I managed to make it an order.

I’d asked Connor to hide in the woods behind the academy; he wasn’t familiar with Sitka, but I figured a lumberjack would know his way around trees – and Fluffy would find him anyway. Besides, this was only an hour-long demonstration so Connor wasn’t going to run at vamp speed and end up miles away. We needed to find him pronto and he knew it – not that he would make it too easy for us.

I had everyone gather at the obstacle course then pulled Connor’s undershirt from the bag. ‘Smell,’ I told Fluffy. He sniffed it obediently and whined as he looked up at me. I winked at him – I doubted he truly needed the scent because he’d find Connor anywhere. ‘Seek,’ I ordered.

Fluffy put his nose to the ground and started in half-circles from our position. Since I’d made Connor walk through this area, he picked up the trail after three passes. I walked quickly to keep him on a loose lead. I drew the class’s attention to his behaviour when he paused and looked back at me, then we followed as he trotted, nose down, through the trees behind the building.

The murmurs behind me sounded positive and I grinned to myself as I followed my dog. About a half mile out, Fluffy stopped, lifted a front foot and looked back at me. I waited until everyone was in earshot. ‘You can see that he is pointing. He thinks our target is near.’

‘Where’s the missing person, then?’ Thorsen yelled out obnoxiously.

‘He’s here, but first I’m going to free the dog to pinpoint precisely where.’ I removed Fluffy’s lead. ‘Hunt.’

Fluffy put his nose down, walked ten steps and scratched at the ground. I frowned. What had Connor done? I’d figured he’d go up a tree or hide in the brush, but he was obviously being a little tricksier than that. Vamp, I suddenly thought; he’d be more comfortable hiding in true dark.

‘Fluffy is indicating that the victim is underground,’ I reported, starting to worry that something was off.

I tried to trust my four-legged friend and push down my jangling nerves as I walked to where Fluffy was scratching at the ground. It sounded hollow. I looked down and saw some loose earth covering some rough boards. It was obvious that the place had been disturbed very recently. Connor had found an old mine to play in.

Since I had to hide my freakish strength, I waved Danny over and together we pulled the boards free. Then, since we were all playing human, we both helped pull Connor out of the ground. ‘You scared me,’ I murmured quietly.

For a moment the fear that something had happened to him had vibrated through me. I remembered all too well finding him bound and gagged; the memory of that was still riding me, making me almost breathless.

He read the emotion in my eyes. ‘Hey, it’s okay. I was perfectly safe. The mine is sealed and there was enough space between the sealed part and the boards for me to lie down and wait for you. I knew you’d find me. Anyway, I could have gotten out on my own, so no harm, no foul.’

‘You scared me,’ I repeated softly, not quite sure why fear was still clawing at me like an alien trying to break through Sigourney Weaver. Connor was fine . Everything is okay. Even as I thought that, fear was still sliding down my spine and it took conscious effort to subdue it. What was going on?

I got back to work; I had a job to do and I was damned if I’d let Thorsen or his mates see me with my lip quivering. I pulled back my shoulders and turned to the crowd. ‘Any questions?’

Several hands went up and I answered easily. From their questions, it was clear they were impressed and all of them wanted a K-9 companion. Who could resist a furry best friend?

We were done. Most people started back with Sergeant Marks, but Sidnee, Danny, Connor, Fluffy and I stayed behind to cover up the mine so no one would accidentally fall in. Before we could start, Danny hopped in. ‘Hey!’ I shouted. ‘What gives?’

I moved closer to the hole to help him back out, but the irrational fear washed over me again and I stepped away from the edge. Danny was an adult and he was fine. I had no idea where this second-hand claustrophobia/mine-ophobia was coming from. I took some calming breaths and the fear slowly receded.

‘I’m looking!’ Danny said casually. ‘I love mines!’

Men were so weird. Sidnee rolled her eyes at me in agreement.

Danny turned on his phone torch to have a good rummage around. I was still keeping my distance but I was watching him impatiently, so I saw when he stilled unnaturally before swiping something from the ground and pocketing it. ‘What did you find?’ I asked nosily.

‘Just a fossil,’ he replied casually.

I didn’t believe him. ‘You collect those, too?’ I pressed.

‘Doesn’t everyone?’ He flashed me a smile, but his eyes were tight and the tension in his jaw told me he was upset. I left it alone – for now. He probably wouldn’t be open about any strong emotions in front of Connor since he barely knew him.

Danny climbed out of the hole and gave Fluffy some good-boy pats while Connor and Sidnee laid down the last of the boards. Danny was eyeing me curiously, noting the rigidity of my body and the distance I was keeping from the creepy hole.

Connor pulled me into his arms to give me a hug, one I found I sorely needed. I didn’t even mind if it was caused in part by his own need to be a tad territorial in front of Danny. I trusted Danny and every single thing I’d seen from him had told me he was good people, but Connor didn’t have that same experience.

‘We’ll go,’ Danny said, amused. ‘Give you some space.’

‘Allllll the space!’ Sidnee agreed. They walked away, leaving me alone with Connor and Fluffy.

Connor kissed me, sweeping me off my feet – metaphorically, of course, unlike Petrovich. As if I’d summoned him with my thoughts, a chill wind ran down my neck and I jumped away from Connor and whirled around. An amorphous blob was standing barely a foot away from me. ‘Petrovich!’ I exclaimed and scrambled back a little. The ghost's sense of personal space was way off.

Connor swore as he turned to face the poltergeist.

‘Save our souls!’ an eerie wailing voice howled from the wind then the apparition faded as quickly as it had appeared.

I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself. Fluffy had crouched down, too; only Connor was standing alert, ready to fight off something he couldn’t touch. I appreciated his protection, but as far as I knew there was nothing he could do against a spirit.

‘At least it didn’t try to kick our asses,’ he said drily.

‘Yeah, I appreciate it a lot more when he USES HIS WORDS .’ I said that last bit loudly, hoping the poltergeist would hear and obey.

‘That was creepy. I can see why you’re worried.’

I shuddered. ‘He said “Save our souls”. Does he mean SOS, that he needs help? Or does he mean we actually need to save his soul?’

Connor frowned. ‘I couldn’t actually hear his words, but you were closer. Still, I’ve never heard of a ghost being that coherent before.’

‘Do you have a lot of experience with ghosts?’ I asked curiously.

‘No, but I’ve been reading a lot since I became your personal researcher.’ He paused, ‘Has anyone said anything to you about Liam Smith?’

I blinked. ‘Who?’

‘Recruit Smith. He was a part of the last cohort.’ His expression was grave. ‘Apparently, he left the academy halfway through the course.’

I shrugged. ‘There are a lot of drop outs.’

‘Sure – but this one never found his way home.’